The White House has no more scheduled live feeds for today. Catch recorded presidential events on Obamavision! further down this column.

Sunday, July 5, 2009.

New York Times: "The most important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment." CW: the supreme leader ain't so supreme anymore; this is stunnng news.

New York Times: the Organization of American States voted yesterday to suspend Honduras. AP: ousted President Manuel Zelaya vows to return to Honduras today.

     AP Update: a showdown at the Tegucigalpa airport is likely as Zelaya urges supporters to gather there & government troops show un en masse; the government has ordered the army & police not to allow Zelaya's plane to land; commercials flights are cancelled.

New York Times: former NFL quarterback Steve McNair & a female friend were found shot to death in Nashville, Tennessee, yesterday.

Saturday, July 4, 2009.

If you look really hard you can see the President addressing the troops & families from the balcony. Getty image. CLICK ON PHOTO TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.

In Iraq, Vice President Biden congratulates a newly-naturalized U.S. soldier. Reuters photo.AP: Vice President Biden celebrates U.S. Independence Day in Iraq, presides over a naturalization ceremony for more than 200 soldiers, visits with son Beau & company. Pool report here.

Washington Post: North Korea launches seven missiles.

AP: militants attacked a U.S. coalition base in eastern Afghanistan, exploding a truck outside the gates, sparking a two-hour gunbattle and killing two American troops. The base is hundreds of miles from the massive Marine assault on Taliban strongholds in Southern Afghanistan.

U.S. forces called in airstrikes to end the clash, killing more than 30 insurgents in Zerok district of Paktika province, said Hamidullah Zawak, the provincial governor spokesman. Seven U.S. and two Afghan troops were wounded, a U.S. military spokesman said.

The multi-pronged attack near the Pakistan border is hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the massive Marine assault

New York Times: Iranian leaders obtain "confessions" from reformist leaders that they "plotted to bring down the government with a 'velvet' revolution instigated by foreign nations. "Such confessions, almost always extracted under duress, are part of an effort to recast the civil unrest...as a conspiracy orchestrated by foreign nations, human rights groups say." AND...

AP: in a newspaper editorial, a top aide to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Mir Hossein Mousavi, the country's main opposition leader, a U.S. agent who should be tried for crimes against the nation .

The latest stories on Gov. Sarah Palin are on the Palintology page. Hover of The Soaps! dropdown menu below the masthead & click on Palintology.

 

The President's Weekly Address July 4:

Obamavision!  The White House Channel.
For a larger picture, start video, then click on image.

Here's the transcript of the President's weekly address. 

   M. Wuerker, Politico.

Politico's roundup of late-nite jokes of the week:

Sorry, I find this ghoulish, but if you want to see a clip of one of Michael Jackson's final rehearsals, NBC has it here.

Much Ado. In Aspen, Washington politicos do Shakespeare:

Got kids? Nick Kristof has a reading list of classics for them. I'd add A Child's History of the World, written in the early 1920s if I remember. I'm sure this entertaining book has inspired the careers of generations of the nation's historians, and it will help your child enjoy & do better in history classes. It's an easy read for a fifth-grader, which I know from personal experience. A hardcopy is difficult to find, but the library will have it. If you find one, keep it.

CW: Andy Barr has this week's Sunday show lineup, which is scheduled to be heavy on international policy folks, what with the President headed for Russia. My guess is the talking heads will slip in some stuff about the lady who can see Russia from her house.

I've moved the Sarah Palin, Mark Sanford & John Ensign sagas to their own pages on The Soaps! dropdown menu, which you can link on the navigation bar under the masthead. The pages load in the center column. You'll also find videos & links to stories on the Blagojevich & Burris scandals on The Soaps! dropdown menu.

REMAINDERS

AP: newly released DOD documents "portray a chaotic and sometimes violent operation" at Guantanamo.

New York Times: a Virginia grand jury is hearing witness testimony in an investigation of the CIA's destruction of 92 video tapes of "brutal interrogations" of two prisoners.

