Waterboarding, Lies, and Videotapes: Part Deux

PLUS: Global warming is the 8th deadly sin...A bad guy’s ousted from the State Department. Yes, another one...Bribing to get by in the third world...All the Sunday audio you can handle...A baby’s cute, but a diamond’s forever...Everyone panic over pig brain flu...and, finally, all we want for Christmas is a $54,000 bottle of scotch. Today is December 10th, and this is Mic Check. You like us. You really, really like us.

Celebration Excuse

HAPPY HUMAN RIGHTS DAY!

1817

Mississippi becomes the 20th US state. 2005 (and then again in 2006) Mississippi becomes the fattest state in the Union. Take that temperance and moderation!

1902

Tasmanian women are granted suffrage. So let’s get this straight: Women in Tasmania had the right to vote and the US was still a few decades away. That seems… counterintuitive.

1906

President Teddy Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize, and becomes the first American to win a Nobel Prize of any kind. What are you going to do today? Not win a Nobel Prize, that’s for sure. …Lazy.

1948

The UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Thus the holiday. What is there to not like about human rights? Huh?!

1971

St. Louis Cardinals quarterback Jim Hart throws a pass for 98 yards. Holy misleading wording, Batman! (He didn’t actually throw the ball 98 yards)

AND IF HUMAN RIGHTS AREN’T REASON ENOUGH TO GET EXCITED

1394: James I of Scotland, King of Scotland for more than thirty years

1962: Harland Williams, Canadian comedian from such films as Half Baked and Employee of the Month

1974: Meg White, drummer and vocalist of Detroit rock duo the White Stripes

Daybook

STUMPIN

The Democratic presidential debate from Los Angeles, California

Barack Obama campaigns in Los Angeles with musical guests the Goo Goo Dolls and Ne Yo

Dennis Kucinich campaigns in New Hampshire

Mitt Romney fundraises in Balitomore

CONGRESS

HOUSE

The House convenes at 3 PM in pro forma session. “Pro forma” basically means they’re meeting as long as they have to for it to count as an official day and then leaving.

9 AM

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Domestic Policy Subcommittee holds a field hearing in Fallbrook, California on the October wildfires. The committee hears testimony from a number of people including Tony Morris, founder of the Wildfire Research Network, Nancy Ward, the regional administrator for FEMA, and a number of fire chiefs.

SENATE

The Senate is in session but there are no votes or committees scheduled.

TV

TIVO…

Oprah: The Best! Illusionist Criss Angel, McSteamy from Grey’s Anatomy, and Masters champion golfer Zach Johnson

The View: Sopranos psychiatrist Lorraine Bracco, with R&B group Boyz II Men

Regis and Kelly: My Name is Earl star Jason Lee, Mad Money’s Jim Cramer, and singer Josh Groban

Ellen: West Wing alum Allison Janney, Gossip Girl’s Chase Crawford, and musical guest Bonnie Brown

STAY UP FOR…

Letterman:  Jeff Goldblum, Angelina Jolie, Third Eye Blind (Rerun)

Leno: Kelly Ripa, Simon Cowell, Liz Phair (Rerun)

Late Late Show: TBA

Conan: Comedian Wanda Sykes, Pamela Anderson, and magician Hans Klok (Rerun)

Kimmel: Will Forte, Perez Hilton, Rilo Kiley (Rerun)

Daily Show: Actor, comedian, and musician Jaime Foxx (Rerun)

Colbert Report: 7 time Tour de France cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong (Rerun)

 

Eavesdrop

WHAT THE KIDS ARE SAYING ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Who: Jenny Odegard, senior at the University of Minnesota and resident Midwesterner, and Michael Kmet. Michael hails from Olympia, Washington (which is not underwater right now) and is a junior at Ithaca College of Ithaca, New York.
What: With all the talk about climate change this week, MicCheck was wondering what young people in our country had to say on the subject. (They’re our future!)

Why you should care: The whole world is focused on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali, Indonesia this week and it is the United States’ opportunity to step up and lead the world. Historically the US has been the largest greenhouse gas emitter per capita in the world and now is the chance to change the economy to a low carbon, job-creating, energy-independicizing (we made that one up) machine. But what has the Bush Administration done? Nothing. So here is what the next generation of leaders has to say on the subject. Listen up.

THE AUDIO

  • You can count Jenny as at least one person who will definitely be voting on climate issues, noting some of the issues that the current administration has failed to address.
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  • She goes on to talk about the benefits a green economy would have on her generation.
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  • Jenny calls out her school, hoping that it will take the opportunity it has as a research institution to create some green changes on campus.
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  • Michael praises the work his school for the work they’re doing to keep Ithaca “gorges.”
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  • Finally, Jenny tells us the sad story of what happens when people make the argument, “Well it’s still cold in Minnesota in January. Where’s your global warming now?”
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Popularity Contest

These stories just got invited to prom...

NYT: The 53 Places to Go in 2008

WP:
Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002

LAT: In Hollywood, the fade to black begins

USAT: Gators’ Tebow is first sophomore to win Heisman

CBS: An Invisible Enemy

ABC: Did Iceland Teen Call Secret White House Phone?

MSNBC: 2 dead, 2 hurt in Colo. Christian dorm shooting

FOX: Sly Stone’s Stage Debacle

CNN: 4 shot outside church, police say

Masthead

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Mic Check is produced every weekday by Christy Harvey, Sara Langhinrichs and Nicole Murphy, and is a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Read more about Mic Check.

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