Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Spinning Heads (by Pat Racimora at No Quarter)

I never even imagined that I could have the last laugh in this election… What I am laughing at, almost hysterically while slapping my knees, are those who hated the Clintons with a passion, who yelled and screamed about how Obama would save us from those “old Washington insiders,” and everything would be new. Change they could believe in. I can see them now—spinning about in a frenetic fury, flopping like freshly caught tunas on a dock. Obama was fooling them all along. Lying, really. My, my, is he actually…gasp.. a Closet Clintonista?

Pod Parrots (by J –SOM at Liberal Rapture)
CNN and MSNBC make a statement – repeat it for a few days – an alleged historian or “expert” repeats it and gives it a faux “context” (Such as: Lincoln hiring members of the opposition party during the civil war is comparable to Obama hiring Hillary Clinton, a person with which he has almost no policy differences.) The cover of Time then provides supporting background noise at supermarket checkout stands from coast to coast…and before you know it otherwise smart people are saying “PollyWantaCracker” at dinner parties across the land…or rather “Obama is just like Lincoln.” Furthering their own self serving narrative: that THEY saved the nation.

Obama poised to name Hillary Clinton to State post (Reuters )
CHICAGO (Reuters) – President-Elect Barack Obama was poised to name his national security team on Monday, with former political rival Hillary Clinton in line to be picked as secretary of state. As part of a deal with Obama to clear the way for his wife to get the post, former President Bill Clinton agreed to make public the names of more than 200,000 donors to his foundation, the New York Times reported in Sunday’s editions.

Clinton Clears Path for Wife’s Appointment (Political Wire)
Former President Bill Clinton “has agreed to disclose publicly the names of more than 200,000 donors to his foundation as part of an accord with President-elect Barack Obama that clears the way for Senator Hillary Clinton to become secretary of state,” the New York Times reports. “The disclosure of contributors is among nine conditions that Mr. Clinton signed off on during discussions with representatives of Mr. Obama; all go beyond the requirements of law… Mr. Clinton also agreed to submit his future personal speeches and business activities for review by State Department ethics officials and, if necessary, by the White House counsel’s office.”

Adviser Who Insulted Clinton Has Role in Transition (Washington Post)
Samantha Power, the Harvard professor who was forced to resign from Barack Obama’s presidential campaign last spring after calling Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton “a monster,” is now advising the president-elect on transition matters relating to the State Department — which Clinton is slated to head… [S]he is part of a team that is likely to work directly with Clinton, a potentially awkward situation for the two women. Obama is expected to officially announce Clinton as his choice for secretary of state after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Knowing Hillary, she will charm Power, and win her over.  If she hasn’t done so already.

Obama team repackaging Clinton after campaign digs (AP)
WASHINGTON – It wasn’t too long ago that Barack Obama and his advisers were tripping over one another to tear down Hillary Rodham Clinton’s foreign policy credentials. She was dismissed as a commander in chief wanna-be who did little more than sip tea and make small talk with foreign leaders during her days as first lady. “What exactly is this foreign policy experience?” Obama said mockingly of the New York senator. “Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no.”… [U]nsurprisingly, the sniping at her foreign policy credentials is a thing of the past. Obama adviser William Daley over the weekend said Clinton would be “a tremendous addition to this administration. Tremendous.” Senior adviser David Axelrod called Clinton a “demonstrably able, tough, brilliant person.”

Obama Cabinet Complete by Christmas (Political Wire)
Transition chief John Podesta told Bloomberg that President-elect Obama would complete “virtually the whole Cabinet” by Christmas, and the new president’s team will reach beyond the Democratic Party. He said there will be “multiple Republicans” in the administration. Said Podesta: “You’ll see them spread throughout the administration.”

Dionne: ‘Obama’s Bush Doctrine.’ (Think Progress)
The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne argues, “In electing Barack Obama, the country traded the foreign policy of the second President Bush for the foreign policy of the first President Bush.” Noting Obama’s willingness to heed the advice of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, Dionne says Obama’s realist foreign policy mindset resembles that of the elder Bush.
So is Obama trying to rehabilitate the pre-W Republican Party?  Was that what his dog whistles to the not so right wing Republicans during the campaign meant?

Ch-ch-ch-changes (by vastleft at Corrente)
We’re the ones we’ve been waiting for. This election is about you. Change comes from the bottom-up. … “‘Understand where the vision for change comes from, first and foremost,’ Obama said. ‘It comes from me. That’s my job, is to provide a vision in terms of where we are going, and to make sure, then, that my team is implementing.’”