Under the FOIA, the National Security Archive, a nongovernmental research institute, obtained 20 FBI interviews of Saddam Hussein, one of which is completely redacted. You can read them here. Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post hits the highlights, including Saddam's claim that he pretended to have WMDs to bolster his position against Iran.

And the Winner is...GE! Jeff Gerth & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: by pressing Treasury to loosen rules for qualifying for federal aid & by exploiting a loophole, General Electric has emerged as the biggest beneficiary of one of the government's biggest programs, the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP).

AP: Supremes rule for New Haven's white firefighters in bias case, against Sotomayor, in a 5-4 decision. Ruth Bader Ginsburg read the dissenting opinion aloud in court. Here's the pdf of the decision, comments & dissent, courtesy of Christy Hardin Smith, who comments here.

I've moved Remainders to its own page, which you can link on the navigation bar under the masthead. I'll keep the stuff that's only a few days old here on the front page.

The Krugman Blues. The sound quality isn't great on this vid of Loudon Wainwright III's performance at Madison Square Park, but we are grateful to InevitablyHAA for recording & downloading it, as we are also to Wainwright & Krugman. Also read Krugman's related post on his universal fame.

The Constant Weader

That explanation is lamer than the duck. -- Alaska Daily News, on Sarah Palin's claim she was resigning because she didn't want to be a lame duck governor

I am deeply disappointed that the Governor has decided to abandon the State and her constituents before her term has concluded.
-- Sen. Lisa Murkowski

Only dead fish go with the flow.
-- Sarah Palin

Theoretically, you can’t buy Washington Post reporters, but you can rent them.
-- David Carr, New York Times

Jenny Sanford is haughty, self-righteous, condescending, and an egomaniac. -- Michael Wolff

What the hell do they think we are, puppets? -- Helen Thomas, referring to the administration's manipulation of the media

How's her jump shot?
-- Robert Gibbs, in response to a question about Sarah Palin's claim she could out-run President Obama

We need to make sure that there is no public option.
-- Sen. Chuck Grassley

*******************************

In honor of our independence, let us listen to a cautionary tale. Glenn Greenwald discusses President Obama's civil liberties record with the New York Times' Charlie Savage:

Iranian singer Andy Madadian joins Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora & others in a Farsi version of "Stand by Me" to show solidarity with the Iranian people. Supersize it & amp up.

The Obamas celebrate Independence Day by honoring military families. Getty image. CLICK ON PHOTO TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.

The Obama ladies on the July 4 event for military families. Daughter Malia celebrates her 11th birthday. AP photo. CLICK ON PHOTO TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.

The First Lady & the President at Fort McNair. AP photol CLICK ON PHOTO TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.

The Statue of Liberty gets her crown back:

USA Today: closed above its base since 9/11, the Statue of Liberty "will reopen to visitors, a relative few, in small groups, specially ticketed, carefully screened and escorted by a park ranger."

     White House statement here, and go here for a virtual tour of Lady Liberty.

U.S. troops take the oath of citizenship at Camp Victory, Iraq. White House photo. CLICK PHOTO TO SEE LARGER IMAGE

Vice President Biden greets multinational troops at Camp Victory. White House photo. CLICK PHOTO TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.

Vice President Joe Biden meets with Gen. Ray Odierno & Ambassador Christopher Hill (to Biden's left & right, respectively) at a U.S. military base near Baghdad, Iraq:

Getty image. CLICK ON PHOTO TO VIEW LARGER IMAGE....and catches up with his son, Army Reserve Capt. Beau Biden, who is stationed in Iraq:

Meanwhile, the Vice President's wife, Dr. Jill Biden, talks with soldiers stationed in Bamberg, Germany:

AP photo. CLICK ON PHOTO TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.

Love Those Pies!

Behind the Scenes. President Obama tapes the audio for Disney's Obamatron. Supersize it:

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford talks to Associated Press reporters:

Lots more stuff on The Sanford Odyssey in The Soaps! drop-down menu above.

Paper Trail

Our Photo Galleries page (accessed on the navigation bar under the masthead) has a dropdown menu of photos from (1) President Obama's inauguration & related events, (2) the Obamas' April 2009 tour of Europe & (3) the June 2009 trip to the Mideast & Europe.

