The Progressive Generation: What Young Adults
Think About the Economy

Anyone who has read a poll knows that the economy is the #1 concern for young people today, but what does that mean in terms of the policies they would support?  The Center for American Progress just issued a new report that sheds light on this[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/mydd/~3/287087794/48687

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Weekly Standard: Americans should be indifferent
to the impact U.S. policy has on al Qaeda recruiting.

Writing on the Weekly Standard’s blog yesterday, Michael Goldfarb said that he doesn’t “care” if President Bush’s policies have been a “recruiting tool for terrorists“:

As to whether Bush is a recruiting tool for terrorists?who cares? Al Qaeda was recruiting before Bush was in office and they will continue to do so after he?s gone. The important thing is that we keep killing those recruits. Eventually, one side will give up.

Justin Logan at Cato-at-Liberty points out Goldfarb’s flawed logic, noting that it justifies doing anything that is counterproductive because “after all, al Qaeda will continue recruiting whether we do it or not.”

(HT: Matthew Yglesias)

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/09/weekly-standard-americans-should-be-indiffere
nt-to-the-impact-us-policy-has-on-al-qaeda-recruiting/

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Whats a Little Mad Cow Between Friends

One of the facets of life that should no longer amaze me but does is the extent to which business, industry, and the Bush administration bloviate about the wonders of the free market until the exact moment it shows signs of not working in their[...]

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http://mouemagazine.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/whats-a-little-mad-cow-between-frien
ds/

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Tom Manion, Master Of The Obvious

So Deadeye Dick Cheney dropped into Philadelphia recently to give a 10-minute speech about how peachy our economy is supposed to be at the Northeast Philadelphia Financial Center, then flew out as fast as he could (as noted here).

And Patrick Murphy wasted no time in calling him out?

?To tell Pennsylvania families that our economy is strong when so many of them are struggling is a slap in the face,? said Murphy, a Democrat who represents Bucks County and small parts of Montgomery County and Philadelphia. ?It's time for Democrats and Republicans to start working together to solve problems instead of pretending that there are none.?

And what does Murphy?s Repug opponent Tom Manion have to say about this?

(Manion), a Doylestown Township Republican running for Congress, called the stimulus plan (that Cheney propagandized about) a ?short-term fix? and said the government needed to do more to deal with ?significant problems? within the economy, particularly rising energy and health care costs.

?Much more needs to be done,? Manion said.

Yeah, like President Clueless filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization against the Saudis for restricting the flow of oil and driving up the price, as noted here (a short-term attempt at a solution I?ll admit, but better than nothing; of course, that will happen when Dubya is accepted into MENSA).

Given all of this, I thought it would be worthwhile to note the following costs we deal with every day and the response (or ?non?-response, more likely) of the Repugs:

1) Health Insurance ? As noted here?

Workers with job-based coverage for their families saw earnings rise 3% from 2001 to 2005, while their health insurance premium contribution increased 30%, according to the study by researchers at the State Health Access Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota.

The average cost nationally of family coverage during the period increased nearly $2,500, to $10,728 from $8,281.

In response, Dubya vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have provided a $30 billion extension of SCHIP coverage.

2) The Iraq War ? As noted here?

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- The Iraq war has already cost the lives of nearly 4,000 U.S. troops, but there is another cost that is not so readily quantifiable: the economic toll. Forecasts of the cost to the U.S. have reached into the trillions of dollars, fueling a controversy over the impact on the budget and the economy.

And Dubya requested an additional $70 billion for the war, as noted here?

3) Other Expenditures - Lest we forget, our ruling cabal has provided or pledged...

$29 billion for the bailout of Bear Stearns, one of the largest investment banks and global trading firms in the world (here)

$770 million in emergency food aid worldwide (here)

But what about preserving the homes of the ?working people of America,? to use Deadeye Dick?s parlance?

Well...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President George W. Bush and Congress are clashing over how to address the U.S. housing crisis, clouding the prospects of an election-year rescue package.

Bush said Wednesday he would veto Democrats' broad housing aid plan, saying it would not help struggling homeowners.

The measure, aimed at preventing foreclosures, would have the government step in to insure up to $300 billion (¤194.4 billion) in new mortgages for distressed homeowners. A House vote is expected by Thursday (I believe it passed).

So to summarize, Bushco continues to wage a war costing into the trillions of dollars (including $70 billion as noted above) while overseeing the $29 billion Bear Stearns bailout and requesting $770 million of food aid on top of that. Meanwhile, this regime won?t even bother to complain about the Saudis stringing us along over our oil dependency (profligate stupidity if it ever existed, primarily on our end) and denies expansion of medical coverage to sick families and children, and on top of that, opposes a $300 billion homeowner bailout over the subprime mortgage meltdown.

