There's a bit of a hissy fit going on in the bookselling world over the imminent release of Robert Kuttner's book "Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency".  The book is touted as an exciting vision of Barack Obama's opportunity to create a truly transformative moment in American political life,

Publishing house Chelsea Green is very excited about the book.  They've ordered an initial press run of 75,000 copies, their largest ever.  But they are also promoting a pre=publication marketing strategy that has  both independent bookstores and the big chains feeling very peeved.

Barnes & Noble, however has taken their peevishness a major step forward: they have canceled their in-store order for the book, and will only offer it to customers as a special order on their web site or in stores.  This is likely to seriously diminish the distribution of this important book.

Follow me below the fold for details...

The Obama Nation, by 'Swiftboat coauthor Jerome Corsi, is hitting bookstores tomorrow.  I've been browsing through an advance copy, and thought I would offer up a sneak peek.

My primary impression is that this book is no Swiftboat.  Instead, it seems to have all the firepower of a leaky old rowboat.  It is truly a strange book, investing much of its argument in psycho-babble analysis of Obama's father, rehashing the same old 'scandals' that blew up and quickly fizzled out during the primaries, and stretching for some almost laughable scare tactics (did you know Obama's invoking the idea of change is nothing more than code for "the redistribution of income that Saul Alinsky ad in mind when he advocated using 'Change' as a radical socialist call to action.")

Publication date was originally set for August 5th, but was moved up.  I suspect the reason is that more and more of Corsi's assertions are going out of date every day.

Join me below the fold for more...

John McCain was in the Philadelphia suburbs the other night, and and he went way beyond promising a chicken in every pot:

Sen. John McCain picked up $1.5 million for his campaign and the Republican Party during a cocktail reception Monday night in an air-conditioned tent on the grounds of a Bryn Mawr estate.

The GOP's nominee-in-waiting also may have discovered a new housing policy.

Every citizen should have a mansion like the "modest tract home" that was next to him, McCain joked. Owned by real-estate mogul Mitchell L. Morgan and his wife, Hilarie, the sprawling house features six garages and an elaborate pool with fountains.

"This is one of the differences between me and Sen. Obama," the Arizona senator said. "Sen. Obama wants every American to have a home. I want every American to have a home like that."

How absolutely fabulous!  Let's get excited below!

Tomorrow is the release date for Doug Feith's War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism.  Here is the beginning of Chapter 1:

The threat of jihadist terrorism was on the list of U.S. government concerns at the start of the Bush administration in early 2001, but it got less attention than Russia did.  As a first order of business, President George W. Bush wanted his new administration to ensure, if possible, that Russia and the United States would never revive the nuclear tensions of the Cold War.

OK, so Bush enters office dismissive of the terrorist threat, but all ready to take on the Cold War.  Let's see where it goes from there...

Production of the iconic Polaroid Instant camera--point, shoot and shake--has already ceased over the past couple years, but now Polaroid has announced it will no longer make instant film either:

The company, which stopped making instant cameras for consumers a year ago and for commercial use a year before that, said today that as soon as it had enough instant film manufactured to last it through 2009, it would stop making that, too. Three plants that make large-format instant film will close by the end of the quarter, and two that make consumer film packets will be shut by the end of the year, Bloomberg News reports.

Watch this develop below...

Last month I volunteered to take another Feminisms slot in January, though this time without any real topic.  Although I’ve had my antennae alert for any political and/or cultural news that might inspire me, no one single topic or event quite pulled me in.  I considered doing a relaxing Night at the Movies, featuring some favorite films by foreign (read non-USA) women film directors, but never had the time to properly rent and review them.

In the end, I’ve decided to just present the small story of one woman, born in 1932 and died in 2001, and how her private life played out against the social developments of 1950s, 60s and 70s.  I’m not even sure what the message or moral of this tale is; I hope to hear your opinions on the matter in the comments.

In any case, I hope you find it interesting.  Please join me below...

So, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signals that the Fed will be cutting interest rates again, this time perhaps by a half percent.

