Description:
Daily Cartoon
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Scott Stantis
Birmingham News
Nov 8, 2008
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Sarah Palin: I can see a landslide from my house.
OBAMA BACKSTAGE election night photos posted on Flickr.
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Calls for inauguration tickets through the roof
By Lolly Bowean |Tribune reporter
There have been calls from forgotten childhood classmates, from long-gone girlfriends and boyfriends, and even from the widows of deceased Chicago icons.
In the three days since the election of Barack Obama, the demand for tickets to Inauguration Day events has been unprecedented, local congressional officials said.
"It's crazy," said Sharon Jenkins, spokeswoman for Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.). "We're in a unique moment in U.S. history. Every day under Obama's administration is a first, and people want to be a part of it."
Read More Here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-obama-tickets-08-nov08,0,1861618.story
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Before Obama, There Was Bill Cosby
Published: November 7, 2008
NYT_INLINE_IMAGE_POSITION1
Bill Cosby with Tempestt Bledsoe, left, and Keshia Knight Pulliam as his daughters in a 1986 episode of “The Cosby Show.”
Some theorists argue that political and social change is preceded by shifts in popular culture. So it’s not surprising that the debate has heated up over who, or what, in arts and entertainment presaged Barack Obama’s election as president.
Many ideas have ricocheted around academia and the blogosphere — from Oprah Winfrey to Tiger Woods to Will Smith to “The West Wing,” to the many actors who have played black presidents, among them Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock (although not that many people actually saw Mr. Rock’s film “Head of State”).
But one idea seems to be gaining traction, and improbably it has Bill Cosby and Karl Rove in agreement: “The Cosby Show,” which began on NBC in 1984 and depicted the Huxtables, an upwardly mobile black family — a departure from the dysfunction and bickering that had characterized some previous shows about black families — had succeeded in changing racial attitudes enough to make an Obama candidacy possible.
Read More Here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/08/arts/television/08cosb.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
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Oprah to Palin: Stop by any time
A couple of months ago, there was a media kerfuffle when Oprah Winfrey said she would not have Gov. Sarah Palin on the show during the election.
Now that the election is over, the door is open to the former vice presidential candidate. A representative for Oprah's talk show said that "we have extended an invitation" to the Alaska governor.
There's no word yet on whether Oprah, a prominent Obama supporter, has received a yea or nay from the camp of Palin, who is still much in the news as a candidate for 2012 and as a controversial figure even within the McCain campaign.
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By David Neiwert Friday Nov 07, 2008 7:14pm
Summary: On The War Room with Quinn & Rose (http://www.warroom.com/), Jim Quinn said: "You know, if you were a slave in the old South, what did you get as a slave? You got free room and board, you got free money, and you got rewarded for having children because that was just, you know, tomorrow's slave. ... Can I ask a question? How's that different from welfare? You get a free house, you get free food, and you get rewarded for having children. Oh, wait a minute, hold on a second. There is a difference: The slave had to work for it."
Listen Here: http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/wingnut-revisionism-oh-ole-time-slav
Jim Quinn yesterday on The War Room with Quinn & Rose:
You know, I was thinking about this. You know, if you were a slave in the old South, what did you get as a slave? You got free room and board, you got free money, and you got rewarded for having children because that was just, you know, tomorrow's slave. So, you got a free house, you got free money, and you got rewarded for having children. Can I ask a question? How's that different from welfare? You get a free house, you get free food, and you get rewarded for having children. Oh, wait a minute, hold on a second. There is a difference: The slave had to work for it.
Yeah, that was the difference. Right.
This raises the question: Are the wingnuts coming so unhinged they are losing any contact with reality?
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More Bodies Found In Haitian School Rubble
Toll Of Children, Teachers Killed In Building Collapse Raised To 75; More May Be Trapped
(CBS/AP) sphereit start The mayor of Petionville said the death toll now stands at 75 from the collapse of a school in Haiti after crews uncovered a classroom filled with students and a teacher.
Claire Lydie Parent told The Associated Press that at least 17 students were found crushed on Saturday as crews continue to search for victims.
Authorities said there may have been hundreds of students in La Promesse school when the concrete building collapsed Friday. Rescuers used bare hands to pull bleeding students from the wreckage.
Underneath the massive pile of concrete are children, possibly 300 or more, reports CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella.
The school came down late in the morning while students from kindergarten to high school age were going to class, reports Cobiella.
At least 39 bodies were brought to the morgue at Port-au-Prince's General Hospital, Haitian police spokesman Garry Desrosier said.
Another eight people died in a trauma center run by the aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, spokesman Francois Servranckx said. More than 80 others were being treated for injuries by the aid group.
Rescuers worked furiously through the night under floodlights to pull children from the wreckage and give water to those still stuck in the rubble. Thousands looked on from beside the school and across the valley, cheering each time a live student emerged.
