Unwise Center

This article is as comprehensive as I've read regarding what is being called the Hackleburg tornado. Hard to put into words, but somehow they did.

132 Miles of Devastation: EF-5 tornado deadliest in United States in last 56 years | al.com

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I get a bit put off by the bastardization of the word 'elite' when what they really mean is 'privileged-hasn'tworkarealjobever-powerhungry-assholes'.

But, yeah, what the professors says... again.

The Unwisdom of Elites - NYTimes.com:

"The fact is that what we’re experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. The policies that got us into this mess weren’t responses to public demand. They were, with few exceptions, policies championed by small groups of influential people — in many cases, the same people now lecturing the rest of us on the need to get serious. And by trying to shift the blame to the general populace, elites are ducking some much-needed reflection on their own catastrophic mistakes.

Let me focus mainly on what happened in the United States, then say a few words about Europe."

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Maybe the Democrats will finally realize this on 1/2013 when President Huntsman is being sworn in. Doubt it, though. That lot doesn't do much learnin' from past mistakes.

Appealing To The “Center” Drives Away Voters:

"The way to grow your voting base is NOT to try to “appeal” to some group that is not left or right, but is “between” something called left and right. To get more voters — especially the “independent” ones who won’t identify with a party — is to take stands, be more committed to progressive positions, and to articulate them more clearly."

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The operative here is 'with the right policies' so, not gonna happen in the States.

Renewable energies could supply 80 percent of world’s demand by 2050: UN report | The Raw Story:

"ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Governments approved on Monday a U.N. report projecting that renewable energies such as solar, wind or hydropower could leap to supply almost 80 percent of the world's demand by 2050, with the right policies."

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Taxes: Admission to a Civilized Society

Not all Progressives. Some realize he's home where he is.

John R. Talbott: Progressives Cry Out: "Obama, Come Home":

"Last month, Obama named Jeffrey Immelt to the President's Economic Recovery Board and then we find out it was GE that designed and built the Japanese reactors. Yesterday we hear that GE is not paying any taxes on $14 billion of profits but is instead receiving a $3.2 billion rebate. And Immelt is the man that is supposed to be investigating how to close corporate tax loopholes?"

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Japanese corporations agree to forgo tax cuts, for good of their country | The Raw Story

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States broke? Maybe they cut taxes too much | McClatchy

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Maybe somebody should do something. Little help here. Dems?

Telecoms want ‘to put Netflix out of business entirely,’ Sen. Franken tells SXSW:

"'I came here to warn you the party may be over,' Franken said. 'They're coming after the Internet hoping to destroy the very thing that makes it such an important [medium] for independent artists and entrepreneurs: its openness and freedom.'

He warned that pay-walls may soon be erected to enhance the content of wealthy interests, ensuring some voices are heard over others and removing the level playing field of today's Internet. Franken called this a new business model that telecoms like Comcast were keen on implementing, purely in the interests of making money."

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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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Corporate PEEthos

Other than the 'jaded' biased BS, a fine read.

A Chicken Chain’s Corporate Ethos Is Questioned by Gay Rights Advocates - NYTimes.com

I truly believe that if more people were conscious of the places they spend money and acted according to their personal morals and did not patronize establishments who do not represent their values, then more meaningful change would occur. One might have to go out of their way or spend more money at another establishment, though. Too bad American culture is pretty lazy.

Though, admittedly, I'll cave and eat a sandwich from American Taliban establishments as I would a Thai restaurant with Hindu idols in the corner. The difference is the Thai place isn't actively attempting to suppress my rights under the Constitution.

Purity is hard to attain with so much corporate concentration.

"“It’s a hard call, a personal call,” she said. “You have to decide which soul you want to feed.”"

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Great analogy, though far too many elected Democrats are MLB. Far. Too. Many.

New Rules: Democratic NFL vs Republican MLB | Video Cafe

MAHER: So it's no surprise that some 100 million Americans will watch the Super Bowl next week. That's forty million more than go to church on Christmas. Suck on that Jesus! It's also 85 million more than watched the last game of the World Series and in that is an economic lesson for America, because football is built on an economic model of fairness and opportunity. And baseball is built on a model with the rich always winning and the poor usually have no chance.

The World Series is like the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills; you have to be a rich bitch just to play. Where as the Superbowl is like Tila Tequilla, anyone can get in. Or to put it another way, football is more like the Democratic philosophy. Democrats don't want to eliminate capitalism or competition, but they would like it if some kids didn't have to go to a crummy school in a rotten neighborhood, while others get to go to a great school, and their dad gets them into Harvard. Because when that happens, achieving the American dream is easy for some and just a fantasy for others.

That's why the NFL literally shares the wealth. TV is their biggest source of revenue and they put it all in a big Commie pot and split if thirty two ways. Because they don't want anyone to fall too far behind. That's why the team that wins the Superbowl in the next draft, picks last, or what the Republicans would call “punishing success.”

Baseball... baseball on the other hand is exactly like the Republicans. And I don't just mean it's incredibly boring. I mean their economic theory is every man for himself. The small market Pittsburgh Steelers go to the Superbowl more than anybody. But the Pittsburgh Pirates? Levi Johnston has sperm that will not grow up and live long enough to see the Pirates in a World Series. Their payroll is forty million. The Yankees is two hundred and six million. The Pirates have about as much chance of getting to the playoffs as a poor black teenager from Newark has of becoming the CEO of Halliburton.

That's why people stop going to Pirate games in May. Because if you're not in the game, you become indifferent to the fate of the game and maybe even get bitter. That's what's happening to the middle class in America. It's also how Marie Antoinette lost her head. So you kind of have to laugh that the same angry white males who hate Obama because he's “redistributing wealth” just love football; a sport that succeeds because it does just that.

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Again, DADT has not been repealed.

Pam's House Blend:: "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal: There Is No Target Date

It is just like the 'near universal health coverage' that does not exist but that the OA keeps crowing about.

Half-assed symbols does not equal any kind of 'change'.

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Oh, academia.

Professor charged with peeing on colleague's door

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Wedge Issue

Our wedge issues are so much cooler than their wedge issues.

Will weed be the ‘wedge issue’ that leads Dems to 2012 victory? | Raw Story:

"With one eye on California's marijuana legalization vote, Democratic strategists are sizing up the possibility of placing the issue on other state ballots as a way of helping them win tight races in 2012, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Pollsters have noted a distinct increase in youth voter enthusiasm in California in recent months, attributed largely to Proposition 19, the ballot initiative that, if approved, would decriminalize, regulate and tax marijuana in the state."

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Love Lewis Black.

'The Daily Show' Takes On The Education Crisis (VIDEO)

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Old people do the craziest things.

Irmgard Holm Mistakes Super Glue For Eye Drops (VIDEO)

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No one is asking Obama to be perfect...

Check out the website I created for my good friend who is an attorney in Micronesia. Image by ShannonD and header creation by JennB.

Planning on investing in the Pacific? David is your man.

