Monday, August 31, 2009

It's not over…

…over there. Chad Shue has the latest fatality report from Iraq…
Lance Cpl. Brandon T. Lara, 20, of New Braunfels, TX died July 19 in Anbar province, Iraq.
Spc. Herberth A. Berrios-Campos, 21, of Bealeton, VA died July 24 in Salman Pak, Iraq.
Staff Sgt. Johnny R. Polk, 39, of Gulfport, MS died July 25 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, of wounds suffered on July 23 in Kirkuk, Iraq.
Pvt. Keiffer P. Wilhelm, 19, of Plymouth, OH died August 4 in Maysan province, Iraq. Spc. Richard A. Walters Jr., 41, of Cleveland, OH died Aug. 10 in Ali Al Salem, Kuwait. Spc. Matthew D. Hastings, 23, of Claremore, OK died Aug. 17 in Baghdad, Iraq.
Pfc. William Z. Vanosdol, 23, of Pinson, AL died Aug. 19 at Ad Diwaniyah, Iraq.
2nd Lt. Joseph D. Fortin, 22, of St. Johnsbury, VT died Aug. 23 in Hussaniyah, Iraq.
Sgt. Earl D. Werner, 38, of Mondovi, WI died Aug. 28 in Rashid, Iraq.
Pvt. Taylor D. Marks, 19, of Monmouth, OR died Aug. 28 in Rashid, Iraq
.
Damn.

And the other one's getting worse every day.

Double damn.

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Chart of the day.

Yes, yes, click it bigger.

We are the mainstream.

Hat tip to McJoan.

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Dear CNN,

If your lede begins "Former Vice President Dick Cheney said…," you're writing the wrong story.

Unless, of course, he said "Guilty, your Honor."

Love,

Upper Left

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Sunday, August 30, 2009

It's time for...

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Saturday, August 29, 2009

Health Care Heh™ Of The Day.

McSweeney's has a bunch of these. This one's my fave...

MYTH:
People in Britain are deeply unhappy with their socialized medicine system, which ours will become.
FACT:
People in Britain are deeply unhappy with everything. It is their only source of happiness.
True enough to be funny.

Hat tip to Ron Chusid.

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From the "The more things change…" file.

This, via Digby, was distributed in Dallas on November 21, 1963...

Absolutely click it bigger!

Hate springs eternal. The optimist in me notes that this offers some evidence that at least some of the recent outpouring isn't just because Obama's black.

The pessimist finds these wingnuts as stubborn and troublesome as blackberry bushes around fenceposts. They sprout up every year and will take over if you don't chop 'em back wherever they appear.

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Home...

...in time for a random ten.
Traffic - Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys
Lyle Lovett - San Antonio Girl
Commander Cody - Hot Rod Lincoln
The Temptations - The Way You Do The Things You Do
Rice, Rice, Hilmann & Pedersen - Hard Hearted
Buddy Holly - Rave On
Aztec Camera - Jump
Edwin Starr - Agent Double-O-Soul
Robert Earl Keen - It's The Little Things
Donovan - To Susan On The West Coast Waiting
Random, alright...

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Friday, August 28, 2009

And 8,000 posts later...

...I got nothin'. For the moment, anyway. See ya after work.

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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Nothing to say, really...

...but when I hit 'publish,' this will become the 8,000th post at Upper Left. Some of y'all have read most all of 'em.

Wow.

And thanks.

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Best Kennedy tribute so far…

…is from the (not so rude this time) Rude Pundit. A man, indeed.

Best graphic swiped from Gordon, who got it here...

Of course you can click it bigger. In fact, you should.

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I'd imagine…

…that the great majority of the professionals at the CIA are scrupulous about performing their duties within the confines of applicable law. I can't imagine anything more insulting to those law-abiding professionals than the suggestion that the investigation of the few among them that have dishonored their service and their agency by flouting the law would undermine the morale of the honorable many.

Just sayin'...

