Glenn Beck is a menace to civil society

You know I try to ignore Fox's favorite idiot pundit but his speech at CPAC keeps coming back to me. He's gone beyond relatively harmless kooky conspiracy theories into actively, if subliminally, promoting violence again. I hadn't realized how far he's taken this theme until David Neiwert assembled a video clip of six months worth of his subtle fomenting of hatred. I couldn't bring myself to watch it, but as Neiwert says about the CPAC speech:

To wild applause, [Beck] labeled this alleged tumor of "community;" the supposedly evil "progressivism" -- and he told disciples to "eradicate it" from the nation. [...]

What motivates this kind of talk and behavior is called eliminationism: a politics and a culture that shuns dialogue and the democratic exchange of ideas in favor of the pursuit of outright elimination of the opposing side, either through suppression, exile, and ejection, or extermination.

Beck is calling progressives a cancer on society. It doesn't take much imagination to envision one of his cultists acting literally on that eradication imagery in order to impress his "leader."

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Don't call them centrists dammit

We probably would have health care reform by now if not for this sort of stupid media narrative.

The future of President Obama’s health care overhaul now rests largely with two blocs of swing Democrats in the House of Representatives — abortion opponents and fiscal conservatives — whose indecision signals the difficulties Speaker Nancy Pelosi faces in securing the votes necessary to pass the bill.

They aren't "fiscal conservatives" or "centrists" at all. They are gutless, bought off corporate lackeys. As for the nanny government theocrats, I guess anti-abortion is accurate enough, but I prefer to call them anti-choice and anti-women's health. What really galls me though, is that if these spineless Dems in Congress had got their act together and passed this thing six months ago, by now people would have forgotten about how outraged they were because none of the horribe lies of the GOP would have come true. But instead, these gutless cowards are now going to be "protecting their seats" and be afraid to do anything at all.

The irony is, they're screwed either way. People are just as pissed at how much they dick around doing nothing as they are about what they finally do. Incumbents are in jeopardy no matter what, a fact clearly not lost on the dozens who are quitting. I'm thinking the silver lining here, no matter what the party split on the floor ends up being, is that we get rid a lot of these old dinosaurs who have been in office way too long already.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Standing on shaky ground

Damn. Yet another major earthquake, this time in Chile. The tsunami warnings are reaching all over the Pacific, including Hawaii. Sure seems like there's been a whole lot of these all around the world lately. Kind of takes the humor out of the rapture/armangeddon jokes.

Somebody on Twitter said they were wondering if maybe the Mayans were onto something after all. And of course, someone brought up Breitbart's threat to "destroy the institutional left" in the next two weeks. But when these strings happen, I recall reading the book of Revelations in the Bible about 40 years ago. One image that stuck with me for all these years was the prediction that natural disasters would slowly increase in frequency -- like a woman in labor pains. On the other hand, I can recall making that connection more than once over that time.

Anyway, sending thoughts of safety and survival to Chile and everyone else in the path of this destruction.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Please Make McCain Go Away

Will somebody please tell the media that McCain lost the election and has absolutely nothing of consequence to add to any discussion. Bad enough he's going to be on Meet the Press again this Sunday, for the 20th effin' time, but ABC gives him a big piece on their website today after he made an idiot of himself at yesterday's summit. The old geezer warns that "passing a Senate bill with 51 votes in what's called budget reconciliation would have 'cataclysmic effects.'" What's he going to do? Start farting loudly on the Senate floor?

McCain has no particular power or importance in the Senate since he lost the election in a landslide over a year ago. He's a sad and bitter loser. I know the media love that tire swing at his ranch but the rest of America is sick and tired of hearing his lastest paraphrase of "get off my lawn." Enough already.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Atheists get an audience at the White House

In a counterpoint to the post below on the theocratic coup attempt going on in my state, this is a real change. In fact it's another historic first.

White House officials will this morning meet with leaders of the atheist community, who will discuss their concerns about the "privileging of religion" by the government "that harms real people," in the words of Sean Faircloth, executive director of the Secular Coalition of America.

I suspect it will turn out to be more symbolic than productive in terms of policy, but it's good to see the government acknowledge that non-Christians should have a voice too.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Separation of Church and State - Updated

In a county nearby to me the county commissioners voted on whether to appeal a court order telling them they couldn't open their meetings with prayers that specifically reference Jesus. The county wouldn't be paying for the appeal, a bunch of fundie churches apparently are willing to spend hundreds of thousands to "protect their freedom of religion." Don't ask me why but I read the comments and became so irritated, I actually left several comments under an assumed name.

I jumped in at the first dozen or so, and then again a few times at around 115 in. Didn't expect it to last more than one day, but it's still up. I'm betting you can guess which one I am.

Update: Sorry, I linked to wrong article. My comments are here at the local Fox afilliate's post. They've since updated the story and the appeal has been filed.

The initial coverage led me to believe this was going to be funded by a local Christian alliance, but as it turns out, this is a project of the Alliance Defense Fund, a national organization run by far right theocrats. Founded by Dobson of Focus on the Family, its funders include Erik Prince of Blackwater, and his sister Betsy DeVos who is married to Richard DeVos who made his fortune on the Amway scam. Another funder is Bolthouse Farms, who sell organic products in health food stores, including Whole Foods. You might want to keep that in mind when you're shopping there.

The latest figures I can find show the Alliance is sitting on at least a $39 million war chest to pursue their theocratic agenda, that includes anti-choice, anti-equal marriage initatives, and encouraging spiritual leaders to endorse candidates from the pulpit so they have test cases towards establishing churches be allowed to abridge the separation of church and state in this manner without losing their tax-exempt status.

Also sitting on their board is Charles Pickering as Senior Counsel. You may recognize the name from when Bush made a recess appointment to seat him on the Fifth Circuit court. His nomination had been blocked because of his dismal civil rights record on the lower bench. A look at the Alliance's allies turns up the Heritage Foundation among other orgs dedicated to destroying free choice and government as we know it.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Health Care Summit - Updated 2X

The bipartisan health insurance reform summit has started and will be going on until around 4:00. You can watch it streaming live at various blogs, the White House website and CSPAN. I'm hearing Sunlight Foundation is streaming live and every time a speaker begins, they're showing their major donors on the screen.

I'm not going to last much longer myself. The GOPers are raising my blood pressure with the same old rhetoric. They're looking like idiots and they're clearly unprepared to discuss specifics. For what it's worth I think Obama is doing well in smacking the GOPers down and he's hasn't even warmed up yet.

Update: I ended up watching most of it. It was the usual kind of blowhard gathering of politicos, but Obama's summation was great. Sadly, after 7+ hours, it can easily be summed up in short: Democrats - It's a good bill. GOPers - Kill the bill and start over. Obama - Pass the damn bill.

