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Happy New Year, America!
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The ‘Market’ Isn’t So Wise After All (by Thomas Frank)
Today we stand at the end of a long historical stretch in which laissez-faire was glorified as gospel and the business community got almost its entire wish list granted by the state. To show its gratitude, the finance industry then stampeded us all over a cliff… [B]y and large the free-market medicine men seem determined to learn nothing from this awful year. Instead they repeat their incantations and retreat deeper into their dogma, generating endless schemes in which government is to blame, all sin originates with the Community Reinvestment Act, and the bailouts for which their own flock is desperately bleating can do nothing but harm. And they wait for things to return to normal, without realizing that things already have.

Bigger Than Bush  (by Paul Krugman)
If the Bush administration became a byword for policy bungles, for government by the unqualified, well, it was just following the advice of leading conservative think tanks… Where did this hostility to government come from? In 1981 Lee Atwater, the famed Republican political consultant, explained the evolution of the G.O.P.’s “Southern strategy,” which originally focused on opposition to the Voting Rights Act but eventually took a more coded form: “You’re getting so abstract now you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites.” In other words, government is the problem because it takes your money and gives it to Those People…

Will the Republicans eventually stage a comeback? Yes, of course. But barring some huge missteps by Mr. Obama, that will not happen until they stop whining and look at what really went wrong. And when they do, they will discover that they need to get in touch with the real “real America,” a country that is more diverse, more tolerant, and more demanding of effective government than is dreamt of in their political philosophy.
They’ve already started the comeback.  See below.

Yes, the New Deal worked (by tms at unreasonable.org)
With talk of federal spending to help the economic recovery, it’s become a right-wing talking point that FDR’s New Deal didn’t work. Like most talking points from right-wing pundits these days, it’s a bunch of malarkey.

Employment began to recover in FDR’s first term. By 1937, the labor force had reached just short of the boom’s 1929 peak. In 1937, conservative opposition slowed New Deal projects – and employment fell again, though not as steeply. Opposition ebbed, the New Deal was strengthened, and employment recovered to higher than 1929 levels – and was trending still higher – by 1940, before the U.S. entry into WWII…

The same pattern can be seen in GDP and in industrial production… [T]he numbers clearly show that the New Deal did a lot of good for the economy.

Obama Gets High Leadership Marks (Political Wire)
A new CNN poll finds that three-quarters of the American public thinks President-elect Obama is a strong and decisive leader, “the highest marks for a president-elect on that characteristic in nearly three decades.” Said pollster Keating Holland: “That’s the best number an incoming president has gotten on that dimension since Ronald Reagan took office in 1981. The public’s rating of his leadership skills is already as high as George W. Bush’s was after 9/11 and easily beats the numbers that both Bush and Bill Clinton got at the start of their first terms in office.”
CNN didn’t ask those polled what is their basis for making this judgment.  I challenge readers to tell me what in Obama’s past justifies giving him a high rating for leadership.

Military Times Poll Shows Skepticism for New Commander in Chief (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
The Military Times [Thursday] published a poll indicating that about 60% of active duty servicemen and -women are uncertain or pessimistic about their new commander in chief. One third say they are optimistic, including eight out of 10 African-American servicemen and -women. The poll also indicates that most active duty servicemen and -women oppose repealing the Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell policy prohibiting gays and lesbians from service openly in the military. Nearly 10% say repealing the policy would cause them to leave the military as soon as they could.
Yes, well, they loved George Bush at first.  And look at how that turned out.

Back To Work (by Steve at The Left Coaster)
[C]an we all just wait a bit in judging Barack Obama and his actions until, you know, he actually gets into office and can act upon his rhetoric?… [I]t’s a little early for disdain already about his actions or lack thereof. The man hasn’t taken office, doesn’t have the machinery available to him yet, and will be left with a bag of burning manure on the doorstep of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by the outgoing miscreants, most of whom should be indicted after Obama reverses the pardons handed out by a man who eventually should be awaiting trial at The Hague. Take another look at the speeches, the rhetoric of the final days of the campaign, and maintain your hope that Obama will still aim for most of it, before we conclude that he’ll disappoint us.
My comment: Let’s see…
During the primary we couldn’t criticize Obama because we would be racists if we did that.
During the general election, we couldn’t criticize Obama because it was so important to get a Democrat elected, we didn’t care that the Democratic candidate was a misogynistic empty suit.
After the election, we can’t criticize Obama because he hasn’t done anything yet. (We could actually say that about the guy’s whole life.)
I wonder what the excuse will be after he’s sworn in.