And the winner is: Sexism! (by J –SOM at Liberal Rapture)
My contempt for the arrogant Champagne Left continues to deepen as they come to about Obama. Obama is no liberal. He is, in all likelihood, the worst combination of self serving narcissist and cowardly “moderate” (meaning he will always impulsively either deflect responsibility for tough choices or make the choice he believes will damage his “likability” least.).
The compliant media, N.O.W., Move On and the rest of the fools in the Huffington/Kos rabbit hole never required a DAMN THING from Obama before this election. And now he is – like clockwork – ignoring his loudest proponents. Why? Because they are worthless, spineless sycophants and he knows it.

The financial crisis sent Obama over the top on election day. I do not think it was “planned” – it was inevitable. It was, however, timed. Scheduled. The most obscure elites (Soros etc.) brought Obama to the Presidency. They will be protected. Protection is what they bought in Obama. The Latte Liberals long slow decline into irrelevant idiocy has begun. Some will try to stay relevant by revising their 2008 histories of sexism and gassy adoration of Obama. But it is too late. 

An Obot changes his affections (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
He now thinks that “liberalism on steroids” will no longer come from Obama (who is looking like a disappointment) but from — get this! — Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Who have, as you know, done a bang-up job of giving us steroid liberalism thus far. Thanks to the Confluence and The New Republic for drawing my attention to this clip. From the latter: “It’s like all those old Leon Trotsky fanatics who, over time, became neoconservative fanatics… Their point revolves … around believing in something they can call a necessary truth.” And yet, and yet, and yet. I must repeat my confession that I am one of the few people in this country who seems to be pleasantly surprised by Obama’s cabinet picks. I honestly expected him to go much further to the right.

In Barack we trust? (by David Sirota, Salon)
[T]he Obama movement undeniably revolves around the president-elect’s individual stardom — and specifically, the faith that he will make good decisions, whatever those decisions are. With that kind of following, Obama likely feels little obligation to hire staff intimately involved in non-Obama movements — especially those who might challenge a Washington ruling class he may not want to antagonize. This is the mythic “independence” we’re supposed to crave — a czar who doesn’t owe anyone. It is the foreseeable result of the Dear Leader-ism prevalent in foreign autocracies but never paramount in America until now — and it will have its benefits and drawbacks.

Wielding his campaign’s massive e-mail list, the new president could mobilize supporters to press Congress for a new New Deal. Or, he could mobilize that army to blunt pressure on his government for a new New Deal. The point is that Obama alone gets to choose — that for all the talk of “bottom-up” politics, his movement’s structure grants him a top-down power that no previous president had. For better or worse, that leaves us relying more than ever on our Dear Leader’s impulses. Sure, we should be thankful when Dear Leader’s whims serve the people — but also unsurprised when they don’t.
My email message to Sirota: You helped him, David, with your vilification of Hillary Clinton.  Don’t you feel the least twinge of guilt about that?

Obama will give us single payer, but only if we make him (by DCblogger at Corrente )
Politics #2 “President-Elect Barack Obama and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle are working on helping this issue. They are looking at implementing the same system that Canada has, the Single Player system. Their health care is privately proveded and publicly funded.” No, Obama and Daschle are working on a plan that will impose some regulations on health insurance parasites, offer subsidies to poor people and leave our present health neglect system intact. John Conyers is pushing a Canadian style single payer system and Obama will sign it if it passes.
I hope you’re right, DCblogger.  Certainly, the only way we Illinois constituents could get Obama to take a stand on anything was to pressure him.

Both parties have big stakes in Georgia Senate runoff (McClatchy)
MACON, Ga. — The fight for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat is a struggle for much more. For Democrats, the Tuesday runoff could give them their 59th seat in the next Senate. And if Democrat Al Franken beats GOP incumbent Norm Coleman in Minnesota’s recount, which will continue into December, Democrats would reach the magic number of 60 Senate seats — the number required under Senate rules to shut off debate and force a vote.
Nonsense.  Even if the Democrats have 60 members in the senate, they’ll find an excuse not to implement progressive policies.  They always do.  They’ll say there are too many Democrats in vulnerable conservative districts.  Well, who wants them if they’re not really Democrats?  I’ve been asking that question since February, and don’t have an answer yet.

The ever-receding future (by Michael J. Smith at Stop Me Before I Vote Again, thanks to Arthur Silber at The Power of Narrative)
Don’t cut the cake just yet, guys. The New York Times reports: “N.Y. Democrats May Skip Gay Marriage Vote…” Readers older than, oh, say, twelve, may have noticed a pattern with the Democrats. They campaign on some issue — in the previous Most Important Elections Of Our Lifetime, the 2006 midterms, it was the Iraq war, for example. Then once safely in office, the find a reason why they can’t actually do anything about the issue until they get something else on the next election cycle — the White House, or the state senate, or a second term for the Governor (why? This one seems especially arbitrary). It’s really exactly like the dear old Spanish Prisoner scam, more familiar in our own day as the Nigerian “419″ advance-fee con.
And just like Lucy, Charlie Brown, and the football.  And just like the Republicans fooling THEIR potential voters and then never implementing any of THEIR promises.  It’s a scam of monumental proportions.

