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Showing posts from January, 2010

Sports Sunday Thread #1 For 1/31/10: And It Continues (2010 Australian Open Men's Final Review)

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Last year, Roger Federer was on the end crying in despair for whole world to see. Today, he was the reason why Andy Murray shed tears of pain. Just like his 360 degree reversal between Wimbledon 2008 and 2009, Federer turned around his 12 month disheartening misfortunate in Melbourne into satisfying redemption by defeating Murray 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (13-11) to capture his 4th Australian Open and record 16th Grand Slam title. And in the process, he passed the bug of sullen anguish toward the Scot, denied a second time by the legendary Swiss at ending Grand Slam anguish for himself and for Great Britain. "I can cry as well as Roger, shame I can't play as well as Roger" uttered the dejected Scot in full lachrymose mode in the post-match speeches. And that inability to play as well as Roger was thanks to a serve that was lacking and an inability to be effectively aggressive when he had to be nothing short of that. Murray waited too late to crush his backhand and forehand,

TWD's Saturday Music Thread For 1/30/10- The New Videos

Notable new videos from this week. Mos Def's "White Drapes." Nick Cannon's wife with Lil Kim's downsyndrome wannabe in "Up Out My Face". It's an actual enjoyable song: That wasn't the only new release from Mariah, as her song with Ne-Yo "Angels Cry" also premiered. Ne-Yo sure is on a straight string of O.D. emotionally driven sides. Typical cliche' duet. Usher with "Hey Daddy", form an album a long forgotten about....Man, did that album do terrible. And finally, a nice little song from 4 Troops called "For Freedom" There were other new videos, but you can certainly find them on the millions of other sites. The new videos on TWD Saturday.

The Saturday Open Thread #1 For 1/30/10

Oh De La Soul (even though it is much warmer in this video than it is in the Northeast), "It's Saturday, Saturday, Saturday." Al Franken, introducing another meaningful bill at the perfect time . Since 1974, federal law has banned foreign companies from giving or spending in American elections. Nothing in our current laws, however, explicitly prohibits foreign companies from creating American subsidiaries or getting control of American companies and using them to flood the airwaves in support of their preferred candidates. Citizens United gives companies unlimited power to do that - and does not distinguish between American companies and companies that are owned or controlled by foreign interests. "I was pleased to hear the President recognize the need for this bill in his address last night," said Sen. Franken. "I think we can all agree that foreign interests have no place in American elections." The "American Elections Act of 2010"

Sports Saturday Thread #1 For 1/30/10: Now That's "G" (2010 Australian Open Women's Finals Review)

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Usually when a professional athlete cryptically draws attention to one of his or her sponsors, it can usually be a frivilous moment not having anything to do with what they accomplished. But when Serena Williams told the crowd in the post match awards ceremony at Rod Laver Arena today "I had a real G moment", it was a statement to one of her corporate backers that certainly fit the bill (and the future check). Gatorade's catchmark phrase of the current time represented the way the younger Williams sister willed herself to a terrific 12th Grand Slam title, defeating her comeback rival Justin Henin in a topsy turvy 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 match to defend her Australian Open title for the first time. Seemingly weary and reeling from letting the dogged, diminutive Belgian back into the match by losing her seemingly straight set victory in the second set, the world number one added to her legacy as one capable of rising to the ultimate occasion like few other. 15-40 down, 0-1 do

Friday Night Open Thread (Into Saturday AM) For 1/29-30/10:

ESPN will find it hard to top this sports report: The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Sport Report - All-White Basketball & Jana Rawlinson www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Economy And from the usually brilliant Charlie Brooker, this video is perfect. Peace.....

The Flashback Friday #2 For 1/29/10: Shanice- I Love Your Smile (1991)

This probably maybe brought back for next week's Flashback Friday, since it was selected late in the day. Anyway, here is the long forgotten (but always terrific in my mind) Shanice and her song "I Love Your Smile" from 1991. For fans of her, believe it or not, but she is only 36 years old right now. Your second selection for the Flashback Friday. Enjoy, especially if you aren't familiar with this song.