Shipper Law Firm - Pacific Islands Attorney

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My sentiments exactly. Read it several times:

AMERICAblog News: No on is asking Obama to be perfect. We're asking him to simply try to keep his promises.

No one thinks Obama is God, perfect, or able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. We do, however, expect him to at least try to accomplish the goals he set out for himself during the campaign. People are not upset with President Obama because he didn't accomplish everything. They are upset that he often doesn't seem to try to get the most out of a deal. He settles for less at the outset, when the political dynamic would have permitted him to get far more than what he settled for.

Yes, now the President isn't doing very well in the polls, and the Democrats in Congress are running scared. But it wasn't always this way. A good year-plus ago, when we were first talking about a stimulus and health care reform, the President was at 70% in the polls, the Dems in Congerss were riding high, and the Republicans were on the verge of committing mass suicide. There was no excuse, then, for settling for a weaker stimulus than was needed (the results of which, nearly 10% unemployment, are dogging us all today). And there was no need to shove the public option overboard from the outset (the President made clear that he wasn't going to demand its inclusion). So while it's convenient to argue that "now" the President has no choice but to compromise, he had a choice a year ago, and he compromised at the git-go anyway. It's who he is as a person, and it's the reason so many are so frustrated. (And one could argue that a good part of the reason the Democrats are in such trouble today is because of the President's penchant for capitulation.)

This isn't about people's unacceptably high expectations. We simply expected him to try to do what he promised.

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To be as tall as he is... gotta give some props:

'Barefoot Bandit's 2-year run from law is over - Yahoo! News

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Breathe

I'm trapped between this....

Be Grateful for President Obama – Lenny Kates – Pittsfield Massachusetts – Failure magazine

...and this:

Daily Kos: CLAP LOUDER or Tinkerbell WILL DIE and Obama's approval rating will drop

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The military can no longer be some sacred cow. I support troops/boots on the ground, but the military industrial complex has been raping this country for too many years. Teat needs to be cut and military leadership needs to be put into their proper place.

The American Military Fetish

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Would have never seen this coming. Can we just go ahead and admit to ourselves that BP will be let off the hook and no body will be prosecuted.

We simply don't do accountability in the United States.

AP IMPACT: Many Gulf federal judges have oil links - Yahoo! News

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I've done 32(US). I've always thought about doing 31.... hmmm.

World's Best Places to Live - Yahoo! Real Estate:

"European cities take seven of the top 10 spots for quality of life, thanks to their relative safety, political stability and cultural offerings. As for the U.S., Honolulu, at No. 31, has the best quality-of-life record and the continental U.S. makes its first appearance on the list at 32, with San Francisco tying Adelaide, Australia. Boston came in at No. 37, Chicago and Washington, D.C. tied for 45th place, and New York ranked 49. Philadelphia and Dallas were ranked for the first time this year, landing spots 55 and 61 on the list, respectively."

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As a diver, this is amazing. I could watch this all day:

Guillaume Nery Base Jumping UNDERWATER At Dean's Blue Hole (VIDEO)

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Tax Cuts

This needs to be repeated ad nauseam.

Tax Day Fact Check: Most Americans Got A Tax Cut This Year

Taxes lowest in 60 years, thanks to Democrats and Obama

98 percent of Americans got tax cuts. The richest two percent, well, they didn't. The teabaggers, doing the bidding of America's richest elite, will remain outraged about that injustice. So they are always welcome to send their record-high tax refunds to Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O'Reilly. That way, they can prove once and for all that they are not all sound and ignorant fury.

Or are they more concerned about the deficit? If so, they are always free to tear up that refund check, doing their part to lower America's deficit.

Actions! They should would speak louder than their angry, uninformed words.

A note from billionaire J. K. Rowling (British Communist):

Daily Kos: Paying Taxes Is Patriotic:

"The fact remains that the first time I ever met my recently retired accountant, he put it to me point-blank: would I organise my money around my life, or my life around my money? If the latter, it was time to relocate to Ireland, Monaco, or possibly Belize.

I chose to remain a domiciled taxpayer for a couple of reasons. The main one was that I wanted my children to grow up where I grew up, to have proper roots in a culture as old and magnificent as Britain’s; to be citizens, with everything that implies, of a real country, not free-floating ex-pats, living in the limbo of some tax haven and associating only with the children of similarly greedy tax exiles.

A second reason, however, was that I am indebted to the British welfare state; the very one that Mr Cameron would like to replace with charity handouts. When my life hit rock bottom, that safety net, threadbare though it had become under John Major’s Government, was there to break the fall. I cannot help feeling, therefore, that it would have been contemptible to scarper for the West Indies at the first sniff of a seven-figure royalty cheque. This, if you like, is my notion of patriotism."

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Amazing how ant-like we humans are:

Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull Volcano PICTURES: Incredible Photos Of The Eruption, Ash Cloud

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Count me as one:

Estimate: 800,000 U.S. Households Abandoned Their TVs For The Web

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Via Jez. Funny stuff:

Lewis: How the North Face became the North Farce - The Denver Post:

"The South Butt's slogan is 'Never stop relaxing,' a spoof of The North Face's 'Never stop exploring.' The South Butt also advertises, 'Built for the great indoors,' 'Keep slacking in style,' and 'Why climb mountains?'

The North Face complained all of this was 'causing confusion, mistake and deception among the general purchasing public.'

To which Watkins deftly responded: 'The consuming public is well aware of the difference between a face and a butt.'"

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Better hope that rope holds

The Mommy Files : Video: 3-year-old walks tightrope over tigers

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Suck It, John Roberts

Did you hear about this on the news? Of course you didn't.

Judge says gov’t must allow funding for ACORN:

"A federal judge retained her position that it is unconstitutional for Congress to prevent funding for the activist group ACORN after a government request that she reconsider.

U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon cemented her earlier decision in December and made the injunction permanent against government intervention permanent, asking all federal agencies to spread the word that money to ACORN be allowed without delay.

The judge wrote that it was 'unmistakable that Congress determined ACORN's guilt before defunding it.' Congress may investigate ACORN but cannot 'rely on the negative results of a congressional or executive report as a rationale to impose a broad, punitive funding ban on a specific, named organization.'"

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Did you see this rally that was 10 times larger than most TeaBagger orgies plastered all of the TV screens?

Of course you didn't.

Fuckin' liberal media sucks.

10,000 Turn Out In DC To Attack Insurance Co. Profits; Network News Ignores Them | Crooks and Liars:

"It got a brief mention on some of the cable channels, but the only major TV network that carried live coverage of this healthcare reform rally in D.C. yesterday was Fox - and then, only to ridicule it:"

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My problem is we dirty fucking hippies said this would happen and to avoid bipartisanshit at all costs.

No body listens to the dirty fucking hippies... until it is too late.

Sanders: ‘One year later, the White House gets it’:

"Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Wednesday assailed the White House for purportedly wasting a year vying for Republican votes on health care reform, alleging that the protracted debate weakened the bill and damaged the party’s standing among progressives.

