The Hollywood Liberal

The Third Depression
Paul Krugman: “Recessions are common; depressions are rare. As far as I can tell, there were only two eras in economic history that were widely described as ‘depressions’ at the time: the years of deflation and instability that followed the Panic of 1873 and the years of mass unemployment that followed the financial crisis of 1929-31.”

“Neither the Long Depression of the 19th century nor the Great Depression of the 20th was an era of nonstop decline — on the contrary, both included periods when the economy grew. But these episodes of improvement were never enough to undo the damage from the initial slump, and were followed by relapses.”

“We are now, I fear, in the early stages of a third depression. It will probably look more like the Long Depression than the much more severe Great Depression. But the cost — to the world economy and, above all, to the millions of lives blighted by the absence of jobs — will nonetheless be immense.”

Republicans Struggle to Find Ways to Attack Kagan
“For weeks leading up to the start of Elena Kagan’s Senate confirmation hearings Monday, Republicans have struggled to find a compelling line of attack to take against the Supreme Court nominee,” the Washington Post notes. “But their efforts to wield an effective cudgel against President Obama’s second nomination to the country’s highest court have largely failed.”

“In part, participants say, that is precisely because it has been overshadowed by a flood of other events that have consumed Congress and kept Republicans from mounting a more muscular front against her. But it is also a measure of how skilled operatives have become at managing the process — and choosing nominees who are notable in part for their political blandness.”

Corruption Suspected in Airlift of Billions in Cash
“More than $3 billion in cash has been openly flown out of Kabul International Airport in the past three years, a sum so large that U.S. investigators believe top Afghan officials and their associates are sending billions of diverted U.S. aid and logistics dollars and drug money to financial safe havens abroad,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The cash — packed into suitcases, piled onto pallets and loaded into airplanes — is declared and legal to move. But U.S. and Afghan officials say they are targeting the flows in major anticorruption and drug trafficking investigations because of their size relative to Afghanistan’s small economy and the murkiness of their origins.”

Images In The Sand Connect Our Global Community

Photo by Venice Paparazzi There are some things we humans have just one of. We have one heart, one liver, one tongue, one nose… Of course, there are probable anomalies to even these similarities. I’m sure in the annals of medicine there are cases of individuals with multiples of even […]

Rep. Alan Grayson: Self-Proclaimed Progressive Hero
Josh is flagging the Alan Grayson/Teaparty shenanigans on the front page. Sounds pretty fishy. But I have my own bill of particulars about Grayson. He writes this about America’s nonstop wars while supporting Israel’s nonstop wars. If he has ever…


Alan Grayson – United States – Florida – Politics – Middle East

Power is Relative: Runaway General Stanley McChrystal has to Go
Barack Obama has an easy choice to make: fire a general who has established a culture of insubordination and indifference toward civilian leaders and partners in government or defer yet again to a general who acquires power like medals every…


Barack Obama – Stanley McChrystal – Government – Joe Biden – United States

McCain Disagrees With Gov. Jan Brewer: Most Undocumented Immigrants Are Not ?Drug Mules?
Last week, ThinkProgress reported that, during a recent primary debate, Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) falsely claimed that the “majority” of undocumented immigrants who come to the U.S. are “coming here and they’re bringing drugs” and “doing drop houses and they’re extorting people and they’re terrorizing the families.” On Meet the Press today, Sen. John […]

Last week, ThinkProgress reported that, during a recent primary debate, Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) falsely claimed that the “majority” of undocumented immigrants who come to the U.S. are “coming here and they’re bringing drugs” and “doing drop houses and they’re extorting people and they’re terrorizing the families.” On Meet the Press today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) admitted to David Gregory that he does not agree with Brewer’s fallacious comments, but refused to address whether such gross exaggerations “make the debate harder”:

GREGORY: Do you agree with the Governor of Arizona that most people who come across the border are actually drug mules?

MCCAIN: No. I think that there’s a large number. I think that she’s right that drug cartel movement has drastically increased and the violence — 23,000 Mexicans have been killed in the last three years in Mexico!

GREGORY: Do those kind of comments make the debate harder, make it a hotter debate?

MCCAIN: I think the Governor of Arizona has done a good job in this whole debate. I may not agree with one sentence that she uses, but she’s standing up for Arizona. And I think the people of my state deserve a better environment than the one they are getting from the federal government now.

