How was your Cyber Monday today? I always felt that first Monday after Thanksgiving was a joy. It was relief to get back to the old grind and get caught up on all the things that got put off for the long weekend.
It seems Washington is getting caught up too…The big news today was Barney Frank! He is officially calling it quits and will not run for re-election in 2012. Boston Boomer had a post about it this afternoon, if you missed the press conference, here is a video recap from AP:
In a sign of the growing impact the 99 Percent Movement is having, New Hampshire Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid explained today on Fox News that his paper endorsed Newt Gingrich rather than Mitt Romney for the GOP Presidential nomination because the latter represents the one percent and is politically damaged because of it. “I think — and this is crazy, but so are we — that Gingrich is going to have a better time in the general election than Mitt Romney,” said McQuaid. “I think it’s going to be Obama’s 99% versus the 1%, and Romney sort of represents the 1%.”
Excuse me Mr. McQuaid…and the man you did back isn’t in the 1%?
Gingrich is also part of the one percent, “earning $2.5 million in personal income last year,” much of it accrued from using his government connections to assist major corporations.
Not to mention he is a crook, but y’all know that already.
Egyptians cast their votes at a polling station in Cairo. Photograph: Bernat Armangue/AP
Egyptians came out to vote in record numbers, defying widespread predictions of violence and chaos and fears that the country was yet to break free from three stagnant decades of dictatorship.
Polls were kept open two hours past their scheduled closing time to allow long queues of people at polling stations throughout Cairo to cast their ballots. The high turnout followed 10 days of resurgent protests in the capital that had threatened to overshadow the election.
Egypt‘s military rulers and the high election commission, which is supervising the voting, reported no major violations or security incidents during the historic vote – the first free parliamentary ballot for more than 80 years.
The Guardian reports that they have witnessed many violations, particularly in regards to campaigning. They report that many candidate flyers were given out inside polling stations, as a way to “help” delegates understand the voting process…
The Muslim Brotherhood is widely expected to emerge from the vote as a powerhouse in post-Mubarak Egypt. The group’s ascent has alarmed liberals and supporters of the military regime, who fear that it will attempt to remake Egyptian society along Islamic lines.
The elections are finally being held following a referendum in March that approved a series of constitutional amendments and endorsed the junta-sponsored transition timetable that should have seen a parliamentary vote take place by September at the latest. As transition deadlines slipped, patience among many Egyptians ebbed and a fear grew that the Scaf was instead trying to hang on to power. The waning trust led to the reoccupation of Tahrir Square and fears that vote would not take place.
Preliminary results are expected later this week. Two further rounds of voting will be held in other areas of Egypt, the last on 3 January, before a 498-member lower house of parliament is elected. Its main task will be to form a committee to draft Egypt’s new constitution, which promises to be a bitterly contested blueprint for the future.
I’m not too sure about what the Muslim Brotherhood will bring to Egypt. I am concerned because Egyptian women already have it bad…the large amount of sexual assault is something ingrained into the culture and it will take a lot of work to promote women’s status in the country for any change to occur. I just don’t see the Muslim Brotherhood being a champion for women’s rights.
China has stepped into the toxic diplomatic dispute between Pakistan and the United States, expressing its “deep shock and strong concern” over the deaths of Pakistani soldiers bombarded by Nato helicopters at a border post.
The intervention by the Chinese foreign ministry comes at a time when relations between the US and Pakistan are at their most strained for many years. It is being seen as a move by Beijing to strengthen its already close ties with Islamabad in the wake of Saturday’s air attack in which 24 Pakistani soldiers died.
The prime minister of Pakistan, Yousaf Raza Gilani, has threatened to “revisit” engagement with Nato following the deaths at the Mohmand border post, the deadliest such incident since the start of the Afghan war in 2001. “Business as usual will not be there,” Gilani told CNN .
Pakistan has suggested it may now boycott the 5 December international conference on Afghanistan‘s future at Bonn, in Germany.
China’s comments were the product of a 40-minute conversation between the Chinese foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, and his opposite number in Pakistan, Hina Rabbani Khar. After the exchange, the Chinese foreign ministry said that “China is deeply shocked by these events, and expresses strong concern for the victims and profound condolences to Pakistan”.
A foreign ministry spokesman added: “China believes that Pakistan’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected and the incident should be thoroughly investigated and be handled properly.”
Oh, it makes me nervous…and is sounding more and more like the cold war all over again.
Countries with nuclear capabilities taking sides in an obvious fashion…This move from China is no surprise, but I wonder what kind of security problems arise from the US (and now possibly the European Union countries) being indebted to China. Maybe I am just over reacting.
