DBT Week in Review - 12/31/09

Suck it, 2009. What you got, 2010?

See y'all next year.

DBT/Patterson

Best of 2009 Artist List on JamBase:

"Patterson Hood - Drive-By Truckers

Albums
Patterson Hood
1. Bloodkin - Baby They Told Us We Would Rise Again
On the surface, no frills, meat and potatoes rock (and damn proud of it) but a closer listen reveals the finest songwriting all year as this 24-year-old band sings the horrifying tale of their trip back from the abyss and sees it through to a joyous life-affirming conclusion. It's like that Leaving Las Vegas movie with a happy ending - unbelievable if weren't true. Such well-treaded territory would suck if not for the magnificence of its execution. 'Wild Rhododendrons' is the finest songwriting I've seen all year, and 'The Viper' and 'Heavy With Child' are just as good. Meanwhile 'Easter Eggs' is the best song of man love I've ever heard (including 'Bobby Jean' and 'Angie')."

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Best of 2009 Artist List Part 2 on JamBase:

"Patterson Hood - Drive-By Truckers - Best of Decade List

1. The Glands - The Glands
Patterson Hood by Susan J. Weiand
My favorite album of the decade and also my all time favorite album ever to come out of Athens, GA. It came out in 2000 and is still growing on me nearly a decade later. Unfortunately it came out on Capricorn in the waning days of their attempt at resurgence and virtually no one outside of Athens heard it, but of those who have there is a cult of us who feel exactly like I do about it. They never released a follow up and Ross now manages a record store in town. A truly timeless masterpiece that gets better with every listen (and I've listened to it weekly for over nine years now)."

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Robert Christgau: Rolling Stone Ballot: The 00's Best Songs & Albums:

"#7 Drive-By Truckers: Brighter Than Creation's Dark (New West '08)"

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Ken Tucker's Top 10 Recordings Of 2009 : NPR

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The War On Pop: Best Albums of the 2000s: #9 Drive-By Truckers - Southern Rock Opera (2001):

"So what does Ray Charles’s Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music have to do with the Drive-By Truckers’ Southern Rock Opera (2001), you might ask?"

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George Pelecanos - Notes on the Hard Revolution CD:

"Have I made my point? DBT is the rock band of the decade. No joke."

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Drive-By Truckers Go 'Full Speed Ahead' on New Album - Spinner:

"Picking the right ones wasn't such a difficult task, the band tells Spinner. 'It's pretty obvious, really,' guitarist/singer Mike Cooley says. 'It usually is. At some point, you start finding the corner pieces and the ones with the straight edges first.'"

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DBT on Blip.Fm

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Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit

Love this. The only thing between Isbell and DBT is Maplewood.

Best Of 2009: Americana:

"JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit [Lightning Rod]
The former Drive-By Trucker loads his second solo record with a wealth of songwriting gems. No song will ever use the phrase “rolled-up $20 bill” in a lyric any better than “Cigarettes And Wine.”

MAPLEWOOD Yeti Boombox [Tapete]
The album title pretty much says it all. Brooklyn boys make good. Harmonies and guitar glitter.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS The Fine Print (A Collection Of Oddities And Rarities 2003-2008) [New West]
The best way to fulfill a recording contract you’ll ever hear. Seems like some of these should have made a record somewhere along the way."

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Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, "Cigarettes and Wine" | The People's Music:

"“She smelled like cigarettes and wine.” I know that girl, you know that girl– hell, we all know that girl. Well, probably not the exact girl, but we’ve all known a few, and even more so, we all know the feeling he’s singing about. Even if you couldn’t understand English, you’d know exactly what is going on in this song.

If for some reason you don’t own the album, get it here."

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Beat Surrender: Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit (Lightning Rod Records)

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Drinks With: Jason Isbell | American Songwriter:

"Was there a moment when you were younger where you heard a pop song and the format of that really clicked for you?

Oh yeah. I don’t know what artist in particular but a lot of that probably came from ‘80s radio for me: Prince, Crowded House, Until Tuesday and a lot of those bands they were playing on the radio then—Colin Hay from Men at Work. That kind of stuff really appealed to me when I was really young and first started to write. I loved how those songs all fit together."

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Watch this: Embedded New Year’s Eve Marathon with 15 new artists! | Current Music Blog:

"Embedded Tour Stop Special with White Rabbits, Black Lips, Jason Isbell, Fucked Up & Amazing Baby. Premieres December 31 at 10pm EST.

Got big plans for NYE? Catch Embedded on New Year’s Day or over the weekend, too!

Here’s when to turn on the TV:

Thursday night: 12/31 starting at 7pm EST/4pm PST, then again starting at 12 midnight EST/9pm PST.
Friday afternoon: 1/1 starting at 4pm EST/1pm PST
Saturday morning: 1/2 starting at 10am EST/7am PST
Sunday afternoon: 1/3 starting at 5pm EST/2pm EST

And, of course, once they’ve aired you’ll be able to watch all 15 Tour Stops at current.com/tourstop, plus our channels on Hulu, YouTube and MySpace."

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Vic Chesnutt

Swampland:Memories of Vic Chesnutt By Daniel Hutchens

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Vic Chesnutt's death-obsessed folk cuts deep -- and personally | Pop & Hiss | Los Angeles Times:

"Chesnutt's very real ensnarement in the insurance system lends an uncomfortable yet deeply compelling undertone to his lyrical attempts to make peace with illness, his paraplegism and death. Chesnutt doesn't hold out too much hope for whatever healthcare bill makes it through the Senate, either -- 'What will pass will be weak, the powers that be will be happy and the insurance companies will be thrilled,' he believes. Those facts only remind a listener that the small braveries of an album like 'At the Cut' can, if not offer solutions, at least be a bit of comfort and companionship. Or solace that Chesnutt doesn't have to figure out even bigger problems, like how to fix California's ailing economy.

'You guys are the most screwed of all,' he said, laughing."

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Donate to the family:

CASH Music: Kristin Hersh

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Brent Best

Brent Best | KXT 91.7 | Public Music Radio for Dallas Fort Worth Denton

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Will Johnson

My Artist Of The Decade- Will Johnson - Americana and roots music - No Depression

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Muscle Shoals.... uh... Fabric

Chanin skirt wraps tree at White House | TimesDaily.com | The Times Daily | Florence, AL:

"After a few more words, it all clicked. A woman who knew Chanin and worked at the Chicago fashion boutique Ikram had contacted Rogers, who was looking for a designer to make a tree skirt for the White House's Blue Room. Rogers asked Chanin, founder of the Florence-based fashion and lifestyle company Alabama Chanin. She said yes."

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Music

A really marvelous night for a moondance, apparently.

Van Morrison, 64, Welcomes Baby Boy

Update:

Not so marvelous, then:

Morrison baby announcement was hoax: statement - Yahoo! News

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Darkness. Imprisoning me. What? I said "Darkness. Imprisoning me..." What? Never mind.

