Observers sense 'something fishy' in Alaska vote
by David Edwards and Muriel Kane
The 2008 presidential race is over, but several Senate races still remain undecided. Georgia is headed for a runoff, Minnesota for a recount -- and in Alaska things just keep getting stranger."It looks like senator and convicted felon Ted Stevens and Congressman-currently-under-investigation Don Young will both hold onto their seats," MSNBC's Rachel Maddow noted on Thursday. "That said, there's a case to be made that there's something fishy going on up there." |
Peace Activists Welcome Obama, Will Push Him
by Aaron Glantz
An organization that has made headlines heckling George W. Bush and other prominent politicians for their support of the Iraq war has declared "victory" after Barack Obama's election as president of the United States."After almost eight years standing outside the White House with a bullhorn and screaming at someone who wouldn't listen who's totally impervious to popular opinion, I think it's going to be great having someone in there who hopefully will be interested in what we have to say," said Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the group CODEPINK: Women for Peace. |
Thousands In Los Angeles Protest Gay-Marriage Ban
by Shaya Tayefe Mohajer
Outside the gates of a Mormon temple, Kai Cross joined more than 2,000 gay-rights advocates in a chorus of criticism of the church's role in a new statewide ban on same-sex marriage.Once a devout Mormon who graduated from Brigham Young University, the 41-year-old Cross was disowned by his family and his church after he was outed as a gay man in 2001. |
2 more banks go belly-up
by Catherine Clifford
The tally of failed banks in 2008 rose to 19 as the government announced that a Texas and a California bank had been shuttered Friday night.Franklin Bank, a Houston, Texas-based bank and Security Pacific Bank, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based bank were shut down by state regulators Friday, marking the 18th and 19th bank failures this year. |
The Palin, the Witch-Hunt and the Wardrobe
by Alan Rolnick
The balloons and bunting are down, the posters packed up, and people are back to work, or back to looking for work. So many millions of individual struggles, big and small, ensured that enough votes for Barack Obama were cast and counted to overcome the usual shenanigans, which nonetheless may have shaved the margin significantly and frustrated Democratic efforts to gain a sixty-seat Senate majority. |
Can Senate Democrats Trust Lieberman?
by Bill Hare
During an informative MSNBC political talk show Thursday the subject of Joe Lieberman was discussed. The political journalist being interviewed delivered a cautionary note to Senate Democrats regarding Lieberman that dessert is better digested and enjoyed when cold. |
The Right Wing Stays Classy
by Pamela Troy
Dear Friend, The spirit of Winston Churchill was alive and well on Tuesday night at Focus on the Family Action headquarters. You may recall that in the most desperate days of World War II – when Great Britain was being pounded daily by Hitler’s Luftwaffe – that Winston Churchill called on his countrymen not to despair from danger but to rise to the challenge. |
The Last Ride on the Straight Talk Express
by Mike Whitney
In the end, all the fear-mongering and mud-slinging amounted to nothing. On Tuesday night, the McCain campaign fizzled out on the front lawn of the Biltmore Hotel in front of 7,000 downcast Republican loyalists. "Big Mac"--as the Arizona senator likes to call himself--made a gracious concession speech and offered congratulations to newly-elected President Barak Obama, but his words were drowned out by the boos and cat-calls from the crowd. The same acrimony and viciousness which characterized the entire campaign, dragged on to the very end. McCain ran the dirtiest campaign in recent memory and his attempt cover it over with a few upbeat remarks won't save his reputation from lasting damage. At no point, did McCain try to stay above the fray or address the central issues of war, domestic spying or the financial crisis. Instead, he chose the low road at every turn, invoking Karl Rove's Swift boat tactics by focusing all his attention on Reverend Jeremiah Wright, ex-Weatherman Bill Ayers and Rashid Khalidi---anything to avoid a real debate on the issues or expose a party platform which features just two worn planks; tax cuts and war. That's what made McCain the perfect choice for the GOP, because he embodies the ideologically-muddled worldview that pervades the party's core doctrine. Today's Republican party is a rudderless ship drifting in an open sea. Everything it once stood for--fiscal conservatism, small government, non intervention, civil liberties--has been jettisoned for the sake of staying in power and rewarding its constituents. McCain is just the last in a long line of Pharisees and opportunists who hide behind their lapel-pins and faux patriotism so they can smear their enemies with impunity while gorging themselves at the public trough. The 2008 campaign proves that the only thing that matters to McCain is winning, but he doesn't have the foggiest idea of how to get the job done. His attacks on Obama were not only sleazy and vindictive, they were counterproductive and a big part of why he lost the election. Bottom line; he disgraced himself for nothing. |
