Sunday, December 07, 2008

Oliver Willis Turns 31, Thanks His Mom

31 | Oliver Willis

Prediction: Franken Will Win by 27 Votes - The Nation

Prediction: Franken Will Win by 27 Votes: From The Nation: “Nate Silver, whose website FiveThirtyEight.com had the most accurate predictions for the Nov. 4 vote for president and senators, has a new prediction: Al Franken will win the Minnesota Senate recount -- by 27 votes.
Franken came in 215 votes behind incumbent Republican Norm Coleman on election day, in an election where 2.9 million votes were cast. Under Minnesota election law, a hand recount was mandatory and began last Wednesday.”

Think Progress » Bush at portrait unveiling: ‘Welcome to my hanging.’

Think Progress » Bush at portrait unveiling: ‘Welcome to my hanging.’: “Today, President Bush presided over the unveiling of his presidential portrait, at the Union League. “Welcome to my hanging,” Bush joked to the crowd. The portrait “shows Bush staring straight ahead, looking comfortable but not quite smiling, against the backdrop of the White House’s Treaty Room.” Bush said the painter, Mark Carder, “did a really fine job with a challenging subject.””

U.S. Loses 533,000 Jobs in Biggest Drop Since 1974 - NYTimes.com

U.S. Loses 533,000 Jobs in Biggest Drop Since 1974 - NYTimes.com: “The nation’s employers cut 533,000 jobs in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

Not since December 1974, toward the end of a severe recession, have so many jobs disappeared in a single month — and the current recession, far from ending, appears to be just gathering steam.”

Police Shooting Sparks Riots in Greece - NYTimes.com

Police Shooting Sparks Riots in Greece - NYTimes.com: “ATHENS — Mobs of militant youth angered by the fatal shooting of a teenager took to a weekend of rampage, battling police in central Athens and destroying scores of shops, cars and businesses across the country.

The riots, triggered late Saturday when a small group of youths attacked a police car in central Athens, sparked a spree of violence that ripped through the country, leaving many cities shattered like war zones.

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said a senior police official who requested anonymity because of his involvement in the investigation. “The tension is so thick you can almost cut it with a knife.”

The circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting remained unclear.

Still, a police statement issued in the early hours of Sunday said the shooting took place while two officers were targeted by some 30 youths — many of them hurling stones — while patrolling the central district of Exarchia, an unruly haven of leftist extremists.”

Obama on Meet The Press: Economy to get worse before it improves

From the Associated Press: Obama: Economy to get worse before it improves President-elect Barack Obama said the economy seems destined to get worse before it gets better and he pledged a recovery plan "that is equal to the task ahead."

Obama also said in an interview broadcast Sunday that the survival of the domestic car-making capacity is important, yet any bailout must be "conditioned on an auto industry emerging at the end of the process that actually works."

Less than six weeks before he takes office, Obama said that help for homeowners facing foreclosure is an option as part of his plan. He sidestepped a question about when he plans to raise taxes on wealthy Americans.

Obama's interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" was his most extensive since winning the White House more than a month ago.

In the intervening weeks, the economy has showed clear signs of worsening. Employers said they eliminated more than 500,000 jobs in November alone and retailers reported disappointing holiday-season sales.

"The economy is going to get worse before it gets better," he said twice in the early moments of the interview, taped Saturday in Chicago.

The president-elect announced on Saturday he would call for the most massive spending on public works since the creation of the interstate highway system a half-century ago. In a word of caution to powerful lawmakers, he said the first priority would be "shovel-ready" projects _ those that could create jobs rights away.

Interview with Alicia Silverstone On Volunteering For Barack Obama

This is a cool interview in that we see the real Alicia Silverstone talking about how she has volunteered for the Obama For America campaign.