Tuesday Stuff (updates)

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 08 December 2009 11:36:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

Posting is questionable for tomorrow, by the way...

So if it turns out that the great big, super-duper, wonderlicious compromise that might make President Snowe come on board (though she won't, of course) and stop the dripping sanctimony of Holy Joe Lieberman is to dump the public option in favor of expanding Medicare coverage to anyone 55 or older (here), I have two questions: 1) Why the hell didn't we decide to do that all along, and 2) What the hell will anyone under 55 do who won't be covered by a for-profit insurance carrier?

If this is what "hopey, changey" health care reform looks like, then we should prepare to get hammered in the 2010 midterm elections (ugh)...

Update 1 12/9/09: To me, kos is a pretty reliable barometer on how the "netroots" responds to how the Dems perform (or not perform in this case) on key legislation on behalf of core constituencies. And as he says here, there's no way to sugarcoat this - prepare for "Clinton II" in terms of divided government next year after the midterms.

This is ugly, ugly, ugly, and Obama and the Dems have only themselves to blame.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Update 2 12/9/09: And as I read this, another reason occurred to me as to why, for the most part, the Democratic politicians we support are essentially clueless.

Here?s a thought ? maybe instead of leaking out some details to our corporate media first, who are going to spin this every negative way possible, how about letting bloggers know first so we take a shot at explaining the details? I don?t know how many people have noticed this, but the AP, Reuters and other services have been tripping all over themselves for the most part on the wonky policy minutiae of this story in particular. This way, we could help with the ?rollout? instead of scratching our heads along with everyone else saying ?WTF??

Say what you want about the Repugs and the right-wing media echo chamber, but they know this and they know how to use all kinds of media to get their message out, even if we don?t do it as consistently as they do (of course, the fact that their messages are largely bogus is a wholly other matter).

Update 3 12/9/09: I should probably complete this little monologue of mine within this post by noting that it suddenly occurred to me why Reid & co. would want to let pieces of this ?reform? legislation dribble out a bit at a time and not use the bloggers, and that?s because what they?ve concocted is such a stinking dead dog of a bill that we would recognize that right away and call them on it.

(?Grab a mop? ? please.)

Update 4 12/9/09: For what it's worth, I'm halfway between the reasoning of this and the fury of this (slim hope is here on the "90 percent" requirement in the amendment from Al Franken).

..."Worst Persons" (Bret Stephens of the Murdoch Street Journal sort of, not really...but then again, yeah, really...calls those who acknowledge the plainly obvious scientific fact of global warming "Stalinists" - then I guess that makes deniers "stupidists"?; those undeveloped life forms at Fix Noise rely on a Rasmussen poll stating that 120 percent of those polled believe that scientists falsified their numbers on global warming - obviously, those polled never saw that scene in "The Producers" where Gene Wilder tells Zero Mostel, after Mostel as Max Bialystock sold about 100,000 percent of stock in "Springtime for Hitler" to the little old ladies for their money, that "you can only have 100 percent of anything"; but Russell Wiseman sort of apologizes, but again, not really, for claiming that Obama pre-empted "A Charlie Brown Christmas" with his Afghanistan speech because he's really NOTHING BUT A MUSLIM IN DISGUISE WHO DOESN'T WANT TO HEAR LINUS READ ABOUT THE BIRTH OF BABY JESUS!!!

(sorry - I know I'm not supposed to "shout" like that...and I didn't know you could say "sons of bitches" on a prime-time cable news/talk show)...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

...and at the end of the day, all you can do (if you don't live in Oklahoma, of course) is sit back right easy and laugh over Jim Inhofe, which is exactly what he deserves (he likes flying in planes upside down, apparently - I would say that explains a thing or two)...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

...and here's a holiday favorite (you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not violate your parole).

Read The Full Article:
http://liberaldoomsayer.blogspot.com/2009/12/tuesday-stuff_08.html

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Tuesday Stuff

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 08 December 2009 11:36:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

Posting is questionable for tomorrow, by the way...

So if it turns out that the great big, super-duper, wonderlicious compromise that might make President Snowe come on board (though she won't, of course) and stop the dripping sanctimony of Holy Joe Lieberman is to dump the public option in favor of expanding Medicare coverage to anyone 55 or older (here), I have two questions: 1) Why the hell didn't we decide to do that all along, and 2) What the hell will anyone under 55 do who won't be covered by a for-profit insurance carrier?

If this is what "hopey, changey" health care reform looks like, then we should prepare to get hammered in the 2010 midterm elections (ugh)...

video details and more

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

..."Worst Persons" (Bret Stephens of the Murdoch Street Journal sort of, not really...but then again, yeah, really...calls those who acknowledge the plainly obvious scientific fact of global warming "Stalinists" - then I guess that makes deniers "stupidists"?; those undeveloped life forms at Fix Noise rely on a Rasmussen poll stating that 120 percent of those polled believe that scientists falsified their numbers on global warming - obviously, those polled never saw that scene in "The Producers" where Gene Wilder tells Zero Mostel, after Mostel as Max Bialystock sold about 100,000 percent of stock in the show to the little old ladies for their money, that "you can only have 100 percent of anything"; but Russell Wiseman sort of apologizes, but again, not really, for claiming that Obama pre-empted "A Charlie Brown Christmas" with his Afghanistan speech because he's really NOTHING BUT A MUSLIM IN DISGUISE WHO DOESN'T WANT TO HEAR LINUS READ ABOUT THE BIRTH OF BABY JESUS!!!