Update Two: KosTV has a good highlight clip and of course much more is archived at WhiteHouse.gov.

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Black(water) Ops

The living scandal based in my state, Blackwater, is caught in fraud again.

Employees of the CIA-connected private security corporation Blackwater diverted hundreds of weapons, including more than 500 AK-47 assault rifles, from a U.S. weapons bunker in Afghanistan intended to equip Afghan policemen, according to an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee. On at least one occasion, an individual claiming to work for the company evidently signed for a weapons shipment using the name of a “South Park” cartoon character. And Blackwater has yet to return hundreds of the guns to the military.

The Great Orange Satan adds:

This is not the first time Blackwater has faced allegations of diverted weapons. In 2007, company employees came under federal investigation for improperly shipping hundreds of weapons to Iraq, some of which are believed to have been sold on the black market and acquired by a Kurdish terrorist group.

And Jeremy Scahill reminds us that Blackwater has had over 20 alter-egos, shell companies, etc. and "is likely to win a new $1 billion Afghan training contract next month." This is really unacceptable. I realize that Blackwater is probably the only provider of mercenaries that is big enough to furnish the kind of manpower they need to supplement the seriously stretched military Bush left behind but it's all the more reason we should leave Afghanistan. Subsidizing their criminality is just plain wrong.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

George Soros has a blog

Well okay, George doesn't actually have his own blog. From what I hear the man hates the internets and doesn't even go online. But his main NGO, OpenSociety just started a blog. It's pretty good so far. Check it out.

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Obama Speaks to Big Business Leaders

One of the best things about Twitter, especially for someone like me who doesn't have cable anymore, is that the White House press tweets from President Obama's speeches. A few sound bites from his roundtable today with Big Business leaders.

WestWingReport: President says partisan differences in the U.S. could cripple economic growth.

Mark Knoller: Obama defends government role as providing "a social safety net" for all Americans. Says too often - the social safety net is "greeted with cries of "government takeover" or even "socialism." Tells execs we need business leaders who understand that private enterprise comes with a public responsibility.

Obama calls for new comprehensive financial regulatory reform and consumer protection agency. Told CEOs we can no longer afford the kind of politics where we "turn against one another, and find scapegoats to blame."

Chuck Todd: Obama: "we have arrived at a juncture in our politics where reasonable efforts to update our regulations, or make basic investments in our future, are too often greeted with cries of "government takeover" or even "socialism. Getting this balance right has less to do with big government or small government than it does smart government."

Tweets not necessarily in order but for all the griping about how Obama is selling us out to Big Business, and acknowledging that this is just a speech, think it's still a bold move for him to make these statements in this context

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Lieberman shocked to learn privatization going on at DHS

In today's episode of "Our Senators Are Useless Lumps" Lieberman and Collins hold a presser.

The Department of Homeland Security has more contractors working for it than full-time employees, a situation two members of Congress said Tuesday was "unacceptable, untenable and unsustainable."

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and ranking Republican Susan Collins said they were "astounded" to learn there are more than 200,000 contractor employees at the department.

They just figured this out? Lieberman has been Chair of the Committee since 1/4/07 and the previous chair was -- yes you guessed it -- Susan Collins. Isn't it their job to keep track of what's going on at DHS? They didn't notice until now that the Bush administration was privatizing the agency? Guess Lieberman was too busy calling for hearings on the H1N1 vaccine and killing health care reform to notice sooner.

On the bright side, the Obama administration is already on the case. They have been "actively converting contractor positions to government positions and will continue to build on these efforts at an even more aggressive pace this year." So I guess the point of the presser is to demonstrate how incompetent Lierberman and Collins have been in fulfilling their responsibility to exercise oversight?

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Just give me some kind of sign...

Somehow I lost the day and I need to go out and get some food to fill my empty cupboards so a little linkfest to fill in the white space.

Southern Beale discovers the far right's next target. First they came for ACORN....

In better news, Mark Knoller reports from today's presser that the White House is telling Congress Obama supports repeal of anti-trust exemptions for health insurance companies.

WIth assets totaling about $2.5 trillion in Dec 2009, there is no Social Security crisis. Really.

This is so creepy. Meet the Oath Keepers, the fast-growing "patriot" group recruiting soldiers to resist the Obama administration who are loosely afilliated with the Tea Party people. The quote that really struck me was the miltia guy who said, "I trusted Bush to only go after the terrorists."

Which is ironic considering Obama has caught more Taliban leaders in 1 month than Bush/Cheney did in 7 years.

A brilliant insight from O'Toole Fan: How can it be a "government takeover" of health care if private insurance companies get 30 million new customers?

A compelling movie trailer for a foreign film. The Berlin Wall as seen through the eyes of rabbits. Sounds weird but it sticks with you.

And a couple of links I've been afraid to open because I think I'll end up getting lost at the sites. Not sure how to describe this youtube mashup site but it was posted with the caveat: Bet you can't spend less than 10 mins on here. I looked at it and I'm betting they're right. It looks like too much fun.

And I don't dare even open this until I'm sure I have time since it combines two of my loves. Vintage airline posters, 1,400 of them.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Stenography has consequences

The traditional media blithely took dictation for the Bush administration and are in some ways as responsible for the economic mess we're in now, as the banksters. They've served their corporate masters in talking down the Obama administration's attempts at recovery. They failed to provide the context to the GOP agenda of failure that would have prevented the worst of the false GOP narratives to get legs. They felt secure in their special place in the Village. The economy didn't affect their lifestyles, so they merrily plyed the horserace narrative for at least three years running now.

Well it's all fun, until somebody gets downsized. Hot on the heels of the shakedown at CBS, now it's ABC cutting 20% of their news staffers. That's about 300+ jobs.

Forced to belt-tighten by the weak advertising market, network executives have opted to restructure the labor-heavy newsroom from top to bottom in favor of a leaner, more nimble operation, according to multiple sources. Many of those remaining in the pared-down news division will be expected to both produce and shoot their own stories, acting as “one-man bands,” a model increasingly being adopted in television news.

Of course, the ad market is weak at least partly because of the economy. Maybe if they had been more skeptical of unfunded wars and Bushenomic booms, there would be more money to go around. Additionally, they're losing their market share of ad revenue to online sites because the gossip posing as news model simply doesn't work for their medium. The young people will go to the internets because they're faster and do the gossip better and with more snark than is allowed in the tradmed. The old people who don't use the internets are sick of the gossip and have tuned out.