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30 reasons…

…our country is a better place to live because of Ted Kennedy's service...
· The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996
· State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP)
· Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009 (Americorps)
· The Civil Rights Act of 1964
· The Voting Rights Act of 1965
· Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
· Fair Housing Act of 1968
· Handicapped Children's Protection Act of 1986 (overturning a SCOTUS decision)
· Ryan White Care Act of 1990 (AIDS care)
· Americans with Disability Act of '90
· Civil Rights Act of 1991
· Minority Health & Health Disparities Research & Education Act of 2000 · National & Community Service Trust Act of 1993 (Americorps)
· Mammography Quality Standards Act of 1990
· Military Child Care Act of 1989
· The WARN Act of 1988 (60 days notice prior to plant closings)
· Employment Opportunities for Disabled Americans Act of 1986
· Job Training Partnership Act of 1980
· Refugee Act of 1980
· Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980
· Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act - 1975
· Title IX of Education Amendments of '72 (bans sex discrimination by schools getting Fed $)
· Establishment of Women, Infants & Children's ("WIC") Nutrition Program at USDA
· Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Act of 1970
· Older American Community Service Employment Act of 1970
· Occupational Safety & Health Administration Act of 1970
· The Voting Rights Act amendments of 1970
· The Bilingual Education Act of 1968
· The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 (War on Poverty: Head Start, Job Corps)
· The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996
More than that. Not just "our country." My life and yours, right where you are sitting now, are directly and personaly better today because of what Ted Kennedy did for us. Every one of us.

Hat tip to the General.

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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The Lion sleeps tonight...


"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on,
the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

Edward M. Kennedy
February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009
R.I.P.


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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

From the "Me neither" file.

Via The Note...
Sen. Feingold pointed to Af-Pak Ambassador Richard Holbrooke's recent comments when asked about what success will look like in Afghanistan. "We'll know it when we see it," said Holbrooke.

"That's not good enough for me," Feingold responded.
Me neither.

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Monday, August 24, 2009

Good question…

…from the folks at Health Care For America Now! So good, in fact, that I happily reproduce their ad, sans animation, I'm afraid, here for free…


Of course they have a good, if slightly obvious, answer, and a chance to sign up for a message announcing the Republican plan as soon as it's available.

As they say, it might be a while.

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Dear Associated Press…

…if your headline begins with "Lieberman says…," you're writing the wrong story.

Love,

Upper Left

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Sunday, August 23, 2009

It's time for...

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Saturday, August 22, 2009

Since I'm up...

...a random ten.
Jimmy Cliff - You Can Get It If You Really Want
Townes Van Zandt - She Came And She Touched Me
Tolo Marton - Feel Down
Stew - I Just Cast A Spell
Buck Owens - I Don't Care (Just As Long As You Love Me)
The Louvin Brothers - Cash On The Barrelhead
XTC - Life Begins At The Hop
Lee "Scratch" Perry - Roast Fish And Corn Bread
Southern Culture On The Skids - Nitty Gritty
Charlie Terrell - Pony Boy

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Friday, August 21, 2009

Just wondering…

…is there a single Republican, House or Senate, who would vote for a health care reform bill because cooperatives replaced a public option in the quest for the grail of bi-partisanship?

And what if there where no rhetorical questions?

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Good question...

...from Charles Gibson
Is America with Obama on Health Care?
Sadly, I don't think America has any idea where Obama is on health care. I'm not so sure myself...

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Concession of the day.

"This morning I called Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan and congratulated them on advancing to the general election. One of them will be Seattle's next mayor."

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels

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Quote of the day.

Speaker Pelosi
"There is no way I can pass a bill in the House of Representatives without a public option."
Good. The only thing worse than no bill would be a private mandate without a public option.

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Thursday, August 20, 2009

Lessons learned…

…or not. Stanley Kutler
The primary lesson of Vietnam seems to be that it is a lesson lost.
Yep, so it seems.

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We get mail…

results. King County's done another number drop. Things don't look any brighter for the third place incumbents, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and Shoreline Councilmember Janet Way. Winds of change...

In the County Exec race, Susan Hutchinson's percentages are dropping steadily if not precipitously as they seek the natural level of the Republican base in King County, which, despite her protestations of non-partisanship, she has somehow consolidated. At just shy of 35%, I'm guessing she's just about there. Dow Constantine has benefited from recent returns, and between his rise and Hutchinson's fall, the gap is under 10%. Given that Dow shared the ballot with three other actively campaigning Democratic elected officials, his level of primary support is impressive, as, I expect, his margin of victory will be in November.

The big news in this race, though, is that Goodspaceguy isn't in last place. Go, Good'! Space is the place.