Metallica drummer struggles with ringing in ears - CNN.com

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Here's some vid I shot of Chuck Prophet at the Great American Music Hall back in November:

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Make a Resolution or Mircale My Ass

This is excellent. I'll be moving my money at the beginning of the year.

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Sigh. Crap journalism at its finest. Always has to be the trailer park after the tornado.

Christmas 'Miracle' As Mother, Infant Resuscitated After Showing No Signs Of Life During Labor:

Mike Hermanstorfer credits "the hand of God."

"We are both believers ... but this right here, even a nonbeliever – you explain to me how this happened. There is no other explanation," he said.

OK, Mike. Let me do some simple bolding for an earthly explanation:

"'They hand him to me, he's absolutely lifeless,' Hermanstorfer said. The doctors went to work on Coltyn as Hermanstorfer held him, and soon he began to breath.

'His life began in my hands,' Hermanstorfer said. 'That's a feeling like none other. Life actually began in the palm of my hands.'

Martin said Tracy Hermanstorfer's pulse returned even before she was wheeled out of the room and into surgery.

So the 'miracle' occurred after human doctors and nurses worked on both mother and child. Worked feverishly, I would imagine. With their human hands that are connected to the human brains. Brains they've filled with knowledge about, oh, I don't know, medicine, maybe?

Thus, man had no hand in this and it was all some 'gods' doing.

The 'Miracle on Ice' was more miraculous than this.

I'm sure the doctors and nurses are very glad that their many years of hard work studying and training mean so little when some god can swoop in after they've busted their asses and claim all of the glory. 'God' is a bit douchey, don't you think?

It is a miracle that I don't devote my life to seeking and punching 97% of all journalist in this country.

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Sucker TPs.

TeaBaggers: Wholly Owned Subsidiary of the GOP.

They can't even leave their own party.

FAIL.

Majority Of Tea Party Group's Spending Went To GOP Firm That Created It | TPMMuckraker

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Change by executive order that will be reversed immediately by President Palin.

Jeez, you figure the same could be done for DADT.

Changish.

Daily Kos: Change: Obama orders creation of Declassification Center:

"* It establishes a National Declassification Center at the National Archives to enable agency reviewers to perform collaborative declassification in accordance with priorities developed by the Archivist with input from the general public.
* For the first time, it establishes the principle that no records may remain classified indefinitely and provides enforceable deadlines for declassifying information exempted from automatic declassification at 25 years.
* For the first time, it requires agencies to conduct fundamental classification guidance reviews to ensure that classification guides are up-to-date and that they do not require unnecessary classification.
* It eliminates an Intelligence Community veto of certain decisions by the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel that was introduced in the Bush order.

While the Government must be able to prevent the public disclosure of information that would compromise the national security, a democratic government accountable to the people must be as transparent as possible and must not withhold information for self-serving reasons or simply to avoid embarrassment."

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"búyòngxiè".... "xièxiè"....."duìbuqǐ"....

Sorry. Just practicing.

Gettin' shit done, while we bow to redneck, dumbfuck Congressman from backwater, asshole states.

Git 'er done!

China mandates renewable energy while U.S. deepens its dithering - Jeff McMahon - Scorched Earth - True/Slant:

"As often as socialism and communism are evoked to discredit the Obama Administration’s agenda, it can be illustrative to observe how communist governments actually behave.

China’s National People’s Congress convened on Dec. 22. Three days later it passed a law requiring China’s energy companies to buy all energy generated through renewable sources–wind, solar power, hydropower, biomass, geothermal and ocean energy.

What if that energy is more expensive? Buy it anyway, the legislature told the energy companies, or pay twice its cost in fines.

What if that energy can’t be accessed with the existing power grid? Improve the grid, China told the energy companies."

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I love this chick. As one who is practicing yoga at the moment, she's like my poster girl for cool.

Tara Stiles: Is Religion Ruining Our Health?:

"Self-doubt is a part of most everyone's life at some point. When we forget that we are powerful, loving beings, full of potential and endless possibilities, we are subject to fall into the traps of teachings that convince us that we are unworthy, unholy, and small. Finding the answers in something outside of our selves can feel more secure, especially when lots of other people are doing it. Most of us are taught faith when we are young. We are given a set of rules and behaviors to live by 'or else' bad things will happen and there will be no eternal salvation. Religion takes the trust away from the individual and replaces it with an insurance plan for eternal salvation paid off over a lifetime with rules and fear. Is going to a building once a week to be guided to a connection with God useful or destructive? Why can't we plug into divinity each moment without the help of an institution? Feeling and intuition can guide us through a very grounded and real spiritual path."

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Truly Awful People

Truly Awful People:

Daily Kos: Remember Bush's response to 2001 Shoe Bomber Attack?

Northwest Flight 253: al Qaeda Leaders Behind Terror Plot Were Released by U.S. - ABC News:

"Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.

American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an 'art therapy rehabilitation program' and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials."

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Fuck Jim DeMint. Asshole.

Who's running the TSA? No one, thanks to Sen. Jim DeMint | McClatchy:

"The post remains vacant because Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., has held up President Barack Obama's nominee in opposition to the prospect of TSA workers joining a labor union."

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And while we clean up their shit pile, they attempt to rewrite history.

Bush inherited 9/11. OK.

Mary Matalin: Bush 'Inherited' 9/11 Attacks (VIDEO)

Talking Points Memo | Breaking News and Analysis:

"Interesting Similarities

Bush Administration: Brought down by full weight of failures of Bush admin policies.

Obama Administration: Brought down by full weight of failures of Bush admin policies."

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I can only afford (not really afford, but...) the fine for ignoring the mandate. No subsidies for me. Nice work, Dems.

Health Reform Subsidy Calculator -- Premium Assistance for Coverage in Exchanges/Gateways

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David Simon On Health Care Bill: "Only One Thing Can Make People This Stupid, And That's Money":

"But then the critics of a system like that immediately cry socialism.
And of course it's socialism. These ignorant motherfuckers. What do they think group insurance is, other than socialism? Just the idea of buying group insurance! If socialism is a taint that you cannot abide by, then, goddamn it, you shouldn't be in any group insurance policy. You should just go out and pay the fucking doctors because when you get 100,000 people together as part of anything, from a union to the AARP, and you say, 'Because we have this group actuarially, more of us are going to be healthier than not and therefore we'll be able to carry forward the idea of group insurance and everybody will have an affordable plan...' That's fuckin' socialism. That's nothing but socialism."

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The Rational Case For 'Kill The Bill':

"It's important though, to note, that the Howard Deans and Jane Hamshers of the world neither want LITERALLY want to destroy President Barack Obama's domestic agenda in a fit of ideological pique, nor do they want to consign millions of uninsured Americans to their deaths. In fact, they desire the opposite: more Americans safely insured, and more electoral success for Democrats -- the kind that comes when Democrats actually keep their promises. You want to talk about people who are, in fact, high on drugs? Let's talk about the Democratic strategists and their journalistic enablers who believe letting down the base is a good thing."