Downsizing may save them for a while, but in the long term, the news industry is going to die unless they figure out what they can deliver that the internets can't -- fact based investigative reporting that's willing to call a lie -- a lie. Sadly, I doubt in the chase for profits that they'll realize it in time to save themselves.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Not really funny

You've probably heard Dick Cheney was hospitalized. I didn't want to get into it on Twitter, but I'm appalled at how many liberals are joking about it. Maybe it's just me, but no matter how vile I find someone, I don't wish them ill - ever.

Sorry, but I don't see how snarking about anyone in a health crisis makes us any better than the creepy conservatives that cheer the failures of their opponents.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Scott Brown lets Tea Party down

Today Scott Brown voted with Democrats on cloture for the jobs bill. Of course, this is just to avoid a filibuster. It's not at all clear he will vote for the bill although his statement certainly holds out that possibility. Meanwhile, the tea party people on twitter are howling with outrage at the "betrayal." Doesn't he know they worked so hard to get him elected so he would say no to everything Obama wants?

Of course, to anyone who knows Massachusetts, this is no great shock. Despite all the silly talk about a conservative revolution, I knew he would be more moderate than anyone expected. Brown doesn't appear to be the brightest bulb in the lamp, but he knows the only reason he won is because Coakley was such a dismal candidate. If he wants to keep that job, his constituency is basically liberal and he can't be a knee-jerk no voter and expect to get re-elected. Of course, that will lose the tea party support that also helped him win. If I were a betting sort, I wouldn't put money on his being more than a placeholder in the long run.

Update: Ironically, Dem Sen Nelson, whom I'm told received some 500K in support from DNC, voted against cloture. Pretty bad investment of resources.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Spoil the nation, Starve the beast

Krugman takes on the phony fiscal conservatives this morning. He notes the GOPers talk big, but cower when it comes to walking the talk.

So the beast is starving, as planned. It should be time, then, for conservatives to explain which parts of the beast they want to cut. And President Obama has, in effect, invited them to do just that, by calling for a bipartisan deficit commission.

Of course GOPers refused to do that.

Why are Republicans reluctant to sit down and talk? Because they would then be forced to put up or shut up. Since they’re adamantly opposed to reducing the deficit with tax increases, they would have to explain what spending they want to cut. And guess what? After three decades of preparing the ground for this moment, they’re still not willing to do that. [...]

At this point, then, Republicans insist that the deficit must be eliminated, but they’re not willing either to raise taxes or to support cuts in any major government programs. And they’re not willing to participate in serious bipartisan discussions, either, because that might force them to explain their plan — and there isn’t any plan, except to regain power.

As Dr Krugman says, it's apparent "the de facto strategy is to oppose any responsible action until we are in the midst of a fiscal catastrophe." Yes, these are the people who claim to put Country First. Bah. In essence, this strategy is de facto domestic terrorism.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Born of Hope

Too nice to stay indoors blogging today, but if you're having crummy weather, here's some links for a Sunday afternoon.

First of all, I don't know how I missed this, but my friend Repsac3 has a blog, Wingnuts and Moonbats that isn't on my blogroll. Go over and say hi. He's got an interesting exchange with Breibart at the top right now and of course, I'll be adding him to the roll.

Meanwhile I see my former stalker and professional wingnut troll, the donald douglas, is still haunting the internets and spewing his idiotic vitriol around the intertubes. My advice, as always, to my buddy Octopus at Swashzone is ignore and delete the jerk, but to each his own.

This is why I get a little irritated with the near constant criticism of Obama. I know the guy is not perfect, but for crying out loud, this is why I voted for him. Perceptions of US leadership improved significantly from 08 to 09. That's a change, isn't it? One I think is really important to our national security.

This PSA isn't moving like the last one I posted, but seems very useful. A different kind of CPR. Easier than the traditional version.

You know I love streaming webcams. This one is charming me lately. Hunmmingbird nest, complete with baby bird.

This gallery is amazing. Via Avedon whom I've sadly neglected for far too long, an astounding minature world. The detail is stunning.

I haven't watched these yet, but they're getting rave reviews. Greg Mitchell's History of Rock and Roll. Some may remember that Greg is the former editor of Crawdaddy, so he knows what he's talking about.

This was so spooky. Previously unpublished photos of the Beatles taken in the 1960s and forgotten in a drawer. One shot is eerily prescient.

And as a lifelong Tolkien fan, this makes me happy. There's links here to a trailer and an hour long video prequel to Lord of the Rings. Born of Hope. Interesting back story too.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

A day at the White House

For all the griping about how Obama is no different than Bush, there have been changes. People were clamoring for years about having the White House visitor logs made public. The Bush White House spent millions of tax dollars fighting the request for just a few names. The Obama administration has now made every visitor's name and purpose public. You can read about a typical day and sorry it's the WaPo, but this one bit struck me as most significant.

While Boguslaw performed, Obama's 132 guests entered and passed the piano. There were more than a dozen members of Congress, each deposited moments earlier by personal drivers on East Executive Avenue.

Congresslizards have personal drivers? And who pays for that?

How far is it from the White House to Capitol Hill anyway? I'm thinking it would be good for them to walk. But even if that's not possible, don't you think they could have a shuttle of some kind instead of being chauffeured individually? No wonder they feel like freaking royalty; they treat themselves like kings.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

The ConCon chooses

CPAC is over for another year, ending with their traditional straw poll that to my knowledge has never actually foretold the eventual nominee, but the results are interesting. This is the best and the brightest of the GOP's future, at least according to the "new" conservatives:

2010 CPAC Straw Poll Results
Ron Paul 31%
Mitt Romney 22%
Sarah Palin 7%
Tim Pawlenty 6%
Mike Pence 5%
Newt Gingrich 4%
Mike Huckabee 4%
Mitch Daniels 2%
John Thune 2%
Rick Santorum 2%
Haley Barbour 1%

I'm surprised that Scott Brown wasn't on their list. Thought he was their new golden boy. Via Dana at WaPo. No need to click the link. The post didn't really say anything else of interest.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Oh (Big) Brother

I've been holding off on this story until more details came out, but it appears to be true that a school system in PA was spying on students via the built-in webcam on their school issued laptops. The feature is said to have been activated 42 times this year, allegedly in response to reports they were lost or missing. However, the lawsuit here was filed after a vice principal confronted a student with a photo taken of him at home via the laptop.

According to the complaint, nobody reported that computer missing and some students admit covering the lens with post-it notes when they notice the activation light came on for the webcam. In the instant case, the kid says he was "eating Mike & Ike candy in his home, but that school officials thought it showed him using drugs." Of course, the real issue is why is the school monitoring what any kid does off campus?