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Yet another reason…

…that the right way in Afghanistan is out. Via Juan Cole
For the first time in two years, the percentage of Americans who said that the war was worth fighting fell below 50, all the way down to 47. Only 31 percent felt strongly about it being worth fighting.
Meanwhile, six more American lives have been lost pursuing a mission unworthy of their service and sacrifice.

Damn.

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From the "Me too" file.

Atrios...
I have mixed feelings about mandate-as-policy, but as politics it's going to be horrible. I find it weird that no one seems to get this.
It seems self-evident that any policy that invites mixed feelings while requiring a universal mandate is going to be politically problematic. At least someone else, though, seems to get this. I suppose that's reassuring, but somehow I'm not feeling particularly reassured.

Oh well, at least misery loves company.

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Keeping hope alive?

Keep your fingers crossed. Darryl's still tracking the R-71 signature count...
Clearly, since the 13th of August, the projected number of signatures has declined–and, as of today, declined more than we could expect by chance alone. Something is going on.

Tomorrow will be interesting…if the trend continues, success of the measure may dip below a probability of 50%.
Be vigilant, be prepared, but, apparently, be hopeful.

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From the "...half of 'em are dumber than that" file.

Or at least 39% of 'em. Public Policy Polling, via John DeVore...
One poll question indicative of how difficult it is to gain public understanding on a complicated issue asked if respondents thought the government should ‘stay out of Medicare,’ something inherently impossible. 39% said yes.

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Oh yeah, there was an election yesterday.

Well, sort of. Because of the county's shift to an all-mail ballot, wasn't so much 'election day' as 'postal deadline day.' As a result, we not only lack clear outcomes in a number of races, we don't know how many people have voted or where the votes that have been counted come from, so a couple of key data points that traditional post-election analysis is based on are missing.

Although ballots continue to arrive and only about half of the predicted 33% turnout has been counted, there are some safe projection. Congratulations are due to Dow Constantine, who's been given the opportunity to defeat stealth Republican Susan Hutchinson in the race for King County Executive. Although Hutchinson has tried to exploit the new non-partisan character of county elections by denying her ideological roots, she's left a substantial paper trail in the form of checks written exclusively on behalf of Republican candidates. I've known Dow for years and had the chance to work with him and watch him work quite a bit during my days as a state and county committeeman and district chair. He built his base in West Seattle the old fashioned way, with hard work and shoe leather, and that work ethic, and his strong record as a reform-minded public servant should serve him well going forward.

I don't live in Seattle, but the big city makes waves we feel out here in the hinterlands, so I've followed the race for mayor of Seattle with some interest. Unfortunately, I can't say much about it today. There are three clear front runners with less than a point and a half separating them. The incumbent, Greg Nickels, is running third by about 400 votes, but that could change with this afternoon's count. Even if he makes up the gap, though, about 75% of the votes counted were cast by people looking for a new mayor. Third terms are hard to come by.

Here in Shoreline only one city council race drew the three candidates required to trigger a primary. Incumbent Janet Way is 134 votes short of the second place finish she needs to advance to the general. Of course, my ballot, mailed Monday, hasn't been counted, and I voted for Janet. Will Hall and Patty Hale are both attractive candidates, for different reasons, it was my appreciation of Janet's work as a grassroots Democratic activist, before and since her election to the council, that tipped the balance for me. We'll have to see if the missing half of the projected votes tip the balance for her.

The Seattle bag fee initiative failed. (Chemical industry) Money talks. Not much news there.

So stuff happened, and some stuff is still happening. Just the same, an all-mail, non-partisan election seems as emotionally incomplete as it is statistically inconclusive. Andrew's right...
"Nonpartisan" elections and our ridiculous statewide "top two" primary have succeeded in reducing voter choice and removing information about candidates from our ballots. These changes are not good for democracy, and ultimately, to protect the public interest, they need to be repealed.
We should toss the all-mail ballot while we're at it. I miss my polling place.

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

I'll take "Fringe Parties" for 100, Alex.

The Washington Independent (my emphasis)...
A new Marist Poll gives President Obama a 56-33 lead over Palin among registered voters, with the president taking 20 percent of Republican voters and easily winning independents. But Palin’s favorable rating with registered Republicans is still a very strong 73-16.

