Thursday Stuff

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 12 July 2012 11:46:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

(I also posted here.)

This is meant as a parody, but I have to admit that I didn?t laugh as much as I thought I would as I watched it?
Wonderful World Of Drones with Christopher McDonald from Christopher McDonald

?and now I give you #30 of the 31 House Repug numbskulls trying to repeal the health care law, and that would be David Dreier of California (for this in particular, I dedicate the following video - and no, I'm not going to cut him a break because he's leaving - backgrounder here)?

?and I think the U.S. Olympic Committee is as dumb as a bag of hammers for this?

?and I tried to tie this to both the Olympics story and the monsters who enabled Jerry Sandusky, but it really didn't work - it's a nice tune anyway, though, so here it is.

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Open thread for night owls: Drought forces
designation of 1,000 counties as federal disaster zones

post from Daily Kos on 12 July 2012 11:30:06 PM. © Daily Kos

Open Thread for Night Owls The heat isn't the only problem. At the Atlantic Dashieill Bennett writes:

The blistering summer and ongoing drought conditions have the prompted the U.S. Agriculture Department to declare a federal disaster area in more than 1,000 counties covering 26 states. That's almost one-third of all the counties in the United States, making it the largest distaster declaration ever made by the USDA.
The declaration covers almost every state in the southern half of the continental U.S., from South Carolina in the East to California in the West. It's also includes Colorado and Wyoming (which have been hit by devatasting wildfires) and Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and Nebraska in the Midwest. However, it does not include Iowa, which is the largest grain and corn producer in the U.S. This map shows the counties affected:

Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2007:

The votes today in the House on H.R. 2956, the Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Actwill send a critical message to the Senate as it continues debate on the DoD authorization, and to the President that it is time for a change in Iraq.
A unified Democratic vote on this legislation, which mirrors the Senate Levin/Reed bill and sets a date certain for redeployment out of Iraq of April 1, 2008, is critical. In May, the baseline vote for the Democratic position in Iraq, the McGovern fully funded withdrawal showed that 171 House members are ready to end the war by cutting off funds. The current legislation doesn't use the purse strings, but it does take the step of setting a binding date certain, a position which all Democrats should be able to accept.
Below the fold are the Democrats who voted against the McGovern bill in May. If your representative is on that list, call and urge him or her to vote for this legislation, HR 2956. It's time to end this occupation.

Tweet of the Day:

Mitt strains to 'splain as Bain reign remains a campaign stain. #NailedIt
? @SimonMaloy via web

Tune in Monday to Friday from 9-11 AM ET for Daily Kos Radio, hosted by David Waldman a/k/a KagroX. You can listen here. You can listen to highlights of today's show here.

High Impact Posts. Top Comments.

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-owls-Drought-forces-designation-of-1-000-counties-as-federal-disaster-zones

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Pew poll: Obama holds lead, Romney trails on most
issues

post from Daily Kos on 12 July 2012 11:02:38 PM. © Daily Kos

poll comparison of Obama v Romney on a varienty of specific issues Pew Research Center for the People and the Press Obama v Romney, Pew data Amidst the Sturm und Drang of Mitt Romney's Bain problem, a new Pew poll puts into perspective the peculiar problem of Romney's "stuck in second" campaign.

Despite the stagnant economy and broad dissatisfaction with national conditions, Barack Obama holds a significant lead over Mitt Romney. Currently, Obama is favored by a 50% to 43% margin among registered voters nationwide. Obama has led by at least a slim margin in every poll this year, and there is no clear trend in either candidate?s support since Romney wrapped up the GOP nomination.
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted June 28-July 9, 2012 among 2,973 adults, including 2,373 registered voters, finds that Romney has not seized the advantage as the candidate best able to improve the economy. In fact, he has lost ground on this issue over the past month...
Currently, Obama holds a slim 51% to 44% margin among voters in 12 of the most competitive states. This is identical to the balance of support in these states in June.

July is when narrative starts to be cemented. Note that Obama has a lead on virtually every issue except the deficit and jobs, and that includes a +6 on who best can improve economic conditions. Romney can't win the election if he cannot reverse that.

