Japan disaster relief sites list
From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Friday Carlin
Cuz after this week I think we could use some pearls d'George:
There are caregivers and there are caretakers, and yet the two words are not opposites. Why is this?
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Trade always exists for the traders. Any time you hear businessmen debating "which policy is better for America," don’t bend over.
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A courtesy bus driver once told me to go fuck myself.
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I think they should have a hotline that never answers, for people who don’t follow advice in the first place.
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The word bipartisan usually means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out.
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You know what would have been a smart thing to do in these developing countries that need electricity? To have tried large-scale experiments with alternative energy sources: solar, wind, geothermal, etc. We could have tested and tried to perfect these technologies on a large scale in places that need it. That would have been smart. That's why we didn’t do it.
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George Washington's brother was the Uncle of Our Country.
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Have you ever wondered why Republicans are so interested in encouraging people to volunteer in their communities? It's because volunteers work for no pay. Republicans have been trying to get people to work for no pay for a long time.
We now return you to your regularly-scheduled mayhem.
Your west coast-friendly edition of Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Friday, March 25, 2011
Note: I wonder how the flies in Libya reacted when they heard about the no-fly zone. Probably something like, "WTF???!!!" Except in Libyan
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the Netroots Nation convention in Minneapolis June 16-19: 83
Days `til the White House Easter Egg Roll: 31
Number of genes it takes to make up a human being: 23,000
Number of genes it takes to make up a water flea: 31,000
(Source: The Week)
Number of nuclear reactors under construction around the world: 65
(Source: Time)
Date of the revised opening night for the curse-plagued Spiderman musical: 6/14/11
And from the Department of Homeland Security:
Days the color-coded federal terror alert system has been in place: 3,308
Days spent at terror alert level Blue or Green: 0
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Denver gets 3.8 4.6 million hits (and immortality on Facebook)
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CHEERS to Earth Hour. Tomorrow night the lights in homes---hopefully yours among them---will go out all over the world to help promote awareness of climate change and energy conservation. Fossil fuel-loving Republicans, of course, will be celebrating in their own special way: lights on, nobody home.
CHEERS to keeping up the fight. Libya and Japan have nudged the pushback against the union-busters in Wisconsin off the front pages of the traditional media, but here in Bloggerland the reports just keep on a'comin'. Kossack Puddytat has a succinct summary here. The nub:
We haven't gone away, stayed quiet, accepted union stripping, or stopped attending rallies. There's still lots of action and it's becoming more and more organized (and effective).
Yeahhhh!!! Meanwhile, a new CNN/Opinion Research poll (pdf) shows public sympathies clearly more aligned with unions (49%) over companies (41%). Among those surveyed who preferred the unions: history.
P.S Today is the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire that, in 18 minutes, killed 146 garment workers in New York City and led to safer working conditions via government regulation. Believe it or not, this never came up in any of my history classes (U.S. wars were higher on my teachers' agenda, I guess). But I learned all about it this week, starting with Laura Clawson's post on Sunday. Now I just need to figure out what my brain kicked out so it could absorb the new information. My good manners, I hope, since I'm done using them.
P.P.S. The lovely and talented Queen of the Quilts, SaraR, is working on one for progressive legend and Wisconsinite Ben Masel, who was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. You can add a personal message for Ben's quilt here. Dirty limericks encouraged.
JEERS to not-so comforting thoughts. In the Gulf of Mexico, offshore oil platforms are using the same blowout preventer that failed to work last April and caused the largest oil spill in U.S. history. A new report---commissioned by the Department of the Interior---concludes that that blowout preventer model has inherent design flaws. They don’t work right, even when they're built according to specs. And yet the government is still issuing drilling permits to companies that haven't even updated their safety plans, let alone factored in that they're using faulty safety equipment. As Rachel Maddow said last night:
"We also asked the Department of the Interior if their permitting requirements might change, given the new report released by their own office that says blowout preventers don’t really work even when they're used as directed. They told us they had no comment on the report---it’s part of an ongoing investigation, but they are handing out the permits to drill anyway.
This is like convicting Bernie Madoff and then investing his victims' compensation fund in a nice Ponzi scheme. What on earth is the government thinking here? Are you being politically pressured into this with all the talk of higher gas prices? Seriously, what are you thinking here? And how psyched is the oil industry that they think they're going to get away with this, even after the BP disaster?"
Wild guess: Very.
CHEERS to walkin' the walk. On March 25, 1965---a few weeks after "Bloody Sunday" in which police set upon peaceful civil rights marchers with fire hoses, clubs and dogs---Martin Luther King, Jr. led thousands of marchers to the State Capitol in Montgomery for a rally. The marchers got two things out of it: Lyndon Johnson's signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and aching bunions.
JEERS to Watercolorgate. The pushback against Maine Governor Paul LePage's order---apparently based on one fax, er, letter---to remove a labor-themed mural at the state's Department of Labor building was swift and fierce. The Portland Press Herald mocked him. Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Jon Stewart and many others mocked him. And even former Labor Secretary Robert Reich felt moved to put pen to paper:
[T]he current Republican assault on workers---on their right to form unions, on unemployment insurance and Social Security, on public employees, and even (courtesy of Governor LePage) on our common memory---is so despicable.