Also, according to the earlier reports, some parents are concerned the school officials were watching students undress, among "other compromising situations." The whole scheme is just chilling. No wonder kids don't respect authority anymore.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Embrace life

I found this PSA incredibly moving. Quite possibly the best one I've ever seen, at least that I can recall. And it's a good reminder.



Via Josh Levin at CNN

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All healthcare politics are local

After living her efor five years, I've finally begun to take an interest in the local politics. They're not quite as dismal as I thought. This guy, NC house candidate Marcus Brandon isn't in my district, but I like the way he thinks about health insurance reform.

Brandon has promised that if he is elected, the first piece of legislation he will introduce will be the "North Carolina Healthcare Act" which will provide universal single-payer healthcare to every citizen of the state.

Brandon says that he remains a supporter of national single-payer healthcare and will continue lobbying for passage of HR 676, Congressman John Conyers' bill:

"The HR 676 fight is definitely not over, but we must now strategically shift the focus to the state level. When other states see that we can cut the cost of healthcare, streamline our medical industry, and still provide universal coverage to all North Carolinians, then all of the sudden, single-payer health care doesn't look so bad."

Hope he wins. Meanwhile, deadline to file is today and I just discovered last night that my district, along with 18 others, doesn't even have a Democratic candidate running. Also recently discovered that the local GOP website is kicking the Dems butt. Their website is pathetic. Thinking I may have discovered why the universe sent me to this place. These folks need some serious help in organizing.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

This one is for Capt. Fogg

I may just quit blogging after reading this about incendiary blog posts. This guy and his commenters may have truly won the internets forever. It's pitch perfect. Think our own Sultan of Syntax, Fogg, will enjoy it.

Via watertiger who always has a bunch of fun stuff every single day.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Breaking: White House library has books!

While I'm on the subject of idiot wingnut bloggers, Matt flags one of their leading lights who breathlessly posted a big scoop. It appears this imbecile took a break from the far right clown convention, otherwise known as CPAC, to take a tour of the White House. He discovered the White House library -- and sit down for this -- has books in it! Socialist books! He claimed the tour guide said Michelle picked out the collection herself.

Of course, in that pesky liberal reality, the books have been there since the 1960s. The nutter's response: "Oh well then, nevermind..." I didn't check because I won't give these idiots a single hit of traffic, but I'm willing to bet that he didn't correct his post.

And of course, even if Michelle had chosen to have those books in the library, so what? Is every person who read Mein Kampf, a Nazi? Every person who ever read Mao's little red book, a communist? One wonders how these people even tie their own shoes or feed themselves.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

A nation of blithering idiots

If you wonder who the constituency for far right liars is, it is people who think The Flintstones was a documentary cartoon.

Nearly a third of Texans believe humans and dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time, and more than half disagree with the theory that humans developed from earlier species of animals, according to the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

Even more frightening, the textbook industry is largely based in Texas and it's people who believe this idiotic drivel who are writing them. As long as these lunatics are taken seriously, we really are doomed.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Recovery Act Working

Yesterday was the anniversary of the American Relief and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as the Recovery Act or alternately, the stimulus bill. While today's unemployment report wasn't very promising and while I also hate the tactics the White House used to get here, it does appear that it's working.

Larger view of the chart and more details at the link. Of course there's still a long way to go to repair the dismal unemployment situation, but it's good to step back and look at the big picture once in a while.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Something in the South Carolina water?

What is it about South Carolina? They're always doing something crazy there. A philandering governor charges the state for his affair. A frat boy Congressman rudely interupts a presidential address. And their state house is apparently populated with idiots and kooks. Today's looneytune move has my jaw on the floor.

South Carolina will no longer recognize U.S. currency as legal tender, if State Rep. Mike Pitts has his way. Pitts, a fourth-term Republican from Laurens, introduced legislation earlier this month that would ban what he calls “the unconstitutional substitution of Federal Reserve Notes for silver and gold coin” in South Carolina.

If the bill were to become law, South Carolina would no longer accept or use anything other than silver and gold coins as a form of payment for any debt, meaning paper money would be out in the Palmetto State.

Forget about the legality, think about the practical aspects of this idea. How does Mr. Pitts suggest they make the transition? I'm assuming most people don't have gold and silver bars stashed in their junk drawer. How are they going to pay their electric bill. Haul some gold coins down to local office? Can't send a check because checking systems run on federally insured paper. How do they make change at the convenience store? Meaning just how big is one dollar's worth of gold by weight? And think of the fun the out of state tourists will have at Myrtle Beach, trying to find an exchange kiosk for their US dollars, that aren't legal tender in the state.

In a way I hope they go through with it. Any state that would re-elect this fool four times, deserves to go under, as they surely would if this hare-brained scheme actually became law.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Sadly true

Quote of the day from Markos:

The last administration got people to believe lies, this one can't get people to believe the truth.

Of course, the last administration got a lot of help from the media. Hell, tradmed still helping with the cover-up and revisionism today.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Year of the Tiger

I'm a bit under the weather today, so getting a very slow start on catching up to the news. While I collect my thoughts, here's the best photo of the Chinese New Year celebration, taken in NYC by my tweep John de Guzman.

And for your futher amusement, this video is indeed naughty, cautionary and funny. And when I say naughty, I mean it's x-rated but it's an animation, not a porno clip. [Via Erin O'Brien.]

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Bye Bayh Love

By now you've heard corporate lackey, Sen Evan Bayh abruptly announced he's not going to run for reelection. And of course, the internets are in a lather over it. I see he told the media he doesn't love Congress anymore. It's too partisan. I suspect the real reason behind Bayh's, and most of the other retiring incumbents', departure is that they can't take the 24/7 scrutiny of the internet. You can't get away with back room deals like you used to back in the glory days of the hallowed halls on Capitol Hill.

The timing is odd though. Bayh has a huge war chest, and was polling really well. His re-election looked assured. Dropping out at the last second like this apparently means there won't be time for another candidate to file so the Indiana Democratic machine will choose instead. That's a pretty good way to shut out a primary challenge by progressives.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Happy Valentine's Day

I love you all my dear friends and readers. If you have a sweetie, hope you have a lovely celebration and if you don't, well then -- be mine.


And a happy Chinese New Year to those who celebrate that occassion. [graphic via]

Take this Patriot Act and shove it

I know I often defend the Obama administration, but this is not what we voted for.

The Senate may vote on a second temporary extension of several controversial counterterrorism authorities as part of the jobs bill unveiled Thursday.

The draft bill carries language that would extend until Dec. 31 three expiring provisions of the antiterrorism law known as the Patriot Act. [...]

The administration wants lawmakers to pass a long-term reauthorization of all the expiring provisions, with as few changes as possible. House and Senate Republicans also favor that approach.