Thursday: Is The Confluence a liberal blog? (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)

Yes, we are a liberal blog. But, but, but, some of you voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin. Believe me, that was not an easy decision for some of us.  Some of us cried afterwards… Ours were protest votes.  We were protesting the un-Democratic manner in which Barack Obama was selected as our party’s nominee.  You didn’t really think we would be stupid enough to reward that outrage of unfairness and cheating, did you?  How Republican would that have been?… In none of our beliefs is there a single issue mentality.  We do not advocate for one group over another or one cause over another.  We live by the preamble of the Constitution… Union. Common. General Welfare.  Blessings of Liberty.  Justice.  It doesn’t get any more liberal than that.

So, you Obamaphiles out there who are objecting to our inclusion as a nominee for Best Liberal Blog for the 2008 Weblog Awards have to ask yourselves, are you liberal?  The Blessings of Liberty mean suffrage and choice.  We, as liberals, would never prevent you from choosing to vote for any of the other blogs on the list just as we would never prevent, intimidate, harrass, mislead or threaten delegates at the 2008 Democratic Convention from voting for the candidate of their constituents’ choice. That’s liberal and we are proud to count ourselves as liberals.
Click the internal link to vote for The Confluence as the best liberal blog of 2008.

Liberalism opposes absolutism (by heidiliofpotpourri at The Confluence)
In opposing absolutism, liberalism places an emphasis on the autonomy of the individual. Autonomy here means the individual’s ability for and right to self-direction constrained only by the need to permit similar autonomy for others… It is entirely unsurprising that as liberals many liberals rejected Barack Obama as a Presidential candidate or find his performance as President-elect wanting. From the perspective of a strong liberal, Mr. Obama does not share, or does not share fully enough, liberalism’s commitment to the realization of individual autonomy particularly in the face of powerful forces that tend to work against it. Some indications of Mr. Obama’s illiberalism:

• His twenty year membership in a church whose pastor endorsed anti-Semites like Louis Farrakhan and preached doctrines favoring the use of terrorist violence against individual civilians.
• His willingness to disenfranchise the individuals who voted in Michigan’s and Florida’s primaries.
• His vote to provide immunity to companies that aided and abetted government eavesdropping and spying upon individual U.S. citizens.
• His refusal to object to mobocratic measures taken on his behalf that enabled him to claim the Democratic Party nomination (e.g. his silence on the Democratic Party’s disregard for its own rules and procedures for selecting a nominee).
• His bent toward creating mechanisms that conflate the political with the civic and the social, particularly when the conflation advances his personal political identity (e.g. house parties to carry his personal movement forward under the banner of mybarackobama; the use of invented seals to collapse preexisting government institutions – e.g., the office of the president – with his own political machinery – e.g., “the office of the president-elect”).
• His elevation to the spotlight of a woman-bashing, gay-hating cleric.

Liberalism does not mistake toleration (e.g. social and political freedom for woman-bashing gay hating clerics to practice their religion) for endorsement, tacit or otherwise. Liberalism does not short-circuit procedures meant to protect individual interests and rights in the name of a specific preferred outcome (e.g. finagling pre-established publicly promulgated procedures that, however inconveniently, failed to produce a nominee for the Democratic Party at the end of June).

Liberalism does not applaud the herd mentality.

Is Hillary Clinton 2008′s ‘Bumbler of the Year?’ (On Politics, USA Today)
If Hillary Rodham Clinton “had not forgotten that February had 29 days in 2008 — not just the five for which her campaign planned–she, not (Barack) Obama, would almost certainly be taking the presidential oath of office on Jan. 20,” Quinnipiac University Polling Institute assistant director Peter Brown writes … in The Wall Street Journal. And that’s why Brown has made the former first lady and soon-to-be secretary of State his “Bumbler of the Year.”
My comment: If not for viciously hateful treatment by you in the media, Hillary might be taking the oath of office on January 20. And she almost won the nomination despite your hate.

My New Year’s Prediction: They Will Never Defeat Her – Or Us (by madamab at The Confluence)

Our Girl has been named “New Yorker of the Year” by the New York Daily News - “The Most Powerful Woman in the World.” She and Bill Clinton will be at the ball-dropping ceremony this evening, in front of tens of millions of people. At one point, she was neither going to be considered for a Cabinet post, nor to head the health care efforts in the Senate. But now, she is going to be the Secretary of State – and there is no better time for the spectacularly unsuccessful Bush doctrine to be firmly repudiated once and for all, by a person of clarity, conviction and strength. And as for Hillary’s “high negatives,” which they constantly trumpeted as the reason that Obama should win the primaries, did they not realize that Hillary has been the most admired woman in America for the past seven years?…

Sorry, Obamans. Hillary’s not going away, and neither are we. In the New Year, we will be moving on to a new phase of activism. So buckle your seatbelts, boys and girls. It’s going to be a bumpy ride, and you’re very lucky that Hillary will be there to smooth it out for your clueless, narcissistic empty suit. In time, even you will admit that.

