theonionfeed

http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/weekly/~3/yE83rVfluNg/7_million_people_direct

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/7_million_people_direct?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

daily_kos

http://rss.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/lrXbr0Obk4g/-Obama:-The-economys-back-from-the-brink.-Really.

After a week of international traveling and summits, President Obama took to the airwaves in his weekly address this morning to tout the economic recovery.

In a little over one hundred days, this Recovery Act has worked as intended. It has already extended unemployment insurance and health insurance to those who have lost their jobs in this recession.  It has delivered $43 billion in tax relief to American working families and businesses.  Without the help the Recovery Act has provided to struggling states, its estimated that state deficits would be nearly twice as large as they are now, resulting in tens of thousands of additional layoffs – layoffs that would affect police officers, teachers, and firefighters.

Claiming that the Recovery Act was designed not work in four months, but over a period of two years, the President took direct aim at critics from both the right and the left:

Now, I realize that when we passed this Recovery Act, there were those who felt that doing nothing was somehow an answer.  Today, some of those same critics are already judging the effort a failure although they have yet to offer a plausible alternative.  Others believed that the recovery plan should have been even larger, and are already calling for a second recovery plan.

Returning to his recurrent theme of building a "new foundation," Obama pointed to the need to have a serious revamping of the economy as we move ahead, and he lauded moves toward creating new jobs in the energy sector and emphasizing funding in education. Most importantly (and relevantly, for this past week) is the need for reforming health care--and most significantly for tea leaf readers, he insisted on pushing the public option:

One such choice would be a public option that would make health care more affordable through competition that keeps the insurance companies honest.

He finished off with his usual stirring rhetoric, taking a look at our past, tying it to the realities of the present and pointing to the challenges of the future:

I said when I took office that it would take many months to move our economy from recession to recovery and ultimately to prosperity.  We are not there yet, and I continue to believe that even one American out of work is one too many.  But we are moving in the right direction.  We are cleaning up the wreckage of this storm.  And we are laying a firmer, stronger foundation so that we may better weather whatever future storms may come.  This year has been and will continue to be a year of rescuing our economy from disaster.

But just as important will be the work of rebuilding a long term engine for economic growth. It won’t be easy, and there will continue to be those who argue that we have to put off hard decisions that we have already deferred for far too long. But earlier generations of Americans didn’t build this great country by fearing the future and shrinking our dreams.

The full address can be found beneath the fold, or on the White House website.

crooksandliars

http://crooksandliars.com/bluegal/newt-gingrich-still-thinks-palin-might-be

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: 79

PLAYS: 49

Mike Murphy is right: "Gov. Sarah Palin is the political train wreck that keeps on giving."

How great is it that a week after she aborts her career in politics, Republicans are still debating whether she has a future on the national ticket?

And Newt Gingich votes yes. [This audio, Newt Gingrich interviewed by his former mistress/now wife Calista, was posted to his website on Friday, July 10.]

One has to wonder with guys like Newt Gingrich still not giving up hope for Palin's future, whether NPR analyst Jennifer Pozner is right, that the public treatment, and Newt's tacit endorsement, of Sarah Palin is much more about her looks and sex-appeal than about her painfully obvious lack of qualifications:

Ironically, though Palin has railed against unfair treatment by the mainstream media, she has mostly been referring not to blatant sexism but to reporters who wouldn't show her "respect and deference." The last thing journalists owe any politician is deference.

In other Palin discussion among the GOP, Peggy Noonan created a major stir with this oped, opining that Palin wasn't qualified to run for high office and never will be. One good article out of a hundred, Peggy, but I still haven't forgiven you for your "GOP sex scandals can be traced back to Bill Clinton" wack-a-news bite. I for one am ready to stop talking about the Clenis and let GOP-nees take responsibility for their own wanderings and motivations. [h/t Nicole for the new lingo.]

new_scientist

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/53b904e/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A3271610B50A0A0Ereview0Echasing0Emedical0Emiracles0Eby0Ealex0Eomeara0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327161.500

daily_kos

http://rss.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/5bH03jnMAuc/-Your-Abbreviated-Pundit-Round-up

Saturday slumming... with the pundits.

