November 6, 2012

Classic Bill Maher -- Best Election Ever !!!

http://fliiby.com/file/312053/176acidofr.html

November 6, 2012

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Conservatives still long for the sad days of yesteryear

By Leonard Pitts Jr.
The Miami Herald


Well, I sure got that one wrong.

Four years ago, on the eve of the last presidential election, I wrote in this space of how the country has spent much of the last three decades "relitigating" the 1960s, arguing over the changes wrought in that decade. As far as social justice is concerned, of course, the 1960s stand second only to the 1860s as the most profoundly transformative decade in American history. It was in those years that black folks came off the back of the bus, women came out of the kitchen, Hispanics came off the margins, and gay people first peeked beyond the closet.

Conservatives have been trying to repeal the decade ever since, a crusade that seemed to reach its greatest clarity and lowest depth in the rush to define a certain jug-eared senator from Illinois who was, in 2008, running for president. He stood to become the first black man to hold that job. This was not an incidental thing.

For his supporters, it helped make him the embodiment of "hope" and "change," the renewal of inchoate liberal promises that died with Robert F. Kennedy. For his detractors, it was the realization of every paranoia-drenched, racially tinged threat to the white picket fences and Mom's apple pie of status quo. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.freep.com/article/20121106/OPINION05/311060014/Leonard-Pitts-Jr-Conservatives-still-long-for-the-sad-days-of-yesteryear?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p

November 6, 2012

Dios mio........

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOOVER, Ala. — Alabama Republicans plan to hold their election night party at a gun range, where participants will be able to shoot a few rounds as returns come in.

The state Republican Party is inviting supporters to the 52,000-square-foot Hoover Tactical Firearms for a "victory party" Tuesday night.

The suburban Birmingham business sells firearms and it has ranges where people can shoot their own guns or guns that are available for rent.

A party announcement says the shooting ranges will be available for two hours during the election event. There will also be a band and an appearance by Miss Alabama. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/05/alabama-election-2012-_n_2076208.html

November 6, 2012

Divided States of America: Notes on the Decline of a Great Nation

from Der Spiegel:


The United States is frittering away its role as a model for the rest of the world. The political system is plagued by an absurd level of hatred, the economy is stagnating and the infrastructure is falling into a miserable state of disrepair. On this election eve, many Americans are losing faith in their country's future.

The monumental National Mall in Washington, DC, 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) long and around 1,586 feet wide at its broadest point, is a place that showcases the United States of America is in its full glory as a world power. A walk along the magnificent swath of green space, between the white dome of the Capitol to the east and the Lincoln Memorial, a temple erected to honor former president Abraham Lincoln, at its western end, leads past men in bronze and stone, memorials for soldiers and conquerors, and the nearby White House. It's a walk that still creates an imperial impression today.

The Mall is lined with museums and landscaped gardens, in which America is on display as the kind of civil empire that promotes the arts and sciences. There are historic sites, and there are the famous steps of the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King once spoke of his dream, and of the dreams of a country to be a historic force, one that would serve the wellbeing of all of mankind. Put differently, the National Mall is an open-air museum for an America that, in 2012, is mostly a pleasant memory.

After a brilliant century and a terrible decade, the United States, in this important election year, has reached a point in its history when the obvious can no longer be denied: The reality of life in America so greatly contradicts the claim -- albeit one that has always been exaggerated -- to be the "greatest nation on earth," that even the most ardent patriots must be overcome with doubt. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/divided-states-of-america-notes-on-the-decline-of-a-great-nation-a-865295.html

November 6, 2012

Alabama Republicans "gunning" for election night victory

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Alabama may not be a battleground state but its Republicans will be armed for victory on Tuesday night.

The party, which dominates local politics and is a champion of gun rights, will hold its main election night celebration at a firing range and gun shop on the outskirts of Birmingham.

"It is consistent with our philosophy to celebrate in a place that sells guns. A gun is a way to protect yourself and to hunt, a great Alabama sport," said Bill Armistead, chairman of the Alabama Republican Party.

Only unloaded guns will be allowed through the facility's secured doors and into the firing range. The firing range, but not the bar, will be open to guests and customers until 8 p.m. at Hoover Tactical Firearms, organizers said. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/alabama-republicans-gunning-election-night-victory-002506546.html

November 6, 2012

Naomi Klein: Super Storm Sandy—A People’s Shock?

from The Nation:


Super Storm Sandy—A People’s Shock?

