|
| |
The Liberal Doomsayer
My blog deals primarily with national politics in the U.S. as well as, on occasion, local politics in Pennsylvania. From time to time, I may have something to say about sports and entertainment as well. I try to interpret information that shapes the news and provide context to current events. I am definitely left of center politically, but I believe no one knows everything.
|
Statistics
Unique Visitors:
Total Unique Visitors:
Visitors Out:
Total Visitors Out: |
90
1241
2632
2632
|
|
|
| Articles
|
Trying To Revive Obama-Rama
2008-05-01 19:50:54
(This is probably the “meta post from hell,†but I feel like I have to say this stuff.)I think it’s pretty clear that the candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination is foundering at this point; even a filthy, unkempt liberal blogger such as yours truly can see that, let alone some high-profile, nicely accessorized and meticulously coiffed politico. And even though the damage is definitely not terminal, I’d like to chime in with some thoughts on how to try and put things right.(There were a couple of posts that helped me focus on this matter: the first is here from Open Left about how the campaign needs someone to help coordinate a competing narrative among us blogger types that we can keep trying to hammer over and over as opposed to the daily drumbeat of “Jeremiah Wright, flag lapel pins, orange juice without coffee, guns, bitter, Bill Ayers, bowling†etc., and the second here notes Hillary Clinton’s appearance with the local Indiana steel ...
|
More Anti-Dem Spin From "The Brian Williams Network"
2008-04-30 22:06:12
I came across the following “hatchet job” masquerading as reporting from MSNBC Mike Viqueira here (concerning the 110th Congress)…So far this year, the stimulus package has passed, and that's about it. It has been slow going, no question. Behind the scenes, the Democratic leaders are still wrestling with the question of how to handle the president's latest request for war funding, this time for $108 billion.Funny that Viqueira should mention the latest war funding demand hissy fit request, since Kagro X of The Daily Kos addressed that subject here (including Dubya’s promised veto if more funding is included for our military to receive the education they were promised upon enlistment; the Repugs’ protest over requiring President Stupid Head to sign waivers when he rotates untrained, unrested, and unarmored troops back into combat; Dubya’s demand that the war be funded through his term and six months into the term of his successor, and on and on).They are looking at legislati ...
|
An Energy “Solution” That Taxes Only Our Sanity
2008-04-30 19:49:38
There aren’t too many occasions where I have principled disagreements with Patrick Murphy, but this is one of them.This Courier Times story tells us that both Patrick and Repug U.S. House challenger Tom Manion want to suspend the gas and diesel taxes for the summer. Even though it would be nice to alleviate the pinch on my wallet any way possible when I fill up the Doomsy-mobile, I am honestly concerned by the loss in revenue (approximately $10 billion by some estimates) that would be caused by a meager savings at the pump.However, it should be noted that Patrick wisely wants to make up that lost revenue by suspending the obscene tax breaks lavished upon our energy companies (and a good start in that process is to try and get this piece of legislation moving).Barack Obama quite rightly is opposed to suspending the tax for the summer, which has earned him the vilification of both Hillary Clinton and John McCain; “Senator Honor And Virtue” apparently came up with this hare-brained ...
|
No Way To Run A “Necktie Party”
2008-04-30 18:43:49
This item from the New York Times blog The Lede tells us that the judge who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death recently voiced some regrets over the final moments of the former Iraqi strongman.Chief Judge Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman said that legal and religious rules were broken during the hanging that took place on December 30, 2006, according to CNN.“It was uncivilized and backward,” he said. “In Iraqi law, there are no public executions. [The Sunni feast of Id al-Adha] is a time of love, tranquility and reconciliation, not a time for executions.”This tells us that there was a lot more that was wrong with the trial than the atmosphere in which the sentence was carried out…The court itself was set up illegitimately by the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority, under conditions of an illegal war and occupation. It was funded with $138 million in U.S. aid. Every aspect of the case, including courtroom procedures, the prosecution’s case, even the layout of the courtroom were de ...
|
“Righting” An Imaginary Wrong
2008-04-30 00:10:58
Before this session of the Supreme Court began last September, the New York Times told us the following (I highlighted this in the following post on Justice John Paul Stevens also)…The case that will most test the court’s ability to rise above partisanship is a challenge to Indiana’s voter ID law. Indiana is one of a growing number of states that require voters to present a government-issued photo ID. Such laws have been billed as anti-vote-fraud measures, but there is little evidence of vote fraud at the polls. The Republicans who have pushed these laws are trying to make it hard for poor and minority voters, who are less likely than other groups to have drivers’ licenses — and more likely to vote Democratic — to cast ballots. The court has traditionally championed voting rights, but a conservative majority may boost Republican chances in 2008 by endorsing this disturbing barrier to voting.They absolutely nailed it (and here's more). But the really depressing part is that ...