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Just wondering…

…why are we spending blood and treasure to defend censorship?
Afghanistan Imposes News Censorship on Election Day
Another reason that the right way in Afghanistan is out.

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Monday, August 17, 2009

Thanks, Jim!

Democracy for America has collected a list of "Health Care Heroes" that deserve our encouragement. I'm perfectly pleased (though not the least bit surprised) to find my own personal Congressman on the list.

One reason among many to say 'Thanks, Jim!'

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What's all this I hear about youth in Asia?


Never mind.


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Sunday, August 16, 2009

It's time for...

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Saturday, August 15, 2009

Sea chanteys to soul…

...with the usual side trips down some country roads. Yep, that's random.
Stan Rogers - Rolling Down To Old Maui
Robert Earl Keen - It's The Little Things
Scott Miller & The Commonwealth - Amtrak Crescent
Ray Wylie Hubbard - Dust Of The Chase
Ray Charles - I Don't Need No Doctor
Little Milton - Grits Ain't Groceries
Ilona Knopfler - Some Kind Of Wonderful
Tim O'Brien - Mick Ryan's Lament
The Gibson Brothers - The Way I Feel
Heather Myles - Sweet Little Dangerous

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Friday, August 14, 2009

From the "Credit where it's due" file.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Tom Foley's Seat), via The Hill
“I certainly don’t condone violence, I don’t condone calling President Obama Hitler and painting swastikas on signs at town halls,” continued McMorris Rodgers, vice chairwoman of the GOP conference.

McMorris Rodgers is the first member of the House Republican leadership to decry the Nazi comparisons...
Will she be the last? Or, perhaps, will this be her last statement as a member of the House Republican leadership?

Either (or other) way, credit where it's due.

Hat tip to John DeVore.

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Sheesh…

…it's like Junior thought he was preznit or something
The implication was that Bush had gone soft on him, or rather Bush had hardened against Cheney's advice. He'd showed an independence that Cheney didn't see coming.

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Thursday, August 13, 2009

Artist, engineer, arranger, inventor…


Lester 'Les Paul' Polfus
1915-2009
R.I.P.

Every guitar slinger who's ever plugged in owes him something, but no more than, say, anyone who's ever heard and enjoyed a multi-track recording. A seminal figure in both the art and science of recorded popular music.

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From the "We have met the enemy…" file.

A modest proposeal from Digby...
Every editor in the country should assign all of his reporters and spokesmodels to listen to Limbaugh, beck, savage and the rest for a solid week. Then they might not be so surprised to find out that the people who listen to them are paranoid, racist, hysterical, narcissistic and stupid. And there are a lot of them. And they aren't wearing headbands or tie-dyed t-shirts. They look just like David Broder and Cokie Roberts.

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From the "Me too" file.

Brad DeLong...
...I agree that the stimulus and the banking-sector recapitalization and the expansionary monetary policy are working, but more of each would be working even better...
And a reminder - if it's jobless, it's not a recovery.

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From the "Lies, damned lies and…" file.

The results of a new Gallup poll aimed at measuring the effectiveness of the Republican riots at health care town halls is being reported and fairly widely repeated thusly...
Independents by 2-1, 35%-16%, say they are more sympathetic to the protesters now.
That, of course, is a lie.

It may be that among the limited class of independents whose opinions have shifted in response to the activities of the tea birthers, twice as many are expressing sympathy for the shouters. Independents as a whole though, by nearly 2-1, 65%-35%, do not "say they are more sympathetic to the protestors now."

A good many of those, I'd imagine, are like myself. Having never had any sympathy for the willfully ignorant, I can't have any less. Regardless of their reasons, though, the truth is the exact opposite of the report.

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Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Looks like luck's running low.

Guess we've got to do the work instead. Darryl, who's my go-to guy on matters statistical and no happier about this than I am...
The bottom line: Unless new errors are found in the processing or counting, or some large, systematic increase in the error rate is seen for the remaining 76% of the signatures, we should expect to see R-71 on the ballot this fall.
Get ready, get set, get it passed…


And don't imagine it will be easy.

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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Chart of the day.

Via the White House blog...

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Three more reasons...

3 American troops killed in southern Afghanistan (AP)
…that the right way in Afghanistan is out.

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It's on the blogs…

…it's in the emails, it's, well, it isn't everywhere until it's here, so here it is. A day in the life of a tea-birther, via various and sundry…
This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.
Heh™.