The Cinema For 1/29/10: Gibson Returns And Another Candidate For Worst Movie Of The Year

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The Cinema is back: Back to being his quality angry self And so is Mel Gibson, as he is a Boston detective trying to find out who murdered his daughter in "Edge of Darkness" The reaction to this movie is almost 50/50. Half like it, and half don't like it. Richard Roeper gave it a solid "B". However, the Globe and Mail's Liam Lacey didn't feel that the directing of the movie matched the quality writing . But he did highlight how an apoplectic Gibson is better than any other verison of him: The dialogue is noticeably above par thanks to A-list screenwriters William Monahan (The Departed) and Andrew Bovell (Lantana). From them we get the Gibson line, “You’d better decide whether you’re hanging on the cross or banging in the nails.” Or Winstone’s fatalistic observation: “We live a while, and then we die sooner than we planned." Smart dialogue doesn’t extend to the movie's structure – it grows more wobbly as it progresses, suffering, per

But Who Cares About More Lies About An Illegal War Coming Out

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You wouldn't know if all your source of news came from the American television media, but the two month British inquiry into the illegal Iraq war hit another dramatic point today, as Tony Blair took the mic to explain his lies . The statements that Blair made where truly outrageous: In a robust defence of his decision to back war, Mr Blair said Saddam was a "monster and I believe he threatened not just the region but the world." He said Iraqis were now better off and he would take the same decisions again. Yes, the country that you invaded along with The Shrub and his boss Cheney is left better off despite the killing of hundreds of thousands Iraqis and the countless millions that are refugees in that nation. It is a shame that most in America won't have any clue of the crimes there were committed under the last Administration. And though this inquiry won't lead to any prosecution of these war criminals that have taken apart in this questioning, at leas

Sports Thread #1 For 1/29/10: Kurt Warner Retires

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After a 12 year career filled with an unbelievable rise from nowhere, a fall into journeyman status, only to stunningly reemerged as one of the game's elite again, Kurt Warner has decide to retire from the National Football League. Though Warner's prominence with the St. Louis Rams lead to that improbable championship 10 years ago in Super Bowl XXXIV, probably more impressive in many people's minds was his ability to revive his seemingly declining career by being another struggling franchise to prominence. Thought of as a mentor to Matt Leinart's development, Warner out of nowhere refound his "Greatest Show on Turf" form to lead the Arizona Cardinals within a remarkable Pittsburgh Steelers drive of winning last year's Super Bowl. Now all the pressure will be on Matt Leinart to perform in order to keep the Cardinals franchise to the high place that Warner has helped place it.

Midday Energy Boost For 1/29/10: What Happened Since The Last Post

Yeah, that was an intellectual mismatch like few others . But it isn't surprising though. The murderer of George Tiller, Scott Roeder, has been found guilty of first degree murder. As long as you have the trial somewhere else, it is no big deal or any deal that the KSM trial may not happen in NYC. The more important question is whether the trial will be a just one instead of the military commissions that linger on its head. And Queen Birther is running for office ! The Miscellaneous Never too early nowadays . The different covers over the years of the now late J.D. Salinger's " The Catcher In The Rye ." Speaking of which, a majority of the folks thinking about Salinger's passing are phony . Exactly Like many other media experts , Varian said he was skeptical that readers would or should be willing to pay for news online. (As of last week, the New York Times is banking you will.) But he provided a novel explanation for why, exactly, people wo

The Flashback Friday #1 For 1/29/10: Wu-Tang Clan- C.R.E.A.M (1993)

Nothing needs to be said any further. Your first Flashback of the week:

The Sleep Time Thread For 1/28-29/10: A Historic Rick Rolled

I didn't see this coming, but it was probably seen by many. Mirimax films appears to be no more (and definitely in its original form it is no more). If Nintendo Wii was a music album, it would 67 times platinum . Ferrari is joining the hybrid world . Let him be, let him be . Vegetables and fruits with a lot less nutrients than before ? Yup. Expect Beck to call Apple Fascist . And Nexfix is apparently scared of net neutrality rules . To Tevin, goodnight.