|
A Common American Of Uncommon Courage
2008-04-29 23:02:46
The New York Times ran this editorial on Sunday in praise of Laura Berg, a VA nurse who received the new PEN/Katherine Anne Porter First Amendment Award.As the Times tells us…The PEN American Center, the literary organization committed to free expression, is honoring an American most people in this country have never read or even heard of: Laura Berg. She is a psychiatric nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital who was threatened with a sedition investigation after she wrote a letter to the editor denouncing the Bush administration’s bungling of Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war.That’s right, sedition: inciting rebellion against the government. We suppose nothing should surprise us in these days of government zealotry. But the horror and the shame of that witch hunt should shock everyone.…Her superiors at the hospital soon alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and impounded her office computer, where she keeps the case files of war-scarred veterans she treats. Then she rece ...
|
Nothing Left To Fight For, Then
2008-04-29 20:33:28
This story tells us that Repug U.S. House Rep Paul Broun of (wait for it…) Georgia...…wants to stop the sale of Playboy and Penthouse at military bases around the world, invoking an argument that at the very least is scientifically questionable: that consuming even soft pornography makes men more prone to committing sex crimes. A doctor by profession, Broun says he began drafting the bill after a constituent described her distress at having watched, along with her young children, an officer buy a nudie magazine at a military exchange store.I can just imagine the effect of Broun’s actions now…“Soldier!”“Sir! Yes, Sir!”“March on down to the PX and pick me up the latest issues of Busty Beauties, Gent, and Celebrity Skin! ON THE DOUBLE!”“Sir! No, Sir!”“WHAT??!!”“Sir! The private cannot comply as ordered because U.S. House Representative Paul Broun of Georgia had those magazines banned Sir!”“WHY THAT LITTLE MAGGOT! HOW DARE A CIVILIAN TRY TO KEEP ME FROM PU ...
|
“Insensitive” Is As “Insensitive” Does
2008-04-29 00:41:54
John W. McBush said here that Barack Obama is “insensitive” to poor people.As you consider this, I would ask that you also take a look at the photo. It is that of Dubya (of course) presenting a birthday cake to McBush in Arizona on the airport tarmac as New Orleans was drowning from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina.(And though it is a comparatively minor point, I should note that the cake melted in the heat and nobody ate it anyway; I detest wasting food, for whatever that’s worth).Also, that “straight-talking maverick” had a chance to vote for Dubya’s feeble economic stimulus package (the bill being a gesture in futility when you consider the more endemic root causes of our recession), but he neglected to do so (typical for his record of voting absenteeism in the Senate). Though an act of desperation, the stimulus measure will still help (however temporarily) many of the poorest in this country (and by the way, both Obama and Hillary Clinton voted for it).Now who’s “in ...
|
Petri Dishes Some Pro-Gun Pabulum
2008-04-29 00:39:11
The Bucks County Courier Times ran the following Guest Opinion from PA Repug House Rep Scott Petri on Saturday in which he hailed the passage of HR 1845. And Scott is fairly bubbling over concerning this bill that adds onto existing after-the-fact penalties for gun crime, though it is missing a vital piece…I’ll let “law and order” Scott tell you himself…The Levdansky amendment which failed to pass, did not create…a database of lost and stolen guns. Encouraging the reporting of lost and stolen guns is important, even though local law enforcement indicates that is already done. A local chief of police has said that of the 100 -plus crimes involving lost or stolen guns last year, 100 percent had been reported already.The sale of handguns by straw purchasers to hardened criminals who have committed violent crimes is a serious problem. That is why I have introduced legislation which requires a mandatory prison sentence of five years for such offenders (House Bill 784). Only when ...
