The Hollywood Liberal

Republican-Style HC Reform

Is Hardcore Porn Played Out? A New Site Showing Real People Orgasm Gives a Sexy Alternative
The hard stuff has gotten boring for many people. A new site where real people submit videos of their faces as they come shows a different direction for porn.

The hard stuff has gotten boring for many people. A new site where real people submit videos of their faces as they come shows a different direction for porn.

Arrested for Doodling on a Desk? "Zero Tolerance" at Schools Is Going Way Too Far
How much longer can we tolerate abuses of power by teachers and school officials in the name of ‘zero tolerance’ policies?

How much longer can we tolerate abuses of power by teachers and school officials in the name of 'zero tolerance' policies?

Why ‘Everything Has a Cause’ Is a Terrible Justification for God’s Existence
Why on earth would we assume that any currently unanswered question about physical existence would eventually turn out to be caused by God?

Why on earth would we assume that any currently unanswered question about physical existence would eventually turn out to be caused by God?

How the Mountain of Climate Change Evidence Is Being Used to Undermine the Cause
We’ve gotten to a point where fewer Americans believe humans are warming the planet than before — here’s how it happened.

We've gotten to a point where fewer Americans believe humans are warming the planet than before — here's how it happened.

Free Trade Trap
I’ve been arguing for the last four months that we have entered a New Normal era in which the combination of a naive embrace of free trade, aggressive use of automation and a substandard education and retraining system, has left…


Free trade - Economic - United States - International - Education

Try again!
The trade press reports that the President is trying again to pass an energy bill with a long term price on carbon emissions. Good! Its critical to realize how easy this transition from carbon to clean can really be. With…


Energy - Greenhouse gas - Environment - President of the United States - Carbon Cycle

Leahy Calls For Justice Department Investigation Into Missing John Yoo Emails
A long-awaited Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) report released last week found that lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee “had committed professional misconduct in writing legal opinions that authorized torture.” The OPR report revealed that many of Yoo’s emails had vanished: [W]e were told that most of Yoo’s records had been deleted and were […]

A long-awaited Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) report released last week found that lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee “had committed professional misconduct in writing legal opinions that authorized torture.” The OPR report revealed that many of Yoo’s emails had vanished:

[W]e were told that most of Yoo’s records had been deleted and were not recoverable. [Former Deputy AAG] Philbin’s email records from July 2002 through August 5, 2002 — the time period in which the Bybee Memo was completed and the Classified Bybee Memo (discussed below) was created — had also been deleted and were reportedly not recoverable.

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) “called on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the destruction of emails” and reported that “he destruction of these emails represents a blatant violation of the Federal Records Act (FRA) and may break criminal laws.”

In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said the deleted records pose “very serious concerns about government transparency and whether the [OPR] had access to all of the information relevant to the inquiries.”

Leahy then asked whether the DOJ has initiated an investigation into the circumstances behind the destruction of the emails. Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler said the DOJ is in the process of trying to establish the facts for why the emails disappeared. Grindler also studiously avoided suggesting that any foul play was behind the disappearance of the emails, stating that there was “nothing nefarious” about the deletions. Leahy then drew a parallel between the Yoo emails and the emails that the Bush White House previously claimed had disappeared:

I recall when millions of emails mysteriously disappeared during the Bush administration, and I had [said] they don’t just disappear. They must be there. And I recall them sending their press secretary Ms. Perino out to say, ‘what is he some kind of IT expert? That’s foolish, they’ve been deleted. They’ve disappeared. We all know they’ve disappeared. Why would anyone suggest otherwise.’ And then we found 22 million emails. […]

During the firing of the U.S. Attorneys…there were a number of emails by Mr. Karl Rove and others in the White House that were missing. Now, two months ago, we finally find those emails of course after the investigation was over and after the time when the U.S. Attorneys might have been reinstated. I hope we don’t have to wait that long this time.

Watch it:

Newsweek reports that the National Archives is pressing the Justice Department to investigate the “possible unauthorized destruction of e-mail and other records” within the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.

Pelosi gives strong defense of embattled Rangel
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday gave a strong defense of Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), lending her continued support for the embattled lawmaker a day after the ethics committee admonished him for accepting privately paid travel against House rules.