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Daily Kos: The left flank:

"But the larger point is that the health care debate NEEDED TO BE MOVED TO THE LEFT. And while there were way too many people who defended whatever was being done by the Obama administration, shouting down anyone who disagreed, a great service was being done by those who helped pull the discussion to the left, and even were able to make great strides in making certain things acceptable, included in the House bill, excluded from the Senate bill or countering the lies of the right."

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Excellent read with a great perspective.

Daily Kos: HCR Bill - a Frenchman's viewpoint:

"The present bill has many flaws; most of these flaws can be corrected by subsequent bills; but it has also, in my opinion, the following merits (I'll make it short - 4 items only):

1. It establishes healthcare as a universal right - and that means, also, a universal duty! Healthcare has a cost, and everybody must pay for it othewise it doesn't work. This means a complete change of perspective. Once people have accepted that, the landscape will be completely different.

I think this is the key point and even liberals find it hard to swallow. Many oppose mandates because they are pissed off by such and such flaw in the bill (notably the fact that their money will be going to private insurance). I understand that but if you believe in universal healthcare
you must accept that you will be forced to pay even when you're in good health and your money will be going to private interests, notably the pharma industry and you will be pissed off. This happens in all the countries which have good health care (at least, it happens in France) but we have health care and that is what matters foremost. It's up to us to try and fight the lobbies when necessary and to elect politicians who will protect health care against private interests. There is no miracle here."

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RIP Vic Chesnutt

Had a chance to go see Vic for the first time in SF at the end of November. I didn't go.

I've always skipped across Vic's work with the promise that some day I'll more fully explore his talent. I'm not the greatest at multitasking when it comes to listening to the music I should be listening too.

I hate that his passing is what finally snapped my attention to his genius.

Vic Chesnutt on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

'Flirted' may be one of the most beautiful suicide songs ever considered. Too poignant, unfortunately.

My heart and thoughts go out to all of my beautiful friends in Athens who have had to endure one shitty year. May peace and life be more present in 2010.

And without getting to high up on a high horse......

Vic Chesnutt Dies; Fund Set Up To Help Family Pay Singer-Songwriter's $70,000 Medical Debt:

"According to the Los Angeles Times, Chesnutt faced $70,000 in hospital bills, a subject he brought up in a Pop & Hiss interview earlier this month. From the interview:

I was making payments, but I can't anymore and I really have no idea what I'm going to do. It seems absurd they can charge this much. When I think about all this, it gets me so furious. I could die tomorrow because of other operations I need that I can't afford. I could die any day now, but I don't want to pay them another nickel."

Folk-rocker Vic Chesnutt dies in Ga. at 45 - Yahoo! News:

"However, Chesnutt had recently struggled with a lawsuit filed by a Georgia hospital after he racked up surgery bills totaling some $70,000, the Athens newspaper reported. He said he couldn't afford more than hospitalization insurance and couldn't keep up with the payments.

The problems baffled his Canadian bandmates, Chesnutt said.

'There's nowhere else in the world that I'd be facing the situation I'm in right now. They cannot understand what kind of society would inflict that on their population,' he said. 'It's terrifying.'"

Alabama Ass Whuppin': Health Reform Getting Better?:

"Learn to raise hell early and often or get the hell out of the way.

Here comes the high horse part:

Have you raised hell today? Last week? Week before? Next week? Week after? Next March? Next October? 2011?

Contact the White House | The White House

United States House of Representatives, 111th Congress, 1st Session

U.S. Senate: Senators Home

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CASH Music: Kristin Hersh:

"This page is a tribute to Vic Chesnutt - here to accept donations on behalf of his family. 100% of all funds raised will go to Vic's family."

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From Patterson:

Drive-By Truckers:

"My beloved town is heartbroken this holiday upon losing Vic Chesnutt on Xmas morning.

Vic was a friend and absolutely the greatest writer I ever knew. Bar none"

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Via Elliot of the Dexateens:

The Quietus | Features | A Quietus Interview | Vic Chesnutt Comes Out Of His Shell - Exclusive Tracks Here

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Happy Holidaze

I'm checking out for a few days to focus on the War on Christmas. We are really close to winning this time. If all goes to plan, next year we'll be celebrating the birth of Dr. John.

Have a good one and be nice.

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And here's some Brent Best just because he's great.

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Health Reform Getting Better?

Markos makes my point far better (per norm) than I do.

Obama may very well be playing 11th dimension chess. But I can't count on that.

The squeaky wheel gets greased. It always does. So, Obama may be playing the base in order for us to become damn squeaky. Then again, he may not and he's just a massive failure at governance.

But, there is no final bill for HRC. Until there is, progressives need to continue to raise holy hell pushing the final product more to the left.

Those liberals who are appalled that we are taking on Obama and calling him out,need to move the fuck out of the way. They're causing far more harm than good. Learn to raise hell early and often or get the hell out of the way.

Never trust your president to do the right thing.

Daily Kos: Markos on Countdown: Don't stop fighting for change:

"Once we have a final bill, and things are set in stone, then we can re-examine that bill. But right now, things can still change. To stop fighting for that change, to me, is patently ridiculous.

Any positive change from here on out is going to be because we keep pushing from the left not because we say, 'Good enough. Let’s pass it.'"

Here's an article, hidden away, no mainstream coverage, but a smart maneuver. These little things make me think something is more afoot than meets the eye.

Obama seeks drug imports outside of health bill | Reuters

Also, some big wonky news coming from Sen. Sanders. There could be a back door, single payer plan in the works, but it is just the seed. Will take a while to flourish. But, still, movement in the right direction.

Daily Kos: This HCR Bill: 45,000,000 Get Single-Payer Vermont Health Care

Sanders Strengthens Senate Health Bill - Newsroom: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont):

"Sanders urges progressives to continue fighting for House provisions--including the $14 billion for community health centers, progressive taxation as opposed to taxing healthcare benefits, and a strong public option.

But can we get a better bill and still get 60 votes?

'Well, that remains to be seen,' Sanders says. 'What is being increasingly discussed all over the country is this is extremely undemocratic. You've got a strong majority in the House who want to do something, and all of that effort is nullified by one or two people in the Senate. Does that make sense to you? I don't think it's fair. So I think we want to take a look at how we deal with a dysfunctional situation like we've seen on the Senate healthcare bill, and you know, maybe some good will come out of that.'"

The real sausage is being made behind closed doors:

(12 Angy Men was the very first bit of acting I ever did. I think I was #11)

Late night, closed-door deals will shape final health bill - Yahoo! News:

"The internal dynamics of a conference can sometimes be reminiscent of Reginald Rose's '12 Angry Men,' a play about tension in a deadlocked jury, where stamina, personality, ego and sometimes stubbornness can play major roles, said former Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska .

'People like myself who have run for office before, we have 25 percent more capacity for self-delusion than most people,' said Kerrey, now the president of the New School in New York . 'In conference, it comes down to, 'If they get to know me, they'll support me.'

