Keith Olbermann Suspended By MSNBC

MSNBC/AP

The Associated Press has reported that prime-time host Keith Olbermann has been suspended by MSNBC because he contributed to three Democratic candidates' campaigns during this election season.

In general, it is always a very scary situation that brings up a lot of ethical questions when a journalist wants to take an active part in politics - due to the hope that journalists would be objective without publicly portraying their own personal biases while apart of a news outlet - news outlets such as MSNBC have their own specifics within the contract.

The AP article explains what NBC News contract entails:

"NBC News prohibits its employees from working on, or donating to, political campaigns unless a special exception is granted by the news division president — effectively a ban. Olbermann's bosses did not find out about the donations until after they were made. The website Politico first reported the donations."

Olbermann has made NBC aware that he donated $2,400 to the campaigns of Jack Conway, Raul Grivalva and Gabrielle Giffords.

It is interesting to note that Fox News is all for letting their hosts donate to politics - Sean Hannity is very open with his donations & News Corp (Fox's parent company) donated $1 million last summer to the Republican Governor's Association (Fox still claims not to have any conservative bias).

Jon Stewart says it best when he interviewed Fox's Chris Wallace and called MSNBC a "double-A ball" in comparison to Fox:

"You can't defeat Fox by becoming what they say you are. The only way you can defeat them is by an earned credibility, not an earned partisanship. They're making a mistake by becoming an equivalent to Fox rather than a brand new journalistic organization."

This is a quite controversial matter that will definitely be reported on more in depth in posts to come.

Drunk Giants Fan Blows Horn In BART Passenger's Face

This is one of those "what would you do if" situations. On Monday, after the Giants World Series win and the City of San Francisco's period of total celebration insanity, some guy with a horn called a vuvuzela (made famous during the World Cup Soccer matches of this year), decided to blow it right in the face of an unexpecting BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) passenger with a totally dour expression on his face.

The dude got up to him and just fired it off in his face. The quick expectation was that BART Passenger would get up and fight the Drunk Giants fan, but fortunately that didn't happen.

The Drunk Giants fan took pitty on the BART Passenger and gave him a hug.

Still, it was too wild, and exemplary of the kind of post-World Series night it was in San Francisco.

President Obama Retained The Senate; President Clinton Did Not

Lost in the media analysis of the 2010 Midterm Elections is the fact that President Obama managed to maintain Democratic control of the Senate. Many, like CNN and even MSNBC analysts have talked as if President Obama, like Democratic President Clinton before him, lost both the House and the Senate. Not so.

In fact, given that the economic conditions of 2010 are far worse than they were in 1996, Obama really came out smelling like a rose. Then, the U.S. unemployment rate was 5.75 percent; now it's far larger at 9.6 percent. With that, the Republican gains such that the U.S. House of Representative is majority Republican, 235 to 196, but the Senate remains in Democratic hands, even with the Alaska election votes still being counted.

With this, President Obama has a better foundation from which to work with than Clinton did. Republicans should be careful not to overplay their hand, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell did that already, stating his objective was to get Obama out of the White House. What Senator McConnell doesn't count on is the backlash that's already started against him.

McConnell's ability to grasp complex economic legislation has been questioned, and more blogger attacks will come. Republicans can't rest; Democrats are on the march. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough is totally wrong; Obama has more power than ever.

Mitch McConnell's Ability To Understand Economic Legislation Questioned

Kentucky Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said he's determined to make President Obama a one-term President, has demonstrated so poor a grasp of economic issues that one elected official observed he "either doesn't understand or chooses not to."   This was during deliberations in April of 2010 on what became the most extensive set of financial reforms in America.

A set of changes that seemed to be too much for Senator McConnell to grasp.

