Health reform political twist

World government crisis watch

Title link is to the latest developments about Honduras from Reuters. I had hopes for the Arias-led mediation; looks like it's getting pretty rocky.

From the Georgia Blogwire

The title link is a lovely post of anguish from Cup O' Joe on healthcare reform. He has motivated me to check out a couple of the details of the current bill(s) and think of what Senators I might call that it would make a difference.

From the LeftyBlogs feed: Wilkinson (pop. 10K) gets more transportation stimulus funding than Fulton

Talk about something crying out for follow-up, as in, what on earth is it being spent on.

EDIT: Mostly on a single highway bypass, it seems. For introductory background on recovery.org, see this interview. Not to be confused with recovery.gov.

Local news: Buckhead boil water advisory & Georgia fatcat Don Leeburn

It's always something with the water in Atlanta, isn't it.

Also, as ignorant as I am of Georgia politics, I just learned of this charming fellow via Lucid Idiocy.

NYT offers the Washington perspective on the possibility of a negotiated compromise in Honduras

The title link discusses the hopeful opening represented by Honduras' politicians accepting Costa Rican President Arias as a mediator.

It's a lively world these days, isn't it, what with Honduras, Iran and China's Xinjiang province. I bet there are other political hotspots out there I'm unaware of.

Following the Honduras story revived an ongoing problem I have: finding a decent web site that permalinks AP stories. I like following Salon's AP feed, but those links have a really short weblife; this one, for instance, is bound to disappear soon:

http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/2009/07/07/D999RVQG0_us_us_honduras/index.html
Honduras political rivals accept mediation
By MATTHEW LEE Associated Press Writer

If anyone knows an easily searchable site that preserves AP stories, please let me know.

EDIT: I forget whether Bloomberg stories disappear too. I think so.

Well, scandal or not, Andrea Mitchell's theory that Palin is "out of politics for good" seems dead wrong

Title link to an AP story found on the Drudge Report. Forceful pushback on scandal speculations. We'll see, won't we?

A classic illustration of how an intelligent man falls out of touch once he becomes President

The title link is a Washington Post story of a conference call Obama held with a couple of his administration officials and half a dozen Congressional leaders on healthcare. He's only been President for 5 months and two weeks, but here he is

1) using the stenographers at the Washington Post to communicate with liberal pressure groups like MoveOn and Democracy for America--not just to communicate with them, but to chastise and express displeasure with them. Your Excellency, if you want to communicate with a group, pick up the phone and call them, or invite them to a conference call. Don't use the corrupt inside-the-Beltway media to try to dictate to them at arm's length;

2) fully embracing the power and insiderhood he has won. Do you remember when you quoted Franklin Roosevelt, Mr. Obama? "I agree with you; now make me do it"? That's what pressure groups are for. That's what good, effective activism is. When our representatives don't represent us the way we want, we become their adversaries. We withhold our support. We go after them no matter what letter they have after their names.

Again, you are squandering one of America's best opportunities so far. You could be a transformational President. Part of that would include dismantling some of the power that your office has arrogated for itself ever since John Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts, through Thomas Jefferson making the Louisiana Purchase, to Abraham Lincoln preserving the Union rather than contain the supremacy of the federal government, to William McKinley conquering and creating the overseas Empire, to Franklin Roosevelt breaking the Supreme Court and the tradition of voluntarily giving up power, becoming President for life, to Richard Nixon asserting executive privilege, to Bill Clinton abandoning even the fig leaf of United Nations consensus to wage a war that Congress (again) never declared, to George Bush finally asserting that nothing, not even the Constitution, controls the power of the commander-in-chief.

Are you going to continue protecting the office you hold, and consequently all the criminals who used it before you, thus becoming criminal yourself? Or are you going to be the hope you appealed to?