The Republican Decade

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday December 29, 2009 · 7:58 AM PST

2009/12/29 · 07:58

With all the end-of-decade chit-chat floating turgidly through the holiday atmosphere, here's my own take, since I haven't seen anything close to it in the media so far. To wit: the first millenial decade (the aughts, I think) should be viewed as The Republican Decade. Their "achievements" were substantial. They held the White House for 8 years and the Congress for 6 (or was it four? Well, with the Dems as the opposition party, it hardly mattered). And the upshot of that decade is that it will likely take several years--or yet another decade--of Democratic leadership to undo the damage Republicans have inflicted.

What were the hallmarks of the Republican decade? Here's a fairly random summary list. It's by no means a "top ten". Please feel free to offer your own favorites!

LongTom

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday October 14, 2009 · 10:23 AM PDT

2009/10/14 · 10:23

How is it possible, after all the problems we've had with outbreaks of murderous violence in schools, that a Delaware elementary school student can walk onto the school grounds wielding a knife in front of teachers and classmates--and escape having the school district's zero-tolerance penalty imposed? Not only is the knife-wielder not punished, he's interviewed as some sort of victim on national TV, where he expressed no remorse and had the gall to refer to his deadly weapon as a "utensil!" Yeah, a utensil that could have been used to cut a classmate's throat from ear to ear.

http://www.postchronicle.com/...

Being a nerdy A student doesn't put Zachary Christie above the law. Plenty of other students in his district have been punished under the zero tolerance rule. One girl was expelled for bringing a cake knife to use on a birthday cake that she had brought for a classmate. Who does Zachary think he is to expect special treatment denied to everyone else?

Poll

78 votes Show Results

Zachary should

78 votes Vote Now!

Zachary should

bear the consequences of his action: 45 days in a correctional school.

20 votes

undergo the penalty recommended by the people most familiar with the case.

46 votes

be forced to apologize publicly and enroll in an anti-violence treatment program

12 votes

Why Polanski Lynch Mob Mentality Matters.

LongTom

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday October 04, 2009 · 10:12 PM PDT

2009/10/04 · 22:12

"He should be taken out and shot," the words of the always-effervescent Cokie Roberts rang through the talking head universe. And this opinion seems to be not just limited to establishment, country clubbing, cocktail-quaffing, semi-educated post-bellum southern nepotists. Many voices on the lefty sites, including this one, have called vociferously for Polanski's scalp, and anyone voicing the slightest objection to some of their more outlandish assertions or opinions are immediately branded "Polanski apologists," "pro-rape," and other insulting sobriquets.

Many of these voices cringe before the facts of the case. The only facts that really matter are these:

Poll

260 votes Show Results

I think Polanski should be

260 votes Vote Now!

I think Polanski should be

shot.

53 votes

returned by the Swiss and serve 48 days (the rest of his sentence) and forfeit bail for running away.

55 votes

returned by the Swiss and sentenced to 20 years to life

70 votes

returned by the Swiss and sentenced to a year of community service.

8 votes

sentenced in absentia to his original plea deal--90 days.

25 votes

sentenced to a year as co-host on The View.

19 votes

returned to France.

30 votes

Cash for Clunkers Eats It

LongTom

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday August 03, 2009 · 4:10 AM PDT

2009/08/03 · 04:10

Here we have a bill that rewards exactly the wrong people, viz., those who shoveled their money into their gas tanks for the past 15 or so years by buying monster SUVs and 8 cylinder behemoths. Where's my new car subsidy for keeping a 4 cylinder Acura on the road for 15 years? Where's yours for taking public transportation and not owning a car at all?

LongTom

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday July 07, 2009 · 6:46 AM PDT

2009/07/07 · 06:46

According to a study released today by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the Obama Administration would do far better to simply give struggling homeowners cash instead of trying to incentivize lenders into rewriting mortgages for people in danger of foreclosure. Is this a foreshadowing of his health care "reform" plan?

"The Boston Fed’s findings suggest the Obama administration’s major effort to solve the foreclosure crisis by giving the lending industry $75 billion to rewrite delinquent loans to more affordable levels is not likely to work.

One of the study’s coauthors, Boston Fed senior economist Paul S. Willen, said the government would be better off giving the money directly to struggling borrowers to help them with their payments, rather than to lenders that are averse to working out the troubled loans."

Read the whole story here:
http://www.boston.com/...

