Priscilla's Musings

America's Song

2009-01-22T13:07:00.000-05:00

President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address

2009-01-22T12:14:00.003-05:00

As prepared for delivery:

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Mr. O

2009-01-21T16:52:00.000-05:00

Mr. O at Work

2009-01-21T16:51:00.000-05:00

At Last

2009-01-21T16:43:00.001-05:00

2009-01-21T16:00:00.000-05:00

The Urgency Of Now....Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

2009-01-21T15:38:00.000-05:00

Recipes from the 2009 Inaugural Luncheon

2009-01-17T10:46:00.010-05:00

D.C. will be star-studded for Inauguration

2009-01-17T10:42:00.002-05:00

NEW YORK - If you thought the Golden Globes was a party, just wait until you see Barack Obama's inauguration. Next week, Washington will look a lot like a colder version of Hollywood.

Here's a roundup of who will be where, keeping in mind that in the mad rush to D.C., schedule changes may occur.

The big show
On Sunday, tradition will be upheld with a free star-studded concert on the National Mall, starting at 2:30 p.m. Among the many performers: Bruce Springsteen, U2, Beyonce, Usher, Garth Brooks, Stevie Wonder, John Mellencamp, Shakira, Mary J. Blige, Herbie Hancock, Josh Groban, John Legend and James Taylor. Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III and Queen Latifah will read. Obama will stop by and HBO will broadcast “We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.”

Where's Oprah
Winfrey will host a live episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" from the Kennedy Center Opera House on Monday. She'll also host a second episode on Wednesday. Winfrey has not announced her plans on Inauguration Day.

Where's Spike
Spike Lee will appear at a daylong symposium at Howard University on Monday to discuss topics including the impact of Obama on Black America. Also there will be Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., Dr. Cornel West and Dr. Henry Louis Gates. Lee will also host an after-party Tuesday evening.

Other concerts

BET will hold an awards ceremony, the BET Honors, Saturday at the Warner Theater to honor Mary J. Blige, filmmaker Tyler Perry, Ervin "Magic" Johnson and others. Gabrielle Union will host and performers include Queen Latifa, Ne-Yo, Anita Baker and Joss Stone.
The Hip-hop Caucus will host a concert Saturday at Ibiza with Common, Mary J. Blige and Nelly.
Jessica Alba will host a kickoff event by youth voter initiative Declare Yourself on Sunday dubbed "A New Birth of Citizenship." Maroon 5 and DJ Samantha Ronson will perform.
"Kids' Inaugural: We Are the Future" will be held Monday night at the Verizon Center and air on the Disney Channel. Performing will be Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers and Bow Wow. Michelle Obama and Jill Biden will host with their families.
The "America Feels Kinda Cool Again Inaugural Gala" will feature the Beastie Boys, Sheryl Crow and Citizen Cope on Monday at the 9:30 club.
Jay-Z will perform a concert — "In Concert on the Eve on Change" — at the Warner Theater on Monday.
Aretha Franklin will play a free concert at the Kennedy Center with Nuttin' But Stringz and the Let Freedom Ring Choir on Monday.
Manifest Hope will finish a three-day-long, Inauguration-themed art exhibit with a party featuring performances by Santogold, Moby and De La Soul.

