Jun 02 2010
Speaker Pelosi pulled a brilliant move at the end of the last weeks legislative session.
House Democrats are home for a long Memorial Day break with a gift-wrapped wedge issue delivered just in time for district campaigning. One of their final actions before adjourning late Friday was passing a measure that would strip tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas by a 215-204 vote.
The Grand Outsourcing Party. Expect Dems to run on this come election time.
More brilliance below the fold.
May 12 2010
On June 8, Californians will vote on several referendums, in addition to primary races. One of those referendums, Proposition 14 (aka the Top Two Primaries Act), could hugely change how those primary races are conducted, and it would definitely not be for the better. As if to add insult to injury, but it could take down a public campaign financing measure along with it.
Prop 14 was put on the ballot through the backroom dealings of State Senator (not Lt. Gov.) Abel Moldonado, the very last holdout on the budget this year. He used the budget crisis for his own profit and one of his demands was to put this measure on the ballot. Now, his reckless action is being opposed by every political party in California and numerous electoral reform groups, groups ranging from the NAACP to the Southern California Tax Revolt Coalition.
But big business wants this to pass because of the control it could give them over elections (explanation below the fold). So your help is needed – $5, $10, $100 – whatever you can chip in to prevent California from descending further into a mess of broken government.
Mar 29 2010
The Republicans have re-branded themselves after their embarrassing defeat to the second “black” president in 2008 as The Party of NO!. Their mantra is No. Their philosophy is No. And their tactical approach is to block, obstruct and hinder, or in the words of the great Republican anti-drug crusader and fashion maven, Nancy Reagan, “Just Say No!”
How ironic in this new age where wars rage and poverty ravages and disease devastates and all could be made right by saying Yes, that the Party of the Culture of Life condemns so many to death by just saying no.
Mar 23 2010
Once again the radical right wing known as The Tea Party, that has become the face and voice of the Republican Party, has shown it ugly side and gotten the attention of the media. The Tea Party movement with the blessings and assistance of the Republicans in Congress once again demonstrated that they are arrogant, ignorant, bigots.
The “Partiers” called Democrats, even the ones that supported their misogynist, hate agenda, “baby killers” from the floor of the House and several demonstrators were arrested for shouting racial and hateful epithets from the Gallery. The demonstrators outside and in the halls harassed the Black members of congress with the worst racist insults and even spat on them. They screamed insults at Gay members of the House.
The Republican members of the House refused to criticize these demonstrations and were insulted when they were chastised for their silence.
Last night and this morning, the media called the Republicans out on their hate. On “Countdown”, “The Rachel Maddow Show” and Bob Herbert, in the NYT, took them over the coals.
First, Keith Olbermann with a “Special Comment”, GOP self-destruction imminent. The party’s obsolete ideas will undermine its relevance (the transcript is in the link):
Mar 20 2010
It seems that many of those who are regular guests of this space are committed to a worldview based on some degree of reason and rationality.
That’s a handy thing if the “Covert Alarm Locator Apparatus” in your Isaac Daniel® Compass Global 1000 GPS sneakers should happen to fail and you need to find your way back to where the rest of us are; sadly, not all voters are equipped with such a helpful worldview.
Luckily for them, there are lots of conservative “mouth organs” ready to fill the “information gap”.
They send out lots of emails every day, spreading their Word, and as a public service I receive several of them; this to help keep track of just what’s out there, exactly.
If you ever wondered why otherwise normal people believe some of the craziest things about “Obama’s Secret Death Care And National Virgin Sacrifice Program”, have a look at some of the things I get every single day, and it might all make a bit more sense.
Mar 04 2010
Crossposted at Daily Kos
I give you the irreplaceable Michael Moore, courtesy of Cenk Uygur at theyoungturks.com
A transcript and more below the fold
Mar 02 2010
Crossposted at Daily Kos
George W. Bush
Tax Cuts for the rich
Strategery
Invading Iraq
“They will welcome us as liberators”
“The oil will pay for the war”
WMD’s
Mission Accomplished
Torture isn’t a war crime cause my lawyer says so
Hurricane Katrina
“The fundamentals of the economy are strong”
Sarah Fucking Palin
Katie Couric – But are you ready to become the leader of the free world?
Sarah Palin – Totally. I will totally lead the world. Any world. I will lead Mars or whatever too if those guys need a world president. Or just a Mars president. I took on the ole’ boys club in Alaska and I can take it on in Mars.