I’m thinking of a tax protest (by Violet Socks at Reclusive Leftist)
The insult that is the impending Opossum presidency harasses my mind. It bothers me that my taxes are going to pay the salaries of crooks and creeps and, worst of all, misogynists. It’s this Larry Summers thing that’s got me. Once again, sexism is not only ignored, it’s rewarded. If you’re a famous academic who says maybe black people aren’t as smart as white people — as Dr. James Watson did last year — you’re excoriated, ostracized, suspended from your post. If you’re a famous academic who says maybe women aren’t as smart as men — as Larry Summers did at Harvard — you get a plum job as President Opossum’s chief economic advisor…. My taxes are going to pay the salaries of men who think I’m an inferior being just because I have two X chromosomes. Maybe if I were a man I’d be smart enough to figure out why that makes sense.

So: maybe a tax protest. Maybe that’s what we should all do. All us stupid bitches who aren’t shit, I mean.

Jon Ausman Continues the Fight for Primary Process Reform (by campskunk at Alegre’s Corner)
Down here in Florida, the perennial scene of the crime for stolen elections, Hillary superdelegate Jon Ausman is continuing the fight against the original cause of the whole mess – the Republican-controlled legislature messing around with the primary calendar… Here’s the latest on Jon’s efforts to keep Republicans out of the selection process for the Democratic candidate: “…Ausman says he wants the state legislature to respect the National Party rules of the timing of primaries and caucuses… Ausman says there are four U.S. Supreme Court decisions that say party rules take precedence over state laws in some areas.”

So NOW They Care? (by Stateofdisbelief at The Confluence)
N.O.W. has … posted a “Media Hall of Shame ‘2008 Election Edition.’”  Their most recent edition, posted today, decries the sexist nature of the September 2008 US Weekly article alleging Sarah Palin’s sordid details of “Babies, Lies and Scandal.”… What’s the matter N.O.W.?  Donations down?  Have all of the ‘bitter knitters’ kept their coin purses zipped tight?  Well guess what?  This ridiculous attempt at defending the honor of this year’s female candidates will not change that.  Your faux outrage at the horrific behavior of your endorsed candidate’s bought and paid for media is transparent.  You should have denounced every sickening incident at the time it occurred – and not waited until these moral crimes against women had their intended effect. 

Mumbai, the NYT’s revisionism, and lessons not learned (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
The New York Times Editorial Page, [Friday], on poor U.S./Latin American relations: “[T]he Bush administration did enormous damage to American credibility throughout much of the region when it blessed what turned out to be a failed coup against Mr. Chávez.” Indeed it did.  But what the Times fails to mention, and is apparently eager to erase, is that “the Bush administration” was far from alone in blessing that coup attempt: The New York Times Editorial Page, April 13, 2002 — one day after the coup: “With yesterday’s resignation of President Hugo Chávez, Venezuelan democracy is no longer threatened by a would-be dictator. Mr. Chávez, a ruinous demagogue, stepped down after the military intervened and handed power to a respected business leader, Pedro Carmona…” Four days after its pro-coup Editorial, the Times – once Chavez was returned to power in the wake of Carmona’s anti-democratic moves – returned to the topic of Venezuela, once again echoing the official line from Bush officials, who took to condemning the now-failed coup attempt…

[T]hat heinous though typical pro-coup, government-mimicking NYT Editorial was written … just months after the 9/11 attacks, when the extremism and mindless submission to Government authority that would grip this country for the next several years was still rumbling towards it peak.  The terrorist attacks in India this week serve as a critical reminder of how easily those forces are unleashed…

What happened in the U.S. over the last eight years is about much, much more than what “the Bush administration” did.  It begins there, but responsibility in the post 9/11-era is much more diffuse and collective than that.  Shoveling it all off on the administration that is leaving, while exonerating our culpable media and political institutions that remain, isn’t merely historically inaccurate and unfair, though it is that.  Allowing that revisionism also ensures that the critical lessons that ought to be learned will instead be easily and quickly forgotten when similar episodes occur here in the future.
Trouble is, there doesn’t need to be a terrorist attack for the corporate media to take off on a tangent that bears no semblance to reality.  They vilified Al Gore to the point of making possible George W. Bush’s ascendancy to the White House.  The result was the worst eight years in this country’s history, with the possible exception of the eight years surrounding and including the Civil War.  Now those same media have chosen Barack Obama to be our next president.  If that doesn’t give you pause, you are obviously one of the people who wants to be fooled most of the time.

