Alabama Slammer

Methinks this:

BART admits halting cell service to stop protesters

Will not go over very well in the Bay Area.

Hacker group threatens cyberwar against BART

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That Russell Brand fella is kinda sharp.

UK riots: Big Brother isn't watching you | UK news | The Guardian:

"These young people have no sense of community because they haven't been given one. They have no stake in society because Cameron's mentor Margaret Thatcher told us there's no such thing.

If we don't want our young people to tear apart our communities then don't let people in power tear apart the values that hold our communities together."

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Agreed.

Michael Moore: “Matt Damon for President!” | La Figa

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Oh, Alabama. You so crazy.

Pastor tased, mother stabbed during Alabama church brawl�|�Raw Replay

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DBT Week in Review - 8/12/11

Lauderdale

Shoal band Lauderdale released their 2nd record this week titled 'Moving On'. It is a mighty fine one that you should add to your collection. The song 'Grant Hotel' is one of the most rocking whore-house songs you'll every encounter.

Lauderdale back, 'Moving On' | TimesDaily.com | The Times Daily | Florence, AL

Lauderdale - Home

Lauderdale - The band

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DBT!

Two sold out shows at the newly reopened GA Theatre begins tonight!

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No Expiration - a blog about timeless music: THE GREATEST ALBUMS OF NO EXPIRATION'S LIFETIME:

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Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

No Time for Rest: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit | The Corner News

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The Civil Wars

The Civil Wars: Daytrotter Session recorded Aug 9, 2011

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Original Muscle Shoals Sound

Evolution Of A Song: 'St. Louis Blues' : A Blog Supreme : NPR

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San Francisco Sound

One of my favorite things in the world:

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 11 - Fri Sep 30, Sat Oct 1, & Sun Oct 2, 2011

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Music

Local Man Arrested for Merchandise Tampering at Area Walmart | Country California

Johnny Cash's sideman Marshall Grant dies in Ark.

Former Warrant lead singer Jani Lane dies at 47 - Yahoo! News

Atheism-themed Concert Approved by Fort Bragg - News from The Associated Press

BBC - Newsbeat - Independent music labels left 'devastated' by riot fire

Beck Covers John Martyn's 'Stormbringer'

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California Dreamin'

I'd say let them go if the land wasn't an important part of my West Coast secession plan: Baja, California, Oregon, Washington and B.C. One awesome new country and our economic fortunes would expand exponentially once we were no longer subsidizing leech red states.

SoCal secede? Why is this bad? | San Francisco Bay Guardian:

"Those counties vote for Republicans who vow to cut taxes and spending -- and, of course, those counties also get more in state money than they contribute in taxes. That is, San Franciscans and people in Los Angeles are subsidizing with our tax dollars counties that elect people who don't want taxes.

Fine. Leave us. Without those counties, California would have a two-thirds Democratic majority in both houses, easy. The state would be able to raise taxes to balance the budget. California's credit rating would improve and the cost of bonds would drop. A Democrat could run for governor without pandering to the conservatives. Maybe we could even get rid of the death penalty.

South California would be an economic basket case -- but it would still be part of America, so the Democrats and sane people who are stuck living there would be able to move north without worrying about ICE. I'd even propose setting aside a state fund (maybe equal to some percentage of what California now spends subsidizing the tax haters) to help pay relocation expenses for low-income liberal refugees."

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San Francisco Secession: Could It Create 'Ecotopia'?

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San Francisco Totally Live from MACAFRAMA on Vimeo.

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Boo.

Red Vic Movie House in San Francisco to close

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Tall order that took a decade.

On a quest to try every S.F. Chinese restaurant

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Speaking of Baja. Some feel good for your day.

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We Don't Need No Education

The bitch is back! I've got a brand new 21st century internet connection and the speed is blazing throughout casa del AAW.

Gonna be rolling hard this week. Pissing off the robots, for sure.

Dear Margaret Spellings in a business suit:

Biology Teacher Eviscerates Obama's Education Secretary

More from the people on the freakin' ground.

A Letter to Arne Duncan � Failing Schools:

"Respect? Value? Support? Not seeing much.

