Howard Dean on Morning Joe: "Column on AG Holder is 'silly, right-wing nonsense." (video)

NBC News, video (08:23).

Jane Mayer: "Obama’s Challenge to an Endless War"

Jane Mayer (The New Yorker):

One first impression left by President Obama’s much-anticipated speech re-casting U.S. counterterrorism policy is that of the contrast between Bush’s swagger and Obama’s anguish over the difficult trade-offs that perpetual war poses to a free society. It could scarcely be starker. While Bush frequently seemed to take action without considering the underlying questions, Obama appears somewhat unsure of exactly what actions to take. That is not a bad thing: at least he is asking the right questions. In fact, by suggesting that, after a decade and seven thousand American and countless foreign lives lost, and a trillion dollars spent, it might be time to start downsizing the “war on terror,” he is leading the national debate beyond where even most Democrats have dared to go. MORE...

"Seattle Against Monsanto" (LIVE STREAMING VIDEO)

Live Video streaming by Ustream This is the March Against Monsanto Seattle Ustream.

REPLAY: "Andy Borowitz, Lizz Winstead, Hendrik Hertzberg and Jeffrey Toobin give their take on what the future holds for the USA." (video)

Andy Borowitz: The Borowitz Report, video (1:29:12)

Andy Borowitz, Lizz Winstead, Hendrik Hertzberg and Jeffrey Toobin give their take on what the future holds for the USA.

from http://howieinseattle.blogspot.com/

GOT INFRASTRUCTURE? If you were thinking of heading north out of Seattle, think again.

This is also an example of all the deferred maintenance that many have been concerned about. This "collapse" should not have been a surprise.

"Awake Zion: a Documentary about the Links between Rastas, Reggae and Judaism" (with video)

"Awake Zion: a Documentary about the Links between Rastas, Reggae and Judaism" (KICKSTARTER.COM), with video (01:53):

Zion – It’s closer than you think… Awake Zion is a documentary that explores the surprising and unsuspecting connections between Rasta, Reggae and Judaism - through one woman’s beat-laden adventure into the meaning of identity. All the way back to the alleged sultry affair between the Jewish King Solomon and the African Queen of Sheba, Jewish influence is evident in the spiritual history of Ethiopia - turning up consistently in Rastafarian lifestyle and, inevitably, Reggae. Uniting Jewish and Jamaican musicians, scholars, and historians in a celebration of roots and culture - Awake Zion travels from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where Caribbean and Jewish cultures share a history of adversity - to Jamaica, the birthplace of reggae - and ultimately to Israel, where a sizzling reggae scene thrives today. Awake Zion challenges our shared preconceptions of what it means to be Jewish, to be Rasta, to be white or black - and, most importantly, the universal search for “Zion”, and what it means to be "home". MORE...

the FIELD NEGRO: Telling "black folks business."

the FIELD NEGRO:

President Obama was at Dr. King's alma mater today, and he had some strong words for the young men there. Some of you Negroes are saying that he was just having a Sistah Souljah moment at the expense of the Morehouse men, and that he is always airing black folk's dirty laundry when he speaks to a large black group. I have to respectfully disagree. That message the president sent today was on point and it needed to be delivered. MORE...

Cornel West: "where Obama is going wrong"

Hugh Muir (The Guardian (UK):

What of America? "We elected a black president and that means we are less racist now than we used to be. That's beautiful. But when you look at the prison industrial complex and the new Jim Crow: levels of massive unemployment and the decrepit unemployment system, indecent housing: white supremacy is still operating in the US, even with a brilliant black face in a high place called the White House. He is a brilliant, charismatic black brother. He's just too tied to Wall Street. And at this point he is a war criminal. You can't meet every Tuesday with a killer list and continually have drones drop bombs. You can do that once or twice and say: 'I shouldn't have done that, I've got to stop.' But when you do it month in, month out, year in, year out – that's a pattern of behaviour. I think there is a chance of a snowball in hell that he will ever be tried, but I think he should be tried and I said the same about George Bush. These are war crimes. We suffer in this age from an indifference toward criminality and a callousness to catastrophe when it comes to poor and working people." MORE...

Seattle Mayoral: "Deconstructing the Candidates' Yeses, Nos, and Maybes"

Josh Feit and Erica C. Barnett (publicola):

Many people in Seattle still aren't clear where the candidates for mayor "stand on the issues." Josh Feit and Erica C. Barnett try to herd their answers into some consistent semblance of "positions." It's tough job, since the candidates are politicians trying to make lots of friends, in a hurry.

"What does the sequester mean for Obama's second term?" (video) " (video)

MSNBC (The Cycle), video (09:14).

Howie P.S.: Ari Melber and the panel discuss.

SEATTLE: "On higher ed funding, immigration, gun control and the failure of the Democratic Party" (video)

Josh Feit (publicola@SeatleMet) with video (58:00):

My "Last Night" isn't nearly as exciting as Erica's, probably because, rather than being about a pepper-spray riot, it's about a panel discussion I was on called "Civic Cocktail" where people like Seattle Times editor Joni Balter showed up and paid $15 to watch people like me talk about urban agriculture and higher education funding. And, of course, my theory about why the NBA told Seattle "No": it's because the current voting owners didn't want to sign off on a deal that set a precedent where they couldn't rely so heavily on public money and instead had to make a personal guarantee. I didn't actually talk about urban agriculture; that fell to a couple of wonks from the city's Department of Neighborhoods. (I don't know anything about urban agriculture except that Seattle's P-Patch program (editor's note: Josh thought they were called "pea patches," for peas) seems incredibly cool.) MORE...

"Andy Borowitz, Lizz Winstead, Hendrik Hertzberg and Jeffrey Toobin give their take on what the future holds for the USA." (video)

Andy Borowitz: The Borowitz Report, video (1:29:12)

Andy Borowitz, Lizz Winstead, Hendrik Hertzberg and Jeffrey Toobin give their take on what the future holds for the USA.

"Joan Walsh on the Progressive Agenda" (video)

CSPAN, with video (44:11):

Joan Walsh talked about progressives' agenda for President Obama and congressional Democrats, and she responded to telephone calls and electronic communications. Topics included the first 100 days of President Obama’s second term, sequestration, and gun control and the NRA. She criticized Democrats for often compromising their constituencies rather than standing up to Republicans, citing as one example the bill allowing the Federal Aviation Administration more flexibility in dealing with sequester budget cuts. She said that Democrats should have demanded a fix for all sequester cuts rather than just one.