AutoTune gives us a taste of teh suck of 2009:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2zxtDh0wlM

Given recent developments on both the domestic and international front, it is easy to become dispirited, shaking our heads at many of the decisions of the current Administration and wondering whether all our efforts and hard work were really worth the election of a President who, in retrospect and all too often, seems  far removed from the hopeful agent of change we enthusiastically supported. At what point and by whom were we informed that we should  set aside expectations nurtured by an energetic campaigner’s steady diet of “hope” and “change”  and instead satisfy ourselves with cold plate of “not as bad as the other guy?”

Leaves a bitter aftertaste, doesn’t it? Read more »

I produced the above search results yesterday when researching the Lou Dobbs story. Left such a bad taste in my mouth I though it would be worth sharing in a post all its own. Don’t know why exactly, but it strikes me as somehow emblematic of the worst, dehumanizing tendencies of early 21st century, automated, digital Capitalism.

It is with not a little trepidation that we recommend today’s New York Times column by Maureen Dowd. She of the snarky tongue who adores celebrities so much she wholeheartedly endorsed Arnie for California Governor is often more fluffy than substantive, but in today’s ruminations, we feel, she does an admirable job of nailing the Obama administration’s current malaise right square on its thick head:

It couldn’t have been easy for Craig, a special counsel in the Clinton White House who directed the response on impeachment, to break away from the Clintons and help the insurgent Obama shatter Hillary’s dream of shattering the Oval glass ceiling….

I often wondered if Craig and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, the other former Clinton official who helped undermine Hillary’s foreign policy record, would have done so if they had known that after turning on Hillary they would once more end up working beside her; if they had known that Obama can often be more interested in wooing opponents than tending to those who put themselves on the line for him.

What’s most chilling is that, with Republicans biting the hand every time Obama extends it, the President keeps doing it, even as his loyalists and supporters feel ever more marginalized and ignored.

We’re coming seriously close to souring on this presidency. Where’s the change we were promised?

Serolf Divad wrote this post from a Panera coffee shop, sitting next to a window, watching as a steady rain drizzled from a gray and dispiriting sky.

[ CNN Flash video not available. ]

Step aside Father, Son and Holy ghost. There’s a new Holy Trinity in town and their names are Palin, Bachmann and Prejean:

Read more »

WTF?

At least seven people are dead and 12 wounded in a shooting at Fort Hood in Texas, the base’s public affairs office told NBC News on Thursday.

The official would not give his name nor additional details. It was unknown whether victims are soldiers or civilians. One gunman was reportedly in custody and another was on the loose, NBC News said.

NBC affiliate KCEN in Waco reported that the second suspect may be holed up in a building on the post.

[MSNBC]

Rep. Alan Grayson (D – Outraged) is not backing down. Not only does Congress’ most passionate promoter of health care reform refuse to apologize for calling out obstructionist Republicans who are standing in the way of meaningful reform, but yesterday the Florida Democrat held a “Roll Call of the Dead” to highlight the number of people who are expected to die in each GOP member’s disctrict next year as a direct consequence of a lack of affordable health insurance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD4rOkq9fUo

This is the sort of man the Democratic party, and yea… even America herself, needs right now.

(Via: Democratic Underground)

(Update: Huffington Post has the whole, three part speech)