LongTom

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday June 18, 2009 · 6:11 AM PDT

2009/06/18 · 06:11

A month or so ago, I posted a diary complaining about the stone wall a close friend had hit in applying for one of Obama's much-ballyhooed 2 percent mortgages. So far, the concept of "incentivizing" the private sector into enacting good public policy is a dismal failure. In short, the mortgage assistance programs, originally intended to help "as many as 9 million homeowners in danger of foreclosure or who have suffered sudden drops in income," are a joke without a punch line. This unamusing humor has some nasty implications for Obama's recently announced "reform" of the financial sector, and for the upcoming debate on health care reform.

LongTom

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday May 25, 2009 · 6:08 AM PDT

2009/05/25 · 06:08

Okay, I worked for Obama, voted for him, and support him. But his mortgage assistance plan is apparently smoke and mirrors horseshit. Or does anyone know differently?

LongTom

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday February 05, 2009 · 5:11 PM PST

2009/02/05 · 17:11

While financial CEOs use millions in taxpayer money to buy wastebaskets and credenzas for their offices, while the people who engineered the loss of trillions of dollars of shareholder equity reward themselves with millions in bonuses at taxpayer expense, and while people like Cheney, who handed out no-bid contracts to the firm he headed and still owned stock in, still walk around free, it's good to know that the government is keeping its hawkeye out for REAL crooks! Truly, the biggest mistake is committing too small a crime.

LongTom

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday January 11, 2009 · 4:09 AM PST

2009/01/11 · 04:09

Under the headline "Top British Jews urge immediate Gaza ceasefire", Agence France Presse reports that Israel continues to alienate its most important international supporters.

LONDON (AFP) — A group of prominent British Jews wrote to the Israeli government Sunday to urge an immediate ceasefire, saying only a negotiated solution could secure long-term security in the region.

The letter, published in The Observer weekly newspaper, warned that Israel's assault targeting Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip could strengthen extremism.

The letter had 11 signatories, including respected rabbis, university professors and politicians, who described themselves as "friends of Israel" who were looking "with horror" at the death toll on both sides, which they said could "undermine international support for Israel."

http://www.google.com/...

LongTom

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday October 16, 2008 · 6:49 AM PDT

2008/10/16 · 06:49

For those with short memories, check out the first 20 seconds or so:

http://www.funnyordie.com/...

Of all the metaphors that spring to mind regarding last night's debate (a friend described McCain as "a stewed onion"), the image of the young, gifted athlete delicately applying ju-jitsu to the bulbous head of the furious, onrushing geezer struck me and stuck with me.

LongTom

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday September 17, 2008 · 4:27 AM PDT

2008/09/17 · 04:27

I've said for two years now, since before the 2006 election and shortly afterward, that the Democrats, not the Republicans, face a fight for their survival in 2008. That if they don't win in 2008 it would be difficult to even imagine ANY set of circumstances under which they COULD win. And that they were preparing very poorly for both the 2006 elections and the 2008 elections.

And I was right.

As I said they would over a year ago, the Republican candidate has coopted the message of CHANGE, relying, as they always do, on the stupidity of the American people. As always, this is a winning strategy.

LongTom

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday September 02, 2008 · 7:16 AM PDT

2008/09/02 · 07:16

The supposed alliance between the Church and the fundamentalists over abortion shouldn't obscure the deep gulf in belief separating them. Most people misunderstand the Catholic position on fundamentalist interpretations. By hearkening to his own religious teachings, Biden can effectively present himself as a mainstream Catholic, and in fact, a mainstream Christian, as opposed to Palin's weird cultish beliefs, which, though widespread, are held by a distinct minority and place her--like Huckabee--well outside mainstream Christianity.

The following are excerpts from the Introduction to the Catholic Bible. Everybody should read this!

From HOW TO READ YOUR BIBLE
Introduction to the Saint Joseph Edition of The New American Bible

Newer
Older

RSS

The Republican Decade

What part of "He brandished a knife at school" don't you understand?

Why Polanski Lynch Mob Mentality Matters.

Cash for Clunkers Eats It

Foreshadowing Health Care? Fed Bank Study Says Obama's Mortgage Plans are a Joke.

Obama's Mortgage Assistance: A Warmup Joke for Health Care and Financial Sector Reform?

Obama's Mortgage Assistance Plans: Bogus Political Bullsh-t?

Do you want to laugh, or cry? Gov't. contractor gets 2 1/2 years for bribery.

Prominent British Jews Demand Cease-fire from Israel.

Obama is to McCain as Pedro is to Zimmer

Will Kos Support Obama? Am I Concern-trolling NOW?

Biden and Catholics vs. Fundies and Palin