The Hollywood Liberal

Republicans press Obama to recall ambassador to Syria

Republicans are intensifying pressure on the Obama administration to recall its ambassador to Syria, arguing that the U.S. policy of engagement has done nothing to stop President Bashar al-Assad’s government from cracking down on protesters.

On Monday, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, became the latest Republican to call for Ambassador Robert Ford to come home. Sens. John Thune (S.D.) and Jon Kyl (Ariz.) have also said that Ford should be recalled.

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Gay-marriage advocates in Md. urge O’Malley to step up role

With New York’s embrace of same-sex marriage last week, advocates of gay nuptials in Maryland are pressing Gov. Martin O’Malley to play a more vigorous role as state lawmakers prepare to push the issue again.

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, another Democrat whose national profile is on the rise, is widely credited with getting a bill through his divided legislature with a well-funded lobbying campaign to persuade conflicted lawmakers.

In Maryland, O’Malley supported a similar measure that fell short during this year’s legislative session but, unlike Cuomo, largely limited his advocacy to private conversations.

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Which Petraeus will arrive at the CIA: The officer or the gentleman?

When David H. Petraeus arrives in September at the CIA’s Langley headquarters, what sort of man will show up to become the intelligence agency’s 20th director, the fourth in the last seven years?

At last week’s Senate confirmation hearing, Petraeus was a uniformed, be-ribboned four-star general whom Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) described as a “kind of a superstar on the military and intellectual force side.” A man who when asked by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence pre-hearing questionnaire to list honors and awards — including “military decorations, civilian service citations or any other special recognition for outstanding performance or achievement” — referenced 43 medals, 10 badges and 42 awards.

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Obama Says Everything — and Nothing
Joseph Curl, Washington Times
What on Earth is President Obama talking about? The short answer is everything – and nothing.The most cerebral president in America’s history – yes, much smarter than Madison, Jefferson, Adams, any of the Founding Fathers, to hear the mainstream media gush – is suddenly sounding like a community college dropout.

New York-Style Marriage
James Antle, The American Spectator
After days of being just one vote away, the New York statelegislature passed a bill late Friday night allowing marriagelicenses to be issued to same-sex couples. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signedthe measure into law, prompting Philip Klein to quip,”So a lot has changed since [the] current NY governor's dad ran the 'Vote for Cuomo Not the Homo' campaign.A lot has changed indeed. As recently as the 1990s, the beliefthat marriage was anything but a union between a man and a womanwas a fringe position. A huge bipartisan congressional majoritypassed and Democratic President Bill Clinton…

No Way to Use America’s Oil Stockpile

Obama Has 300,000 Small Donors
President Obama’s next major fundraising filing will show a dramatic increase in the number of small donors this year compared to 2008, his campaign said Saturday. “We had 180,000 contributors at this point in the last campaign; now it’s well over 300,000,” said spokesman Ben LaBolt.

Early Morning Swim

• Little late, guys.
• Michele Bachmann, welfare queen.
• Headed for a double-dip?
• Oh, that’s where the recovery went.
• The GOP, always looking out for the little guy.

• Little late, guys.
• Michele Bachmann, welfare queen.
• Headed for a double-dip?
• Oh, that’s where the recovery went.
• The GOP, always looking out for the little guy.

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Late, Late Night FDL: Shine
Collective Soul – Shine

Collective Soul – Shine

As you’re reading this I should be situated atop of Mauna Kea…! I’ll try and wave aloha at one of the Keck webcams for ya! Rest assured that Heaven’s light is ‘shining down on me’ right now…!

Be gentle with the Hostess with the Mostest, and, I thank her for graciously volunteering to keep ya’ll company tonite…! I do hope to pop in during the thread, if not… Aloha Ya’ll, and I hope to see ya Monday nite…!

What’s on your mind tonite…?

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Outrage begins at home
Bad weekend for opponents of human rights…in various forms.

Over the last few years I’ve grown interested in sports other than the ones I grew up not being good at — switching my interest to those in which I never had a chance to be bad at. Like soccer.

