Keith Olbermann at his best

Well, WELCOME back Keith. And back with a vengeance!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Jon Stewart is awesome

Here is his breakdown of Governor Sanfords handling or mishandling of his affair from Jon Stewart.

Now is the time!

Great news today, we now have Senator Al Franken who will be seated next week. So now is the time for the Democrats to lead and pass important legislation.



Now is the time to stop waiting for a consensus on every issue before getting things done. Don't compromise our values. Don't compromise our ideals.

The republicans have been bitching about a lack of bipartisanship since the beginning of the Obama administration, all the while he was meeting with there caucus and hosting them at White House events. They will never be pleased unless there agenda of NO is adopted. Now is the time to move on and realize we won this last election and get the things done this country voted for.

Cantor: Obama won't let us spit in his face anymore
by kos

Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 01:48:04 PM PDT

Oh brother...

GOP leaders complain that the phone calls and White House invitations have slacked off — perhaps because Obama’s early efforts to woo Republicans yielded few votes.

"I think that in the beginning they seemed a lot more willing to go in and engage with us," said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor.

Yup, Obama was far more willing to go in and engage with them. And Republicans took those opportunities to extract concessions, then vote against Obama's agenda en masse. So finally Obama realized what we had been arguing the whole time -- that it was a waste of time to deal with Republicans who had little incentive in supporting Obama's agenda and were more obsessed with "unity" as the path out of their electoral troubles.

Engagement is obviously a two-way street, and Republicans had zero interest in returning any consideration to Obama. So, he turned his attention to more worthwhile endeavors.

Given the Republican Party's continued opposition to any significant reform on any issue, it'd be nice if Congressional Democrats would stop giving Republicans the time of day. They are an irrelevant party, rejected en masse by an American electorate desperate for change.

The Republicans lost there opportunity to have meaningful input by playing the politics of NO. Now is the time for the Democrats to lead and give America "change we can believe in".

Iranian Election Protests

The protests in Iran have gotten very brutal. The protesters have been faced with harsh police tactics, everything from being hit with clubs to helicopters dropping something that has been described as foul smelling and that burns the eyes. Citizens are being arrested in there homes and journalists are being detained. Yet despite all of this danger they continue to try to get there voices heard. Many are using the social media to get there stories out. Even CNN is relying on twitter and facebook messages and videos to tell there story to the rest of the world.

And locally there families and friends are showing their support by protesting throughout the States in various cities. One of the places with the largest Iranian population is Los Angeles and thousands have turned out over the weekend to show support. Luckily here we don't face the same dangers that those in Iran have faced.



One story of the brutality the protesters have faced is the tragic story of Neda. From what has been reported she was 27 and protesting with her father. Video was captured of her as she died after being shot. I won't post that video here but below is a great photo compilation of the protests in Iran.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 20, 2009


Statement from the President on Iran

The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.

Martin Luther King once said - "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples’ belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.

Let's hope something good will eventually come from all of the turmoil in Iran as a respected colleague of mine said.

Wait, What?

According to the LA Times the majority of California senators agreed to pay cuts during the current budget crisis. Ok, this is not really going to help much with our budget deficit but in times like these symbolism matters.

It is shocking that only a majority agreed to this pay cut. Why wasn't it unanimous? I realize these senators have families and bills like anyone else but when so many other state jobs are being hacked or cut back these lawmakers need to step up and take one for the team despite whether or not they have refused raises or taken cuts in the past.

Keep the heat on for accountability

One of the people who is doing just that is Rachel Maddow. Watch this piece from her show on June 17, 2009.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Senator Whitehouse also continues to fight the good fight. His hearing on torture was extremely enlightening.

In this Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Sheldon questions Attorney General Eric Holder about the status of the Office of Professional Responsibility report into the Bush Administrations detention and interrogation program, the role of the CIA in assessing the report, and the importance of releasing its findings.

Also the ACLU keeps on keeping on, bravo! Here is a look at their FOIA timeline. Keep up the great work ACLU and don't forget to contribute to them if you can.



Finally, a link back to my previous post on torture. This includes links to a couple petitions for both a truth commission and prosecution.

I realize there are many important things going on in the world and tough issues to tackle here at home but we cannot move forward without getting accountability for the atrocities our country committed under the Bush administration.

Fox News - Good for something?

OK, this is painful to watch but it is also completely hysterical. Enjoy......