Posts

Showing posts from July, 2010

This picture may tell a thousand words, but it may have a hard time squeezing even one in.

Image
This doesn't require a lot of comment from me, especially since my thoughts may draw a negative reaction from the people it reminds me of...people i love a LOT!

Arrrrgh!

Sometimes, one silly statistic can tell you everything you need to know...and probably more than you want to: Defense Secretary Gates recently noted that the military has more people in its marching bands than the State Department has diplomats.

Not the Shabab!!! Anything but that! Or wait, maybe that's good?!

I read, either in my hands or online, 2-3 newspapers a day as well as 3-4 magazines monthly and many news-related websites daily, so I like to think I'm pretty up on current events. But when I see news stories, in this case in the New York Times, where this is the headline, it makes me want to try to be less aware of things going on in the world, rather than more so: Militant Alliance Adds to Somalia’s Turmoil An insurgent commander in the semiautonomous region of Puntland has pledged his loyalty to the Shabab, which recently set off a bomb in Uganda

First there was Whitewater, now there's Whitewash

Lest we forget the facts, which have a way of changing through the miracle of political spin - from Paul Krugman: "Last week Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, declared that “there’s no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy.” So now the word is that the Bush-era economy was characterized by “vibrancy.” I guess it depends on the meaning of the word “vibrant.” The actual record of the Bush years was (i) two and half years of declining employment, followed by (ii) four and a half years of modest job growth, at a pace significantly below the eight-year average under Bill Clinton, followed by (iii) a year of economic catastrophe. In 2007, at the height of the “Bush boom,” such as it was, median household income, adjusted for inflation, was still lower than it had been in 2000. But the Bush apologists hope that you won’t remember all that. And they also have a the
Things I seem to see way more of in Chester County now than when I was a kid: - rainbows - cardinals - Democrats - drivers - houses - vitriol - tailgating - hot air balloons - deer Things I see a lot less of: - Box turtles - open space - rust on cars More as I think of them...

Are you listening Harry? Nancy? BARACK?!

This just in from the Dailykos.com: Dems jump ahead in new poll Tue Jul 20, 2010 at 09:06:03 AM PDT Democrats have taken a significant lead over Republicans in the latest congressional Gallup Poll: Democrats pulled ahead of Republicans, 49% to 43%, in voters' generic ballot preferences for the 2010 congressional elections. The Democrats' six-point advantage in Gallup Daily interviewing from July 12-18 represents the first statistically significant lead for that party's candidates since Gallup began weekly tracking of this measure in March. It's just one poll, but it's a big jump and it makes sense in light of last week's events. In a strong economy, conservative scapegoating of the millions of Americans laid-off might work. But with record, long term unemployment, most voters know someone whose job prospects and finances are desperate to grim. In that environment, protecting the Bush's tax cuts for the super-wealthy and obstructing critical unemployment ben

In fact, I'll bet none of them even read this!

Republicans seem to complain an awful lot about reading. They complain about having to read the Health Care Reform bill. They complain about having to read the Financial Reform Bill. It does help me understand one thing though: Now I know why they've paid so little attention to the Constitution.

Evangelicals once again realizing they may have (should have) more in common with us Ds than with them Rs

Instead of copying and pasting this entire story, I'll just add the link here and say that the last time I read an article like this was in reference to the environment and solidarity with then-candidate Obama on the part of young middle american evangelicals who felt the old guard church leaders were out of step with reality, at least in this case in terms of protecting the enviroment. That was the first time I thought Obama had a real chance to win the election. This article makes me think legitimate immigration reform may have an actually chance of happening. I'll write more about this when I have time, hopefully later this week. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/us/politics/19evangelicals.html?_r=1&th&emc=th Here's an excerpt: "“My message to Republican leaders,” said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, the president of the evangelical National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and one of the leaders who engaged his non-Hispanic peers, “is if you’re anti-immi

Health Care Reform Looking Healthier Everyday

Health care reform update, again from today's Times: " Most of the major elements of the reform law don’t go into effect until 2014, but some important benefits start this year. Administration officials had two early successes: pressuring insurance companies to immediately end their indefensible practice of rescinding coverage after a policyholder becomes sick and to immediately start covering children with pre-existing conditions. Officials also persuaded insurers and a handful of employers to allow parents to keep their dependent children on family policies until age 26. A few hundred thousand Medicare beneficiaries who have reached the “doughnut hole” in Medicare drug coverage have gotten or will soon get small, $250 checks to help pay their drug costs; millions more will get checks when they reach the gap later this year. The administration has already proposed language for contracts that will be signed with the manufacturers of brand-name drugs to provide 50 percent disco

I'm sure CEOs across Corporate America are Taking Notes

Some advice for corporate America from a column in today's NYT: "(they) should remember the president’s actual record. First, Mr. Obama inherited an economy teetering on the brink of depression. Immediately upon taking office, he forged a $787 billion economic stimulus program, and is wisely trying to expand it now. Was this program perfect? Of course not. But it has been effective. Every serious economic model indicates that it contributed to recovery. Second, at that same time, the credit markets were in tatters and simply not functioning. The administration submitted the biggest banks to confidence-building stress tests. It skillfully invested in financial institutions, kept the mortgage markets afloat and undertook other creative initiatives to solidify the financial industry. These have worked more quickly and more successfully than anyone predicted. The system is healthy again. All this has led directly to a turnaround in corporate profits, share prices and liquidity. Pr

As opposed to losing 750,000 jobs per month when Bush left office

From Politico.com today: A quarterly Council of Economic Advisers report estimated that the administration’s $862 billion economic recovery package put from 2.5 million to 3.6 million people to work. And for every $1 the government puts into Recovery Act programs, the private sector is investing $3, according to the report. The number of created or saved jobs is an increase from a council estimate from the first quarter of the year of 2.2 million to 2.8 million. The new report puts the country on track to reach 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010. Republicans, however, were quick to point out that the national unemployment rate was 9.5 percent in June, despite spending programs. Maybe the R's are still counting on the Kansas strategy of preferring that people stay jobless, hoping they're then more likely to vote for them.

Just the usual Fox News blahblah...wait, WHAT?!

Fox News contributor and host of Fox Business' new libertarian show Judge Andrew Napolitano said over the weekend that President Bush and Vice President Cheney should have been indicted over their administration's conduct around Guantánamo Bay. In an interview with Ralph Nader on C-SPAN, Napolitano blasted the former administration for suspending habeas corpus. "What President Bush did with the suspension of habeas corpus, with the whole concept of Guantánamo Bay, with the whole idea that he could avoid and evade federal laws, treaties, federal judges and the constitution was blatantly unconstitutional — and in some cases criminal," Napolitano said. "They should have been indicted. They absolutely should have been indicted. For torturing, for spying, for arresting without warrants. I'd like to say they should be indicted for lying but believe it or not, unless you're under oath, lying is not a crime." Napolitano added that "the evidence...is ove