More fundamentally, your very presence in the role of Education Secretary reflects a level of disrespect for our profession not found in others. Our Surgeon General is a career physician, who earned a full MD before going into family practice. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is a career naval officer, who studied at the Naval Academy before participating in combat operations aboard a destroyer. Yet despite “working in education” for a while, you never studied education, and you’ve never taught in a public school classroom. Working in non-profits, playing basketball, and being a political appointee are not substitutes for classroom experience."

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The same place elected Democrats want to take it apparently.

Where Republicans want to take education

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Billionaire's role in hiring decisions at Florida State University raises questions - St. Petersburg Times:

"A conservative billionaire who opposes government meddling in business has bought a rare commodity: the right to interfere in faculty hiring at a publicly funded university.

A foundation bankrolled by Libertarian businessman Charles G. Koch has pledged $1.5 million for positions in Florida State University's economics department. In return, his representatives get to screen and sign off on any hires for a new program promoting 'political economy and free enterprise.'"

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Bay to Breakers Beer Bust Burns Bummer Bear | Uptown Almanac

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Living in Fear

What, not soon enough?

"Guy walks into a bar..
Bartender asks, what can I get you..
Guy says I'll have a Bin Laden..
What's that asks bartender...
Guy replies, Two shots and a splash of water."

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But, seriously, we ain't winning.

Turley: The demon is dead; so are many of our rights - USATODAY.com:

"What has been most chilling is that the elimination of Saddam and now bin Laden has little impact on this system, which seems to continue like a perpetual motion machine of surveillance and searches. While President Dwight D. Eisenhower once warned Americans of the power of the military-industrial complex, we now have a counterterrorism system that employs tens of thousands, spends tens of billions of dollars each year and is increasingly unchecked in its operations."

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On Osama Bin Laden’s Death | Common Dreams:

"While I don’t in any way minimize their danger, I despair. I despair that we as a country, as Nietzsche understood, have become a monster that we are attempting to fight."

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"The whole thing's just kinda stupid" - Slobberbone

Pedestrian, 84, injured in karate assault : Crime Scene

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Bridge Tower

Shining a light on the motherland today.

Never gonna happen. Not in SF. Nope.

SF Mayor Ed Lee enters nightclub rules fight:

"If the San Francisco Police Department had its way, every single person who went into a club in the city would have her picture taken and ID scanned as she walked in the door."

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Once completed, this bridge will be a jaw-dropper.

The new Bay Bridge tower grew to 495 feet as - Media (1 of 8) Bay Bridge tower sees 500-ton piece go up

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Two teens in the past couple of weeks have survived. The odds are lottery-like.

Teen survives Golden Gate Bridge fall

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I love this river.

Russian River has ally and advocate | PressDemocrat.com

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Must go to Spain.

Inside Scoop SF � San Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurants announced: Noma tops again; El Bulli, French Laundry absent from Top 50

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Washington works just fine

I wonder which Republican policies our 'Democratic (haha)' President will champion today. Do your back exercises and stretches, because we will most certainly be hauling the load on our backs.

No look at all these non-pragmatic, non-serious, pie-in-the-sky-ers. Change is not perceptible, Hippies!

Newly Released Spending Deal Targets Health, Environment, Energy | TPMDC

Six-month spending bill unveiled: What's cut and what's not - TheHill.com

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Ouch, ouch and ouch.

Rep. DeFazio: Obama should ‘act like a Democrat’�|�Raw Replay

Cornel West: Obama is ‘another black mascot’ of ‘Wall Street oligarchs:

"Princeton professor and famed black intellectual Cornel West has long been a supporter of President Barack Obama, but he’s recently changed his tune."

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Obama’s constitutional law professor joins group calling Manning’s treatment illegal:

"The Harvard professor who taught President Barack Obama about America's founding document has added his name to a letter damning the treatment of U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning, the lone soldier accused of leaking a vast number of government secrets to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.

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Obama Is Missing - NYTimes.com:

"What have they done with President Obama? What happened to the inspirational figure his supporters thought they elected? Who is this bland, timid guy who doesn’t seem to stand for anything in particular?"