Fatigue could also become a factor, Kerrey said, particularly among Senate conferees. The House adjourned last week for a lengthy holiday break, but the Senate has worked almost nonstop since Thanksgiving and is poised to work up to Christmas Eve .

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So, I find a little positive in the health care fight. I'm swinging a bit back towards Obama knowing what he's doing. Then.... this:

War Room - Salon.com:

"The idea has 'become a source of ideological contention between the left,' Obama said, adding, 'I didn't campaign on the public option.'

The president's claim that he 'didn't campaign on the public option' is at best on shaky ground, factually speaking. It's unmistakably true that during the campaign his plan for reform included a public option."

That's a goddamn lie on par with "We didn't go to war with Iraq over WMDs".

We aren't stupid, Obama:

Think Progress � FLASHBACK: Obama Repeatedly Touted Public Option Before Refusing To Push For It In The Final Hours

And it continues......

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Worst Decade

Good stuff in this S&R post.

Scholars and Rogues � The 2000s in review: worst decade of the decade:

"This was a decade during which a man with the equivalent of a sixth grade education appeared to run the Western World. This was a decade in which the political hacks who actually did took the “free” out of “free market” while pirating U.S. coffers like crack-addicted sexaholics in a Tijuana whorehouse. This was a decade in which the methodical thinker who replaced the Three Stooges in the White House was given eight weeks to recreate the Garden of Eden."

-----------
"This was a decade during which the Dow opened around 11,600 and closed around 10,500. Meanwhile, the national debt began around $5.6 trillion and reached around $12.9 trillion. Don’t worry, though. Lots of people got rich. Just not us."

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A Decade of the Internet - Yahoo! News:

"Over the past 10 years, the phenomenal growth of the Web has fundamentally changed the way we live, work and communicate. In November, a Pew Research Center study showed some startling changes in how we use the Internet:

- 2000: 46% of adults used the Internet
- 2009: 77-79% of adults use the Internet

- 2000: 5% of households had broadband
- 2009: 63% of households have broadband

- 2000: 0% connected to Internet wirelessly
- 2009: 54-56% connect to the Internet wirelessly"

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But it's so far away.....

Woman shot, killed in Zip City | TimesDaily.com | The Times Daily | Florence, AL

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Water, water everywhere....

AFP: Scientists discover Earth-like, water-rich planet: study

Glint of sunlight confirms liquid in lake on Saturn's moon Titan

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Don’t Worry About the Left

Amen, amen, a-freakin-men.

Daily Kos: What bill do you think you're supporting?:

"And every time progressives shrug their shoulders and say, 'all right, we'll take whatever we can get', you empower those critics. Rather than draw a line in the sand and bolster the efforts of true reformists, you are leaving them high and dry. And the weaker progressives get, the more Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman and Blanche Lincoln and the rest of that bunch can do to make this not just a bad bill politically, but a bad bill policy wise.

It's clear at this point that if we get anything at all, it won't be much good. That's an obvious political reality. But every shrug of the shoulder helps make this even worse."

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Agreed, Russ, but why didn't you, jeez, I don't know... vote against the goddamn bill?!? Why are you conceding any power that you might have as a Progressive to Liebercrats?

Russ Feingold: In the News - Press Releases:

"“I’ve been fighting all year for a strong public option to compete with the insurance industry and bring health care spending down. I continued that fight during recent negotiations, and I refused to sign onto a deal to drop the public option from the Senate bill. Unfortunately, the lack of support from the administration made keeping the public option in the bill an uphill struggle. Removing the public option from the Senate bill is the wrong move, and eliminates $25 billion in savings. I will be urging members of the House and Senate who draft the final bill to make sure this essential provision is included."

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Really, Rahm. Really?

We'll see how that works out for you and the President.

You are eternally fucked after this bit of snide bullshit.

Daily Kos: Rahm Emanuel: Don’t Worry About the Left

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Weren't these suppose to be the smartest people in the world?

Drew Westen: Leadership, Obama Style, and the Looming Losses in 2010: Pretty Speeches, Compromised Values, and the Quest for the Lowest Common Denominator:

"Somehow the president has managed to turn a base of new and progressive voters he himself energized like no one else could in 2008 into the likely stay-at-home voters of 2010, souring an entire generation of young people to the political process. It isn't hard for them to see that the winners seem to be the same no matter who the voters select (Wall Street, big oil, big Pharma, the insurance industry). In fact, the president's leadership style, combined with the Democratic Congress's penchant for making its sausage in public and producing new and usually more tasteless recipes every day, has had a very high toll far from the left: smack in the center of the political spectrum.

What's costing the president and courting danger for Democrats in 2010 isn't a question of left or right, because the president has accomplished the remarkable feat of both demoralizing the base and completely turning off voters in the center. If this were an ideological issue, that would not be the case. He would be holding either the middle or the left, not losing both."

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Still good to remember how evil and fucked up the previous overlords were, though.

Would have been nice to prosecute a bunch of them, but, nah, not enough time with all of the screwing-over-the folks-who-voted-you-in by the current bunch.

Report: Bush Admin Raised Terror Alert Based On Con Man's Al Jazeera 'Decoding' Scam | TPMMuckraker:

"The report deals another blow to the credibility of the Department of Homeland Security's color-coded terror alert system, and comes after Ridge's claim that the system was used as a political tool when he was DHS secretary.

The man who prompted the December 2003 Orange alert was Dennis Montgomery, who has since been embroiled in various lawsuits, including one for allegedly bouncing $1 million in checks during a Caesars Palace spree. His former lawyer calls him a 'habitual liar engaged in fraud.'"

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And the remainders of this band of assholes has all but prevent any type of meaningful legislation from ever passing.

But I'm sure the feckless Democrats who call themselves "Progressives" will not do one goddamn thing about it.

Op-Ed Columnist - A Dangerous Dysfunction - NYTimes.com:

"Some people will say that it has always been this way, and that we’ve managed so far. But it wasn’t always like this. Yes, there were filibusters in the past — most notably by segregationists trying to block civil rights legislation. But the modern system, in which the minority party uses the threat of a filibuster to block every bill it doesn’t like, is a recent creation.

The political scientist Barbara Sinclair has done the math. In the 1960s, she finds, “extended-debate-related problems” — threatened or actual filibusters — affected only 8 percent of major legislation. By the 1980s, that had risen to 27 percent. But after Democrats retook control of Congress in 2006 and Republicans found themselves in the minority, it soared to 70 percent."

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Grandpa McCain lying again.

Think Progress � Flashback: McCain Refused To Grant 30 Seconds Of Time During Iraq War Debate:

"Unfortunately, McCain’s memory is suffering. In fact, McCain has engaged in the very same behavior that he was criticizing Franken for yesterday."

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Sometimes I really wish the 'fiction' part was replaced with 'reality'.

From Uruguay to Hollywood: Watch the Video:

"Here's a fairy tale that could only happen in the movies. Man makes YouTube video. Goes to Hollywood. Gets pots of money and a movie deal. Except this story is true.