The Patriot Act was a horrible bill from the get-go and should be abolished altogether. We elected Democrats to repair the damage the Bush regime did to our civil liberties and I'm especially pissed that our idiot Congresslizards, at the behest of the White House, sneak this crap into unrelated bills to avoid scrutiny. [hat tip Woody]

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Abolish the DEA

When President Obama took office he directed law enforcement agencies to respect states rights to set their own marijuana policies and to avoid pursuing cases unnecessarily. Apparently the DEA didn't read the memo.

We recently wrote about how a DEA raid at Full Spectrum Laboratories, a Denver medical marijuana testing facility, was triggered by the lab applying for an analytical lab licensure through the DEA. Now DEA agents have hit another marijuana testing lab -- Colorado Springs-based Genovations -- not long after the lab applied for the same license. [...]

The problem, explained DEA spokesperson Mike Turner in a recent interview, is that the DEA is required to inspect a lab that applies to them for a license. And if they happen to find marijuana during the inspection, they have to confiscate it since it's still a class-one narcotic under federal law. And this discovery will likely count against labs on their application.

From Lee's perspective, the situation's a catch-22. To correctly calibrate his machinery, he needs to use scientifically measured samples of marijuana components -- but to legally use those components, he needs a DEA license. And the DEA supervising agent who stopped by yesterday made it abundantly clear Lee wouldn't be getting that.

I don't know what the DEA's annual budget is but I feel certain the money could be better spent. We have other law enforcement agencies that could pursue truly criminal drug cases instead of busting medical marijuana and research facilities and harassing doctors who practice pain management medicine. As it stands, the DEA is more destructive to civil society than any criminal could hope to be.

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McConnell crys a river on Senate floor

Hmmm. The imagination runs wild. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell "repeatedly chocked back sobs" on the Senate floor while speaking of his departing chief of staff.

Kyle Simmons, a longtime aide to the Senate minority leader, is leaving to spend more time with his family, McConnell said.

Don't they usually say that when they're running from some scandal? Or maybe his aide just couldn't stomach the destructive political tactics of his boss anymore.

I didn't watch the video, but here's the whole slobbering speech. [via Wonkette]

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Climate disruption

I read on twitter this morning that for the first time ever, it snowed in every state except Hawaii this year. Of course the head in the sand denialists use this strange weather to argue there is no such thing as global warming. Always thought that it was mistake to call it global warming, precisely because it lends itself to those jokes and misunderstandings of the concept of climate. It's harder to dispute the climate has been disrupted and that phrase, if one is to judge from the discomfited howling of my critics, is harder to deny.

I guess a lot of people are just afraid to face the facts because it's scary and no one is sure how to stop it. On the other hand, maybe a lot of people really are just stupid. I see the latest polling shows 75% support allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military but only 59% support the right of homosexuals to do so. And if you ask the question in a different wording that I've already forgotten, the support drops again.

Some days when I say, "just shoot me?" I really mean it.

Update: CSM using measureable snow says it will be all 50 states if Florida gets snow that sticks. Apparently Hawaii has some snow on its mountain tops.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

None of us are free

There are days, actually many days, when I wonder why I don't just quit blogging and leave a permalink up to John Cole. This must read post of the day is brilliant. What Obstructionism-Nihilism-The Wurlitzer Looks Like.

You've probably seen the stupid "Miss Me Yet" billboard with a picture of George Bush looking incredibly stupid on it. Oliver Willis posts the ultimate answer to that question.

Don't really understand what the hell this is, but if the contest is still running, you could live off groupon for a year.

One of the things I really miss in life is Calvin and Hobbes comics. Here's a collection of snowman strips. Calvin's snowmen were always my favorites.

In DC from the latest storm, this is really cute. Protesting snowmen.

This was the best pix I saw from the previous storm.

From Roger Ebert's twitter feed, What exactly are we looking at here? And a virtual tour of the most eccentric home in London.

And this is very cool. Not sure they're really wild birds, but they're really playing a Gibson guitar.

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Don't drink the red kool-aid

I try to ignore all things Glenn Beck, but this poster is pure art. Click to enlarge for full effect. [via StopBeck]


And by the way, yet another advertiser has dropped out of Beck's show, bringing the total up to 102 advertisers lost.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Reflections on the Tea Party Convention

I did my long form post at DetNews on this, but I'm posting the links here for those who don't read that blog and because I love the jutxaposition between them. Melinda Warner went undercover as an attendee for Media Matters and posted the most fair and unemotional assessment of the tea party people I've seen since the phenomenon started. She identifies as a former conservative turned progressive.

At Newsweek, a self-professed conservative posts a sharply critical review of the speakers. And he rightly notes that the tradmed have all but ignored the batshit crazy speakers before Palin. They made her look almost reasonable.

But my favorite was this at The Left Coaster, a review of the original tea party patriots. Not that today's tea party tantrum throwers will ever get it the difference.

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For the Glibertarians

Paul Craig Roberts piece is one of the best reads of the week. It's billed as how Wall St. destroyed private practice, but this on how corporate welfare in general has destroyed the function of real capitalism struck me as more important:

Wall Street is romanticized by libertarians and "free market economists." They believe, entirely on the basis of their ideology, that Wall Street finances venture capitalists who bring economic progress and higher living standards. Wall Street does no such thing, especially since financial deregulation turned Wall Street into a speculative hedge fund.

Wall Street is concerned with annual bonuses. It will do anything to get them.

Today the interests of American capitalists are as far removed from the interests of the population as the bureaucrats of state-owned firms under socialism. Neither can fail, no matter how incompetent or inefficient, as they have the public purse as their backup.

By all means, do read the whole thing. He's spot on in his assessment of the demise of the private practice of medicine too.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Random thought on bi-partisanship

I agree that chasing bi-partisanship is a fool's errand. It's clear as freshly washed fine crystal that the GOPers are never going to do anything but obstruct. But I had this stray thought today. What if Bush had reached out to Democrats and liberals the same way that Obama is reaching out to the Republicans now? What would "the left" had said about it?

I can guess what the wingnuts would have said.

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When the left panic

I read Krugman this morning and was appalled by the quotes from an interview with Obama that he posted. Was ready to join Dr Krugman in an outraged Greek chorus. Comparing the banksters bonuses with pro-ball players? Clueless! OMG, we're doomed! Our president just doesn't get it! Both times my power went out and ate the post. Think the wind gods were sparing me from embarrassment.