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Daily Kos: From change agent to dealmaker:

"Instead of being the public leader, the transformational leader, that many of us expected, the leader he campaigned to be, he's shrunk. He's just become another Washington insider playing the insider game. The insider game has him making choices between shutting down the government and stepping on the poor. The insider game has him choosing between tax cuts for the wealthy or declaring war on the unemployed middle class. The insider game has convinced him there is almost nothing he can do about the housing crisis. The insider game has him appointing a corporate CEO who ships jobs overseas as the head of his domestic jobs council. The insider game has him appointing the very same people who ran the economy into the ground as his principal economic advisers. He told us of a Washington that was broken, but he was quite mistaken. Washington works just fine. Just not for regular people."

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DC For Obama Furious Over Budget Deal:

"Barr said his grassroots group, which is not affiliated with Obama's official campaign, knocked on more than 100,000 doors for Obama in Virginia ahead of the 2008 election. Barr said more than 250 people had already signed up for an April 28 campaign launch party.

Barr's enthusiasm has faded. 'We may end up postponing indefinitely,' Barr said. 'We may also just hold it and use that time as strategy to fight back against the White House and Congress.'"

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Surprise, surprise: rich get richer - The Boston Globe:

"THIS IS the biggest stickup in American history."

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The Real Housewives of Wall Street | Rolling Stone Politics

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I couldn't agree with this post more and this is why I will not vote for any Democrats in 2012. Give. It. Too. Them. instead of this bullshit slow-burn of the same policies that Obama and Congressional Dems (haha) are applying.

AMERICAblog News: Maybe it is time to let the GOP destroy the economy

My income is less than half what it was before the recession. And I know people that have been looking for a job for a year. It's tough out there. But at some point, maybe we have to consider whether we're going about this all the wrong way.

If the Republicans want to make a political/electoral issue out of the debt ceiling, then let's not raise it. Hand the keys to the legislation, to to speak, to Boehner and McConnell, and tell them it's their choice whether the legislation passes. And when it doesn't pass, and the world economy melts down, no one will elect a Republican for decades to come.

I'm simply tired of dealing with Democrats who don't have half a brain or half a backbone, and Republicans who would rather demagogue, and lie, than fix the country.

Why keep paying ransom to the hostage takers?

Maybe it's time to simply let Atlas shrug.

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I was at the beach 3 years ago when this artist was creating a beach mural. Same time this couple went. Very cool.

Sand-Written Wedding Proposal Mystery Solved! - Yahoo! News

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Doing it Wrong

Or you've just gone all Randian:

7 Basic Things You Won't Believe You're All Doing Wrong | Cracked.com

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Annual top restaurants in the Bay Area:

Restaurants — Food — SFGate

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Tee. Hee.

Photography Tips From an Old Dude | Uptown Almanac

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Aaaand. Politics.

Jon Stewart Mocks Obama's 2012 Re-election Campaign, Lack Of Transparency (VIDEO)

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How To Steal Like An Artist

Read this several times today to kick your week off right.

How To Steal Like An Artist (And 9 Other Things Nobody Told Me) - Austin Kleon

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Neat.

Low Tides Reveal SF Ocean Beach Shipwreck - Yahoo! News

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Sad.

Flotsam from Japan's tsunami to hit US West Coast

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DBT Week in Review - 4/1/11

DBT!

Drive By Truckers - Go Go Boots

Drive-By Truckers put on their ‘Go-Go Boots' | Metromix Greenville

OMNIVULTURE: The Dark Humor of Mike Cooley: Subtlety In The Age of LOLs

2nd Annual Haiti Benefit ft. Patterson Hood, David Barbe & the QHs more!

“Go-Go Boots,” The Drive-By Truckers | American Songwriter

Michael Bialas: As the Wheels Turn: The Drive-By Truckers Will Take You for a Ride

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Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, 'Here We Rest' (Lightning Rod) | SPIN.com

Swampland:Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: Here We Rest

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Slobberbone

Some new tour dates from Slobberbone

Slobberbone

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Lera Lynn

Lera Lynn finds her voice || OnlineAthens.com

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The Civil Wars

The Civil Wars Quietly Storm The IFC Crossroads House - Music - News - IFC.com

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Booker T. Jones

Booker T. Jones - Representing Memphis (feat. Matt Berninger and Sharon Jones) by antirecords on SoundCloud

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Muscle Shoals Sound

Austerity at work.

