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You can now subscribe to Progressive Dispatches by email. This should be a great way for people to read this blog without having to worry about visiting the site periodically. Oh, how I love the benefits of Google owning both Blogger.com and Feedburner.com.

~BT

Cornel West has fighting words in Bushonomics

Cornel West has released his second CD. IvyGate has the details,

The Ivy League's resident black radical and pop-scholar phenom Cornel West returns to hipster-hop with the release of his second rap album, Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations, featuring the likes of Prince, Talib Kweli, Andre 3000, KRS-One, Jill Scott, Rhymefest, and the late Gerald Levert. Which is impressive and all, but seriously, where's Kanye? This is totally up his alley. They even have the same last name!

Bushonomics, by Cornel West &Talib Kweli, is really great.

~BT

Afternoon Tunes

Enjoy

~BT

Evening Tunes

It feels like we are living in some crazy times. The current market crisis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the surrendering of civil liberties just for starters. Things are Orwellian. I leave you with this (Billy Joel - We didn't start the fire), so feel free to leave me your thoughts.

~BT

Jon Stewart: America to the Rescue

Check this out.



~BT

Hurricane Katrina - Where are we now?

Two years ago, I remember watching the insane images on television of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and being in disbelief about the completely ineffective government response from this Republican administration.

Two years later, why isn't America remembering this devastating catastrophe? Why aren't the racial and socio-economic issues raised by Katrina and the inept response being discussed? There hasn't been much media coverage. Is the aid getting to the victims? If it is, how is it being used?

Last year, I took Michael Eric Dyson's class where we read and discussed his book Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, which I recommend you read. From Publishers Weekly:

The first major book to be released about Hurricane Katrina, Dyson's volume not only chronicles what happened when, it also argues that the nation's failure to offer timely aid to Katrina's victims indicates deeper problems in race and class relations. Dyson's time lines will surely be disputed, his indictments of specific New Orleans failures defended or whitewashed. But these points are secondary. More important are the larger questions Dyson (Between God and Gangsta Rap, etc.) poses, such as "What do politicians sold on the idea of limited governance offer to folk who need, and deserve, the government to come to their aid?" "Does George Bush care about black people?" and "Do well-off black people care about poor black people?" With its abundance of buzz-worthy coinages, like "Aframnesia" and "Afristocracy," Dyson's populist style sometimes gets too cute. But his contention that Katrina exposed a dominant culture pervaded not only by "active malice" toward poor blacks but also by a long history of "passive indifference" to their problems is both powerful and unsettling. Through this history of neglect, Dyson suggests, America has broken its social contract with poor blacks who, since Emancipation, have assumed that government will protect all its citizens. Yet when disaster struck the poor, the cavalry arrived four days late.

Here are two music videos that we watched in class that I found quite poignant.

Jay-Z Minority Report
Mos Def - Katrina Klap (Dollar Day)

~BT

John Edwards: Time to End the Game

Via Suburban Guerrilla,

John Edwards gave a great (long) speech in New Hampshire today:

From the Agonist:

Senator Edwards, in his second run for the Presidency, is a different man, and a different candidate, than the Senator Edwards of 2004. Back then Senator Edwards of 2004 was a conservative Democrat, hoping to make the Clinton case. A great deal has happened since then, and without speculating too much on the means of his conversion, he has walked across the road from a man who, in his gut, believes the system works and ordinary people just need their share - that is a conservative populist - to be a progressive populist. A man who believes, fundamentally, that the game itself is holding us back.

In his "End the Game" speech, Edwards cements this position as the essentially progressive major candidate. He is now against the war he once accepted on faith from experts from the old order. He is now adamant about universal health care, and he is watching his country struggle with a cancer the way his wife is struggling with a cancer. And he has closed the loop. Our small problems and our large problems are the same. The reason ordinary people don't have enough, is because there isn't enough to go around.

I'm liking Edwards more and more.

