The Liberal Doomsayer My blog deals primarily with national politics in the U.S. as well as, on occasion, local politics in Pennsylvania. From time to time, I may have something to say about sports and entertainment as well. I try to interpret information that shapes the news and provide context to current events. I am definitely left of center politically, but as far as I'm concerned, neither major party is perfect. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 12 0 60 4272

Articles from The Liberal Doomsayer

Glenn Greenwald Explains Everything 2008-01-08 11:16:00 More concisely and with better statistics, I might add...Edwards -- who, just one week ago, was 10 points behind Obama nationally among Democrats -- is now only two points behind him. Less than a month ago, he trailed Clinton by 29 points. Now it's 13 points. He is, by far, at his high point of support nationwide. Apparently, the more exposure Democratic voters get to Edwards and his campaign positions -- and that exposure has been at its high point during his surge -- the more they like him.(Hat tip to Avedon Carol at Eschaton for this)... ...

Pro-Hypocrisy First, Pro-Life Second 2008-01-08 08:27:00 I should note that, as a Roman Catholic in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the language against abortion coming from our church back towards the congregation has grown more strident since about last Christmas. I mean, there have always been "general intercessions" on behalf of the unborn, and prayerful requests for respect towards all life, and that is as it should be.However, over the last few weeks, the Church has been offering as a prayer "an end to all legalized abortions." Not much "wiggle room" for misinterpretation, is there? And yes, I believe this is wrong for many reasons that have to do with highly personal medical decisions between a woman, her doctor, and her family and spiritual influence of sorts if she chooses to involve them in the matter.But given this more intrusive stance, I'll await the day that Pope Benny calls for withholding communion to presidential aspirant Rudy Giuliani the same way he did to John Kerry in 2004 here (though I'm not even sure a controversy ...

Monday Videos 2008-01-07 23:05:00 Back Door Slam ("Come Home" - nice)......Happy Birthday to Paul Revere of The Raiders ("Hungry" - another You Tube fan vid...oh, behave! Rock bands wearing historical military uniforms were big back then, by the way, including Gary Puckett and The Union Gap, though in my innocence at that time I never understood the appeal)......I missed the 45th birthday of Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich last December 26th ("Nothing Else Matters" - no such thing as a bad time to hear Metallica)......and now, time for a bit of culture; Happy Birthday to virtuoso cellist Yo Yo Ma (here playing "Sayuri's Theme" from "Memoirs of a Geisha" accompanied by John Williams on piano - exquisite). ...

Monday Political Stuff 2008-01-07 22:30:00 Kudos to the Ron Paul supporters for making Sean Hannity run from them (again, no shot on yours truly supporting the guy, but it's still cool to see Paul and his followers "rattling the Repug cages" like this; h/t to Scout Finch at The Daily Kos - don't know anyone else who has this at the moment besides Cliff Schecter here - Update: my bad)......and here's some food for thought for anyone currently fond of Mike Huckabee, from Max Blumenthal and Thomas Shomaker. ...

General Nonsense On Iraq And The Media 2008-01-07 17:29:00 I should probably be more respectful towards Gen. Peter Pace, the former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but it’s difficult.I mean, even though he was punked by Robert Gates here (not renominated as Head of the Joint Chiefs to disallow the possibility of Congress asking him questions about Iraq – nice), he still managed to lose sympathy points with me based on the following excerpt from this New York Times article today…Just days earlier, in his valedictory address as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace used his final minutes as the nation’s highest-ranking officer to describe how his interactions with Congress and the news media had soured him on both.“In some instances right now we have individuals who are more interested in making somebody else look bad than they are in finding the right solution,” General Pace said.Gee, General, maybe we would take you more seriously had you not said here that your former boss, Defense Secretary Rummy, was “inspi ...

Dubya's "Voodoo Economics" 2008-01-07 16:56:00 (A term coined by his dad, let’s not forget, before he “saw the light”…).I’ll save you the trouble of trying to decipher these scribblings by Jeanne Sahadi of CNN about the supposedly grand plan from George W. Milhous Bush to save our ever-more moribund economy and summarize it as follows: Dubya’s answer, as always, is tax cuts and ever-more debt.(Another cringe-worthy columnist, Ed Henry, preaches for the umpteenth time here that, for Dubya’s “legacy,” he must compromise with Congress, which makes me wonder what planet this man is living on; at what point has Dubya ever compromised on anything?).And largely as a consequence of this stupidity, this story tells us that, for the first time in 100 years, British living standards have risen above those of Americans (somehow I don’t exactly feel like “raising a pint” over that one).Paul Krugman touched on all of this today here, and his blog contains posts from today and yesterday that basically support the fact that ... Voodoo

A “Revival” For Edwards? 2008-01-07 15:17:00 This column about John Edwards written by Ezra Klein of The American Prospect is, quite simply, the best analysis of the Edwards campaign that I have read to date.Yes, to call Edwards the “Oprah” candidate could be slightly demeaning I think, but I also think it accurately describes the visceral level to which Edwards is trying to appeal to Democratic voters, something he must do to continue the momentum of a second-place Iowa finish (first would have been best, of course, and Obama is the justifiable frontrunner at the moment, but all of this could change one way or another in a short time).(By the way, Klein mentions Sandy Lakey in his column, and this notes that Edwards defended the Lakeys in their suit against Sta-Rite, the company that manufactured the defective pool drain that disemboweled the Lakeys’ young daughter Valerie.)As Klein so accurately notes…Where other campaigns routinely feature outside politicians and famed surrogates, Edwards is more likely to tour with th ...