Alabama Music Hall of Fame Foundation

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Music

Historical Hideaways: Bill Graham Discusses the 'Old' Fillmore: SFist

Larry Marion: The Lost Beatles Photographs (PHOTOS)

Willie Nelson to dodge jail over pot bust — in exchange for playing a song | The Raw Story

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Expect More Losing

Love Uptown Almanac:

A Cross to Bear | Uptown Almanac

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This slogan is not Sheen approved (and just as vapid as anything Bush came up with).

Daily Kos: Winning the future is a great slogan:

"One day, we will all be super-educated and therefore able to outwit everyone else in some sort of global game. One day, we will build stuff again, like bridges and tunnels. One day, we will become a great manufacturing power again. But all of the things that allowed us to do these things in the past, like strong unions, industrial policy, inexpensive education, heavy regulation, and taxation that redistributed wealth downward will not be found in this budget because those things aren't on the table in any branch of government. What is on the table is a future, a future where everything will work out. We will win! Hooray for optimism!

As for today and tomorrow, expect more losing."

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And Geitner is about to blow holes in the few things this bill does do. It'll be just like it never happened (Until it happens again they bail out these bastards with our money again)

Wall Street Won! Nothing to Prevent Another Crisis, Says Former FDIC Chairman Bill Isaac: Tech Ticker, Yahoo! Finance:

"Crisis may create opportunity, but Congress completely flubbed its opportunity to enact meaningful financial reform in the aftermath of the worst crisis since the Great Depression, says the former chairman of the FDIC, Bill Isaac.

The Dodd-Frank reform bill--the one major piece of legislation to emerge since the financial crisis--is mostly meaningless, says Isaac, who is also the chairman of regional bank Fifth Third. Dodd-Frank does nothing to address the root causes of the financial crisis, Isaac says, and it won't prevent the next one."

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Brutal out there.

Hawaiian man killed while surfing at Mavericks

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Bully

Candidate Obama promised to protect and support whistle-blowers. President Obama's actions reveal otherwise.

The Abuse of Private Manning - NYTimes.com:

"Philip Crowley, a State Department spokesman, committed the classic mistake of a Washington mouthpiece by telling the truth about Private Manning to a small group (including a blogger): that the military’s treatment of Private Manning was “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.” He resigned on Sunday.

Far more troubling is why President Obama, who has forcefully denounced prisoner abuse, is condoning this treatment. Last week, at a news conference, he said the Pentagon had assured him that the terms of the private’s confinement “are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards.” He said he could not go into details, but details are precisely what is needed to explain and correct an abuse that should never have begun."

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Actors, musicians demand end to inhumane treatment of Bradley Manning | The Raw Story

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WTF.

AMERICAblog Gay: Judge asks why Obama admin. seeking unusually tough charges against GetEqual DADT protesters, invokes MLK:

"What happened next was surprising to those in the Courtroom. Judge Facciola got up out of his chair, while pacing, gave a speech about the history of the civil rights movement in the United States. He intimated that there were trumped up charges back in the 50s and 60s, too. And, he evoked the Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham case, Martin Luther King's 'letters from the Birmingham jail' and how civil rights protesters were often brought to court to face stricter charges. The judge clearly linked the protest over Don't Ask, Don't Tell to those earlier civil rights protests."

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If you see this guy at an ass-kicking contest, best run away.

One-Legged Wrestler Wins NCAA Title | ThePostGame

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The perfect response to a bully. Democrats should be forced to watch this until they get it.

Casey Heynes | Bully Video | SportsGrid

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Dream house.

Historic hideway / 1913 home highlighted by quiet location, lower-level speakeasy

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Passport Divide

Not good.

U.S. shows growing alarm over Japan nuclear crisis - Yahoo! News:

"The State Department strongly urges U.S. citizens to defer travel to Japan at this time and those in Japan should consider departing,' it said."

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What happens if a Japan-sized earthquake hits California? - The Week:

"What are the chances California will get hit by the Big One?