The official balls

The Neighborhood Ball: ABC will broadcast this ball for Washington residents at the Washington Convention Center. Performing will be Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, Faith Hill and Mary J. Blige.
The Youth Ball: This ball is for people aged 18 to 35 to celebrate "the role young Americans can play to serve their communities." After announcing and then junking a similarly themed ball, MTV will broadcast it. Fall Out Boy is among the acts attending.
The other eight official balls are: the Home States Ball, the Commander in Chief Ball, the Biden Home State Ball, the Mid-Atlantic Ball, the Western and Southern Regional Ball, the Midwest Regional Ball, the New England Ball and the Southern Regional Ball.
The unofficial balls
The “Dreams of My Father” American Scholars Inaugural Ball will take place Sunday at the Four Seasons and feature Alicia Keys, Macy Gray and LL Cool J.
The Voto Latino Inaugural Party will on Sunday include Marc Antony, Rosario Dawson, Tony Plana and Wilmer Valderrama.
The Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball will take place Monday at the Harman Center and be hosted by Russell Simmons, LL Cool J, T.I. and Young Jeezy
The Huffington Post Preinaugural Ball will be held Monday night at the Newseum and feature performances by Sting and will.i.am. Attendees will include Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Denzel Washington, Shakira, Jon Bon Jovi, Halle Berry and Ashton Kutcher.
The Green Inaugural Ball will be held Monday at the Portrait Gallery and be hosted by Al Gore.
Muhammad Ali will attend the Kentucky Inaugural Ball on Monday at the Marriott Wardman Hotel.
The nonprofit arts and entertainment advocacy group Creative Coalition will hold a gala to be headlined by Elvis Costello and Sting at the Harman Center for the Arts on Tuesday. Also attending will be Anne Hathaway, Spike Lee, Tim Robbins, Maggie Gyllenhaal and others.
The Purple Ball, Tuesday at the Fairmont Hotel, will be hosted by Lou Gossett Jr. and Il Divo will perform. Expected to attend are: Ashley Judd, Patricia Arquette, John Cusack, Tim Robbins, Ed Harris, Ashley Judd, Josh Lucas, Amy Brenneman, Brendan Fraser, Susan Sarandon and Lisa Marie Presley.
There will be two American Music Balls: The Legends Ball, hosted by Dionne Warwick and featuring Chaka Khan and George Clinton; and the Urban Ball — hosted by Ludacris and featuring Cedric the Entertainer and Monica. Both will be held Tuesday at the Marriot Wardman Park Hotel.
BET will host an inaugural ball at the Mandarin Oriental hotel Tuesday. The network will broadcast an hour special to coincide with the ball, which will include a performance by Wyclef Jean.
The Equality Ball, hosted by the Human Rights Campaign, will be held Tuesday at the Mayflower Hotel with appearances by Cyndi Lauper, Melissa Etheridge and Rufus Wainwright.
The Inaugural Peace Ball, Tuesday at the Smithsonian Postal Museum, will be hosted by Harry Belafonte and include Joan Baez, Graham Nash and Jackson Brown.
Rihanna will perform at the Recording Industry Association of America Inaugural Ball to benefit Feeding America on Tuesday.
Nas, Josh Groban, Slash and Robert Randolph are among those performing at the Heroes Red, White & Blue Inaugural Ball (benefiting military families and veterans) on Tuesday at the Warner Theater.

The bi-partisan dinners

Carol King will perform at the dinner Monday for Joe Biden at Union Station.
Faith Hill will perform at the dinner Monday for Gen. Colin Powell at the National Building Museum.
At the dinner Monday for Sen. John McCain at the Hilton Washington, Patti LaBelle will perform.

At Capitol, slavery's story turns full circle

2008-12-29T16:29:00.000-05:00

Historians hope significance comes to light as Obama takes office

By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff | December 28, 2008

WASHINGTON - When Barack Obama takes the oath of office at the US Capitol, the first African-American to become president will be standing amid stonework laid by slaves more than two centuries ago. He will appear before a crowd massed on the Mall, where slaves were once held in pens, ready for auction. He will end his inauguration route at the White House, where the foundations were laid by slaves, and where eight presidents held blacks as their human property.

At nearly every turn of Obama's march to history, the thread that deeply intertwines the founding of the nation with its great stain, slavery, will be evident. Yet for all the attention on Obama's racial breakthrough, the full story of slavery in the nation's capital remains beneath the surface.

While the Lincoln Memorial on the far end of the Mall draws attention to the fight to end slavery, there is no memorial at the spot near the Capitol where slaves were once kept and sold in a three-story building called the Yellow House.

"Many people come down to the National Mall and never realize that they are walking on the site of the slave markets," said Jesse J. Holland, author of the recent book, "Black Men Built the Capitol." Now, with Obama's inauguration, historians are hoping that the role of slaves in the history of building Washington will become more widely recognized.

Obama is the son of a black African father and a white Kansan mother, while his wife, Michelle, has a direct connection to America's history of enslavement, as Obama noted during the presidential campaign, saying the next first lady "carries within her the blood of slaves and slave owners." Her great-great grandfather, on her father's side, was born into slavery and is believed to have lived in a small cabin at a coastal South Carolina rice plantation.

Thus, a story that begins with slavery comes full circle with the arrival of the Obamas. "It is an affirmation of the whole democratic ideal in American history," said historian William Seale, author of "The President's House."

It was in the early 1790s that the government of the United States, founded on the notion that "all men are created equal," began to pay slaveholders for the work of their slaves on both the Capitol and the White House.