An unknown producer from Uruguay, Fede Alvarez, shelled out about $300 to create a cool video of a robot invasion in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. The four-minute short, 'Ataque de Panico!' (Panic Attack) features ginormous (but slow-moving) weapon-wielding robots that blow stuff up."

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DBT Week in Review - 12/18/09

DBT!

The Best Music of the Decade - Metacritic

DBT #7

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The No Depression Community's Top 50 Albums of 2009 - Americana and roots music - No Depression:

"20. Drive-By Truckers - The Fine Print (buy)"

31. Booker T. & the Drive-By Truckers - Potato Hole (buy)

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Holiday song of the day: 'Mrs. Claus' Kimono' by the Drive-By Truckers | Portland & Oregon Music - OregonLive.com:

"Years later, in a bar on the Gulf Coast, Hermey told this story to Patterson Hood, who wrote it down, made it rhyme and recorded it with the Drive-By Truckers. It's an outtake from the 'A Blessing and a Curse' album that found its way onto this year's collection of 'oddities and rarities' called 'The Fine Print.' (Buy it)

At least part of all that is true. There are lots of songs about Santa. There are some naughty songs about Santa -- 'Backdoor Santa' and 'Santa Claus Needs Some Lovin'' come immediately to mind. There are very few songs about a mischievous elf getting Santa out of the way so as to put the moves on Mrs. Claus.

And this is why the Drive-By Truckers are great."

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Swear I'm not Paul: Interview: Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers:

"My year end and decade end lists are coming up very shortly. You should expect the Drive-By Truckers to feature on both (especially the decade end one). So imagine my delight at being able to interview Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers. Here is what he had to say about returning to Ireland, new albums The Big To-Do and Go Go Boots, his favourite lyrics, his early band Adam's House Cat, working with Booker T, and even selected his favourite albums of the decade."

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Facebook | Wendy Hopkins's Photos - UNHCR Benefit December 16,2009

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Yet another music blogger

Here's some dude who fails to inform folks that his new music blog is up and running.

Listen, Grumbine, this ain't the fancy, la-te-da world of television where your audience is captive and drooling. This is the bare knuckle world of blogging. Self promotion is king.

Anyway, unlike this blog, the motherfucker curses a lot, but he does know his musical shit. Such language, though.

The People's Music

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Dexteens

Dexateens � Sake of the Song:

"Elliott McPherson is the co-writer/front man of Alabama rock and roll band the Dexateens. He made his first “Lightbox” in a last-minute effort to complete an album cover for the band’s self-titled release in 2004. That first Lightbox featured the same headphones that McPherson had used as a child to “listen to the rock and roll that my parents forbade me to listen to.” Since then, every Dexateens release has borne a Lightbox on its cover, and McPherson has assembled hundreds more. McPherson supports his family with a kitchen and bath cabinetry business that he and his wife run together. “I really love the craft of cabinetry and it did me a lot of good to learn that discipline, but I prefer the freedom and randomness of building Lightboxes”. Elliott resides in Buhl, Alabama with his wife, Eva, and their two boys, Caleb and Gray."

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Music

The Raw Story | Jackson, Cohen to get Grammy lifetime nods:

"Pop icon Michael Jackson and Canadian singer Leonard Cohen will headline a group of talent receiving lifetime achievement awards at the Grammys in January, organizers announced Thursday.

The late King of Pop, a 13-time Grammy winner, and singer-songwriter Bobby Darin will be receiving the prestigious prize posthumously during a Los Angeles gala on January 30, on the eve of the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards.

Other awardees include classical pianist Andre Previn, country legend Loretta Lynn, jazz trumpeter Clark Terry and blues musician David (Honeyboy) Edwards."

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Ariz. teacher on leave for taking choir to Hooters:

"An Arizona music teacher whose students performed at a presidential inauguration event is on administrative leave after taking 40 high school students to a Hooters restaurant."

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The Road to Neo-Feudalism

I obsessed over Obama's Facebook page yesterday where he got hammered, I mean absolutely hammered in the comments to these ridiculous 'Call your Senator to support health care' and 'We can't allow out differences.....' horseshit wall posts.

Facebook | Barack Obama

A true sign that he just pissed away the youth vote which is crucial to Democratic success.

So, post after post after post of just taking Obama to task, then.....

Along comes Jennifer:

"Jennifer *****
What happened to respect for the President? Like what he is doing or not he is still our President! A health care reform bill is not the problem with America, it's the people who think watching CNN and going to a few town hall meeting makes them know everything about everything.hey, CNN watching know it all, if you know so much about it then why are you bitching about it on Facebook? If you are so smart why are you not a congressmen or senator? There is a reason he is the President and you are not. So how about you all have respect for your Commander and Chief. Maybe if people would start respecting others again America wouldn't be in the shape it is in. It all comes down to common courtesy. Not public options or whatever other bullshit you people like to bitch about."

"If you are so smart, why are you not a congressmen or senator"... indeed.

Smart enough? Maybe.

Just not evil enough.

And, damn, if we'd just known about the R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Bless her heart.

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Here's a dose of the tone of 80% of the comment from O's FB page:

Your support of this bill is the equivalent of Bush proclaiming "Mission Accomplished" before the bodycount really started to rise.

What's going on in the Senate is a disgrace.

Lieberman is a disgrace. ... See More

Squandering the majority we gave you all in 06 is a disgrace.

The constant capitulation, under the guise of bipartisanship, is a disgrace.

And forcing 30 million more Americans to purchase insurance under threat of penalty, without making the system work better for the public - and not the insurance companies - is a disgrace. This is not why we elected you!

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Thank jeebus for Markos.

Daily Kos: 20 answers

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And this has been one of my main arguments all along and in its current state, the bill FAILS:

Economic Scene - If Health Reform Fails, America’s Innovation Gap Will Grow - NYTimes.com:

"In the cradle of American innovation, workers are making career choices based on co-payments, pre-existing conditions and other minutiae of health insurance. They are not necessarily making decisions based on what would be best for their careers and, in turn, for the American economy — that is, “where their skills match and where they can grow the most,” as another Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Cyriac Roeding, says. Health insurance, Mr. Roeding adds, “is distorting the decision-making.”

It is impossible to know how much economic damage these distortions are causing, but they clearly aren’t good. Economic research suggests that more than 1.5 million workers who would otherwise have switched jobs fail to do so every year because of fears about health insurance. Some of them would have moved to companies where they could have contributed more, and others would have started their own businesses."

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Emptywheel � Health Care on the Road to Neo-Feudalism

I believe that if the Senate health care bill passes as Joe Lieberman has demanded it–with no Medicare buy-in or public option–it will be a significant step further on our road to neo-feudalism. As such, I find it far too dangerous to our democracy to pass–even if it gives millions (perhaps unaffordable) subsidies for health care.

20% of your labor belongs to Aetna

Consider, first of all, this fact. The bill, if it became law, would legally require a portion of Americans to pay more than 20% of the fruits of their labor to a private corporation in exchange for 70% of their health care costs.

