December 2009 archive

Dec 09 2009

What Will You Tell Them?

If there’s still enough time, if it’s not too late, if you haven’t given up, if you can find the words, if you haven’t run out of words, if you haven’t been silenced, banned, exiled because too many Obamabots profusely supportive admirers of Barack at GOS and other bizarre locations don’t want to hear the truth, don’t want to deal with it, can’t bear to look at it, won’t acknowledge it because he is their last refuge, their final sanctuary, the only source of hope they have left in this betrayed wreck of a country.            

How many times do they have to see Obama stumble down the side of that Misty Moderate Mountain before these people realize he’s not the Moses of the Democratic Party, before they finally understand he’s not leading us to the Promised Land, he’s just plunging us deeper into the Valley of Centrism Death, where lies and self-delusion reign and the truth is never heard.  It shouldn’t be so hard for them to figure out how this is all going to end if progressives back down again, if we take one for the team again, if we let K Street’s bought and paid for hacks pass this healthcare “reform” atrocity.  

You don’t have to walk and crawl on six crooked highways for the rest of your life to know where we’ve been and where we’re going next, an IQ of 50 and two functioning eyes are all that’s necessary to confirm that those crooked highways are just an endless corporate tollway to nowhere and that it’s our job to keep paying for the trip.  

Dec 09 2009

Snow Night

Its snowing. A lot. I always think of it as the Mean Season… even though eventually I come to see the beauty, and like the slowing of the pace. How people all in the same boat wander out to be awed, stuck home by the storm. I end up liking too, that as an early riser, I get to see it before it has been marred by footprints and tire tracks, so pristine, so clean.

It washes away the things I both long for, others I despise from my memories of growing up.

Its kind of a season of loss, both of all the bustle of a huge family Jake will never know, mixed with a happiness he will never have to go through much of it. At least I belonged to something, however flawed; he is alone but for his Father and I. Mixed blessings. But there are reasons why I think of it as the Mean Season. Still, I can’t hate the snow.

Snowstorms shrink your world. Forced solitude. You and the elements. You alone in the World.

The seasons have changed more ways than one. I guess I’m officially old. Just missed a 2nd period after months of weirdness. Menopause, too. The Winter of my life as well. And a few zits to boot from the hormone change, too. Old and hideous. Bonus!

Not that I mind practically. Jake was my miracle, and I couldn’t have another anyway, so fuck that hassle. No, don’t feel like less of a woman either.

Its just, geeez, two minutes ago I was 19, and now, its officially the end-part of my life. And I’m still the little kid hiding from the next hit.

What have I done with my life?

It’s really snowing out.

“With winter closing in…”

Sigh.

Dec 09 2009

What the loss of the Public Option really Means …

from the ConsumerWatchdog.org



(Click for Larger Image)

What the loss of the Public Option really Means …

Good bye competitive choice …

HELLOOOO … More of the Same!

Dec 09 2009

Overnight Caption Contest

Dec 09 2009

View From Under The Bus

In case others here haven’t been watching the train wrecks at GOS today, at the top of the wreck list (above MoT’s 120% missive) is the news that Senate Dems caved, dropped the PO and went for a 55 and older (but only if you’re uninsurable and uninsured) Medicare buy-in. No surprise to those of us who are getting quite used to the view from between the wheels of this bus, but there is encouraging stuff in the comments. Primarily the number of people planning to re-register as Independents a.s.a.p.

True, that’s mostly angst and anger right now, but it gives me hope that perhaps there’s impetus for a real ‘movement’ here. As more and more Dems are becoming fed up with the Kabuki and now giving up entirely, there’s a wealth of rootless energy out there for the tapping. How do we tap it?

Dec 09 2009

Public Option Out

Breaking News… I missed the teevee versions, but its all the buzz… mcjoan has it on teh GOS front page …

Over 700 comments, very interesting commentary, at the orange rec list: Breaking News: Senate Dems Drop Public Option .