The “Okie Hold ‘Em” King 2008-01-07 12:21:00 While skimming through Parade Magazine yesterday, I noticed this article about a bill that “strongly urges” states that have not contacted the FBI about individuals diagnosed as “dangerously mentally ill” to do so. The Parade article noted that only 32 of 50 states contact the FBI about these people; the purpose is to try and prevent individuals such as Seung-Hui Choi – the coward who murdered 32 people at Virginia Tech; odd numerical symmetry, that – from ever perpetrating such deeds again.And why on earth would such a bill not be law by now (a gun bill even supported by the NRA, believe it or not)?The answer is Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who put a “hold” on the bill.And this is one of 95 holds that Coburn has on Senate bills.95.Are you as shocked by that as I am?This article in The Politico tells us the following (I try to be careful about sourcing from these people, but I think this is acceptable)…(Coburn) has also held up funding for research on breast cancer ...

Any “Energy” To Run Against Patrick, PA Repugs? 2008-01-07 10:37:00 The following letter appeared in the Bucks County Courier Times on Saturday…We applaud the U.S. House and Senate for passing a much-needed energy bill, and we especially commend Congressman Patrick Murphy for his leadership on this forward-looking legislation.Most significantly, this new law increases fuel efficiency standards for automobiles to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, the first such increase in 32 years. As oil has reached $100 a barrel, this legislation will significantly reduce Americans' oil consumption, our dependence on imports, and will help combat global climate change. The bill also contains numerous measures to increase the efficiency of buildings, household appliances, electronics and light bulbs, all of which save consumers money on electricity bills.This bill is good for jobs, good for the economy, good for national security, good for consumers and good for our planet. We look forward to continuing to work with Murphy to make more progress on clean energy in 2008.G ...

"The Only Honorable Course" 2008-01-07 08:17:00 I'll try to get back to the blogging thing for real today, and to begin, this was posted yesterday by Prof. Marcus, and I'll link to it here for anyone who missed it (h/t Atrios) - words to live by from former Sen. George McGovern.And in a related vein, here is the most recent "Pap Attack"......and John Flynn performs "Dover."Update 1: I forgot to note this earlier, but here's another way to accomplish this goal (for Cheney, anyway).Update 2: Careful what you wish for here, Dubya. ...

Friday Videos 2008-01-04 23:23:00 Happy Birthday to Bernard Sumner of Joy Division ("Love Will Tear Us Apart")......Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd would have been 61 62 on Sunday ("Wish You Were Here," accompanied by a neat slide show - "classic rock" I know, but I always had a soft spot for this song)......Happy Birthday also to Michael Stipe of REM (this was a good interview with him conducted by Bill Maher in March 2006 - "my" band, though? - but do yourself a favor and shut this off after about 5:25; this was the episode where Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and that airhead Michele Mitchell ganged up on Richard Belzer - I got into all of that here)......and Breaking Benjamin ("Until The End," with some clips from the first Fantastic Four movie - another message for the Edwards campaign). ...

Friday Political Stuff 2008-01-04 22:47:00 I certainly don't support him as a candidate, but kudos to the Ron Paul people for taking snark to a whole new level (re: Rudy and his latest bogus campaign ad)......and speaking of campaign ads, this is just a reminder that John Edwards is sticking around - we have a ways to go. ...

Fair Is Fair 2008-01-04 10:47:00 Atrios is right; this was a good speech (I thought Obama co-opted some themes articulated by John Edwards, but to be fair, they belong more to the party than a single individual).Though I obviously wish Edwards had won, I can respect Iowa's Democrats a lot more than I can respect that state's Republicans; Frederick of Hollywood does little more than take a nap and scuff his shoes a time or two in that state and he manages to come in tied for third?Posting is big question mark for today, by the way - have fun.By the way, John Zogby on C-SPAN, speaking about St. McCain, just said that New Hampshire loves him, particularly because "he's the 'straight-talking maverick' again."God, is the bar open yet? ...

Thursday Videos 2008-01-03 22:19:00 Chris Cornell ("You Know My Name"; soundtrack to the latest James Bond film, apparently - I don't keep up with those flicks, though the clips here look good)......and as an admittedly feeble attempt at a pick-me-up for John Edwards who came in second in Iowa tonight behind Barack Obama, here's "It Doesn't Matter" by Stephen Stills and Manassas on the occasion of Stills' 63rd birthday (actually, it does matter I know, but we have hopefully a lot further to go in this thing and a lot more work to do).Update 1/4/08: By the way, best wishes for a full recovery, Stephen (here). ...

A Sad Inconsistency 2008-01-03 15:54:00 Can someone explain to me why the White House would release a statement expressing sympathy concerning the murder of four Russian diplomats in Iraq that took place in June 2006, but say nothing about the murder of American diplomat John Granville in the Sudan along with his driver, an employee of the American embassy (here)?Here is a link to the White House site, by the way – maybe they’ve updated it, but I couldn’t find anything.To be fair, Sean McCormack of the State Department answered questions about the murders in this wide-ranging press briefing here, but I guess those who quite probably killed our own people aren’t “high value targets” worthy of mention by Bushco. ...