Us, Robot (by vastleft at Corrente)
I’ve had a number of discussions with fellow progressives in the last week and found it deeply depressing. The Mighty Wurlitzer that propagates talking points is playing as loud as ever, and liberals seem no more sophisticated than conservatives at recognizing that they’re being programmed and played. Do you think that Democratic wins in 2008 make this not a problem? If “yes,” go watch the telly. They’re waiting for you.

Arsenic for supper. (by J -SOM at Liberal Rapture)
Check this out: Boycott the NYT. This is a right wing site. Don’t agree with the people but I am glad to highlight an example action being taken against the MSM. The media is the myth maker. Here’s the truth – I think we should boycott all of them. Further I think we should be marching outside CNN in Atlanta and 30 Rock (NBC) and the NYT building…. at least until they gobble up the “event” of the protest and make it a meaningless story. For now: Turn OFF the news. Stop reading the major myth making newspapers. If you tune in for coverage of a major event – like the attack in India this week – learn to perceive at what point it stops being event coverage and starts being about manipulating you…

I do not like beliefs being shoved down my throat. (Or is an I.V. drip a better metaphor?) Didn’t like it during the run up to Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Didn’t like it this year as I watched Obama being forced on us. (Thanks George Soros and Move On and all your pals in the MSM! Whoo Hoo!! Good job!!!) So be conscious of what you are being told to accept. There IS an agenda. Harmful or Helpful? – doesn’t matter. Just be aware that you are being sold something. Buy or pass on it – but remember it is a sales job.

The Establishment’s Thanksgiving (By Robert Parry at consortiumnews.com)
On Friday, the Post’s lead editorial thanked President-elect Obama for settling on insider favorites for key jobs, especially officials with long records of promoting the neocon foreign policy agenda… The troika of Gates, Clinton and Emanuel – with a supporting cast of Bush administration holdovers at the Pentagon and “centrist Democrats” from the Brookings Institution moving to State – will mean at minimum that Obama will encounter many dragging feet slowing a military withdrawal from Iraq…

Nevertheless, Obama may be thinking that it’s better to accommodate the Washington Establishment on a touchy point like the Iraq War than to offend the Post’s editorial writers and the many well-connected guests attending Georgetown dinner parties this holiday season… The trade-off is a dicey one, but Obama may feel it is worth the risk if he buys some time for pushing through a domestic agenda, including a major economic stimulus package, infrastructure rebuilding, a new generation of “green” jobs, and national health insurance.
Oh, Bob, did you REALLY believe that Obama wanted an immediate withdrawal from Iraq?  You are hopelessly naïve.  I kept trying to tell you that he had no such intention, but did you listen?  No.  In fact, you went out of your way to help him prevail over Hillary in the primary.  Now, here’s your reward:  Obama is keeping on one of the people you absolutely cannot stand—Robert Gates.  And your hope that Obama will push through a meaningful domestic agenda is touching.  Wistful, even.  It’s quite sad that one of the premier investigative journalist of our times allowed himself to be bamboozled by a Chicago machine pol.

COMMENTING ON SOME TERRIFIC COMMENTS (by Michael C. Ruppert at From the Wilderness’ Peak Oil Blog , thanks to J -SOM at Liberal Rapture)
[G]o back and look at any empire that ever collapsed: Rome, Persia, Sumeria, The Incas, The Aztecs, The Mayans, Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia, Napoleon’s France, Victoria’s Britain, The Ottomans, Tha Hapsburgs in Austria, Nikolas II’s Russia, the USSR… I defy any of you to historically demonstrate that the collapse of any of those empires and civilizations was some kind of a planned conspiracy carried out by the people who benefited most from the empire they were destroying. Those empires existed to support the elites!

You cannot do it. What was ubiquitous in all cases was a paradigm of infinite growth, plus resource scarcity, and coupled with a decline in moral and intellectual standards, parochialism, and the fetid, intellectual inbreeding of uninterrupted opulence, laziness, privilege and power. I must give credit to Fitts for this one, “THOSE WHO WIN IN A RIGGED GAME GET STUPID.” I submit that our elites are talking stupidly, acting stupidly, making stupid decisions, and that this is apparent to the entire world. But now, what is at stake is not just one empire, or one civilization. It is the entire human race. Your asses and mine.
But first, those who rigged the game destroy the lives of an awful lot of innocents.  THEN they get stupid.