Another Popcorn Opportunity – MoveOn Defends Itself Against Political Prostitution Rap (by campskunk at Alegre’s Corner)
Rabblerouser Andie Coller over at Politico is at it again, and takes a pointed look at just how cozy the MoveOn-Obama campaign relationship has gotten – and promises to continue to be. Apparently, Obama’s priorities are their priorities… Eli Par[i]ser struggles to explain why they’re so attuned to camp Obama… “the people (Obama’s) listening to and the people we’re listening to are the same people.” Or, put another way, if Obama is not listening to a certain constituency, you can be pretty sure MoveOn will develop a little hearing difficulty with that group as well… Sounds like that unitary executive theory so popular with the last administration. …and finally, the most telling quote. “…we just do what we’re told.”

At least he knows his place in the new Obamocracy. Um, Eli, any action on primary and caucus reform? No? Didn’t think so. 

DETERMINED to have the TRUTH regarding OBAMA that he is NOT “NATURAL BORN”… (Obama Crimes)
(Lafayette Hill, PA – 12/30/08) – Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the Attorney who filed suit against Barack H. Obama challenging Senator Obama’s lack of “qualifications” to serve as President of the United States which is pending in the U.S. Supreme Court [Docket No. 08 – 570] with two [2] Conferences scheduled on January 9th and 16th 2009, filed suit against Barry Soetoro a/k/a Obama on behalf of a Retired Military Colonel. Berg today, with co-counsel Lawrence J. Joyce, Esquire, filed another lawsuit in Federal Court in the United States District for the District of Columbia on behalf of Retired Colonel Hollister against Barry Soetoro a/k/a Barack Hussein Obama demanding to know Obama’s real name and if he is constitutionally qualified to be President…

Berg stated, “I am determined, on behalf of the 320 million citizens in the United States, to see that “our U.S. Constitution” is followed. Specifically, in the case of Soetoro a/k/a Obama, does he meet the constitutional qualifications for President ? I do not believe so based upon:
1) Obama was born in Kenya and because his mother was not nineteen [19], he was only “naturalized” and therefore, not qualified to be President;
2) Obama was legally adopted/acknowledged in Indonesia at the approximate age of six [6] and attended school as “Barry Soetoro,” [his step-father is Lolo Soetoro] for four [4] years – Indonesia did not have dual citizenship and to attend school, he had to be adopted or acknowledged and he became a “natural” citizen of Indonesia;
3) when he returned to Hawaii at age ten [10], there is a question if he returned through U.S. Immigration – (a) if he did, Barry Soetoro would have been given a “Certification of Citizenship” that would have indicated he was a “naturalized” U.S. citizen since he was a “natural” citizen of Indonesia; or (b) if he did not go through immigration, which I believe, then Soetoro a/k/a Obama is an illegal alien and therefore, not constitutionally qualified to be President and his three [3] years as an U.S. Senator were a fraud.”…

For copies of all Court Pleadings, go to obamacrimes.com

SILVER NOW TAKES SHINE TO CAROLINE (New York Post)
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who last week sharply questioned whether Caroline Kennedy should be appointed to the US Senate, said yesterday he’s rethinking his views because he believes Gov. Paterson may soon pick her. “I have determined there’s a good possibility she will be the appointee of the governor,” Silver, the state’s second most powerful Democrat, told The Post. “If she is the appointee of the governor, I will certainly be supportive of her. I will work for her and will work strenuously for her election.” Last week, Silver said Kennedy seemed more loyal to Mayor Bloomberg, who has twice defeated Democratic opponents, than she was to Paterson.

Blago Busted – Chicago Sun Times

Senate opposition fiercer than Burris thinks
WASHINGTON — Roland Burris does not want to be in the face of the senators whose ranks he hopes to join, I am told. Yet Burris, appointed by the scandalized Gov. Blagojevich to replace President-elect Barack Obama, is expected here Monday. Burris’ mere presence to try to claim the seat will, of course, be a spectacle.

Burris: I’m going to D.C.
Gov’s appointee plans to be there for Senate swearing-in, but Dems expected to deny him paycheck, office

‘Thousands of phone calls’ on feds’ wiretaps
Prosecutors revealed Wednesday that they captured “thousands of phone calls” on secret wiretaps in their investigation into Gov. Blagojevich. The disclosure came in a government filing in which prosecutors asked for a 90-day extension to indict Blagojevich and his former chief of staff, John Harris. The filing also revealed that the government has additional targets in its ongoing probe and that the governor’s Dec. 9 arrest spurred more witnesses to talk to prosecutors. “Multiple witnesses have come forward in recent weeks to discuss their knowledge of criminal activity,” the filing states.