|
Another "Triumph" Of "Free" Trade
2008-04-29 00:03:58
As noted here, Dubya met today with Guatemalan president Alvaro Colom and of course praised the president of that nation for implementing “reforms.”And as noted here from the White House site (a repository of lies if one ever existed), President Highest Disapproval Rating In Gallup Poll History said…We've had a good discussion about a variety of issues. We discussed bilateral relations between Guatemala and the United States, which are very strong. We are friends. We treat each other with respect. Our objective with U.S. foreign policy is to have a neighborhood that is peaceful and prosperous, where social justice is important; want to achieve social justice through good health policy, good education policy, good judicial policy. The United States is pleased to help this government as best as we possibly can help the average citizen get a good education and have good health care.I’m not sure I have the time to refute that paragraph as thoroughly as I should, but I don’t know ...
|
Today's "Kristol Mess" Moment
2008-04-28 19:43:07
The New York Times’ quota hire opines as follows on Barack Obama today (from here)…On Friday in Indiana, Obama talked tough in response to a question: “I get pretty fed up with people questioning my patriotism.” And, he continued, “I am happy to have that debate with them any place, anytime.” He’s happy to have fantasy debates with unnamed people who are allegedly challenging his patriotism. But he’s not willing to have a real debate with the real person he’s competing against for the nomination.From here, dated last February (God, this was easy)…But Obama chose to present his flag-pin removal as a principled gesture. "You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin. Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we’re talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest."Leave aside the claim that "spea ...
|
Repug Desperation Reigns In Bucks County, PA
2008-04-28 19:27:49
I really need to let everyone in on a hilarious new narrative emerging in the U.S. House 8th district contest between incumbent Dem Patrick Murphy and Repug challenger Tom Manion, and it is that, somehow, Patrick is “out of touch” with Bucks County because he supported Barack Obama, who was creamed in Bucks by Hillary Clinton last Tuesday.Just to repeat, Clinton’s triumph was owed more than anything else to Dem machine politics which worked in a state with a population that skews older versus that of the rest of the country, though as I’ve said several times from a Daily Kos post noting a poll taken right after the vote, Obama gained ground among whites 60 and older (men and women voters), those earning less than $50K, and Protestants between the Ohio and PA primaries.But those inconvenient facts aren’t stopping the Repugs from doing their little happy dance since the guy Patrick backed lost big time in Bucks (haven’t seen district-wide numbers, though), as typified in this ...
|
A "Top 40" Legend Departs
2008-04-28 18:27:42
This doesn't have anything to do with news, politics, or much of anything else, but I really should note the passing of "Big Ron" O'Brien of radio station WOGL in these parts (this post from blogger classicrockfm captures him pretty well and also includes today's obit in The Philadelphia Inquirer - he had been sick with pneumonia).In addition to his radio career, he also helped raise money for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, so he knew all about giving back also.I really think we should take note when someone who truly loves his or her work leaves our midst, so I just want to do that here. And as a tribute, here's "Let's Live For Today" by The Grass Roots, which he acknowledged numerous times as his favorite band. ...
|
Schooling Dubya On Student Loans
2008-04-28 17:48:43
President George W. Milhous Bush says here that…"Congress needs to pass legislation that would give my administration greater authority to buy federal student loans," Bush said. "By doing so, we can ensure that lenders will continue to participate in the guaranteed loan program and ensure that students continue to have access to tuition assistance."I think that statement gives us the order of Dubya’s true priorities here, by the way, namely that lenders come first and students second (and as you'll see, Dubya typically misses the boat when it comes to "guaranteed" loans).Interesting, isn’t it, how our “don’t know much about nothin’ at all” leader (apologies to Sam Cooke) has now become a cheerleader of sorts for students to receive affordable aid for advanced education.As this Village Voice article from January 2006 tells us, though, that was not always the case. Here’s a brief history: President Clinton tried to end the federally guaranteed student loan program in 1993 ...
|
Sunday PM Stuff
2008-04-28 05:14:27
Looks like those neocon nutjobs (redundant?) at Freedom's Watch got caught playing footsie with the NRC (just remember, all you cheering Sixers and Flyers fans - as well as anyone attending an event at the Wachovia Center - that you're paying for this garbage, as well as anyone subscribing to Comcast cable)......Digby says here that, with a trillion dollars spent on our military, this is obscene, and I would agree even if we only spent a dime; this video was made by Edward Frawley, the father of a sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division who returned from a 15-month deployment in Afghanistan under conditions that can charitably be called treacherous - this is a shocking obscenity......and speaking of our soldiers, is this guy EVER going to sign on as a co-sponsor of the new G.I. bill (hat tips for these three to The Daily Kos)......and since our corporate media refuses to report further on the scandal of the Pentagon co-opting the TV military analysts, as first reported a week ago by Dav ...
