The Hollywood Liberal

Government Should Increase Fuel Mileage Standards

Is This the Euro’s Last Stand?
Michael Schuman, Time
Who has time for pleasantries when the fate of Europe and the global economy is at stake? After Mario Monti, an economist with little experience in the rough world of Italian politics, was sworn in as the country's new Prime Minister on Nov. 16, German Chancellor Angela Merkel sent him a congratulatory letter that minced no words. With Italy, the euro zone's third largest economy, gripped in a debt crisis, Europe was counting on him to repair his country and save the euro from disaster. “There are many hopes and expectations set on you,” she wrote. “It would behoove…

Team Obama Maps Out Path to Victory
Benjy Sarlin, Talking Points Memo
President Obama sure looked like a two-term president in November 2008 as he presided over an electoral map more dominant than many thought possible after two ultra-polarized contests in 2000 and 2004. But with a weak economy that shows little signs of serious improvement before election day, things are going to be a whole lot tougher this time around. Will his wide playing field from 2008 hold up again four years later?The good news for Obama is that even though he’s heading for a tough fight, few of his 2008 swing states have moved off the board entirely. Indiana, a narrow and…

No Excusing Obama’s Solyndra Scandal

Late Late Night FDL: Merry Christmas From The Family
Robert Earl Keen — Merry Christmas From The Family.

Robert Earl Keen — Merry Christmas From The Family.

What’s on your mind?

?

Egyptian Military Leaders: Sorry, but We’re Not Going Anywhere
Though they expressed their condolences for lives lost during the latest round of protests in Cairo, members of Egypt’s ruling military council refused to change their plans for either Monday’s parliamentary elections or the eventual presidential vote slated for next year. Meanwhile, thousands of protesters stood their ground too in and around the familiar territory of Tahrir Square.  —KA The New York Times: “We will not delay elections. This is the final word,” Gen. Mamdouh Shaheen, a member of the ruling military council told a news conference. Maj. Gen. Mukhtar el-Mallah, another council member, told the news conference that the military would not relinquish power because to do so would be “a betrayal of the trust placed in our hands by the people.” Egyptians must focus on the elections, he said, not on street protests. “We will not relinquish power because of a slogan-chanting crowd,” he said, according to The Associated Press, “Being in power is not a blessing. It is a curse. It’s a very heavy responsibility.” On what had been the front line of the confrontation near the square, army troops in black helmets and visors replaced the police — reviled by many protesters — and a crane lowered cement barricades behind a line of coiled barbed wire to separate the protesters from the Interior Ministry building, near the library of the American University in Cairo. “The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces presents its regrets and deep apologies for the deaths of martyrs from among Egypt’s loyal sons during the recent events in Tahrir Square,” two generals said in a statement on a Facebook page. “The council also offers its condolences to the families of the martyrs across Egypt.” Read more

Though they expressed their condolences for lives lost during the latest round of protests in Cairo, members of Egypt’s ruling military council refused to change their plans for either Monday’s parliamentary elections or the eventual presidential vote slated for next year. Meanwhile, thousands of protesters stood their ground too in and around the familiar territory of Tahrir Square.? —KA

The New York Times:

“We will not delay elections. This is the final word,” Gen. Mamdouh Shaheen, a member of the ruling military council told a news conference.

Maj. Gen. Mukhtar el-Mallah, another council member, told the news conference that the military would not relinquish power because to do so would be “a betrayal of the trust placed in our hands by the people.” Egyptians must focus on the elections, he said, not on street protests.

“We will not relinquish power because of a slogan-chanting crowd,” he said, according to The Associated Press, “Being in power is not a blessing. It is a curse. It’s a very heavy responsibility.”

On what had been the front line of the confrontation near the square, army troops in black helmets and visors replaced the police — reviled by many protesters — and a crane lowered cement barricades behind a line of coiled barbed wire to separate the protesters from the Interior Ministry building, near the library of the American University in Cairo.

“The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces presents its regrets and deep apologies for the deaths of martyrs from among Egypt’s loyal sons during the recent events in Tahrir Square,” two generals said in a statement on a Facebook page. “The council also offers its condolences to the families of the martyrs across Egypt.”