Naomi Klein
November 5, 2012


[font size="1"]Rockaway resident Christine Walker walks along the beach under what is left of the boardwalk in the borough of Queens, New York, Monday, Nov. 5, 2012, in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)[/font]


Less than three days after Sandy made landfall on the East Coast of the United States, Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute blamed New Yorkers’ resistance to big-box stores for the misery they were about to endure. Writing on Forbes.com he explained that the city’s refusal to embrace Walmart will likely make the recovery much harder: “Mom-and-pop stores simply can’t do what big stores can in these circumstances,” he wrote.

And the preemptive scapegoating didn’t stop there. He also warned that if the pace of reconstruction turned out to be sluggish (as it so often is) then “pro-union rules such as the Davis-Bacon Act” would be to blame, a reference to the statute that requires workers on public-works projects to be paid not the minimum wage, but the prevailing wage in the region.

The same day, Frank Rapoport, a lawyer representing several billion-dollar construction and real estate contractors, jumped in to suggest that many of those public works projects shouldn’t be public at all. Instead, cash-strapped governments should turn to “public private partnerships,” known as “P3s.” That means roads, bridges and tunnels being rebuilt by private companies, which, for instance, could install tolls and keep the profits.

Up until now, the only thing stopping them has been the law—specifically the absence of laws in New York State and New Jersey that enable these sorts of deals. But Rapoport is convinced that the combination of broke governments and needy people will provide just the catalyst needed to break the deadlock. “There were some bridges that were washed out in New Jersey that need structural replacement, and it’s going to be very expensive,” he told The Nation. “And so the government may well not have the money to build it the right way. And that's when you turn to a P3.” ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/article/171048/super-storm-sandy-peoples-shock

November 6, 2012

Katrina vanden Heuvel: FDR and the fight to defend our freedom

from the WaPo:




By Katrina vanden Heuvel, Monday, November 5, 4:21 PM


On Jan. 6, 1941, as Nazi Germany tightened its cruel grip on Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his annual State of the Union address. He acknowledged the terrible costs of war and argued that the sacrifice would be accepted by future generations only if it led to a newer, better world for all people everywhere, a world based on the four human freedoms central to democracy — freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

They were, in his view, fundamental American values, and an antidote to the poison of growing tyranny. Three years later, in his 1944 State of the Union address, Roosevelt translated those values into what became known as the “Economic Bill of Rights” — an uncompromising articulation of economic security as a condition of individual freedom.

Today, these principles are embodied by the pure and simple lines, etched in grass, stone and light, of Louis Kahn’s Four Freedoms Park, the great architect’s memorial to Roosevelt that opened last month in New York. Kahn’s extraordinary vision was at last realized, almost 40 years after his death, on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, thanks in no small part to dedicated supporters including my father, Ambassador William vanden Heuvel, who fought tirelessly to make Kahn’s dream a reality in our time.

The New York Times called the park the city’s “new spiritual heart.” But it is also is a living symbol of those enduring values Roosevelt spoke of 70 years ago — a reminder of what those fundamental freedoms have meant to the lives of everyday Americans, and to the everyday life of America. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/katrina-vanden-heuvel-fdr-and-the-fight-to-defend-our-freedom/2012/11/05/c50c147e-2759-11e2-b2a0-ae18d6159439_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend

November 5, 2012

Divided States of America: Notes on the Decline of a Great Nation

from Der Spiegel:


The United States is frittering away its role as a model for the rest of the world. The political system is plagued by an absurd level of hatred, the economy is stagnating and the infrastructure is falling into a miserable state of disrepair. On this election eve, many Americans are losing faith in their country's future.

The monumental National Mall in Washington, DC, 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) long and around 1,586 feet wide at its broadest point, is a place that showcases the United States of America is in its full glory as a world power. A walk along the magnificent swath of green space, between the white dome of the Capitol to the east and the Lincoln Memorial, a temple erected to honor former president Abraham Lincoln, at its western end, leads past men in bronze and stone, memorials for soldiers and conquerors, and the nearby White House. It's a walk that still creates an imperial impression today.