But the rescue effort was chaotic and disorganized from the start. The throngs of grieving and screaming onlookers made it impossible for U.N. peacekeepers, Red Cross workers and Haitian authorities to bring trucks and heavy equipment for much of the afternoon.
Read More and Watch Video Here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/08/world/main4585742.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4585742
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Ashville N.C. School teacher browbeats student over being a McCain supporter
Teacher Diantha Harris browbeats McCain supporting student, Kathy,in Ashville N.Carolina grade school. The poor girl is obviously distressed over the teacher's line of questiong and belittling her choice of candidate in front of her school mates.
Watch it Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDEAYgm0Dv8
Superintendent William C. Harrison responds to YouTube video of political discussion between teacher and students.
Watch it Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9ta9XKQXgE&watch_response
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Fears of Democrat crackdown lead to gun sales boom
By DENA POTTER
Associated Press Writer
MIDLOTHIAN, Va. (AP) -- When 10-year-old Austin Smith heard Barack Obama had been elected president, he had one question: Does this mean I won't get a new gun for Christmas?
That brought his mother, the camouflage-clad Rachel Smith, to Bob Moates Sports Shop
on Thursday, where she was picking out that special 20-gauge shotgun - one of at least five weapons she plans to buy before Obama takes office in January.
Like Smith, gun enthusiasts nationwide are stocking up on firearms out of fears that the combination of an Obama administration and a Democrat-dominated Congress will result in tough new gun laws.
"I think they're going to really try to crack down on guns and make it harder for people to try to purchase them," said Smith, 32, who taught all five of her children - ages 4 to 10 - to shoot because the family relies on game for food.
Last month, as an Obama win looked increasingly inevitable, there were more than 108,000 more background checks for gun purchases than in October 2007, a 15 percent increase. And they were up about 8 percent for the year as of Oct. 26, according to the FBI.
No data was available for gun purchases this week, but gun shops from suburban Virginia to the Rockies report record sales since Tuesday's election.
Read More Here: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBAMA_GUN_SALES?SITE=AP
Watch Video Here: http://video.ap.org/v/Default.aspx?partner=en-ap&g=347db720-1bf8-4118-89c3-575047cff41d&t=m318&p=ENAPus_ENAPus&f=AP&
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Mississippi students told not to say Obama's name
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Friday November 7, 2008
A controversy has erupted at a Mississippi junior high school over allegations that a bus driver and a coach threatened students with punishment for saying Barack Obama's name.
The incidents became public when outraged parents called the studios of WAPT news in Pearl, Miss. Some said their children were threatened by a bus driver with being written up and taken to the principal's office, others that their children were told by a girls' basketball coach they would be suspended.
Reginald Simpson, a student at Pearl Junior High, explained that when students on the bus started saying, "Obama is our president," the bus driver told them she didn't want to hear his name. One kid said, "This is history woman," and according to Simpson, "She pulled over and kicked me and the kid off the bus." They were left waiting at the high school and later taken to their own school.
"They feel like they afraid to say who our president is, cause they afraid they going to be in trouble," Reginald's mother Canishia told WAPT. "We teach our kids not to be racist, and here it is going on. I just feel hurt by it."
The Simpson family is black. However, another mother whose son was on the bus and who also plans to confront school officials about the incident is white. "This is what the whole election was about," Venus Neagu told WAPT. "It was supporting someone. And now that they've done it and they're on the school bus, now they're getting consequences for it."
School officials reviewed video from the bus and promised that no students would be punished. The superintendent released a statement saying, "It appears that some persons, out of disappointment and disillusionment with the election may have been so frustrated that they said something inappropriate to students. We have taken appropriate steps with the bus driver and the coach."
Watch Video Here: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Students_asked_not_to_say_Obamas_1107.html
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Emanuel Was Director Of Freddie Mac During Scandal
New Obama Chief of Staff, Others on Board, Missed "Red Flags" of Alleged Fraud Scheme
By BRIAN ROSS and RHONDA SCHWARTZ
November 7, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama's newly appointed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, served on the board of directors of the federal mortgage firm Freddie Mac at a time when scandal was brewing at the troubled agency and the board failed to spot "red flags," according to government reports reviewed by ABCNews.com.
President-elect Barack Obama's newly appointed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, served on the board of...
President-elect Barack Obama's newly appointed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, served on the board of directors of the federal mortgage firm Freddie Mac at a time when scandal was brewing at the troubled agency and the board failed to spot "red flags," according to government reports reviewed by ABCNews.com.
According to a complaint later filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Freddie Mac, known formally as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, misreported profits by billions of dollars in order to deceive investors between the years 2000 and 2002.
Emanuel was not named in the SEC complaint (click here to read) but the entire board was later accused by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) (click here to read) of having "failed in its duty to follow up on matters brought to its attention."