Mr. Obama: Don’t Miss [Monday]’s Chicago Tribune (We the People Foundation)
Our full-page Open Letter to Mr. Obama will be published in the Chicago Tribune on both Monday, December 1, 2008 and Wednesday, December 3, 2008. It will appear in the main news section. Click here to view a copy of the final ad… The Open Letter to Mr. Obama is a formal Petition for a Redress (Remedy) for the alleged violation of the “natural born citizen” clause of the Constitution of the United States of America. Mr. Obama is respectfully requested to direct the Hawaiian officials to provide access to his original birth certificate on December 5-7 by our team of forensic scientists, and to provide additional documentary evidence establishing his citizenship status prior to our Washington, D.C. press conference on December 8.
It’s right there in the first section today.  It was mentioned on the local CBS news this morning, and I think the news reader said that it wouldn’t matter of Obama was born in Kenya because his mother was an American citizen.  She obviously hasn’t read any of the court papers in Berg v. Obama.

Bush wants history to see him as a liberator of millions (AFP)
George W. Bush hopes history will see him as a president who liberated millions of Iraqis and Afghans, who worked towards peace and who never sold his soul for political ends… He also said he wanted to be seen as a president who helped individuals, “that rallied people to serve their neighbor; that led an effort to help relieve HIV/AIDS and malaria on places like the continent of Africa; that helped elderly people get prescription drugs and Medicare as a part of the basic package.” Bush added that every day during his eight-year presidency he had consulted the Bible and drawn comfort from his faith.

Former interrogator slams torture: Torture has cost nearly as many lives as 9/11. (Think Progress)
In a Washington Post op-ed [Sunday], a former Special Operations interrogator who worked in Iraq in 2006 sharply criticizes American torture techniques as ineffective and dangerous. “Torture and abuse cost American lives,” he writes: “I learned in Iraq that the No. 1 reason foreign fighters flocked there to fight were the abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Our policy of torture was directly and swiftly recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq. … It’s no exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in that country have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse.”

Sympathy for Charles Graner (by Mark Benjamin, Salon)
No one from the Bush administration has been held accountable for torture. But the guard from Abu Ghraib prison is still behind bars, and his family wants to know why.

Bush Aides Rush to Enact a Rule Obama Opposes (New York Times)
WASHINGTON — The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job… The Labor Department proposal is one of about 20 highly contentious rules the Bush administration is planning to issue in its final weeks. The rules deal with issues as diverse as abortion, auto safety and the environment.

U.S. Moves Ahead on Oil, Gas Leases on Public Land
A decision by federal officials this week to press ahead with a controversial sale of oil and gas leases in eastern Utah is stoking the debate over how to balance the nation’s needs for fossil fuels against concerns over the environmental impact on iconic national parks and other sensitive areas. The Bush administration, which has sought to reduce American dependence on imports to meet the continuing demand for oil and gas, has aggressively pushed to open up energy exploration across broad swaths of the West, off both coasts, and in Alaska. But those initiatives regularly stir opposition from both environmentalists and advocates of faster development of alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power.

Ex-defense contractor drops hints of another major corruption scandal. (Think Progress)
Mitchell Wade, the corrupt former lobbyist who plead guilty in 2006 to bribing former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), is reportedly assisting “the government in investigating five other members of Congress,” according to a memorandum filed on Wednesday. The 42-page sentencing memo filed by Wade’s attorneys says that the other unnamed members are under investigation for “corruption similar to that of Mr. Cunningham.” Seth Hettena suggests two of those five include former Reps.Katherine Harris (R-FL) and Virgil Goode (R-VA). Hettena also reports that the sentencing memo contains hints of a bigger scandal to come.
Katherine Harris ought to be thrown in jail for rigging Florida’s 2000 election in favor of George Bush.  That was a crime against humanity.

Dec. 1 hearing to decide judge in Cheney case (KGBT 4 Rio Grande Valley)
A Dec. 1 hearing will determine if Judge Manuel Bañales will preside over criminal cases filed against Vice-President Dick Cheney and other public officials.

Chris Matthews May Seek Pa. Senate Seat (KDKA Pittsburgh)
A Pennsylvania Democratic party leader says MSNBC pundit Chris Matthews is considering a run for U.S. Senate in 2010.  The Patriot-News of Harrisburg reports Matthews met with state party leaders this week in Washington to discuss a possible bid to unseat Republican Sen. Arlen Specter.

Churches and Gay Marriage: Why Don’t They Mix? (by madamab at The Confluence)
After the passage of California’s Proposition 8,  I’ve been shaking my head over why many religious institutions are virulently against gay marriage. This interview with Richard Rodriguez, an author, fervent Catholic, proud Hispanic, and “out” gay man, has a very interesting take on the subject. According to him, it’s all about the family and the wimminz, and how the church is afraid of losing its power over them both. I have to admit that I’ve never heard of this theory before, but Rodriguez makes a convincing case for his point of view.

