NY FISHBOWL: Barry Blitt, the cartoonist responsible for the New Yorker‘s controversial terrorist fist-jabbing cover, among others, returns this week to “vet” Barack Obama. Of course this time around “Vetting” refers to the all important decision of picking a “first” puppy — thus far we know they want a mutt, but that it needs to be hypoallergenic and won’t be a girly dog. MORE LOS ANGELES TIMES: Reporting from Chicago — President-elect Barack Obama unveiled his national security team today, including formally announcing his intention to nominate his onetime rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, […]
FORTRESS AMERICA: Pentagon Plans To Station 20,000 Troops Inside The U.S. Homeland
WASHINGTON POST: The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials. There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military’s role in domestic law enforcement. The Pentagon’s plan calls for three rapid-reaction forces to be ready for emergency response […]
WORTH REPEATING: To Live And Die In Mumbai
BY SUKETU MEHTA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES MY bleeding city. My poor great bleeding heart of a city. Why do they go after Mumbai? There’s something about this island-state that appalls religious extremists, Hindus and Muslims alike. Perhaps because Mumbai stands for lucre, profane dreams and an indiscriminate openness. Mumbai is all about dhandha, or transaction. From the street food vendor squatting on a sidewalk, fiercely guarding his little business, to the tycoons and their dreams of acquiring Hollywood, this city understands money and has no guilt about the getting and spending of it. I once asked a Muslim […]
INDIA 9/11: Murder & Mayhem In Mumbai, Gunmen Kill 172, 370 Wounded, Americans And Brits Targeted
UPDATE: A team of FBI agents was ordered to fly to India to investigate the militants who killed four Americans and injured at least two others during a wave of assaults that ripped through a commercial center of Mumbai. The investigators aim to learn more about the origins of the militants who carried out the lethal strikes on luxury hotels, a train station and an Orthodox Jewish center where a New York rabbi and his wife were among five hostages slain. An American and his teenage daughter traveling with a Virginia-based spiritual group were also among the 150 people killed […]
OUR REASON TO GIVE THANKS: Peace & Quiet
PREVIOUSLY: Ann Coulter Defanged? LOS ANGELES TIMES: I know, I know. If the report is true, it’s almost as if our prayers have been answered. MORE [Illustration by ALEX FINE]
INQUIRY: Congressional Committee Wants To Know If Spitzer Sex Bust Was A Federal Takedown
NEW YORK TIMES: Eight months after a federal investigation into a prostitution ring brought about, the question persists in some circles: Was the federal government out to get Mr. Spitzer? No evidence has surfaced to support such an assertion, and the prosecutor in the case has said that politics played no role in the pursuit of Mr. Spitzer, a Democrat. But that has not put to rest suspicions, expressed on left wing blogs, that Mr. Spitzer, a zealous pursuer of Wall Street wrongdoing who some thought could one day be president, had been singled out. Now, a congressional committee is […]
HELLS BELLS: Sarah Palin Is Coming To Town!
ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS: The governor is planning a trip to Georgia to campaign on behalf of Georgia Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss early next week on her way to Philadelphia to meet with her old foe, President-elect Barack Obama. Obama is meeting with governors of both parties in Philadelphia to talk about the ailing economy. It’s not clear how many governors are going to attend the Obama event, which the National Governors Association helped put together. “I don’t know if she has a one-on-one with (Obama),” said Palin spokesman Bill McAllister. “It may be, given that they were both involved in […]
DEFANGED: Ann Coulter’s Jaws Wired Shut?
BREAKING: Literally. The interweb is atwitter with reports that right wing vampire Ann Coulter has broken her jaw and doctors have wired it shut. Repeat, ANN COULTER’S JAWS HAVE BEEN WIRED SHUT. PHAWKER: This sounds too good to be true: Obama is elected president and Ann Coulter gets her jaw wired shut. If this is a dream, we never wanna wake up. DRUDGE: Bestselling author and controversialist Ann Coulter plans to crash Obama’s inauguration party with her new work, GUILTY. Set for release first week of January, the book exposes and mocks, in graphic detail, the media’s love affair with […]
WHY WE FIGHT: 10 Talibani Militants Arrested For Squirting Acid In The Faces Of Afghan Schoolgirls
ASSOCIATED PRESS: KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Afghan police have arrested 10 Taliban militants involved in an acid attack this month against 15 girls and teachers walking to school in southern Afghanistan, a provincial governor said Tuesday. “Several” of the arrested militants have confessed to taking part in the acid attack, said Kandahar Gov. Rahmatullah Raufi. He declined to be more precise. High-ranking Taliban fighters paid the militants a total of $2,000 to carry out the attack, Raufi said. The attackers came from Pakistan but were Afghan nationals, said Doud Doud, an Interior Ministry official. The attackers squirted the acid from water […]
HENRY PAULSON: The Man Who Wasn’t There
[CBS News: Bush Vows to Safeguard Financial Systems] DAN BUSKIRK: I don’t want to start a panic or anything but is anyone paying attention to Treasury Secretary/Bail-Out Chief Henry “Hank” Paulson these days? Look at him fidgeting behind Bush “Relax, I’M on the job” announcement yesterday. He looks like he’s ready to start sobbing, or he has to pee or he’s afraid someone’s going to run up from behind and de-pants him. What ever is going on, he ain’t inspiring confidence. MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, warning that “millions of Americans cannot find affordable financing for basic credit needs,” […]
WORTH REPEATING: My Life In The Ghost Of Bush or The Best Way To Rob A Bank Is To Own One
MOE TKACIK ON HOW WE GOT HERE: For years, Wall Street has exhibited only contempt for anyone on the government payroll who did not work for the Fed. This attitude was abetted and enabled by a Republican leadership that did not trust its own party members on the Financial Services Committee. They saw this coming — when Long Term Capital Management almost exploded the markets as a direct result of the “counterparty risk” that bound us to bail out AIG, when Enron touched off a wave of 30 or so separate multi-billion-dollar accounting restatements that killed Arthur Andersen and made […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Actor James Franco stars alongside Sean Penn in Gus Van Sant’s new film Milk, which opens Nov. 26 in some cities. He plays Scott Smith, the boyfriend of title character Harvey Milk, a pioneering gay activist and San Francisco politician who was murdered in 1978.Initially known for his role on the short-lived but critically acclaimed TV series Freaks and Geeks, Franco entered the popular film scene in earnest when he played Harry Osborne in the Spider-Man movies alongside his close friend Tobey Maguire. RADIO TIMES Hour 1 In his new book, American Lion, JON MEACHAM explores the presidency […]
OBAMA HAS A POSSE: Announces Econ Triage Team
HUFFPO: Obama made his comments as he unveiled the top members of his economic team, beginning with New York Federal Reserve President Tim Geithner to be his treasury secretary. Geithner, 47, is a veteran of financial crises at home and overseas and has worked closely with the Bush administration in recent months. Obama chose Lawrence Summers as director of his National Economic Council. Summers was treasury secretary under former President Bill Clinton. Obama said his newly minted economic team offered “sound judgment and fresh thinking” at a time of economic peril. He expressed confidence the nation would weather the crisis […]