And a brief report at FDL.

Is it true? we dont know yet. go read mcjoan, she has most info.

NYT: Senate Leaders in Tentative Deal to Alter Public Option

But Democratic aides said that the group had tentatively agreed on a proposal that would replace a government-run health care plan with a menu of new national, privately-run insurance plans modeled after the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, which covers more than eight million federal workers, including members of Congress, and their dependents. (See this earlier Prescriptions article about how the group of 10 has been thinking about this approach.)

A government-run plan would be retained as a fall-back option, the aides said, and would be triggered only if the new proposal failed to meet targets for providing affordable insurance coverage to a specified number of people.

The agreement would also allow Americans between age 55 and 64 to buy coverage through Medicare, beginning in 2011.

EDIT: Check out the essay by Jamess on what this loss means.

UPDATE 10:45PM: TPM has ‘White House health care team sends over a brief statement:’.

“Senators are making great progress and we’re pleased that they’re working together to find common ground toward options that increase choice and competition.”

Reading between the lines here in a statement from a team who knows President Obama has been accused of not standing firm enough for a public option, they think what happened in the meeting may strike the right political balance.

Yeah, good luck with that.

Dec 09 2009

Does the Netroots need a platform?

So I’m ask of all of you, would it benefit the liberal blogosphere to have some kind of a platform to unite around?  I’ll keep it brief, since this should be more of a discussion than a lecture.

Let the navel staring begin!

Dec 09 2009

Third Grandson

It is supposed to be a happy time.  The anticipation of his arrival in February.  It is not an event calling for “Should I ask an attorney”.  I was left in disbelief at the news and I had to drive over to my daughter’s house.

Yes, it was true.

Dec 09 2009

120% of public think climate scientists lie about global warming says Fox FAIL and Balanced News

 Crossposted at Daily Kos

    I thought mistakes at Fox would have consequences?

    Guess not.

    Last week, Fox and Friends showed a Rasmussen poll graphic revealing that a whopping 120 percent of the American public believes scientists may be falsifying research to support their own theories on global warming:

ThinkProgress.org

    Fox News’ graphics department added together the “very likely” and “somewhat likely” numbers to reach 59 percent, and called that new group “somewhat likely.” Then, for some reason, they threw in the 35 percent “very likely” as their own group, even though they already added that number to the “somewhat likely” percentage. Then they mashed together the “not very likely” and “not likely at all” groups, and threw the 15 percent who were unsure into the waste bin. Voila – 120 percent.

Hat tip to MediaMatters.org

Some Bold text added by the diarist.

    More fun with inventing numbers below the fold . . .  

Dec 09 2009

Bonddad versus Bonddad

  Last week Bonddad posted a diatribe against the entire economic blogosphere.

 Reading blogs that in any way write about economics has generally become an exercise in utter futility. According to most good news is either propagated by corporate whores who are blind to the realities around them or presented without considering “all” the facts. All government statistics and all economists are wrong — unless they support or present a bearish viewpoint.

 Normally I wouldn’t notice, but someone pointed it out to me and it got me thinking. How did we arrive at this point, where the bullish and bearish are drawn up against one another in much the same way that Democrats and Republicans in Congress are?

  It occurred to me that perspective has everything to do with it.

Dec 09 2009

Iraq War Inquiry, Day 10

You apparently also go to War with the leaders you have!!

You’ll see what I mean, below.

This is some of what happened on day ten of the Inquiry with a few reports and commentary coming out because of the Inquiry.

Dec 09 2009

Training Tuesday with the DFA: Fun Budget Tips

originally posted by Will Urquhart at Sum of Change

Last week, we covered the basics of managing and organizing a campaign budget. If you know little-to-nothing about campaign finance but would like to, or if you are just about to start putting together the budget for a campaign, you should definitely check out last week’s Training Tuesday. Today is not for the basics. Instead, we are using this Training Tuesday to share with you four very important tips that will help you out along the way:

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