|
Friday Mashup (4/25/08)
2008-04-26 05:46:16
Greg Mitchell of E&P has probably devoted more coverage to the mental and emotional problems faced by too many of our returning troops from Iraq, and this is his most recent post on the grossly underreported issue of “soldier suicides.”I thought of his work on this after I read this McClatchy story (some repetition between Mitchell and McClatchy here, but lots of good background) about how Dem Sen. Patty Murray (pictured) has contacted VA secretary Dr. James Peake and told him to fire Dr. Ira Katz, the man in charge of the department's mental health programs, primarily because Dr. Katz appears to be more concerned with bad P.R. for the agency than properly providing the treatment our returning heroes need.(Yep, Katz is Bushco through and through all right, with Katz writing to Ev Chasen, the agency’s communications director, and asking how to handle the fact that the agency’s suicide prevention coordinators are seeing about 1,000 cases per month; actually, they came up with ...
|
Where The Rubber Meets The Road (4/25/08)
2008-04-25 23:49:14
As reported in last Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer, here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes last week.HousePrivatized tax collection. The House repealed, 238-179, a 2004 law used by the Internal Revenue Service to hire private firms for collecting delinquent taxes. These firms have taken in far less than they have cost the government, although backers say their performance will improve. Now before the Senate, the bill (HR 5719) also requires that withdrawals from Health Savings Accounts be accompanied by documentation that the money will be spent on health care.A yes vote was to pass the bill.Voting yes: Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), Joe Sestak (D., Pa.) and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).Voting no: Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), J ...
|
Wank Away, Joke Line!
2008-04-25 22:09:10
I know this is repetitive, especially since Atrios/Paul Krugman already nailed him today, but here’s the latest...... John McCain is having a terrific week. Not only are his opponents killing themselves, but he lambasted Bush on Hurricane Katrina and demonstrated how one should slap down a religious supporter who says stupid things. Credit where credit is due.And again, we have John W. McBush decrying the words, but not the person who spoke the words (not that Obama could hope to get away with that, of course).Meanwhile, we also have this.And this.And this (h/t Atrios).You may now return to your regularly scheduled propaganda.Update 1: As Atrios said, I’m counting the minutes (seconds?) until our corporate media starts hectoring Obama on Wesley Snipes’ sentencing the same way they are now on the Bell case (gee, why doesn’t somebody ask McCain whether or not he thinks this guy is guilty, then? After all, they’re both white, and Obama, Bell and Snipes are all black – fair is ...
|
Mullane Breaks "Wind" On Obama
2008-04-25 20:46:46
(Never pass up a shot to try for that lowest common denominator, I always say.)I had to take a minute or two and comment on the column today by J.D. Mullane of the Bucks County Courier Times on Barack Obama’s recent loss in the PA primary.Now I should point out that, for a little while now, Mullane has written about subjects pertaining more to Bucks County and kept his rancid political opinions to himself, choosing to vent on his blog instead (a sensible move, though Mullane’s blog is something I don’t wish to discuss on a full stomach).However, he has provided his “expertise” on the election and, like every other pundit in this country with a pulse, he chimed in on the Obama San Francisco speech, saying that Obama called white voters clinging to guns or whatever “racist,” which is typically stupid.I’ll just make one final statement on that fiasco, and it is this; Obama’s sentiments have been uttered by many other people, but he is an African American who was speaking ...
|
A Lesson For Us All In This Election
2008-04-25 17:32:27
Before we read too much more from the Beltway gasbags and other self-styled know-it-alls about how much we Democrats are tearing each other to pieces in this primary and how we’re proving ourselves to be blinkered narcissists incapable of governing ourselves or anyone else over the Clinton vs. Obama smackdown (as noted here by one of the most infamous practitioners in our corporate media, Joke Line by name), take a look at this…RICHBORO - Pucker up.Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama supporters put their differences aside and put their efforts together to fight against the Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain come November.About 100 Bucks County Democrats met at Patagonia Restaurant in Richboro Thursday night to “kiss and make up.”At the casual meeting, they recapped Tuesday's Pennsylvania primaries results and even started preliminary brainstorming on how to unite the rest of county Democrats and reel in Republicans and Independent voters to support the De ...
