All Salon

The White House after Rahm?

Joan Walsh — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:09:00 PDT

I don't think the Obama presidency hinges on whether chief of staff Rahm Emanuel stays or goes. I'm much more interested in the calculation behind the president's recent decision to get tough on Republicans. I loved his Labor Day speech, I was thrilled he committed yesterday to letting the Bush tax cuts expire for the richest 2 percent of Americans, and I'm surprised but pleased he's taking on not only the GOP, but wannabe GOP House Speaker John Boehner in his speech today.

The explosive power of the tiki punch

Matthew Rowley — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:01:00 PDT

Whatever you do, do it with all your might. ~ PT Barnum (1880), The Art of Money Getting

It's good to have this Obama on the campaign trail

Gene Lyons — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:01:00 PDT

Among the enlightened, dialing the psychic hotline is considered superstitious, although watching TV pundits call elections two months before the vote is taken seriously. True, political forecasters have opinion polls to guide them, but then it's also a safe bet that anybody phoning a psychic has a troubled love life.

On the wrong side of a Craigslist ad

Phoebe Kay — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:01:00 PDT

I sipped vodka and orange juice for courage as I drove along the 405 freeway toward a beach city near Los Angeles. I felt like vomiting. I felt like turning around and going home. Drinking and driving is something I would normally never, ever do, especially early on a Saturday morning. But none of this was anything I would normally do.

Tiki Oasis punch recipe

Matthew Rowley — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:01:00 PDT

Makes one serving

Fear. Debt. Money: I'm 45 and scared

Cary Tennis — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:20:00 PDT

Hi, Cary,

Wednesday link dump: Drone doom

Alex Pareene — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:01:00 PDT

Our secret drone war with Pakistan continues apace! There were three separate drone attacks today. Somewhere around two-dozen people who may or may not have been "militants" may or may not have been killed.
Maybe the Ticketmaster fees on that Glenn Beck/Sarah Palin 9/11 death-porn festival wouldn't be so steep if Obama's Justice Department bothered to pursue antitrust cases.
Dianne Feinstein may be chairing the No on 19 campaign, but her colleague Barbara Boxer apparently has aides just bring her herb to the office. (J/k, Boxer fired this poor schmuck who tried to bring marijuana to the Capitol.)
The ICE is cracking down on undocumented restaurant workers, which means, uh, I guess that's it for restaurants.
Don't you dare accuse Mike Castle of not signing on to whatever idiot teabagger nonsense the rubes are riled up about!

Spend $200 to meet Sarah Palin on 9/11

Alex Pareene — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:30:00 PDT

How much money are you making this 9/11? Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are probably earning a lot more. Tickets for their special show in Alaska (which I am guessing are still available, because most of the 300 people in Alaska are surely sick of Sarah Palin, right?) are on sale for between $73 and $225.

L.A. police move to quell more shooting protests

THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:19:00 PDT

Police mobilized Wednesday to avoid more mayhem on the streets after being taken by surprise at consecutive nights of violent protests sparked by the fatal shooting of a knife-wielding man.

Obama wins the right to invoke "State Secrets" to protect Bush crimes

Glenn Greenwald — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:09:00 PDT

(updated below - Update II)

Life after cancer

Mary Elizabeth Williams — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:01:00 PDT

It's a rough moment when you add Sloan-Kettering's number to your contact list. It's pretty hardcore when you show a man the fragile, pink tonsure where your red hair used to be, and he takes a deep breath and understatedly tells you, "That's intense." And it's an inauspicious start to the day when your child casually asks across the breakfast table, "So are you going to get better, or are you going to die?" I am so, so lucky.

The tortoise economy

Robert Reich — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:57:00 PDT

This originally appeared on Robert Reich's blog

G.M. testing voice command to update Facebook status

Associated Press — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:40:00 PDT

General Motors Co. is testing software that would let drivers talk to their cars to update status messages on the Facebook social media website, as well as listen to Facebook messages, the company said Wednesday.

Sharron Angle denies saying things she said

Alex Pareene — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:30:00 PDT

Sharron Angle just says words, ok? It's not her job to make sure that the words are true, or make sense! So it's not fair -- it's never fair -- to ask her to explain what she meant, by these words. That's GOTCHA JOURNALISM. And that is why Sharron Angle is totally justified in denying that she ever said things that she was recorded saying.

Ronald Reagan biopic planned for late 2011

Christopher Hickey — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:25:00 PDT

Good news, Reaganites: The Great Communicator is finally getting a Hollywood movie based on his life. And it's not being directed by Oliver Stone ... yet. Happy?

Job discrimination claims by Muslims on the rise

Mark Benjamin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:23:00 PDT

Allegations of employment discrimination by Muslim-Americans are on the rise, with the number of annual complaints more than doubling since 2004, according to data compiled by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Franzen's "Freedom" and the importance of fun

axelrod — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:01:00 PDT

Reading along through this brilliant champagne tumbler of a book, I began to sense a mental dissonance in the way people are talking about it. The situation is a mirror image of my MFA workshops. As we discussed people's work we could mention the "show versus tell" conundrum, notice instances of "image patterning," praise a nice description or a sense of place. If we didn't like a piece, we could talk about anything but the one thing that mattered, the awful, dreaded taboo word: boring. One professor -- he was a newbie -- said something unguarded once about how he couldn't imagine why anyone would actually want to read the story we were discussing. "It's dull!" he exclaimed, as if everyone would understand.

Hermine remnants cause massive flooding in Texas

JAY ROOT and JEFF CARLTON, Associated Press — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:47:00 PDT

The remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine caused massive flooding in northern Texas on Wednesday, killing at least one person and much of the city of Arlington under water.

Obama: I mean it -- tax the rich

Andrew Leonard — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:27:00 PDT

President Obama has laid his marker down. It is time to tax the rich. If there is going to be a single political battle that will define the two months between his speech Wednesday in Cleveland and Election Day in November, it will be between those who wish to end tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and those who want to make them permanent. The president has a slick way with words, but he'll have a hard time wiggling out of these.

Pastor Terry Jones: P.R. visionary

Justin Elliott — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:52:00 PDT

Pastor Terry Jones just held a press conference outside his Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville to announce that he plans to go forward with the Koran burning on Sept. 11.