“We have wasted month after month negotiating with people who do not support serious reform,” he said at a progressive media summit on Capitol Hill. 'It's been a year now and I think the White House finally got that message.'"

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Goddamn right. Labor Unions fucking rock and could be the only thing that saves this country.

Labor On Dems Who Block Health Reform: We'll 'Take Them Out'

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So do you think it was the faux-pragmatic compromise Democratic monkeys that forced this or the fire breathing, hell raising, never compromise REAL Democrats that forced this?

Yeah, hell raisers. What I like to call a little Act-Right.

But this is GREAT if they actually do it and don't rig it. Later Baucus/Nelsons/Lieberman, you pieces of shit.

Democrats To Upend Seniority System In Senate: Brown:

"Senate Democrats intend to elect the chairs of committees when the next Congress convenes, which could upend a tradition that prioritizes seniority over party loyalty, legislative effectiveness or any other merit-based criteria.

During a question-and-answer session with progressive media, video blogger Mike Stark asked lawmakers why the Democratic caucus hasn't yanked Sen. Blanche Lincoln's chairmanship of the Agriculture Committee, considering her opposition to Democratic legislative efforts. In Arkansas, her gavel is a top selling point as she battles a progressive primary challenge.

'We're going to elect committee chairs next year,' said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). 'The current chairs that are sitting there now understand that we'll be electing chairs next year,' he added, saying the idea had been cleared with Senate leadership."

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John Roberts is a partisan, Neo-Conservative asshole who shouldn't be anywhere near the Supreme Court.

The Very Troubling Partisanship of John Roberts | Crooks and Liars

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Funny how balls sprout when you are in serious danger of getting your ass kicked back home in the next election.

Too little, too late Harry. I'll be glad to see you go.

Harry Reid Slams Supreme Court Justices John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy For Campaign Finance Decision:

"The president and his aides aren't the only Democrats throwing unusually sharp and public jabs at the conservative members of the Supreme Court.

On Wednesday Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he was 'so disappointed' with the Court's swing vote -- Justice Anthony M. Kennedy -- for enabling the court's rightward, corporatist tilt. As for Chief Justice John Roberts, the majority leader castigated him as being out of touch and completely detached from political reality.

'Do you think John Roberts knows or cares how people get elected?' he said, referring to the role the chief justice played in crafting the court's Citizens United decision."

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Drudge has always been a carrier of egg-born diseases.

Exclusive: Websites like Drudge can spread viruses, ‘non-partisan’ techie warned Senate | Raw Story:

"The Senate's environment committee has warned Capitol Hill staffers to avoid the Drudge Report and some other sites over suspicions of viruses, a spokesperson for the committee confirmed to Raw Story Tuesday.

The Drudge Report denied the allegations and mocked the committee in a prominently-featured story, but a CNET report on Tuesday notes that readers have complained about suspicious malware on the site today."

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Space Chair

Stop outsourcing our security. These bastards profit from continuous war, so wouldn't it stand to reason that they'll do anything to protect their business?

Ban private security forces.

If we are going to fling tons of wasted money at the military and military contractors, might as well make them, you know, work as security.

Blackwater Took Hundreds Of US Weapons From Military, Afghan Police Using 'South Park' Alias:

"Employees of the CIA-connected private security corporation Blackwater diverted hundreds of weapons, including more than 500 AK-47 assault rifles, from a U.S. weapons bunker in Afghanistan intended to equip Afghan policemen, according to an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee."

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Yup. Damn black people trying to register to vote.

TAPPED Archive | The American Prospect:

"The Senate is holding a hearing today where several current and former Blackwater employees will be testifying, but honestly the only way Congress would stop giving Blackwater money is if it started registering black people to vote."

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Excellent read and Obama is shatting all over his brand.

Naomi Klein on how corporate branding has taken over America | Books | The Guardian:

"The risk – and it is real – is that the response will be waves of bitter cynicism, particularly among the young people for whom the Obama campaign was their first taste of politics. Most won't switch parties, they'll just do what young people used to do during elections: stay home, tune out."

See:

Democrat Youth Support Dwindling:

"WASHINGTON — Whither the youth vote? A year after backing Barack Obama by an overwhelming 2-to-1 ratio, young adults are quickly cooling toward Democrats amid dissatisfaction over the lack of change in Washington and an escalating war in Afghanistan.

A study by the Pew Research Center, being released Wednesday, highlights the eroding support from 18-to-29 year olds whose strong turnout in November 2008 was touted by some demographers as the start of a new Democratic movement."

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Christian ignorance = redundant.

Maddow: Christian ignorance revives discrimination in Virginia | Raw Story

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Interesting. Winds may not be blowing as hard in the other direction as one might think.

Daily Kos: Texans send millions to Democrats:

"A Houston Chronicle analysis of congressional campaign contributions in the 2010 election season found that Texans are shipping millions of dollars to out-of-state candidates this year, and most of the recipients are Democrats.

Eight of the top 10 non-Texas recipients of Lone Star State political money are Democrats. Overall, Democrats are receiving about 60 percent of the $6,823,766 in Texas money headed to Senate and House candidates in other states, according to Federal Election Commission filings through Feb. 10."

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Because it is freaking cool:



The making of:

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Say Anything

Olbermann: New GOP strategy is ’say anything’

Same as the old strategy.

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Tennessee Lt.-Gov.: ‘I don’t know’ if Obama is US citizen

And, I do not know if Tennessee's Lt-Gov. fucks goats. It is unclear if the Lt-Gov is or is not a goat fucker.

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Obama Continues Policy Outreach to Republicans - NYTimes.com

And I keep banging my head against the door jam to see if it will ever stop hurting.

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If you read this blog you know I'm a fan of Survivor.

Jennifer came in forth during the Palau edition.

There, but by the grace of ,go I:

INSIDE STORY: Jennifer Lyon's Cancer Battle - Jennifer Lyon : People.com:

"It all began in the summer of 2004, when she 'felt something in my right breast that didn't feel normal,' Lyon told PEOPLE in October 2005. 'I thought it was probably scar tissue related to my breast implants. It was right along the ridge of the implant, so I let it go, and I let it go for a long time.'

Asked why she delayed seeing a doctor, Lyon said, 'I didn't have insurance, which is a big part of it. And it really wasn't changing much. But a year later, I felt another lump, and then I felt something under my armpit.'"

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Interesting analogy

Daily Kos: Pander Fail: Obama's New Coke:

"What had gone wrong is that Coca-Cola had abandoned their core market strengths: Coca-Cola was associated with tradition, family, stability. People drank Coke not only for its taste, but for emotional reasons. They had a core emotional attachment to the brand, as one would for a loving parent. When Coca-Cola changed to be more like Pepsi, it abandoned the core elements that made consumers trust and love the brand.

The only difference between Coca-Cola and the Democratic Party is that Coke only needed one opportunity to wise up and learn its lesson, while the Democratic Party continues to roll out its own New Coke every decade or so."

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Brush up on your Chinese, y'all.