‘Take a chill pill,’ Rep. Rush tells those who oppose Blagojevich’s appointment of Burris (On Politics, USA Today)
Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., who [Tuesday] said that fellow Democrats who oppose Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s appointment of former state attorney general Roland Burris to the Senate should not “hang or lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointor,” said [Wednesday] morning on CBS-TV’s Early Show that the governor’s critics should “take a chill pill.” And he likened opposition from Democrats in the Senate to Burris’ appointment to the actions of southern governors in the ’50s and ’60s to block school desegregation.
Click through to watch the video.

An Empty Suit For an Empty Seat (by Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune, a conservative)
[Roland] Burris’ chief claim to fame until this week was his 12-year term as state comptroller, a job whose significance can be measured by the fact that few Illinoisans could identify the current occupant (Dan Hynes). Even among accountants, Burris left few strong impressions, but he also never gave any prosecutor grounds to indict him, which is not something Illinois voters take for granted… [I]f Senate Democrats can’t legally keep him out, they can render him irrelevant. Most of the work of Congress is done in committee, and the constitution doesn’t say a senator is entitled to serve on committees — in fact, it doesn’t even mention committees. Once on Capitol Hill, Burris may have nothing to do but bask in his new title, show up for an occasional floor vote and cash his paycheck. For that job, come to think of it, Burris is perfect.

Roland Burris’s monument to himself. (Think Progress)
Politico notes that former Illinois attorney general Roland Burris, whom Gov. Rod Blagojevich chose to fill President-elect Obama’s Senate seat, has already erected his “future grave” in a Chicago cemetery. The grave “lists his accomplishments” and leaves “plenty of room above the bench to mention his career in the Senate”.

LMAO with Blago (by Valhalla at Partizane)
Ahhhh, this is hilarious. Harry Reid is going to take a stand now?  Not on the war, not on FISA, not on the corruption in his own party, not against the criminal president with the worst approval ratings since Nixon, but now, against an appointee who, although he doesn’t sound fab to me is perfectly competent? I’m rather doubting Blago did much of anything that most Chicago politicians have done.  I used to live in Chicago (granted it was a long time ago) and the political corruption watching was mostly a mildly amusing pastime.  Political patronage, even as bad as what Blago has been accused of would barely have raised eyebrows. I’m not saying that makes it right, but it does give quite the lie to all the “Shocked! Shocked to find that gambling is going on!” flavoring that has been poured all over this mess. The longer this goes on and greater Blago’s chutzpah, the more I think he has to have something on Rahm or Obama.

Obama the Magic Negro-Gate (by Larry Elder, a conservative)
This is how the whole thing started. David Ehrenstein, a writer who happens to be black and liberal, wrote an opinion piece in March 2007 in the Los Angeles Times called “Obama the ‘Magic Negro.’” He argued that whites, according to sociologists, stereotype blacks as “dangerous.” But whites consider Obama accessible, likeable and “benign.”… The article produced virtually no outcry. Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh then aired a song parody –set to the music of “Puff the Magic Dragon” — called “Barack the Magic Negro.” Referring to the L.A. Times article, an Al Sharpton-like “singer” called Obama inauthentically black. Why, complained the singer, should white folks vote for Obama rather than a true black man “from the hood” like – me.

Obama And That Other Ponzi Scheme (by J –SOM at Liberal Rapture)
The Hsu trial is set to begin January 12. Pods head won’t expode – but they may be torn in half. Clinton AND Obama are set to get some rotten press. How will the Pods defend THEIR LORD and while condeming the Clintons at the same time? My, my, 2009 is going to be fun.

FBI Probing Florida Rep. Mahoney (ABC News)
The FBI has begun questioning witnesses as part of its investigation in whether outgoing Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.) violated any laws in putting his former mistress on the congressional payroll, sources familiar with the probe tell ABCNews.com. The sources say that the FBI is focusing whether Mahoney may have made false statements in hiring his then mistress, Patricia Allen, in his congressional office.

Rangel Pays Parking Tickets With Campaign Funds (CQ Politics)
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel of New York has used campaign funds to pay $1,540 in fines from parking tickets in the District of Columbia in the last two years, according to federal campaign finance records and his office. Rangel’s campaign committee and his “leadership” political action committee have combined to make 14 separate payments to the D.C. treasurer for “automobile expenses” since March 16, 2007, and a Rangel spokesman confirmed that campaign aides believe they were for tickets.

Witness who didn’t testify at Stevens trial has died in Alaska (McClatchy)
Rocky Williams, the witness whose non-testimony at the trial of Sen. Ted Stevens proved as controversial as the statements of some others who did take the stand, died in Anchorage Tuesday. He was 58.