Oh, it'll be great for the economy, he says.

Consumers and businesses face tight credit conditions, as financial markets indiscriminately shun mortgage-related investments, good and bad, and banks hoard money to protect their own balance sheets, he said.

What is never said is that for poor schlubs like me, it means the interest earned on savings and money market accounts goes down.  Follow me down...

Hey everyone!  Remember THIS bit of news from last March?

A new plan for layoffs at the Circuit City electronics retailer is openly targeting better-paid workers, risking a public backlash by implying that its wages are as subject to discounts as its flat-screen TVs.

The electronics retailer, facing larger competitors and falling sales, said Wednesday that it would lay off about 3,400 store workers — immediately — and replace them with lower-paid new hires as soon as possible.

Well, it seems that didn't turn out so well for them after all.  The results below the fold...

Ah, my 2008 Harvard Planner arrived today.  It is my preferred desk agenda, and this fresh paginated slab of goal-setting and time-tracking features always gets my juices flowing for the year ahead.

Also, the 2008 calendar is up in the office at work, letting me start to pencil in what days off and vacation time I want for the coming year.

And damn, it looks like a momentous year ahead.  Will you join me below as I pencil in items large and small, and perhaps share your own expectations for 2008?

Now arriving in bookstores is Naomi Wolf's The End of America, and I recommend it most highly.  It reminds me somewhat of Glenn Greenwald's How Would a Patriot Act? from last year, but with its more up-to-date information and its compelling frame, it offers an excellent guide to what we need to do as we enter the new legislative season and next year's elections.

Michael Ratner, of the Center for Constitutional Rights, offers a succinct distillation of the book's premise in his recommendation:

Most Americans reject outright any comparison of post 9/11 America with the fascism and totalitarianism of Nazi Germany or Pinochet's Chile.  Sadly, the parallels and similarities, what Wolf calls the 'echoes' between those societies and America today, are all too compelling.

Join me below the fold for more...

We here at Big Chain Bookstore know when we've goofed.

Yes, we initially said we would not be carrying the O.J. Simpson book If I Did It, even though murder victim Ron Goldman's family has been awarded the proceeds as partial settlement in their wrongful death suit against Simpson.  We know we initially said:

"Our buyers don't feel there will be enough of a demand to carry it in our stores," [said] Barnes & Noble spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating.

Spokeswoman Ann Binkley said Borders "will not promote or market the book in any way."

But that was before your pre-orders sent the book shooting up the bestseller lists!  This book is going to be the biggest thing since Harry Potter!  We therefore are pleased to announce that we've reversed course and will now be throwing a gala publication eve O. J. Simpson Midnight Madness party in all our stores!

Details below...

A couple weeks ago, there was a lot of controversy stirred up when Mike Stark confronted Bill O'Reilly at his home, posted embarressing placards around his neighborhood, and provided his neighbors with transcripts of O'Reilly's sexually harassing 'falafel fantasy.'

My gut reaction was that harassing people at their homes is an unacceptable tactic.  Still, I asked myself, is there some point along the spectrum of political activism in which this tactic might be acceptable?

Mike Stark and his supporters believe O'Reilly, by using his program to goad listeners into a potentially dangerous hatred for progressives, has already passed that point.  I'm not convinced...and yet, a form of protest used in Argentina over the past ten years does have me pondering where my limits are.

Please join me below the fold for a look at the 'escrache,' in which young activists hold mass demonstrations at the homes of military and police officials who were responsible for--but never punished for--the torture and deaths of 30,000 people during the dictatorship of the 1970s.

Back from YearlyKos, feeling the drumbeat of excitement over all the possibilities that unfolded there, though also feeling a bit overwhelmed and unfocused about what to do next.  But I'm sure that will pass.

And there was certainly the bitter disappointment over the passage of the FISA bill. My feeling of still being SO FAR from a true progressive agenda despite our genuine progress in getting Dems elected was heightened by by Matt Miller's commentary Phoney Populist Fears Have Gripped America in today's Financial Times.  Here's the money quote:

Over three decades, America’s conservative movement has so deftly shifted the boundaries of debate to the right that even modest adjustments to the market system can be cast as the second coming of Marx without anyone blushing. Today’s phony populist fears also remind us that the real problem with the media is not ideology but stenography. If official sources call something "populist" often enough, it is.