As is usual in a Pew poll, there's lots of data to go over, including:

? ACA/Obamacare approval (47) is virtually even with disapproval (43), but health care (22) trails jobs (33) in importance.

? Opinions of the Supreme Court have soured, thanks mostly to Republicans. In April, the fav/unfav was 56/25, and now it's 38/51.

What's interesting is that the Pew lead of 7 comes on the heels of a Reuters/Ipsos poll giving Obama a 6 point lead, and a shift in the pollster.com electoral map, which now has Obama leading with 281 electoral votes to Romney's 191. The pollster.com tracking average (using my baseline of always removing Rasmussen) gives Obama 46.8 to Romney's 43.6.

Other recent polls include the fickle Gallup tracker, now with Obama +3, identical to the latest Q-poll, and the dead even ABC/Washington Post poll. However, it's advisable to look at the polling average as well as all the recent polls, and if one does, the election remains extremely close. Close, but with a definite Obama lead.

That's the narrative going into the Bain discussion?it's another nail in the idea that Romney is the man to turn the economy around. On what basis? On what experience? Romney can't run on his MA Governor experience because that opens him up to discussion on Romneycare, godfather of Obamacare. And this poll, as of now, notes that Romney ties or trails Obama on the crucial element he needs to win.

What will it take to move that dial? Disastrous economic news, for Obama. And for Romney? Let's see how things shake out with Bain. Bain is like watering the driveway during a cold snap in winter, and expecting to get better traction.

As of now, it's not happening.

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C&L's Late Night Music Club With Os Mutantes

post from Crooks and Liars on 12 July 2012 11:00:53 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Title: Cantor De MamboArtist: Os Mutantes

Man, I'm digging this one tonight. Got a favorite from Latin America?

Everything Is Possible!

Price: $7.99 (As of 07/12/12 06:10 pm details)

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http://crooksandliars.com/jared-shade-reynolds/cls-late-night-music-club-os-

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Wingnut Welfare: Fishwrap Edition

post from Firedoglake on 12 July 2012 11:00:50 PM. © Firedoglake

As the still-unfolding recession leads to a disturbing preponderance of PhD’s working at Subway, there is one increasingly infuriating bright spot of iron-clad job security: the op/ed page of your local newspaper. Once upon a time, the op/ed page[...]

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Antonio Buehler and Peaceful Streets

post from Firedoglake on 12 July 2012 10:15:40 PM. © Firedoglake

It's been a busy year for Antonio Buehler.When he agreed to be a designated driver for friends on New Year's Eve, 2011, he had no idea how much that simple decision would shape 2012.[...]

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Let's draft senior citizens instead

post from US Politics | AMERICAblog News on 12 July 2012 10:00:28 PM. © US Politics | AMERICAblog News

As Atrios points out, people who call for the reinstatement of the draft are invariably older than the upper-limit on the draft age they propose. And Matthew Yglesias points out that enslaving teenagers is hardly an equitable alternative to paying taxes. But what really offends me about the latest outburst of conscription nonsense from General McChrystal and Thomas Ricks is the idea that...

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Basketball Coach Fired For Not Making Team More
White

Coach Fired for Non-Whites?

Click here to view this media

Sure--there's no racism in America, riiight? (h/t Atrios)

This is creepy.

Attorney Dennis Young, who is representing a high school basketball coach who was fired last month, told NBC10 that for ten years "the coach was told to make the team whiter." The NAACP is asking the New Jersey Attorney General to launch an investigation into the firing of Joe McLoughlin.
McLoughlin was fired in June after serving as the head basketball coach at Collingswood High School for 14 years and winning a state championship.Dozens of current and former students as well as parents gathered at a heated school board meeting on June 25, to fight to save McLoughlin's job, but they were unsuccessful.
The board made a unanimous vote to fire McLoughlin, but gave no official reason.Supporters claim the school administration was upset that African American players got more time on the court than white players.In a letter to the State Attorney General, the NAACP wrote, "Please accept this letter as a formal request for an independent investigation into the rampant but covert discrimination and civil rights violations occurring against African American students attending and/or participating in the sports program at Collingswood High School in Collingswood, New Jersey, including the participants in the boys and girls' basketball program.
"Malcolm and Leslie Clark tell NBC10 both of their children, Myesha and Malik, were mistreated after they transferred to Collingswood High from Camden High. While both made the basketball team, their parents claim Myesha, who is 5-foot-11 and Malik, who is 6-foot-3, got very little playing time. They believe the school district forced McLoughlin to not play their children.