(sorry - I know I'm not supposed to "shout" like that...and I didn't know you could say "sons of bitches" on a prime-time cable news/talk show)...

video details and more

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

...and at the end of the day, all you can do (if you don't live in Oklahoma, of course) is sit back right easy and laugh over Jim Inhofe, which is exactly what he deserves (he likes flying in planes upside down, apparently - I would say that explains a thing or two)...

video details and more

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

...and here's a holiday favorite (you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not violate your parole).

video details and more

Read The Full Article:
http://liberaldoomsayer.blogspot.com/2009/12/tuesday-stuff_08.html

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Open Thread

post from Crooks and Liars on 08 December 2009 11:30:49 PM. © Crooks and Liars

video details and more

Tom Lehrer's "A Christmas Carol".

Open Thread below...

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/stella-barkwell/open-thread

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Wisdom and Grace

post from Everyday Citizen on 08 December 2009 11:21:22 PM. © Everyday Citizen

There are a few people on this earth who exhaust the superlatives we try and use to explain how[...]

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http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2009/12/wisdom_and_grace.html

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Open Thread and Diary Rescue

post from Daily Kos on 08 December 2009 11:16:04 PM. © Daily Kos

Tonight's Rescue is brought to you by YatPundit, HoosierDeb, jennyjem, jlms qkw, mtperson, and pico.

Diary Rescue is all about promoting good writers, so remember to subscribe to diarists whose work you enjoy reading.

Having a family member absent is hard anytime, but especially so during the holidays. In a moving diary, angelajean describes the effects of military deployments on families and uses her experiences to show what people can do for Military Children in Need. (mtperson)

Chant "We’re number 1" all you want, but as pat of butter in a sea of grits writes in this SheKos diary, when it comes to Family leave - we're even farther behind than you thought. (mtperson)

supak shares others' and their own poetry in Therapeutic Poetry and the Death of John Lennon. (jlms qkw)

railsplitter offers, once again, some little known stories about the The Reality of Pearl Harbor to honor those we lost that fateful day. (HoosierDeb)

zenbassoon ponders the intricate physics of political momentum in I Think I Can...Sir Isaac Newton and Congress. (HoosierDeb)

In West Coast Variations on the Death of John Lennon, justiceputnam shares poignant memories of disbelief and sorrow on the 19th anniversary of Lennon's death. (HoosierDeb)

In this evocative diary, mieprowan drops us right in the middle of a homeless dinner holiday 1987. (pico)

Seneca Doane provides clear running commentary on a recent article showing how Law profs figure out two ways to leash the bankers. (pico)

Vibrant images line Rian Fike's diary arguing that Art Basel legitimizes street art and shows a rebounding economy. (pico)

jotter has High Impact Diaries for December 7, 2009.

sardonyx has Top Comments: Special Elections Edition.

Please suggest your own favorites from the last 24 hours, and use as an open thread.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/TMs79iZfHg4/-Open-Thread-and-Diary
-Rescue

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In the Long Run, We're All Dead

post from Everyday Citizen on 08 December 2009 11:07:26 PM. © Everyday Citizen

Far from being a socialist left-winger, Keynes ... was suspicious of the power of unions, inveighed[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2009/12/in_the_long_run_were_all_dead.html

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Late Night: Andrew Breitbart FURIOUS at AP for
Not Publishing His Full Rant on ACORN Report. Me Too!

post from Firedoglake on 08 December 2009 11:00:40 PM. © Firedoglake

Andrew Breitbart is steaming mad that the Associated Press "whitewashed" his 118 word comment on the ACORN report. Readers really do need to read his comment, too. Really.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://workinprogress.firedoglake.com/2009/12/07/andrew-breitbart-furious-at-ap-f
or-not-publishing-his-full-rant-on-acorn-report-me-too/

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C&L's Late Nite Music Club with CeCe
Peniston/Vandalism

Title: FinallyArtist: CeCe Peniston/Vandalism Remix
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CeCe Peniston's "Finally" was inescapable on dance floors and pop/R&B radio in throughout the early nineties, for better or worse. Clearly a great singer, but the near-ubiquity of the song left me perfectly happy to never hear it again -- or so I thought. I heard this remix from Australian electro-house masters Vandalism the other night at a club in Nashville and it absolutely sizzled my face off. Way darker than the original, and with tension that was never even hinted at, Vandalism give remixers a damn good name.

Read The Full Article:
http://lnmc.crooksandliars.com/maxmarginal/cls-late-nite-music-club-cece-peniston

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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[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/ag_8X19PtX8/what-will-you-tell-them

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No Surprises in the Bay State

The Massachusetts Board of Elections has not posted anything official yet, but the Associated Press has called both the Republican and Democratic special election primaries to fill the seat vacated by the death this summer of Ted Kennedy and currently occupied for the moment by Paul Kirk--and there are no surprises.

On the Democratic side, attorney general Martha Coakley won a four-way race with a projected 47 percent of the vote; with 78 percent of the vote, state senator Scott Brown defeated Jack Robinson for the Republican nomination. Though nobody can fill Kennedy's shoes metaphorically, Coakley and Brown square off in just six weeks to determine who will take the late senator's seat for the remainder of the current term. (The seat will be on the ballot next for a full six-year term in 2012.)

In this solidly Democratic seat, Coakley is the clear favorite. But turnout was low today and presumably will be for the January 19 special election. It will be interesting to see if Republicans try to, well, make the general election interesting--a narrow Democratic win, coupled with the party's defeats in the gubernatorial races last month in New Jersey and Virginia, would fuel the storyline that the Democrats are headed for bigger losses in the 2010 midterms. And if Coakley somehow lost to the conservative Brown? Now that would send a shock through the political system.

The only other race on the ballot tonight of which I'm aware was the special election in Kentucky's 14th senate district, which Republican Jimmy Higdon won over Democrat Joy Haydon. (Weird how similar their names are.) The Republican State Leadership Committee notes that Higdon's win is the 33rd state special election the GOP has won nationwide since November 2008.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/12/no-surprises-in-bay-state.html

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