Katie Couric – But I’m not asking about being president of Mars.
Sarah Palin – But I am answering about being president of Mars because a president person needs to be prepared for anything. I like to reform.
Conservatives don’t deserve respect. They deserve shame and to be loudly and openly mocked in public.
More ranting below the fold
Feb 28 2010
LANGUAGE WARNING: Today’s story is uncharacteristically blunt, and from this moment forward we will be using lots of inappropriate language in making our points.
Gentle Reader, you have been officially…warned.
With that in mind, if you take offense when confronted with language strong enough to knock a fuckin’ buzzard off a shitwagon, please stop reading now.
It is by now fairly well known that Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s White House Chief of Staff, had a bit of a blow-up with liberals who were ready to start running ads against “blue dog” Democrats who were working very hard to shut down the health care reform effort.
Now we’re not gonna get in the middle of that argument today; instead, since we’re finally getting a chance to talk, I figured me and Rahm could get a few other things out of the way that have been on everyone’s mind for the past year or so.
Feb 18 2010
Crossposted at Daily Kos
If Republicans and Fox News pundits were embarrassed about looking like birthers, loony bins and white supremacists, well, they just got a whole lot more to worry about.
Recently, a truther organization called “We Are The Change” spoke to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) – a friend of (Glenn) Beck and a frequent guest on his show – about reopening an investigation into 9/11. Chaffetz agreed with the activist, and even noted that he had spoken to professor Steven Jones, leading 9/11 truther, who Chaffetz said had done “interesting work”
Houston, we have a WTF.
A transcript and more below the fold.
Feb 17 2010
Dianne Feinstein is doing a Pombo on the Endangered Species Act, with an Amendment to gut it in an upcoming Democratic “Bipartisanship Enhanced” jobs bill.
Like Salmon ? Too bad ! McClintock’s in on it, too.
Hey, this even makes the Kansas City Star. Everything’s up to date in Kansas City. Dead silence at a certain other “Democratic” blog.
http://www.kansascity.com/400/… Feinstein plan would loosen Endangered Species Act to pump more water 2/11/2010
Yes, our northern CA based Sen. DiFi thinks Billionaire Business Water Brokers in Kern County of Southern CA Who Donate To Her Campaign Are More Important Than Salmon. So Does Tom McClintock.
She intends to put an amendment that says we can ignore the Endangered Species Act, onto the upcoming jobs bill to let more water be pumped out of the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta. Why does this matter ? Because at certain times of the year, the nursery fish need the water to swim and feed in. And the West Coast salmon runs are at the brink of going away. Forever.
{{{ “This came as a bit of a shock that she did this,” said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif.
He represents California’s North Coast, which has been hurt by two years of bans on commercial salmon fishing stemming from collapsing salmon stocks.
“If this were to go through, it would have a devastating impact on Northern California and other jobs and other economies in the state,” Thompson said. }}}
Where the hell have you been, Blue Dog Rep. Thompson ? Didn’t you notice the real reason so many people up here in northern CA 04 DIDN’T WANT Carpetbagging Tom MCCLINTOCK of Southern CA pimping for these Southern CAL business sharks to take water out of Norcal and kill off our agriculture and wildlife ? He’s running the exact same playbook that former Republican Rep. John Doolittle ran with Dick Cheney and the suckerfish up in the Klamoth river drainage.
Feb 05 2010
Crossposted at Daily Kos
At a DNC fundraiser last night, President Obama had an interesting exchange with a Democratic organizer about health care reform, wherein he appeared to suggest that Congress could drop the ball and fail to pass a bill–and that voters should judge them harshly if they do.
“[I]t may be that — you know, if Congress decides — if Congress decides we’re not going to do it, even after all the facts are laid out, all the options are clear, then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not,” Obama said.
More below the fold
Feb 01 2010
At what point do progressives stop being Democrats’ whipped dogs and start acting like a movement capable of putting the Dems in their proper place as the party of the people? David Sirota wrote today about Obama’s latest call to increase war spending beyond its already ludicrous proportions.
How many of the extreme right-wing and criminal policies of Bush-Cheney has Obama adopted? How many of those extreme right-wing policies has he exceeded? Last month, knowledge that Obama has gone a step further than Bush, authorizing the executive branch to murder American citizens on the flimsiest of rationales. This sh__ has GOT to end.