The person who said that was Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner.  In April, Senator Mitch McConnell said the Senate financial-regulation bill meant "endless taxpayer-funded bailouts for big Wall Street banks," according to Ezra Klein of The Washington Post. But Warner didn't stop there:

"It appears that the Republican leader either doesn't understand or chooses not to understand the basic underlying premise of what this bill puts in place. Resolution, will be so painful for any company. No rational management team would ever choose resolution. It means shareholders wiped out. Management wiped out. Your firm is going away. At least in bankruptcy, there was some chance that some of your equity would've been retained and you could come out in some form on the other side of the process. The resolution that Corker and I have tried to create means the death of the company. The institution is gone."

McConnell doesn't get that the Senate financial-regulation bill solved problem of banks that fell into a category of "large, interconnected non-bank financial firm." Before the law, such banks had only two options: obtain outside capital or funding from the US government or file for bankruptcy.

Now, the bill provides for the government to actually dissolve such banks in a way that avoids use of taxpayer funds. It's not that funds will not be provided, but only on a case by case basis; it's not a bailout program. If anything, it's a bad bank clearout program.

Mitch McConnell doesn't get that.  Instead he's worked to stop financial reform.  It's not that he doesn't agree with it, he's just not able to understand it.

Perhaps, then, Senator McConnell should step out of the decision-making process.   In the case of the passage of the Financial Reform Bill, McConnell led an attempted filibuster - it didn't work.  And all because he did not intellectually grasp what he was voting for.  

Sad way to represent the people of Kentucky.

Mitch McConnell: President Obama And Democrats Must Punch Him In The Mouth

Republican Kentucky Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (photo at left) is laying down a gauntlet and being disrespectful to the President of The United States, not to mention threatening to wreck Walgreens Health Care Reform-based business model, by stating not just that the GOP will work to block and ultimately repeal Health Care Reform, but work to make President Obama a one-term President, apparently at the expense of America.

Senator McConnell has went too far.

The only answer for Democrats and the President is to punch McConnell right in the mouth. To make him look so bad that his efforts are clouded. This is easy to do.

No, not actually hit Senator McConnell physically, but communicatively. Senator McConnell's not a perfect representative and Dems must reveal that. For example, try doing a Google search for "Mitch McConnell racist" and you'll find a treasure-trove of results.

For example, Senator McConnell refused to denounce Tea Party racism this year. According to Think Progress, McConnell was on CNN on July 18th, 2010, saying that he's "not interested in getting into that debate" in response to CNN’s State of the Union, host Candy Crowley asking the Senator about the NAACP’s resolution asking the Tea Party movement to condemn "racist elements" in its organization. Instead of saying the NAACP is right, McConnell backed off.

The result was what a number of observers called "the most racist election" in years.

What Democrats have to do is, every day, track all statements Mitch McConnell makes, and pounce on even the smallest statement.

 The Senator makes this easy to do.

For example, he says "we will stop the Liberal Onslaught" - how stupid. America had and has to increase spending because of the credit crunch, and we're not out of the woods at all. The money's not going to come from other places because the problem's Worldwide. The stimulus has been used in various countries, not just America. But Mitch McConnell's either too dense to see that or refuses to, and is willing to wreck the American economy.

Mitch McConnell must be stopped from doing that for the sake of this country.

Democratic forum managers, commenters, and bloggers, all unite.  The blog target: Senator Mitch McConnell.  The start date: now.

Oakland City News: Jane Brunner and Dan Lindheim On Police Positions

In a small press conference Thursday, Oakland Councilmember and City Council President Jane Brunner and Oakland City Administrator Dan Lindheim sat down to talk about the election and the status of Oakland Police staffing. Well, it was really all about Oakland Police staffing, and not so much about the ranked choice voting election.

