Crossposted at The Progressive Electorate
This is the third edition of my weekly roundup of the best blogs and videos. It's basically a weekly diary rescue for blogs and political videos. If you ever see or write a piece that's not getting enough coverage, e-mail me!
#1 Today starts with a very passionate discussion on the Young Turks about Obama and his connections to Goldman Sachs
I don't agree with everything that is said, but I am a little cynical. Though Barack has cheered me up this week by signaling a demand for a public healthcare option, and I appreciated his middle East speech.
#2 Is it fair to call Bernie Sanders a Progressive, even though he considers himself a Socialist Democrat? Either way, he gave a nice speech about health care. A rare thing these days on the floor of the Senate.
#3 Young Turks discusses a poll that says the majority of Americans want Marijuana legalized and treated like alcohol. Cenk interviews Judge James Gray.
#4 The I Got The News Today series on DailyKos was tragically active this week.
IGTNT A Long List was a tribute to five fallen heroes.
* Sergeant Justin J. Duffy from Cozad, Nebraska
* Lance Corporal Matthew G. Reza from Austin, Texas
* Staff Sergeant Jeffrey A. Hall from Huntsville, Alabama
* Private First Class Matthew D. Ogden from Corpus Christi, Texas
* Private First Class Matthew W. Wilson from Miller, Missouri
Their service to this country is a precious gift. Thank you all, rest in peace.
IGTNT As Dawn Breaks In France was a tribute to those that passed on D-Day, 65 years ago.
#5 Ellinorianne wrote an exceptional piece about her struggles with obesity.
I've struggled for years with my weight and body image but it wasn't until College where I really struggled with the pounds and my relationship with food has always been an uneasy one. I eat because I have to but there are many times where I don't even want to deal with food, it brings more pain than pleasure and it represents more than just calories to me but a whole host of issues.
My shame regarding my weight has been hard to bear, it sometimes is unbearable in its own way. I just have days where I struggle with being in my body.
It's complicated of course...
I can certainly relate to this struggle, and I hope we can build a food and health care infrastructure for a new generation. So they don't grow up with the health and self esteem issues that have become so commonplace in this one.
#6 None Dare Call it Assassination by Womantrust
As a long time abortion provider and advocate for women who has buried 3 doctors lost to anti- abortion extremists, you would think the loss of Dr. Tiller wouldn't have shocked and stunned me the way it has. Maybe the passage of time since Dr. Britton's death in 1994 allowed those memories of heartache and loss to soften a bit.
Now Dr. Tiller's death brings it all back and I realize all over again, we must do all we can to change this course. We must advance information and understanding of our medical practices because when people truly know and understand, we see hearts and minds changing.
We must all do our best to assure Dr. Tiller's death is the last- not just the latest. Its very important to know and understand what has brought us to this point. So, please read on. I owe all credit to Pamela Sumner whose writing follows- with my edits.
This has been a painful week for many people and it's a damn shame.
#7 How I and Other Pro Life by Frank Schaeffer
My late father and I share the blame (with many others) for the murder of Dr. George Tiller the abortion doctor gunned down on Sunday. Until I got out of the religious right (in the mid-1980s) and repented of my former hate-filled rhetoric I was both a leader of the so-called pro-life movement and a part of a Republican Party hate machine masquerading as the moral conscience of America.
A very heartfelt apology from a man who participated in much evil. Kudos to Frank for changing his ways and admitting his terrible mistakes.
#8 The guys over at Docudharma have done some good work this week pushing back on H.R. 2346, another war appropriations bill. I thought we were done with sneaking in war costs to the budget? Site founder buhdydharma writes Stop The War F The Blue Dogs And Support Justice All At The Same Time
From what I can tell, the effort was started by Jane Hamsher over at FDL. (The eleventh most influential blog in Blogtopia!) Democrats.com (Bob Fertik) Glenn Greenwald, mcjoan, BTD, Digby, and many others have been pushing it since then. All in support of and with the cooperation of the good folks in the Progressive caucus like Barney Frank, Conyers, Barbara Lee, and Maxine Waters, amongst others.
H.R. 2346, the War Supplemental (I thought we had stopped using this BS method?) does three things. Three things that conflict enough to have brought together various factions in the House to oppose it. It funds the Wars, it allocates $100Billion to the IMF per Obama's promise to help developing countries deal with the world wide financial crisis created by the Repubs and WallSt.......and it permanently suppresses torture evidence: The photos of torture that the ACLU went to court and WON the release of...which was then 'overturned' in a monumental flip-flop by Obama...at the behest of The Generals.
Because it might ley folks in the Middle east on on the fact that the US engaged in an Organized Policy of Torture....
#9 Darcy Burner is doing some great work over at Progressive Congress Dot Org! She organized a group of questions from the progressive blogosphere to be asked to the members of the progressive caucus. What a great idea, I can't wait to see this more often and expanded!
Here's their youtube page
#10 Jed Lewison brings us Senator Shelby out of his mind talking about health care.
This Senator has probably had government sponsored healthcare for longer than I've been alive. Yet he seems to be doing quite well. I wonder wtf he's talking about.
Got any diaries that were exceptional that I missed? Comments/Suggestions?