From huffingtonPost:
Meanwhile, in the past few hours we've spoke to a number of 30 Rock staffers in Denver, New York, and Washington -- some of whom thought it more productive to speak to us than attend to the on-going live DNC coverage -- and the common wisdom is:
1) Nobody can believe how much Keith Olbermann is getting away with, even if he does draw ratings;
2) As an Olbermann protege, Rachel Maddow is attracting negative feelings from staffers, since she stays mum on many of these catfights, but "there's still time" to represent;
3) MSNBC head Phil Griffin is alienating staffers by publicly defending Olbermann while privately bashing him, and it's left many wondering when that will leak (oops);
4) MSNBC publicist Jeremy Gaines appears increasing stressed out and can be seen "shaking" with a phone attached to his ear dealing with reporters;
5) You don't want to run into Chris Matthews anytime soon, especially en route to the bathroom, because he has zero pleasant things to say right now;
6) Joe Scarborough is definitely stressed, but he's managed to calm down a bit today and can be seen laughing and gabbing;
7) None of this is helping ratings, with MSNBC scoring the lowest numbers against Fox News and CNN in convention coverage.

With all this infighting at MSNBC and Keith O the left's  lunatic version of Bill O reilly-  Someone needs to send tweety, shuster and KO to the back of the bus!

Dailyshow now mocking them!
  http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index. jhtml?videoId=183498&title=media-ana lysis-unity

KO does not want any opposing views period anywhere on MSNBC , is even trying to get Tom Brokaw fired and had this house pets on dailyKos start a petition to kick Joe Scarbrough off MSNBC.  yeah babe , lets do a Bushy only in reverse.  

Now for the greatest hits all in thise week! As the Democratic National Convention approached Keith Olbermann must have been feeling pretty good about himself. Over the past two years Olbermann has systematically gutted MSNBC of anyone that did not meet Keith's "high standards" for journalistic ethics. Rita Cosby - gone, Don Imus - gone, Bernard McGuirk - gone, Tucker Carlson - gone, Larry Johnson - gone, Dana Milbank - gone, Dan Abrams - gone.

MSNBC Drama Pervades Convention Coverage: Olbermann vs. Matthews, Attempts To Get Guests Banned.

This is the second entry in a series of posts looking at China as it relates to Wal-Mart in the aftermath of the Olympic games.

Today, we'll take a look at product safety.

Wal-Mart's business model is based on low prices. That means both how much they pay for a product, and how much they sell a product for. In the first post in this series, we looked at how this frenzied urge to reduce labor costs drove manufacturing to China. Today, we look at how Wal-Mart, based on the same desire for cheap goods, is responsible for a myriad of dangerous products.

When Wal-Mart goes looking for the cheapest products, or forces their vendors to do so, they don't consider things like safety, treatment of workers, or labor violations. They are looking for the lowest price, period. And as they pit factories against other factories to get the cheapest price, factories start to cut corners in order to keep their prices down and make an acceptable profit.

This has resulted in an astounding list of unsafe products reaching consumers, often with terrible consequence. Pet food sold at Wal-Mart, for instance, sickened or killed what could be thousands of pets. Wal-Mart had Aqua Dots on their top toys for Christmas list, but it turns out that when kids ate the little plastic pieces they went into a coma. Wal-Mart sold lead laced Christmas lights and Christmas trees and Key Chains. Wal-Mart was also selling salmonella tainted snack food that was made in China. This is just a small sample of the dangerous products sold at Wal-Mart. You can see a full  list of recalled products here.

The problem got so bad that it was announced just a few days ago that the United States would be posting product safety inspectors in three Chinese cities.

This is great news in terms of products coming from China. In the future, products coming from that country will likely be less dangerous. Unfortunately, as mentioned in the last post of this series, China is swiftly becoming a more expensive option for manufacturing, and this will only serve to make it more expensive. That means major companies like Wal-Mart will simply move to other countries with lax guidelines and cheap labor. It means Wal-Mart will continue to put its consumers at risk by manufacturing and selling dangerous goods.

This is going to be my last diary here.  But this is not one of those GBCW diaries.  Indeed, it is a "Goodbye Beautiful Blog" farewell.

I have thoroughly enjoyed blogging here.. it is the only place I have ever blogged at.  I used to be a regular reader of DailyKos, and of TPM... but have avoided those places ever since they jumped the shark during the primaries.  I came here because I was told it was a refuge of sorts for Clinton supporters.

I have watched as the site has evolved from Clinton supporters and Obama supporters to "Clintonistas for Obama" and original Obama supporters.  I am not an Obama supporter (I intend to decide on who will get my vote in late October), and have run into occassional skirmishes with some of you as a result.

But the reason for leaving is not that....

Mohammad Jawad was a child soldier in Afghanistan when he was detained by US forces there in the so-called War on Terror and taken to Guantanamo where he was subjected to various types of torture - recognized as torture, that is, except to the Bush Administration, who call it anything else.
You can sign this petition to help in his behalf here. Read more about him and the petition (at bottom) below:

The LDS Church has recently released a statement under the title: "The Divine Institution of Marriage"

Notably, in this statement, the LDS Church seems to be suggesting that it does not oppose rights protected under civil union or domestic partnership laws:

"The focus of the Church's involvement is specifically same-sex marriage and its consequences. The Church does not object to rights (already established in California) regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the family or the constitutional rights of churches and their adherents to administer and practice their religion free from government interference."

If this is the official LDS Church position, it leads me to wonder why Gary Lawrence, the California LDS Grassroots Director, is distributing "Yes on 8" campaign literature (PDF) to Mormons that includes advice like this:

(Cross-posted at Clintonistas for Obama)

During the primaries, one of the ongoing disputes was over which candidate had a plan that would "really" provide health insurance to everyone in America.  That's in the past, and I think the past few nights of the convention have made it clear that the Democratic Party stands united in support of the idea that every single American should be able to receive health care.

But my friends, I have to acknowledge that the GOP has beaten us to the punch and once again shown itself to be the "party of ideas."  Yes, it's true, John McCain has come up with a plan that would make the category of uninsured Americans a thing of the past, and cheaply, too!  So in the spirit of putting country before party, and in furtherance of Barack Obama's message that there's nothing wrong with admitting when a Republican has a good idea, I feel compelled to share this one.

Crossposted from MY LEFT WING

Adam and I are hardened old cynics at this point.

But Terry was born on December 7th, 1999. He has never NOT KNOWN a time when George W. Bush wasn't President.

And we've been sitting on the couch after Adam gets home from work, watching the DVR playback of the convention highlights... both of us WEEPING LIKE CHILDREN. Holding hands, looking at each other occasionally, realising that we LOST OUR GODDAMNED COUNTRY when they stole that election... and we knew it, we knew we knew it, but we DIDN'T KNOW what we didn't know.

Oh, we railed, we thundered at the television, we shushed each other because the baby was sleeping, then we'd go out to the patio and whisper-shout at the heavens at the INJUSTICE of it all...

But we just DIDN'T REALISE what would happen -- HOW COULD WE???

And we sit on the couch watching this Democratic Convention...

And we weep.

Cross-posted at Project Vote's Voting Matters Blog

Weekly Voting Rights News Update

By Erin Ferns

Election experts have already worried that the surge of newly registered voters may cause unintentional chaos through long lines and ballot shortages on Election Day. Now there is increased concern that intentional chaos may be caused by partisan forces using something that millions of Americans access every day - the Internet. Although deceiving and disenfranchising voters through political dirty tricks is a staple partisan strategy to influence election results, the Internet may be making it easier and more effective than ever to spread misinformation, according to CNN reporter, Stephanie Busari.