'The question is not if but when Southern California will be hit by a major earthquake — one so damaging that it will permanently change lives and livelihoods in the region,' warns the United States Geological Survey in a 2008 study. A magnitude 7.8 quake in California — Japan's quake was 30 times more powerful — would kill at least 2,000 people and cause $200 billion in damage, the USGS estimated. Because of how the state's many faults are structured, a quake of more than 8.0 is unlikely in much of California, geologists say."

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Bay Area Sushi Bars Face Daunting Supply Shortages � CBS San Francisco

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America's Great Passport Divide - Richard Florida - National - The Atlantic:

"At the opposite end of the spectrum, less than one in five residents of Mississippi are passport holders, and just one in four residents of West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, and Arkansas.

It's a fun map. With the exception of Sarah Palin's home state, it reinforces the 'differences' we expect to find between the states where more worldly, well-traveled people live versus those where the folks Palin likes to call 'real Americans' preponderate. Mostly to entertain myself, I decided to look at how this passport metric correlates with a variety of other political, cultural, economic, and demographic measures. What surprised me is how closely it lines up with the other great cleavages in America today."

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Radiation

Don't feel much like blogging with the horror show in Japan on-going.

Terrible. Just terrible.

Japan: New radiation leaks harmful to health - Yahoo! News

There's a map at this link which shows how close the radiation will waft to the Bay Area. Looks like it reaches land in Seattle and Vancouver.

Daily Kos: Breaking: Spent fuel fire at reactor 4, hydrogen explosion & radiation release

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First reaction is 'idiot', but this kid may be a cat since 99% of those who do jump are killed.

He did it for kicks.

Windsor teen survives Golden Gate Bridge jump

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Wacka Wacka

Compromising before negotiations have begun. More horrible Republican based law and policy coming our way. So awesome having a "Democrat" as President.

White House Offers First Budget Compromise As Negotiations With GOP Begin

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Jesus. Winning hearts and minds? Why are we there - killing kids - again?

Petraeus apologizes for NATO strike that reportedly killed nine Afghan children

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Pretty interesting.

Five things you never knew about Pac-Man - Video Games Blog Plugged In - Yahoo! Games

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The police in my old 'hood be tweeting.

SFPD's Richmond Station Joins Us In The 21st Century (via Locally Sourced Technologiez) | Uptown Almanac:

"In addition to live-tweeting neighborhood warnings and super interesting crimes you didn't think even existed (see the glued ATM keys above), it seems like their intent is to actually use Twitter as a platform to better serve the community (SHOCKER, AMIRITE?). According to SF Weekly and SF Appeal's recent coverage, the Richmond station top cop, Captain Richard Corriea, has four officers tweeting from the field and is encouraging more to do the same."

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On a much sadder, old neighborhood note, RIP Tommy. You will be sorely missed.

Inside Scoop SF � Bidding farewell to Tommy Bermejo

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Go To Jail

Bill Gates' opinion on education is equal to my opinion on rocket science. Both are fatally ill informed.

Another corporatist who made billions from a shitty product attempting to insert himself into a dialogue in which he is clueless all for the sake of promoting his pseudo-altruistic ego.

Daily Kos: A partial response to Bill Gates' op ed about teachers:

"Today's Washington Post features an op ed by Bill Gates titled How teacher development could revolutionize our schools. Teachers are the latest focus of Gates and his foundation. Before I respond to anything in this particular piece, let me remind readers that the last time Bill Gates got enthused about something in education, it was small schools. His foundations sank a huge amount of money into getting districts to create small schools while ignoring the research that had been done by those who had focused on the issue for years. The result was that the endeavor was not all that successful, the foundation has now pulled out of the effort, in some cases pulling the plug on ongoing efforts it had encouraged, and unfortunately tarnishing the concept and making it more difficult for those attempting to do it right."

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Didn't watch the Oscars, but this has to be the best acceptance speech. Nothing will change until people are put in prison for a very long time.

YouTube - Inside Job - Oscar winner acceptance speech

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Change nobody can believe in.

Justice Cranks Up Its Covert War on Whistleblowers—By Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine):

"As noted previously, candidate Barack Obama promised to protect whistleblowers who come forward with information disclosing government waste, abuse, and inefficiency. Unfortunately, President Obama has done exactly the opposite. Obama’s real policies are exposed in documents filed in the prosecution of former CIA agent James Stirling."

