Poll Dancing

New Live Poll Allows Pundits To Pander To Viewers In Real Time

A Quinnipiac University poll released on Tuesday has some declaring Obama's reelection prospects in 2012 dead in the water. Daily Rasmussen Reports polls show Obama's numbers slipping, all to the immense pleasure of people like Matt Drudge. So, do recent polls have any footing? Nate Silver doesn't seem so convinced. There are few pollsters really crunching these numbers as data showing true vulnerabilities for Obama. So why do Fox, CNN, and MSNBC commentators feel that not only is the honeymoon over for Obama, but he's going to return from the G8 to a nation of burning torches and pitchforks?

All of this has to do with the economy, but like the President stated when first taking office, the job numbers are the last to recover from our Great Recession. This will take time. If conservatives such as Joe Scarborough think these numbers, as well as backdoor health care bill debating shows Obama potentially facing a Republican blowout 2010, I ask: what about 2009 is like 1993 besides nothing? The debate in the MSM is built solidly along The Next Election and nothing more.

"Self-Hating Jews"

Though the claim that Bibi Netanyahu referred to Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod as "self-hating Jews" remains unconfirmed, aside from the very reliable Haaretz article, it points to a greater issue that American Jews face. It's expected, in Israel and in conservative Jewish circles, that American Jews must support Israel as it is, at all times, unconditionally. Since the Obama administration has demanded that Israel halt settlements on the West Bank, it's a dirty little secret that conservative Jews blame Obama's race for this tectonic shift in policy. However, looking at the cabinet that Obama has assembled, there are many notable Jewish members such as Emanuel, Axelrod, Larry Summers and Peter Orszag. How to explain the audacity of these Jews to challenge Israel? This is where Bibi's comment is key: you must hate yourself and heritage if you defy the ruling class conservatives in Israel.

Protestors Return to the Streetes of Iran

Live Blogging from Nico Pitney, Andrew Sullivan and The Lede.

Deportee (Plane Crash at Los Gatos)

Bob Dylan and Joan Baez sing a song by Woody Guthrie.

Uighurs Rise Up Using Internet To Organize

Hundreds of Uighurs in Urumqi, China have taken to the streets in what began as non-violent protests that turned bloody after a brutal police crackdown and over a thousand arrests.

Uighurs are a muslim people that make up an ethnic minority in China, but the ethnic majority in East Turkestan--the western, desert area of the vast country. The government has long been encouraging Han Chinese, who make up the ethnic majority in China, to relocate to East Turkestan. Han Chinese now make up the majority in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang province, which is somewhat synonymous with East Turkestan. The New York Times reports, "Uighurs say that the Han tend to get the better jobs in Urumqi." And the government has long imposed oppressive restrictions on Uighurs practicing their religion.



As in Iran but a few weeks ago--in defiance of an oppressive regime and in spite of a state-run media and a communications blackout--the Uighurs have successfully used new media to organize their protests.

The New York Times reports:

Internet social platforms and chat programs appeared to have unified Uighur anger over the way Chinese officials handled [a] brawl in June, thousands of miles away in Shaoguan, Guangdong Province. There, Han workers rampaged through a Uighur dormitory, killing at least two Uighurs and injuring many others, according to the state news agency, Xinhua.

...

A call for protests spread on Web sites and QQ, the most popular instant-messaging program in China, despite government efforts to block online discussion.

The clashes, however, are not limited to Uighurs and the police; Han Chinese mobs have assaulted Uighur neighborhoods and Uighurs have responded with violence in turn. Police and paramilitary forces have fired tear-gas on both sides, reports the New York Times.

Rebiya Kadeer, head of the human-right advocacy group World Uighur Congress (and the person that the Chinese authorities blame for Sunday's protest), has written an opinion for the Wall Street Journal.

Wang Lequan, the Party Secretary of the "Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region" has blamed me for the unrest; however, years of Chinese repression of Uighurs topped by a confirmation that Chinese officials have no interest in observing the rule of law when Uighurs are concerned is the cause of the current Uighur discontent.

An excellent video summarizing the events of the past few days is available here.

Evidence of Torture Slated to Be Destroyed

The Guardian reports that a photo--one that could potentially verify claims of abuse made by Binyam Mohamed, a British resident detained at Guantanamo--remains classified and is slated to be destroyed.

The image, now held by the Pentagon, had been put on his cell door... because he had been beaten so badly that it was difficult for the guards to identify him.

...

Mohamed said: "The authorities have consistently denied that I have been abused, and this is physical evidence that I am telling the truth, and they are not."

Independence

Christmas In July

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin resigns. But why? One would think that if 2012 were on Palin's agenda, keeping her current position would be key to a political future, proving experience and enhancing optics. Strange, per usual. Sully and TPM speculate further.

Also, the above video is a curious thing, no?

Your Daily Dose of Surrealism

"Artistic imagination must remain free. It is by definition free from any fidelity to circumstances, especially to the intoxicating circumstances of history." --Andre Breton

Update: Well that didn't last long. We will repost the video if and when it reappears. Meanwhile, here and here are links to a discussion of the video.

Update II: An only slightly less surreal/offensive version has already resurfaced on YouTube user LauraVW's channel:

Our Long National Nightmare Is Over? [Update: Yes]

The Minnesota Supreme Court rules that Alan Stuart Franken is the winner of the 2008 senate race.

But will Norm Coleman concede? Update: Coleman concedes.