The GOP quest to return us to the 19th century:
birthright citizenship and light bulbs

post from Daily Kos on 19 November 2010 08:36:04 PM. © Daily Kos

The Dred Scott Republicans think they won, so back to 1860 we go.

WASHINGTON — As one of its first acts, the new Congress will consider denying citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants who are born in the United States.

Those children, who are now automatically granted citizenship at birth, will be one of the first targets of the Republican-led House when it convenes in January.....

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1868, guarantees citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the United States. It was intended to make sure that children of freed slaves were granted U.S. citizenship.

If that isn't absurd enough for you, how about the fight over who will run the Energy and Commerce committee being fought over bringing back incandescent light bulbs.

Hoping to counter attacks from his right, Rep. Fred Upton is promising to reexamine a controversial ban on incandescent light bulbs if he becomes chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The Michigan Republican told POLITICO on Thursday that he's not afraid to go back after an issue he once supported but that has come under withering assault on the conservative airwaves, including on Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck's talk shows.

"If I become chairman, we'll be reexamining the light bulb issue, no problem," Upton said.

Upton's bid to be the next Energy and Commerce Committee leader has been rocked by allegations that he's too moderate for the post.

Beck called him "all socialist" for cosponsoring legislation phasing out incandescent light bulbs that made it into a 2007 energy law signed by President George W. Bush.

Never mind what Bush did as president. To the new Republicans, 19th century technology rules. As does 19th century discrimination.

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Toxic Shock: Poll Confirms Social Security Cuts
Are Still Political Third Rail

post from Firedoglake on 19 November 2010 08:22:27 PM. © Firedoglake

Cutting Social Security benefits, either directly or by raising the retirement age, is deeply unpopular. No Democrat should even entertain the notion, especially given that the trust fund currently solvent for the next two decades, and the public is[...]

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White House White Board: The Rebirth of the
American Auto Industry

post from Crooks and Liars on 19 November 2010 08:00:59 PM. © Crooks and Liars

The Rebirth of the American Auto Industry

Click here to view this media

Via The White House blog:

In the fourth edition of White House White Board, Austan Goolsbee, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, discusses the President?s tough decisions on the American auto industry in light of the General Motors IPO.

Goolsbee is so good at these things that you wonder why the White House didn't do them sooner.

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http://crooksandliars.com/scarce/white-house-white-board-rebirth-american-au

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The Fatal Poison of Lies

post from They gave us a republic... - Front Page on 19 November 2010 08:00:00 PM. © They gave us a republic... - Front Page

Remember that old Star Trek episode in which Kirk, Spock and Harry Mudd blew out the transistors of a bunch of androids by exploiting their inability to grasp the illogic of "Everything I say is a lie. I am lying"?

Contemplating the state of public "discourse" these days smells like burning circuits.

Steve Benen:

THE POST-TRUTH ERA.... It's never been easier for Americans to keep up on current events and public affairs, but the persistent propensity for large swaths of the electorate to believe demonstrable falsehoods remains astounding.
I'm well aware of the structural problems that generated Republican gains in the midterms -- high unemployment means huge losses for the incumbent majority. But I'm also inclined to believe that our stunted discourse contributes to an environment in which facts are swiftly rejected.
Much, if not most, of the country believes President Obama raised taxes. And that he signed TARP into law. And that TARP money isn't being repaid. And that the economy contracted in 2010. And that the stimulus was wasteful and counter-productive. And that this current Congress did less than most. And that the Affordable Care Act constitutes "socialized medicine" and a "government takeover." And let's not even get started on the president's birthplace.
In a historical sense, it's not at all unusual for propagandists and provocateurs to spread lies, but we live in an era in which it's almost effortless for ignorance to spread like a cancer -- leading more people to believe more nonsense, faster and easier.
Andrew Sullivan had an item on this last week that bears repeating.
It seems to me that the last year or so in America's political culture has represented the triumph of untruth. And the untruth was propagated by a deliberate, simple and systemic campaign to kill Obama's presidency in its crib. Emergency measures in a near-unprecedented economic collapse - the bank bailout, the auto-bailout, the stimulus - were described by the right as ideological moves of choice, when they were, in fact, pragmatic moves of necessity. The increasingly effective isolation of Iran's regime - and destruction of its legitimacy from within - was portrayed as a function of Obama's weakness, rather than his strength. The health insurance reform -- almost identical to Romney's, to the right of the Clintons in 1993, costed to reduce the deficit, without a public option, and with millions more customers for the insurance and drug companies -- was turned into a socialist government take-over.
Every one of these moves could be criticized in many ways. What cannot be done honestly, in my view, is to create a narrative from all of them to describe Obama as an anti-American hyper-leftist, spending the US into oblivion. But since this seems to be the only shred of thinking left on the right (exacerbated by the justified flight of the educated classes from a party that is now openly contemptuous of learning), it became a familiar refrain -- pummeled into our heads day and night by talk radio and Fox. If you think I'm exaggerating, try the following thought experiment.
If a black Republican president had come in, helped turn around the banking and auto industries (at a small profit!), insured millions through the private sector while cutting Medicare, overseen a sharp decline in illegal immigration, ramped up the war in Afghanistan, reinstituted pay-as-you go in the Congress, set up a debt commission to offer hard choices for future debt reduction, and seen private sector job growth outstrip the public sector's in a slow but dogged recovery, somehow I don't think that Republican would be regarded as a socialist.
This is the era of the Big Lie, in other words, and it translates into a lot of little lies -- "death panels," "out-of-control" spending, "apologies for America" etc. -- designed to concoct a false narrative so simple and so familiar it actually succeeded in getting into people's minds in the midst of a brutal recession.

