"Free bananas!"

While we were all paying attention to Tucson last week, I missed some terrific articles. I'm betting some of you did too, so here's my top list of "you must read these" articles. Take a few minutes and enjoy.

Here we go...

Howie Klein, on lessons Obama should learn from last week's stunning defeat of England's Conservative/LibDem coalition. And via Howie, everything you didn't know about Reince Priebus that you really must know.

AlterNet has a great article on unemployment and Martin Luther King's legacy. The Atlantic's in-depth look at the new global elite is a must-read, if you read nothing else. Over on The Nation, you can meet the New Mad Tea Party. Also on The Nation, an article about kabuki democracy and why we need to fix it.

Max Blumenthal says Arizona is drowning in a sea of extremism (ya think?).

If you're in the mood for a really long read, the full National Commission report on the Deepwater Horizon is out -- all 398 pages of it. I'm on about page 120. They did a great job documenting the timeline and causes. Bottom line: BP, Transocean and Halliburton have some 'splainin' to do.

On the book list, I have Matt Taibbi's latest, Griftopia, on audio. His characteristic snark plays well as an audiobook. Highly recommended. I'm also reading Greg Mitchell's Campaign of the Century, taking us back to the 30's and Upton Sinclair's famous campaign. When I feel like debunking a few tea party myths, I head for some oldies, like Gore Vidal's Inventing a Nation, which reminds that today's tea party is comprised of yesterday's illegal aliens. All of this goes nicely with a C Street chaser, courtesy of Jeff Sharlett. Great books, all.

What's on your Kindle/Nook/iPad today?

Big Think: Essential Holiday Reading on National Security

Democratic Strategist: The Future is Blue, Part ll

Its my Right to be Left of the Center: Time to start rolling out some year-end retrospectives

Jesus' General: Department of Book Reports: A Christmas Carol

The Mahablog: The GOP: Keeping workers in their place

Politics in the Zeros: Drop that Starbucks cup and reach for the sky

It's Sunday. Sick of talking heads? Waiting for football games to start? Here's some reading to pass the time.

One of the best letters to the editor ever. Obviously the writer has a clue. Meanwhile, a , who worries that the Park 51 project sends the message that "we're going to increase religious tolerance and understanding whether you like it or not." Because tolerance and understanding are such bad things, aren't they?

Over in Washington, Ralph Reed is back, and Columbia Journalism Review sees Alan Simpson heading down a collision course with the AARP, an organization he would love to destroy. Not to be left out of the stampede, Newt Gingrich has a revelation about Barack Obama, while mainstream media completely ignores the real terrorists.

Meanwhile, Fox News' Neil Cavuto succumbed to his mean gene in the middle of Michele Obama's speech yesterday, when he interrupted it to remind the audience that President Obama was once a nobody, and Pam Geller tells her adoring Islamophobe fans to "listen to Mommy".

Howie Klein's post on how Alan Greenspan destroyed the US economy has some warnings about what Speaker Boehner will have in story for us too. (Plus, the picture is not to be missed). HP is holding the Navy hostage due to some outdated EDS contracts acquired during the Bush administration.

In the compassion and understanding department (for real, this time), Chris Hayes' essay written shortly after 9-11 but not published until now is a must-read. Also this Kristof column. Digby reminds of what we've really lost. Finally, another reminder that it's just us, not us and them.

Mad Men fans (of which I am definitely one), this Miss Blankenship backgrounder is a fun read. My newest passion is mountain biking (when I'm not reading, twittering, or serving The Pug). I'm lucky enough to live near enough to Pacific Coast Highway and ride trails like this. What are you doing today?

Happy trails, reading, football, Sunday...whatever it is for you today.

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Credit: karoli

Mr. Potty Mouth thinks that we DFHs can't grasp the issues of Social Security, but it looks like he's the one needing an education...in losing the misogyny and patronizing attitude:

Alan Simpson believes that Social Security is "like a milk cow with 310 million tits," according to an email he sent to the executive director of National Older Women's League Tuesday morning. Simpson co-chairs the deficit commission, which is considering various proposals to cut Social Security benefits.

Simpson's email, which OWL chief Ashley Carson released publicly, (PDF) was sent in response to an April blog post Carson wrote for the Huffington Post. Carson criticized Simpson for repeatedly describing his Social Security opponents as "Pink Panthers," arguing that the description had sexist connotations.

His email is peppered with exclamation points and condescension. At one point he urged Carson to read a certain graph, "which I hope you are able to discern if you are any good at reading graphs."

Simpson concludes by implying that leading a major organization dedicated to the interests of middle-aged and elderly women is not "honest work."

