Friday, November 7, 2008

HOPE

HOPE by friskypics.

THE JUBILANT BIRTH OF THE OBAMA ERA

by: Rebecca Solnit, TomDispatch.com

Election of Obama brings hope.
(Photo: www.joshlanier.com)

Citizenship is a passionate joy at times, and this is one of those times. You can feel it. Tuesday the world changed. It was a great day. Monday it rained hard for the first time this season and on Election Day, everything in San Francisco was washed clean. I went on a long run past several polling places up in the hills around my home and saw lines of working people waiting to vote and contented-looking citizens walking around with their "I Voted" stickers in the sun and mud. READ IT HERE»

BUSH OFFICIALS PLAN TO DIAL BACK ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS

Valley fill resulting from mountaintop-removal coal mining operation.

by: Renee Schoof, McClatchy Newspapers

Washington - In the next few weeks, the Bush administration is expected to relax environmental-protection rules on power plants near national parks, uranium mining near the Grand Canyon and more mountaintop-removal coal mining in Appalachia.

The administration is widely expected to try to get some of the rules into final form by the week before Thanksgiving because, in some cases, there's a 60-day delay before new regulations take effect. READ POST HERE»

FRANKEN'S BID STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE

The vote gap between Senate candidates Norm Coleman and Al Franken fluctuated throughout the day Thursday, with Franken closing to within 236 votes by Thursday evening.


The fluctuations are normal, said a spokesman at the Secretary of State's office, as county's double check their work and report minor changes.

A typo in Pine County got fixed Thursday, giving Al Franken 100 more votes and tightening Minnesota's unresolved Senate race even tighter.

Republican Sen. Norm Coleman's lead over Democrat Al Franken stood at 236 votes Thursday night.

With nearly 2.9 million ballots cast, the difference between the top two candidates is about one one-hundredth of a percentage point.

In Pine County, an election official accidentally entered 24 votes for Franken on Tuesday night instead of the 124 he actually received. The mistake was caught on Thursday and the numbers changed, said Jim Gelbmann from the Secretary of State's office.

Al Franken has called for the recount to go on while Norm Coleman is urging him to concede. "This is the closest Senate race in Minnesota history," Franken said. "This is just part of the process to make sure that every vote is counted fairly."

TRANSITION IN FOCUS

Emanuel accepts Obama's offer to become White House chief of staff.

by: Rick Klein, ABC News

President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday began filling out what will become his new administration, naming two close advisers to high-ranking leadership posts, scheduling his first post-election visit to Washington, and arranging a Friday meeting with his economic team.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Illinois) accepted the position of White House chief of staff on Thursday, a day after it was formally offered to him by his friend and fellow Chicaogan.

READ POST HERE»

A MANDATE FOR SPREADING THE WEALTH

by: Norman Solomon, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Spreading the wealth with Obama's plan.
People raise their hands at an Obama rally when the candidate asked who made less than $250,000. (Photo: Damon Winter / The New York Times)

Posted from truthout.org

Two days before he lost the election, John McCain summarized what had become the central message of his campaign: "Redistribute the wealth, spread the wealth around - we can't do that." Oh, yes we can. The 2008 presidential election became something of a referendum on "spreading the wealth." "My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody," Barack Obama said on October 12, in a conversation with an Ohio resident named Joe. The candidate quickly added, "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." Read post here»

SPITZER IN THE CLEAR

Call him the Teflon John. This afternoon the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan announced the former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer won’t face charges for paying for sex with a high-end hooker. The investigators found no evidence that Spitzer had used public money or campaign funds to pay for the services, and declared that a full prosecution would not be “in the public interest,” according to U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia. But Garcia wouldn’t say whether the overall investigation is over and done with for good. In a statement, Spitzer responded to the announcement: “I appreciate the impartiality and thoroughness of the investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office, and I acknowledge and accept responsibility for the conduct it disclosed.”