Oakland Mayor-Elect Don Perata (which we can say because his 11 point first vote lead coupled with the first and second choices yet to be counted puts him closest to the needed 50 percent majority), said at his election party that his first action as Mayor of Oakland will be to reinstate the 80 police officer positions eliminated to trim Oakland's huge budget deficit. Here's the video containing Perata's comments at the 4:28 mark:



Don Perata's proposed action was met with some hesitation from new Oakland District 4 (Montclair - Oakland Hills) Councilmember Libby Schaaf, who said that she wasn't willing to rubber stamp Perata's intentions without knowing where the money to do it was going to come from. Here's the video with her comments:



Council President Brunner Agrees

In today's press conference, Council President Brunner echoed Schaaf's view. Brunner said "You know there's no money in the General Fund. I have had conversations with Perata about where else you could look for money in this system. It's probably the other funds. It's Redevelopment. Somebody's going to have to come up with something really creative. I don't know if he has a detailed plan at this point, but I don't think you can find $14 million out of $28 million. You may be able to find a few million. But we're all going to sit down right away."

Brunner said she wants to be careful not to call Perata the "Mayor" just yet because they're still counting votes.

Redevelopment Code And The Police

I pointed out that Section 33678 Subdivision (b) (C) of the California Health and Safety Code...

This:"(C) None of the funds are used for the purpose of paying for employee or contractual services of any local governmental agency unless these services are directly related to the purpose of Sections 33020 and 33021 and the powers established in this part."

Allows for the use of tax increment revenue for the provision of police services, but only if the redevelopment plan specifically points to its use. That means a redevelopment plan which doens't have such a provision must be rewritten. Lindheim said that using funds would not require rewriting of the plan, but here's where he's wrong. It does and the code really calls for this, just to keep yourself legally safe from attack.

I didn't attack him on the issue, because I wasn't there to do that, the quotes on the Perata statements were top priority. Plus, I can use this form to point out that if the City of Oakland's using tax increment revenue in a way that's legally unsafe, and it does seem so, it should stop doing so.

This is part one. Part two on Friday.

Eunice Sanborn is World's Oldest Woman

At 115 years old Eunice Sanborn is the world's oldest woman.

Sanborn was born July 20, 1895 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. She has outlived three husbands and her only child, Dorothy. She will be in Guiness Book World Records as the world's oldest woman.

She currently resides in Jacksonville, Florida.

Oakland Mayor - Elect (?) Don Perata On Reinstating 80 Oakland Police Positions (Video)

On the evening of the 2010 Midterm Elections, which included the Oakland, California Mayor's Race, the person who can arguably be called "Mayor-Elect" Don Perata said to this blogger his first action will be to "reinstate the 80 Oakland Police Positions," and did so in this video at the 4:28 mark:



This set up what seems to be a political battle as it flies right in the face of the Oakland City Council's decision to eliminate those positions as part of massive budget cutting efforts to eliminate Oakland's large deficit.

In her first interview, new Oakland Council District 4 Councilmember Libby Schaaf said that while she supports the Oakland Police, and is willing to consider Perata's proposal, she's not going to rubber stamp it:



Oakland Councilmember Jane Brunner and Oakland City Administrator Dan Lindheim will address this issue at a press conference today at 1 PM.

Did Unemployment take down the Democrats?

Did Unemployment take down the Democrats? After "Election Tuesday", this seems like a fair question to ask.

The answer is: The Democrats took down themselves....and yes unemployment and how little has been done to resolve the suffering attributed to massive joblessness in America played a major role in the Democrats’ huge defeat!

The 99ers did everything possible to wake up the Democratic leadership, long before the election, as to how they could preserve their majorities, help millions of Americans - and the economy - at the same time. (A win/win/win) The Democrats simply ignored all the emails, letters, videos, rallies, phone calls, faxes and in person pleas from the unemployed & 99ers alike. Now the Democrats are feeling the sting of consequences directly resulting from their own inaction on and their lack of urgency in dealing with the unemployment issue.

So what now? Enter the “Lame - Duckers.” On November 15th, Congress finally returns to Washington (well at least for 1 week) and if the past shows us anything, it is that the Senate can only get legislation passed in one week (or less) if it is either:

A - Spending to help ease suffering in Nations other than our own
B - Spending for US involved military conflict on foreign shores
C - Spending to bail out big business and Wall Street Bankers

Wouldn’t it be an unexpected delight for Congress to take less than a week to help the American people who are desperately suffering, like the 99ers - now without any income for 8 months?