The Fix: New York Gov. David Paterson won’t run this fall
Embattled New York Gov. David Paterson (D) will not seek election this fall, a bow to the inevitable given his low poll numbers and a recent controversy surrounding one of his top aides.

Embattled New York Gov. David Paterson won’t run to stay in office
NEW YORK — New York Gov. David A. Paterson, who was unexpectedly catapulted into the job two years ago when his predecessor resigned in a sex scandal, announced today that he would not be running for election in November, as he battles low poll numbers and a growing scandal of his own.

Impossible-to-Fire Teachers
John Stossel, FOX Business
February 25, 2010 07:24 AM EST by John StosselLast night I blogged about the Rhode Island school district that got up the courage to fire their teachers' union. Unfortunately, reform isn't going as well in my town. The NY Times has a surprisingly fair article this week about the near-impossibility of firing an NYC public school teacher:[I]n the two years since the Education Department began an intensive effort to root out such teachers from the more than 55,000 who have tenure, officials have managed to fire only three for incompetence. Ten others whom the department charged…

Health Care: Hiding Spending Doesn’t Reduce Spending
Rep. Paul Ryan
Rep. Paul Ryan says the health care bill put forward by Democrats is full of “gimmicks and smoke and mirrors.”

D.C. Should Stay Out of the Car Business
David Harsanyi, Denver Post
Toyotas have minds of their own, apparently. But not to worry. The U.S. government will smite the robotic menace — and the company's profits along with it.As one Lexus-driving victim stated at a recent congressional committee hearing, “Shame on you, Toyota, for being so greedy.” Receive news alertsIndeed. Greed has reared its ugly head again. Shame on Toyota for consistently selling cars we want to buy. Shame on Toyota for employing thousands of Americans and building those unseemly factories. Shame on the company for perfecting the mass production of environmentally friendly…

What Happened to J-O-B-S?
Andrew Malcolm, Los Angeles Times
« Previous Post | Top of the Ticket Home | Next Post » Remember in the messy, fingerpointing aftermath of the Democratic debacle in the Massachusetts Senate election, President Obama said that after nearly a year of healthcare speeches, healthcare town halls and secret healthcare legislative meetings, he'd gotten the message and for 2010 his Job One was what Joe Biden calls that three-letter word: J-O-B-S?Well, that voter-driven focus lasted about a week. Now here we are today with another carefully stage-managed healthcare summit across the street from the White House because there…

Time Has Come for Confrontation
Bob Shrum, The Week
Bipartisanship died at the Health Care Summit. The president can continue to reach out—that’s good politics at a time when Gallup reports that 54 percent of Americans don’t expect the GOP to make a “sincere” effort to achieve compromise on health reform. But as he reaches out, the president also has to draw clear dividing lines. He did that at the summit. After listening to the other side obfuscate, deceive, and spurn common ground, he said, “I don’t know if we can bridge” the differences. He knew that it…

Good Night, Financial Independence

By Mike Luckovich

Related Entries

• February 26, 2010 Obama Feeds Health Reform to GOP
• February 25, 2010 Stoner Seniors Edition

Experts: Move To Electronic Medical Records Needs Oversight
By Fred Schulte and Emma Schwartz Huffington Post Investigative FundThough electronic health records may greatly improve medical care in the future, the technology poses a…

Neera Tanden: Democrat Polling Obsession Is Killing Health Care Reform, Says Former Obama Health Advisor
What can defeat health care reform? Polls–or more specifically, Democratic politicians misreading them. Most of the data that crosses their desks these days resembles the…

Axel Woolfolk: Latinos Launching Campaign Exposing Tea Party Racism
As has been now widely reported by mainstream media, more than 600 people gathered for the first ever Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tennessee on…

House Lending Inquiry: Lawmakers Probe Banks’ Lending To Small Businesses, Commercial Real Estate
WASHINGTON — House lawmakers are examining a crucial element of the economic recovery: banks’ lending to small businesses and for commercial real estate. Small businesses…

Obama Aides To Meet With Atheists On White House Grounds
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has burnished his Christian credentials, courted Jewish support and preached outreach toward Muslims. On Friday, his administration will host a…