As it turns out, within the hour, Greg Sargent checked the full transcript, readily available from the White House. In context, the quotes weren't nearly so alarming. While it's true that Obama didn't call the banksters dirty, effin, bloodsuckers or anything satisfying like that, he didn't really excuse them either. And he was speaking to a group of business people. Very nervous business people. People on whom the recovery depends. Politically, it's seems a wise and pragmatic move to assuage some of their fears, no matter how emotionally unappealling it is to us on the left.

Meanwhile, HuffPo joins with Drudge and Krugman to sound the alarm that was amplified loudly on both sides of the internets and by now I expect the MSM has posted a slew of "ZOMG even the left hates Obama" stories. I hate to go all David Brooks but jeebus, if the left flies into a panic on every unsourced rumor in the MSM and doesn't even to bother to fact check any more before posting, how exactly is this advancing progressive goals?

I seem to recall Blogtopia was invented to push back against MSM hysteria and disinfo. Seems like lately, all too many big, and aspiring to be big, bloggers are racing to be the first one to push unfounded rumors and the ongoing outrage-a-thon on every little perceived slight and mis-step is making it difficult for me to tell the difference between lefties and the wingnuts anymore. Not to mention, pushing every trivial sideshow right along with the tradmed.

Meanwhile, the positive accomplishments of the Obama adminstration barely get mentioned in passing. I had a feeling that would happen once some bloggers started making money and/or began getting bobblehead gigs on the teevee. Outrage and scandal sell. Nuance and pragmatism doesn't. I'm sorry to apparently have been proven correct.

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Outreach to GOP a lost cause

I haven't looked at this Maddow segment yet since we've lost power twice already this morning. But everybody is talking about it. Maddow runs down why reaching out to the GOPers is a lost cause. You can't appeal to their sense of decency since they apparently don't have any, anymore.



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I'm not afraid to die

I, along with some 30 million Americans, for reasons too complicated to explain don't have health insurance. This quote from The Nation perfectly sums up reality for the uninsured.

"Many stories expressed great, unshakeable fear that one medical emergency would ruin them. "I would say my wife and I are one medical emergency away from losing everything, but actually I've pretty much resigned myself in my head to the reality that if I have a medical emergency I am going to die," says a used bookseller in California."

This is my reality and having been without insurance for almost two years now, I'm made my peace with the situation. I just turned 58 years old recently. I've had a good life. I have few regrets. I'm single. Nobody really depends on me. It's not like I have a choice, but I sleep a lot better now that I realize I'm really not afraid to die. Frankly, there are days I'm more afraid I'll live too long.

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Populist wave for marijuana legization sweeps the country

Matt Yglesias reminds the media that context is everything, especially when it comes to polling.

Des Moines register reports: “A third of Iowans from across the political spectrum say they support the ‘tea party’ movement, sounding a loud chorus of dissatisfaction with government, according to The Des Moines Register’s new Iowa Poll.” But how loud a chorus is this, really? 55 percent of Americans say they’re personally protected by a guardian angel. 38 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Cuba and 36 percent are favorably disposed toward socialism, but I don’t see anyone writing newspaper articles about how a populist wave of socialism is sweeping the country. The number of Iowans who like the tea party movement is smaller than the number of Americans who want marijuana legalized or the number of Americans who believe the government has had secret contact with extra-terrestrials.

So surely, the media narrative that tea party fever is sweeping the nation is just more proof of that darn liberal bias. [h/t Southern Beale]

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Fan Mail

I've been doing a lot of posting at the DetNews bashing GOP hypocrisy and obstructionism. You can tell you've hit a nerve when the critics are reduced to name calling. But this comment puzzles me. Any guesses on what it means?

Libby Spencer?

Libby huh? Daddy had a dark sense of humor.

All I can think of is some oblique reference to Scooter that I'm not getting. My other favorite today was being called the "Liberal Spinster." Be a good name for a blog. Or a band.

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The Senate in an alternate world

Forgot to post a link to Annie Lowrey's piece asking, "What if senators represented people by income or race, not by state?" She makes a good case for it. It would certainly be more reflective of the "will of the people" if we did it that way.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

The GOP is endangering us with partisan politics

I thought at first this was an editorial and I was shocked -- really -- to see it in the NY Daily News. They're not exactly known for being Obama cheerleaders. On second glance, I realized it was written by Richard Clarke, chief counterterrorism adviser on the U.S. National Security Council for Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Still a little surprising that the Daily News would print it, but it is well worth reading in full. GOP terror attack machine: Criticism of Obama is irrational, irresponsible and painfully partisan.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Krugman is shrill

I love when Krugman gets all shrill and stuff. Quote of the day from his excellent op-ed:

How bad is it? It’s so bad that I miss Newt Gingrich.

Sadly, Newt looks almost principled compared to this current crew of nihilists.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Palin and her "telepalmer" launch 2012 bid at Tea Party Convention

Make no mistake, though she couched it in her usual weasel worded evasiveness, for all effective purposes, Sarah Palin announced her candidacy for 2012 in this Fox interview. And she used her speech at the Tea Party convention last night to stealth-launch her campaign. Didn't watch it myself, but judging from the reviews, it was chock full of the same anti-Obama smears and vapid slogans from the failed 08 run.

None of that is particularly interesting. The only notable aspect of the speech happened during the brief, and most probably pre-screened, three question Q&A afterwards. It seems the Yukon Grifter had to write crib notes on her hand to answer the simple question about what three major policies would a conservative administration address in office. Yep, just like most of us did at least once in grammar school to cheat on a test. Oliver Willis has addtional videos and of course, Memorandum has dozens of reactions.

What I found the most disturbing about this freak show is that somewhere between 100-200 media people covered this event, that drew an estimated 600-1000 people, as if it were major news instead of a gathering of fringe kooks and GOP operatives. And not a soul but me seems to be concerned about the ethical implications of her using her new Fox gig as a platform to promote herself, bringing a whole new meaning to the term, "bully pulpit."

I seem to recall a great deal of concern trolling when Chris "Tweety" Matthews floated the idea of running for Congress. Everyone agreed he would have to quit his teevee gig. But then again he was going to run as a Democrat. I suppose the IOKIYAR rule is in effect for Wasilla's former mayor.

Adding: I think Sully is right. There's a tendency on the left to treat her as a joke, as too dumb to be elected, but she's not stupid. She's uninformed, uninterested in detail and thoroughly self-involved. But never underestimate the ability of a clever and manipulative woman to fool otherwise intelligent people to get what she wants. The more I think about it, the more I think this telepalmter trick was a deliberate ploy to draw mockery from the liberals. It will only endear her to the tea party crowd all the more.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

The Chair recognizes Rep. Murray Hill Inc.

I love this. First corporation to cut out the middle man and run directly for office.