"Keep the yearly hirelings at work from sunrise to sunset - particularly the Negroes," the commission that oversaw construction of the Capitol instructed a supervisor, according to documents in a recently compiled congressional report. From 1795 to 1801, there were 385 payments for what was called "Negro hire," referring to the hiring of slaves from their masters to help build the Capitol.

From quarrying sandstone to sawing giant logs, the slaves gradually shaped the Capitol's foundation. While the building has been reconstructed and expanded many times over the years, the stonework laid by slave labor can still be seen at the west elevation of the old North Wing, near where Obama will take the oath of office. Relatively little is known about the slaves who helped build the Capitol, but pay records do provide some of their names, including Gerrard, who was leased for $13, and Will, who was leased for $12.91. One record notes that "Caleb Varnal's Negro Sawyer" was leased for $20.33 on July 6, 1795. The documents don't specify the duration of the slaves' service.

Overlooking the inaugural scene will be the Statue of Freedom, the figure that stands grandly atop the Capitol dome. Yet, as documented in a congressional report, it was a slave named Phillip Reid who played a crucial role in turning a plaster cast into the statue. It is "one of the great ironies in the Capitol's history," the report says, that the statue was made possible by "a workman helping to cast a noble allegorical representation of American freedom when he himself was not free." Reid, who had been purchased for $1,200, later did become free and may have seen the statue hoisted atop the dome.

Similarly, the President's House, as the White House was first known, was constructed with significant help from slave labor, as well as free blacks and whites. Slaves lived in huts amid a cacophony of brick kilns and sawing operations, probably on the site of what is now Lafayette Park. One slave, George, was owned by James Claggett and leased to the federal government for five months, according to a pay stub recently put on display by the National Archives. The document, in elegant script, says that "the commissioners of the Federal District" paid Claggett "for hire of Negro George," for "working at the President's House."

The construction of the President's House began in 1792, with slaves often toiling "seven days a week during the high construction summer months alongside white workers and artisans," according to a history compiled by the White House Historical Association. An estimated 120 slaves helped dig the foundation of the White House and brought stonework to the site. Some of the stonework can still be seen in the exterior of the original, central portion of the building.

The first president to move into the mansion, John Adams of Massachusetts, was antislavery. But his successor, Thomas Jefferson, at various times brought a number of slaves to live with him in the White House. The other presidents who owned slaves while living in the White House were James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, John Tyler, William Henry Harrison, James Polk, and Zachary Taylor, according to the historian Seale.

Part of the history of slaves who lived in the White House is preserved in the thin but remarkable memoir of Paul Jennings, who was owned by Madison and published a volume titled, "A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison."

"When Mr. Madison was chosen President, we came on and moved into the White House," Jennings wrote. "The east room was not finished, and Pennsylvania Avenue was not paved, but was always in an awful condition from either mud or dust. The city was a dreary place."

Jennings recalled how he set up a table at the White House with "ale, cider, and wine, and placed them in the coolers," when a free black raced up and announced that British invaders were on their way into the city. "Clear out, clear out!" the man yelled. The Madison family and Jennings fled just before the arrival of the British, who "ate up the very dinner, and drank the wines, &c., that I had prepared for the President's party," Jennings wrote.

After Madison died, Jennings was able to buy his freedom from Dolley Madison, who later became relatively destitute for a time. Jennings, hearing of the plight of Mrs. Madison, wrote that he "occasionally gave her small sums from own pocket, though I had years before bought my freedom of her."

Now, exactly two centuries after Madison became president and brought slaves with him to the White House, Barack and Michelle Obama will move into the home.

A previous president from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, signed the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves. Asked to explain his decision, Lincoln sat in his White House office, in what is now known as the Lincoln Bedroom, and took out a piece of Executive Mansion stationary. "If slavery is not wrong," Lincoln wrote, "nothing is wrong."

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T21:07:00.002-05:00

Total votes at 130.2 million, Obama at 68.7M

2008-11-26T20:54:00.000-05:00

Update: Obama won by 9.1 million votes

Nate Silver's Projection:

2008-11-24T10:16:00.000-05:00

Al Franken to Win Recount by 27 Votes

Bush Plan: Shop Until You Drop

2008-11-24T09:06:00.000-05:00

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President-elect Obama Over 67 Million Votes...