A charity for at-risk children founded by a former Penn State assistant football coach now charged with molesting boys has asked its donors to give their money to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape instead.
The Second Mile made the recommendation Monday in the latest sign its days may be numbered. But the charity said its December programs will continue as scheduled.
[…]
Last week, the charity said it was considering restructuring, transferring programs to other organizations or ceasing operations.
Lawyers for one of the people described in a grand jury report as a victim of repeated sexual attacks by Sandusky are seeking a court order to prevent the charity from unloading its assets.
I would think that since Sandusky used the charity to find boys to rape and assault, Second Mile would be a party to the criminal and civil law suit, and their assets would be frozen.
Also Monday, a team with the U.S. Department of Education arrived in State College as part of the federal investigation into whether the school violated reporting mandates for campus crime.
The federal investigation centers on whether reporting provisions of the Clery Act were complied with in the Sandusky case.
This is all I have for you this evening, post any links you like in the comments.
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Herman Cain revealed Monday that an Atlanta-area woman is coming forward alleging an “extended” 13-year extramarital affair with the Republican presidential candidate.
Cain told CNN the woman’s claims are untrue.
The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer he wanted to “give you a heads up and everyone a heads up” that the woman would be coming forward.
He said he knows the woman, but denied having had an affair with her.
“I did not have an affair,” he said. “I have done nothing wrong.”
Cain doesn’t seem to be able to keep it in his pants. I certainly hope his wife is going to the doctor and getting tests done right before she heads to a divorce lawyer and cleans his clock.
It becomes a felony with a potential 5 year sentence to stream a copyrighted work that would cost more than $2,500 to license, even if you are an ordinary noncommercial user. Singing a pop song on Facebook could be a felony.
If SOPA or Protect IP passes, the government can order internet providers to block any site for its users’ infringing posts, using the same DNS-blocking methods as China or Iran.
This is like something out of China or the former Soviet Union.
“This appears to be an accusation of private, alleged consensual conduct between adults – a subject matter which is not a proper subject of inquiry by the media or the public. No individual, whether a private citizen, a candidate for public office or a public official, should be questioned about his or her private sexual life,” Wood said.
Um, did Wood sleep through the Clinton administration?
Cain said his wife’s immediate reaction upon hearing of the accusation was, “Here we go again.”
He said he had no plans to drop out of the race. “Not as long as my wife is behind me and as long as my wife believes I should stay in this race, I’m staying in this race,” Cain said.
Matt Yglesias and Kevin Drum say the right thing about revelations that big banks got very easy terms during the financial crisis: the real scandal isn’t so much that those banks got rescued as that the rest of the population didn’t.
You are not the moral arbiter of who gets to take what drug.
I mean, gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins: is it against Christian ethics for a pharmacist to fill a prescription for Type II diabetes drugs for a morbidly obese person?
And why does a 75-year old man need Viagra? He shouldn’t be making babies at his age anyway. And, according to certain Christian precepts, you should not be having sex unless you’re planning to make babies.
So, why is it that the only thing that the Christian Medical Association objects to is Plan B?
Could it be because they have problems with women having sex?
Nah. That couldn’t be it. I’m sure they celebrate sexual women.
Damn. I want to write something profound, make the point that they should recognize their hypocrisy and get on with their jobs.
But they’re not listening.
What was that I said before?
Get the fuck out of my uterus.
Washington State pharmacist are bringing the matter to court, and according to this article:
Stormans v. Selecky is on its way to the Ninth District Court of Appeals, which means, yep, it’s on its way to the Supreme Court. Regardless of who wins the case, it’ll be appealed
If Obama caves to the Bishops…then why wouldn’t these pharmacist get away with this kind of crap? A whole can of worms is going to spill out if Obama does what he usually does, and give in.
Fears are high that the Obama administration might allow not only churches, but any hospital, health clinic, or university that is associated with a religious group have an exemption to the new policy. It’s not surprising that the bishops and others are lobbying for this exemption; groups that oppose contraception flipped out when the National Academy of Sciences recommended offering no-cost birth control as part of preventative care for women. They were certainly nonplussed when the Obama administration decided to require insurers to cover it. But the outrage is over the fact that the Obama administration appears to be actively considering it—and could make an announcement as soon as this week.
When officers forced their way into home, they found the woman seated in a chair and stabbing the child, according to Carlos Campos, police spokesman. The woman was ordered to drop the weapon, but did not, forcing officers to fire several shots at the woman, police said.
Meadows said between 10 and 16 shots were fired.
The police would not confirm or deny the child had been shot during the incident…but the little girl is dead.