The most important news and commentary to read right now. - The Slatest - Slate Magazine:

"China is so far ahead in the race to create technology related to renewable energy, that 'the West may someday trade its dependence on oil from the Mideast for a reliance on solar panels, wind turbines and other gear manufactured in China,' notes the New York Times. The United States, along with other countries, is trying to catch up, but it's an uphill battle. While renewable energy continues to be more expensive, China charges a fee to all users to help spread out the cost, an example of how the government takes a deep interest in energy policy. And it's not just about government regulations. In fact, part of the reason why China has been able to become a world leader in building this new technology is that its domestic market is growing. Demand for electricity in China is skyrocketing, so power companies have to constantly buy new equipment, making it easier to develop large-scale production lines."

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Multi-verse.

Damn cool stuff.

And to answer the first question in the blurb.... 'She' did.

"Was the Universe Created By A Big Bang?" -Several of the World's Leading Cosmologists Say "No":

"'What banged?' Sean Carroll, CalTech -Moore Center for Theoretical Cosmology & Physics

Several of the worlds leading astrophysicists believe there was no Big Bang that brought the universe and time into existence. Before the Big Bang, the standard theory assumes, there was no space, just nothing. Einstein merged the universe into a single entity: not space, not time, but spacetime.

Proponents of branes propose that we are trapped in a thin membrane of space-time embedded in a much larger cosmos from which neither light nor energy -except gravity- can escape or enter and that that 'dark matter' is just the rest of the universe that we can't see because light can't escape from or enter into our membrane from the great bulk of the universe. And our membrane may be only one of many, all of which may warp, connect, and collide with one another in as many as 10 dimensions -a new frontier physicists call the 'brane world.' Stephen Hawking, among others, envisions brane worlds perculating up out of the void, giving rise to whole new universes."

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Shitty weed.

743 pounds of marijuana found in septic tank truck, Arizona police say - CNN.com:

"CNN) -- In a messy drug bust this week, investigators uncovered more than 700 pounds of marijuana stuffed in a septic tank truck full of human waste, Arizona police said Friday.

And the search of the truck was as awful as it sounds.

'Yeah, that really does suck,' Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves told CNN. 'It's a long way to go to make a bust.'"

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Pfft. So 2001. We TOTALLY had a website where you could send anon emails to someone in the office who had an annoying habit.

Oh, and for a small fee, I'll tell you why you suck. Call now!

Failin.gs: New Site Will Tell You Why You Suck (PICTURE):

"If you've ever wondered what people really think of you, now you can find out.

A new site, Failin.gs, provides a forum for your friends to point out your faults, whether it's what a cheapskate you are, or how poorly you listen."

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Super Commie Defender!

Who is this commie defender of our Muslim President. Why, I've never seen so liberal a hippie.

Bob Barr eats so much granola...... wait.... Bob Barr? THE Bob Barr? One of the people responsible for the hyper partisanship he now so decries below?

What a world, what a world.

Critics of Obama way off base on this one | The Barr Code

Yes — the not-so-bright, would-be terrorist from Nigeria got though international and domestic security mechanisms supposed to have stopped him long before the jerk lit his underwear afire before landing in Detroit. And yes — the incident happened during the administration of President Barack Obama. But the sniping at the president by Republicans, including former Vice President Cheney, and by conservative radio and TV commentators, borders on — if not passing into — asinine.

The criticism has included such childishness as blasting Obama for waiting a few days before making a national speech on the incident. For heaven’s sake, the president was briefed on the incident from the moment it occured; he made statements almost immediately indicating his concern and that he was being regularly briefed; he took time to gather the facts and meet with his national security team; and then he appeared publicly to give a rational, measured, but hard-hitting response. And for this, a former vice president criticizes him.

Partisanship truly has pervasively infected our political system when a reasonable, measured, factual, timely and substantive response by a president to a single security incident — the roots of which clearly indicate long-simmering problems that predated his tenure in office — is publicly blasted as irresponsible. In point of fact, those levelling such counterproductive attacks are the ones engaging in irresponsible behavior.

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Democrats are resigning. The sky is falling. Republicans will win 4000 seats in the house and 250 seats in the Senate.

Except not.

As The Media Lies.

The Washington Monthly

DROPPING LIKE FLIES'?.... Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) is retiring. So is Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). And before anyone could catch their breath, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) announced he's not seeking re-election, either.

It led ABC News to report that "Democrats are dropping like flies."

It is not shaping up to be a pretty week for the Democrats. [...]

You will certainly hear a lot of talk from Republicans that Democrats are beginning to face the reality of just how tough the current political landscape looks for them and they are running for the hills.

This is, to be sure, exactly the meme Republicans want the media to embrace, and if the coverage this morning is any indication, political journalists seem anxious to comply.

But let's add a little perspective here. Quick quiz: which party has more Senate retirements so far this campaign cycle, Democrats or Republicans? Follow-up question: which party has more House retirements so far this campaign cycle, Democrats or Republicans?

If Dems are "dropping like flies," the answer should be obvious. But it's not -- in both chambers, Republican retirements, at least for now, outnumber Democratic retirements.

In the House, 14 GOP incumbents have decided not to seek re-election, while 10 Democratic incumbents have made the same announcement. Does this mean Republicans are "dropping like flies"?

In the Senate, six Republican incumbents have decided not to seek re-election, while two Democratic incumbents have made the same announcement. Is this evidence of a mass Democratic exodus?

Among governors, several incumbents in both parties are term-limited and prevented from running again, but only three Democrats who can seek re-election -- Parkinson in Kansas, Doyle in Wisconsin, and Ritter in Colorado -- have chosen not to. For Republicans, the number is four -- Douglas in Vermont, Rell in Connecticut, Crist in Florida, and Pawlenty in Minnesota. (Update: the GOP number is five if we include Palin in Alaska.)

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Those 4000 and 250 seats will come with a large price tag.

But, certainly, Republicans have enough cash on hand.

Oh. huh.

I'll expect the news media to be all of this one.

Worst RNC cash flow in a decade - TheHill.com:

"A 2009 spending spree has left the Republican National Committee (RNC) with its worst election-year cash flow this decade.

The largest GOP party committee has $8.7 million in the bank heading into an election year with 37 governors’ races, a dozen major Senate contests, dozens more in the House and an all-important redistricting cycle on the horizon.

Said one RNC official: “It is very troubling, and the thing is, most people don’t understand this. But it is really troubling.”"

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I expect the new media to remedy the ACORN witch hunt.

Who am I kidding.

Ain't no money in rectifying wrongs.

Extra, Extra--Read All About ACORN:

"Indeed, the CRS report--requested in September by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank--finds no instances in which ACORN 'violated the terms of federal funding in the last five years,' and no instances of individuals allegedly registered to vote improperly by ACORN 'attempting to vote at the polls.'

Good to see that the New York Times ran the story. But the placement and the timing--after 18 months of screaming headlines and attacks vilifying the anti-poverty group--is reminiscent of the McCarthy era when individuals and organizations were ruined by allegations that ran as front page news, while later evidence that vindicated them was relegated to the back pages. There was little accountability for the false accusations, little redemption for those whose lives had been shattered."

