The Hollywood Liberal

John Thain: Corporate Jerk of the Moment
Maybe John Thain, the guy who demanded $30 million after screwing up Merrill Lynch, should be our Secretary of Treasury.

Obama’s Choice: Sane U.N. Drug Policy or the Same Old Failed War-on-Drugs Routine?
America’s current foreign policy has very little impact on reducing supply, consumption or cultivation. Obama has a big chance to turn it around.

Will Obama Stack His Middle East Team with Neoconservative Ideologues?
Obama has pledged to "engage" with Iran in a respectful way, but "engagement" is a malleable concept.

Chemtrails in the Sky Are Evidence of Nefarious Activities for Broad-Based Conspiracy Theorists
Cultural panic over pollution in the sky and changing weather patterns has given rise to a peculiar conspiracy theory about jet plane exhaust.

On Community And Equality
Peniel Joseph’s insightful post last week on equality smartly notes that on January 20th, “the very aesthetics of American democracy changed, both symbolically and substantively, through the ascension of a black man to the nation’s highest office.” It is…

More Poetry, Less Process
There’s little I disagree with in Michael Waldman’s post or in his article on democracy for Democracy, and yet if it were a box of ideas, I would be unable to resist the temptation to dump it out and…

Susan Rice: Obama will use ?direct diplomacy with Iran.?
Fulfilling a campaign promise that was relentlessly attacked by the right wing, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said today that the Obama administration will engage in “direct diplomacy” with Iran in order to curb the country’s alleged nuclear program: “We look forward to engaging in vigorous diplomacy that includes direct diplomacy with Iran, as well as […]

Fulfilling a campaign promise that was relentlessly attacked by the right wing, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said today that the Obama administration will engage in “direct diplomacy” with Iran in order to curb the country’s alleged nuclear program:

“We look forward to engaging in vigorous diplomacy that includes direct diplomacy with Iran, as well as continued collaboration and partnership” with the other four permanent members of the Security Council — Britain, China, France and Russia — plus Germany, Rice said.

‘Not since before the 1979 Iranian revolution are U.S. officials believed to have conducted wide-ranging direct diplomacy with Iranian officials,” notes the AP. Rice “warned that Iran must meet U.N. Security Council demands to suspend uranium enrichment before any talks on its nuclear program.”

House Plan Offers ‘Noticeable Impact’
Approximately two-thirds of the spending and tax cuts contained in an economic stimulus package crafted by House Democrats would flow into the economy by the end of fiscal 2010, producing a “noticeable impact on economic growth and employment,” congressional budget analysts said yesterday.

Obama Announces Plans to Achieve Energy Independence
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Thank you. Please, everybody be seated. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you.

With New Environmental Rules, Obama Continues Effort to Roll Back Bush Policies
President Obama announced a series of new policies yesterday intended to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, capping a week of widespread changes aimed at reversing the legacy of George W. Bush.

Obama Announces New Energy, Environmental Policies
President Obama today promised new U.S. leadership in the fight against global warming as he announced a series of steps aimed at making American cars more fuel efficient and reducing greenhouse gases, including a directive to the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider granting California and…

‘Left, Right & Center’: Obamarama; Bad Bankers; a Kennedy Is KO’d

Well, here he is, our new Mr. President. How did Barack Obama fare in his first few days in office? Meanwhile, Wall Street flounders, and Caroline Kennedy’s Senate bid falls short at the 11th hour. The “Left, Right & Center” team takes a crack at this week’s news. Audio fixed

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Donald Rumsfeld: "God Bless" Obama For Supporting Return Of Military Programs To Campuses
By last Thursday night, with the changing of the guard in Washington complete, some star power had returned to New York, and there, in the…

Frank Naif: Intelligence Investigations Should Target Top Deciders
In the coming weeks, the new Obama administration will run out of excuses for blowing off demands for an investigation into the full extent of…

Blagojevich Impeachment Trial To Begin Without Defendant
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Though Illinois lawmakers are launching an impeachment trial Monday that could remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office, the governor himself will be…

Chris Weigant: My Final Inaugural Report — The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
“It was a the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Too trite? How about: “We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off,…

Merrill Paid Billions In Bonuses, As New Owner Sought More Bailout Dollars
It’s got stiff competition, but Merrill Lynch may have just wrapped up the prize for the investment bank that best exemplifies Gordon Gekko’s famed articulation of the Wall Street creed: “Greed is good.” The Financial Times reports (sub. req.) today…

Could Obama’s Executive Order Help Pry Loose Bush Records?
Over at TPM, Josh and David have been mulling the significance of the executive order, issued today by President Obama, concerning the Presidential Records Act. Could it apply retroactively to previous administrations, making it easier to pry loose records that…

No More Madoffs: Schumer, Shelby Want Beefed Up Efforts to Combat Financial Fraud
The wages of Madoff continue to grow… A new bill being introduced by Senators Chuck Schumer and Richard Shelby would aim to crack down on financial fraud by adding hundreds of new prosecutors and investigators to the Department of Justice…

Blagojevich Impeachment Trial Opens
“Setting the stage for a momentous act of political repudiation,” the Illinois state Senate “prepared to open the first impeachment trial of a governor in Illinois history on Monday and disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich acknowledged his days in office were numbered,” the Chicago Tribune reports.

Said Blagojevich: “I think what you’ll see is a roll call that will be pre-designed, and we’ll see whether or not I even get one vote.”