~BT

Playing devil's advocate

Thomas F. Schaller, the author of Whistling Past Dixie, plays devil's advocate in his recent Salon.com article which looks at the weaknesses of the democratic presidential candidates. According to Schaller, even though the Republican field is in disarray, democrats are vulnerable to the powerful Republican attack machine.

Right now, the Republican primary field is a mess. Insufficient cash flows, fleeing staffers and consultants, outdated themes and proposals, legitimacy issues with the party's conservative base, expressed unease from the GOP's dying moderate wing and, of course, a variety of problems arising from proximity to a certain incumbent president -- each of the Republican candidates is suffering from at least one of those ailments. Sen. John McCain suffers from all of them simultaneously.

So it's high times across the aisle, right? The Democrats are apparently poised to retake the White House after eight long and painful years from a man many consider a usurper. Rank-and-file Democrats seem almost giddy about their field of substantive candidates. Three out of five Republicans said in a March poll that they were unhappy with their candidates, and in July "none of the above" was the Republican front-runner. Almost three out of five Democrats, on the other hand, say they are satisfied with their party's presidential contenders.

Not so fast. Though all the standard caveats apply about how much can change between now and next November, the Democrats are undoubtedly the favorites heading into 2008. But the truth is that the Democratic field has its own share of problems.

Even though the Democrats are in a great position for 2008, it's a good reality check and has the benefit of lowering expectations.

~BT

More bad news

Via Atrios,

Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. banks and thrifts suffered the biggest increase in late loan payments in 17 years as more homeowners fell behind on mortgages, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.

Loans more than 90 days past due rose 10.6 percent to $66.9 billion in the period ending June 30, the largest quarterly increase since 1990, the FDIC said in its Quarterly Banking Profile released today.

``The bottom line for banks is that the credit environment continues to be more challenging now than it has been in recent years,'' FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said during a news briefing at the agency's Washington headquarters.

Just what we need right now. Despite what seems to be a constant stream of bad news, some are still optimistic because they think the Fed will bail out the market. I guess I'm seeing moral hazard playing itself out right now. I am still leaning towards those who believe the credit crunch we are seeing is an insolvency problem rather than just a liquidity crisis. The fed's attempts at a bail out won't work and will just delay the pain from the bubble burst ing.

And, mass layoffs in the financial industry doesn't help.

~BT

Update: Suburban Guerrilla covers the differing opinions and the latest lifeline from Bank of America to stabilize markets

Update 2: Knowledge@Wharton offers a more optimistic perspective on what's ahead for the markets.

Morning Thread

There is so much going on in the blogosphere that I hope to comment on soon.

• Over at Openleft.com, Matt Stoller and Chris Bowers, two of my favorite bloggers have launched their latest campaign to reform the Democratic Party. The Bush Dogs campaign goes after democrats in Congress who continue to support Bush and his failed policies
• Slate.com's recent article on Nancy Pelosi and her opposition to starting impeachment proceedings for Bush, Cheney and/or Gonzales.
  
• There is some great commentary about the recent global credit crunch and what is behind the recent market turmoil. Markets have rebounded a bit in the last few days, we'll see if that will continue when markets open in 30min.
  

But for now, enjoy this.


~BT

Fox beating the war drums on Iran

Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films has released yet another Fox Attacks! video, documenting how Fox news is feeding us the same crap/lies that we got in the run-up to Iraq. Help make sure that it won't work this time!

I remember very clearly the daily fearmongering led by FOX as they cheered for war with Iraq. The 24/7 images, sound effects, yelling and threatening were an ever-present drumbeat for war. We had to invade, and we had to invade now.. anyone who didn't see that was a traitor. They viciously attacked those of us who worked to get out the truth.

You'd think that with the complete failure in Iraq, those days would be behind us. Sadly, you'd be wrong.

FOX wants war with Iran.

It's almost too ridiculous to believe, but it's shockingly real. We've already compiled over 4 hours of FOX footage just in the last few months... the same images, sound effects, yelling and threatening that led the U.S. to invade Iraq is happening right now to sell a war with Iran. They are saying the exact same things!!