Watch it:

Perhaps the reason McCain refused to say whether Brewer’s inaccurate generalizations contribute to a toxic environment of misinformation is because he too has been misleading the public with his fear-mongering. McCain once described undocumented immigrants as “God’s children” and reminded people that “the overwhelming majority of people who come to this country are honest, god-fearing, hard-working people.” Now, when discussing immigration, McCain prefers to bring up the “murderous, barbaric behavior” of drug cartels and the appalling death toll in Mexico. However, what he and his colleagues don’t tell voters is that, despite violence in Mexico, the U.S. side of the border is safer than it’s been in years.

Recently released FBI crime statistics show that, despite an increase in illegal immigration, crime has been dropping in Arizona for years. Not only is violent crime declining in Arizona, immigrants themselves are actually less likely to commit crimes and more likely to contribute to the safety of communities they live in. A study of more than 50,000 U.S. cities revealed that “the cities that experience the greatest growth in immigration were the same one that were experiencing the greatest declines in violent crime.”

During his interview with Gregory, McCain also insisted that Congress can not pass immigration reform until the border is secure. Just a few years ago, McCain called an “enforcement-first” strategy an “ineffective and ill-advised approach” and insisted that “the only way to truly secure our border and protect our Nation is through the enactment of comprehensive immigration reform.”

BP Slick Reached Mississippi While Haley Barbour Went Fundraising In Washington
June 26 NASA satellite imagery shows long ribbons of oil have entered the Mississippi Sound. As significant amounts of oil from the BP disaster moved past Mississippi’s barrier islands this week, Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) partied in Washington DC to raise money for Republicans. On Wednesday, boats were skimming oil near the Petit Bois Island at […]

June 26 NASA satellite imagery shows long ribbons of oil have entered the Mississippi Sound.

As significant amounts of oil from the BP disaster moved past Mississippi’s barrier islands this week, Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) partied in Washington DC to raise money for Republicans. On Wednesday, boats were skimming oil near the Petit Bois Island at the Mississippi-Alabama border. Barbour decided to attend to his duties as a political fundraiser:

Barbour on Thursday held Washington fund-raisers for the Republican Governors Association, which he heads, and for one of his political action committees, which is raising money for GOP congressional candidates. His fund-raising is receiving some national media attention and feuling speculation that he is already gearing up for a run for president in 2012.

“The most important thing right now is the 2010 elections,” Barbour told reporters.

Continuing his record of dismissing the magnitude of the BP disaster, Barbour said on Friday after he returned to Mississippi that major slicks miles long within the Mississippi Sound “shouldn’t be a cause for alarm.” By Saturday, there were “long, wide ribbons of orange-colored oil for as far as the eye could see and acres of both heavy and light sheen moving into the Sound between the barrier islands.”

The system for responding to a major oil spill depends on coordination between the federal government, the responsible oil company, and the state government. Out of the 6,000 National Guard troops President Obama has authorized for response in Mississippi, Haley Barbour has mobilized only 58. However, he has declared today to be a Day of Prayer “to remember the Mississippi Gulf Coast.”

Anger doesn’t tell whole story of 2010 election season
Angry voters are everywhere. Watch any cable news chat show, read any political blog or peruse the pages of any major newspaper and you will be bombarded with headlines about how the American electorate is mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.


Relationships – Anger – Anger Management – People – Men

Political Digest: Senate candidate subpoenaed to testify at Blagojevich trial
CAMPAIGNS Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias said Sunday he has been subpoenaed to testify at the corruption trial of ousted Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (D).


United States Senate – United States – Barack Obama – Rod Blagojevich – Government

As Kagan confirmation hearings begin, Republicans struggle for line of attack
For weeks leading up to the start of Elena Kagan’s Senate confirmation hearings Monday, Republicans have struggled to find a compelling line of attack to take against the Supreme Court nominee. But their efforts to wield an effective cudgel against President Obama’s second nomination to the…


United States – United States Supreme Court – Elena Kagan – Politics – Barack Obama

The Juice: The Kagan hearings drama at the staff level is unseen but intense
When Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court nomination showdown kicks off Monday in the Senate Judiciary Committee, the ritualistic partisan jousting will begin. But on the sidelines, away from the cameras, a more intense match will play out between the top Democratic and Republican staffers on the panel.


