The Hollywood Liberal

Airport security uproar frustrates White House advisers
For a White House often accused of being lax on national security, the uproar over invasive security techniques at airports is a head-snapping swing in the other direction.

Federal Eye: Pistole the latest official to send mixed messages
Obama administration officials spent the weekend sharing different comments on airport security, the latest example of the president and Cabinet secretaries sending mixed messages on policy or politics to the American public.

Michelle Obama names Schake as communications director
First Lady Michelle Obama has named Kristina Schake as her new communications director, filling a position that had been vacant since August.

Anti-Earmark Amendment Cedes Power to White House

The Day Margaret Thatcher Resigned
Charles Moore, The Telegraph
Twenty years ago this morning, having slept on the matter, Margaret Thatcher got up and decided to resign. At 7.30, she rang her principal private secretary and got the process rolling.At 9am, in a tearful session, she announced her resignation to the Cabinet. The news was put out at 9.25, and the Cabinet then turned to normal business. At 12.45, she went to see the Queen.And then, in great British parliamentary tradition, Mrs Thatcher had to continue almost as if nothing had happened. It was a Thursday, so the then twice-weekly Prime Minister’s Questions fell that…

For NBC Sale, Tensions Rise in Washington

The Politics of Avoidance
Robert Samuelson, Newsweek
WASHINGTON — America's budget problem boils down to a simple question: How much will we let programs for the elderly displace other government functions — national defense, education, transportation and many others — and raise taxes to levels that would, almost certainly, reduce economic growth? What's depressing is that this question has been obvious for decades but our political leaders have consistently evaded it. This includes and indicts Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals and every president since Jimmy Carter, particularly Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who…

The Liberal Crisis
John Podhoretz, Commentary
The defeat of Russ Feingold in the November 2 election has unexpectedly provided the most uncompromisingly left-wing Democrat in the U.S. Senate with a new job opportunity—that of candidate for the presidency of the United States. Feingold hinted in his concession speech on election night that he might challenge Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries. “It’s on to 2012,” Feingold said, “and it is on to our next adventure.”The next day, a spokesman said that Feingold had “no interest” in running for the…

Groping for Thee, not for me
Yet another comparative nightmare of the TSA.

John Boehner, artist’s interpretation via maistora at flickr.com

Yet another Gate-rape horror story.

Sawyer is a bladder cancer survivor who now wears a urostomy bag, which collects his urine from a stoma, or opening in his stomach…

…“One agent watched as the other used his flat hand to go slowly down my chest. I tried to warn him that he would hit the bag and break the seal on my bag, but he ignored me. Sure enough, the seal was broken and urine started dribbling down my shirt and my leg and into my pants.”

Humiliated, upset and wet, Sawyer said he had to walk through the airport soaked in urine, board his plane and wait until after takeoff before he could clean up.

Meanwhile, for ‘America’s Apricot Everyman’:

Mr. Boehner headed across the Potomac River to Ronald Reagan National Airport, which was bustling with afternoon travelers. There was no waiting for Mr. Boehner, who was escorted around the identification-checking agents, the metal detectors and the body scanners, and whisked directly to the gate.

Humiliation for you, but nobody will touch John Boehner’s Orange Julius.

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Late, Late Night FDL: Can You Tell
Ra Ra Riot - Can You Tell; The Clientele - Bookshop Casanova

Ra Ra Riot – Can You Tell

The Clientele – Bookshop Casanova

What’s on your mind tonite…?

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Touch My Junk: Body Scans and Pat-Downs for Everyone
To paraphrase the government’s reaction to the backlash against new airport screening measures, “We hear you. Tough it up.”

To paraphrase the government’s reaction to the backlash against new airport screening measures, “We hear you. Tough it up.”

Related Entries

• November 22, 2010 Power and the Tiny Acts of Rebellion
• November 21, 2010 Touch My Junk: Body Scans and Pat-Downs for Everyone

John Ensign Could Be In Big Trouble In 2012
If Sen. John Ensign began last week with a declaration of his 2012 candidacy that earned him more raised eyebrows than ravenous applause, he got…

Jim DeMint Still Fighting To Keep Lisa Murkowski From Senate
Even as DeMint says he would welcome fellow Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski back to the Senate, the South Carolinian is still urging conservative activists around…

Texas Bill Revives Debate Over 10 Commandments Displays
State Rep. Dan Flynn hopes to ensure that any Texas teacher who wants to can display the Ten Commandments in a classroom….

Robert Kuttner: Saving Progressivism From Obama
If politics continues on its present course, about the best one might expect for 2012 is that the Republicans will nominate such a nut-case that Obama will stagger to re-election. But unless he is re-elected with a mandate to carry out drastically different policies, we can anticipate continued economic pain and continuing drift of the electorate to the right. So what is the alternative? My audacious hope is that progressives can move from disillusion to action and offer the kind of political movement and counter-narrative that the president should have been leading.

Sharron Angle Camp BLASTED By GOP Official: Advisor Would Play Role In ‘Dumb And Dumber’ Sequel
“In the 20 years that I’ve been involved politically, I’ve never had the misfortune of working with such sheer, utter incompetence. Too much is at…

Conservatives Approve Interim Report Slamming DOJ On New Black Panther Case
The conservative majority of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights today voted to approve what they are now calling an “interim” report on the Justice Department’s handling of the voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party.

Feds Bust Alleged Sharia Ponzi Scheme In Chicago
Three men have been indicted for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme and stealing $43 million from investors who thought they were putting their money in a Sharia-compliant investment strategy.

Thank a Republican in Advance!

Quote of the Day
“I will not vote for a single piece of legislation that I can’t reconcile with the text and the original understanding of the U.S. Constitution… I’ll do it every single time regardless of what the precedent says.”

— Sen.-elect Mike Lee (R-UT), quoted by NBC News.

Buffett Says Rich Should Pay More
Billonaire investor Warren Buffett said the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich should be allowed to expire at the end of the year, the Financial Times reports, “adding that, if anything, the wealthiest Americans should pay even more in taxes.”

He also “scotched suggestions, promoted by Republicans, that extending tax cuts for the rich would lead to more investment and have a multiplier effect across the economy at a time when growth remains insipid.”

Said Buffett: “The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we’ll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on.”