More below...

I hate air conditioning.  I hate the feel of it, I hate the smell of it, I hate the sound of it.  I certainly hate the electricity-devouring environmental destructiveness of it.

I know there are many of you out there who suffer terribly in the heat.  Mrs. DebtorsPrison is one of them, in fact, which is why we have one of those infernal snarling, grinding, dripping, electric-meter-spinning plastic boxes blocking out half the natural daylight from one of our bedroom windows.

I don't have to be married to you to have enough sweet compassion to understand that maybe you also really suffer from the heat, and really need to have that air conditioning.  But that won't stop me from bitching a little bit about it, and also asking you to be thoughtful in your use of it.

Heat rising below the fold...

Zounds!  Only three weeks until YKos II, and I'm excited.  Last year was an incredible experience...dare I say life-changing?  Dare i say country-changing?

Well, yes, I do dare say it.  Or at least it offered a glimmer of hope.  The organizing we did last year I believe truly did much towards winning back control of Congress, and although we may bemoan the fact that things haven't changed fast enough or far enough, imagine how much worse things could be with the Repubs still with a total stranglehold on power.

As for me, I've become more involved politically in this past year than ever before, and much of that is due to the tools and the energy garnered in Las Vegas last year.  And yet, I also feel some personal disappointment: I also have not changed far enough or fast enough.

I approach our meeting in Chicago with both the high expectations of an even more inspiring and empowering experience, and the fear of being disappointed this time.  I hope you'll indulge me, and also share your own thoughts below the fold...

Actually, it's not bloggers yet.  Real estate developer Samir Benakmoume has threatened legal action against a mere message board because he didn't like the fact that people were making critical comments about one of his developments in a couple of lively threads.

The owner of the message board has pulled the threads rather than face a legal battle with the deep-pocketed and politically connected Benakmoume.

What was being discussed that so enraged Mr. Benakmoume?  A probably illegal sidewalk land grab alongside his newly constructed loft condo building, consisting of a raised concrete terrace that leaves such a thin strip of sidewalk that wheelchairs and strollers cannot get past.

Join me below for the full story...

I woke up in the middle of the night last night, seized with the fear that the 75 rolls of duct tape in my Department of Homeland Security-approved Biological Attack Preparedness Kit might have dried out and lost their stickiness.  After all, it's been over four years already, and who knows how long that stuff stays sticky.  Bad enough that the duct tape packaging instructs you to apply the tape to a clean surface, and I haven't cleaned my walls, door jambs or window frames in four years.  Did I really need to also discover, in the panic of a biological attack, that my tape had gone as dry as a Democratic Congressman's powder?

So I went nosing around the internet, trying to find Homeland Security's specifications for duct tape viability, and stumbled across the surprising news that this very Sunday, Homeland Security would be carrying out a test of a vital Biological Attack Emergency Preparedness Exercise right here in my own city.

Not only that, but there was going to be Sunday mail delivery! Who says Homeland Security can't get things done.

Join me below the fold...

They call themselves "permanently pregnant."  They've been pregnant now for thirty long years.

It's not what the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo imagined for themselves in 1977.  Back then, they were just a small group of frightened housewives, wanting nothing more than to know where their children were.  Most of them knew little about politics.  Many of them had never before even ventured out of  their tradition-bound, working class neighborhoods.  But now, here they were, trembling in front of the Government House in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina, demanding that the military dictators tell them where. their children were.

I first met the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo twenty years ago, during a four month stay in Buenos Aires, and my involvment with them then remains one of my most powerful experiences.  Back then, in 1987, they'd come a long way since those frightened first meetings ten years earlier.  In the twenty years since, they've traveled a remarkable political journey.

Please join me below the fold for a look at this remarkable group of women, and for some thoughts on motherhood and politics...