More nonsense in Chris Christe's state. It could be as Duncan says:

It could be explicitly racial. Not denying the possibility. But I saw the "special kids must get the playing time" crap back when I was like 10 years old in Little League. I was crap at baseball then, so not resentful, but so were some of the special kids who got all the good positions and playing time.

But I have a feeling that it's the white thing....

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http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/basketball-coach-fired-not-making-team-

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A Losing Battle

Running my own little company and him being a bona-fide high-flyer, I never imagined I'd be in a position to teach Mitt Romney a basic lesson about corporate governance and running a business. But here goes: The CEO is in...[...]

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Lying Is One Thing...

BY @TomBales1 OK, Mitt Romney is a liar I understand that. He's a serial liar... so much so that he feels compelled to lie just about every time he opens his mouth. I can even understand that given that Romney is your total political animal and nothing... not integrity, not ethics nor even morality mean more to him than winning. That's what most politicians do and I've slowly gotten use to the idea.

What I do not understand is a man who will give you at least two answers... sometimes more than two... to every question asked and two... sometimes more than two... explanations for every situation that arises and then simply tell you to pick the one you like but don't bother him anymore about it. It's as if he's lying, you know he's lying and he knows that you know he's lying, but he just doesn't give a damn because your opinion... and probably your vote... aren't going to matter anyway.

He is so certain that he is entitled to the presidency... that it's "his turn"... that he's going to win in spite of pissing off every group, community and voting bloc out there, including some Republican ones, by managing to deliberately insult all of them, most more than once. That kind of confidence, in spite of being one of the worst presidential candidates in history has got to raise the hair on the back of your neck if you're not as brain dead as he often appears to be. There's a damned good chance that this man knows something that we don't and that he doesn't have to pander after votes from unwashed commoners like you and me.

It's gotten so bad that the jokes being offered up by comedians on a nightly basis are more credible than some of the stuff he's actually saying He gives every indication of believing that he can simply buy his way into the presidency the same way he bought his wife a tap dancing horse or bought himself into all those exclusive country clubs. He really believes that if you have enough money you can get anything you want including 50.1% of the vote count and damn if he might not be exactly right.

I'm thinking we're going to see an election that once again puts us at the mercy of the electronic voting machines and the SCOTUS, especially given that all of the swing states with Tea Party governors are futzing around with voter suppression to varying degrees. Hell it might even come down to Florida again, a state that itself had no problems electing a man who had defrauded it of untold amounts of money and in a just world would be sitting in a federal prison instead of the Florida Governor's mansion. Nobody ever accused them of being original and since it worked once, why not Florida?

So far I haven't talk to any Republican who's voting FOR Romney. Indeed, the ones I have had contact with who are supporting him freely admit that he's little more than a thief, a carpetbagger and a snake oil peddler par excellence but by God, ANYBODY... no matter how dishonest they might be, no matter how disconnected they might be, no matter how much contempt and disdain the guy has for them... is better than Obama and if they have to swallow Romney to get rid of Obama, they're more than willing to do start choking him down. The indications are that they simply don't care as long as long as Obama is out of there come next January.

Remember, Mitt's not even old money. He inherited money that his daddy actually went out and earned and then he used his father's hard earned dollars to make himself one of the most predatory venture capitalists in history, managing to cover every base there is to cover, from buying up healthy companies and strangling them in their beds to owning an interest in the foreign companies that he outsourced the lost jobs and manufacturing capacity to. Hell, he even started setting up his own Caribbean shell companies. He used taxpayer dollars to bail out the Olympics in Utah after a massive bribery scandal and he managed to FUBAR everything in Massachusetts EXCEPT health care and now he wants to repeal the only thing he ever did right.

The man could serve as the poster boy for the hateful, greedy, self absorbed little rich boy breed who never took nickel that didn't come from someone else's pocket and was the product of someone else's labor. He's a liar, a predator, an elitist prick and a bully. And the Republicans want to make him your president. Think about that.

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-is-one-thing