The Hollywood Liberal

Late Late Night FDL: A Few Honest Words
Ben Sollee — A Few Honest Words.

Ben Sollee — A Few Honest Words.

What’s on your mind?

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Feeling de-based?
I don’t know about you, but I’m really, really, motivated to have Obama’s back now.

Robert Gibbs and his remaining professional left friends. Pic from studio08denver

Ah yes, it really does appear that ol’ Rahm and company including the President had the GENIUS idea that what you really, need to do is insult your already disenchanted base by spewing right-wing talking points about them.

Good job fellas, makes me want to really get out the old checkbook or work the phone list.

I make no claims to be a policy wonk, I’m just a guy who writes blog posts as therapy. But even I know it is time you guys do nothing but kiss our left-wing asses the next three months. It’s what you do to avoid 24 months of checking the kerning on your certificate of live birth and investigating Michelle’s socialist triceps. And just think about how it has come to that. It’s reached that point even though the competition is a ‘Costco Warehouse of Crazy’.

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Early Morning Swim

• Obama’s guy wins in CO.
• The Quitter’s gal fails to win in GA.
• Arizona Teabaggers rally for more government.
• Uh, Governor Patterson? Not helping.
• When do we commence the war on dog biting?

• Obama’s guy wins in CO.
• The Quitter’s gal fails to win in GA.
• Arizona Teabaggers rally for more government.
• Uh, Governor Patterson? Not helping.
• When do we commence the war on dog biting?

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Germany’s Good Fortune Tips the Scales Against Its Neighbors
The excellent second quarter export and growth results reported by Germany have set that country at an increasing, and increasingly dangerous, distance from the other members of the European Union.

By William Pfaff

The excellent second quarter export and growth results reported by Germany have set that country at an increasing, and increasingly dangerous, distance from the other members of the European Union.

Related Entries

• August 10, 2010 Lobbying Is About Getting Nothing Done
• August 9, 2010 Despite New Cuts, Obama Will Spend More than Bush on Military

Breakthrough Test for Alzheimer’s
Researchers say they have developed a 100 percent accurate spinal tap test for the brain disease. Brain scans, too, have become a potentially important tool in diagnosing the disease. The new tests are significant because Alzheimer’s can begin more than a decade before symptoms show up and because there is hope that new drugs could be effective. New York Times: The new study included more than 300 patients in their 70s, 114 with normal memories, 200 with memory problems and 102 with Alzheimer’s disease. Their spinal fluid was analyzed for amyloid beta, a protein fragment that forms plaques in the brain, and for tau, a protein that accumulates in dead and dying nerve cells in the brain. To avoid bias, the researchers analyzing the data did not know anything about the clinical status of the subjects. Also, the subjects were not told what the tests showed. Nearly every person with Alzheimer’s had the characteristic spinal fluid protein levels. Nearly three quarters of people with mild cognitive impairment, a memory impediment that can precede Alzheimer’s, had Alzheimer’s-like spinal fluid proteins. And every one of those patients with the proteins developed Alzheimer’s within five years. And about a third of people with normal memories had spinal fluid indicating Alzheimer’s. Researchers suspect that those people will develop memory problems. Read more

Researchers say they have developed a 100 percent accurate spinal tap test for the brain disease. Brain scans, too, have become a potentially important tool in diagnosing the disease. The new tests are significant because Alzheimer’s can begin more than a decade before symptoms show up and because there is hope that new drugs could be effective.

New York Times:

The new study included more than 300 patients in their 70s, 114 with normal memories, 200 with memory problems and 102 with Alzheimer’s disease. Their spinal fluid was analyzed for amyloid beta, a protein fragment that forms plaques in the brain, and for tau, a protein that accumulates in dead and dying nerve cells in the brain. To avoid bias, the researchers analyzing the data did not know anything about the clinical status of the subjects. Also, the subjects were not told what the tests showed.

Nearly every person with Alzheimer’s had the characteristic spinal fluid protein levels. Nearly three quarters of people with mild cognitive impairment, a memory impediment that can precede Alzheimer’s, had Alzheimer’s-like spinal fluid proteins. And every one of those patients with the proteins developed Alzheimer’s within five years. And about a third of people with normal memories had spinal fluid indicating Alzheimer’s. Researchers suspect that those people will develop memory problems.

