Intercity Transit Improvements: The Quest for
Higher Speed Rail

post from Firedoglake on 19 October 2012 04:55:48 PM. © Firedoglake

The hopes for high speed rail in America have downshifted somewhat into a hope for "higher speed rail." Many of the tentpole high speed rail plans were scrapped, particularly in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin, where Republican governors returned the money.[...]

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Voter Registration Firm Employee Working For The
Virginia GOP Arrested For Dumping Registrations

post from ThinkProgress on 19 October 2012 04:50:18 PM. © ThinkProgress

Pennsylvania resident Colin Small was arrested Thursday after he was caught illegally destroying voter registration forms in Virginia. Smalls worked for a firm hired by the Republican Party of Virginia to register voters, but was spotted throwing away 8 voter registration forms in a dumpster on Monday, the deadline for registering to vote in Virginia. [...]

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After Attending Stimulus Funded Ribbon-Cutting
Ceremony, Tea Party Rep. Dismisses Stimulus Money

post from ThinkProgress on 19 October 2012 04:45:32 PM. © ThinkProgress

CONWAY, New Hampshire — Less than a year after attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new stimulus funded infrastructure project in New Hampshire, Rep. Frank Guinta (R-NH) derided the Recovery Act, telling constituents at a debate to ask “if that stimulus helped them.” The freshman congressman attended and spoke at a dedication of a new [...]

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Abortion-Related Election Ads Spiked In October

post from ThinkProgress on 19 October 2012 04:30:44 PM. © ThinkProgress

Campaign ads on abortion, contraception, and Planned Parenthood have spiked in the last month, from abortion-related ads running in just 14 races in September to more than 1,500 mentions of abortion in 50 races in the last week, according to data from Kantar Media CMAG. Eleven new ads on abortion aired in House and governor [...]

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Scott Brown supporter calls Elizabeth Warren
'douchebag,' Obama a 'Muslim'

post from Daily Kos on 19 October 2012 04:28:41 PM. © Daily Kos

Scott Brown should maybe have done what he accused Elizabeth Warren of and hired an actor to be in an ad. Because this guy ...

... has turned out to be a bit of a problem.

In a television advertisement running as recently this week, Sen. Scott Brown's (R-Mass.) reelection campaign featured a union construction worker whose publicly accessible Facebook page is riddled with insults against Brown's Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren and President Barack Obama.
On one post made in August, well before Brown's ad appeared, the worker, George Patriarca, calls Warren a "DOUCHEBAG." On another he labels the president a "faggot," and on a third he says, "there is a Muslim in the White House." [...]
Patriarca's views are available for perusal for anyone with a Facebook account, and from some of his posts, it is clear that he relishes his provocative online persona.
"I attended Brandeis," he says underneath one photo. "Jew U. Great school. the people, not so much. One thing I learned is that Jews have a persecution complex and they hate themselves. That is why I believe they vote for liberals."

When Brown made the accusation about the people appearing in Warren's ads, he contrasted them with his own supporters.

"A lot of them are paid," Brown said. "We hear that maybe they pay actors. Listen, you can get surrogates and go out and say your thing. We have regular people in our commercials. No one is paid. They are regular folks that reach out to us and say she is full of it."

Maybe Brown should have gone with the paid actor option. Or maybe he should have gone with the people being paid to wear his campaign t-shirts. Of course, the people he does pay to hang around him sure aren't much to write home about on the whole not-being-racist-assholes front, either.

Brown sure does keep some awfully questionable company.

Please contribute $3 to Elizabeth Warren on ActBlue.

More discussion is happening in Brainwrap's diary.

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Anti-Gay Strategist Admits Same-Sex Couples
Having Children, By Itself, Is Not A Reason To Redefine Marriage

post from ThinkProgress on 19 October 2012 04:26:19 PM. © ThinkProgress

Frank Schubert is the media guru behind all four anti-marriage equality campaigns currently underway, and despite the myths his ads regularly reinforce, he doesn’t believe he’s causing that much harm. In an interview with Michelangelo Signorile, he proved that he can’t even justify that arguments that he makes in his ads, demonstrating that he is [...]

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Borderline Crazy: CA Prop. 32s Anti-Immigrant
Allies

post from Firedoglake on 19 October 2012 04:10:28 PM. © Firedoglake

In October of 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the California Dream Act?which allows undocumented but high-achieving immigrant students to receive state funds to help pay for college. It was a monumental victory for tolerance and the[...]

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'Blown Up For The Obvious Political Reasons'

Eric Lach explores the right's Benghazi coverup theory. [...]

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Mappa Mundi

For years the historian in me has been fascinating by the history of map-making. After the 2004 election I actually briefly shopped a book proposal for a book partly on the topic. But last weekend TPM IdeaLab's Carl Franzen was the only reporter at a[...]

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Record Number Need Food Aid in U.S., Candidates,
Media and Nation Yawn

In a presidential election year, wouldn?t you think record numbers of people needing help in getting food to eat would be something the candidates would be talking about? Well, no, of course not. It?s kind of a downer, and probably doesn?t poll well or[...]

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ates-media-and-nation-yawn/

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