(By the way, I?m not opposed to the food aid, but I am merely asking that you consider it in context with our other needs.)

Yes, I would indeed agree with Tom Manion that ?much more needs to be done.? And to do it, click here.

And I can?t help but express my own, particular personal loathing over Cheney?s contamination of that location with his presence for this story ? I?m glad my dad didn?t live to see this.

Read The Full Article:
http://liberaldoomsayer.blogspot.com/2008/05/tom-manion-master-of-obvious.html

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Friday Orchid Blogging

Epi. Gay Rabbit

Yes, it's really called a "gay rabbit." The first person to register a name for a certain hybrid gets to make that name permanent. And somebody must have thought this thing had rabbit ears and, well, I dunno. Anyway, a friend gave me this several years back, it never grew a lick for her, so I took it, and now, several years later, it finally has flowers. And very cool flowers at that. The stem is probably a good foot and a half high, and the flowers are lightly scented. I grow this in semi-hydro, like my other orchids (basically, the roots grow in a very open baked clay pellet medium that ends up being moist by airy). I'm pretty pleased with this one. Enjoy :-) JOHN

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Americablog/~3/287225479/friday-orchid-blogging.ht
ml

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What Hillary Has and Obama Needs: An Image of
Toughness

What do Mike Dukakis and John Kerry have in common? They were from Massachusetts and they had images as being soft. It is ironic that the one leading Democratic Presidential candidate who has overcome the "mommy" party problem is woman -- Hillary Clinton. Susan Faludi explains:

[W]hite men are warming to Hillary Clinton — at least enough to vote for her. It’s no small shift. These men have historically been her fiercest antagonists. Their conversion may point less to a new kind of male voter than to a new kind of female vote-getter.

. . . For years, the prevailing theory has been that white men are often uneasy with female politicians because they can’t abide strong women. But if that’s so, why haven’t they deserted Senator Clinton? More particularly, why haven’t they deserted her as she has become ever more pugnacious in her campaign?

. . . It’s the unforeseen precedent of an unprecedented candidacy: our first major female presidential candidate isn’t doing what men always accuse women of doing. She’s not summoning the rules committee over every infraction. . . . If anyone has been guarding the rules this election, it’s been the press, which has been primly thumbing the pages of Queensberry and scolding her for being “ruthless” and “nasty,” a “brawler” who fights “dirty.” But while the commentators have been tut-tutting, Senator Clinton has been converting white males, assuring them that she’s come into their tavern not to smash the bottles, but to join the brawl.

Faludi uses an intellectual construct. I put it this way - Hillary Clinton proved she was tough. Dems are seen as soft. Obama is seen as soft. He needs to change that. As do all Dems.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/287074773/6957

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House and Senate Roundup, 5/9

Senate Races

NE-Sen: Today's the last day for our fundraising drive for Scott Kleeb! We're looking for 450 donors by the end of today, and $20,000 total. We're ever so close right now, so if you haven't given, please do!

Contribute here! Update: we're there! Thanks, everyone! --mcjoan

TX-Sen: As kos noted yesterday, Research 2000 conducted a poll for Daily Kos which showed Senator John Cornyn leading Rick Noriega by just four points, 48% to 44%. This is almost a perfect match for the Rasmussen poll which showed the same margin (47-43), and it is a stunning result in a state which hasn't elected a Democratic Senator in twenty years (Lloyd Bentsen in 1988).

Noriega's a fine candidate, Cornyn is a generally useless Senator and one of the worst Bush loyalists in Washington, and it's clear that there's a great deal of dissatisfaction with Cornyn even in red Texas. Noriega's biggest challenge is raising enough money to stay competitive (Texas being a ridiculously expensive state in which to campaign statewide), and building the organizational strength within his campaign to capitalize on the anti-Cornyn sentiment in Texas and get his message out.

NM-Sen: The Tom Udall campaign has made their first venture onto Daily Kos; the campaign diaried here yesterday, urging readers to support the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, otherwise known as the new GI Bill.

OR-Sen: The DCCC has a new ad up attacking Gordon Smith:

video details and more

It's still the economy, stupid.

CO-Sen: President Bush signed signed S. 2739 into law yesterday, which applied U.S. immigration law to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and hopefully will help put an end to the notorious human rights abuses there. Of course, U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer believed that the conditions there were a "model" for a guest-worker program in the United States, as Colorado Confidential notes (h/t to Senate Guru).