Taking the implications of Citizens United to their logical extreme, a Washington, D.C.-based firm, Murray Hill Incorporated, has announced that it is running for Congress in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District.

“Until now,” the company said in a statement, “corporate interests had to rely on campaign contributions and influence peddling to achieve their goals in Washington. But thanks to an enlightened Supreme Court, now we can eliminate the middle-man and run for office ourselves.”

In a campaign video posted on YouTube, Murray Hill Inc. tries out campaign slogans like, “The best democracy money can buy,” “Democracy’s next step,” and “The way we see it, corporate America has been the driving force behind Congress for years. But now it’s time we got behind the wheel ourselves.”

Why not? It's not like the corporations aren't already buying elections through trade associations. On some level, this feels more honest.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Tea Party Tantrums

What really pisses me off is the media treats these tea party thing with 600 attendees like some momentous event and gives it wall to wall coverage. If they had given one tenth that much attention to the much larger anti-war movement in the 00s, Iraq might never have happened and we would all be better off. Meanwhile, they encourage and enable a gathering of mostly fringe lunatics, and the cold-blooded profiteers who feed off of them, who are actually trying to destroy our country. These tweets from JNSMALL of Swampland paints a picture of the true nature of these people.

Awkward moment during this morning's #teaparty speech when a speaker yelled "We don't need the press," and the crowd stood, turned, then jeered & chanted USA at us.

And for the 2nd time this morning, the crowd stands, turns, and jeers at us, "Can you hear us??" #teaparty

The crowd is getting a little scary. I felt safer watching a mob of Haitians lynch and kill a would-be robber last week.

To be fair she did later mention a sweet old lady that hugged one of the cameramen and offered some words of encouragement, but I fear she's the exception and not the rule at this gathering. Feeding the general rage and inflated self-importance of this crowd by putting them on national teevee doesn't seem that wise to me.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Quote of the Day

It's early but I'm giving Gail Collins quote of the day for this observation on Shelby's claim that he's holding the government hostage out of "national security concerns."

Yes, indeedy. We’re talking terrorism here, folks. A threat to the American way of life, which guarantees the right of every American senator, no matter how humble or dimwitted, to bring the democratic process to a standstill whenever he or she feels the mood.

Our Senate is broken. These stupid holds that aren't even in the official rules. The phantom "filibusters." It's got to stop.

I'm still not entirely convinced we should totally eliminate the filibuster but I do think it's well past time that, if we're going to keep it, it needs to be restored to its original form and purpose. Meaning, just the threat of one can't be allowed to shut down the business at hand. Let them get on CSPAN and explain "their concerns" for as long as it takes.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

WaPo winks at Shelby's extortion attempt

Some call the Washington Post, Pravda on the Potomac, some call it the Kaplan Test Prep Daily, but today I'm calling them the DC bureau of Fox *News*. Their piece on Sen Shelby's extortion attempt is such a transparent ploy to minimize the scope of Shelby's blackmail. By all means, do not click the link to give them traffic. The proof is in the first grafs:

Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) announced that he would block administration nominees from Senate votes in an attempt to secure funding for two defense-related projects for his state. The use of the holding tool is often wielded anonymously. But Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) complained publicly about Shelby's effort to win tens of millions of dollars in federal money by delaying dozens of nominees from taking up government positions, including some in national security agencies.

As I said in comments over there, tens of millions? It's been well established in the last 24 hours that we're talking about a $40 billion military contract for a foreign corporation and a 400+ million research facility. Understatement doesn't begin to cover this embarrassing GOP water carrying. And yet they wonder why they're losing traffic and subscribers. I won't shed any tears when they go under.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Sen. Shelby's Shameless Sellout for a Big Piece of Pork

The big news of the day is the blanket hold that GOP Sen Shelby put on some 70 pending nominations for various Obama administration appointments. The best news to come out of this so far is the White House's suggestion they may turn to recess appointments to break the gridlock. But there's tons more to be said about this and you can find it all at Memorandum.

I did my long form post at DetNews which is worth reading, so all I'd add here is, "Shame on you Senator Shelby. Why do you hate America so much that you would sell our country out for cash from foreign corporations?"

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Trying terrorists

Great interview with AG Eric Holder in the New Yorker today. Did a long form post here but the take away point on trying terrorists in criminal courts:

Our criminal justice system convicted 150 terrorists as opposed to only 3 convictions by military tribunal.

Much more at the link. Really worth reading in full.

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Meet the makers of @demonsheep

Who knew? Conservatives can be funny. Bloggasm outs the tweeps who started @demonsheep. The account was launched mere moments after Carly Fiona's Demon Sheep ad convulsed the internets with derisive laughter.

The account is run by a 30-year-old conservative named Shayne Rivers. The Twitter user, who also runs his own personal account, works in health care, though he said he didn’t want to divulge too much information about himself.

“When the Carly ad exploded on Twitter, one of my followers, @rjhornsby, snatched up the @demonsheep username,” Rivers told me via email. “He asked @leonwolf, a blogger at RedState.com, to help him manage it. In turn, @leonwolf recruited me(@knifework), and the three of us started mocking Demon Sheep to the best of our ability. We had over 300 followers in under 7 hours. The fact that the #demonsheep hashtag started trending on Twitter did not hurt.”

No that didn't hurt at all and at last tally, the account already has almost 1,500 followers and at least one imitator, @demon_sheep. But timing is everything. The second account only has 144 followers and is unlikely to catch up. Meanwhile, with the way things happen on Twitter, I expect we're only days away from an announcement that the original @demonsheep has been offered a lucrative Hollywood contract.

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What does CBS stand for?

Sadly, I can't carry a tune in a wheelbarrow, but if I could sing, I would so be a Raging Granny.



On the slight chance you don't know, they're singing about CBS' decision to air an anti-choice ad, that has something to do with this guy Tebow, during the Superbowl. Meanwhile, they refused an ad from some gay group that was promoting a gay dating site I think. Don't think the call to boycott the Superbowl will get far, but probably worth signing the petition to CBS.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Economy of influence

I'm not the only one thinking about changing the process of government these days. Lawrence Lessig's manifesto in The Nation, How to change congress, is the must read of the day. I'm not even going to excerpt it. Just go read the whole thing.

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Demon Sheep

And another internet meme is born. This one must be archived for posterity. Carly Fiorina's campaign ad. Beats Mike Gravel's rock by a mile.



Via Village Voice where they have more entries for weirdest ad ever.

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Bipartisanship: The Impossible Dream - Updated

I forgot to post James Fallows excellent piece on the myth of bi-partisanship. Worth a read in full, but here's the money graf.