United States – Elena Kagan – United States Supreme Court – Government – Legislative Branch

Lessons from the McChrystal Debacle
Frank Rich, New York Times
THE moment he pulled the trigger, there was near-universal agreement that President Obama had done the inevitable thing, the right thing and, best of all, the bold thing. But before we get carried away with relief and elation, let's not forget what we saw in the tense 36 hours that fell between late Monday night, when word spread of Rolling Stone's blockbuster article, and high noon Wednesday, when Obama MacArthured his general. That frenzied interlude revealed much about the state of Washington, the Afghanistan war and the Obama presidency "” little of it…

Dark Clouds That Spelt Doom for a PM
Peter Hartcher, Sydney Mng Herald
The specific sequence of events leading to Kevin Rudd's destruction began with the results of opinion poll.Specifically, it was a "˜"˜word cloud,'' a cluster of the words that voters offered when asked to describe their prime minister.Each word is printed in a typesize to reflect how commonly it came up. The dominant word glaring from the “cloud” was ''arrogant'', followed by ''weak''. Never mind that these seem to convey wildly different conceptions of the man. The Labor powerbrokers who …

Why China Has Reason to Worry
Jonathan Fenby, The Guardian
If it wasn't so utterly predictable one would have to admire the symmetry. Having resisted pressure to make their child behave better, the parents of the errant offspring suddenly announce a week before the annual meeting of parents and teachers that they will fall into line. There is relief all round and, indeed, the child does do as the authorities and other parents want. Once the PTA meeting is over, however, the old game resumes.That looks rather like China's currency policy. Last week, the central bank in Beijing announced a “flexible” regime for the yuan with a…

Afghanistan Rules of Engagement May Change
A military source said that the rules of engagement put in place by outgoing Gen. Stanley McChrystal may be changing under Gen. David Petraeus. They rules aim to limit civilian casualties by prohibiting troops from firing unless shot at and from launching bomb or artillery attacks when civilians are near the target. “He realizes as does virtually everyone in Afghanistan that these rules are getting soldiers killed,” said retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales Jr.

Late Late Night FDL: Test Pilot Donald
Test Pilot Donald starring Donald Duck and Chip ‘n’ Dale. This Walt Disney Studios cartoon was released on June 8, 1951.

Test Pilot Donald starring Donald Duck and Chip ‘n’ Dale.  This Walt Disney Studios cartoon was released on June 8, 1951.

Directed by Jack Hannah.  Produced by Walt Disney.  Story by Bill Berg and Nick George.  Voices by Clarence Nash (Donald Duck).  Animation by Bob Carlson, Volus Jones, Bill Justice, and Hal King.  Layouts by Yale Gracey.  Backgrounds by Ralph Hulett.  Visual Effects Animation by Jack Boyd.  Original Music by Paul J. Smith.

What’s on your mind?

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Sunday Talking Heads: June 27, 2010
Afghanistan with some election chat tossed in.

twolf1

Today, Afghanistan and foreign affairs dominate all the lineups for Talking Heads. No surprise in light of McChrystal’s dismissal.

We’re still in fundraising mode, so please support the Lake. Where else on the Internets can you find such a fine list of Sunday public affairs programming? Your donation funds Marcy’s in-depth research, dday’s news reporting, our editors, the essential tech nerds, and our *beloved* moderators. Your donation allows us to create the unique blend of posts and actions that *is* Firedoglake.  Contribute today.

Washington Journal: 7:15am – Martin Crutsinger, Associated Press, Chief Economics Writer.  7:45am – Tony Fratto, Fmr. Deputy Press Secretary & Ross Eisenbrey, Economic Policy Institute.  8:30am – Russell Pearce (R-AZ), Arizona State Senator.  9:15am – Winston Porter, Waste Policy Center, President.

ABC’s This Week: CIA Director Leon Panetta.  Roundtable: George Will, David Sanger, Robin Wright, Rajiv Chandrasekaran.

CBS’ Face The Nation: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.),  Jan Crawford, David Martin.

Chris Matthews: Dan Rather, Gloria Borger, Katty Kay, John Harris.  Topics: Does General Petraeus Now Own the Afghanistan War?  Sarah Palin’s Year As Private Citizen: How’s that Working Out For Her?

CNN’s State of the Union: Crowley opens a new series, “The Political State of the Union” with Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Sen. John Corynyn (R-TX).