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Yep.

This sounds un-American to me...
...disruptive protests are turning town hall meetings into shouting matches and drowning out discussion over what is and isn't in health care plans in the House and Senate.

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Monday, August 10, 2009

And this, too, is true.

As the fairest of the Rude says…
...the death panel is there. It's called "the profit margin."
Hat tip to Gordon.

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Slightly bowdlerized or not…

…he's right about this. Stephen Suh...
There is no health care bill for me to support. Let me write that again: there is no health care bill. There's just a bunch of bullsh*t floating around in various committees. There is no "Obamacare," there is nothing.
I could argue with some of his other complaints, and some of his responses to them, but this?

He's right.

So far, anyway.

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Sunday, August 09, 2009

It's time for...

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Saturday, August 08, 2009

Everybody's got stuff.

Some of mine's on my ipod. A random ten...
Rick Shea & Brantley Kearns - Trouble And Me
Alice Stewart - Big Boss Man
Scott Miller & The Commonwealth - Amtrak Crescent
David Gans & Eric Rawlins - Crazy, Crazy, Crazy
The Dubliners - All For Me Grog
Sarah Vaughn & Joe Williams with Count Basie - If You Were A Bell
John Hartford - Gentle On My Mind
Peter Green & The Splinter Group - Sweet Home Chicago
Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come
Riley Baugus - Lonesome Road Blues
Just reloaded the thing and, yeah, it's pretty random in there.

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Worth repeating.

Hell, worth memorizing. Steven Perlstein...
The recent attacks by Republican leaders and their ideological fellow-travelers on the effort to reform the health-care system have been so misleading, so disingenuous, that they could only spring from a cynical effort to gain partisan political advantage. By poisoning the political well, they’ve given up any pretense of being the loyal opposition. They’ve become political terrorists, willing to say or do anything to prevent the country from reaching a consensus on one of its most serious domestic problems.
Which is why I always say sometimes that...

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From the "Entrepreneurship for Progressives" file.

Hunter...
Go to a townhall meeting. Tell people you're selling Hitler insurance, and for a hundred bucks each you can assure them that Hitler will not come into their home that night to give them an anal probe. Trust me, these people aren't too bright -- you'll make a fortune. If Hitler does return and starts probing people, declare yourself an investment bank and ask for a ten trillion dollar bailout.
Heh™.

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Friday, August 07, 2009

When she's right, she's right.

Far right. Caribou Barbie opines
The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.
No doubt about it, such a system is definitively evil. Happily, such a system hasn't been proposed, isn't being proposed and, while I've seen many events occur that could 'never' happen, is unlikely to a degree of certainty approaching absolute to ever be proposed.

Spreading fear and inflaming the Republican rioters by claiming that such a proposal is under consideration may, in fact, be downright evil in and of itself, though there is the stupidity defense to be considered.

Hat tip to John Cole.

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From the "...half of 'em are dumber than that" file.

Paul Krugman...
There was a telling incident at a town hall held by Representative Gene Green, D-Tex. An activist turned to his fellow attendees and asked if they "oppose any form of socialized or government-run health care." Nearly all did. Then Representative Green asked how many of those present were on Medicare. Almost half raised their hands.
Sigh.

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Quote of the day.

“What we’re seeing right now is close to Brown Shirt tactics. I mean that very seriously.”

Rep. Brian Baird
(D-WA), on the cancellation of recess town halls.
Hat tip to Jon DeVore.

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Thursday, August 06, 2009

68-31

Justice Sotomayor.

Oath on Saturday. Hurrah!

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From the "Cross your fingers" file.

Via Slog
Thus far, 23,457 names have been checked, 20,335 accepted and 3,122 rejected—which is total error rate of 13.31 percent.

“That is about one percent under water,” says secretary of state’s office spokesman David Ammons.
With any luck, I won't need to fit this into the sidebar...

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Coinage of the day.

"Tea Birther"
I like it. Saw it first here.

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Map of the day.

KABUL (Reuters) - Almost half of Afghanistan is at a high risk of attack by the Taliban and other insurgents or is under "enemy control," a secret Afghan government map shows, painting a dire security picture before presidential elections.
The right way in Afghanistan is out.

Hat tip to Mr. Natural.