Consider a family of 4 making $66,150–a family at 300% of the poverty level and therefore, hypothetically, at least, “subsidized.” That family would be expected to pay $6482.70 (in today’s dollars) for premiums–or $540 a month. But that family could be required to pay $7973 out of pocket for copays and so on. So if that family had a significant–but not catastrophic–medical event, it would be asked to pay its insurer almost 22% of its income to cover health care. Several months ago, I showed why this was a recipe for continued medical bankruptcy (though the numbers have changed somewhat). But here’s another way to think about it. Senate Democrats are requiring middle class families to give the proceeds of over a month of their work to a private corporation–one allowed to make 15% or maybe even 25% profit on the proceeds of their labor.

It’s one thing to require a citizen to pay taxes–to pay into the commons. It’s another thing to require taxpayers to pay a private corporation, and to have up to 25% of that go to paying for luxuries like private jets and gyms for the company CEOs.

It’s the same kind of deal peasants made under feudalism: some proportion of their labor in exchange for protection (in this case, from bankruptcy from health problems, though the bill doesn’t actually require the private corporations to deliver that much protection).In this case, the federal government becomes an appendage to do collections for the corporations.

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Democrats Lash Out At Obama Over Health Care Disappointments:

"Congressional Democrats are starting to voice their anger at President Obama over the way health care legislation has been compromised, blaming him for not fighting harder.

'The president keeps listening to Rahm Emanuel,' said Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). 'No public option, no extending Medicare to 55, no nothing, an excise tax, God!' he exclaimed about the Senate health care bill to Roll Call. 'The insurance lobby is taking over.'

'The White House has been useless,' Rep. Dave Obey (D-Wis.), the chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, told Politico. Referencing Senate delays, he said, 'It's ridiculous, and the Obama administration is sitting on the sidelines. That's nonsense.'"

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The Audacity to Ask a Question | techPresident:

"It's not every morning that you run into one of the most powerful men in the country in relatively intimate and unguarded surroundings, so today as I was boarding the shuttle down to DC and saw White House senior advisor David Axelrod seated by a window just behind the first class section, I decided I had to seize the moment. My parents gave me 'change the world' disease when I was young, after all, and I probably will never shake it.

The aisle was full in front of me anyway and thus I was literally standing across from him. Knowing I might only have a minute, I quickly pondered what to say.

'Is this 'change we can believe in'?' I asked. He didn't respond at first so I repeated the question to make clear I was talking to him. It was his slogan, after all, that he and the rest of the Obama '08 campaign, had offered to the nation."

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Hullabaloo

If this is the only chance for reform in generations, wouldn't it have made more sense to fight for a truly comprehensive bill that actually solved the problem? If you've only got one bite of the apple every couple of decades, it seems remarkably foolish not to really go for broke. To end up with a bill like this as your once in a generation liberal accomplishment is about as inspiring as a Bobby Jindal speech.

And Obama can say that you're getting a lot, but also saying that it "covers everyone," as if there's a big new benefit is a big stretch. Nothing will have changed on that count except changing the law to force people to buy private insurance if they don't get it from their employer. I guess you can call that progressive, but that doesn't make it so. In fact, mandating that all people pay money to a private interest isn't even conservative, free market or otherwise. It's some kind of weird corporatism that's very hard to square with the common good philosophy that Democrats supposedly espouse.

Nobody's "getting covered" here. After all, people are already "free" to buy private insurance and one must assume they have reasons for not doing it already. Whether those reasons are good or bad won't make a difference when they are suddenly forced to write big checks to Aetna or Blue Cross that they previously had decided they couldn't or didn't want to write. Indeed, it actually looks like the worst caricature of liberals: taking people's money against their will, saying it's for their own good. --- and doing it without even the cover that FDR wisely insisted upon with social security, by having it withdrawn from paychecks. People don't miss the money as much when they never see it.

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Howard Dean is Right - Kill This Bill

Kill this shitty ass bill. Fucking Democrats!!!

"This is not real reform. This is not health care reform. There are no choices" - Dr. Howard Dean

Must see:

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Daily Kos: Remove mandate, or kill this bill:

"Without any mechanisms to control costs, this is yet another bailout for yet another reviled industry. Subsidies? Insurance companies are free to raise their rates to absorb that cash. More money for subsidies? More rate increases, as well as more national debt. Don't expect Lieberman and his ilk to care. They're in it for their industry pals.

If you want a similar model, watch how universities increase tuition to absorb increased financial aid opportunities. And since the Senate and its industry-bought Senators won't allow insurance premium caps or an end to the insurance industry's anti-trust exemption (much less a public option to compete against them), there is nothing keeping those companies from jacking up rates to screw people. In fact, that's been their modus operandi for years."

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Not another campaign phone call. Not another contribution. Not another vote for the Democratic Party.

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Kill This B.S. Healthcare Bill

I will not be mandated by the United States Government to purchase bull shit private health insurance the fattens the wallet of some of the most corrupt entities in this country. I will not pay a yearly fine of $750 dollars because I refuse. I'd go to jail over this if the mandate wasn't illegal as fuck.

And I'm so sick of hearing "there's enough good in this bill....'' Bull-Fucking-Shit. This bill was written by conservative Dems and Republicans. The Progressives (You know, the ones who got Obama and all Congressional Dems elected) were royally ass fucked on this deal and pretty much treated like children.

Obama has ensured that we lose one of the Chambers in 2010. When that happens, it is pretty much over as nothing will pass and in 2012, President Palin will take office.

I couldn't be more disgusted with someone I once so admired.

KILL THIS SHITTY BILL.

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AMERICAblog News: The GOP had at most 55 Senators during Bush's presidency:

"And one final point. What do you think is going to happen if, during the House-Senate conference, a combined bill is returned to the Senate that even vaguely improves upon the garbage they're currently debating? Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu and Evan Bayh will threaten the same filibuster. We're not getting anything better than the crap they just came up with last night. It's over. The next three years are going to be about mediocrity, broken promises, and striving for second best. That's not the America I grew up in. And it's not what I voted for, or was promised."

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Open Left:: Joe Lieberman's Healthcare Bill Is Worse Than Nothing. Kill It.:

"The first rule of medicine is, 'Do no harm.' The post-Joe Lieberman version of the Senate healthcare bill fails that basic criterion. Unless Democratic leadership steps up to fix this misguided proposal, our only recourse will be to kill it.

The fundamental failing of the newest Senate proposal is that it requires individuals to purchase health insurance, but does nothing to rein in what insurance companies charge. There is nothing to stop spiraling health costs from eating up an ever-increasing percentage of our national productivity.

The House bill has two major cost-control mechanisms: the public option and the 85% medical-loss ratio requirement. The Senate bill is on track to have neither, and nothing new to replace them. The Senate bill is a recipe for national disaster. If it's that bill or nothing, I prefer nothing.