Yes it would - but it is not very likely to happen. However, it could. If every person who is unemployed in this nation would start speaking up now, reaching out to your Washington elected officials from President Obama down to the most junior member of Congress - contact them often and with the same message. Continue to contact them until action is taken. Trust me, millions of Americans contacting Washington daily on this unemployment extension issue WOULD move mountains - or more importantly, Move Congress!

If anything, the millions of unemployed in America have not wielded the power of their sheer numbers in a unified effort to flood Washington with their demands - nonstop until action is achieved.

Do not misunderstand, it is a fact the 99ers and others have been holding fax attack, call in and email campaigns since March of this year, but unfortunately, it has been the unwavering participation of a focused minority of the American jobless that joined in this process. We need more.

Everyone needs to put the link to this article on their social networking pages, send it to their email lists, text and Tweet it out in mass. If everyone who reads this actually shares this with 10 - 25 people and they share it with all of their contacts and so on, and if everyone would just take action - determined to keep up that effort until Tier 5 is passed for all states and UI filing deadlines are extended - then everyone would have something to celebrate this holiday season.

It is a lot to ask, to give it one more big push, after doing so much already for 8 months and getting nowhere - but it is for our very survival. Look, in March this year, Washington was saying that: “No Tier 5 bill will ever come to the floor.” They all said it would never be written - well we got 2 Tier 5 bills written - now let’s get one passed! To those of you who are about to lose your benefits - NOW is the time to make your voice heard along with those of us who have been without UI for months and months.

Whitehouse Comments Line [Comments:202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461] Toll-free number to Congressional Switchboard 866-220-0044. Just ask to be transferred to your Senator(s) or House member. Call as many times as possible and start now. Make sure they come back to a mountain of messages when they finally return to Washington.

Walgreens CEO and Walgreens CFO: Walgreens Creates Shareholder Value, Backs Heath Care Reform

At today's Walgreens Analyst Day, Walgreens CEO Greg Wesson and Walgreens Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Wade Miquelon joined other Walgreens executives like Walgreens President of Pharmacy Services, Kermit Crawford, in showcasing the firm's new strategy of being a health care provider.

Walgreens sees its role as serving the estimated 32 million Americans who will be the new users of the heath care system because of President Obama's Health Care Reform initiative (the same program the GOP and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R - Ohio) want to repleal).

Greg Wesson, Walgreens CEO, explained that Walgreens serves 6 million health care customers a day. Wade Miquelon, Walgreens CFO, said that Walgreens is "embedding continuous process improvement and innovation into the fabric of our company," in an effort to better serve those 6 million daily customers.

What's interesting about Walgreens, and shows a way toward an American economic recovery, is that it's using new government programs, specifically Heath Care Reform, as the basis for its recovery, while acquiring pharmacy chains like Northeast-based Duane Reed, to embark on his "health services provider" strategy.

At Walgreens Analyst Day, seen via Shareholder.com, the Wesson said that Walgreens sees its 75,000 pharmacy workers as the ones who will help fill the demand for physicians that will be taxed because Heath Care Reform will bring 32 million Americans into the system.

Thus, the GOP's efforts to do away with the Obama Health Care Reform initiative will wreck Walgreens new business plans.  Indeed, the GOP would be smart to scale back, if not eliminate, its' rhetoric and examine just how the same American Business it claims to champion is actually embracing Heath Care Reform.

If Walgreens is on the right track, businesses like it, and Walmart and CVS are positioning themselves to actually help implement Health Care Reform.

Kanye West Has Angered 2 Presidents Including George Bush

Kanye West has pissed off two presidents-Who's next?

Ya gotta love Kanye West. The man is constantly finding ways to make noise and stay in the spotlight. If he’s not bum rushing the stage to spark drama with pop singer Taylor Swift, he’s releasing 30 minute cryptic movies (Runaway) that have no real meaning, but has everyone talking like it does. Sometimes we absolutely love him. Other times he makes us cringe, but that’s Kanye.