Read more

Related Entries

• August 10, 2010 Lobbying Is About Getting Nothing Done
• August 9, 2010 Despite New Cuts, Obama Will Spend More than Bush on Military

Olbermann Takes White House To Task For Seeming Like ‘Amateur Left’ (VIDEO)
Keith Olbermann isn’t sure that he’s part of the “professional left,” a term used in a moment of frustration by White House Press Secretary Robert…

Linda McMahon Defeats Rob Simmons In GOP Senate Primary
(AP) – Former wrestling executive Linda McMahon has fended off a late challenge from former Congressman Rob Simmons to win the Republican endorsement for Connecticut’s…

Jeff Danziger: General Petreaus Sells the War

Beck, Geller push falsehood that Ground Zero “mosque” will open on September 11

Glenn Beck and Pamela Geller advanced the false claim that the New York City Islamic cultural center will open on September 11, 2011. In fact, both the executive director of one of the groups spearheading the project, as well as the Imam involved, have flatly denied that the center is slated to open on September 11.

Beck, Geller, push falsehood that “Ground Zero mosque” will open on 9/11

Beck: “You want to open [the center] on September 11th? You’re a fool.”* On the August 10 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, guest Glenn Beck acknowledged that “we have no right to stop” the building of the center, but said it is “in extraordinarily bad taste, I think it’s foolish, I think it’s a slap in the face to do it,” and added, “You want to open it on September 11? You’re a fool. You’re insulting people, but we have no right to stop you.”* 

Geller promoting ads which suggest the center will open on September 11, 2001. Atlas Shrugs blogger Pamela Geller Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, one of the organizations spearheading the project, called the allegation “absolutely false.” Khan also said, in a statement:

We are in the preliminary planning stages of the center and the timeline has yet to be determined..

We do agree with Ms. Palin and others that it is time to heal from the wounds of the tragic events of 9/11. We peace- loving Muslims have a responsibility to lead the effort of rebuilding Lower Manhattan. We envision a community center for multi-faith collaboration that is focused on promoting integration, tolerance of difference and community cohesion.

Imam Rauf reportedly “said the mosque will not open on the anniversary of 9/11.” On May 26, Newsday reported that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Imam involved in the project, “said the mosque will not open on the anniversary of 9/11, and that it will take between 18 months and three years before the money is raised to open the center at the old Burlington Coat Factory building on Park Place, which was damaged on 9/11. Rauf said the building will either be demolished, or renovated depending on a pending landmark status application.”

* Text edited

Gates Announces Big Cuts To Contractor Funding
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in announcing new cost-saving measures for the Pentagon, said the DOD will dramatically cut funding for service support contractors, by 10 percent each year for the next three years.



Robert Gates – Iraq – United States Secretary of Defense – Pentagon – Afghanistan

Senate Punts Again On Settlement For African American Farmers
The Senate tried twice yesterday to pass the Pigford II settlement, a $1.15 billion authorization for African-American farmers who were discriminated against by the USDA. The Senate failed, twice — and now the authorization will have to wait until September, when senators return from recess.



United States Senate – African American – United States – United States Department of Agriculture – U.S. Senate

Despite Moratorium, Drilling Contractors Keep Workers On The Payroll
Transocean, the largest offshore drilling contractor in the Gulf of Mexico, told shareholders last week that it’s keeping all of its employees on the payroll pending the lifting of a deepwater drilling moratorium.


Transocean – Gulf of Mexico – Offshore drilling – Business – Energy

Today’s Quote: Revealing the True Class Differences in America
And it’s no doubt gotten worse since this was written in 1984 — just look at the shabby way the heroic workers who became ill from Ground Zero have been treated: “Every year 100,000 workers are killed or die of work-related accidents or disease; 400,000 are disabled; 6 million are hurt at work. In The Working-Class […]

Second Overtime in Georgia
With 99% of the votes counted in Georgia’s Republican run off for governor, former Rep. Nathan Deal (R) holds a 0.2% advantage over Karen Handel (R) with military ballots still to be counted later this week, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

Lamont Loses in Connecticut
Despite leading the Democratic race for Connecticut governor for months, netroots favorite Ned Lamont (D) lost the nomination to Dan Malloy (D) in a stunning upset.

Hartford Courant: “The defeat was a major blow to Lamont’s political aspirations as he has now lost two statewide elections in four years. The entrepreneur burst onto the political stage with his defeat of U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in the August 2006 Democratic primary, but he lost to Lieberman in the general election. Lamont, the great-grandson of the partner of the legendary financier J.P. Morgan, spent about $17 million of his own money against Lieberman and another $9 million against Malloy, although the final amount had not been tabulated.”