A "new McCarthyism" is seen in the manner in which guilt by association has been pursued by the likes of Glenn Beck and "mainstream" GOP leadership (if there is such a thing). A report by People for the American Way describes, for example, how "attacks on widely respected judicial nominee David Hamilton treated his one-month job as a canvasser for ACORN thirty years ago when he was 22 years old as if it had constituted a major portion of his career."

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Good stuff:

Amazing Things To Do To Your Friends When They Pass Out (PHOTOS)

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Monkey See, Monkey Fling Do-Do

Wow! FAUX New's lying finally becomes news?!? What a world.

Fox News again accused of airing misleading video - Yahoo! News:

"For the second time in just over a week, Fox News is coming under fire for misusing old news footage. The latest flap is leading some people to charge that the cable news network is intentionally misleading its audience, while Fox claims a 'production error.'"

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The most terrifying thing you'll read all day.

Daily Kos: Don't Get Palin's Appeal? Try a Little Harder:

"Each time I read a diary or a comment that wonders out loud how someone as 'stupid' as Sarah Palin could be appealing to anyone, I shake my head in disbelief.

In 2004, this website was clogged up with comments and diaries about another politician most people believed to be 'too stupid,' to succeed. 'How can anyone be a supporter of someone so stupid? Someone who sounds so dumb and has done so many stupid things?'

Then, after that 'stupid' guy was re-elected, the Democratic Party went into an identity crisis tail spin.

Have we forgotten all this? Apparently we have.

Still don't get Sarah Palin's appeal? Try a little harder and you will."

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Because, how do you reach through the painful stupid of these people and bring them to the light? I just don't know and that really bothers me.

They are going to believe what they want to believe, facts be damned.

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And they are so fucking angry about.... well, something all the time that they even turn on V-PILF.

These folks do not live in the land of reason.

Video of Angry Wingnuts Booing Sarah Palin, Calling Her a “Quitter” & Chanting “Sign Our Books” | Rumproast

Teabaggers just aren’t happy about anything these days. I guess the Noblesville, Indiana Going Rogue book signing didn’t go very well yesterday because 300* or so of the 1000 people with wristbands were asked not to tread on Sarah Palin and then she tried to make a getaway with Baby Trig and several duffel bags full of cash but wingnuts have learned to protest about everything these days, so they were having none of it. This is the best thing you will see about horrible, horrible Sarah Palin on the internets all day and until the end of time.

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Amen, Conyers.

Conyers Rips Obama, Emanuel For 'Bowing Down' To GOP On Health Care

Health reform's human stories - Countdown with Keith Olbermann- msnbc.com

New Orleans, La. — - It happened as I watched a 50-something woman walk out, after spending several hours being attended to by volunteer doctors. "She's decided against treatment. A reasonable decision under the circumstances," the doctor tells us as she heads for the next patient. The president of the board of the National Association of Free Health Clinics tells me why: "It's stage four breast cancer, her body is filled with tumors." I don't know when that woman last saw a doctor. But I do know that if she had health insurance, the odds she would have seen a doctor long ago are much higher, and her chances for an earlier diagnosis and treatment would have been far greater.

After watching for hours as the patients moved through the clinic, it was hard to believe that I was in America.

Eighty-three percent of the patients they see are employed, they are not accepting other government help on a large scale, not "welfare queens" as some would like to have us believe. They are tax-paying, good, upstanding citizens who are trying to make it and give their kids a better life just like you and me.

Ninety percent of the patients who came through Saturday's clinic had two or more diagnoses.
Eighty-two percent had a life-threatening condition such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or hypertension. They are victims of a system built with corporate profits at its center, which long ago forgot the moral imperative that should drive us to show compassion to our fellow men and women.

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Can't they take one day off from being a massive collective of douchebags. Just one day.

This action only serves the credit card companies.

GOP senators block effort to freeze credit card interest rates:

"Republican senators on Wednesday blocked an effort to debate a bill that would prevent credit card companies from raising interest rates ahead of new regulations coming into force next year.

The move angered congressional Democrats who were pushing for an emergency freeze on credit card rates.

'I’m extremely disappointed that the financial health of millions of American taxpayers has been completely brushed aside by a handful of Wall Street banking interests in the US Senate,' Rep. Betsy Markey (D-CO) said, as quoted in the Coloradoan."

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Now, something that makes sense.

Some 'Awwww' for your Monday:

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Living to be 100

Damn right. We definitely need some crazy ass LBJ channeling.

So far, I'm not impressed with 'Chicago style politics'. Kind of doughy and bloated like their pizza. (Otherwise, Chicago is one of my favorite cities in the U.S. Love that place).

John Conyers Tells Obama: 'Start Knocking Heads':

"'The president could take a few pages from Lyndon Johnson's book... and start knocking heads together,' said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee."

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Granted, those past Dem Congresses didn't have to deal with the current bat-shit crazy Republicans we do, but still....

Harold Meyerson - Harold Meyerson on the Senate's sluggish pace - washingtonpost.com:

"While Republicans have become an immovable object, the Democrats have yet to find a way to become an irresistible force. They began the year with a president who had been elected by a substantial majority on a platform of urgent change, and with sizable majorities in both houses of Congress. They had been in this position twice before. The first time around, in 1933, Franklin Roosevelt and Congress had enacted the landmark legislation of the First Hundred Days -- depositor insurance, emergency relief, industrial stabilization, public employment (the Civilian Conservation Corps). The second time around, in 1965, Lyndon Johnson and Congress had created the Great Society, passing more than 80 bills, among them Medicare, the Voting Rights Act and federal aid to education, in six months."

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Excellent piece. California is hamstrung b/c of a bill passed by Reagan Repubs in the 70s which essentially eliminates majority rule in California. 1/3 of the Cali Senate can stop anything from happening in the state.

No similar law is in place on the Fed level. Dems are just allowing the same thing to happen.

Never once from 2001-2008 did you hear of 60 votes needed for any damn thing. 60 votes are only needed when Dems are in power.

Jeez.

Steven Pearlstein - Want real reform? Let's start with Congress.

So at the risk of sounding naive, I'd like to offer a novel idea for changing the legislative dynamic, restoring majority rule to the legislative process and keeping health reform alive: Debate it on the Senate floor.

That's right, forget about spending another six weeks searching for those elusive 60 votes to break a filibuster, going back and forth with weak-kneed centrists like Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu who can't seem to decide what they really want, or self-righteous egotists like Joe Lieberman, who thinks he can call all the shots. If they have suggestions for improving the bill, let them do it the old-fashioned way: propose an amendment on the floor and see if they can get 49 other senators to agree.

To get things started, it will be necessary to put Vice President Biden in his rightful constitutional place as presiding officer, where he should make clear he'll do whatever is necessary to restore majority rule to the Senate, even as he jealously protects the rights of the minority to blabber on as long as it wants and offer whatever amendments it thinks necessary. And if that means overturning some outmoded precedent laid down by some dead predecessor, so be it.