Sports Thread For 1/28/10: The Snubs That Should Have Been Subs

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Al Horford is an important palyer for Hawks, but he wasn't that important enough to be on the All-Star team in my mind The reserves where announced tonight for the NBA All-Star Game in Dallas. Only two guys really didn't deserve their place on the team. For the EAST : Al Horford making it over teammate Josh Smith and David Lee is an absolute joke. Coaches seriously haven't been watching the games if they thought Horford was worthy of an All-Star nod over a guy averaging 19 and 11. The only thing that you can clearly say Horford is better than Lee at is defense, but it isn't enough to choose him over the Knicks lone post presence. And the Smith/Joe Johnson combination are still the two most important players on the Hawks. For The West : If Chris Kaman missed as many games as Paul Gasol did, then no one would even be thinking of him. But if Chris Kaman didn't miss many games and still played well, then, he would not be thought of enough to be picked over t

The Cinema Trailers For 1/28/10: Perfect Timing

And so fitting that Fox backs it........Wall Street 2 is coming: Then again, with all that we have seen over the last few years, we have been watching plenty of real life Gordon Gekkos.

It's Okay If He Broke The Law, As Long As He Wasn't Wiretapping!

A lot of people today have been talking about the shoutfest that was nutcase Andrew Breitbart getting grilled by MSNBC's David Shuster at 3 PM today. Breitbart's defense of his lackey James O'Keefe's serious actions by trying to frame the discussion as "Ha, it wasn't wire tapping, so you Shuster and the rest of the media have failed and smeared him unjustly " was expected. And Shuster should have known he was going to provide a craven lunatic a platform to make it as messy and "You decide-ish" as Breitbart did in my mind. What makes Breitbart's desperate attempts for a pushback (and anything that O'Keefe and his spy partners in fail) so futile and ridiculous is one thing that one Ms. Wheeler simply explains: Aside from all the yelling, what I find notable about this is the way Breitbart succeeds in preventing Shuster from explaining what O’Keefe has been charged with: entering US property “for the purpose of willfully and maliciousl

Music Thread For 1/28/10: "Hope For Haiti" Album Makes Histoy

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Making history for an important cause The "Hope For Haiti Now" charity album debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 171,000 sold according to Nielsen SoundScan, becoming the first digital-exclusive set to top the tally in its nearly 54-year history. The MTV Networks compilation, featuring performances culled from last Friday's (Jan. 22) massive "Hope For Haiti Now" telethon, only reached digital distributors over the weekend, making its sales number all the more impressive. SoundScan's sales tracking week ends at the close of business each Sunday, so "Hope for Haiti's" brisk sales came from no more than two full days. And get this: With "Hope for Haiti's" debut of 171,000 following 100,000-plus starts at No. 1 from Ke$ha's "Animal" (152,000) and Vampire Weekend's "Contra" (124,000), it's the first time since 2005 that the first three tracking weeks of the year had an album that sold at

Bernanke Renominated

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Amazing how they could get a vote so fast for Mr. Bernanke but now on health....well, we know the deal. A little surprising is how definitive the voting for his renomination has been. At least 70 votes for the man who played a part in our economy almost going six feet under. Just last Friday, his nomination seemed to hang in the balance. Now, he is drinking some good lemonade, as 77-23 is the cloture total for his renomination . And 70-30 is the final total overall . David Dayen with the overall numbers UPDATE IV: Dorgan, Harkin, Boxer, Kaufman, Whitehouse all just voted no on the final vote after voting yes on cloture. It just shows the asymmetrical warfare of the filibuster, and why it must be eliminated. UPDATE V: The final vote was 70-30. Seven members flipped their vote. Bernanke gets his second term.

If They Have The Money To Fight Back, Okay

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It is the right way to try and fight the corporate elites , though now people will be funny and call Unions and Activist Group people themselves with this move. That’s the message in a letter that a powerful coalition of liberal groups and unions have fired off to Pelosi and Reid, urging them to seize on the SCOTUS decision allowing corporate money to fund elections to deal a death blow to the influence of big money in politics — by approving public financing of campaigns. The letter they’ve sent to Reid and Pelosi, to be released this afternoon, urges them to adopt a measure called the Fair Elections Now Act, which has 129 co-sponsors in the House and would enact public financing of federal elections. Campaign finance reform types say the act would give candidates the option to run for office on a mixture of small contributions and limited public funds — strengthening campaigns funded by grassroots fundraising and undercutting the power of large corporate donors. You should

