The Hollywood Liberal

Feds Charge Ex-Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick Looted Nonprofit To Pay For Yoga Lessons, Summer Camp
Former Democratic Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who just last month was sentenced to at least 19 months in prison for probation violations in Michigan, has been slapped with 18 federal fraud and tax evasion charges.


Kwame Kilpatrick – Michigan – Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick – Probation – United States

Attorney: Vitter Aide Paid His Own ‘Minimal’ Fees In Assault Case
One of the curiosities of the case of the now-former aide to Sen. David Vitter who held his girlfriend hostage during an assault in 2008, is that Brent Furer, on a $47,000-per-year salary, hired one of the top lawyers at one of Washington’s fanciest law firms to represent him.


David Vitter – Brent Furer – United States – Law – American Broadcasting Company

How A Supreme Court Ruling Could Set Corrupt Politicians Free
In the wake of Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling limiting the scope of a key federal anti-corruption statute, white-collar defense lawyers are salivating at the chance to challenge some of the biggest public corruption cases in recent memory — from Gov. Don Siegelman in Alabama to Gov. Rod Blagojevich in Illinois to New York state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno to the myriad figures in the Jack Abramoff saga.



Jack Abramoff – Supreme Court – Alabama – Rod Blagojevich – Illinois

Live from Detroit: Oliver Stone’s new movie, Zionism & potato chips
I’m currently manning a booth at the Detroit Social Forum, and across the aisle from me is a booth run by Katrina victims who have driven all the way up from New Orleans. And guess what? Katrina is STILL the issue. “15,000 perfectly good housing units have been destroyed in NOLA since 2005,” said one woman […]

Burr Ahead in North Carolina
A new SurveyUSA poll in North Carolina shows Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) leading challenger Elaine Marshall (D) by ten points, 50% to 40%.

Key finding: Republicans are aligned behind Burr more solidly than Democrats are aligned behind Marshall. Independents break for Burr.

Not Paying Attention to Afghanistan?

Yes, the Afghanistan War is a brutal, costly disaster, but hey, according to McChrystal’s inner circle, there’s a silver lining! At least the American people aren’t paying attention. Here’s a quote from Michael Hastings’ explosive Rolling Stone article: Even those closest to McChrystal know that the rising anti-war sentiment at home doesn’t begin to reflect how […]

Love the Afghanistan War in Public at Your Peril

One of the gems buried in Michael Hastings’ now ubiquitous Rolling Stone article is a senior adviser to General McChrystal thanking his lucky stars for public ignorance of the state of the war: Even those closest to McChrystal know that the rising anti-war sentiment at home doesn’t begin to reflect how deeply fucked up things […]

Summits! Summits!! SUMMITS!!!
On Thursday I head to Toronto to cover this week’s G-8/20 world leader jamboree. But before I do, conventional wisdom seems to demand that I justify why even bother. Is it just me, or is anyone else struck by the…


Climate change – Environment – Economic – Activism – G-20 major economies

Republicans are Undercutting National Economic Recovery — and Dems Need to Say So 24/7
The same old story happens again and again. Dems in the House pass reasonable legislation, and Senate Dems dicker with centrists and Republicans over “compromises,” weakening the legislation step by step over many weeks, only to find zero Republican…


Republican – United States Senate – United States – Politics – Parties

Poll: Tea partiers want gov?t to protect manufacturing jobs, impose tariffs to safeguard environment.
One of the organizing principles of the conservative-led tea party movement is an “aversion to big government,” with tea party organizers turning their ire on comprehensive health reform, clean energy legislation, and even mandatory trash collection. Yet a new poll finds that, despite their anti-government rhetoric, a majority of tea partiers favor the government […]

One of the organizing principles of the conservative-led tea party movement is an “aversion to big government,” with tea party organizers turning their ire on comprehensive health reform, clean energy legislation, and even mandatory trash collection. Yet a new poll finds that, despite their anti-government rhetoric, a majority of tea partiers favor the government enacting policies to protect manufacturing jobs and placing tariffs on goods from countries with weak environmental standards:

A new poll contradicts the widely held belief that the the tea party movement is opposed to government action to help the economy. It shows that self-described Tea Party supporters are very much in favor of government action to revitalize America’s manufacturing base.

Seventy-four percent of self-described Tea Party Supporters would support a “national manufacturing strategy to make sure that economic, tax, labor, and trade policies in this country work together to help support manufacturing in the United States,” according to the poll, put out by the Mellman Group and the Alliance for American Manufacturing. Likewise, 56 percent of self-described Tea Party Supporters “favor a tariff on products imported from other countries that are cheaper because they came from a country that does not have to comply with any climate change regulations in the country where the products were made.”

It remains to be seen if the corporate-funded astroturf groups like FreedomWorks and the Republican Party, both of which have courted the tea party movement, will be willing to champion these pro-worker and pro-environmental views movement members appear to have.

Military disturbed by rapid turnover at top in Afghan, Iraq wars
Since 2001, a dozen commanders have cycled through the top jobs in Iraq, Afghanistan and the U.S. Central Command, which oversees both wars. Three of those commanders — including the recently dismissed Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal — have been fired or resigned under pressure.


Iraq War – Iraq – Warfare and Conflict – Afghanistan – United States

TALK SHOWS
Guests to be interviewed Sunday on major television talk shows:


Talk radio – Radio – Arts – Talk show – Formats

Civil rights organizations question nominee Elena Kagan’s record on race
On the eve of Elena Kagan’s Senate confirmation hearings, her record on race in the Clinton White House and at Harvard Law School is producing discomfort among some leading civil rights organizations, leaving them struggling to decide whether they want her to join the Supreme Court.


Civil and political rights – United States – Elena Kagan – Law – United States Supreme Court

Financial Deform

Why Financial Reform Won’t Work
Charlie Gasparino, The Daily Beast
Enter your email address:Enter the recipients' email addresses, separated by commas:Message:Enter your email address:Enter the recipients' email addresses, separated by commas:Message: Traders Vito Perri, left, and Michael Urkonis, center, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. (Richard Drew / AP Photo) Will the president's bill save us from another Wall Street meltdown? Unlikely, says Charlie Gasparino—there are still plenty of loopholes in it for bankers to exploit.President Obama believes the new financial…

At G8, Obama Faces Hard Sell on Stimulus
Scott Wilson, Washington Post
Everything you need to know about economic and domestic policy (and some stuff you don't) Subscribe »TORONTO — President Obama arrived for a meeting of world economic powers Friday with a number of achievements already in hand. But he will have a far more difficult time persuading European leaders to follow his wish on an issue he believes is essential to the economic recovery: the need for public stimulus spending.In the days leading up to the meeting, Obama secured a change in China's currency policy that could benefit U.S. exports, a European commitment to improve bank…

Dems, White House Agree on Finance Bill
After more than 20 hours of continuous wrangling, congressional Democrats and White House officials reached agreement on the final shape of legislation that would transform financial regulation, avoiding last-minute defections that threatened to upend the bill. After months of uncertainty about how the U.S. would craft new rules, the agreement offers the clearest picture since the financial crisis of how markets and the government will interact for decades to come. The common thread: large financial companies are facing a tougher leash.

Late Late Night FDL: Pigs In Space
Pigs In Space from The Muppet Show.

Pigs In Space from The Muppet Show.

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