"If you have some better suggestions about how to stabilize Social Security instead of just babbling into the vapors, let me know," he writes. "And yes, I've made some plenty smart cracks about people on Social Security who milk it to the last degree. You know 'em too. It's the same with any system in America. We've reached a point now where it's like a milk cow with 310 million tits! Call when you get honest work!"

What a charming man. Unsurprisingly, Ashley Carson, to whom Simpson directed this offensive rant, is demanding Simpson's removal from the commission:

I'm sure you are as outraged as I am. Among other things, he said, "We've reached a point now where it's like a milk cow with 310 million tits! Call me when you get honest work." Apparently Mr. Simpson thinks that defending the rights of women is not honest work.

We have set up a petition online calling for his resignation. The National Council of Women's Organizations is behind us and women's leaders are lining up in support.

Please click here to sign the petition:
Remove Alan Simpson

Call the White House and let them know we want Alan Simpson's resignation:
202-456-1111 or
E-mail them

Take a moment to sign the petition and/or contact the White House, will you? It's bad enough that Obama staffed the commission with so many Republicans, Alan Simpson has shown that he doesn't have the temperament, the aptitude or the class to be so influential in the lives of seniors for decades to come.

BLACK-BROWN TENSIONS IN LA

DAVEY D, FNV NEWSLETTER - For those of you reading this who live outside of Los Angeles you should note the that folks are on edge cause of increasing racial tension between blacks and Mexicans. Over the past month there have been a few brawls at local high schools which were widely reported on the news down here.

Now the tensions have been inflamed by a letter that has been circulating around the city claiming that in retaliation for some beef between black and latino gangs, 500 black kids wearing white t-shirts would be targeted and killed by Mexican gangs on Cinco de Mayo which is today. For the most part, the letter appears to be a hoax. Folks who work closely with the gangs down here have not heard of any craziness jumping off, but because the letter has been so widely circulated, it has led to some town hall meetings and increased police presence on all the high school campuses down here. A lot of parents are refusing to let their kids come to school...read on

WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE? from the Prospect

Frank Rich has a very shrill column touching on Armstrong Williams, the White House’s propaganda operations, and the reprehensible, coddled insularity of the punditry club that’s really worth reading. Boy, is it shrill. read on

Rich pillories the “hard-hitting” co-hosts of Crossfire for lobbing marshmallows at Williams during his January 7 appearance, caressing him with chummy bromides and puffery. Indeed, I’d say that the most serious issues that the Williams story raises have little to do with the bottomless hackery of a single lame VRWC peon. The two real stories here are this White House’s regular use of taxpayer money for openly partisan propaganda campaigns, and the grotesque clubbiness and complacency of a punditry class (particularly its cable news component) that no longer has the ability to recognize the problem to which it is so central. The latter problem abets the former -- it has for the last four years.

From Josh

Okay, let's try this one more time.

From the Associated Press on Rep. Istook's statement ...

Istook, chairman of the House Appropriations transportation subcommittee, said in a statement Sunday that the Internal Revenue Service drafted the language, which would not have allowed any inspections of tax returns. "Nobody's privacy was ever jeopardized," the statement said.

The actual text Rep. Istook inserted into the bill ...

Hereinafter, notwithstanding any other provision of law governing the disclosure of income tax returns or return information, upon written request of the Chairman of the House or Senate Committee on Appropriations, the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service shall allow agents designated by such Chairman access to Internal Revenue Service facilities and any tax returns or return information contained therein.

Abuse of power or poor reading comprehension? We report; you decide.

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Barack Obama opens up to CBS's Harry Smith about why he's suspending his campaign at the most crucial time in order to go see his sick grandmother. This is some pretty powerful stuff.

Harry Smith: You've said in the past that you regretted - your own mother's illness - and her death came so quickly. You didn't have time to get back to see her.

Barack Obama: Yeah, got there too late. ... We knew - she wasn't doing well. But you know, the diagnosis was such that we thought we had a little more time, and we didn't. And so I want to make sure that I don't - I don't make - the same mistake twice.

Andrew Sullivan puts it perfectly:

If you have read Obama's memoir, you will immediately understand why he would suspend a national campaign for the most powerful job on earth to be with his grandmother right now. One gets the impression from Robert Gibbs and from this decision that this might indeed be one of the last chances he gets. "Toot" was a formative figure - she brought him up with her husband during some critical years. Her death would be the death of his last parent. Reading about her again tonight, you can see where Obama's personal social conservatism comes from. There's a lot more Kansas in Obama than most people on the right seem to think.