January 2011 Blog Posts (16)

The next time your favorite local wingnut starts waxing apoplectic regarding "activist judges," point them immediately in the direction of today's decision by…

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Have you ever been having a conversation with a free-market ideologue and referred, in exasperation, to things like fire-department services and roads as examples of why some things are simply better accomplished through taxation by a government than through private "entrepreneurship?"

Well, now the industrious little gnomes at the American Enterprise Institute are even trying to take THAT one away. No, really. The article's…

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As I sat in the darkened theater, geekily wearing my 3D glasses while waiting for The Green Hornet to start, I couldn’t help but be dismayed at what I saw on the screen: three trailers for three upcoming movies that were all in 3D. Yet none of them wowed me, even once.



It’s with this in mind that I am here to write about the current state of 3D. Sadly, for such a visual medium, things aren’t looking very good. …



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Specifically, the Hatch Act, and primarily (though not exclusively) during the 2005-06 period:…

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From Rick Ungar in (of all places) Forbes magazine, who actually went and did the research himself, comes the story of the founding fathers themselves (who, as Ungar observes, didn't have to speculate much about what the…

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If you're the kind of person who finds unfiltered snark at the expense of the famous to be childish and mean-spirited, then you should probably skip this post. However, if, on the other hand, you're like me in this regard - namely, you found 2010 to be a year unusually ripe with cretins, trolls and assorted flim-flam artists, many (though not all) from the political world, and you're in the mood to see each one brought up on charges and sentenced in a manner where their punishment fits whatever… Continue

...but for a very different set of reasons (via Roger Ebert, whose time in purgatory ought to be lengthened for making me watch this):

In fact, the above clip is right up there on the all-time wall of shame with…

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(warning: this will piss you off)

None.

Made you look. ;o) -- Not THOSE kind of "adult conversations."

 

I'm talking about the kind of adult conversations the GOP both ran on last fall, and came into power in the House last week claiming they wanted to have. Here's Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) using the phrase referring to Medicare "reform" last November,…

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I got the following notice by e-mail:

 …

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Three things I know:

1) I know that in Arizona six people were killed and 14 other folks were injured by gunshots in a single incident this past weekend. (Also, I'm pissed off and upset about it.)

2) I know that a good number of pundits and politicians have been using gun metaphors and violent language lately to talk about their opponents. (And I'm pissed off about that, too.)

3) I know coverage for mental health care in this country suuuuuucks. (Also,…

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(cross-posted at PTL)

 

Because although Jared Lee Loughner appears to have been fairly mentally disturbed indeed, his actions did not happen in a vacuum. Since Barack Obama became the Democratic nominee in 2008, and especially since he was inaugurated in 2009, the right wing has ramped up the violent imagery and rhetoric…

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**UPDATE** 1/8 6:53PM

I should make more clear that my point in posting this (other than simply posting news) is to highlight how harmful the rhetoric which makes use of violent imagery and suggestions can be - regardless of the political motivations (if any) of the shooter, who has now been identified as Jared Loughner. …

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No, really, they did - so says CNN.

Is ANYONE even mildly surprised about this?

Oh, also? That great GOP oracle (so they've consistently said over the years, anyway)…

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***UPDATE, 1/6 1:30PM*** Oops...I was not aware yesterday when I hurriedly posted Greg Sargent's overview of what the filibuster reform package contained that it did not include a reduction in the number of votes required to invoke cloture (overturn the filibuster). In my haste, I'd been assuming that - since the abuse of the sixty-vote threshold was literally the very raison d'etre for the concept of filibuster reform to begin with,…

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