Bipartisanship consists of getting ENOUGH members of the minority party to join the (incomplete) majority in voting for major legislation. It can't happen if the minority party members vote as a block against major legislation. And that can happen only if the minority party has the ability to discipline its ranks so that none join the majority, which is the unprecedented situation we've got in Congress today.

There's really nothing more to be said about "why no bipartisanship," once one recognizes the GOP party discipline.

Fallows posts a part two to this today that addresses some of the feedback. This part was amusing.

(And how EXACTLY does each GOP member get the word that a particular vote really matters for this purpose? Find the answer to that, and you will have the perfect comeback to those who try to blame intransigence of the Dems for the lack of GOP votes. Someone somewhere is giving orders to GOP members, whether by verbal means, written or oral, or secret handshakes or numbers of lanterns hung in the steeples of churches.)

As Fallows says, "the structural failures of American government are the country's main problem right now." I'm thinking he's right. Until we repair the systemic problems with the process, nothing will change.

Update: Well, I no sooner posted this when I ran across this post by Ezra: The Primacy of Process.

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Early Spring for DC

Don't believe the prediction from that megastar groundhog Phil in PA. He always sees his shadow because of the lights from teevee people. The old oracles know best and this is the real omen for Groundhog Day, which the elders called Candlemas.

“If Candlemas is bright and clear,
There’ll be two winters in the year;
If Candlemas brings snow and rain,
Old winter shall not come again.”
[via Anne Laurie at Balloon Juice]

So judging from this pix of the White House this morning, DC is all set for an early spring.


It poured rain here in the little city all day so we're set for one too. Can't wait for better weather. [WH Photo by Pete Souza]

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Fan Mail

Been a while since I've had anything short and amusing. Liked these two.

Ms Libby: Your little blogs have always confirmed the fact that you are no more than a shill for the Left and the Dems. Does anyone take you seriously?

Libby Spencer go to the ragsheet down the hall. You belong with your comrads at the FreePress.

I've always wondered why I don't get any crossover fans from the Freep. Though I guess it's possible they read me and just don't comment.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

10 ways to take back our country from the corporations

This is the must read of the day. I especially like Number One.

Amend the U.S. Constitution to declare that corporations are not persons and do not have the rights of human beings. Since the First Amendment case for corporate spending as a free speech right rests on corporations being considered “persons,” the proposed amendment would strike at the core of the ruling’s justification. The push for the 28th Amendment is coming from the grassroots, where a prairie fire is catching on from groups such as Public Citizen, Voter Action, and the Campaign to Legalize Democracy.

A while back someone gave me a link to a story about a bunch of different towns that were pushing back with local regulations. I lost the link but there were a lot of them. And as the piece says, after the SCOTUS decision in Citizen United, maybe enough people are angry enough to make this happen. I know I am.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Arlen Specter Surprises

Have to admit, I didn't expect to hear this from Arlen Specter.

"I believe we ought to pass comprehensive health care reform and we ought to do it now and there is a way to do it," [Arlen] Specter said. "I provided the 60th vote. We passed it in the Senate. Let the House accept it, simultaneously with a bill to make certain changes through reconciliation and 50 votes. There will be no disagreement about taking away the giveaway to Nebraska and Louisiana and the other inappropriate measures but let's move ahead and let's move ahead now."

Guess the reform bill still isn't as dead as the media keeps saying it is. [Via Bob Cesca]

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

The Off-base GOP Base

I really do try to avoid promoting polls, but this new Kos poll on the GOP base is worth archiving. Markos summarizes it at the first link and the full poll is here.

Most of it isn't that surprising. They still believe ACORN stole the election, view Obama as a socialist and want him impeached. More disturbing is 77% said the Book of Genesis should be taught in schools as THE explanation of creation. And in an earlier summary at TPM, it states 31% want contraception to be outlawed.

Makes me wonder about all those stories that were circulating a while back saying the fundies weren't that influential in the GOP anymore. These results sound like the theocrats just cloaked themselves in teabags instead of waving the Bible, but it's clear they still want a theocracy, not a democracy.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Supporting Obama

When I born Harry Truman was president. It was end of his term, so I don't remember him, but I do remember the rest of them. I have distinct memories of every president since Eisenhower. Obama may be imperfect. He's not the great leader I hoped for, but he's still the best president we've had in my lifetime. While I certainly don't agree with all his policies, he's the most engaged president we've ever had. He actually studies the problems and considers the big picture impact of his decisions.

I suppose you could make a case for Kennedy or Clinton on those grounds too, and maybe Kennedy was more inspirational in his leadership but those were different times. They didn't have to deal with the relentless scrutiny of the internets or the indiginities of the 24/7 news cycle. And I honestly think, for all his failings, that Obama truly cares about doing what's right for the future of our country well above the political implications or his personal enrichment. Moreso than any of the others.

And while I appreciate that blind loyalty is dangerous, and it's good to "hold them accountable," I don't feel the need to establish my creds by focusing on his faults and failures. The empath in me says this is a very hard job right now and he could use some support. I've decided to support him more than I criticize him. As they say, your mileage may vary.


[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

All who wander are not lost

Doing my serious blogging at DetNews this morning, (link at bottom of post), but it's been a long time since I did a linkfest and I've been accumulating a lot of them. Seems like Monday is good day to hit some of the lighter stuff.

First, if your remote clicker is dead and fresh batteries doesn't fix it, before you run out and buy a new one, try this method for fixing a dead remote. Via Atrios who says it works.

Though I try to avoid Palin, if you missed this Doonesbury, it's a very funny strip on Palin outtakes in the storyline about celebrity GPS voiceovers.

This short clip is so old I forget what stupid thing they were talking about, but it was Twitter sensation for a day and I'm curious if anyone else thinks Peggy Noonan always looks drunk.

This tweet from Queen Rania of Jordan has been haunting me for a couple of days. This picture of her son's birthday party struck me as incredibly sad. I just don't see any joy in this celebration. Thinking it must be hard to be a royal kid.

On a brighter note, CSMonitor posts a gorgeous gallery of the full "wolf moon" from all corners of the world.

More great galleries: Wonders of nature and waterfall shots. Also really like this photo blog.

Jamison Foser passes on this very cool crazy cube optical illusion.

My sweetie John de Guzman posts yet another sexy sunset shot of the Chrysler building.

And I can't recall if I posted these already, but just in case, I was blown away by the art of cutting leaves and my friend Bode is so cool. He gets paid to do graffiti.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

GOP plan to kill regulatory oversight on banksters

Frank Luntz is at it again with a 17-page memo on how to kill bankster oversight. If the GOPers spent half as much time and energy on finding solutions rather than inventing poltical dirty tricks to kill worthwhile Democratic proposals, our country would be in much better shape.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]