US rescue averted ‘financial collapse’: Treasury (AFP)
Massive rescue efforts by the US government and central bank in recent months helped avert a “financial collapse” and are working to stabilize the economy, a Treasury report said Wednesday. The Treasury report to a congressional panel overseeing the 700-billion-dollar rescue plan passed in early October said the extraordinary actions probably averted deeper problems. “Treasury, working with the Federal Reserve, the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) and other regulators, has taken the necessary steps to prevent a financial collapse,” the report said.
“I have examined my actions and found that I have averted disaster for me by bankrupting all of you.”

Sudden impoverishment as a trigger of civil conflict (by Antonio Ciccone, thanks to Economist’s View)
Does poverty cause civil conflict? This column presents the latest evidence, which shows that droughts in Sub-Saharan Africa that reduce income raise the likelihood of violence.

Unemployment insurance – A safety net in need of repair (The Economist, U.K.—a very conservative publication)
COMPARED with the systems in other industrialised countries, the American unemployment-insurance (UI) scheme pays lower benefits for less time and to a smaller share of the unemployed. In expansions this encourages the jobless to return quickly to work—and unemployed Americans do indeed work harder at finding jobs than their European counterparts… But in recessions, when there is less work to return to, it causes hardship.
It causes hardship AND prolongs the recession.

Offshoring Is One Sure Thing (by Froma Harrop)
Barack Obama’s pick for commerce secretary, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, vows to create millions of technology jobs that can’t be outsourced. Sounds good, particularly in this melting economy. On the other hand, Richardson supports expanding the H-1B visa program, which had greased the departure of good-paying tech jobs to lower-wage countries. The program lets U.S. companies employ up to 65,000 temporary foreign software designers, engineers and other skilled professionals a year. When the workers go home, the jobs often go with them. That’s a problem for American workers. For the businesses that abuse the program, it’s a plan.

Steel Industry, in Slump, Looks to Federal Stimulus (New York Times)
The steel industry … is turning to government for orders that, until the September collapse, had come from manufacturers and builders. Its executives are waiting anxiously for details of President-elect Barack Obama’s stimulus plan, and adding their voices to pleas for a huge public investment program — up to $1 trillion over two years — intended to lift demand for steel to build highways, bridges, electric power grids, schools, hospitals, water treatment plants and rapid transit. “What we are asking,” said Daniel R. DiMicco, chairman and chief executive of the Nucor Corporation, a giant steel maker, “is that our government deal with the worst economic slowdown in our lifetime through a recovery program that has in every provision a ‘buy America’ clause.”

Citi executives and Rubin forgo bonuses (Financial Times, U.K.)
Citigroup’s top executives, and Robert Rubin, a director and senior adviser, will forgo their 2008 bonuses amid internal and external pressure to atone for the company’s huge losses and a $300bn government bail-out… Mr Rubin, a former US Treasury secretary, told the board that, under the circumstances and at this stage of his career, he felt the funds that would have been used for his bonus could be better spent on other employees, Mr Pandit wrote. Mr Rubin, who has earned more than $115m since joining Citi in 1999, also waived his bonus last year. In spite of having no operational responsibilities, Mr Rubin remains an influential voice in Citi’s boardroom.

Wall Street’s Loss Can Be Our Gain (by Dean Baker)
The lead article in the New Year’s Day edition of the Washington Post bemoaned the loss of $6.9 trillion in value in U.S. stock market last year. While those who own large amounts of stock have reason to shed tears, this may end being good news for the rest of us… [I]f the loss of demand from stockholders is effectively replaced by demand from the government or foreign sector, then the vast majority of the country will be made better off by this plunge in stock prices. The Post should have reporters who understand this fact.

The Growth of Dangerous Protectionism in the Downturn (by Dean Baker)
China just took actions that will raise the price that tens of millions of people around the world pay for software. This will reduce their income and depress demand for other products. The WSJ reported on the Chinese government’s crackdown on a factory producing unauthorized copies of software, but neglected to mention the impact on consumers and the economy.

Cash-strapped states weigh selling roads, parks
Like families pawning the silver to get through a tight spot, states such as Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois are thinking of selling or leasing toll roads, parks, lotteries and other assets to raise desperately needed cash.
As short-sighted an idea as they have ever come up with.

California seeks balanced budget with tax boost, school cuts (McClatchy)
Aides to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rolled out a new plan for closing California’s gaping $40 billion budget deficit Wednesday that cobbles together elements of earlier proposals and adds a new tax increase, a shorter school year and a “what if” quest to borrow $4.7 billion.