The little girl had downs syndrome and the mother was know to have serious mental problems. She believed she could kill her kids and bring them back to life.
The girl was not hit by one of the bullets shot by police.
Obama’s team is already signaling that the estimated size of the economic stimulus package will grow to be even larger than the bailout of the financial system. This inevitability, Biden said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” reflects the concern of both conservative and liberal economists. In other words, our economy is teetering dangerously at the precipice, capable of freefalling into the abyss of a depression.
Yup. The Eurozone thing could push us right back to 2007. The movement by the fed and those other central banks indicates the credit markets and intrabank lending are freezing up again.
The Sky Dancing banner headline uses a snippet from a work by artist Tashi Mannox called 'Rainbow Study'. The work is described as a" study of typical Tibetan rainbow clouds, that feature in Thanka painting, temple decoration and silk brocades". dakinikat was immediately drawn to the image when trying to find stylized Tibetan Clouds to represent Sky Dancing. It is probably because Tashi's practice is similar to her own. His updated take on the clouds that fill the collection of traditional thankas is quite special.
You can find his work at his website by clicking on his logo below. He is also a calligraphy artist that uses important vajrayana syllables. We encourage you to visit his on line studio.
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
JJ Lopez aka Minkoff Minx
NW Luna
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quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Woman claims 13-year affair with Herman Cain – Political Hotsheet – CBS News
This guy is too full of shit to be for real. What a boob.
FDL is on the ball.
Yo mama is so ugly, even Herman Cain wouldn’t have sex with her!
Oh, that’s a tough one 🙂
Cain doesn’t seem to be able to keep it in his pants. I certainly hope his wife is going to the doctor and getting tests done right before she heads to a divorce lawyer and cleans his clock.
Kansas governor apologizes for ‘overreaction’ to teen’s disparaging tweet – CNN.com
🙂
Maxine Waters in line to take over from Frank on Financial Services – The Hill’s On The Money
I think the biggest news is that Congress is on the verge of destroying the internet.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/28/1040530/-Congress-is-close-to-destroying-the-internet-(no-hyperbole)
American Censorship.org Please read!
http://americancensorship.org/
This is like something out of China or the former Soviet Union.
I wonder if this would also affect the fair use copyright?
It seems to eliminate fair use.
That is what I was thinking…
We may as well be in China for the most part.
True. Pretty soon China will be outsourcing jobs to our slave labor.
Ron Wyden plans to read 100,000 names on a petition against internet censorship on the Senate floor.
http://news.techeye.net/internet/senator-plans-to-read-100000-names-against-us-anti-piracy-bill
I wonder when this is going to happen, I looked at the article but didn’t see a date…
It has to be this week. The vote was going to be today, but he put a hold on it and blew the lid off all the secrecy.
It appears that Herman Cain’s lawyer Lin Wood just ratted out his client. Heh.
Cain’s consensual conduct
And now Cain is putting it all on his wife:
Herman Cain Accused Of A 13-Year Affair | Crooks and Liars
Mission Not Accomplished
Krugman is too right.
plus the ones that did illegal things haven’t been held to real account … most of these CEOs are still in place and still getting bonuses.
Getting even bigger bonuses, which just makes it all worse.
Okay: The Christian Medical Association Says: No Plan B for You, Harlot! | RH Reality Check
Washington State pharmacist are bringing the matter to court, and according to this article:
If Obama caves to the Bishops…then why wouldn’t these pharmacist get away with this kind of crap? A whole can of worms is going to spill out if Obama does what he usually does, and give in.
Will Obama Bow on Birth Control? | Mother Jones
The proper headline should be “Does Obama want to get re-elected or bow on birth control”.
This is the last link I’m sharing tonight, we have snow coming to Banjoville and the time is right for getting under the covers…
This is a sad story: Police shoot, kill mother stabbing child | ajc.com
The police would not confirm or deny the child had been shot during the incident…but the little girl is dead.
Between 10 and 16 shots fired? wow…
Here is an update on this: Mom in stabbing struggled emotionally | ajc.com
The little girl had downs syndrome and the mother was know to have serious mental problems. She believed she could kill her kids and bring them back to life.
The girl was not hit by one of the bullets shot by police.
Obama’s team is already signaling that the estimated size of the economic stimulus package will grow to be even larger than the bailout of the financial system. This inevitability, Biden said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” reflects the concern of both conservative and liberal economists. In other words, our economy is teetering dangerously at the precipice, capable of freefalling into the abyss of a depression.
Yup. The Eurozone thing could push us right back to 2007. The movement by the fed and those other central banks indicates the credit markets and intrabank lending are freezing up again.