Read More Here: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6201900&page=1
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Obama apologizes to Nancy Reagan for seance remark
CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama called Nancy Reagan on Friday to apologize for a remark about seances he made during his first news conference earlier in the day.
startclickprintexclude PURGE: /2008/POLITICS/11/07/obama.seance/art.obama.afp.gi.jpg KEEP
When a reporter asked Obama if he had spoken with any ex-presidents since his election on Tuesday, he responded that he had spoken to all former presidents "that are living."
"I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances," he said.
Nancy Reagan, wife of 40th President Ronald Reagan, was derided in 1988 when his former chief of staff Donald Regan revealed in a book that the first lady had consulted an astrologer to determine the president's schedule.
Obama apologized to Reagan "for the careless and offhanded remark," Obama transition team spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said. 
Watch Obama make the seance remark »
"The president-elect expressed his admiration and affection for Mrs. Reagan that so many Americans share and they had a warm conversation," Cutter said.
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'Mutts like me' shows Obama's racial comfort
Analysis: Offhanded remark indicates his different approach to race
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
President-elect Barack Obama took questions on a range of subjects at his first post-election press conference on Friday.
By Alan Fram
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WASHINGTON - It popped out casually, a throwaway line as he talked to reporters about finding the right puppy for his young daughters.
But with just three offhanded words in his first news conference as president-elect, Barack Obama reminded everyone how thoroughly different his administration — and inevitably, this country — will be.
"Mutts like me."
Read More and Watch Video Here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27606637/
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US judge denies Simpson's request for new trial
Agence France-Presse
Published: Friday November 7, 2008
LAS VEGAS (AFP) — A Las Vegas judge has rejected former US football star OJ Simpson's request for a new trial after he was convicted in October for robbing two sports memorabilia collectors. 
Nevada judge Jackie Glass said Simpson and co-defendant Clarence Stewart had not made strong enough arguments to merit a new hearing.
Simpson, 61, whose trial for the brutal 1994 murder of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman ended up in his acquittal, was found guilty on October 4 of 12 charges in the armed robbery and kidnapping of the two collectors in the Las Vegas Palace Station casino on September 13, 2007.
Simpson and Stewart both face life in prison, and their sentences in the case are scheduled to be handed down on December 5.
Simpson's acquittal in the racially charged 1995 Los Angeles murder trial was greeted with widespread outrage across the United States.
The 1970s professional football hero has always vehemently denied murdering his former wife and her friend.
But he was found liable for the deaths in a 1997 civil suit and was ordered to pay damages to the victims' families totaling 33.5 million dollars. He has repeatedly said he will not pay the settlement.
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Well that didn't take long. Polls across America had been closed for less than 24 hours and Army Career Counselors were already exploiting Barack Obama's victory in an effort to recruit former soldiers back into units. This email was forwarded to me by an Iraq veteran and former Army captain who received it on Wednesday Read it Here:
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2148
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Obama not to attend G20 summit
Agence France-Presse
Published: Friday November 7, 2008
WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President-elect Barack Obama will not be attending a summit of world leaders for economic crisis talks in Washington next week, his spokeswoman said Friday.
Obama's transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter confirmed the president-elect would not be attending the upcoming summit.
"As he said himself, there is only one president at a time," she told reporters after Obama's first post-election news conference in Chicago.
Earlier the White House confirmed it did not expect Obama to take a seat at the talks on November 15.
"We are in communication and coordination with them. I don't know whether someone will actually be in the building. I don't expect in the room," spokesman Tony Fratto said of Obama's economic team.
But Fratto pledged close cooperation with the president-elect's economic advisers on the best way to respond to the global financial meltdown in order to avoid sending "confusing signals" to international markets.
"We look forward to hearing their views on how to deal with these issues which are going to go on for some time," the spokesman said one week before outgoing US President George W. Bush hosts the summit.
Obama is keen not to trample on the sitting president's authority. But his aides are also leery of becoming too closely associated with the outgoing administration's 700-billion-dollar banking bailout, which remains unpopular among many voters, sources said.
The November 15 talks will bring together leaders of the Group of 20 rich countries and major developing economies to discuss cooperative measures for responding to the global economic meltdown and ways to prevent future crises.
The G20 includes the seven major industrialized nations -- Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and the United States -- plus Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey.
It also takes in the 27-nation European Union, represented by France, which holds the rotating EU presidency. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank also participate in its meetings.
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By Faiz Shakir
Sarah Palin stopped tonight to answer a few questions from the Alaskan press in an attempt to dispel some of the recent damaging media reports about her involvement in the McCain campaign. “I know that I know that I know that there was nothing done wrong in the campaign,” she said. Palin complained that the other 49 states “aren’t quite there” like Alaska because they don’t allow the same “equal opportunities and equal treatment.” She then argued that, while has been some “fairness and objectivity” by some in the media, “there have been some stinkers.”