Smoking ban leads to major drop in heart attacks 
A smoking ban in one Colorado city led to a dramatic drop in heart attack hospitalizations, according to a new study that is considered the best and longest-term research to show such a link. The rate of hospitalized cases dropped 41 percent three years after the ban of workplace smoking in Pueblo, Colo., took effect. There was no such drop in two neighboring areas, and researchers believe it’s a clear sign the ban was responsible… “This is now the ninth study, so it is clear that smoke-free laws are one of the most effective and cost-effective to reduce heart attacks,” said Thun, who was not involved in the CDC study released Thursday.
I still don’t want to see us go too far with these kinds of restrictions on personal behavior.

The Right-Leaning Washington Post Calls Brookings “Left-Leaning” (by Dean Baker)
Can the Post get over silly name-calling. I am quite certain that the folks at Brookings rightly consider the place to be centrist. It certainly has its share of liberals, but it also boasts many conservatives on staff. The normal journalistic rule is defer to an organization’s self-description, unless it has good reason to believe that it is inaccurate or misleading.

Gonzales: ‘What Is It That I Did That Is So Fundamentally Wrong?’ (Think Progress)
Alberto Gonzales’s legal career at the White House and the Justice Department was a stain even for the Bush administration. Gonzales left office with a 28 percent approval rating, with over 40 percent of the country saying he should resign. Yet, Gonzales is puzzled to this day why the public frowns upon his tenure in government. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Gonzales asks, “What is it that I did that is so fundamentally wrong, that deserves this kind of response to my service?” He added, “For some reason, I am portrayed as the one who is evil in formulating policies that people disagree with. I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror.”

Fortunately, we can offer Gonzales some help in figuring out what he did that was so “fundamentally wrong.” Some lowlights: Politicized the DOJ… Approved torture… Lied about warrantless wiretapping… Distorted pre-war intelligence.
Click through for details.

Torture prosecutions finally begin in the U.S. (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
While fiercely loyal establishment spokespeople such as The Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus continue to insist that prosecutions are only appropriate for common criminals (“someone breaking into your house”) but not our glorious political leaders when they break the law (by, say, systematically torturing people), the Bush administration has righteously decided that torture is such a grotesque and intolerable crime that political leaders who order it simply must be punished in American courts to the fullest extent of the law . . . . if they’re from Liberia… [Emphasis added.]

But — say Bush loyalists and our pliant political class in unison — the one thing that we cannot tolerate is for American courts to be used to impose accountability on American leaders who authorized illegal torture.  And, of course, the only thing worse than doing that would be to subject them to prosecution by another country or, creepier still, an international tribunal.  That would be an intolerable infringement of our sovereignty, we say as we prosecute the son of Liberia’s President for acts he undertook exclusively inside Liberia.

Rejecting truce, Olmert vows ‘iron fist’ against Hamas (McClatchy)
ASHKELON, Israel – Israeli soldiers were poised Thursday to launch a Gaza Strip ground offensive as their political leadership appeared divided over how to bring the devastating six-day-old military campaign against Hamas to an end.

Israel destroys Hamas homes, flattens Gaza mosque (AP)
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel bombed a mosque it says had been used to store weapons and destroyed the homes of more than a dozen Hamas operatives on Friday, the seventh day of a blistering offensive in Gaza and the day after an airstrike killed a prominent Hamas figure.

What helped the rise of Hamas? U.S., Israel policies, turns out (by Warren P. Strobel, McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — The Gaza Strip wasn’t supposed to be like this. In August 2005, when Israel unilaterally withdrew from the narrow coastal territory, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised it would make Israel safer. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hailed the move as “historic.” Israel had left behind a political vacuum, however. That, along with decisions by Israel, the U.S. and Palestinian rivals inadvertently boosted the militant Islamic group Hamas into power. Hamas is stronger than ever, and Israel’s air strikes risk bolstering it further, according to current and former U.S. officials, diplomats and analysts.

Nuanced isn’t neutered (by vastleft at Corrente)
See Chris Floyd’s blistering take on Israel’s attacks in Gaza. In the midst of it, he avows this: “I hold no brief for Hamas; like the Angry Arab, whose coverage of the conflict has been relentless and penetrating, I don’t care for any party based on religious extremism.” Did you see what he did there? He acknowledged a reality where Hamas isn’t a cuddly mascot for our favorite team. Did he just ruin his case, bending over backwards to support some false equivalency? No, he strengthened his case (one with which you may or may not generally concur), by showing a degree of nuance, firewalling his disapproval for Israel’s tactics from any perceived tacit approval of Hamas. When we fail to do so in this classically polarizing topic, we’re undercutting our credibility.