Here is the video evidence, side-by-side with what they said about Iraq.

This time is different though. We're prepared, and we have the means to alert people to what FOX is doing. Everyone has seen the terrible tragedy and the awful price paid by so many Iraqis and Americans. We know this is coming, and we can stop it.

It was about this time in the lead-up to the Iraq war when the other TV networks started following FOX's lead. As CNN's Christiane Amanpour says in the video, they were intimidated by FOX into cheerleading for the Iraq war.

WE CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN.

~BT

Afternoon Thread

Enjoy and say what's on your mind.


~BT

Daily Links 8/12/07

Around the Blogosphere:

• Glenn Greenwald interviews Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution regarding the trip he recently took to Iraq and the highly publicized Op-Ed in the New York Times about his trip. Glen provides the truth behind the Pollack-O'Hanlon trip to Iraq:
  

  O'Hanlon's answers, along with several other facts now known, demonstrate rather conclusively what a fraud this Op-Ed was, and even more so, the deceitfulness of the intense news coverage it generated.

• Check out the Washington Post Op-Ed by Markos and SusanG from the DailyKos arguing that the netroots are in fact in the mainstream rather than the increasingly irrelevant Democratic Leadership Council, now headed by Penn-alum Harold Ford.

• According to Nouriel Roubini, the current market crisis is more than just a liquidity crunch and is worse than the collapse of Long Term Capital Management.
  

In the news:

• LA Times: The LA housing market is seeing an increase in foreclosures that may spur price drops. Just what the housing market needs!
  

• Rolling Stone calls John Edwards "The Real Liberal" in the presidential race
  

• Frank Rich has another great column as Bush heads on another vacation
  

~BT

DiCaprio Takes on the Environment, Gore-style

Leonardo DiCaprio is following in Al Gore's footsteps with his new movie, The 11th Hour. According to Warner Brothers,

The film explores how we’ve arrived at this moment -- how we live, how we impact the earth’s ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course.

It comes out in New York and LA this weekend and has a wider release on August 24th (which is when I will be able to see it when it comes out in Philadelphia). After watching the trailer, it's no surprise that the film has already received so much positive buzz online,

The film expands on the themes of last year's Oscar-winning doc, "An Inconvenient Truth," and even goes further then the global warming issue, which the film argues is just one symptom of humanity's overarching influence on the planet.According to Warner Brothers.

From a review at Treehugger.com:

The film is a collection of vivid imagery accompanied by commentary and meditation from an impressive collection of political leaders, designers, and visionaries—a proverbial team of environmental rock stars. Cast members include former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, scientist Stephen Hawking, and sustainable design authority William McDonough . . . to name a few. In total, the film features 50 independent voices, bringing expertise, experience, and emotion to the crisis at hand. Their words are informative, powerful, and inspiring—perhaps some of the great quotes of our time

Gristmill also has a review and an interview with DiCaprio and the producers of this film.

Leonardo DiCaprio premieres "The 11th Hour"

~BT

Daily Links 8/10/07

Here's what's going on around the net.

• Free Exchange on Campus rips apart this glossy poster that you can get free from Young America Foundation (h/t to Mike Connery)
  

• Rudy Giuliani's most recent delusions of grandeur. Including Rudy's Five Big Lies about 9/11.
  

• The September issue of The Atlantic has a take-down piece of Michael Gerson, who served as President George W. Bush's chief speechwriter from 2001-2006. Even some fellow conservatives are happy about it. (h/t to TPM)

• Matt Stoller has a great post about how the GOP in effect still controls Congress.
  

~BT

The latest GOP sex scandal gets worse

In addition to the Young Republican sex scandal, another GOP sex scandal has been brewing down in Florida.

Bob Allen, a state representative in Florida, was arrested last month in a public lavatory for allegedly offering an undercover policeman $20 if he would allow the politician to give him a blow job. That's right. He was apparently offering to pay the policeman to perform a service that men often pay to have performed on them. But that's almost the cleverest thing he seems to have done that afternoon.