|
Wednesday PM Stuff
2008-04-24 05:28:24
The "Roadblock Republicans" strike again, this time killing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Bill - all it took was four more of those bastards to switch over for the infamous "60 votes needed for passage," but they couldn't do it, and "Straight Talk" McCain skipped the vote - again - along with Chuck Hagel, and will now go to the Ninth Ward to pretend to care about poor working women...and Harry Reid voted no also; un-freaking-believable!(And by the way, even though Coleman voted for it this time, as the ad below tells us, he supported confirming Alito to the Supreme Court who "helped" in the ruling against Ledbetter in '07 that made the bill voted down today necessary to begin with.)..."The Pap Attack" takes on Bush over China (and the other three also, just so you know)......and believe it or not, we STILL have some last-minute election results (have to do this)......and switching completely, here's "Show And Tell" by Al Wilson who left us today, another great YouTube fan vi ...
|
Christie Todd And The Judge's "Smog" Of Fraud
2008-04-24 00:38:41
This Washington Post story tells the following about former EPA admin- istrator Christine Todd Whitman; namely, that she…..cannot be held liable for assuring residents near the burning detritus of the World Trade Center after the 2001 attacks that the air was safe to breathe, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.Because Whitman did not intend to cause harm, a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said, her message did not "shock the conscience" to the degree necessary to waive her immunity as a federal official.(The phrase “shocked the conscience” was used by U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts, who allowed the lawsuit against Whitman to proceed in February 2006, hence the wording of the 2nd Circuit Court, as the Post tells us.)Three days after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Whitman told reporters, "The good news continues to be that air samples we have taken have all been at levels that cause us no concern."And on Sept. 18, 2001, she reassured reside ...
|
The Inky Says "Yes" To College Student Debt
2008-04-24 00:35:41
(And are you really surprised; by the way, posting is questionable for tomorrow.)This column appeared over the weekend in The Philadelphia Inquirer, and it was written by Kiley Austin-Young, a sophomore at Penn majoring in English and economics according to the bio.This individual tells us that his (her?) tuition……will eclipse $200,000. This estimate includes full tuition, summer classes, textbooks, housing, food, kegs of Natural Light, and spring break vacations to Aruba.I assume this person is serious.Due to my selection of an expensive school, and my overindulgence in certain extracurricular activities, I will enter the labor market saddled in debt. None of my tuition will have been reduced or subsidized by the federal government, nor does it need to be, because the shocking price tag of my privately financed bachelor's degree will some day be worth every penny and more.…The numbers are clear. An average bachelor's degree worker will earn almost $1 million more over the course ...
|
“Respectful” McCain’s Rust Belt Ruse
2008-04-23 23:08:03
I actually have to give “Straight Talk” McCain a bit of credit here (just a bit, though); this story tells us…ABC News' Tahman Bradley Reports: A number of Democratic strategists have said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., would be the best presidential candidate to help down-ballot Democrats in the fall, but a new ad set to be released by the North Carolina Republican Party could make a few candidates weary of latching onto Obama's coattails.The North Carolina Republican Party is trying to use the controversy surrounding Sen. Obama's former Pastor Jeremiah Wright against Democratic gubernatorial candidates in the state.And do you want to know something? I actually hope they do, because it will boomerang on them. The “attack politics” of the ‘90s and the early part of this decade (the “oughts”?) simply aren’t going to get you elected (that hasn’t dawned on Hillary yet, but I’m sure it will in a couple of weeks, to say nothing of the Repugs who, apparently, will be the la ...
|
Not Worthy Of The Uniform
2008-04-23 01:54:46
I have a feeling I’ll be coming back over and over to the landmark story by New York Times reporter David Barstow in that paper’s Sunday edition about the military analysts appearing on TV and in print and other broadcast media selling the Iraq war to feather their own nests under the pretense of objectivity (here and here are two Daily Kos backgrounder posts). And though I am naturally reluctant to criticize anyone in our military, it is impossible not to do that after reading the story.Simply put, if Bushco had put a fraction of the time into the actual planning and preparation for the aftermath of the ground war as they did into the selling and packaging of it, then I have a feeling we’d be winding down for real by now with much less of a loss of life suffered by our troops and innocent Iraqis (though I don’t mean to actually confer legitimacy on this epochal blunder by saying so).The article lists many, many generals who allowed themselves to be used and abused by Don (“T ...