Another Catholic pastor labels voting for Obama a sin (McClatchy)
Parishioners of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Modesto have been told they should consider going to confession if they voted for Barack Obama, because of the president-elect’s position condoning abortion.

They’re not even bothering to pretend any more (by lambert at Corrente)
Times: “KABUL (Reuters) – The U.S. general commanding NATO forces in Afghanistan has ordered a merger of the office that releases news with ‘Psy Ops,’ which deals with propaganda, a move that goes against the alliance’s policy, three officials said.” Well, it’s good that we’re giving the troops the tools for the job now that they’re going to fight the right war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. What could go wrong?

Radio Treason? Right Wing Talkers Skirted Disclosure Law (by Gustav Wynn at OpEd News)
Revelations by a former right wing radio news director confirm broadcasters aired talking points supplied secretly by the White House, reminiscent of “covert propaganda” violations uncovered in the Armstrong Williams scandal of 2005. Meanwhile, Sean Hannity and his ilk have been “messaging” followers to believe Congressional boogeymen are targeting their free speech by conspiring to revive the Fairness Doctrine. If you agree the two most-listened-to radio programs in the U.S. are not making reasonable attempts to provide crucial facts and evenhanded political coverage, find out how you can do something about it using Twitter at the end of this article.

Sarkozy Voodoo Dolls Must Be Sold With Warning Label (Bloomberg)
French President Nicolas Sarkozy voodoo dolls can still be sold by a publisher as long as they come with a warning that sticking pins in the toy is an affront to his dignity, a Paris court ruled today.

Swiss likely to approve prescription heroin (AP)
Swiss voters are expected to make the system permanent in a referendum prompted by a challenge from conservatives. The heroin program has won wide support within Switzerland since it was begun 14 years ago to eliminate scenes of large groups of drug

The Minimal Impact of a Big Hypertension Study (New York Times, thanks to Susie at Suburban Guerilla)
The surprising news made headlines in December 2002. Generic pills for high blood pressure, which had been in use since the 1950s and cost only pennies a day, worked better than newer drugs that were up to 20 times as expensive. The findings, from one of the biggest clinical trials ever organized by the federal government, promised to save the nation billions of dollars in treating the tens of millions of Americans with hypertension — even if the conclusions did seem to threaten pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer that were making big money on blockbuster hypertension drugs. Six years later, though, the use of the inexpensive pills, called diuretics, is far smaller than some of the trial’s organizers had hoped.

“It should have more than doubled,” said Dr. Curt D. Furberg, a public health sciences professor at Wake Forest University who was the first chairman of the steering committee for the study, which was known by the acronym Allhat. “The impact was disappointing.”… “The pharmaceutical industry ganged up and attacked, discredited the findings,” Dr. Furberg said. He eventually resigned in frustration as chairman of the study’s steering committee, the expert group that continues to oversee analysis of data from the trial. One member of that committee received more than $200,000 from Pfizer, largely in speaking fees, the year after the Allhat results were released.

An idea whose time has come? (by a little night musing at Corrente)
International Talk Like a Banker Day. The proposed date is the 15th of December. Start practicing now! Who knows, maybe you could sound convincing enough to get your own stake in the bailout!

Deficits and the Future (by Paul Krugman)
The idea that tight fiscal policy when the economy is depressed actually reduces private investment isn’t just a hypothetical argument: it’s exactly what happened in two important episodes in history. The first took place in 1937, when Franklin Roosevelt mistakenly heeded the advice of his own era’s deficit worriers. He sharply reduced government spending, among other things cutting the Works Progress Administration in half, and also raised taxes. The result was a severe recession, and a steep fall in private investment. The second episode took place 60 years later, in Japan. In 1996-97 the Japanese government tried to balance its budget, cutting spending and raising taxes. And again the recession that followed led to a steep fall in private investment… And we’re in the same kind of trap today — which is why deficit worries are misplaced.

Radical Solutions For A Crazy Crisis (Nouriel Roubini, a professor at the Stern Business School at New York University and chairman of Roubini Global Economics)
[D]ealing with this deadly combination of deflation, liquidity traps, debt deflation and defaults that I termed a global stag-deflation may be the biggest challenge that U.S. and global policy makers have to face in 2009. It will not be easy to prevent this toxic vicious circle unless (1) the process of recapitalizing financial institutions via temporary partial nationalization is accelerated and performed in a consistent and credible way; (2) such actions are combined with massive fiscal stimulus to prop up aggregate demand while private demand is in free fall; (3) the debt burden of insolvent households is sharply reduced via outright large debt reduction (not cosmetic and ineffective “loan modifications”); and (4) even more unorthodox and radical monetary policy actions are undertaken to prevent pervasive deflation from setting in.