Mr Allen is a married Republican with a child, who was considered by one gay group to be the most homophobic politician in the state, based on his voting record (he also had an approval rating of 92% from the Christian coalition, and he had sponsored a (failed) law called the "sexual predator elimination act").

Strangely enough, he has refused to resign either from his political post or from his job as co-chairman of Senator John McCain's presidential campaign in Florida.

If that isn't enough, you should hear the excuse he came up with.

Representative Bob Allen, blamed the weather and his fear of black men for offering $20 to perform oral sex on a man in a public park. The man turned out to be an undercover police officer, who promptly arrested Allen.

Otherwise known as, the "I'm not Gay, I'm a Racist" Defense.

According to a statement released by Allen, he was intimidated into offering the undercover officer $20 and oral sex. But why was he intimidated? According to Allen, because the guy was big and black.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Allen, who is white, offered a taped statement following his arrest in which he explained, “This was a pretty stocky black guy, and there was nothing but other black guys around in the park.” Allen then said he feared he “was about to be a statistic” and would have said anything just to get away – including, presumably, offering to give the “stocky, black guy” $20 dollars and oral sex.

The complete police report can be found here.

And Pam Spaulding, who blogs at AMERICAblog, has been covering this:

Allen, who also served as the McCain campaign's co-chairman in Florida, has decided that he would come out of this scandal looking better if he is perceived as a racist rather than a homo. Sweet!

More entertainment on Allen's record can be found at Joe.My.God, including the fact that he is the author of Florida House Bill #1475, the "Lewd Or Lascivious Exhibition Act."

Are you wondering how things could get any worse?

According to the Tallahassee Democrat, the Orlando-based Florida Civil Rights Association called for Bob Allen's resignation because he made "racially insensitive" comments.

"The comments by Representative Allen perpetuate the racial divide, and no one with this view should hold public office. If the situation was the same, but with white men in the park and a white police officer, would Representative Allen would have made the same statement?"

"Representative Allen alleged comments are sending a disturbing message to the black community. Now is the time for House Speaker Marco Rubio, Florida Black Lawmakers, other Civil Rights Groups and Community Leaders to call for Representative Allen to step down."

I'm not sure how Bob Allen can keep his seat after all this and what is McCain's reaction going to be? Just more bad news for McCain's campaign, who is now polling under Obama among registered Republicans.

Of course, this post wouldn't be complete without a clip from the Daily Show:



~BT

" Republican Youth Outreach"

I've been seeing plenty of blog posts about the most recent Republican sex scandal, this one involving the chair of the Young Republicans National Federation. I wasn't going to post anything but after seeing Mike Connery's post on "Republican youth outreach", I couldn't resist.

The Bilerico Project has the details.

When it rains, it pours.

~BT

Economic Armageddon?

The jury is still out but Jim Cramer, host of the always entertaining Mad Money on CNBC, thinks the fixed-income market is already in Armageddon. If you still haven't heard or seen Jim Cramer's freak-out on CNBC last friday, you should join the over 1 million people who already have.

For those living under a rock, the financial markets have been in turmoil in recent weeks over the crisis in sub-prime mortgages and fixed-income more generally. In July, Bear Sterns announced that two of the hedge funds were practically worthless.

The two funds had invested heavily in the sub-prime mortgage market, which imploded earlier this spring. The valuation puts a chill into the mortgage market, as other holders of mortgage-backed securities and derivatives may be forced to mark to market their securities with the same brush as Bear.

Earlier today, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds citing problems in the United States sub-prime mortgage market.

A recent spike in delinquencies among subprime borrowers — homeowners with weak credit histories — has led to broader turmoil in the credit markets. The pinch has hit private equity firms, which suddenly found themselves almost completely unable to sell debt to finance leveraged buyouts.

To provide some background, Joseph Stiglitz has a great article explaining how the how the housing bubble started:

American families were persuaded to take on more debt, refinancing their mortgages and spending some of the proceeds. And, as long as housing prices rose as a result of lower interest rates, Americans could ignore their growing indebtedness.