Fareed Zakaria – GPS: Tom Friedman.  Roundtable: Eliot Spitzer, Arianna Huffington, Ross Douthat, Katrina vanden Heuvel. Then, “the British just passed a “tax and axe” budget. It’s a big bet — are they on the correct side of it?”

Fox News Sunday: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).  Mike Huckabee.  Fox News AllStars: Bill Kristol, Mara Liasson, Liz Cheney, Juan Williams.

NBC’s Meet The Press: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).  Roundtable: Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Sebastian Junger, author of “WAR”; army combat veteran Wes Moore; Tom Ricks, Contributing Editor of Foreign Policy magazine and author of “The Gamble” and Gen. Barry McCaffrey. (Ret.).

Newsmakers: Reacting to the closing of the House-Senate conference on financial regulations, Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) discussed developments surrounding the budget this year and what the fiscal debt commission hopes to accomplish in the future.

Q & A: Madeleine Sackler, director and producer of the new documentary “The Lottery.” The documentary tells the story of how children are chosen to participate in charter schools in New York City.

Religion & Ethics: Informed Consent and Medical Research.  Norman Fischer on Meditation.  Anecdotes of the Spirit.  Sacred Places, Open Spaces.

60 Minutes: Blackwater 61 – “Blackwater 61″ is the call sign of a plane flown by the embattled government contractor Blackwater that crashed into a mountain in Afghanistan killing all onboard. The widow of one of the soldiers killed – a pilot herself – says the firm was negligent in the way it operated the flight.  Fighting For A Cure – More Americans are suffering from epilepsy than Parkinson’s, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis combined. Katie Couric reports on a disease that may not be getting the attention it deserves.  Cameron’s Avatar – Morley Safer gets the first look at how “Titanic” Director James Cameron created his $400 million 3-D fantasy “Avatar.”

To The Contrary: Topics: 1- President Obama extends FMLA benefits to same-sex couples; 2- Can population growth threaten the nation’s food security?  Panelists: Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Tara Setmayer, Judge Debra Carnahan, Numbers USA’s Anne Manetas, and Feministing.com’s Miriam Perez. Web exclusive: Plan C? A pill capable of preventing pregnancy up to five days after sex is awaiting FDA approval.

Univision’s Al Punto: Alberto Milian, Former Captain of U.S Army Intelligence; Mike Periu, Financial Advisor and Editor of DineroyCredito.com; Juan Roberto Job, Corporate Vice President & Hispanic Market Manager of New York Life Insurance Company and author of the book “Just Because I’m Latin Doesn’t Mean I Mambo: A Success Guide for Hispanic Americans”; and Univision Sports Anchor Pablo Ramírez.

Virtually Speaking: Digby and Avedon Carol. “what digby said” is a term of art in the liberal blogosphere. Avedon Carol’s Sideshow has been snarking, and providing ripping good political analysis for as long as there has been a blogosphere. Mockery and thoughtful analysis will be featured.

C-SPAN’s Book TV.

FDL  Book Salon: Chat with author Deanna Zandt and host Amanda Marcotte.  Share This!: How You Will Change the World with Social Networking. “With Share This! both regular folks of a progressive bent and committed activists can learn how to go beyond swapping movie reviews and vacation photos (not that there’s anything wrong with that).”  5pm ET.

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ElBaradei Joins Sit-In, Egyptian Politics
Former U.N. nuclear watchdog head, Nobel laureate and likely candidate for his country’s presidency, Mohamed ElBaradei has continued to position himself as a leading political figure in Egypt by taking part in a large-scale protest Friday over the death of a man at the hands of plainclothes policemen. ElBaradei, back in Egypt after working at the United Nations for more than a decade, is expected to be the leading opposition figure to challenge President Hosni Mubarak. —JCL The Guardian: Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog, joined about 4,000 Egyptians at a rare large-scale street protest today, in his most direct challenge to President Hosni Mubarak since returning to the country earlier this year. The Nobel laureate turned opposition figurehead joined the sit-in in Alexandria over the case of a man allegedly killed by plainclothes policemen. Numerous witnesses say Khaled Said, 28, died after being kicked and punched by the officers before eventually smashing his head against a marble shelf in an internet cafe on 6 June . Security officials claim Said died of asphyxiation after he swallowed a packet of narcotics hidden under his tongue. Read more

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Former U.N. nuclear watchdog head, Nobel laureate and likely candidate for his country’s presidency, Mohamed ElBaradei has continued to position himself as a leading political figure in Egypt by taking part in a large-scale protest Friday over the death of a man at the hands of plainclothes policemen.