|
A Lesson In Faith For Our Times
2008-04-23 00:44:16
I know the headline of this column must have really excited the editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer when it appeared last Saturday, and had the column been written by one of its typical corporate apologists or neocon naysayers, I would heap volumes of scorn and ridicule on it before it disappeared from cached Internet memory forever.However, “The left has lost its nerve and its direction” was written by Chris Hedges (pictured), who has practiced what he has preached by reporting on some of the worst conflicts on earth for decades.For that reason, I will take issue with some of what he has to say, but not in the usual manner…"The mistake of the former left-wingers, from Tom Hayden to Todd Gitlin, is that they want to be players in the Democratic Party and academia," said John R. MacArthur, the publisher of Harper's magazine, speaking of two prominent 1960s activists. "This is not what the left is supposed to be. The left is supposed to be outside the system. The attempt b ...
|
By The Way, Any Takers For The Blimp?
2008-04-22 21:45:06
(You know, the thing I posted about here…)This article tells us that Dr. Ron Paul appeared at the University of Montana’s UC Ballroom in Missoula yesterday, spouting lines like “the opposite of liberty is big government,” as well as preaching once more that he wants to abolish the personal income tax.And he’ll get the opportunity to do that when I lead the first manned space mission to the planet Venus.Further, this tells us that some of the “Paulistas” have further cemented their support for the only Republican presidential candidate to oppose the Iraq war by casting their lot with a certain presidential nominee named John Sidney McCain III.Uh…wasn’t the entire point of Paul’s candidacy to oppose Washington insiders like “Senator Honor And Virtue”?And D-Mac at Philadelphia Will Do tells us here that, despite the fact that Dr. Paul was, at one time, the candidate with the most military donations among either party (here), a mock election was held at the Robert K ...
|
Nothing's The Matter With PA, OK?
2008-04-22 19:55:28
(At least, nothing that would interfere with people, for the most part, voting intelligently…)I came across this post by George Packer of The New Yorker, and even though I got a bit agitated by it, I suppose I should thank him for rehashing some idiotic talking points over the Obama “bitter,” “cling” nonsense that deserves to be utterly destroyed.Aside from Packer’s scurrilous declaration that Obama “equated guns and religion with racism” (patently untrue), I’d like to note the following excerpt in particular…If Obama had left out “antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment” (which is what sympathetic pundits and bloggers have done in attempting to explain his comments away), he might not now be sinking in the latest polls from Pennsylvania and Indiana.How does “antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment” translate to racism anyway? I can assure you that even the most hardheaded among us in this commonw ...
|
Patrick Goes “Green” On PA’s Voting Day
2008-04-22 18:09:54
(The weather outside is hardly frightful, people, so there’s no excuse to go to the polls and vote for Obama, as well as other Dems like Steve Santarsiero, and remember to vote for Obama's delegates also – sorry I didn’t mention that earlier...just a handful at my polling place, but turnout appears to be heavier elsewhere for now.)This Letter to the Editor appeared in the Bucks County Courier Times today…Congressman Patrick Murphy has co-sponsored HB1590, the Safe Climate Act.There are several other bills pending, but this particular bill would do far more to improve the condition of the environment and slow global warming. It calls for a minimum of 20 percent of the electricity produced to originate from renewable sources by 2020, and for a reduction of emissions that contribute to global warming by 80 percent by the year 2050. These are both attainable and necessary goals, endorsed by several environmental organizations. The science supports these goals, and the technology ex ...
|
Shining A Light On A Great Gipper Gaffe
2008-04-22 00:38:12
Right now, Jimmy Carter is getting pilloried by our media over meeting with Hamas (as I’ve said before, Bushco’s policy of thumbing its nose at people they don’t like has worked so well, hasn’t it?), as Prof. Marcus noted here earlier, but I happened to come across the following note from somewhere in yesterday’s New York Times (the source escapes me at the moment).In an effort to improve energy efficiency (as noted here)…Carter even had solar collectors installed on the White House grounds to heat the executive residence's water.Then Carter lost re-election to Ronald Reagan in 1980. The solar panels at the White House eventually came down - and Reagan and his aides gutted the solar research program."In June or July of 1981, on the bleakest day of my professional life, they descended on the Solar Energy Research Institute, fired about half of our staff and all of our contractors, including two people who went on to win Nobel prizes in other fields, and reduced our $130 mill ...
|
Warning: main(end_caching.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/mynewnet/public_html/blogdetails/details.php on line 206
Warning: main() [function.include]: Failed opening 'end_caching.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/mynewnet/public_html/blogdetails/details.php on line 206
| |
Show All