Civilian Toll in Gaza Finally Gets Major ‘NYT’ Play
It took almost a week, but The New York Time finally weighed in today with a front-page report on the civilian carnage in Gaza under six days of Israeli bombing. It’s only day one of 2009 but it will be hard to top the headline for its sure Duh-ness: “In Dense Gaza, Civilians Suffer.”

Israel’s military takes PR battle to YouTube
Israel‘s bruising war on the Islamic militants who control Gaza has moved online, where sites like YouTube and Facebook are the new battlegrounds.

Gaza Battles on Twitter, Blogs (by Alan Abbey at Poynter Online)
I wish I could say that Twitter is providing useful, on-the-ground, independent reports of the Israeli military action in Gaza and the Hamas bombing of southern Israel. But all I have found there so far — in English, from individual tweeters (not news organizations, some of which are using Twitter in their Gaza coverage) — is heated rhetoric from non-Gazans and international observers. The Israeli side is more ideological than reportorial at this stage, as well. But there are some bright spots, where people on the ground are providing original news and information from Gaza.

JournoTweeting (by Ellyn Angelotti at Poynter Online)
Click through for some tips on setting up an account and using Twitter.

Mini-Tidbits: Net News Overtakes Papers, More… (by Amy Gahran at Poynter Online)
A new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press indicates that more Americans now prefer the Internet to print newspapers for national and international news. TV is still the leading news source overall — but among youth, online media is closing that gap fast, too. Also in this roundup: The nonprofit publisher Consumers Union buys Gawker’s Consumerist.com, a series of BarCamp News Innovation events is in the works, and more.

Reinventing Journalism (by Steven Jones and Tim Redmond at San Francisco Bay Guardian)
HuffPo’s model of journalism isn’t really that radical. The notion that reporters are allowed to have opinions, that news outlets can take on causes, push issues and represent the public interest, has been a part of the nation’s media landscape since before the American Revolution.
Yes, but it’s the notion of reporters working for free that is the biggest problem with the Huffington Post’s business model.

The old model for compensating journalists is as obsolete as the telegraph
“If anyone out there in the blogosphere can tell me what the new model is, I will pronounce him the first genius I’ve ever encountered on the Internet,” writes Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine.

Make Your Own Online Newspaper with Feed Chronicle (Mashable)
Feed Chronicle is a new site that lets you transform those RSS feeds into your very own online newspaper. It’s simple to use and setup. Just create an account, select the feeds (from drop-down menus) you want for each newspaper-like section, and the final result is your very own online newspaper. The site itself is pretty basic, and doesn’t allow you to add custom RSS feeds yet, but it might serve the less tech/internet savvy crowd of individuals who just want to easily find news and information across the web from tradtional and new media sources. Although Feed Chronicle doesn’t create a physical paper like FeedJournal, it certainly closely resembles the websites of media giants, and might sway hard copy enthusiasts to adopt a more soft copy lifestyle.

FCC head drops filtering from free broadband plan
WASHINGTON (AP) – Before he steps down as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Kevin Martin still hopes to win approval for his plan to auction off a slice of the airwaves for a free nationwide wireless broadband network. So to increase the chances that his proposal will win the support of his fellow commissioners, Martin said this week that he has removed one especially contested element: a requirement that the provider of the wireless network filter Internet content to block any material deemed inappropriate for children.

[British] Government pipedreams on internet ratings doomed to fail
Secrecy, police censorship and no appeal are the norm

Balls (by Jeff Jarvis)
Via Ryan Sholin on Twitter, I find a post by journalism student and practitioner Suzanne Yada (what a great name for blogging) with great advice for journalism students. Ryan’s and my favorite bit: “Grow some cojones. Let me level with you. The world doesn’t need more music reviewers or opinion spouters. The world needs more people willing to ask tough questions. The first step to reversing journalism’s tarnished image is to have the guts to dig for information the public can’t easily find themselves, and be an advocate of unbiased, straightforward truth. If you can show depth and research with your reporting clips, if you can show you can ask the tough questions and be more than just a parrot for your interviewee, if you can fact-check the living snot out of your articles, you will rise to the top of the crop.” She has tons more superb advice (including: be prepared to go entrepreneurial), which I recommend to all my students and j-students anywhere.

Barnicle: One problem with newspapers is that they’re run by old white guys
“They’re just getting over the fact that TV is here to stay,” says Mike Barnicle. “They haven’t even gotten to the Internet, and what that’s doing to their business.”

Bettinger: A curmudgeonly attitude can lead to interesting innovation
Knight Fellowships director Jim Bettinger doesn’t have a “no curmudgeons” rule because “a curmudgeonly attitude, savvily applied, can lead to interesting innovation. We are looking for people who have been able to get beyond woe-is-us, and more deeply, who think that the core values of journalism are so important that they want to devote significant time and energy to strengthening them.”