The Case for Evidence Preservation
by John Terzano - The Justice Project
This week Rolando Cruz celebrated the 13th anniversary of his exoneration from Illinois' death row. Cruz was wrongfully convicted in 1983 due in large part to a codefendant's statements implicating him. Even though Cruz was never physically linked to the crime scene, DNA evidence did exist. With the help of a volunteer legal team led by Professor Lawrence C. Marshall at Northwestern University Law School, Cruz was able to secure DNA testing on the evidence found near the crime scene which proved he could not have committed this crime. (Read more about Rolando Cruz's case here.) |
Our Fragile Dream: "I feel as though we've gotten our country back"
by Robert C. Koehler
It had already been a long day for me, and for the country, when I rode the train downtown to Grant Park on the night of Nov. 4. History was crowding against my thoughts -- my car was full of joyful, youthful, rock-the-vote noise -- as I looked out the window into the Chicago night and saw a bright orange (papaya-colored, really) quarter moon hovering over the horizon, beautiful and strange beyond reckoning. |
Tomgram: Rebecca Solnit on the Day of the Citizen
by Tom Engelhardt
For almost eight years, somebody else's bad-seed children had the run of the political sandbox. You could look on in horror as they bullied others, tore up the playground, and even managed to throw sand in their own eyes. You could yell at them (though they were heedless), or wonder where in the world their parents had gone, or who in the world had ever raised them to be this way. It was harder to dream, to hope. |
Take a Bow, America
by Bob Herbert
The markets are battered and job losses are skyrocketing, but even in the midst of a national economic crisis, we should not lose sight of the profound significance of this week and what it tells us about the continuing promise of America.Voters said no to incompetence and divisiveness and elbowed their way past the blight of racism that has been such a barrier to progress for so long. Barack Obama won the state of North Carolina, for crying out loud. |
The hillbilly from Wasilla
by Doug Thompson
With the election over and new revelations about the excesses of Republican vice presidential joke Sarah Palin emerging daily, we learn more and more about the incredibly dysfunctional Presidential campaign of John McCain.When compared to Palin, Dan Quayle becomes a mental giant. Spiro Agnew emerges as a paragon of virtue. Dick Cheney is a laid-back moderate. |
Obama wins electoral vote in Nebraska
by Robynn Tysver
For the first time ever, a blue circle will appear in Nebraska on national electoral maps.Democrat Barack Obama won the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District on Friday, scooping up one of the state's five electoral votes.In the process, he made history and shone the spotlight on Nebraska's unusual electoral college system. |
OJ Simpson loses bid for new trial in Las Vegas
by Ken Ritter
O.J. Simpson was denied a new trial Friday by the Nevada judge who presided over his conviction in the gunpoint robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room.Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass said challenges raised by lawyers for Simpson and co-defendant Clarence "C.J." Stewart did not rise to the level of granting another trial. |
Internet revolution that elected Obama could save Earth: Gore
by AFP
Former US vice president Al Gore said an Internet revolution carrying Barack Obama to the White House should now focus its power on stopping Earth's climate crisis.The one-time presidential contender turned environmental champion told Web 2.0 Summit goers in San Francisco Friday that technology has provided tools to save the planet while creating jobs and stimulating the crippled economy. |
Mississippi students told not to say Obama's name
by David Edwards and Muriel Kane
A controversy has erupted at a Mississippi junior high school over allegations that a bus driver and a coach threatened students with punishment for saying Barack Obama's name.The incidents became public when outraged parents called the studios of WAPT news in Pearl, Miss. Some said their children were threatened by a bus driver with being written up and taken to the principal's office, others that their children were told by a girls' basketball coach they would be suspended. |