2008-11-21T13:05:00.000-05:00

Here's where the numbers stand right now:

Obama: 67,065,042 (52.7%, 365 EVs)

McCain: 58,420,587 (45.9%, 162 EVs)

Super Obama World

2008-11-21T11:33:00.000-05:00

Click On Image To Play

Obama Raised Half a Billion Online

2008-11-21T10:34:00.000-05:00

Barack Obama raised half a billion dollars online in his 21-month campaign for the White House, dramatically ushering in a new digital era in presidential fundraising. In an exclusive interview with The Post, members of the vaunted Triple O, Obama's online operation, broke down the numbers: 3 million donors made a total of 6.5 million donations online adding up to more than $500 million. Of those 6.5 million donations, 6 million were in increments of $100 or less. The average online donation was $80, and the average Obama donor gave more than once.

Continue reading

Reindeer on the unemployment line

2008-11-19T12:02:00.000-05:00

Protests Over a Rule to Protect Health Providers

2008-11-18T16:06:00.000-05:00

By ROBERT PEAR, NYT

WASHINGTON — A last-minute Bush administration plan to grant sweeping new protections to health care providers who oppose abortion and other procedures on religious or moral grounds has provoked a torrent of objections, including a strenuous protest from the government agency that enforces job discrimination laws.

The proposed rule would prohibit recipients of federal money from discriminating against doctors, nurses and other health care workers who refuse to perform or to assist in the performance of abortions or sterilization procedures because of their “religious beliefs or moral convictions.”

It would also prevent hospitals, clinics, doctors’ offices and drugstores from requiring employees with religious or moral objections to “assist in the performance of any part of a health service program or research activity” financed by the Department of Health and Human Services.

But three officials from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, including its legal counsel, whom President Bush appointed, said the proposal would overturn 40 years of civil rights law prohibiting job discrimination based on religion.

The counsel, Reed L. Russell, and two Democratic members of the commission, Stuart J. Ishimaru and Christine M. Griffin, also said that the rule was unnecessary for the protection of employees and potentially confusing to employers.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 already prohibits employment discrimination based on religion, Mr. Russell said, and the courts have defined “religion” broadly to include “moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong, which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views.”

Mr. Ishimaru and senior members of the commission staff said that neither the Department of Health and Human Services nor the White House had consulted their agency before issuing the proposed rule. The White House Office of Management and Budget received the proposal on Aug. 21 and cleared it on the same day, according to a government Web site that keeps track of the rule-making process.

The protest from the commission comes on the heels of other objections to the rule by doctors, pharmacists, hospitals, state attorneys general and political leaders, including President-elect Barack Obama.

Mr. Obama has said the proposal will raise new hurdles to women seeking reproductive health services, like abortion and some contraceptives. Michael O. Leavitt, the health and human services secretary, said that was not the purpose.

Officials at the Health and Human Services Department said they intended to issue a final version of the rule within days. Aides and advisers to Mr. Obama said he would try to rescind it, a process that could take three to six months.

To avoid the usual rush of last-minute rules, the White House said in May that new regulations should be proposed by June 1 and issued by Nov. 1. The “provider conscience” rule missed both deadlines.

Under the White House directive, the deadlines can be waived “in extraordinary circumstances.” Administration officials were unable to say immediately why an exception might be justified in this case.

The proposal is supported by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Health Association, which represents Catholic hospitals.

Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, said that in recent years, “we have seen a variety of efforts to force Catholic and other health care providers to perform or refer for abortions and sterilizations.”

But the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, 28 senators, more than 110 representatives and the attorneys general of 13 states have urged the Bush administration to withdraw the proposed rule.

Pharmacies said the rule would allow their employees to refuse to fill prescriptions for contraceptives and could “lead to Medicaid patients being turned away.” State officials said the rule could void state laws that require insurance plans to cover contraceptives and require hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape victims.

The Ohio Health Department said the rule “could force family planning providers to hire employees who may refuse to do their jobs” — a concern echoed by Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Under the Civil Rights Act, an employer must make reasonable accommodations for an employee’s religious practices, unless the employer can show that doing so would cause “undue hardship on the conduct of its business.”

In a letter commenting on the proposed rule, Mr. Ishimaru and Ms. Griffin, from the employment commission, said that 40 years of court decisions had carefully balanced “employees’ rights to religious freedom and employers’ business needs.”

The proposed rule, they said, “would throw this entire body of law into question.”

Mr. Leavitt, a leading proponent of the rule, said it would increase compliance with laws adopted since 1973 to protect health care workers.

“Federal law,” he said, “is explicit and unwavering in protecting federally funded medical practitioners from being coerced into providing treatments they find morally objectionable.”