Midday Energy Boost For 1/28/10: TWD Condolences Of Love To Howard Zinn and J.D.Slinger

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The extraordinary Howard Zinn and the renowned author J.D. Salinger have left us in the last 24 hours. Attending the school that Zinn taught at, I sadly never got a chance to meet that great man. The Whole Delivery sends its condolences to the families of both of these legends. Sometimes I still wonder whether Kristen Gillibrand is the real deal. And then, things like this where she voted to not defund ACORN like most of her cowardly Democratic Senator colleagues continued to prove my doubts wrong. We all knew she on her worst day is better than Mr. DLC lackey that what's to primary her, but her liberal points are a lot higher than I have given her credit for. May the homophobes realize the importance of this . The honeybee colony is decreasing rapidly . Yeah, this will add to the narrative of Boston getting the most depressing news . And to send you on your way, here is Midday Energy Boost song, from the ridiculously underrated artist that is K'naan feat Pete Roc

The Best Reactions To A "State of The Union Address" Ever

Tonight, there has been a lot of stupidity to go around. Chris Matthews placed himself into Howard Kurtz's vapid attention span for a whole month for arguably the dumbest statement he has ever made in his illustrious career of dumb statements. He forgot that President Obama was "Black". Now sadly, that unbelievably dumb comment (he'll probably clarify it tomorrow) will probably get most of our pathetic media's attention. What should get their attention in an ideal world, however, is how Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito embarrassed himself and the rest of his colleagues tonight like few other (if any) have done in his position. Angry that Obama called them out on the now forever controversial decision last week of the Citzen United vs the FEC, Alito visibly loses control and shakes his head at the presidents comments, and then mouths of a "Not true" for all to see. Watch it: If Sam Alito can respond to the pressures of the job in a fashion that

The State of The Union Address

Yes, Fox is covering it: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy

This Definitely Wasn't Going To Be Apart Of His Speech Tonight

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The United States secret assistance with Yemen troops in trying to kill Al Qaeda members or Al Qaeda affiliates in that country is the main gist of this article from the Washington Post's Dana Priest. But a stunningly buried tidbit in the lengthy article's third paragraph is revealed As part of the operations, Obama approved a Dec. 24 strike against a compound where a U.S. citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, was thought to be meeting with other regional al-Qaeda leaders. Although he was not the focus of the strike and was not killed, he has since been added to a shortlist of U.S. citizens specifically targeted for killing or capture by the JSOC, military officials said. The officials, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the operations. Wha wha what? Added to added to a shortlist of U.S. citizens specifically targeted for killing oR capture by the JSOC? Stunningly and disturbing stuff indeed, isn't it?

His Defense Of His Lackey Is Touching

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It truly is Wait until the facts are in. Mainstream Media, ACORN, Media Matters (all the supposed defenders of due process and journalistic ethics) are jumping to conclusions over the arrest today of James O'Keefe, with the clear intention to smear and, if possible, convict O'Keefe and his alleged co-conspirators in the court of public opinion in order to taint the "jury of their peers." [...] Let me state clearly for the record: wiretapping is wrong. But until I hear the full story from James O'Keefe, I will not speculate as to what he was doing in Louisiana. May the comedy keep on coming.

Midday Energy Boost For 1/27/10: MadTV is The Prophet Of Our Times

They truly are the prophets of our time: 100 year pedophile is going back to jail . I went to college up there, and I didn't think the news was THAT bad. Damn. California seems to be uncomfortable with the word "oral sex." Who knew? A warcraft live action movie ......oh my! The weekly "Social protocol" will destroy your life piece. More to come, stay tuned.

The Sleep Time Thread For 1/26-27/10: Music Thread For 1/26/10: Flimsy

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If you want to see "The Who" playlist for the Super Bowl here you go . And she won't need to get the mic snatched from her . Little Brother is making their last album it appears . Ugghhh, I'll address this piece of s--- article tomorrow. But here is the gist of it, it's pathetic ending Conscious Rap is dead. Get your black suits up. Uggggggghhhh That's it for today.....Here's Tevin.....Goodnight:

The Daily Open Thread For 1/26/10: Golden

Shame it had to be Shep Smith anchoring while it happened, but the reaction from the Fox reporter in trying to play off knowing O'Keefe as much as possible (as well as his network pushing him to his fame) is beyound laughable: Good times. Oh, and remember when House Republicans named a resolution in honor of him? MSNBC to switch their rotation again .....Painful. What a weird story . He has to keep up with her somehow . This guy sure does love his Chipotle . And your cartoon of the day....an episode of Rocko.

