Friday Stuff

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 26 October 2012 11:32:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

Given the thoroughly amoral behavior described in this video, I honestly don?t know how we can be (or should be) surprised by this (h/t Atrios...and I didn?t know about the vision-impaired professor, and please spare me the ?boys will be boys? mea culpa ? that behavior was learned from somewhere?God, Romney is such a scumbag, and the Huffpo piece makes this even more of a sick joke)?

?and I don?t know if this is a ?message? song or not, but I don?t care because it just rocks.

Read The Full Article:
http://liberaldoomsayer.blogspot.com/2012/10/friday-stuff_26.html

Digg this

Open thread for night owls: Paul Ryan pretends to
have a solution for poverty

post from Daily Kos on 26 October 2012 11:30:05 PM. © Daily Kos

Night Owls John Nichols says Paul Ryan has taken as side in the war on poverty?against what works:

So, in Ryan?s opinion, the ?war on poverty? that President Lyndon Johnson declared in 1964 as part of a broader Great Society initiative made matters worse.

But that?s just wrong.

How do we know? Census data.

In 1959, 22.1 percent of Americans lived below the poverty line.

In 1969, 13.7 percent of Americans lived below the poverty line.

The poverty level has varied since 1969. It has gone as high as 15 percent. But it has never again gotten anywhere near where it was in 1959.

What changed during the 1960s to dramatically decrease poverty?

?Centralized, bureaucratic, top-down anti-poverty programs? like Medicare (1965), Medicare (1965), the initiatives launched with the Food Stamp Act of 1964 and Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 programs such as the Jobs Corps (1964) and Head Start (1965).

Those programs worked.

Brilliantly.

They?re still working.

Brilliantly.

An honest political leader who really wanted to do something to finish the ?war on poverty? would propose to expand them, with, for instance, an expansion of Medicare to cover all Americans, and a real Jobs Corps that would put Americans to work rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure of America.

But Paul Ryan does not believe that.

He says ?the problem? started in the 1960s.

Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2008?Wall Street. Main Street. Why No Mention of Side Streets and Alleys?:

In the past few weeks, both from Republicans and Democrats, we?ve heard a great deal about the travails of Wall Street and the mythical Main Street in the acute economic crisis that has everyone who hasn?t already been downsized or foreclosed sitting on pins and needles. But far less?next to nothing, in fact?has been said about what?s going on elsewhere in America, in side streets and alleys where chronic structural economic problems dating back three decades continue to take a toll.

Today, about 20 percent of America?s children?13.5 percent of all Americans?live in what is a very flawed federal measure of poverty whose parameters haven?t been changed in more than four decades.

Some 28 million Americans now receive some amount of help from the Food Stamp program, known since the beginning of this month as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Soup kitchens everywhere are in tough straits. That?s because food prices have increased at a time when the numbers of people in need have risen and the people who donate, hampered by economic difficulties of their own, are contributing less.

At the other end of the scale, crunched state budgets mean reduced aid to higher education at a time when still-rising tuition costs are making it ever more difficult for people at the lower ends of the economic scale to do what every politician, social reformer and statistic says is a way out of those lower ends: more schooling.

Tweet of the Day:

Piers Morgan devotes show to Ann Coulter. Piers, trust Van Jones will be given that same hour next week, on eve of this election?
? @KatrinaNation via Twitter for iPad

It's Friday again on the Kagro in the Morning show. Greg Dworkin gave us the daily polling & punditry rundown, then were joined by Andrew Jones (aka sluggahjells) for a wide-ranging discussion of politics & media bubbles. Lastly, the insidious little trick of accounting that's coming into widespread use & lets your boss pocket taxes he's withholding from your paycheck! Don't forget to vote for Best New Show in the Stitcher Awards!

High Impact Posts. Top Comments.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/Qh8Wi4bqjX4/-Open-thread-for-night
-owls-Paul-Ryan-pretends-to-have-a-solution-for-poverty

Digg this

Open Thread

post from Crooks and Liars on 26 October 2012 11:30:00 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Jasiri X - "Don't Forget About the Hood" was produced in collaboration with http://hoodievote.org with Da Ricanstrukta providing the powerful soundtrack. Free download here, where you can also listen to the fantastic "What If The Tea Party Was Black?" .

h/t Nicole Belle. Open Thread below...

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/bluegal-aka-fran/open-thread-430

Digg this

Romney laughs at Meatloafs butchering of America
the Beautiful

post from AMERICAblog on 26 October 2012 11:10:24 PM. © AMERICAblog

Singer "Meatloaf" made a mockery of one of the most beloved songs in our history, and Mitt Romney laughed.

.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/tT5JnsvCxXo/meatloaf-romney-america
-beautiful.html

Digg this

Late Night: The Virtues of Procrastination

post from Firedoglake on 26 October 2012 11:00:02 PM. © Firedoglake

Over at the Washington Monthly, Paul Glastris claims the Obama campaign has waited too long to make its best closing argument.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/Vi7QYY1sius/

Digg this

C&L's Late Night Music Club with The Wurzels

post from Crooks and Liars on 26 October 2012 11:00:00 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Genre: CountryTitle: (I Got A Brand New) Combine HarvesterArtist: The Wurzels

"I've got a brand new combine harvester" is a lovely parody of "I've got a brand new pair of roller skates." Makes me smile every time.

Anyone think of other parodies that end up as good as the original they took it from?

The Finest 'Arvest of The Wurzels

Artist: Wurzels Price: $3.33 (As of 10/26/12 04:35 pm details)

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/nonny-mouse/cls-late-night-music-club-wurzels

Digg this

FrankenstormGlobal Warming May Well Play A Part
In The Storms Projected Intensity

There is a giant storm headed for east coast of the United States and for inland areas of the nation as well. Some are calling this storm a “Frankenstorm.” (Above–A recent satellite image of Hurricane Sandy and the eastern half of the United States.) From Bloomberg Businessweek— The superstorm expected to develop from Hurricane Sandy [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://texasliberal.wordpress.com/2012/10/27/frankenstorm-global-warming-may-well
-play-a-part-in-the-storms-projected-intensity/

Digg this

Facts About The Super StormGlobal Warming May
Well Play A Part In The Storms Projected Intensity

(Update 10/28/12–Here is the latest story from The New York Times on the progress of the storm. The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Adminstration link below continues to note the course of the storm.) There is a giant storm headed for east coast of the United States and for inland areas of the nation as well. [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://texasliberal.wordpress.com/2012/10/27/facts-about-the-frankenstorm-global-
warming-may-well-play-a-part-in-the-storms-projected-intensity/

Digg this

Facts About The FrankenstormGlobal Warming May
Well Play A Part In The Storms Projected Intensity

(Update 10/28/12–Here is the latest story from The New York Times on the progress of the storm. The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Adminstration link below continues to note the course of the storm.) There is a giant storm headed for east coast of the United States and for inland areas of the nation as well. [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://texasliberal.wordpress.com/2012/10/27/facts-about-the-frankenstorm-global-
warming-may-well-play-a-part-in-the-storms-projected-intensity/

Digg this

More Than 180 Voter Suppression Laws Proposed

We have written a lot about Pennsylvania?s Voter ID Law, which has been put on hold by the courts for the upcoming election. Turns out we?re not alone when it comes to voting suppression.That may not be news to you, but you may be surprised to know that[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/zg4G61BmykM/

Digg this