As an example of the policies to which they object, Bush administration officials cited a Connecticut law that generally requires hospitals to provide rape victims with timely access to and information about emergency contraception.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut, a Republican, said the state law represented “an earnest compromise” between the rights of rape victims and the interests of health care practitioners who had moral or religious scruples against emergency contraception.

The state attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, said the proposed regulation “would blow apart solutions and compromises that have been reached by people of good will in Connecticut and elsewhere.”

64 Days and Counting

2008-11-18T15:04:00.000-05:00

The Obamas On 60 Minutes, Full Video

2008-11-18T14:32:00.001-05:00

Lieberman Keeps Homeland Security Chairmanship....Video Update

2008-11-18T13:39:00.000-05:00

This video is from MSNBC's News Live, broadcast Nov. 18, 2008.

CNN reports:

Senate Democrats have voted to allow Sen. Joe Lieberman to retain his chairmanship of the powerful Homeland Security Committee.

The secret-ballot vote was 42-13.

Lieberman is losing his chairmanship on an environmental subcommittee.

By Greg Sargent, TMP

Senator Harry Reid just spoke to reporters after the private caucus meeting with Dems over Joe Lieberman's fate, and he confirmed it: Lieberman will not be stripped of his Homeland Security chairmanship, because the "vast majority" of the Democratic caucus wants him to stay.

"This was not a time for retribution," Reid said, quoting an unnamed Senator. We're "moving forward," Reid added.

Lieberman was removed from the Environment and Public Works Committee, a largely meaningless punishment, a committee where (unlike Homeland Security) he has no differences with Dems.

Asked about liberal "anger" towards Lieberman, Reid said: "I pretty well understand anger. I would defy anyone to be more angry than I was."

But he added: "If you will look at the problems that we face as a nation, is this a time we walk out of here saying boy did we get even?"

"I feel good about what we did today," Reid said. "We're moving forward."

Lieberman himself, meanwhile, said he was able to keep his slot thanks to Barack Obama, whose recent statement said he held "no grudges" against Lieberman. Lieberman singled out the "appeal by President Obama himself" as a key reason he's staying.

So, Senate Dems will be allowing Lieberman to keep his plum spot despite the fact that he has been deeply awful in that role, and despite the fact that he endorsed efforts by the GOP to imply that Obama is in league with terrorists, suggested that Obama endangered our troops, and said Obama hasn't always put the country first.

Worse, Reid is echoing an argument he knows is false: That this is only about retribution. Reid and his fellow Senators have made the political decision to leave Lieberman in a job that he was a disaster at, rather than make the good governmental decision to remove him for the good of the country.

SNL Please Hire Alohacat

2008-11-18T13:09:00.000-05:00

OBAMA PREPARES FOR DEBATE (everything he can't say)

Today Is International Laugh At Joe Lieberman Day

2008-11-18T12:33:00.002-05:00

Think Joe Lieberman is a joke?

We do too. That’s why we’ve created a new holiday: Laugh at Lieberman Day. It's today, Tuesday, November 18th, and we want you to celebrate with us! Here's what you need to know:

How to celebrate:

Step 1: Find some way to record yourself

It can be a video camera, a camera phone, your laptop, or just a microphone. Just find someway to at least capture yourself speaking.

Step 2: Call Joe Lieberman’s office

Start your recording, pick up the phone, and dial (202) 224-4041. When someone picks up, ask if you've reached the office of Senator Joe Lieberman.

Step 3: Laugh!

Cackle. Giggle. Chortle. Guffaw. Whatever it is, just laugh. Even if you get an answering machine, laugh! Laugh at the joke that is Senator Joe Lieberman.

Step 4: Upload your video to YouTube

Upload the recording of you laughing at Joe Lieberman to YouTube. Make sure you tag your video laughatliebermanday so it will show up automatically on this page.

Step 5: Tell your friends!

Spread the joy! Tell all your friends about Laugh at Lieberman Day. Email them this website. Post it on Facebook. Tweet it on Twitter. Shout it from the rooftops. Just get the word out!

In Surprise Speech, Obama Promises Global Leadership On Climate Change

2008-11-18T12:05:00.001-05:00

Obama's commitment to battling global warming and casts it as an economic and national security issue:

"The United States cannot meet this challenge alone," Obama says. Solving this problem will require all of us working together...I look forward to working with all nations to meet this challenge in the coming years."

Obama also sends a message to leaders preparing to gather at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference: "Let me also say a special word to the delegates from around the world who will gather at Poland next month: your work is vital to the planet."