Link to stories & videos about inaugural events are on PreInaugural & Inauguration Plus pages. Stories about the Blagojevich/Burris, John Ensign & Mark Sanford scandals appear under The Soaps! heading; highlight The Soaps! & click on a page from the dropdown menu. Keepers are on the Remainders page. The EuroTour1 & EuroTour2 pages includes videos and links to stories about the April trip & the Mideast EuroTrip June page has videos & links about the President's most recent trip abroad. Pages load in the center column.

Contact the Constant Weader

To offer suggestions or to comment on Reality Chex content, click on this link to e-mail the Constant Weader.

Fireworks over the Hudson, New York City, July 4, 2009. AP photo. CLICK ON PHOTO TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.

Gov. SARAH PALIN gets her own Soaps! page. Hover on The Soaps! on the bar above & click on Palintology.

Catch links to the latest stories on the Mark Sanford & John Ensign sagas by hovering on The Soaps! on the navigation bar above & clicking on The Sanford Odyssey or Ensign Pulverizes. Pages will load in the center column. Gov. Rod Blagojevich & Sen. Roland Burris have a Soaps! page, too.

Here's a transcript of President Obama's interview with TASS Russian TV, ahead of his trip to Russia.

Steven Hurst of the AP looks toward President Obama's upcoming trip to Russia, Italy & Ghana.

In a letter buried on the op-ed, the Washington Post's publisher, Katharine Weymouth, apologizes "for a planned new venture that went off track and for any cause we may have given you to doubt our independence and integrity." CW: Weymouth's effort is hardly a stellar no-excuses mea culpa....

... Michael Calderone & Andy Barr of Politico: the Post isn't the only paper that arranges for paid, off-the-record meetings between special interests & its journalists; the Wall Street Journal & the Economist have been doing it, too.  Notably, the Journal drove financial executives to the White House to hear Larry Summers give an off-the-record speech. CW: no wonder the administration won't release those visitor logs. Let's hope the press follows up on this.

Frank Rich: Bernie Madoff is the least of our economie woes; the overarching problem of the nation's socio-economic system is Wall Street's business-as-usual shenanigans, which the Obama administration is perpetuating; the bad news for the economy & the Beltway gang: the public is onto them.

This week a professional satirist will become the junior Senator from Minnesota, but the senior Senator is pretty good at cracking a joke, too.

Paul Krugman: "we're heading into Japanese-style deflation territory"; includes a graph in which, in the end, the mountains fall into the sea....

...BUT near-universal healthcare coverage is do-able....

...AND Krugman defends Al Franken against David Broder whom I won't link, but Krugman does.

Speaking of Minnesota, David Carr of the New York Times writes a brief history of the last few decades of the state's oddball politics.

The Grassley 100% Solution. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican who says "we need to make sure there is no public [health insurance] option" also claims to favor small government. Yet he tells a constituent that if he wants decent health insurance he should "go work for the federal government." Either Grassley thinks a public "servant" is entitled to be better off than those he serves, or he wants everybody in Iowa to get guv'ment jobs. The audio is very hard to hear; Think Progress has the transcript.

The Obamas welcome military families to the White House Independence Day party:

Transcript of the President's remarks. Pretty informative pool report.

President Obama talks to reporters at All Africa Media ahead of his trip to Ghana. Parts 1 & 2:

Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth. Photo by Matt Mendolsohn.

CW: David Carr of the New York Times has an excellent piece about the Washington Post's planned pay-for-play "salons" which could serve as the first lecture in that journalistic ethics class Post publisher Katharine Weymouth never took. There are more links on this fiasco in two places further down the column; I've highlighted them with ***s.

CW: speaking of questionable journalistic ethics, Glenn Greenwald is up already with a fine column on the New York Times' moral relativism vis-a-vis "the language of torture." Upon reading the Times story on the Iranian confessions early this morning, I had the same reaction Greenwald did, though I could never have expressed the irony of linguistic sociopathy so well as he.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: the Russian government's agreement to let American troops and weapons bound for Afghanistan fly in Russian airspace "represents one of the most concrete achievements in the [Obama] administration’s effort to ease relations with Russia..." but agreements on other issues have proved hard to come by.

