Whilst walking the dog this rainy evening, I happened upon an illuminated, inflatable lawn ornament of the Halloween variety.
These decorations are an easy, relatively inexpensive way to acknowledge the holiday. They require little or no thought beyond which one to buy and where to buy it. The set-up is easy, so is the [...]

After the release of a study that showed somebody is 23 times more likely to get into an accident, Dems in Congress are working on legislation that would make it illegal across the country.
From the AP:
WASHINGTON — States would be required to ban driving while texting or face the loss of highway funds under legislation [...]

I’ve already seen many scoff at Obama’s pledge to go line by line through the budget, but aren’t those the same people who are calling for less government spending?
It would be heartening to see the following moves applauded instead of ridiculed, especially since all we hear from the right wing these days is how [...]

Republican Dick Lugar proposed normalizing relations a few days ago, and now we’re seeing some movement. And even though Obama has said that he’s opposed to normalization, I can’t help but think this is a first step towards that.
Let’s hope.
From Wash Post:
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to lift longstanding U.S. restrictions on Cuba, a [...]

Just found a comment left by the Transportation Security Administration in the post I wrote yesterday about that situation in St. Louis where a Ron Paul supporter was held and questioned because he had $4,700 in cash on him (which is roughly represented in the picture above).
From Evolution of Security:
At approximately 6:50 p.m. on March [...]

If nothing else it’s a welcome example of personal wealth responsibility and not wasting tax payer’s money on seemingly frivolous things.
From NY Mag:
New presidents are allotted $100,000 to overhaul the White House residence and the Oval Office, and the Obamas hired Hollywood decorator Michael S. Smith (known, per his site, for mixing “Old World classicism [...]

Here’s some change we can believe in:
President Barack Obama plans to change how government contracts are awarded and who can earn them, a move his aides say would save taxpayers about $40 billion a year by making the process more competitive.
Obama is to sign a presidential memo Wednesday that changes government contracting procedures, an administration [...]

I like the idea in theory, but I always thought that Governors replaced Senators because it’s too costly to have special elections and somebody needs to serve in the interim.
Still, this seems like the type of amendment that could easily garner bi-partisan support.
From Political Wire:
The controversies surrounding some of the recent gubernatorial appointments to vacant [...]

By now you’ve probably heard about the dinner Obama attended that featured the stalwarts of the right-wing media glitterati, but you hadn’t heard about what actually went down.
Kudlow doesn’t really spill the beans on the content, but perhaps what’s more revealing is the mood…which could bode well for Obama’s ability to reach across the aisle.
Retyped [...]

The announcement will come tomorrow, and the job description is all about reform:

Go through the federal budget line by line and cut the fat.
Hold agencies accountable.
Restore fiscal discipline.

In case you don’t remember, Obama outlined this as part of his reform agenda during the campaign…
Barack Obama and Joe Biden will create a focused team within the [...]

No pardon.

Here’s some background on the initial pardon…

Toussie pleaded guilty to charges in two separate cases. In one, he admitted in 2001 that he had made false statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, pleading guilty to a count of falsifying loan documents that illegally qualified about 100 home buyers for the [...]

On its face, the Warren pick seems like a slap in the face to the progressive gay movement, and I can understand why this group would be incensed. Here you have the first African-American President inviting one of the most high profile supporters of Prop 8 to speak at the inauguration.
And it’s not like [...]

They said they would, and so here are the Qs and the As.
From Change.gov:
Q: “Will you lift the ban on Stem Cell research in your first 100 days in office?” James_M, Nashville, TN
A: President-elect Obama is a strong supporter of Federal funding for responsible stem cell research and he has pledged to reverse President Bush’s [...]

Japan Airline’s President and CEO Haruka Nishimatsu is the model by which all other CEOs should be measured.
Take a look…

Juxtapose these actions with the nonsense we heard about yesterday from Merrill Lynch’s completely out-of-touch CEO who wanted a $10M bonus for selling the company to Bank Of America before it failed.
Here’s more background on Nishimatsu…
JAL [...]

It wasn’t just talk.
He promised and he’s delivering…
Transition chairman John Podesta wrote a memo to the transition staff outlining the initiative, dubbed the “Seat at the Table” policy.
Any documents produced from meetings between the transition team and outside organizations will be posted on www.change.gov. The idea is for Americans to offer comments and suggestions. [...]

When I hear stories like this, I wonder why it doesn’t happen more often. And furthermore, why do companies look at employees like they’re commodities instead of human beings who deserve to share the wealth for their hard work?
Regardless, this is a great story and one we can all be thankful for.
From MSNBC:
CHICAGO – [...]

10:40 a.m. ET to be exact.
We all know the names by now.
Gen. Jim Jones for National Security Adviser. Robert Gates for Defense Secretary. And Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State.
CNN has the other names…
Also, two sources close to the transition said Obama will nominate Susan Rice as United Nations ambassador, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as [...]

I wonder what Joe The Plumber would have to say about this kind of wealth redistribution…
According to a new survey by Prince & Assoc., more than 80% of multimillionaires who had extra-marital lovers planned to cut back on their gifts and allowances. Still, only 12% of the multimillionaire cheaters said they plan to give up [...]

The ailing Citigroup is being fairly targeted for their spendthrift ways.
From NY Times:
In 2006, Citigroup signed a 20-year, $400 million contract to name the Mets’ new stadium in Queens Citi Field. As recently as last week, the troubled financial-services conglomerate said it had no intention of backing out of the deal for the new stadium [...]

Earlier today, Doug highlighted an article from the NY Times about Obama stocking his cabinet with non-partisan picks, and Kevin Bliss of What Should Be did the same.
Here’s what Doug had to say about it…
For all the rhetoric from John McCain, Sarah Palin, and the right-wing scream machine that Barack Obama was a socialist who [...]