One person who is absolutely not feeling Kanye is former president George Bush. In his recently released memoirs ‘Decision Points‘ Bush notes that he took issue with Kanye West asserting he didn’t care about Black people during the Hurricane Katrina relief telethon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pVTrnxCZaQ

He said he was deeply disgusted and that it was the lowest moment of his Presidency. He said its one thing to have someone disagree with his policies, it’s another thing to call him a racist. Teasers for Bush’s remarks about Kanye have been running in promos for his upcoming appearance on the Today Show where host Matt Lauer will air their conversation.

When I first saw an obviously angered Bush make his remarks the first thing that went through my mind was Kanye West did a damn good job and I need to give him props next time I see him. I also noted that President Bush looked like he really wanted to have a fair one with the upstart rapper. I thought about it some more and concluded that Bush may have name dropped Kanye to get some publicity for his book. We saw this with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wife calling Anita Hill demanding an apology after 20 years. Certainly Kanye dissing George Bush can’t be his lowest moment. Many in higher places have said and done worse.

George Bush looked like he was ready to knock Kanye out when describing his reaction to the rapper's remarks about him hating Black people

Kanye dissing Bush was his lowest moment over 1-Getting his facts wrong about the Iraq War? 2-Leaving office with a 20% approval rating? 3-Having shoes thrown at him? 4-Having entire books released about his gaffes and inability to pronounce words? Really? C’mon son. Bush can’t be serious.

I know I’ve said worse over the airwaves about the former President especially when he routinely putting Black men to death as Governor of Texas. I’ll never forget his callousness when Shaka Sankofa was put to death Hell I think President Barack ‘Bi-partisan’ Obama has said worse when he rightfully laid blame at Bush’s feet for the tanked economy.

But in any case, Kanye is in his crosshairs. he took issue with being called a racist. I guess Bush was looking at the fact that he gave more money and resources to Africa than any other President. Ok I’ll give him that..But his lack of actions during Katrina cancelled that out. Also, our country the good ole United States needs to be given a lot more back to the mother land.

Memo to George Bush: The Truth Hurts

Memo to Kanye West: Get your knuckle game up, that Bush boy looks like a scrapper.

With that being said, Kanye may also have to watch his step around President Obama who after viewing Kanye interrupting Taylor Swift, remarked to news reporter Terry Moran of CNBC in an ‘off the record’ remark that Kanye West was a jackass. Not sure if President Obama ever apologized the way he did when he called the Cambridge police ‘stupid’ for arresting his friend Skip Gates. In any case Kanye has done what no rap artist has ever done, got two Presidents pissed off enough to talk about him. I wonder if he’ll do a song about it or if he’ll step up his presidential piss you off game and say something to anger Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter or Bush Sr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=078BGtKNL1o

Health Care Reform Seen As Opportunity By Walgreeens, Is GOP Listening?

GOP pay attention: Walgreens likes Heath Care Reform.

During Walgreens, Thursday's Analyst Report, Walgreens' President of Pharmacy Services, Kermit Crawford, said that Walgreens "Sees Health Care Reform...as an opportunity." Crawford said that Health Care Reform will bring 32 million new people into the system, and "as we learned with Medicare, they will use it," he said.

Before Crawford spoke, Walgreens President And CEO Greg Wasson said that the retailer brings in 6 million health care users each day. Crawford added that Walgreens observes that Heath Care Reform will make it harder to gain access to physicians because of the demand, and Walgreens sees itself as well-positioned to fill that demand hole.

This is important news because GOP House Minority Leader John Boehner, soon to become Speaker of The House Of Representatives, said that the repeal of Health Care Reform was an objective.  On Tuesday, the US House of Representatives went from Democratic Control to Republican Control, as the GOP controls 235 seats, versus 195 seats for the Democrats.

If that's the case, then the GOP's not listening to American Business, or the American people, for that matter. If the GOP succeeds, which given Democratic control of the Senate, is doubtful, their efforts will harm Walgreens ability to grow and damage its new business model.

Stay tuned.