In fact, even this did not stimulate the economy enough. To get more people to borrow more money, credit standards were lowered, fueling growth in so-called subprime mortgages. Moreover, new products were invented, which lowered upfront payments, making it easier for individuals to take bigger mortgages.

Some mortgages even had negative amortization: Payments didn't cover the interest due, so every month the debt grew more. Fixed mortgages, with interest rates at 6 percent, were replaced with variable-rate mortgages, whose interest payments were tied to the lower short-term T-bill rates. What were called ''teaser rates'' allowed even lower payments for the first few years: They were teasers, because they played off the fact that many borrowers were not financially sophisticated and didn't understand what they were getting into.

So, what does this all mean? For starters, this looks like it might only be the tip of the iceberg. Besides the fact that some rich hedge fund investors will lose some money and that we will have some out-of-work bankers (oh, the travesty!), the real issue is the 7 million Americans who could lose their homes because they can no longer afford their mortgages.

But we shouldn't fear! Stephen Colbert has gotten in on the action and had Jim Cramer on his show last night. This is a great overview of the whole situation. Take a look,



~BT

What's Wrong with America?

A former employee of LTV steel asks a question about health care during yesterday's AFL-CIO presidential forum. (more) Definitely a 'Sicko' moment and maybe even a 'tipping point' according to Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann. Via Think Progress.



~BT

Democratic Congress Accomplishing Progressive Agenda!

It's not a media narrative that we hear often, if at all. But, it's true.

The Dems are racing through the "Six for '06" platform they ran on in the last election. Last week, President Bush helped them knock off one more agenda item by signing a law implementing many of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, a core Democratic election promise. And last Tuesday, the House fulfilled another Democratic pledge by overwhelmingly approving a tough new lobbying and campaign finance law that will limit lobbyist gifts and force "bundlers" -- individual fundraisers who compile large checks from friends and associates then slip them to campaigns to avoid individual spending limits -- to reveal their heretofore unknown identities.

With the lobbying reform passing with a veto-proof majority and the increase in the minimum wage already implemented, the Dems have accomplished over half of their platform in just 8 months. That's way more than the previous "Do-Nothing" republican Congress.

So why isn't anyone in the media focusing on this great news? Democrats need to get this positive message out to the public. Rather, the political storyline heading into Congress' August recess was how the Democrats caved to Bush on expanding his warrantless surveillance progress. There has been much discussion on this major strategic blunder by the democrats and we need to ensure that Dems do not make these types of mistakes in the future. Over on Openleft.com, David Sirota offers a great strategy for the Democrats should pursue to build a stronger left-right coalition against this ridiculous encroachment on American civil liberties. We also need to put pressure on the media to actually cover the achievements of the Democratic Congress.

These successful Democratic offensives are a big relief for progressives, who have spent most of the summer aiming their fire squarely at the Democratic leadership for surrendering to Bush and the Republicans on the Iraq war, trade deals, and other issues. With House Democrats now (mostly) fighting for progressive priorities rather than working with Bush and Republicans to undermine them, progressive activists could now resume their preferred anti-Republican posture instead of aiming their fire at their own.

word.

~BT

Back from summer hiatis

I've been keeping up with the blogosphere and there has been tons of activity since the YearlyKos convention this past weekend. Here are a few quick hits that you should check out.

• Ever wondered who some of Dailykos' front page posters are? Here is a great article on Georgia10, one of the most influential political bloggers on the net.

• Michigan's John Dingell, known as the "Dean of the Congress", is blocking environmental legislation in congressional fights over energy legislation. Hmmm, i wonder why? Could it have anything to do from the fact Dingell is in the pocket of the auto industry and their lobbyists.

• Colbert's take on the YearlyKos convention and Bill O'Reilly's attack on DailyKos and liberal bloggers. -
  

More to come as I get back in the habit of blogging regularly. Let me know what's on your mind in the comments.

~BT