As a final step, Majority Leader Harry Reid will need to break out the cots and announce that he'll keep the Senate in session day and night until a bill is passed or defeated or Senators agree to give up and go home.

If nothing else, it will be a marvelous civics lesson for Americans who have probably forgotten, if they ever knew, what a real floor fight looks like. They might even be so captivated that they decide to join the battle and let their elected representatives know how they feel. And my hunch is that when it's all over, we'll wind up with a health-care reform bill that is not only better than one negotiated in the backrooms, but is a much better reflection of where the country is on the issue.

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God forbid if we use reconciliation. Why, there is absolutely no precedent for such a thing....

Sen. Sanders: If Lieberman filibusters health reform, force it through | Raw Story:

"While congressional Republicans tend to howl at even the threat of such a measure being used to pass legislation they are opposed to, the GOP used reconciliation against Democrats in 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005,"

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It is ours to win or fuck up.

Op-Ed Columnist - Paranoia Strikes Deep - NYTimes.com:

"And if Tea Party Republicans do win big next year, what has already happened in California could happen at the national level. In California, the G.O.P. has essentially shrunk down to a rump party with no interest in actually governing — but that rump remains big enough to prevent anyone else from dealing with the state’s fiscal crisis. If this happens to America as a whole, as it all too easily could, the country could become effectively ungovernable in the midst of an ongoing economic disaster.

The point is that the takeover of the Republican Party by the irrational right is no laughing matter. Something unprecedented is happening here — and it’s very bad for America."

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Damn right! Money talks, bullshit walks.

Progressives Threaten To Cut Off Money For Dems Who Oppose Health Care:

With the finish line for health care reform in sight, progressive groups are taking an aggressive approach to make sure that Democrats in Congress vote with their party. They're threatening to stop giving them money.

In the past few weeks, several separate groups have announced they will withhold fundraising money and political support from any Democrats who either vote against the bill in the House or support a GOP filibuster of the bill in the Senate.

"A similar effort is being launched on the House side. On Tuesday, Markos Moulitsas, founder of the popular Daily Kos blog, urged readers to simply stop writing checks to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as an explicit message to those '18 most endangered' Democrats who voted against health care legislation.

'It's clear that if you don't want your money to go to bad Democrats, then it's impossible to donate to the party committees,' Moulitsas told the Huffington Post. 'Some of the most endangered Democrats in 2010 are also some of the worst. If you want to contribute to the good ones, it's best to target your money directly to them.'"

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The portion of this diary excerpted below is righteously indignant, but the rest of the diary is brutal, albeit kinda inspiring too.

Talk about your Dirt Underneath.

Indeed. Fuck Y'all.

Daily Kos: I'm scared. �And I'm really f@cking angry.:

"Are you gonna sit there and tell me Mr. Gasbag/Mr. Congressman that that little clump of cells is a sacred treasure which must be saved at all costs and then turn around and say that providing healthcare for that clump of cells once the cord is cut is fiscally irresponsible and that the little bastard is now on its own?

Are you really gonna sit there and tell me Mr. Gasbag/Mr. Congressman that driving people into poverty so deep that they don't even have a shitty car to live in while Wall Street thieves, military contractors and environmental rapists grow ever more porcine and gluttonous is GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY and then turn around and LECTURE people driven mad with despair about bootstraps while hucking the occasional chunk of expired government cheese at them?

Are you gonna sit there and tell me Mr. Gasbag/Mr. Congressman that my gay friend's desires to have a legal joining that affords them the rights that the most basic common decency prescribes is somehow a THREAT to the kind of 'TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE' that my granddaughter witnessed last night?

Because if that's where we are at this point in the conversation, then I just have one thing to say to you, Mr. Gasbag/Mr. Congressman.

FUCK YOU."

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And the over/under for Dobbs on FAUX announcement is 7 days.

Lou Dobbs announces abrupt departure from CNN | Raw Story

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Hurry up with the life extenders, science. We godless bastards have placed our bets on y'all. And no more of the Ted Williams head freezing bs, either.

One Key Found for Living to 100 - Yahoo! News:

"Scientists have zeroed in on one apparent key to long life: an inherited cellular repair mechanism that thwarts aging and perhaps helps prevent disease. Researches say the finding could lead to anti-aging drugs."

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Oh, Irony

The Freedom loving thing to do would have been to let him die freely where he fell.

Socialist took away his freedom to meet baby Jesus. Bastards!

Government health care rescues protesters at anti-government health care rally.:

"More ominously, a man standing just beyond the TV cameras apparently suffered a heart attack 20 minutes after event began. Medical personnel from the Capitol physician’s office — an entity that could, quite accurately, be labeled government-run health care — rushed over, attaching electrodes to his chest and giving him oxygen and an IV drip.

This turned into an unwanted visual for the speakers, as a D.C. ambulance and firetruck, lights flashing, pulled in just behind the lawmakers. A path was made through the media section, and the patient, attended to by about 10 government medical personnel, was being wheeled away on a stretcher just as House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) stepped to the microphone. “Join us in defeating Pelosi care!” he exhorted. A few members stole a glance at the stretcher."

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We can't do one goddamn right thing in this country without some American Taliban fucking it up.

Maddow is right.

Let's also insert into the bill that men will not be allowed any type of penis care at all. Lump on your nut? Suck it up, 'cause Jesus wants it that way.

Maddow: Democratic women will REVOLT over Stupak-Pitts if it is not removed in Conference:

"On Meet The Press today, Rachel Maddow made a point that should NOT be overlooked by Democrats in the House and Senate who wish to remian in their elected offices in 2010 and beyond, and that is the fact that if the Stupak-Pitts C Street anti abortion amendment in the House version of Health Care Reform is NOT removed if/when the bill goes to Conference to be merged with the Senate bill, there will be MASSIVE blowback for the Democratic party from it's female base.

Simply put, if women's rights are restricted by a Democratic Majority in Congress and a Democratic President in the White House, the women who make up the Democratic base will either sit n their hands in 2010 or hold a massive revolt which will cripple the Democrtaic party in future elections."

And: Douchbags on parade.

YouTube - The GOP Health Care Plan: "I Object!" - Feat. Rep. Tom Price (R-GA)

Also:

NEW POLL: Dems Who Oppose Public Option Bill Today Will Lose Obama Voters in 2010

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I'm still lamenting the massive missed opportunity to come in with guns a blazing. Doubt I'll ever see another such opportunity in my life time. We could have made some real change.

Bill Maher: Is This as Good as It Gets From Obama?:

"Yeah, I'm disappointed, too. I thought we were sweeping into power; I thought change meant Change. I believed all that talk about another First 100 Days, a la Roosevelt. Well, that didn't happen. The question is, is this as good as it gets from Obama, or is he pacing himself? He may have a four and eight-year plan and they included a first year of just gettin' to know you and not gonna rock the boat too much. Well, Mission Accomplished on that.