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This 6 mile trek was my Saturday or Sunday morning bike ride for many a year.

The Golden Gate Bridge: 10 Different Perspectives (PHOTOS):

"There's no finer urban walkabout than San Francisco's 6-mile trek along the dramatic cliffs, coastal forests, posh neighborhoods and beaches that ring the northwestern quadrant of the city. Starting at the historic Cliff House restaurant by Ocean Beach, hike past the Sutro Baths, through the coastal woods of Land's End, where Golden Gate Bridge views are dramatic and plentiful. Continue through tony Sea Cliff (past Robin Williams' house), down to sandy Baker Beach, and up to the Golden Gate Bridge. Jaunt downhill past surfers at Fort Point, then across windswept, beachy Crissy Field. Stroll across the marina and up into grassy Fort Mason for a much deserved picnic and nap in the sun."

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Well, duh. Via Jayne C.

Stare at boobs for longer life: Study | TheMedGuru

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Liberties Taken

Imagine, indeed.

How to Build a Progressive Tea Party | The Nation:

"Imagine a parallel universe where the Great Crash of 2008 was followed by a Tea Party of a very different kind. Enraged citizens gather in every city, week after week—to demand the government finally regulate the behavior of corporations and the superrich, and force them to start paying taxes. The protesters shut down the shops and offices of the companies that have most aggressively ripped off the country. The swelling movement is made up of everyone from teenagers to pensioners. They surround branches of the banks that caused this crash and force them to close, with banners saying, You Caused This Crisis. Now YOU Pay."

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Asking nicely always works.

Robert L. Borosage: Obama at the Chamber: Strategic Retreat:

"America is still a big market, and a good place to do business, in a world of increasing insecurity. Send a clear signal that we are going to balance our trade -- and that companies better plan for that -- and show the muscle to prove you mean it. Then lead a campaign to crack down on executive compensation schemes, and use every mechanism of government to defend the right of workers to organize. The howls from the business community and from lobby fronts like the Chamber would be deafening. But it is hard to image a more popular mix of policies -- and ones that might make a difference.

Instead, the president is in strategic retreat. He's embraced the old trade policies, backed away from confronting China, brought in JP Morgan Chase's chief lobbyist into the White House as chief of staff, and GE's CEO as leading economic adviser. The old economy is reasserting itself, with little but pleas to corporate patriotism to change it."

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Nice.

Obama To Cut Energy Assistance For Poor; Kerry Urges Him To Reconsider

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Oh the humanity. The liberties taken, I tells ya. The liberties.

The Most Impotant Letter of Them All | Uptown Almanac

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Keepin' it real in TN.

House of Pancakes, maybe....

Tenn. GOP lawmaker credits Hooters for success - Yahoo! News

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Too Much Money In It

Uh.....

‘I get it,’ Obama tells business, vows cooperation | Raw Story

Actually, he doesn't get it... at all. Not even close.

Appealing to business leaders' 'better nature' is like taking a wee whilst standing on one's head. Laws of nature support neither venture.

Daily Kos: Obama's Misunderstanding of Corporate America:

"It would be nice to think that business leaders have all just had a moral lapse for the last 30 odd years. But that's not the truth. The truth is that any CEO who behaved morally in the ways Obama is asking would be in violation of the corporate charter, which demands maximum profit to the shareholder. Corporations, by definition, exist to maximize shareholder return. End of story."

So, yeah. Change and all.

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Clueless Clinton, too.

Why can’t the US legalize drugs? There’s ‘too much money in it,’ Clinton says | Raw Story

Your modern Democratic Party, ladies and gentlemen. When in doubt, mumble then cower.

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Huzzah! Take the 3rd-Railers (Wayers) with you.

Democratic Leadership Council will fold - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com

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"But it is so expensive to live there"!

Warm temps ‘shatter, obliterate’ records across the Bay Area - Yahoo! News

Actually, it is way too cheap to live where-ever you are living. Seriously.

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For Whom the Tollbooth Shuts

Primaries are very good for any political party. As a voter, do the opposite of what any incumbent Democrat (especially a 'DINO') wants and you'll be a damn patriot.