Tisk, Tisk, Tisk, Tisk, Tisk

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Now he will truly understand how it is hard out here for a pimp The FBI, alleging a plot to wiretap Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in downtown New Orleans, arrested four people Monday, including James O'Keefe, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the the advocacy group's credibility. FBI Special Agent Steven Rayes alleges that O'Keefe aided and abbetted two others, Joseph Basel and Robert Flanagan, who dressed up as employees of a telephone company and attempted to interfere with the office's telephone system. A witness from Landrieu's staff said O'Keefe was present in the office and claimed to be "waiting for someone to arrive." I can't wait for Hannity and Breitbart to say "ACORN now owns the FBI!" Update: Breitbart is on a level of feeling devastated like no other right now "I need to find information on this. I'm out of the loop on this. I will make my

The Funny For 1/26/10: Irony Of The Year.......Already

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And possibly, the decade already: Look who is the author..... May your laugh be as obsessive as possible, even if you make your fellow co-workers go nuts. Thank you one Page Van der Linden for making my day.

Their Audacity Is Legendary

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It truly is amazing how the nadir of people being certified despicable nutcases can be set each and every day. Today's setter of that accomplishment is one accustomed to that task. Those good old people at Halliburton/KBR that have taken a backseat to Blackwater/Xe as the most "evil corporation against humanity in this world" seem to want to take back their mantle. Your WTF story of the day comes from them petitioning the Supreme Court to reverse the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in ruling in favor of Jaime Leigh Jones not being protected from being horribly gang- raped like she was : But last week, KBR signaled its intention to continue fighting Jones, no matter how bad it makes the company look. On Jan. 19, it petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision allowing Jones to press her case in a civil court rather than in arbitration. Among its many arguments in favor of a high court hearing: that Jones is a relentless se

Sports Thread #1 For 1/26/10: The Runthrough

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First, long overdue Australian Open comments. After last night's performances and the pressure on the supposed overwhelming favorite to win, I really do think that Justine Henin is in for a long battle against the intrepid Jie Zheng. If Zheng can survive the onslaught her serve will take from Henin throughout this match, and be rock solid like she was against Kirilenko today, the tension will certainly arise on Henin's racquet. Now matter how well she has played the big points in this tournament, the tension is still on the Belgian's racquet like it was before. Don't be surprised if a "Marion Bartoli Wimbledon 2007" semifinal folding from Henin comes in this match. Zheng has nothing to lose here, and she can counterpunch with the best of them. Towards the men's side, and I fancied Andy Murray even before his massive victory over a now re-injured Rafael Nadal today. And I just still do, no matter who gets out of the top half of the draw. His wrist pr

TWD's Agenda For The Day For 1/26/10: Why Not Until Things Get Better?

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Well the news of the last 15 hours is dominating. A lot of people hate the terrible timing of this, obviously. Now to be fair, I feel Maddow jumped a little too hard on Jared Bernstein last night , making her opinions being felt instead of having Bernstein tell the whole info and then delivering her perspective, especially on the "across the board freeze" issue. But I leave it to the terrific Bill McBride to say this clear: This is an important issue, but I'd rather wait to address the deficit until after we see clear signs of a recovery. Why even cater to the Evan Bayhs and Judd Greggs of the world? Just why?

Music AM Wakeup Call For 1/26/10: Ludacris- How Low (2010)

Whenever Dave Meyers directs a video, you know it is a spectacle. And with that, here is this morning's wake up call, with a happy return. It's Ludacris' "How Low."