What We Value Is What We Save In a Crisis (London Banker)
When a central bank thinks its house is on fire, it too will rush to save the thing valued most.  In the United States, the central bank has rushed to save the bonuses and dividends of its Wall Street clientele by hiding away the bad assets that can no longer be foisted on gullible investors.  In Europe too the response of central banks has been to save the wholesale banking and securities industry rather than the consumers and businesses underlying the real economy’s longer term productive strength… Hong Kong is swiftly introducing a scheme to guarantee credit to SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and exporters.  China is introducing controls to limit bank credit to over-extended speculative sectors, accelerate rebuilding in the regions affected by the earthquake earlier this year, and promote improvements in local infrastructure, education and economic adjustment.

General Motors to Invest $1 Billion in Brazil Operations — Money to Come from U.S. Rescue Program (Latin American Herald Tribune)
General Motors plans to invest $1 billion in Brazil to avoid the kind of problems the U.S. automaker is facing in its home market, said the beleaguered car maker. According to the president of GM Brazil-Mercosur, Jaime Ardila, the funding will come from the package of financial aid that the manufacturer will receive from the U.S. government and will be used to “complete the renovation of the line of products up to 2012.”

Citigroup says gold could rise above $2,000 next year as world unravels
The bank said the damage caused by the financial excesses of the last quarter century was forcing the world’s authorities to take steps that had never been tried before. This gamble was likely to end in one of two extreme ways: with either a resurgence of inflation; or a downward spiral into depression, civil disorder, and possibly wars. Both outcomes will cause a rush for gold.
Believe Citigroup at your own risk.  But out government wants to be prepared, in case of riots.  See below.

Gates: Active force, reserves must integrate (Air Force News)
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates took a giant step Monday toward more tightly blending the active-duty military and reserve components into an “integrated total force,” calling for wide-ranging personnel policy changes, codifying the reserves’ homeland defense role and adequately funding oft-overlooked reserve equipment requirements… Gates also called upon Congress to “mandate that the National Guard and Reserves have the lead role in and form the backbone of DoD operations in the homeland.”

The Need for Reliable Information (by Mark Thoma at Economist’s View)
There has been much debate about whether the financial crisis is driven by lack of liquidity or from fears about lack of adequate capital and solvency, but I’m starting to think a third component is important as well, the complete breakdown of traditional information flows, and a loss of confidence in the models used to evaluate that information. Markets need information to work properly, and the information financial markets need is not available. For example, investors can no longer trust what ratings agencies tell them… In addition, investors can no longer believe the numbers they see on bank books. The numbers might say the bank is solvent, but how reliable are those numbers?  And even if the numbers are meaningful today, will they be meaningful tomorrow?
The first time I noticed how much the morality of U.S. businesses had deteriorated was during the savings and loan crisis. Accounting firms were being criticized for not ensuring that profits and losses were properly reflected in the companies’ books. I read a headline at the time that said the accounting firms had decided to do something about the situation. As I started to read the article, I expected it to say that the firms had pledged to do better oversight, but no! They didn’t plan to change their accommodating ways at all, but instead had decided to limit their liability by changing from the partnership business form to limited liability corporations. And we’ve just gone downhill from there.

Doris Dungey, Prescient Finance Blogger, Dies at 47 (New York Times)
The blogger Tanta, an influential voice on the mortgage collapse, died Sunday morning in Columbus, Ohio. Tanta, who wrote for Calculated Risk, a finance and economics blog, was a pseudonym for Doris Dungey, 47, who until recently had lived in Upper Marlboro, Md. The cause of death was ovarian cancer, her sister, Cathy Stickelmaier, said…. Tanta used her extensive knowledge of the loan industry to comment, castigate and above all instruct. Her fans ranged from the Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times who cited her in his blog, to analysts at the Federal Reserve, who cited her in a paper on “Understanding the Securitization of Subprime Mortgage Credit.”
She was a sane voice.  She will be greatly missed.

AP: Timeline of Mumbai Terrorist Attacks 
They were 10 gunmen, well-trained and armed with assault rifles and grenades, officials say. They had scouted their targets ahead of time. The knew the hallways and the basements. They even carried bags of almonds for energy.

U.S. Media Thrive Worldwide, but Not U.S. Image
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the White House wanted major media companies to help improve the U.S. image abroad. That hasn’t panned out.