The Mall is lined with museums and landscaped gardens, in which America is on display as the kind of civil empire that promotes the arts and sciences. There are historic sites, and there are the famous steps of the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King once spoke of his dream, and of the dreams of a country to be a historic force, one that would serve the wellbeing of all of mankind. Put differently, the National Mall is an open-air museum for an America that, in 2012, is mostly a pleasant memory.

After a brilliant century and a terrible decade, the United States, in this important election year, has reached a point in its history when the obvious can no longer be denied: The reality of life in America so greatly contradicts the claim -- albeit one that has always been exaggerated -- to be the "greatest nation on earth," that even the most ardent patriots must be overcome with doubt. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/divided-states-of-america-notes-on-the-decline-of-a-great-nation-a-865295.html

November 5, 2012

Katrina vanden Heuvel: FDR and the fight to defend our freedom

from the WaPo:




By Katrina vanden Heuvel, Monday, November 5, 4:21 PM


On Jan. 6, 1941, as Nazi Germany tightened its cruel grip on Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his annual State of the Union address. He acknowledged the terrible costs of war and argued that the sacrifice would be accepted by future generations only if it led to a newer, better world for all people everywhere, a world based on the four human freedoms central to democracy — freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

They were, in his view, fundamental American values, and an antidote to the poison of growing tyranny. Three years later, in his 1944 State of the Union address, Roosevelt translated those values into what became known as the “Economic Bill of Rights” — an uncompromising articulation of economic security as a condition of individual freedom.

Today, these principles are embodied by the pure and simple lines, etched in grass, stone and light, of Louis Kahn’s Four Freedoms Park, the great architect’s memorial to Roosevelt that opened last month in New York. Kahn’s extraordinary vision was at last realized, almost 40 years after his death, on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, thanks in no small part to dedicated supporters including my father, Ambassador William vanden Heuvel, who fought tirelessly to make Kahn’s dream a reality in our time.

The New York Times called the park the city’s “new spiritual heart.” But it is also is a living symbol of those enduring values Roosevelt spoke of 70 years ago — a reminder of what those fundamental freedoms have meant to the lives of everyday Americans, and to the everyday life of America. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/katrina-vanden-heuvel-fdr-and-the-fight-to-defend-our-freedom/2012/11/05/c50c147e-2759-11e2-b2a0-ae18d6159439_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend

November 5, 2012

Naomi Klein: Super Storm Sandy—A People’s Shock?

from The Nation:


Super Storm Sandy—A People’s Shock?

Naomi Klein
November 5, 2012


[font size="1"]Rockaway resident Christine Walker walks along the beach under what is left of the boardwalk in the borough of Queens, New York, Monday, Nov. 5, 2012, in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)[/font]


Less than three days after Sandy made landfall on the East Coast of the United States, Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute blamed New Yorkers’ resistance to big-box stores for the misery they were about to endure. Writing on Forbes.com he explained that the city’s refusal to embrace Walmart will likely make the recovery much harder: “Mom-and-pop stores simply can’t do what big stores can in these circumstances,” he wrote.

And the preemptive scapegoating didn’t stop there. He also warned that if the pace of reconstruction turned out to be sluggish (as it so often is) then “pro-union rules such as the Davis-Bacon Act” would be to blame, a reference to the statute that requires workers on public-works projects to be paid not the minimum wage, but the prevailing wage in the region.

The same day, Frank Rapoport, a lawyer representing several billion-dollar construction and real estate contractors, jumped in to suggest that many of those public works projects shouldn’t be public at all. Instead, cash-strapped governments should turn to “public private partnerships,” known as “P3s.” That means roads, bridges and tunnels being rebuilt by private companies, which, for instance, could install tolls and keep the profits.

Up until now, the only thing stopping them has been the law—specifically the absence of laws in New York State and New Jersey that enable these sorts of deals. But Rapoport is convinced that the combination of broke governments and needy people will provide just the catalyst needed to break the deadlock. “There were some bridges that were washed out in New Jersey that need structural replacement, and it’s going to be very expensive,” he told The Nation. “And so the government may well not have the money to build it the right way. And that's when you turn to a P3.” ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/article/171048/super-storm-sandy-peoples-shock