As we talked about a couple of weeks ago, this dynamic encourages more of what we've seen of late -- when dishonesty is rewarded, we'll hear more lies, not fewer.
The post-truth era can be disheartening.

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atal-poison-of-lies

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Late afternoon/early evening open thread

post from Daily Kos on 19 November 2010 07:50:05 PM. © Daily Kos

What's coming up on Sunday Kos ….

brooklynbadboy will write about growing up, paying rent, and the American dream.

Mark Sumner will follow up his first article on natural disasters with a discussion of events that leave behind mere disaster and enter the more rarefied realm of cataclysm and catastrophe. Spend Thanksgiving Day being thankful that you're not experiencing any of the things we'll be talking about.

Laurence Lewis will discuss a defining moment for the Democrats.

The post-election period always brings with it a period of retrospection. Steve Singiser will stick to what he knows—and will look at how the pollsters did on a key parameter: partisan bias.

Chris Bowers will look at the lessons from the best progressive organizing effort of the past two years: the financial reform bill. Before you start laughing, consider that the Senate passed a stronger bill than the House (yes, that actually happened). Can the lessons of this fight be applied to progressive legislative efforts in the new, more Republican Congress?

Dante Atkins will spend yet another week ranting about who should be taxed and why.

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evening-open-thread

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Day After Schooling Banksters, New Documents
Comes to Light in Waters Ethics Case

post from Firedoglake on 19 November 2010 07:45:02 PM. © Firedoglake

Yesterday, Maxine Waters chaired the House Financial Services Committee hearing on foreclosure fraud, and very effectively called out both the regulators who have stood mute in the midst of this crisis, and the big bank servicers who have been actively[...]

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After She Schools Banksters, New Documents Come
to Light in Waters Ethics Case

post from Firedoglake on 19 November 2010 07:45:02 PM. © Firedoglake

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Palin's Foot in the Mouth Disease

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 19 November 2010 07:42:00 PM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

TONY PEYSER FOR BUZZFLASH

Palin-backed Miller loses;
Sarah hasn't commented with a tweet.
Her foot's so often in her mouth,
no wonder she can taste defeat.

Read The Full Article:
http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/11969

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Cheers and Jeers: Rum and Coke FRIDAY!

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

This Late Night Snark Has Been Patted Down:

"Former President George W. Bush was all over TV promoting his book, Decision Points. On Rachael Ray, they waterboarded a veal cutlet."
---David Letterman
-
"Apple just launched its online store in China. Apple said this is an exciting opportunity to sell iPods to the kids who make them."
---Conan O'Brien (Welcome back!)
-

Clip of Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC): Republicans are united to stand for keeping the tax cuts in place; this is how we create jobs.
Clip of Rep. John Boehner (R-OH): I think extending all of the current tax rates and making them permanent...will be the most important thing we can do to create jobs in the country.
Clip of Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC): We've got a chance to do some things early on to create jobs by extending the tax cuts.
Stephen Colbert: Yes! Extending the existing tax cuts will create jobs. Because the only way out of this mess is to keep things exactly as they are!
---The Colbert Report

-
"President Obama is back home after his ten-day trip to Asia. On the way back, yesterday, Air Force One made a stop in Anchorage, Alaska, which is hopefully the only time we'll hear Air Force One and Anchorage, Alaska in the same sentence."
---Jay Leno
-
"I do not understand the electorate. This country is hurting in a way we haven't since the Depression. People struggling all over this country, and they came out and voted for the party that says right up front they will suspend your unemployment benefits and repeal health care. To go against your self-interest more you'd have to literally go fuck yourself."
---Bill Maher
-
"Arizona just became the 15th state to approve medical marijuana. So I give it three days before they stop caring about the whole immigration thing."
---Jimmy Fallon
-
"As for Cindy McCain, her PSA came out last Wednesday, and it took her all the way up until Friday to declare on Twitter that she, while supporting the NOH8 campaign, also stands by her husband's stance on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. She's against what Don’t Ask Don’t Tell does, but she's for Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. No wonder they have so many houses...they need them to keep all their different beliefs in them."
---Jon Stewart

More at Dan's place.

Your west coast-friendly edition of Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

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-and-Coke-FRIDAY!

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Did That Really Happen

For Democrats, the late election certainly seems like a nightmare from which they are still trying to awake. But perhaps both Republicans and Democrats can come together in a bipartisan fashion to agree that the Sharron Angle campaign was like one very[...]

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