The Sleep Time Thread For 1/25-26/10: Just Tevin

Promise it will be more active tomorrow......hopefully:

They Share His Philosophy

As you all aware of the last South Carolina nutcase Republican on how he feels about the poor and the poor's kids : But while most will just single out the uncaring person that Bauer is, the real story that will only be recognized by a few (unless I am happily proven otherwise) is the fact that not only South Carolina Republicans think like that, but really, all Republicans think just like that. There are many cowardly and smart enough to not bring out how they really feel about abetting the poor. But we should all know by now their sentiments. The Earth revolving around the Sun is more shockingly than seeing how nutty these people are.

The Daily Open Thread For 12/25/10: Lots of Stuff.

First, Mary J. Blige's "More Than I Am", your music energy group: The ugliness of Iraq continue with David Kelly's death being sealed until the year of 2080 . You all heard by now that Chemical Ali was hung today . People with cavities rejoice . While the Australian Open is in to its business end in Melbourne, the longest tennis match was just played in Sydney. And for a great cause. Botox may have to be placed on the terror watch..... I'm not kidding . And the latest old movie to get a revival is.......... Gremlins! And a return of your cartoon of the day......Arthur:

Sports Sunday Thread #2 For 1/24/10: The Old Favre Spells A New Day For Saints

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Says it all.

Sports Sunday Thread #1 For 1/24/10: Returning To Their Third Home

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Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Sunday Morning Horror Shows For 1/24/10: He's On Again!

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For the brave and nutty only....and Sunday's top celebrity is back! Meet the Press: White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Roundtable: E.J. Dionne (Washington Post), Katty Kay (BBC), Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal) and Chuck Todd (NBC News). Face the Nation: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL); Roundtable: Nancy Kordes and Jan Crawford (CBS News) (I seriously have no clue who those two are) This Week: White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod; Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC); DSCC Chair Robert Menendez (D-NJ); Roundtable: George Will (Washington Post), Cokie Roberts (ABC News), Sam Donaldsen (ABC News) and Republican Strategist Matthew Dowd. Fox News Sunday: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs; NRSC Chair John Cornyn (R-TX); Roundtable: Brit Hume (Fox News), Mara Liasson (NPR/FNC), Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard) and Juan Williams (NPR/FNC). State of the Union: White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod; DSCC Cha

A Momentum Killer?

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Anything filed from the Associated Press based off anonymous sourcing nowadays does not fully pass my smell test. But if this is true, way to level off all the momentum on Wall Street in one fail swoomp President Barack Obama phoned Senate allies Saturday as two key senators predicted that embattled Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be confirmed for a second term. Obama made calls from the White House to members of the Senate leadership and others and was assured Bernanke would win confirmation, a senior White House official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private phone calls. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the Bernanke confirmation by the end of this coming week, said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Updated: Via Calculated Risk , I see that the New York Times and the Fall Street Rag have picked up on the story. The insiders sure do look out for their own, don't they?

The (Sometimes) Daily Open Thread For 1/22/10

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The "sometimes" is well merited because the "open thread" at this site hasn't been around the place for a little while thanks to site problems and a whole bunch of other issues. Apologies for this can't be stated enough. Now with that said, here is the return of the Daily Open Thread: Now Ken Burns is getting into the late night war, and it is indeed great stuff from him As great stuff is what this one person made today. It is a wonderful new logo for NBC : This bird is a freak like no other . They still blame others before they blame themselves . This lady is one of a kind . Find out the reason why this pissed off home owner graffied his own house . I can't believe I'm saying this, but PETA has every right to target this psycho . And did I mention the fail of NBC...... yeah . More to come on this Friday hopefully.....stay tuned.

TWD's Agenda For The Day For 1/22/10: Stop Blaming The House Democrats, It's The Senate Democrats Who Need All The Blame

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It has really been highly peculiar and damaging to our process the attack that House Democrats have received this week, especially from highly credible and usually rational sources. And as the week has progressed, the anger directed at them for not giving the 218 votes for the Senate's bull of a bill on health insurance reform has been staggering. But instead of the likes of Paul Krugman and Matthew Yglesias among others placing the blame on House Democrats (specifically progressives) for just being realistic and fighting for the American people, they need to again direct culpability on the damn Senate. If this Hackio report is true (because Lord knows how Hackio is), then I suggest Krugman, Yglesias, and others demanding that the House Democrats wise up and get the 218 to WISE UP themselves: Part of the negotiations center on whether Reid can provide an ironclad guarantee that the Senate will not leave the House in the lurch, aides said. If the House agrees to pass the