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Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Well, not exactly…

CNN
Debate is scheduled to continue Wednesday to determine whether federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor will become the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
Debate, huh? Whatever the Sotomayor proceedings may or may not be, there's been no debate involved. Performance would be a better word, perhaps. The outcome of the confirmation vote is hardly a matter of conjecture and certainly isn't hanging on anything that might be said by anyone on the Senate floor.

Of course, I'm delighted that that's the case, and hopeful that even more Republican Senators will demonstrate some understanding of and allegiance to constitutional democracy and join the growing list of yes votes among their colleagues (Kit Bond (R-MO) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) are the latest additions.)

Whatever's yet to come, though, there's no debate.

Time to vote.

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Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Bill v. Il: The Thang in Pyongyang

The Big Dog scores an early K.O…
AFP - Bill Clinton has safely left Pyongyang with two US journalists after they were pardoned by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, a spokesman for the former US president said Tuesday.
Still my favorite Republican president ever.

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48?

Just a pup.

Hippo Birdies, Barry!

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Good question…

…from Josh Marshall.
"Folks can whine on endlessly about outfits like Freedom Works putting these rackets together, but if the president's plan has any public support they should be able to get supporters to these events too, right?"
As Joe Sudbay puts it, the Congressional recess...
...gives the GOP and the insurance industry five weeks to try to drive a stake in reform. It gives our side five weeks, too.
Of course, with the insurance mob and the Republicans using goon squad tactics reminiscent of the bad old days of Pinkerton strike breakers and Red Squad provocateurs, we need some way to communicate, if not our allegiance to half measures in health care, at least civility in the commons without descending all the way to the bottom of the pit with our foes. How best can we confront the anti-democratic, un-American hooliganism of the right? Steve M. has the best suggestion I've seen yet...

Get some people to the Democratic events now.

Democratic officials need backup.Oh, and I think you should buy a bunch of these, cut them into (reasonably big) strips (i.e., big enough to show up well on TV and YouTube), and wave them as soon as the wingnuts start acting out:

Yes -- products made of artificial turf. Wave 'em at the angry wingnuts and chant, "AS - TRO -TURF! AS - TRO -TURF! " It's clear even to the Times and other mainstream media outlets that the right-wing response is ginned up by well-financed pros. Why not shout the foot soldiers of the corporatists down by identifying their "grassroots" tantrums as exactly what they are?
If your congresscritter's doing public forums this month, grab a piece of plastic grass and go strike a blow for the republic.

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Monday, August 03, 2009

From the "Smarter than he looks" file.

Via Political Wire...
"No chance."

Sen. John McCain, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, on whether he'll seek a rematch against President Obama in 2012.

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Sunday, August 02, 2009

Good point…

…good question, from Berry Craig...
The Canadians and British vote in and vote out their government leaders, like we do. So why haven’t they elected majorities to their parliaments who would ditch “socialized medicine?”
Not to mention the Swedish and the French and the Germans and the Dutch, etc., etc., ad naseum.

The bumper sticker version...

Universal Health Care: Those who have it like it!


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It's time for...

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Saturday, August 01, 2009

He's talking about birthers…

…but James Vega explains a lot more than that when he notes that the problem is...
...that the creature the official conservative/Republican movement has nurtured all these years has broken out of the laboratory and is beginning to ravish the countryside.
Was a time, in my own personal memory, that a Republican wasn't required to swear fealty to a patently un-American ideology. Proud Democratic partisan that I am, I'm a bit nostalgic for those days, back when Dan Evans tossed the Birchers out of the WA GOP, and Rocky had a voice and a following in Republican ranks.

I'm not sure there's a viable return to legitimacy in the Republican future, but its existence in the past is evidence that it's possible, I suppose. Until then, like I always say sometimes...

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Eclectic? Eccentric?

Or simply random?
James Brown - Cold Sweat
Jerry Reed - She Got The Gold Mine (I Got The Shaft)
Eddy Raven and Jo-El Sonnier - Fais Do Do
The Impressions - Gypsy Woman
Ferlin Husky - Freightliner Fever
Donna Summer - Last Dance
Buck Owens & The Buckaroos - Rollin' In My Sweet Baby's Arms
Jimmy Cliff - You Can Get It If You Really Want
Country Joe McDonald - On The Road Again
Ashley Chapman - Needle And The Damage Done

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