ElBaradei, back in Egypt after working at the United Nations for more than a decade, is expected to be the leading opposition figure to challenge President Hosni Mubarak. —JCL

The Guardian:

Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog, joined about 4,000 Egyptians at a rare large-scale street protest today, in his most direct challenge to President Hosni Mubarak since returning to the country earlier this year.

The Nobel laureate turned opposition figurehead joined the sit-in in Alexandria over the case of a man allegedly killed by plainclothes policemen.

Numerous witnesses say Khaled Said, 28, died after being kicked and punched by the officers before eventually smashing his head against a marble shelf in an internet cafe on 6 June . Security officials claim Said died of asphyxiation after he swallowed a packet of narcotics hidden under his tongue.

Read more

Related Entries

• June 25, 2010 Leave the Nation-Building to Afghans
• June 25, 2010 After 41 Years, a Belated Victory for Butter

Troubled Times Slash G-8 Aid Pledge
With the scent of the global financial crisis swimming in their nostrils, G-8 leaders pledged a mere $5 billion in aid to reduce deaths among African mothers and infants, a decrease of 90 percent in the funding promised five years ago at the group’s meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland. —JCL Al Jazeera English: Rich countries have shied away from making bold aid pledges at the G8 summit, mindful of their own tight budgets and past broken promises. They pledged $5bn in aid over five years to reduce deaths among mothers and their newborns in Africa, at the summit in Toronto on Friday. The amount is nowhere near the ambitious promise from five years ago to double aid by up to $50 billion by 2010. The donors delivered only two-thirds, an estimated $18bn, of the money they agreed on at a 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. Read more

With the scent of the global financial crisis swimming in their nostrils, G-8 leaders pledged a mere $5 billion in aid to reduce deaths among African mothers and infants, a decrease of 90 percent in the funding promised five years ago at the group’s meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland. —JCL

Al Jazeera English:

Rich countries have shied away from making bold aid pledges at the G8 summit, mindful of their own tight budgets and past broken promises.

They pledged $5bn in aid over five years to reduce deaths among mothers and their newborns in Africa, at the summit in Toronto on Friday.

The amount is nowhere near the ambitious promise from five years ago to double aid by up to $50 billion by 2010.

The donors delivered only two-thirds, an estimated $18bn, of the money they agreed on at a 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.

Read more

Related Entries

• June 25, 2010 Leave the Nation-Building to Afghans
• June 25, 2010 After 41 Years, a Belated Victory for Butter

Robert Nyman DEAD: Massachusetts Lawmaker Dies After Being Found In Pool
HANOVER, Mass. (AP) — Officials say Massachusetts state Rep. Robert Nyman has died after being found unresponsive in the swimming pool at his Hanover home….

American Crossroads: New GOP Group Plans To Spend Millions This Fall
WASHINGTON — In a campaign season of anti-establishment ferment, some of the Republican Party’s best-known insiders are building an ambitious fundraising machine for the fall…

Arianna Huffington: Sunday Roundup
A rolling stone gathers no moss, and this week a loose-tongued General got steamrolled by a paper one. President Obama did the right thing in canning McChrystal. But his appointment of David Petraeus bodes very badly for the July 2011 withdrawal start date. Last week, Petraeus hinted as much, telling Congress he would recommend delaying the withdrawal if conditions in Afghanistan didn’t improve (and is there anyone left who thinks they will?). Petraeus Ex Machina got the president’s backing: “We didn’t say we’d be switching off the lights and closing the door behind us,” the commander-in-chief told the nation. Something tells me that Obama – McChrystal + Petraeus = upping the ante in Afghanistan. We need to change the equation.

Palin’s California State University Speech Rails Against ‘Dumpster Divers’
TURLOCK, Calif. — Sarah Palin leveled criticism at California’s attorney general and others raising questions about her visit to a cash-strapped university, telling supporters that…

Obama Weekly Address: President Urges Congress To Pass Financial Reform Bill (VIDEO)
ALAN FRAM, Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama prodded Congress on Saturday to send him financial overhaul legislation, saying the landmark compromise lawmakers have…