Yesterday the 2011 Women’s World Cup opened in Germany and the first match was between France and Nigeria, and I had a good reason to cheer for France.

For the past two years the Nigerian Football Federation has conducted a witch-hunt to kick women off the national team who were suspected of being gay. And the team’s coach just bragged to the New York Times that she has dealt with “the big problem” of lesbianism.

Of course that is outrageous, but the condemnation of Nigeria is tempered by the fact among the largest benefactors of American soccer is Phillip Anschutz who has literally spent millions fighting to restrict the rights of gays and lesbians in this country.

Nigeria lost by the way…and happily it was a bad weekend for Anschutz and his millions too.

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War and Peace

By Daryl Cagle, Cagle Cartoons, MSNBC.com

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Michele Bachmann: Nothing ‘Personal’ Against Obama, ‘But He’s Just Wrong’
WATERLOO, Iowa — Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann said Sunday her bid to unseat President Barack Obama shouldn’t be viewed as “anything personal” against the Democrat…

Full 1984 Grand Jury Report Undermines Threat Of Voter Impersonation
An election law expert who is writing a book on the wars over voting rights has gotten a copy of a report on a 1984 court case involving the only known case of voter impersonation in the past several decades and says it undermines the arguments of voter ID supporters.

Anti-Islam Dutch Politician Cleared Of Hate Speech Charges
Former Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders was cleared of all five charges in the Netherlands on Thursday, where he had faced up to a year in prison for allegedly inciting violence through his anti-Islam rhetoric.

A hard-boiled choice for a school kid
The new special collectors edition cigarette packs with photos on them came out recently, but since the World’s Laziest Journalist doesn’t smoke, we are not going to be buying them. Their debut did remind us of how a long ago opportunity to get started on the cigarette addiction boiled down to an odd choice: […]

Three Ways to Run for President
John Avlon: “There are three ways to run for president these days. The first is to run to promote yourself. The second is to run to promote ideas. The third is to actually run for president of the United States. The Republican presidential hopefuls running on this old-fashioned third notion are a distinct minority. And that says a lot about the state of our politics: bread and circuses meets reality TV.”

Christie Opposes Gay Marriage
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said on Meet the Press that he would not follow New York and pass a law to allow same sex marriage.

Said Christie: “In our state, we’re going to continue to pursue civil unions. I am not a fan of same-sex marriage. It’s not something that I support.”

Bachmann Launches Campaign Today
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) “is set to formally kick off her presidential campaign Monday at 9:00 a.m. from her birthplace of Waterloo, Iowa,” Minnesota Public Radio reports.

“After Bachmann makes her announcement, she heads to the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina.”

Mark Halperin: “Bachmann is for real. The Des Moines Register poll and her very polished Sunday show appearances tee up her announcement tour in a special way. The left will say she is whitewashing her record, but it won’t matter for most of her supporters. She is clearly taking the advice of her advisers to heart, and building on her strong New Hampshire debate and RLC performances by stressing the economy and those parts of her record that are mainstream. She is counting on her base being with her, even as she pulls her punches on past controversial statements; her almost sole focus now is on reaching out to the middle. Pending the entry of Rick Perry and/or Sarah Palin, the case can be made that Bachmann has a better chance than anyone else to knock off Mitt Romney. It is a slam-dunk that the Waterloo native will get a rousing reception on Monday. Watch more closely how she does on her New Hampshire and (especially) her South Carolina stops. If she lights up the board in those places, watch out.”

Right Too Soon, Again
In the fall of 1970, a newly-minted graduate student at the University of Toronto, I was hired by the Canadian Zionist Federation to be its representative on campus. My first (actually, pretty much my only)?achievement in that position was to…

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Riding White Water Economics Without Paddles and Rudder
This morning I’m sitting in the Coffee Cat in Easton, Maryland. Frederick Douglass was born nine miles from here. The great former US Senator Birch Bayh — who led on Title IX education for women and got 18 year olds…