Carl Cannon:

In the 2008 election, we took sides, straight and simple, particularly with regard to the vice presidential race. I don't know that we played a decisive role in that campaign, and I'm not saying the better side lost. What I am saying is that we simply didn't hold Joe Biden to the same standard as Sarah Palin, and for me, the real loser in this sordid tale is my chosen profession.

Carl, the standard is: are you qualified? The rest is detail. Where the media fell down is in not keeping that front and center at all times, and building her up where she never should have been. CNN exit poll:

Gail Collins:

The reason the Republicans lost so many Senate seats last November is now becoming clear. No one had any time to think about the campaign. They were too busy worrying about Senator John Ensign’s sex life.

Daniel Gross:

I am not an economist. Still, I am confident in saying that, just as it was absurd to talk about an Obama bear market in March, it's much too soon to be condemning the stimulus package.

Bob Herbert:

The crisis staring America in its face and threatening to bring it to its knees is unemployment. Joblessness. Why it is taking so long — seemingly forever — for our government officials to recognize the scope of this crisis and confront it directly is beyond me.

Robert Reich:

Unfortunately, V-shapers are looking back at the wrong recessions. Focus on those that started with the bursting of a giant speculative bubble and you see slow recoveries. The reason is asset values at bottom are so low that investor confidence returns only gradually.

That's where the more sober U-shapers come in. They predict a more gradual recovery, as investors slowly tiptoe back into the market.

Personally, I don't buy into either camp. In a recession this deep, recovery doesn't depend on investors. It depends on consumers who, after all, are 70 percent of the U.S. economy. And this time consumers got really whacked. Until consumers start spending again, you can forget any recovery, V or U shaped.

Politico:

Coming after the recent Beltway debate over coordination between Huffington Post’s senior news editor, Nico Pitney, and the White House over a question about Iran at a recent presidential news conference as well as President Obama’s decision to call on another Huffington Post reporter at his first White House press conference, the choice of Froomkin to oversee reporters as Washington bureau chief seemed to solidify the site’s identity as a progressive voice heavily invested in Obama’s success.

But is it really?

The Opinionator (NY Times) on GM's comeback, from Detroit Freep’s Mark Phelan to Barry Ritholtz.

SF Chron: Swine flu money begins to flow to CA. Coming soon to a state near you.

California will receive more than $30 million in federal grants to help prepare for an expected resurgence of the swine flu in the coming influenza season, federal public health authorities announced Friday.

The money will go primarily toward distribution of a vaccine to protect against the swine flu, a form of influenza Type A, subtype H1N1. Federal officials said the vaccine, which could be available in October, probably will go first to schoolchildren, adults with health problems, pregnant women and health care workers.

Vaccine is unlikely to be availalble all at once, and will be in addition to seasonal flu vaccines. One shot, or two, is unclear. It will be voluntary. And it will only be suggested of the virus seems to warrant it (but probably yes.)

The full list of states is here.

Added: One.org is blogging Obama's Ghana trip.

Added: Jennifer Skalka at Hotline On Call challenges Rush to get off his tuchus and help jump start the GOP.

new_scientist

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/53b7a35/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A3271650B60A0A0Eblack0Eboxes0Eto0Eget0Ebackup0Ebattery0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327165.600

whedonesque

http://whedonesque.com/comments/20952

http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.php?id=39946&p=1

Seth Green has been announced as the guest host on Monday Night Raw this week.

new_scientist

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/53b563f/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A3271650B0A0A0A0Estars0Emagnetic0Eflips0Edown0Eto0Egassy0Eneighbour0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327165.000

new_scientist

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/53b4520/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A3271630B30A0A0Eforest0Eprotection0Einvites0Etrouble0Efor0Etrees0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327163.300

new_scientist

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/53b28d8/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A3271650B90A0A0Ecyborg0Ecrickets0Ecould0Echirp0Eat0Ethe0Esmell0Eof0Esurvivors0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327165.900