a progressive wish list

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Wednesday October 02, 2013 · 7:21 PM PDT

2013/10/02 · 19:21

As Greg Sargent points out, there is a fundamental lack of symmetry in what the two parties in DC are saying needs to be done in order to end the government shutdown. The Republicans have passed a list of demands of concessions they want from the Democrats before they are willing tot let the government continue to exist on regular terms. The Democrats have not presented a similar list of demands. They have simply put forward the proposition that the Republicans must stop acting like children and/or terrorists.

It's time for Progressives to fight back with a list of our own. More after the jump.

RickD

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Tuesday November 25, 2008 · 10:35 PM PST

2008/11/25 · 22:35

Dear Taxpayer,

As you have read in the latest news, our financial institution has undergone some tough times. Some may say that we have brought this upon ourselves with our aggressive, high-risk approach to banking. And it's true that we've needed the intervention of the Federal government to stay solvent.

Like in 1929.
And in 1982.
And in the 90s.
And, well, this week.

Since we are feeling a bit guilty about our repeated inability to police our own actions, and our constant need for taxpayer help, we've decided to give you, a Citibank credit card holder and American taxpayer, a 6-month interest holiday. Congratulations!

Sincerely,

Citibank

(OK, that's what I think they should write. What they actually write is after the jump.)

RickD

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Thursday July 03, 2008 · 10:16 AM PDT

2008/07/03 · 10:16

There has been considerable discussion in the past day or so about the meaning of the margin of error used by polls to estimate support levels for the various candidate. I have been saddened to see some real innumeracy in this issue, even among a professed social scientist who said that he works with statistics regularly.

A lot of people seem to be saying that even though Obama had a 5-point lead in the CNN poll, and the margin of error was 3 points, you could not say that this result is statistically significant, since 5 points is not greater than twice the margin of error.

These people are wrong. The same value can be used for the margin of error for the estimate of each support level as for the hypothesis that one candidate is ahead of the other. I'll show why after the jump. The basic thinking is that, when considering the difference between two estimated values, you can ignore one of the tails of the distributions.

RickD

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Monday March 12, 2007 · 4:56 AM PDT

2007/03/12 · 04:56

McJoan diaried about this last week, and now it's coming to fruition.

I'm nostalgic for those days of the Baker-Hamilton commission, when Dean Broder assured us that the Wise Men of Washington, acting in a bipartisan fashion, would resolve the problems of the Iraq War. The commission's recommendation was for a phased pull-out.

Bush has ignored this, and decided instead to follow the McCain play, sending 20,000+ troops in an escalation/"surge".

And here's the latest
"President George Bush has asked Congress for an extra 8,000 troops for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, on top of the 21,500 reinforcements announced two months ago."

RickD

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Friday September 29, 2006 · 8:44 AM PDT

2006/09/29 · 08:44

Dear Senator Lieberman,

In 1988 I was a college student in Connecticut and I voted for you in your race against Lowell Weicker. My motivation for voting for you was primarily to keep the Senate in the hands of the Democrats as a check on President Reagan's power. Although Lowell Weicker struck me as a decent man, I could not see how his ability to represent my interests would jib with the politics that the Republican party had adopted.

In 1994, I again happened to be living in Connecticut, albeit briefly, and again voted for you to represent my interests on Capitol Hill. The 1994 election was a down year for Democrats, but you managed to keep your seat.

In 2000, I voted for you twice, once for VP and a second time for your position as Connecticut's Senator.
Read More

AP passes on Fox News press release about Olbermann

RickD

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Tuesday July 25, 2006 · 5:00 AM PDT

2006/07/25 · 05:00

I saw this article at Yahoo today and it seems indistinguishable from a Fox News press release. The last paragraph in particular is suspicious in the context of an article allegedly written by "Beth Harris" at the AP. Google identifies her as an "AP Sports writer" and it seems that most of her articles are either about sports or appear to be entertainment industry press releases passed on with little comment. (Example: "Amazing Race moves to new night, time" really does not constitute news does it? It sounds like advertisement.)

I'm posting this diary mostly because the assertion in the article that Olbermann "generally runs third" in his time slot contradicts what I'd read recently here, and I cannot find any source for cable TV ratings. A little help?

Joe Biden roots for the President

RickD

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

Thursday June 08, 2006 · 3:55 PM PDT

2006/06/08 · 15:55

I was pointed to this by Pandagon, and the source is the New Republic. I came to Kos to see if people were talking about it but I do not see anything. So I thought I'd highlight Senator Biden's absurd statement today.

Here's the source:

The Note

And here's the money quote.

The Senator from Delaware also said that he hopes the event improves President Bush's approval ratings. "We get one president at a time. This election in November is not for President of the United States. . . I hope it does improve his standing and emboldens him to take bolder moves in terms of his policy in Iraq. . . His low ratings and his inability to rally support is a difficult position for the United States internationally." Read More

RSS

a progressive wish list

My letter from Citibank

Don't double the margin of error!

The surge grows again

an open letter to Joe Lieberman from one of his former supporters

AP passes on Fox News press release about Olbermann

Joe Biden roots for the President