Rob Hotakainen of McClatchy: Anthony Woods, a West Point grad booted from the military for violating "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy brings national attention to the race for California's 10th U.S. Congressional District seat.

Edifice Complex. Los Angeles Times: Congress is blocking funding for earmarks named for lawmakers, & Maxine Waters is furious leaders won't give her $1MM for her "Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center." CW:...but not so furious she's willing to change the name which she says would be "costly." Uh-huh.

Joe Conason of Salon runs down (in both sense of the phrase) the "lunatic" critics of Al Franken.

Adam Freedman in the New York Times: the colonists may have rejected British rule, but they surely didn't reject British values.

Katrina Vanden Heuvel: this Independence Day, the nation's 50 million nontheists have something to celebrate.

Paul Krugman says the jobs reports prove "we're going to need a bigger stimulus."

Carrie Budoff Brown of Politico: Democrats, Bernie Sanders, all members of a key Senate committee, get behind a healthcare reform proposal that includes a public option; Sen. Kay Hagan, who has been wavering on the public option, was among them.

Stan Liebowitz of the Wall Street Journal: the single most important factor in home mortgage foreclosures is negative equity -- the balance on the mortgage exceeds the sales value of the property. Government programs & plans don't address this problem.

Julia Preston of the New York Times: the Obama administration has shifted immigration law enforcement from the Bush administration's SOP of bringing criminal charges against illegal immigrants to using fines and other civil sanctions against businesses employing large numbers of illegal immigrants.

Matt v. Goliath: Matt Taiibi of Rolling Stone takes on Goldman-Sachs.

***Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times has more on the Washington Post's scandalous & short-lived pay-for-play plan to sponsor expensive private "salons" which would offer lobbyists special, private access to top lawmakers, administration officials & Post journalists.

***Howard Kurtz reports on this journalistic disaster for the Washington Post.

***Here's Andrew Alexander, the Post's ombudsman, on the "public relations disaster." CW: it ain't how it looks, Andy; it's what it is.

***Josh Gerstein of Politico: the White House reminded staff they had to get clearance to accept free tickets to "banquets, conferences & cocktail receptions. "

President Obama on the unemployment situation & innovative job growth:

President Obama speaks to the AP's Jennifer Levin about his upcoming trip to Russia, domestic issues. With video clips. There are more clips here.

Fred Schulte of NBC: Nancy-Ann DeParle, President Obama's health czar, was a director of corporations that were the subjects of "scores of federal investigations, whistleblower lawsuits and other regulatory actions." After running Medicare for the Clinton White House,

DeParle accepted director positions at half a dozen companies suspected of violating the very laws and regulations she had enforced for Medicare. Those companies got into further trouble on her watch as a director.

CW: why did Obama choose this crook to manage healthcare "reform"?

White House photo.President Obama signs a bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots. The WASPs were established during World War II, and from 1942 to 1943, more than 1,000 women joined, flying 60 million miles of non-combat military missions. Present for the signing: Bernice Falk Haydu, Elaine Danforth Harmon & Lorraine H. Rodgers. Also Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), and behind the President, active duty US Air Force pilots. -- from a White House release

CNN has a pretty good print story here about the WASPs with a video clip of an interview of pilot Jane Tedeschi. The New York Times has an item here, & this story by Chris Wilson for Senior Times is pretty good.

***Incredible! Mike Allen of Politico reports that the Washington Post is selling lobbyists access to government VIPs & Post reporters in organized "salons." (So French!) CW: even yellow journalists are spinning in the graves.

***Hah! Update: after sending the Post newsroom "into an uproar," publisher Katharine Weymouth said she was canceling her plans for "an exclusive 'salon' at her home where for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists...off-the-record access to 'those powerful few.'"

*** Update: Gibbs takes on the WashPost pay-for-play controversy:

Reminder: good sources for updates on Iran: the New York Times' the Lede & Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish. Also, Nico Pitney at the Huffington Post is still "live-blogging the uprising" & has late-breaking info.