You’re Leaving a Digital Trail. What About Privacy?
An emerging field called collective intelligence could create an Orwellian future on a level Big Brother could only dream of.

That Digital Divide, Bridged in a Classroom
Computer learning centers are helping more seniors gain the computer skills necessary to return to work.

CNN Pitches a Cheaper Wire Service to Newspapers
CNN, in the afterglow of an election season of record ratings for cable news, is elbowing in on a new line of business: catering to financially strained newspapers looking for an alternative to The Associated Press. For nearly a month, a trial version of CNN’s wire service has been on display in some newspapers. But this week editors from about 30 papers will visit Atlanta to hear CNN’s plans to broaden a service to provide coverage of big national and international events — and maybe local ones — on a smaller scale and at a lower cost than The A.P… “I’m very interested in hearing what they have to present,” said Benjamin J. Marrison, the editor of The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio, which is among the papers that have said they will drop The A.P. because of its cost. “It has a lot of potential. We just need to understand it better.”

‘Politico’ Has Excerpt from New Book on Rupert Murdoch
NEW YORK Michael Calderone at Politico reports … that the newspaper/Web site obtained an advance copy of Michael Wolff’s forthcoming (Tuesday) tome on Rupert Murdoch (which Murdoch is not totally happy with)… His excerpt [Friday] mainly deals with Murdoch and Roger Ailes, among others at Fox, hating Bill O’Reilly, though stuck with him because of the business upside. Also, Murdoch was trying to balance the “vulgar” Fox with his recent purchase of more “nuanced” Wall Street Journal.

Time Overtakes Cosmo as Big Brand on Campus
Survey Finds Tastes Have Become More Serious Among College Students

Celebrating Luxury in the Time of Melancholia
Time Style & Design, a new magazine from Time, focuses on expensive goods even as consumer buying wanes.

A Generation of Local TV Anchors Is Signing Off
Cost-cutting at many local stations includes the big salaries commanded by news anchors.
And none too soon.  Most of them are overpaid news readers.  Now how about the overpaid bloviators on the national scene?

Beatles Face iTunes Delay, But Zeppelin’s Rocking Online
The Beatles may not be ready for iTunes, but another legend from the world of rock ‘n’ roll is diving deeper into the digital age.

Facebook Connect: The News is the News (by Stan Schroeder at Mashable)
The New York Times has an extensive story about Facebook Connect and its imminent expansion to new services: Digg, Hulu, Discovery, CBS and several others. However, looking back at the initial announcement of Facebook Connect, there’s really nothing new here; we’ve known the names of these partners from day one, and the story in NYTimes merely states that Facebook will start expanding Connect in the weeks to come. The real news, here, is the fact that the NYTimes is running a huge story about Facebook Connect in its printed edition… [S]ocial networking is obviously now mainstream enough that a platform connecting social networks is big news.

How Google Can Get Its Mojo Back in the Wake of a ‘Sell’ Rating (by Simon Dumenco at Advertising Age)
Just before Thanksgiving, the unthinkable happened. OK, sure, these days the unthinkable is par for the course — and yet it was still pretty amazing to see Merriman Curhan Ford analyst Richard Fetyko initiate coverage of Google with a “sell” rating… So how can — will — Google get its mojo back? A few predictions:
Google will monetize tons more white space — including, finally, its home page…
Google will buy Yelp… the reader-review-driven service…
Google will give its engineers “25% time”… AdSense for Content, remember, came out of 20% brainstorming… Google might take some hits from Wall Street — beyond Merriman Curhan Ford’s “sell” rating — for doing that. But who listens to Wall Street anymore? Google, listen to your heart! 

HOW TO: Convert Your Blog Into a Podcast on iTunes for Free (Mashable)
Bloggers can now add text-to-speech capabilities to their site with new tools such as Odiogo, allowing readers to actually listen to blog posts on the website, and even on iTunes (as well as iPods and iPhones) as a podcast. While this is a cool feature for readers, it could be a very valuable tool for the visually impaired. These tools also provide benefits to readers with learning disabilities like Dyslexia.

Consumers Bugged by Many Ads
Study: Public Less Wary of Economy, Still Wary of Direct, E-mail, TV Spots

Ad Nauseam: Repetition of TV Spots Risks Driving Consumers Away
Fragmenting Media, Smaller Budgets Make for More of the Same Ads

Univision, Time Inc. Suffer Wrath of Slowing Market
Hispanic Ad Agencies Fretting at Prospect of 2009 Revenue Declines

Europe to Cap Prices for Roaming Text Messages and Data
European telecommunications ministers gave their backing on Thursday to a plan to cap retail prices for sending SMS (Short Message Service) text messages and browsing the Internet using mobile phones while abroad.