Read more

Related Entries

• November 25, 2011 Europe’s Plight Chills Year-End Market Predictions
• November 25, 2011 Black Friday: The Pepper Spray Holiday

Movies About the Movies: ‘Marilyn’ Charms, ‘The Artist’ Bombs
Basically, I love movies about moviemaking. And basically, Hollywood loves making these movies. They have been a well-established genre since Chaplin was a pup. And a pretty good genre it is—there’s nothing like self-regard to bring out the feverish in people.

Basically, I love movies about moviemaking. And basically, Hollywood loves making these movies. They have been a well-established genre since Chaplin was a pup. And a pretty good genre it is—there’s nothing like self-regard to bring out the feverish in people.

Related Entries

• November 25, 2011 Europe’s Plight Chills Year-End Market Predictions
• November 25, 2011 Black Friday: The Pepper Spray Holiday

Key House Democrat To Retire
Representative Charlie Gonzalez, a seven-term Democrat from Texas, has decided not to run for re-election. According to Roll Call, Gonzalez will make the announcement public…

PHOTOS: The Problem With Mitt’s Hair
Recently, a few laughs have been had over Mitt Romney’s hair (although not as many as Ron Paul’s eyebrows). His ombre sideburns are seen by…

Warren J. Blumenfeld: The True Patriot
I interpret a true Patriot as one who, indeed, loves her or his country, but also one who sees the way things are, and one who works for change to make things better.

Michelle Chen: Washington’s Debt Panic and the Real Social Debt in America
In the wake of the Congressional super committee’s collapse, we finally have consensus on both sides of the aisle: the lawmakers orchestrating the partisan drama are, behind the scenes, happy to collaborate on destroying economic security for all but the wealthiest Americans.

Pat Robertson Asks Black Co-Host: Is Mac And Cheese For Thanksgiving ‘A Black Thing?’
Pat Robertson isn’t sure what the deal is with eating macaroni and cheese on Thanksgiving. You know, the cheesy pasta dish delicious enough for the nation’s kids yet soft and supple enough for its geriatrics (read: Robertson, Pat)….

Watch A Historian Mock GOP Rep. Don Young For Going To Community College
Historian and Professor Doug Brinkley made Alaska Rep. Don Young (R) really really mad during a heated exchange at a House hearing, when Brinkley mocked Young for going to community college.

Life Among the 1 Percent — Thanksgiving for Some Edition

Presented By:

UNESCO: Boycott For Boycott?
The admission of the Palestinian Authority into UNESCO has occasioned a fuss about the American response, the automatic cutting of $70 million in funding to the organization, triggered by existing, AIPAC-inspired Congressional legislation. (M.J. Rosenberg’s good column on the subject…

Mitt’s Mythical Math on Health Care and Defense
All right — I wasn’t going to blog on the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving until someone tweeted me Igor Volsky’s great piece at Think Progress eviscerating Mitt Romney’s assertion that he would save money by cancelling the Obama health plan…

Rick Perry Should Be Thankful For The Federal Health Care Dollars Flowing Into Texas
Politico’s Kate Nocera has a good piece explaining why this holiday season Rick Perry must be thankful for all the federal dollars that flowing into Texas, even if he publicly rails against Washington spending on the campaign trail: More than $380 million in early grants and other aid from the federal health law have already […]

Politico’s Kate Nocera has a good piece explaining why this holiday season Rick Perry must be thankful for all the federal dollars that flowing into Texas, even if he publicly rails against Washington spending on the campaign trail:

More than $380 million in early grants and other aid from the federal health law have already gone to businesses and agencies in the Lone Star State, according to figures from the HHS, and Texas ended up with $17 billion from the stimulus.

Now, the state is waiting for final approval of a new waiver from federal Medicaid rules that could allow the state to draw down an additional $12 billion in funds from the federal government.

And that’s before the main parts of the Affordable Care Act even kick in, which will bring billions of dollars to Texas in extra Medicaid funds and subsidies to help people buy private coverage through a new health insurance exchange.

Indeed, despite the “Washington is overreaching in health care shtick,” Perry is a big believer in bringing back the federal dollars that Texas pays out in taxes: he has asked for and accepted federal stimulus funds for the Medicaid program, is close to securing the state’s 17th Medicaid waiver, has benefited from millions of dollars in grants included in the Affordable Care Act, and will soon expand access to health care for lower-income Texans on Washington’s dime (in accordance with health care reform). So while the governor talks about — and even believes in — allowing states to act as laboratories of democracy and design their own health care systems, his tenure suggests very little of that innovation could be sustained without federal aid.