The Flashback Friday #1 For 1/22/10: Joe Public- Live and Learn (1992)

The first selection for the Flashback Friday today is this 1992 classic from the long forgotten group called "Joe Public." It is happily called....."Live and Learn." The always memorable chorus of "You got to live and learn" just rings supreme to how classic this track is. The first flashback for this week, enjoy it because it is a fun one:

The Sleep Time Thread For 1/21-22/10: Music Thread For 1/21/10

For the Haiti telethon, it was reported that MTV said "No" to Kanye. Then, they say they didn't . Either way, Kanye won't be there. But I thought Lupe Fiasco didn't want anything to do with politics . Thankfully, Flava Flav is okay after this car accident last night . Goodnight:

Mr. Geithner.....Please Sit Down and Shut Up

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After arguably the strongest move on Wall Street, where it even brought positive reaction out of the most critical progressives on whether he has been truly standing up to them, President Obama's press conference on the big banks didn't warm the hearts of everyone on his economic team. In fact, it even led to some grumbling being heard loud and clear. And that grumbling came from a guy who really shouldn't even be opening his mouth unless it is exhaling carbon dioxide. Oh Timothy and your unnecessary time for being a troll for AIG again: Geithner has reservations on US bank limits-sources Sigh : President Barack Obama's newest Wall Street crackdown was met with hesitation from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who is concerned that politics could be sacrificing good economic policy, according to financial industry sources. Geithner is concerned that the proposed limits on big banks' trading and size could impact U.S. firms' global competitiveness

The Catch Up Thread For 1/21/10: I Will Ask The SCOTUS If This Blog Is A Person?

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Lots of things to get into today. Good, bad, great, and ugly: Today was a great day to be a powerful corporation, as we all know the news by now about how conservatives are the real "judicial activists" on the Supreme Court : In a ruling that has major implications for how elections are funded, the Supreme Court has struck down a key campaign-finance restriction that bars corporations and unions from pouring money into political ads. The long-awaited 5-4 ruling, in the Citizens United v. FEC case, presents advocates of regulation with a major challenge in limiting the flow of corporate money into campaigns, and potentially opens the door for unrestricted amounts of corporate money to flow into American politics. In the case at issue, Citizens United (CU), a conservative advocacy group, was challenging a ruling by the FEC that barred it from airing a negative movie about Hillary Clinton. CU received corporate donations and the movie advocated the defeat of a political

Um, This Was Out Of Nowhere

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Let the right be in more unexpected glee. Not very helpful Paul Krugman : Maybe House Democrats can pull this out, even with a gaping hole in White House leadership. Barney Frank seems to have thought better of his initial defeatism. But I have to say, I’m pretty close to giving up on Mr. Obama, who seems determined to confirm every doubt I and others ever had about whether he was ready to fight for what his supporters believed in. This is weird from Krugman. He gets on Obama now, even though he didn't do that after the horror that is the Senate bill was revealed in its final form. He then proceeds to call out FDL and Marcy Wheeler over their legitimate digging of Jonathan Gruber. Now, in a move where Obama is arguably doing the best thing by not demanding as of the moment that the Senate bill get rammed down the House's throat , is now giving up by seeing this? Krugman picked the wrong moment to lose hope in Obama. It would have been justifiable if he felt this way o

"We Can't Pass The Senate Bill"

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Realizing that passing the Senate bill as it stands would be potentially very damaging, the last coalition of figures in the way of a monstrosity bill going into law has told the Speaker of the House they cannot pass the Senate bill. The meeting, which took place not too long ago, re-emphasizes the drama of the situation aggrandizing by the millisecond “We cannot support the Senate bill — period,” is the message that liberals delivered to the Speaker, Dem Rep Raul Grijalva told me in an interview just now. Some had hoped Pelosi would push liberals to get in line behind this approach, in hopes of expediting reform, but that didn’t appear to happen in this meeting. Pelosi mostly listened, Grijalva said, adding: “We didn’t get any declarative statement from her.” The immense pressure that everyone is in could lead to a standoff between both chambers of Congress Tellingly, House liberals also urged Pelosi to consider passing individual pieces of reform through the House as indivi