We all know America's current healthcare system is failing -- and it's failing everyone, not just the uninsured. It is far too expensive: Americans spend 16% of GDP on"

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Daily Kos: why today made me disgusted to read daily kos - UPDATED

1. Losing the public option doesn't change the bill that much
Maybe, but it sure does kill the enthusiasm of the Democratic base, including a record number of first time and young voters who only participated because of hope for change. Losing either chamber will mean the next 2 years will be even more ridiculous than the last 2, and Obama will be fighting for his political life in 2012.

2. The health care bill is still a tremendous piece of legislation for liberals - Sure, if the year was 1968. But sorry, in 2009 we can look to several other countries that have systems that put ours to shame. And perpetuating the antitrust exemption and the mere concept that profit trumps care when it comes to health coverage is a travesty.

3. The individual mandate will not bring about armageddon. - Yes, it will, because it's unconstitutional and there are MANY, including myself, who will go to court to challenge the notion that the federal government can force me to buy a product from a for-profit company protected by an antitrust exemption. The entire premise is ludicrous.

4. Working against this bill is an absolutely disgusting display of political ignorance - As is pretending that there won't be serious repercussions for essentially abandoning your base on an issue that has been a prominent plank in your party's platform for generations. We all know by now what reconciliation is. THERE WERE ALWAYS 51 VOTES. IF YOU'RE GOING TO SIT THERE AND TELL ME THAT THE REPUBLICANS CAN USE RECONCILIATION TO PASS GOD DAMN TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH, BUT DEMOCRATS DON'T HAVE THE COURAGE TO USE IT TO PASS MEANINGFUL, BENEFICIAL HEALTH COVERAGE REFORM, THEN YOU BETTER BELIEVE BY GOD I'M GOING TO STAY HOME IN NOVEMBER 2010.

Furthermore, if you somehow believe that smarmy asshole Joe Lieberman isn't going to oppose every single piece of legislation he deems as too "liberal" just to settle a score from 2006, you're a fool. When he gets what he wants here, he'll know he can do it over and over again, without consequence. It's time to stop rewarding bad behavior and kick him out of the caucus, once and for all.

I can't be on board with passing a bad bill (yes, it is a bad bill) not only because the legislation is weak but the process is indicative of a larger problem - this hasn't been about compromises, it's been about capitulation. WE STILL NEED BETTER DEMOCRATS.

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Daily Kos: My Letter to My Congresswoman

1. The bill has an individual mandate. When President Obama first ran for office, he opposed this idea. Now, it is in both the House and Senate bills. But the good thing about the House bill was that there were ways to control premium increases. With the Senate bill, every person in Brooklyn will be required to buy health insurance with no way to control the price increases that will occur year after year. Especially if they have a pre-existing condition. While they wont be denied coverage, the coverage offered will be far outside their means. The subsidy will have little effect.

2. The Senate bill has no public option. With the individual mandate in place, the people of our district, many of whom are struggling new arrivals from the islands just like our parents, will be forced to purchase insurance they can't afford. Because the insurance companies will face no competition from an honest plan, there is nothing to stop them from raising prices beyond what the subsidy will cover.

3. The Senate bill has no antitrust provision. In most states, although not New York thankfully, health insurance is a near monopoly. There is no regulator to break up this monopoly because the health insurance industry is exempt from antitrust regulation. This is what also allows the industry to engage in some of the worst anti-competitive practices of any industry in America. Again, no competition equals bad for consumers.

4. The Senate bill has no free choice provision. This bill leaves in place the employer-based health insurance system and gives most consumers no choice of provider, weakening competition further. Those people and businesses will continue to see premium increases.

5. The Senate included the Republican "buy across state lines" provision. This is the worst possible idea in the bill. It will allow the worst possible junk health insurance from an unregulated backwater like Oklahoma to be sold in Brooklyn with no regulation allowed from our State and City authorities. People will see this as attractive in order to avoid being penalized under the mandate. But this insurance will come with extremely high deductibles and no lifetime cap on out of pocket costs. Essentially, people will be paying for insurance that wont be there when they get sick.

On Flat-Earthers and Flat-Out Liars

Nothing to see here, folks. Just a liberal climate conspiracy... or something.

We can't pass any meaningful legislation but we can alter the weather for our political gain.... or something.

Oh, and the Earth is Flat.... or something.

World's hottest decade adds to pressure for climate accord:

"'The decade 2000-2009 is very likely to be the warmest on record, warmer than the 1990s, which were in turn warmer than the 1980s,' World Meteorological Organisation Secretary General Michel Jarraud told a press conference.

Jarraud also said that the year 2009 would probably rank as the fifth warmest since accurate records were started in 1850."

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Conservatives are just damn set against any kind of change, man-made or not.

Very hard to understand them.

Report: Bush insiders ‘distorted,’ still ‘influence’ climate change debate:

"Numerous environmental officials from the Bush administration have taken jobs lobbying on behalf of the energy industry, and some are now working to undermine efforts at a global climate change deal in Copenhagen, says a new report from a government watchdog group.

Some members of the Bush White House's environmental team 'deliberately distorted critical scientific reporting on global warming' before taking jobs at oil, gas, mining and other energy companies, says a report (PDF) from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

'CREW identified at least 22 former Bush-era officials who have gone on to lobbying or government relations, 14 of whom are registered lobbyists,' the report states. 'Through lobbying and industry-manufactured 'grassroots' activities, these individuals continue to influence and confuse the debate over global warming and hamper the efforts of the current administration to help establish a public consensus on this issue.'"

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ABC will not be Out-FAUXed.

ABC uses Fox tactic to make Stewart seem like climate change denier | Raw Story

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Won't happen again, promise.

Fox News Management Fed Up by Mistakes - mediabistro.com: FishbowlDC:

"By Matt Dornic on Nov 23, 2009 11:38 AM

After a few footage mishaps at Fox News like their recent slip-up: 'Fox News Uses Old Palin Footage,' the higher ups at the network have had enough.

In an email obtained by FishbowlDC, FNC management alerted the Newsroom that they were going to a 'zero base' newscast production, defined in the memo..."

OK, it'll happen again, because we mean for it to happen again, but we'll just lie about it.

Fox: Nothing inaccurate about our 120% poll graphic:

"As anyone who was actually listening to President Obama knows, he said $200 billion. But what's $198 billion when you're busy being Fair & Balanced, right?"

Stewart has the last word, though.

Daily Kos: State of the Nation:

"As Jon Stewart said in his take down of Fox's claim, 'So in attacking scientists for falsifying their data to support their theories on global warming, you've cited a poll that adds up to 120%.'"

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More Americans are in need of numbing the stupidity:

Most Americans support legalizing marijuana: poll:

"Fifty three percent support legalization, while 43 percent are opposed, according to a poll conducted Dec. 3 and Dec. 4 involving 1,004 voters."

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DBT Week in Review - 12.11.09

SLOBBERBONE!!!!!

Slobberbone takes top spot this week. Love this band and the men who comprise it. Fucking awesome. Thanks, Jayne!