Defending the purchase of her fancy, expensive clothes during the campaign, she claimed, “I never asked for anything more than maybe a Diet Dr. Pepper once in a while.”
Watch Keith Olbermann’s report Here:http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/07/palin-stinkers/
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Truth!: Palin 'One Step' From Stealing
NEWSWEEK's Katie Connolly and Evan Thomas on the real story behind Sarah Palin's shopping spree (Reporter: Suzanne Smalley; Producer/Camera: Ira Spitzer, Lee Wang; Editor: Lee Wang).
Watch It Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OavoTPttLK0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdvVhKghAX0
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By Cernig Friday Nov 07, 2008 9:00am Two days after Obama and the Democratic Party won a ringing 7 million refusal of rightwing fearmongering and hate, the extreme right are unrepentant and none the wiser. Smintheus at Unbossed writes:
This evening James Dobson's Focus on the Family Action sent out a fundraising email to members that likened the victories of Barack Obama and congressional Democrats in Tuesday's election to the Nazi bombing of England during World War II. The author of this vile letter is Tom Minnery, Senior Vice President of Focus on the Family Action. It was nearly inevitable that anger over losing the 2008 election would soon provoke right-wing extremists to violate Godwin's Law. Obama's victory in Colorado may have been particularly galling for the Colorado Springs based Focus on the Family, which has been heavily involved in the political campaign this year advocating for conservative issues. James Dobson personally endorsed the McCain-Palin ticket this fall.
Focus on the Family has not so far posted this hateful fundraising letter on the web. Here is the opening section of the letter:
Dear Friend,
The spirit of Winston Churchill was alive and well on Tuesday night at Focus on the Family Action headquarters.
You may recall that in the most desperate days of World War II – when Great Britain was being pounded daily by Hitler’s Luftwaffe – that Winston Churchill called on his countrymen not to despair from danger but to rise to the challenge.
It goes on in exactly the same vein, saying that:
Our nation has never faced the kind of anti-family, pro-abortion assault that we’re likely to see in the coming weeks and months. We don’t have to guess what the Left will do now that they control Congress and the White House; they’ve told us.
What are FoF so upset about? Freedom of choice, freedom of marriage and legislation to combat discrimination against gays in the workplace. The last, according to FoF, will be an assault on FoF members' religious freedom. Nice of them to state so clearly that theirs is a path of bigotry.
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Carroll named first black speaker of Colo. House
By STEVEN K. PAULSON
Associated Press Writer
Published: Thursday, November 6, 2008 2:35 PM MST
DENVER | Democratic Rep. Terrance Carroll was chosen Thursday to be the new speaker of the Colorado House, the first black named to the position.
The Denver lawmaker was nominated by majority Democrats on Thursday and will be formally elected by the full House in January, when the next session convenes.
Ratification is usually unanimous. It would be the first time the state has black leaders in both houses after Senate President Peter Groff re-nominated to that position on Thursday.
"It just shows how, with the selection of Sen. Groff and president-elect Barack Obama, that there are no limits to what we can do. It really shows we made significant progress, but there is still much work to be done," Carroll said.
It was a bittersweet day for House Democrats, who also said goodbye to Rep. Bernie Buescher, a Western Slope Democrat who was expected to be the next speaker before he suffered a surprising defeat in Tuesday's election.
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2 baggage handlers arrested at LAX
8:16 p.m. November 7, 2008
LOS ANGELES – Two baggage handlers are accused of stealing $10,000 and hundreds of items from luggage at the Los Angeles International Airport.
KCBS-TV reported Friday that Roman Jaime and Carlos Garcia were arrested Oct. 30 on the tarmac. Police recovered 272 items at their homes, including purses, cameras, computers and cash.
Police say undercover officers became suspicious of the pair because many of the flights they worked had reports of thefts from baggage.
LAX police would not elaborate on the case Friday night and it was not immediately clear if either suspect had an attorney.
Lara Uselding, spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, says more than 460 transportation security officers nationwide have been fired for theft since May 2003. She says that represents 0.4 percent of the agency's workers.
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By John Amato Friday Nov 07, 2008 2:00pm Thanks for the memories, but you were all completely "Irrelevant" during the historic victory that Barack Obama achieved during 2008 Presidential election. All your smears failed to change the course of history.
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
(The list keeps growing. More below the fold.)
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
"Irrelevant"
Kudos to all. Thanks to you, conservatism itself is now ... Irrelevant.
P.S. (Starchild) But still ones to keep one eye on- remember their faces!!!
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No Thanks for the Memories
With his days in office coming to an end, we look back at some of Georgie Boy’s finest moments.