Teaching journalists (by Jeff Jarvis)
Three neat new efforts to teach journalists the tools, tricks, and gizmos of new media: In a McCormick Foundation-funded program, West Virginia University journalism students are making multimedia stories to be run on papers’ sites throughout the state. That alone is a good idea and I’ll argue that we need to harness the brute reporting power of journalism students everywhere to help create journalism for papers and the public. But the WVU program goes the next step: Once the students have learned the tools and made stories with them, they turn around and teach the pros how to use them. Great idea!

More Newspapers Sharing Content — Cutting Competition
As readers and advertisers migrate to the Internet and the stumbling economy cuts deeply into revenues, news organizations are redefining what it means to compete. In recent months, papers around the country have tried to mitigate their staff cuts by forging partnerships with former rivals.

Future Sports News Idea: Teams Buy News Hole, Not Editorial Control (by Steve Klein at Poynter Online)
A number of years and a couple of careers ago, when I was the (exclusively) print sports editor of the Lansing State Journal, it was not unusual for a coach or the athletic director at Michigan State University to complain about the perceived slant of a story or column. So one day, I totaled up the column inches of MSU sports coverage in the newspaper and gave the athletic director the number and a copy of our advertising rate card. Although he continued to complain occasionally, he got the point: Editorial content was free publicity, not advertising — and advertising was expensive.

Mark Cuban, the wealthy entrepreneur, chairman of HDNet and owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks, gets this point, too. He outlined it in a provocative Dec. 24 Blog Maverick post: “Why Pro Sports Need Newspapers.” According to Cuban, professional sports (he didn’t mention the big business of collegiate athletics) needs newspapers — especially in the short-term.

Cincinnati Enquirer to stop running classified ads on Mondays and Tuesdays
The Gannett-owned paper is also switching to a narrower page-format and condensing some of its sections. The daily television grids will be reduced to include only evening programming of the major broadcast stations.

Tribune spent $3 million for legal work related to managing and restructuring debt
That money was spent before the company declared bankruptcy. Court documents reveal that Tribune realized in November that Chapter 11 reorganization was its best route. “Bankruptcies don’t come cheap,” notes Ameet Sachdev. Partners at Tribune’s law firm charged between $575 and $1,100 per hour, while the hourly rates for its bankruptcy/restructuring advisors range from $525 to $750.

Time Warner and Viacom Reach Agreement on Cable Shows
An executive with knowledge of the negotiation said that Time Warner had given in and agreed to pay a higher fee to MTV Networks for its 20 cable networks.

Websites targeting women are growing in numbers
Slate.com is expanding its popular blog, The XX Factor, into its own site in the spring, and Elizabeth Spiers is developing an online women’s magazine pegged as “Maxim for women.” Already online are TheFrisky.com, Yahoo’s women’s lifestyle portal Shine.yahoo.com, and Wowowow.com, a site targeting women over 40.

No shoes? No problem for this college interview
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – For her college interview, Avery Cullinan put on her best outfit but didn’t bother with shoes. She sat in her living room, smiled into her computer’s webcam and told an admissions officer more than 800 miles away that Wake Forest University was right for her.

Review: Ditching car OK with Net transit planners
SEATTLE (AP) – As a New Yorker, I don’t own a car, and I really hate driving. So I challenged myself to avoid the driver’s seat as much as possible during a recent West Coast trip, something made practical with all the online transit planners that have cropped up in recent years.

Going Straight to the Publisher for Ad Help
In tough economic times, bypassing the agencies can make good sense.

‘GoodQuests’ tie online mazes to charity
ATLANTA (AP) – If kids are playing video games, why not do some good while they’re at it? Elf Island, a virtual world created by Atlanta-based Good Egg Studios, ties online games to charity construction in the real world. The more “virtual” homes the kids build by completing mini-mazes, the more real homes that are built by Habitat for Humanity.

When the Call of the Wild Is Nothing but the Phone in Your Pocket
An environmental group has recorded the calls of more than 80 creatures so phones can howl, hoot, trill, screech and croak in support of endangered species.

China Plans to License 3 Wireless Standards
The move opens the way for cellphone users in China to have faster downloads of video, data and Web-browsing services, and for companies to charge more for their high-speed services.

Microsoft’s Zune players freeze on New Year’s Eve
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Happy New Year from Microsoft Corp.: Your Zune is dead. Thousands of Microsoft’s Zune media players – the software company’s answer to Apple Inc.’s iPod – unexpectedly conked out Wednesday and showed users an error message, prompting references to “Y2K for Zunes.”

Microsoft blames leap year for Zune freeze
Microsoft said Wednesday that a Leap year issue caused problems with the 30-gigabyte Zunes, following a flood of online customer complaints about the digital music players freezing up.