It really is a sad day when President Bush has more respect for human rights than you do, Bob.

LA-Sen: Traitor John Kennedy, notorious political opportunist, defected to the Republican Party last year in hopes of capturing a U.S. Senate seat from incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu. Converting to today's Republican Party, it seems to me, is rather the equivalent of parachuting onto the deck of the Titanic, but to each his own.

In any case, the Other John Kennedy has a primary challenge, poor fellow, from a guy who's actually been a Republican for more than a few days, self-funding rare-coin dealer Paul Hollis.

MA-Sen, MN-Sen: Apparently Republican Norm Coleman wants to chair the NRSC again someday, so he's going around stumping for no-hoper Senate candidates like Massachusetts' Jim Ogonowski. Coleman and Ogonowski held a fundraiser in Boston yesterday with all of thirty guests. David Wade, spokesman for Ogonowski's opponent John Kerry, had a lovely comment on this:

"The truth is, it’s a natural fit. Norm Coleman and Jim Ogonowski have something in common: After November neither of them will be serving in the Senate".

House Races

MI-09: Democrat Gary Peters liveblogged today at Michigan Liberal. Check it out for Peters' thoughts on environmental policy, economic priorities, health care and rights for same-sex couples.

Peters' race in MI-09 was recently upgraded by the Cook Political Report to "Leans Democratic", and he is already on the DCCC's Red To Blue list, both indicators of just how promising this race is for November.

NY-25: The GOP has been casting about in the dark for a candidate here since current Rep. Jim Walsh announced his retirement plans a few months back. After losing their initial candidate, former state fair director Peter Cappuccilli, they've now recruited former Onondaga County Legislature Chairman Dale Sweetland. Sweetland will oppose Democratic candidate Dan Maffei, who came within 3500 votes of knocking off the seemingly invulnerable Walsh in 2006.

In this Democratic-leaning district, Maffei starts in good position, having already raised over $850,000. Sweetland's campaign is pushing an internal poll showing him deadlocked with Maffei, but Dems remain sanguine:

"I don’t really have very much faith in this poll," said Carrie James, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She pointed out it was conducted by the same pollster that predicted Walsh would win the race with a 13 percentage point lead in 2006. Maffei held Walsh to 50.8 percent of the vote and a lead of fewer than 3,5000 votes in that contest.

James described the 25th District as a top pick-up opportunity for Democrats this election cycle. Republicans "went through nearly half a dozen Republican candidates to come up with a status quo politician," she said.

MS-01: Undeniably desperate to prevent a devastating loss in MS-01 on Tuesday, the NRCC is pulling out the big guns...er, young guns.

In addition, Roll Call notes that the NRCC is now establishing a double-secret goon squad of House Members, to stop this annoying trend of blowing elections in solidly Republican turf.

From Swing State Project's James L.:

IL-14 was bad.  LA-06 was worse.  But if you're an ass-scratching member of the Boehner caucus, the very real scenario of receiving a back-breaking loss in Mississippi next week is too terrifying to even begin imagining.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/287074215/56054

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Stop Insulting My Mother

A diary that spent several hours on the recommended diary at Daily Kos today contains the following[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OpenLeft-FrontPage/~3/287109784/showDiary.do

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Representative Ciro Rodriguez endorses Clinton

Sen. Clinton started us off this morning with an endorsement by Rep. Chris Carney. Then there were a bunch of endorsements for that other candidate, but Clinton is ending the day (assuming, of course, that this is it for the day!) with another endorsement from Congress: Texas Representative Ciro Rodriguez:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton picked up another endorsement from a Texas Democratic superdelegate for the party's presidential primary.

Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, announced Friday night that he is endorsing Clinton.

"A big reason is because his district voted so overwhelmingly for her, that's one of the biggest reasons," said Rodriguez' spokesman Josh Rosenblum.

Rodriguez said in a statement issued by the Clinton campaign that he still believes she can win.

"Not only can she win, I am convinced that she will be a truly great president," Rodriguez said. "In two areas of special importance to me, caring for our veterans and improving our schools, Hillary has been a real leader. I am happy to follow the clear choice of my constituents and support Hillary for President."

This increases Clinton's superdelegate lead back to 1.5 votes.

Read The Full Article:
http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/05/representative-ciro-rodriguez-endorses.ht
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Won't Tone Down My Crazy Feminism

Not too long ago, I was describing part of my thesis project to a colleague after a conversation[...]

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http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2008/05/why_i_wont_tone_down_my_crazy.html

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