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Michelle Obama’s Slave Ancestors Discovered
Michelle Obama’s great-great-grandfather, Jim Robinson, lived as a slave, at least until the Civil War, on a rice plantation in South Carolina, the Seattle Times reports.

Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign “hired genealogists to research the family’s roots at the onset of his presidential bid, but aides largely have kept the findings secret… Obama aides refused to discuss the report or allow Michelle Obama to be interviewed about her ancestry.”

While Obama briefly mentioned his wife was descended from slaves during his speech on race, no details were known until now.

Late Late Nite FDL: Feed Me
Audrey II - Feed Me.

What’s on your mind tonight.

Audrey II - Feed Me.

What’s on your mind tonight.

Michael Moore’s Advice for the Auto Industry Is Far Too Cavalier for Such a Serious Issue
Moore likes to complain about Detroit’s ‘gas-guzzling, inferior products,’ but he’s ignoring the great achievements of millions of its auto workers.

Of Financial Capital and Human Capital: Why We’re Bailing Out Wall Street While Allowing Our Schools to Get Clobbered
Our preoccupation with the immediate crisis of financial capital is causing us to overlook the bigger crisis in America’s human capital. While we commit hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to Wall Street, we’re slashing our outlays for public education….

Long Term
After it became clear that Obama’s trip through the Middle East was not only error-free but wildly successful (because of Maliki’s gambit), there’s been a third wave of press chatter and fretting to the effect that Obama’s trip may now…

McConnell: While Detroit goes under, Kentucky?s Toyota plant is doing great.
In an interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) noted that despite the economic turmoil in Detroit, Toyota plants in Kentucky are sitting pretty: “We also have other auto manufacturers who are doing quite well,” McConnell said, naming Toyota’s Georgetown, Ky., operation. “It happens not to be American companies and that is […]

In an interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) noted that despite the economic turmoil in Detroit, Toyota plants in Kentucky are sitting pretty:

“We also have other auto manufacturers who are doing quite well,” McConnell said, naming Toyota’s Georgetown, Ky., operation. “It happens not to be American companies and that is sad. But it’s not like we don’t have success in the auto industry. We do.”

Toyota, in fact, has seen its stock drop more than 50 percent since the beginning of the year:

McConnell, along with Sens. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Bob Corker (R-TN), may have their own “parochial interests” at heart when staunchly opposing the auto-bailout. “If Detroit folds, then that’s way more market share for Japanese-owned, non-union factories in their home states,” Matt Yglesias notes.

Street Vendors Aren’t Sold On Lottery for Jan. 20 Spots
The District’s street vendors, who were hoping to cash in on Barack Obama’s inauguration, say the city is cutting most of them out of the action on the big payday.