It's still too early to lose hope in a guy as smart and talented as Barack Obama. But I would counsel him to remember: If you're going undercover to infiltrate how Washington works, so you become one of them for a while, to gain their confidence, well, it can be just like all those movies where a cop goes deep, deep, DEEP undercover with drug people and -- fuck, he's a drug addict, too!"

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We do have this going for us, though.

U.S. becomes top country brand under Obama: survey - Yahoo! News:

"SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Barack Obama has done it again. The president's starpower has made the United States the place most people want to visit and do business with, according to an annual survey that ranks nations like retail brands.

'The Obama effect has seen the United States earn the coveted top spot for the first time in the fifth annual index,' FutureBrand, which is part of Interpublic Group of Companies, said in a statement."

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Yup, about right.

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Hilarious.

Think Progress � Is Glenn Beck Being Treated By SEIU Nurses?:

"In recent days, Beck has been hospitalized for appendicitis. As Alternet’s Alexander Zaitchik points out, the staff treating the ailing pundit is likely under the auspices of SEIU nurses:

The security-conscious Beck has not disclosed the name of the facility, but it’s a safe bet that it is staffed by proud members of a storied union: New York’s Local 1199, aka United Healthcare Workers East, which belongs to the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU has organized all of Manhattan’s major hospitals, including every facility to which Beck could have conceivably been sent.

Beck certainly isn’t complaining about being treated by nurses who were organized by the union he regularly demonizes. On his Twitter account, he praised the staff that is attending to him:"

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These have zero to do with public safety and all to do with stuffing corporate pockets full of cash. Want some 'freedom' teabaggers? How's about getting a law banning these things on the ballot in every city in the U.S.

Controversial speed cameras cause gear-grinding among irked drivers

You rip open the envelope and there it is: Another darned photo-enforcement traffic ticket.

The photograph, the zoom-in on the tag, it's you, baby. Your car. Two weeks ago. Forty-one in a 30-mph zone.

It's from your favorite municipality. You can pay $40 now or $80 later. You can also contest it, the infraction letter says, and that's a laugh. You remember seeing that the folks who went down to fight their automated tickets in Montgomery County got convicted 99.7 percent of the time. Like a Soviet election, you think, a sham, a joke, and you, the chump in the parade.

There's something that doesn't smell right about these tickets, but you're not quite sure what.

Is it the huge profits the government and their cohorts, the camera manufacturers, make on them? The District doubling the number of tickets it issued just two years ago, raking in $36 million last fiscal year? The fact that Redflex, one of the big manufacturers of these cameras, posted a 48 percent jump in revenue last year while the rest of the economy tanked?

People get worked up. Put these cyborgs on a ballot, and the voters beat them to the pavement.

Three cities Tuesday -- two in Ohio, one in Texas -- voted to rip the things down. In College Station, Tex., the camera manufacturer and their subcontractors reportedly spent $60,000 campaigning to keep them in place, more than five times the amount raised by the opposition, and lost anyway. Voters in Chillicothe, Ohio, went against the cameras at a rate of 72 percent. In Heath, Ohio, the mayor got caught removing anti-camera campaign signs from an intersection. He, and the cameras, got sent packing.

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Blockheads

I no longer have any faith that any effective health care policy will pass.

I'm baffled as to why I can not be covered by a public option. It ain't public if only 2 percent are eligible.

You know what 'freedom' really is? It is not having to work for a goddamn corporation in order to have health insurance.

But, then again, there are 3 types of lies: Lies, damn lies and statistics. - Twain.

Public Option Plan Will Cover Few Americans, New Statistic Reveals:

"WASHINGTON — What's all the fuss about? After all the noise over Democrats' push for a government insurance plan to compete with private carriers, coverage numbers are finally in: Two percent.

That's the estimated share of Americans younger than 65 who'd sign up for the public option plan under the health care bill that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is steering toward House approval."

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Jesus-Fucking-Christ.

I'll be cool with this if these 'prayer healings' are the ONLY type of health care Christians get to receive. I'll pay for that. Damn right.

Healthcare provision seeks to embrace prayer treatments -- latimes.com:

"little-noticed measure would put Christian Science healing sessions on the same footing as clinical medicine. Critics say it violates the separation of church and state."

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Enjoy, douche. And Welcome.

Think Progress � Former McCain adviser nervous about moving into the individual health insurance market he once touted.:

"Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a senior policy adviser to Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign, “remains unemployed — and his COBRA health coverage is running out,” the Washington Post reports. “Irony of ironies, it gets worse. Holtz-Eakin, who is about to start shopping for insurance on the individual market, is 51. And he has one of those pesky ‘preexisting conditions’ that insurance companies often cite in denying coverage”:

Holtz-Eakin said he’s been paying about $1,000 a month to extend the private health insurance he received on McCain’s campaign through the government’s COBRA program, but that will expire in a few months. This is the first time in his life he has not had employer-provided health coverage. “I worry about where I go next in the way many Americans do,” he said."

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Some goodness... but not near enough. These were the gimmes that come with winning the office. Too be expected.

Democrats' Quiet Changes Pile Up - WSJ.com:

"Rep. Tom Price (R., Ga.), a conservative leader in the House, concedes that, in some cases, Republicans are being outflanked. 'The administration is pushing so many things so rapidly it's difficult to concentrate on all of them,' he said."

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You raised one of these 'extreme blockheads', asshole.

Nice work.

Gorbachev: Bush 41 called Reagan ‘extreme,’ said GOP supporters ‘blockheads’ :

"Vice President George H. W. Bush confided in Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that he believed Ronald Reagan was an 'extreme conservative' supported by 'blockheads and dummies,' the former Soviet leader claims.

'In 1987, after my first visit to the United States, Vice President Bush accompanied me to the airport, and told me: 'Reagan is a conservative. An extreme conservative. All the blockheads and dummies are for him, and when he says that something is necessary, they trust him. But if some Democrat had proposed what Reagan did, with you, they might not have trusted him,'' Gorbachev said in an interview with The Nation."

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Well, well, well.

Report: Racy sex tape ends Prejean’s lawsuit against beauty pageant:

"Carrie Prejean, the dethroned Miss California 2009 who stirred up controversy by expressing her views against gay marriage, has dropped her lawsuit against the Miss California contest because of an 'extremely graphic' sex tape, says a report at the celebrity gossip site TMZ.

'Carrie Prejean demanded more than a million dollars during her settlement negotiations with Miss California USA Pageant officials -- that is, until the lawyer for the Pageant showed Carrie an XXX home video of her handiwork,' the Web site reported."

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Alcohol abuse.

A fork lift driver in Moscow was sampling too much of his own product when he drunkenly plowed his vehicle into the stock shelves of vodka and cognac in the storeroom where he worked. The result was a spectacular crash in which $150,000 worth of liquor rained down around him. Amazingly, he escaped with nothing but a leg injury. We doubt he can say the same for his job."

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Better Things to Do

I think maybe for the first time in my life time....

