Corrente: One Down: Schlecher County jury convicts Jessop of child rape. And speaking of convictions...
Open Left: Only fiscal conservatives would say we can't afford to reduce the deficit
TPMMuckraker: Patriot Games: GOP lawmakers skip national security votes to toast tea baggers
Oliver Willis: Eric Cantor, soon to be pimp slapped...watch, ring, and all
David Rees:10 jokes about Joe Lieberman
ANNALS OF JOURNALISM: Brad Jacobson's investigative series..."Official" media criticism...A perfect match...Odd couple...Coming Sunday: NYT does something unprecedented...WaPo Co. crashed-and-burned-and-smoking...Terrorism, Islam and Fort Hood...Huffington: We do not live in the age of misinformation..Journamalism....Bumped... Gibbs...Special Suburbanites...More honors for Sy Hersh...Scribe nominates himself for CA Lt. Governor...
From Imagine Peace:
The World March for Peace and Nonviolence.
Prague November 3, 2009.
Thousands of people have gathered in Pragues Wenceslas Square to participate in the biggest event in the country organized as part of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence: Harlem Gospel & SuperStar singing Imagine. It was the last and the biggest event that concluded a three day stay of members of the World Marchs Base Team in the Czech Republic. More...
Open Thread below...
Hip hop jazz and toasting from Toronto. Who knew? I kid, I kid. Theyre actually very polite.
My Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style
I love the fusion of jazz and hip hop. Both are dynamic styles, whose artists make up new rules as they go along. Hip hop looked to jazz for funky hooks, break beats and themes to create tonal beat driven backdrops for rhymes.
In the 60s, a wave of bossa nova and cha-cha raced through the states and this was reflected in old standards being Latinized and in new compositions, based on Latin rhythms.
Soul Bossa Nova by Quincy Jones, was one such composition. Quincy Jones conducted a lineup for the 1962 Big Band Bossa Nova album that featured Soul Bossa Nova, which included Phil Woods, alto sax; Paul Gonsalves, tenor sax; Clark Terry playing trumpet and flugelhorn; Rahsaan Roland Kirk, present on flute and alto flute; Jerome Richardson on flute, alto flute, and woodwinds; Lalo Schifrin on piano (you may have heard some of his other work here); Jim Hall, guitar; Chris White, Bass; Rudy Collins, drums; and Jack Del Rio, Carlos Gomez, and Jose Paula, all contributing to the percussion section.
Ben Stein was axed by the New York Times last year for ethics violations when he appeared in a commercial for a bait and switch credit report scam. The ad claimed that consumers could get a free credit report, but in reality, they had to pay to see the real numbers.
Well, the FTC is now getting into the act and going after similar companies with some catchy commercials intended to emulate those of a popular advertising campaign by a similar bait and switch scam:
AnnualCreditReport.com is the ONLY authorized source to get your free annual credit report under federal law. The Fair Credit Reporting Act guarantees you access to a free credit report from each of the three nationwide reporting agencies Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion every twelve months. The Federal Trade Commission has received complaints from consumers who thought they were ordering their free annual credit report, but instead paid hidden fees or agreed to unwanted services. Dont be fooled by TV ads, email offers, or online search results. Go to the authorized source when you request your free report. Read on...
Ok, so the ad is a little hokey, but the message is clear. I'm all for steering people to better alternatives and pointing out hackery when I can.
Saturday opinionizing.
This is now Obamas crisis, and it carries political consequences. During Tuesdays gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, nearly 9 in 10 voters said that they were worried about the direction of the nations economy in the next year. And the majority of those who held that view [VA/NJ exit poll] voted for the Republican candidates. This could portend a flashback to 1994.
In NJ, those who picked economy/jobs as most important issue voted for Corzine 58-36. In VA it was 57-42 McDonnell.
Terence Samuel on Tuesday's election portents:
Here is what they do reveal: The GOP won in Virginia because it had a better candidate and ran a better campaign. In New Jersey, Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine was so damaged that all Republican candidate Chris Christie had to do was avoid Corzine's self-implosion. Not even $23 million of his own money combined with a deep reservoir of Democratic goodwill in the Garden State could save Corzine. The circumstances of the Democratic win in the New York House race were so bizarre that they would be impossible to re-create next year -- or maybe ever.
Tobin Harshaw tries to pour oil on some smoldering coals at the Opinionator (multiple links, many worth reading) to make the case for a Democratic civil war that's somehow parallel to NY-23, or going after Charlie Crist. Nice try. We're Democrats (not ever to be confused with disciplined - see Will Rogers.) The main counterweights to NY-23 are gay marriage campaigns and Byron York's agitprop. And while there are legitimate beefs and hurt feelings (always exacerbated with losses), there's no equivalence to the conservative v centrist battle within the GOP except in the minds of "he said-she said" pundits who must create equivalence if there is none, because "everyone knows" it must be there.
Anyhow, we concerned citizens need to decide exactly what were rooting for. Public option? Which one? How much would you care if there were none at all? For some people, a health care bill without a public option is like a car without an engine. For others including some members of the Obama administration its more like a car without a hood ornament.
Bob McDonnell's lopsided win in Virginia's gubernatorial election was the victory of an agile, disciplined, focused and attractive Republican against an unpolished Democrat who ran a lackluster campaign. It also rewarded a shrewd judgment by McDonnell, who drew the right conclusion from the Republican defeat in the 2005 race for governor, and from a string of other GOP failures in the state -- even as party leaders drew the exact opposite lesson...
The GOP's right-wing stalwarts rejected the advice of moderates that the party connect with suburban voters by focusing on education, transportation and health care. Ideologues to the last, they figured a smaller party grounded in "principle" would be a stronger party.
McDonnell's insight was to disregard that advice and adopt the language, priorities and style of the center-right moderates -- even though his ideological roots were farther to the right.
National Journal blogger poll on cap-and-trade: Left-Leaners Cautiously Optimistic; Right-Leaners Have Their Doubts
A new poll confirms that the Obama administration and federal health officials have failed to convince Americans -- at least those in the most populous state of California -- of the seriousness of a H1N1 swine flu pandemic.
A majority of those registered voters polled by a new survey team involving The Times and the University of Southern California said they believed the new, delayed vaccine was safe.
But a majority also said they had no intention of getting it.
Well, that should ease those long lines. But shortages seem to be spurring interest in the rest of the country. And you need to know the baseline for comparison - 20-30% of the country gets the seasonal flu vax. The numbers:
Only 5% of those polled said they already had been inoculated. Of the rest, 52% said they did not plan to get vaccinated. Of the 40% who said they wanted the vaccine, 12% said they already had attempted to find it but failed.
Of those polled, 70% said they think the H1N1 vaccine is safe for most people, while only 17% said there was a strong chance the vaccine is unsafe.
"Win" on the safety message, "incomplete" on the need, though more people are asking for the vax than usual. The losers are the anti-vax people.
AP - Germany
AP - On the day his side lost the Vietnam War, Hung Ba Le fled his homeland at the age of 5 in a fishing trawler crammed with 400 refugees. Thirty-four years later, he made an unlikely homecoming as the commander of a U.S. Navy destroyer.
AP - Pushing back against international criticism, Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that the top U.N. official in the country overstepped his authority by giving instructions on how to rid the government of corruption and warlords.
AP - The Saudi health minister said Saturday that the kingdom will not ban anyone considered high risk for swine flu from performing the hajj pilgrimage this year.
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