I don’t think I have to explain the context for this video, given what’s gone on at this blog and at another the past two days.
The white hot intensity of a thousand sunsPost + Comments (91)
by DougJ| 91 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
I don’t think I have to explain the context for this video, given what’s gone on at this blog and at another the past two days.
The white hot intensity of a thousand sunsPost + Comments (91)
by John Cole| 52 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Watching Get Him To the Greek, and finding it pretty amusing.
Replaceable, Replaceable, Replaceable, Jazz.Post + Comments (52)
by $8 blue check mistermix| 49 Comments
This post is in: Science & Technology
ED and DougJ’s posts about their hippie views on the school system made me want to mention the CK-12 institute and their innovative textbook creation system called Flexbooks. This system allows K-12 teachers to assemble subject textbooks from state-approved content, add in their own teaching materials, and download the result in ebook or pdf form. All the content is freely licensed, so the books cost nothing.
Couple a flexbook with a third-generation Kindle, which costs $130, needs a recharge every few weeks, and weighs a few ounces, and you have a whole textbook delivery system that costs little more than a couple of books and is fairly tough and resilient when compared to a laptop (or even an iPad). Even printing Flexbooks at Kinkos is probably cheaper than what the textbook racket wants for their books.
In addition to being free, Flexbooks sound like a great way to sidestep the hegemony of Texas, which apparently sets the standard for many textbooks in the nation simply because they order a lot of them. Texas can keep its bible/textbook fusion, and schools in the rest of the nation can simply use Flexbooks instead of being forced to buy Biology textbooks that shill idiocy like intelligent design.
This post is in: Domestic Politics
With the new cuts in food stamps scheduled, this is what someone is supposed to survive on in a week:
How is that in anyway healthy? If unseasoned potatoes, rice, and oatmeal is all I ever could eat, I’d probably sell my food stamps and buy liquor and cigarettes, too.
This post is in: Green Balloons, Manic Progressive
I really want to let this go, because I’m a believer in the old maxim to “never argue with an idiot, they just drag you down to their level and then beat you with their experience,” but Jane Hannity is at it again:
I’ve never said you needed more than fifty votes in reconciliation. She’s running around claiming I’m misinforming people, and she is just lying. Jesus christ. I’ve said and done enough legitimately stupid and wrong things in my life that you don’t need to make shit up.
What I have said is quite clear- there never were fifty votes for the public option in the reconciliation process. They just were not there.
Yes, I’m well aware that plenty of Senators ran around saying over and over again they supported the public option. I’m well aware that plenty of Senators signed on to a pledge for the public option once it was clear it was never going to happen. I’m also well aware that a lot of Democratic Senators were on record with strong statements about Bush and Gitmo, and when Obama tried to do something about it, they voted 98-0 against. How on earth is that possible? They all said they wanted to close Gitmo? What gives?
I’m also well aware that there were numerous reports of Senators BEGGING Harry Reid to not make them vote on a public option. They were talking out both sides of their mouth and shit was coming out at each end. I can understand why it is maddening, especially the way they dangled the public option then pulled it away, dangled it and pulled it away, and so forth. It’s why we were very fired up to join with Accountability Now to primary Lincoln (on top of the fact that he would have been a better candidate than Blanche). There are just too many idiot blue-dogs and wavering con artists in the Democratic caucus.
Again, the votes were never there. How many whip counts do we need? Feel free to go over the numbers again in the comments (unless you’d like to do something more fun, like shoot yourself in the face). And then do the House numbers, which at this point in the process were also in serious doubt.
The numbers weren’t there, and while I understand fanfic in the science fiction world, it makes no goddamned sense trying to rewrite history in regards to politics.
And now, you know what happens. This argument will magically shift to poutrage about Rahm and Obama not doing enough for the public option, discussions of the bully pulpit, and other nonsense, and when those arguments are exhausted, without missing a beat we’ll head right back into a discussion about the votes being there for the public option. Because really, this time when they say it, it will be more true than the last 400 times we’ve gone through this tedious bullshit the last year.
by DougJ| 82 Comments
This post is in: Clown Shoes
I remember seeing Dennis Miller do a very thoughtful interview with Al Gore back on the Dennis Miller talk show; unlike most hosts, Miller had read Gore’s book — Earth in the Balance — quite carefully and I remember telling a friend “why can’t Charlie Rose do this with his guests’ books”. Even though Miller’s been a full-fledged winger for a while, this kind of news still makes me wince:
Comedian Dennis Miller plans to headline a fundraiser for U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle this Saturday night in Las Vegas.
How the hell did Dennis Miller get so crazy?
This post is in: Open Threads, DC Press Corpse, General Stupidity, Our Failed Media Experiment
Tom Scocca at Slate: “Politico: The President’s Next Chief of Staff Will Probably Be a Person With Political Connections“.
And it took three reporters to break that brilliant scoop, too: “The function of the country’s chief executive, according to Politico, is not to administer the country as effectively as he can, according to the goals and principles he subscribes to. The job of the president is to avoid the appearance of struggling, even if it means he accomplishes nothing.”
I’m beginning to wonder about the sponsorship of mainstream political reporting by the adult beverage industry.