Bonus: Some homeless guy lends vocals on song #10.

Slobberbone 12/5/2009 @ Smith’s Olde Bar – Atlanta, GA � Live Music!

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Drive-By Truckers

Jambands.com - Need We Say More? - Drive-By Truckers Confirm New Studio Album, Relix Cover:

"The Drive-By Truckers will also appear on the cover of Relix’s February/March issue. Noted rock scribe Mark Kemp spent time on the road with the band, discussing its new studio project and future plans."

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21 Songs of 21st Century Politics -- Politics Daily:

"Americans live with a soundtrack: the relentless chatter of media, the clash and clatter of daily life, collisions with history, voices in our hearts and heads, sounds we love and noises we can't escape. Out of that roar comes our culture and our politics."

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Muscle Shoals Sound

I promise you Buttholeville had none of this coolness when I grew up there.

TimesDaily.com | The Times Daily | Florence, AL

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Music

Pitchfork: Weezer's Rivers Cuomo Hospitalized Following Bus Accident:

"Today at 7:18 AM EST, about 40 miles West of Albany on I-90, the weezer tour bus carrying Rivers and his family and assistants lost control as it hit a patch of black ice. The driver employed every ounce of skill he had in fighting to keep the bus upright, as the vehicle violently fishtailed over the highway. And while the bus did indeed go off the road, plunging about 8-10 vertical feet into a muddy ravine off to the right of the Thruway thus coming to a very abrupt stop, it did not flip or roll, despite having plowed right over a guardrail, flattening it. Kudos to the driver for somehow keeping things as level as they could be - surely this story would have been far more tragic if not for his actions."

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Month of List(s): My 10 Favorite “Sellouts” of the Decade � DayBowBow:

"During my grade school days, I freaked out when other people discovered the music I loved. It was my music and I didn’t want anyone to steal it from me. I first experienced this reaction while listening to Weezer’s Blue album with my family on a road trip. They all liked it! I was all right with my older brother liking it, because he was close to my age and therefore cool. But my parents? No way. I asked them to remove the cassette (remember cassettes?) from the tape deck and I promptly put it back into my Walkman. As the years progressed, I briefly hated (or was “over”) The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, The White Stripes and a slew of other artists who rose from relative obscurity to become “the next big thing.”"

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Apple acquires music service Lala | Reuters

Apple Plots Reboot of iTunes for Web - WSJ.com:

"Apple Inc., the company that restructured the music industry around its iTunes service, is exploring an overhaul of the way it sells and stores music that is aimed at extending its influence to the Web, according to people briefed on the strategy."

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Tee'ing Off

Before I begin noting some serious Progressive anger in which I wholeheartedly share, check out something neat.... neat for me anyway.

This use to be my old neighborhood dive bar for about 7 years total. You can almost see one of my old cribs at the beginning of the video. Love Tee Off, though it was not as hipster as it is now. Place use to be a serious dive. Flaunted the smoking laws... old, painted ladies hoisted on a bar stool cackling with old, salty men.

I'm going to get one of those chops, soon, though.

Welcome to the Tee Off Bar & Grill

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I don't need to add any additional comments to these posts, because they all sum up my general feelings fairly spot-on.

It is a DailyKos kinda day.

Just Forget About Me

I'm a 28-year-old small business owner currently between health plans, with COBRA subsidies set to expire in about a year. I devote countless hours of my time that I could be spending building my business, to help the Democratic Party instead on a local, state and national level. It makes perfect sense in the current climate to take my vote and my efforts for granted, and mandate me to purchase overpriced insurance, thereby forcing me in all probability to shut down my small business and instead throw myself into the loving arms of a large employer. Or to abandon my political efforts in favor of somehow doubling my current business in the worst economic climate since the Great Depression. That shouldn't be a problem.

But people like me aren't important. You folks in the Senate need to stick up for #1, and take care of what really matters.

Come next November, so will I.

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Daily Kos: No Public Option? I'll See You In Court.:

"- Pull out of my employer-based insurance coverage and cease making payments; - Refuse to pay your penalties for not purchasing insurance from a private company; - Happily go to court over it and have you show me precisely how a mandate to purchase insurance from private insurers is constitutional. It's not a tax; it's not interstate commerce; it's patently not providing for the general welfare; so where precisely are you getting this power?"

------------

"*Note for Kossacks - I've been supporting and defending Obama this entire time, but eventually you have to draw a line and say 'this makes you a Democrat, and this doesn't.' This is the last straw for me. I will gladly go to jail rather than give one mandated dollar to insurance company vampires. No Public Option means no Health Care Reform. Period."

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F*** these Democrats. Bush gets away with it and they're letting the GOP win on purpose.:

"Did Bush/Cheney face accountability for war crimes and lying us into Iraq?

Did Democrats attack Conservative ideology as totally failed after the roaring 90's for the rich and Great Depression 2.0 for the rest of us in 2008?

No. Democrats would rather 'look forward', which is a Carlinesque term for Cover Up.

No. Instead Democrats wanted to use those failed ideas themselves to build bipartisan support for FAILED ideas that have bankrupted America and our middle and working class.

Apparently, elections DO NOT MATTER, because we are getting ANOTHER unpopular war and we are NOT getting a popular program like the Public Option, and all because Corporations have overthrown our democracy. They didn't need bullets, dollars did the job better than bullets ever could.

To be blunt, Democrats are losing on purpose, and I have had enough of the spineless wusses who want to play pattycake with the lunatics who kick them in the balls. If you aren't fighting back you are THROWING THE FIGHT, and that goes for EVERY DEM, top to bottom."

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Red coat. Red pants. Red hat?! Kinda obvious.

Daily Kos: Today I Tell my Son the Horrible Truth about Santa:

"I do not relish this day.

This is the day I have the Santa talk with my son.

To tell him what and who Santa really is.

Santa...is a socialist. A filthy, filthy socialist.

From his red suit to his anti-capitalist workshop high up in the icy tundra of socialist Canada where they measure every toy with the metric system.

Every year he and his sick snowy commune of jolly elf worker comrades devise yet another assault on capitalism and all that's right with America, dumping toys into the system with no profit motive at all.

And worse, he targets children, attempting to indoctrinate them with songs, free toys, socks full of candy bearing his likeness, and evening television specials all about him and the 'Christmas spirit' and giving...just GIVING!"

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Another day, another pack of goddamn lies.

Fox News' Fuzzy Math Claims 120% Of Americans Have An Opinion On 'Climategate'

Another Fox flub that conveniently hurts Democrats | Raw Story:

You probably think we're talking about last week's flub.

But no -- another day, another Fox News reporting 'mistake' that conveniently supports the news network's editorial bias."

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Energy.

Robert Lanza, M.D.: Does Death Exist? New Theory Says 'No':

"Many of us fear death. We believe in death because we have been told we will die. We associate ourselves with the body, and we know that bodies die. But a new scientific theory suggests that death is not the terminal event we think."

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