White House Spokesman Apologizes After Saying ‘Professional Left’ Should Be Drug Tested
Obama’s aide Robert Gibbs backtracked after claiming the left "wouldn’t be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president."

Obama's aide Robert Gibbs backtracked after claiming the left "wouldn't be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president."

The Right-Wing Hardliner Immigration Approach Would Create a Police State — Is That What Those Supposed Freedom Lovers Want?
Immigration in America would take a disastrous course if the ‘enforcement only’ crowd kept getting its way. And Americans would have to suffer for it.

Immigration in America would take a disastrous course if the 'enforcement only' crowd kept getting its way. And Americans would have to suffer for it.

How the Military Destroys the Lives of Soldiers Who Try to Tell the Truth
Bradley Manning is not the first military whistleblower to have his life ruined. The military is infamous for trying to silence soldiers who speak out against the war.

Bradley Manning is not the first military whistleblower to have his life ruined. The military is infamous for trying to silence soldiers who speak out against the war.

Right-Wing Digg Scheme Just One Example of Widespread Effort to Censor Progressive Media
Last week we revealed that conservatives gamed Digg.com to stifle progressive ideas. "DiggGate" is merely one example of ultra-conservative groups censoring opposing ideas.

Last week we revealed that conservatives gamed Digg.com to stifle progressive ideas. "DiggGate" is merely one example of ultra-conservative groups censoring opposing ideas.

Jeffrey Goldberg Probes Israel’s Iran Strike Option: Is Netanyahu a “Bomber Boy”?
In an important article titled “The Point of No Return” to be published in The Atlantic tomorrow, national correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg recounts something many people didn’t realize at the time and still have a hard time believing. President George W….


Iran – United States – Jeffrey Goldberg – Middle East – Barack Obama

We’re Even Deeper In The Hole
The economy is still in a deep hole, and we’re not climbing out. Remember, we need 125,000 new jobs per month simply to keep up with the growth of the American population seeking jobs. But according to this morning’s job’s…



Employment – Business – Job Search – Population – Bureau of Labor Statistics

REPORT: Whitman?s Economic Plan Blows A Hole In California?s Budget, Reduces Jobs And Services

In an interview yesterday, California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman (R) said “what I want to convince voters of is I am the very best person to fix the economy in California.” “I am not actually a politician. I am a businessperson. I have created jobs, I have met budgets, I have done, figured out how to do more with less, and that is actually a really important thing for the state right now,” she said.

However, according to a new Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis by Michael Reich, an Economics Professor at The University of California at Berkeley, Whitman’s economic plan — outlined in Meg 2010, Building a New California — is “likely to have negative effects on jobs and economic growth and to deepen the state’s budget crisis.”

“She claims to have a plan that’s very detailed and based on careful research. But it really isn’t careful at all, and it’s misguided,” Reich said. “It has a lot of incorrect assumptions. A lot of studies she draws on are useless or kind of misleading and don’t agree with well-accepted economic research.” Whitman’s plan consists of:

– Tax cuts for wealthy people and businesses — including eliminating the state’s capital gains tax — which would “reduce the state’s economic growth while exacerbating the state’s budget deficit problem.”

– Eliminating climate change regulations, which “could bring positive harm to the environment, would sharply reduce clean-tech venture capital spending in the state, and would reduce employment.”

– Spending cuts that “would have negative consequences on employment.”

Whitman likes to make a big show of her determination to cut spending, stating that “I have identified $15 billion worth of spending cuts that we can go after over a couple of years.” However, the California budget deficit for the coming fiscal year alone stands at $20 billion, and it’s only going to grow if her tax cut plan is implemented.

According to Reich, the state will lose $6-$10 billion in revenue depending on how Whitman implements her tax plan. And her spending plan “does not specify” where most of her proposed budget cuts will fall. But since most of California’s general fund spending is in education, health and human services, and prisons, it stands to reason that those areas would see the most severe budget cutbacks.

A group of 20 California economists signed a letter today stating that “the evidence and theory that Whitman uses to diagnose California’s problems are unscientific and an unsound basis for policy. As a result, her diagnosis and her proposed economic policies are both deeply flawed…If implemented, Whitman’s program would worsen California’s budget malaise and its economic performance.”

Cross-posted on The Wonk Room.