Kokomo, Indiana: A Stimulus Success Story

Kokomo, IN was saved by the stimulus.  Home to four Chrysler plants and a Delphi facility, unemployment has gone from roughly 20% to 14%.

…in Kokomo, the Recovery Act and Obama’s auto bailout have jolted Kokomo back to life — keeping big industry from fleeing and attracting newcomers as well.

“We wouldn’t be standing here,” said Brian Harlow, a 32-year Chrysler veteran who grew up in Kokomo and now is based at the company’s headquarters outside Detroit. “It would have been a ghost town.”

Chrysler, which had idled 3,500 hourly workers in Kokomo a year and a half ago, …

Federal Appeals Court Says “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” To Remain In Effect For Now

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled that the Pentagon can temporarily reinstate the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy.

The government earlier Wednesday said it wanted the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco to take action the same day on a federal judge’s ruling that overturned the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays.

…

The Obama administration says it is in favor of repealing the law. However, the government says that letting the ruling of U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips go forward immediately would be a major problem for the military.…

The Constitution Of Christine O’Donnell

By Sally Kohn
Sally is Chief Education Officer of the Movement Vision Lab, a grassroots popular education organization.

Somehow, the absurd notion that our political leaders should not be exceptionally smart or learned but, in fact, regular people just like us, took a decidedly even more absurd turn the other day when Christine O’Donnell questioned whether the First Amendment of the United States Constitution does, in fact, include the separation of church and state.

Thus, I have decided to lower my standards. While I once hoped for political leaders who are both smarter and more knowledgeable than us ordinary Americans, …

On Wednesday’s Radio Show…

• What’s the real goal of a new ad telling Nevada Latinos, “Don’t vote”? Alan confronts the man behind it, conservative consultant Robert de Posada.

• A military officer who calls himself “JD Smith,” who co-founded the first-ever organization of actively serving gay troops, discusses the battle to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

• 13 Days Away: Alan examines the latest developments in the midterm election races.…

More On Republicans’ Limited Understanding Of History

by Stuart Shapiro

Earlier today I blogged about Rep. Louie Gohmert’s bizarre history lesson regarding the 17th Amendment.  Yesterday Alan highlighted Christine O’Donnell’s confusion about the Constitution.  Now we have Ann Marie Buerkle, a Republican candidate (admittedly far behind in the polls, but a Palin favorite) expounding on presidential history.

Asked by Bill Carey, of YNN Syracuse, to name the country’s worst president, Buerkle replied: “With all due respect I would say the one who’s doing the most harm to our country is our current president. (Carey: Barack Obama?). Barack Obama.

Now, maybe you disagree with some of President Obama’s …

Obama To Avoid Golden Temple In India Because Photo Op Will Feed View That He’s Muslim

Jake Tapper and Russell Goldman report that President Obama will avoid a visit to the Golden Temple in India on an upcoming trip because the headgear he would need to wear could make him appear Muslim.

The New York Times, citing an unnamed American official involved in the trip’s planning, reports that the president will not stop at the Golden Temple, a Sikh holy site and one of the country’s most popular tourist attractions, because visitors typically wear headscarves, turbans or Muslim caps.

Obama was to visit the sprawling golden complex in Amritsar, “but the plan appears to have foundered …

George W. Bush: I Used “Your Money To Prevent The Collapse”

Former President George W. Bush told a crowd in Tyler, TX that spending money to save banks “wasn’t that hard” and that using “your money” stopped an economic collapse. Bush told them:  “I made the decision to use your money to prevent the collapse from happening.”

Bush said that when the markets crashed in the fall of 2008, he recognized that if his administration didn’t do “something significant,” a “depression greater than the Great Depression” could occur.

The former president said the choice to backstop many of the country’s leading financial institutions “wasn’t that hard for me.”

Now, how crazy …

Clarence Thomas’s Wife Ginny Asks Anita Hill To Apologize

Virginia Thomas would like Anita Hill to apologize for accusing her husband, Clarence, of harassment during the time Thomas was sent up to the Supreme Court. Thomas made the request in a voicemail to Hill.

“Good morning, Anita Hill, it’s Ginny Thomas,” said the voice. “I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you …

Tea Party Express’s Expensive Luxury Cruises

Wait a sec! Isn’t the tea party for fiscal restraint? Then how can they explain $103,000 spent for 7 staff members to cruise around on the M.S. Amsterdam to help Alaska’s Joe Miller Senate campaign?

For seven weeks this summer, staff members of the political action committee coordinated their efforts on behalf of Miller from staterooms aboard Holland America’s M.S. Amsterdam, a cruise ship that plied the waters from Seattle to various ports of call from Canada to Alaska. There, while other passengers were shopping or photographing glaciers, Tea Party Expressers held press conferences, rallies and meetings with Miller supporters.…

Your Potential Republican Majority

by Stuart Shapiro

I’m not giving up hope on the House yet, but just in case the GOP takes over in November, it might help us all to get a look at some of their members.  Here is Louie Gohmert (R-Tex), first elected in 2005, blogging yesterday (h/t Right Wing Watch).

That’s right. YOU are the government! You are God’s minister to punish evil and reward good conduct. But, too many Christians have refused the figurative “sword” or the power that in this great country, this little experiment in democracy as a republic, is supposed to be held by …

Houston Tea Party Group Accused Of Voter Intimidation

A Houston tea party group called the King Street Patriots is being sued by Democratic groups because of its behavior during early voting.

…witnesses in minority precincts had reported representatives from the group “shouting misinformation” and “following voters and standing behind them” as they tried to vote.

There have been 14 complaints in 11 locations on the first day of voting Monday.

The complaints included poll watchers “hovering over” voters, “getting into election workers’ faces” and blocking or disrupting lines of voters waiting to cast their ballots.

As Tommy Christopher at Mediaite notes, don’t expect this to get the …