Progressive won a battle?!? Check that. Progressive finally decided to fight a battle?!?

Hopefully this snowballs and they won't crawl back into their shell.

But, kudos, progressives, kudos. More, please. And if you could do it on your own without the progressive blogosphere having to whip the crap out of you every time. My arms are tired.

Durbin: Progressives Forced Our Hand On Public Option:

"Democratic leaders were forced to include a national public health insurance option as part of health care reform by progressive Democratic senators who refused to support anything less, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on Monday."

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This is a cluster that best not be repeated with the health bill.

Dems put off the application of the sweeping credit card reform passed earlier this year until the beginning of next year. Plenty of time for CC companies to mightily screw consumers in the mean time.

If reform bills are passed, then they should apply on day one.

Dollars and Sense : Who's the real deadbeat -- you or the credit card company?:

"* Levying extra fees on card holders who pay off their balance every month

Yeah, you read that last one right: next year, Bank of America is going to start charging people who pay off their balance on time. It's no secret that credit card issuers hate people who don't carry a balance -- 'deadbeat' isn't a complimentary term -- but this really adds injury to insult. Given that most Americans can't establish a credit history without credit card activity, it seems like establishing or maintaining a good credit history just got a little more difficult"

Then, you won't have to do this. Glad Dodd is doing it, but this shouldn't even be an issue.

Reform starts on Day One.

Dodd introduces bill meant to freeze credit card interest rates immediately - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

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A little too late Mr. Freedom Fries.

CongressDaily - Atonement

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President McCain, I'm sure, will be on all of the Sunday blathering head shows to explain why consumer protection is teh suck.

It should be very apparent that with anything the Dems try to attempt, the Repubs will paint it as 'Gov't control'.

It is not like the telecoms don't have a monopoly as is.

McCain introduces bill to block Net neutrality | Raw Story:

"Republican strategy is to paint Net neutrality as government 'control' of Internet

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced a bill in the Senate on Thursday that would effectively allow Internet service providers to slow down or block Internet content or applications of their choosing.

The move came the same day as the federal government decided to move forward on an official Net neutrality policy that would prevent ISPs from making those types of decisions.

The FCC's new rules would prevent ISPs, for example, from blocking or slowing bandwidth-hogging Web traffic such as streaming video or other applications that put a strain on their networks or from charging different rates to users.

McCain's bill, the Internet Freedom Act, would block the Federal Communications Commission from making Net neutrality the law of the land. The rule preventing ISPs from slowing down certain types of content would create 'onerous federal regulation,' McCain argued in a written statement."

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Torture porn loving arseholes.

Though, what a great comeback.

Revealed: Like McCain, Bush is ‘Jack Bauer kind of guy’ | Raw Story:

"The actor [said], 'He grabbed me at a baseball game in the US. A big guy came up to me and said, 'Excuse me, the President would like to speak with you.' I went over, and it was George W. Bush, and he said 'Hey Carlos, when are you coming out of that coma? All I can do is watch that show of yours. Are you coming back?' I was like, 'You don't have anything better to do?'"

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Because Jesus loves mountain top removal, poison water and polluted air.

That's how J-dog rolls. It is true. Corinthians 7-11.

Sen. Graham: ‘We need to use the coal that God has given us’ :

"Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) has announced that he is willing to support some form of climate change legislation, but only if the current Kerry-Boxer bill is overhauled to look a lot more like a traditional Republican program of energy independence.

'There will be no climate change bill with my vote unless you have offshore oil drilling,' Graham told Fox News on Thursday. 'I won't vote for any climate change bill that doesn't allow a dramatic increase in nuclear power. I'm not going to vote for any climate change bill that doesn't allow us to use our coal deposits.'"

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Que Jimmy Hendrix guitar solo.

Inside The Tripper's Brain: Scientists Create 3D Maps Of Brains On Drugs (VIDEO)

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Net Neutrality

If M and H posted everyday, I just might keep a hard link at the top of each of my posts.

They are that good.

Margaret and Helen:

"Dick Cheney has had four heat attacks. He underwent four-vessel coronary artery bypass grafting in 1988, coronary artery stenting in November 1994, and urgent coronary balloon angioplasty in December 1994. He has been treated for popliteal artery aneurysms, deep-vein thrombosis, atrial fibrillation, and most recently back problems. I wonder what his out-of-pocket expenses were. I wonder if he even cares?

Universal Healthcare in the wealthiest country on earth should have been a no brainer. And speaking of a no brainer…"

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'Cause one post just isn't enough.

Michele Bachmann’s wheel is still spinning, but the hamster is dead. � Margaret and Helen:

"Margaret, I know it has been a few years since we last made the trip across the pond, but I was wondering if anyone is still alive in Europe? I watched a little bit of Fox News this weekend and I’m afraid everyone in Europe might have died from lack of access to healthcare. What a shame. They had such delicious food and beautiful art."

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Telecoms are coming out swinging on Net Neutrality. Our job is to keep the heat on our Congress people.

Net Cemetery | The New Republic:

"This kind of discrimination threatens one of the most distinctive features of the Internet: the fact that there is no easy way to discriminate among different kinds of content, just as the electrical grid doesn’t ask whether your TV set is made by Sony or Panasonic. But, in recent years, that distinctive feature has been threatened. We now live in a world where the technology for watching what people do with their data packets is sophisticated enough to give a company like Comcast the ability to decide which packets can be shuffled into slower or faster traffic lanes, depending on what its business model dictates. And, in addition to having the technical ability to discriminate, Internet providers now have the legal authority to do so. In the 2005 Brand X decision, the Supreme Court ruled that cable broadband providers were not a 'telecommunications service' but an 'information service,' and, therefore, were freer to keep competitors off the network."

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Nothing to see here, folks.

Dawn Teo: "Kill Obama" Painted On Phoenix-Area Campaign Signs

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Good Democrat. Good boy!

Rep. Skelton To Rep. Akin: "Stick It Up Your Ass":

"WASHINGTON — Show me some civility, Republicans cried Friday after a Missouri congressman speaking on the House floor was caught on microphone apparently cussing out a fellow Missourian.

Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., had just finished addressing his Republican colleague Todd Akin Thursday.

Skelton then turned to the side and muttered 'stick it up your ass.'"

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Violent encounter. Check. Regrettable sex. Check.

Study urges parents to give kids booze allowance | Raw Story:

"LONDON — Parents should give their teenage children a weekly alcohol allowance at home, to help them avoid falling into the country's notorious binge-drinking culture, a study recommended Friday.

It said banning teenagers from drinking alcohol risked pushing them to buy cheap booze on the street and get into more trouble.

Health authorities have long sought to promote a more 'continental' European attitude to drinking, as opposed to the heavy boozing which brings chaos to many town centres on weekend nights.

The result of the drinking culture was reflected in the new study's findings: some 30 percent of teenagers surveyed said they have experienced violence while drunk, and 12.5 percent reported having had sexual encounters they regretted."

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IJustMadeLove.com: Tell The World Where, How You Had Sex (PHOTOS)

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