Politicususa: 40 reiigious leaders denounce Sarah Palin, and Fox's hate speech - challenge Gingrich

David Rosen: Know Nothings of 2010

The Hill's Congress Blog: GOP vilifies workers who serve the public

Rumproast: Douchehat doubles down: Straight marriage is 'thick,' Gay marriage is 'thin'

The Atlantic: The Great Lie

The Root: S.C. mystery Dem, Alvin Greene, indicted

Paramore - Looking Up

Love me, love my pie-eyed optimism. The interim anchorage of Jake Tapper on ABC's This Week, has left me surprisingly encouraged. First, they have taken Jay Rosen's suggestion of how to fix the Sunday shows by working with Politifact to fact check claims made by guests. Then Jake himself has been soliciting feedback on his Twitter/Facebook streams, which I think has shaped some of his questions (and he responds to individuals, unlike many journalists on Twitter). And now, This Week is taking the initiative to move past the tired (and false) dichotomy of every issue falling into Dem vs. Rep binary scale. From ABC email promo:

On “This Week,” White House Economic Adviser Austan Goolsbee, and two key Senators EXCLUSIVELY join interim anchor Jake Tapper to debate next week’s critical Senate vote on whether financial reform will move forward. Goolsbee defends the President’s plan, while Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) argues that the bill does not go far enough to keep banks from getting too big. Republican Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) lays out what needs to be changed in order for the White House to gain Republican support.

Did you catch that? In addition to representing the White House plan for economic reform, they've asked on a fairly progressive Senator who argues that it's not progressive enough. Okay, it's not earth-shattering, but I do find it a step in the right direction and after four years of monitoring Sunday shows, this is the first time I remember them looking at an issue and considering a progressive point of view as a reasonable alternative. Contrast that with Meet the Press's David Gregory and his glib dismissal of any responsibility as the host to keep his guests honest in any way. Yup, I'm going to see This Week's actions as a positive change.

ABC's "This Week" - Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Chief White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Katty Kay, Andrew Sullivan, David Ignatius, Kelly O'Donnell. Topics: Does Obama Want A Fight On Wall Street Reform Or To Move On To Immigration? Is the Extreme Anti-Washington Rhetoric Seditious? Meter Questions: Should Republicans Issue A New Contract With America? YES: 11 NO: 1; Will President Obama Win Comprehensive Middle East Peace? YES: 3 No: 9.

CNN's "State of the Union" - Sens. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Robert Menendez, D-N.J.; Gov. Jennifer Granholm, D-Mich.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - We discuss everything from Goldman Sachs to economic and political brawls in the US and abroad. First, Fareed has a candid conversation with Timothy Geithner, US Secretary of the Treasury. Then, we have a great panel featuring: Eliot Spitzer, Slate columnist and former NY governor and attorney general; Andrew Ross Sorkin, the chief mergers and acquisitions reporter for the New York Times and author of Too Big to Fail; Martin Wolf, Financial Times' chief economics commentator; and Amity Shlaes, Bloomberg columnist and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"Fox News Sunday" - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co-chairmen of a bipartisan commission on debt.

TalkLeft: Rosen recants on Sotomayor, Turley takes up his standard, but who will represent white males on the court?

The Pump Handle: The Climate Bill is less than ideal, but the best we're gonna get right now

The Big Picture: The back story to "Bailout Nation" (h/t swimgirl)

TPMMuckraker: A sketchy DOD report does not attempt to establish the original status of the detainees it claims "reengaged" in terrorism, and does not consider the possibility that some of the 540 men released from Gitmo just might have been radicalized during their imprisonment.

American Street: Death rattle of the cult of Intelligence?

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Scoop44, Alien Truth, Politics In Color, Michigan Liberal

The Carpetbagger Report: The disgrace that is Bush's Housing Department

The Agonist: Liberty and personal responsibility

Ali Eteraz: McCain's spiritual advisor

A Tiny Revolution: Nir Rosen debates Fredrick Kagan on the "surge."

MotherJones Blog: A million man march against STDs?

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: The Cognoscenti, barefoot and progressive, Don't Tase Me, Bro!, Beppe Grillo's Blog

The Courage Campaign has been trying to raise awareness in California over the latest electoral power grab on the part of Republicans that I blogged about here. You can sign the petition protesting the "Dirty Tricks" initiative here. However, when confronted with whether or not he supported the initiative, Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger dodged by saying he hadn't read the initiative.

Well, that just doesn't fly here in the Golden State. So Calitics' Julia Rosen asked the blogosphere to supply Arnie with a copy of the initiative and 2,148 Courage Campaign members came through:

On August 23, Gov. Schwarzenegger said:

"I haven't looked at the language and I'm not saying I'm against it or I'm for it or anything."

Well, now he has 2,148 opportunities to read the thing and say whether he is for it or against the dirty trick initiative. Thanks to you.

We asked the blogosphere and thousands of Courage Campaign members to send him a copy and boy did you deliver. I had to get my weightlifter friend to help me cary them in to the Governor's office. Mind you it is about 100 degrees in Sacramento today. [..]

Like Rick Jacobs, the Chair of Courage Campaign says:

Thousands of Californians have made one simple request of the governor: please spend five minutes and read the initiative closely. The next time the Governor is asked publicly about this initiative, he will no longer have an excuse to play dumb about this partisan dirty trick.

The Republicans are pushing this dirty trick in an attempt to steal the election and our "post-partisan" governor is claiming ignorance. Has he failed to grasp the lessons of the 2005 election? In California, partisan power grabs are unacceptable and divisive. It is time for him to do the right thing.

Thank you to all who took action. If you have not done so already, please join the Courage Campaign and pledge to defeat this initiative. No matter where you live, you can help us beat back this dirty trick.

(Guest Blogged by Julia Rosen)

Our infrastructure is aging across the country, case in point the explosion in New York the other week. In Los Angeles, the workers at the Department and Water and Power have been warning for years that the DWP is just not prepared to respond to a heat wave, let alone a major disaster like a heat wave. They have no idea where the weak points in the system are, and equipment is decades past life expectancy. The DWP is vastly undermanned and it is putting the power supply and safe drinking water for millions at risk.

The workers have produced a video to draw public attention to the issue before it is too late. As one worker so bluntly puts it: "The infrastructure is on it's last legs. It is ready to take a dump."

The time to fix it is now, before the next disaster strikes. Watch the video and pass it along.

Go here for more information.

(h/t Scarce)

Download | play Download | play

Tell me what's wrong with this Obit by James Rosen on Kurt's life from our pals at FOX....

Tony Snow's first Day

Jay Rosen discusses it.

The New Bob Woodward

Jay Rosen says that Murray Waas is the new Bob Woodward. I've been posting Murray's articles for a long time and he's uncovered facts about this administration that so many have missed. He's been Mr. Indispensable. Joe Gandleman shares the same view.

Jane Hamsher just finished the on-line panel from the Washington Post. Check it out and if you can-go over to her blog and give her some props.

(Update): Jane challenges Brady to a one-on-on.

"...But the fact remains that the real debate is between me and Brady; Rosen and Jarvis were filler and Reynolds was just there as a junkyard dog. And because of all the filler, Brady was able to avoid getting pressed on a story that he has had a great deal of success fobbing off to the media which has innumerable holes if anybody with any technical sophistication were to really press him.-- Since I've shown my willingness to play by Brady's rules, I challenge him to engage in a dialogue in a neutral playing field. One-on-one, back and forth, no "background noise," no place to hide...read on"