After a life time of staunchly being a Democrat, the only reason I remain one on paper is so I can vote against an incumbent in a primary.

House Dem: Liberal groups need to back off for party to succeed this cycle - The Hill's Ballot Box:

"Liberal groups need to stay out of Democratic primaries if the party is going to retake the House majority, according to a conservative Massachusetts Democrat."

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I'm just surprised it wasn't stamped 'Made in China'.

Winning hearts and minds.

Richard Engel, On The Ground In Egypt, Shows Tear Gas Canister Stamped 'Made In The USA':

"ENGEL: You talked earlier about anti-American sentiment and a lot of that has been because the United States while today the Press Secretary is saying how they've been talking about Egypt and the need for reform and bringing up this at every meeting that's not the way many Egyptians see it. Most Egyptians see the United States as having stood solidly by President Mubarak while the government here grew more and more corrupt. And they see the Americans as complicit in it. And just today, for example, when we were out on streets this is what a lot of people were showing us about American involvement. If you can see in my hands this is one of the tear gas canisters and very clearly written in English on it, it says 'Made in the USA by Combined Tactical Systems from Jamestown, Pennsylvania. And they say this is the kind of support that the United States has been giving to the Egyptian government and bears some responsibility, although today it it trying to say that it never backed Mubarak so much, it has been calling for reforms for a long time, Egyptians don't see it that way."

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He plays for Oakland and had to go back to Alabama to be shot at.

Going to Oakland and not being shot at is like going to San Francisco and not visiting the Golden Gate Bridge.

SUV driven by Oakland Raiders linebacker and former Alabama star Rolando McClain targeted in shooting | al.com

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Speaking of which....

This is sad. The tollbooth workers and generally some nice folks. I just won't be the same experience.

Golden Gate Bridge set to shut tollbooths:

"It looks as if tollbooths and toll collectors, a fixture at the Golden Gate Bridge since it opened in 1937, will no longer be used at the span starting in 2012 as the bridge district moves to an all-electronic system."

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Sailing. Takes Me Away....

Very cool. This will be a site to behold and free seating around the entire bay:

San Francisco selected to host America's Cup:

"Rather than holding the races miles off shore, which was the case in Valencia and in Newport, where the Cup was held from 1930 to 1983, San Francisco Bay offers a natural amphitheater. Spectators in Financial District high rises, along Crissy Field, on Angel Island and in the Marin Headlands will be able to view the action."

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An excellent economic read for those of us who need economic info to be simplified. Extremely comprehensive.

Daily Kos: Why the rich get richer and poor get poorer

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Obama is gonna hire his next chief of staff from JPMorgan. You tell me if Obama will stand up to The Big Lie. Hard to stand up to something when you are behind pushing it.

Robert Reich: The Big Lie:

"The truth is our economic problems stem from the biggest concentration of income and wealth at the top since 1928, combined with stagnant incomes for most of the rest of us. The result: Americans no longer have the purchasing power to keep the economy going at full capacity. Since the debt bubble burst, most Americans have had to reduce their spending; they need to repay their debts, can't borrow as before, and must save for retirement.

The short-term solution is for government to counteract this shortfall by spending more, not less. The long-term solution is to spread the benefits of economic growth more widely (for example, through a more progressive income tax, a larger EITC, an exemption on the first $20K of income from payroll taxes and application of payroll taxes to incomes over $250K, stronger unions, and more and better investments in education and infrastructure.)

But instead of telling the truth, Obama has legitimized the Big Lie by freezing non-defense discretionary spending, freezing federal pay, touting his deficit commission co-chairs' recommended $3 of spending cuts for every dollar of tax increase, and agreeing to extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

Will Obama stand up to the Big Lie? Will he use his State of the Union address to rebut it and tell the truth? Maybe, but so far there's no evidence."

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"We like everything convenient". Even our orgasms.

Alabama Sex Toy Drive-Thru Business on the Rise - CBS News:

"'It's been doing well, and really well on nights when it's cold or rainy,' said employee Toni Kennedy. 'Discretion and the ease of it are big, and convenience. We're Americans. We like everything convenient.'"

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