By the way, Maine's Governor LePage may be curious to know that the building housing the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington is named the "Frances Perkins Building." He can find her portrait hanging prominently inside. Also portraits and murals of great leaders of American labor. … Governor, you might be able to erase some of Maine's memory, but you'll have a hard time erasing the nation's memory---even if it's not in keeping with your pro-business goals.
There's some kind of weird "meme" among some here in Maine that LePage is an uber-savvy politician who knows exactly what he's doing. I don't think so. Like Governors Scott Walker (WI), John Kasich (OH), Rick Snyder (MI) and Rick Scott (FL), LePage is recklessly overreaching, believing that there's some kind of tea party safety net underneath him that will catch his fall. All of the governors cited above are watching their popularity sink like a stone, and I have no doubt that the next poll released about LePage will show similar results. Thus concludes my sober, rational-brain analysis. Now for my drunken reptilian-brain analysis: What a dick.
JEERS to looking away back in the day. On Sunday's date six years ago, Newsweek found and published a 1976 memo that Dick Cheney---then Gerald Ford's chief of staff---received from a White House staffer about possible terror attacks in the U.S. He ignored it. [Yawn] Shocker.
JEERS to unpleasant dreams. An air traffic controller fell asleep in the control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. He was suspended, even though he offered a perfectly valid excuse for his behavior: he was auditioning for a position at the SEC.
CHEERS to makin' up and makin' nice. Where does the time go? Thirty-two years ago tomorrow, on March 26, 1979, Israel's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat signed a historic peace agreement that is still holding up today. Said Sadat of the mediator, President Jimmy Carter: "[He is] the man who performed the miracle. Without exaggeration, what he did constitutes one of the greatest achievements of our time." Interesting bit of trivia: the three of them had to duck into the Oval Office, where it took them 45 minutes to untangle their hands. Aaaawkward.
CHEERS to home vegetation. Spring is starting out colder than normal up here, so we're still hunkered down in front of a warm teevee. Here's the haps this weekend: on HBO's Real Time, Bill Maher talks with Jeremy Scahill, Ellen Page, David Brooks, Ed Rendell and Tina Brown. New DVD releases include the 25th Anniversary release of Stand By Me (classic!) and The Tourist (craptacular!). I rented The China Syndrome instead. March Madness continues. On 60 Minutes: Offshore tax havens, the Global Medical Relief Fund, and America's best high school coach. And here's your Sunday morning lineup, with EXCLUSIVE C&J abbreviated government-style guest titles:
Meet the Press: SecDef Robert Gates, SecState Hillary Clinton
Face the Nation: SecState Hillary Clinton, SecDef Robert Gates. Roundtable with WaPoman Bob Woodward, TedKop Ted Koppel, AuThor Thomas Ricks, RePorter Savannah Guthrie.
This Week: No idea since they stopped updating their web site. But my money's on SecDef Hillary Gates and SecState Robert Clinton.
Washington Week: All Libya talk with NYTimeser Helene Cooper, LaTimeser Doyle McManus, SlateStud John Dickerson and CeeEnnEnner Gloria Borger.
Fox GOP Talking Points Sunday: AssHat John McCain, AssHole Newt Gingrich, AssMunch Joe Lieberman (WARNING: Watching this program may be more dangerous to your health than French-kissing a nuclear fuel rod.)
Happy viewing!
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Five years ago in C&J: March 25, 2006
CHEERS to fag fatigue. America seems to be getting over teh gays. A new Pew poll shows that Americans---now realizing that we're harmless if they don't disturb us while we're guarding our food dish---are becoming much more comfortable with the idea of gay marriage. Only 51 percent oppose it now, down from 63 percent in 2004. Meanwhile 60% of Americans say it's A-okay for gays to join the military. Realizing their hot-button social issue is slowly turning to dust, the knuckledragger wing of the Republican party will fabricate a new threat to society: clowns. (Leviticus clearly states: Thall shalt not lie with size 33 shoes and a horn as with a woman.) [3/25/11 Update: Five years later, a majority of Americans are in favor of gay marriage, and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is on the fast track to extinction. You like us! You really like us!]
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And just one more…
CHEERS to San Francisco liberals. Tomorrow is Nancy Pelosi's 71st birthday, and C&J sends our best wishes (and blessings on her camels) to the former and future Speaker of the House. The contrast between her leadership and that of her tobacco-stained successor is more stunning than I could've imagined. John Boehner promised jobs jobs jobs, but is delivering a brass-knuckle sucker-punch to the teeth of women, children, minorities, the poor, the middle class, and even the funny car guys on NPR. Pelosi promised robust legislation that would benefit all Americans, and boy, did she deliver. So I'd like to propose a couple toasts this evening. First one is a simple, "To Nancy Pelosi on her 71st birthday!"
[Sippy sip]
…and to her eventual return (January, 2013?) to the Speaker's chair!
[GlugGlugGlugGlugGlug]
Have a weekend so wild you forget what you did but not so wild that you wake up in the slammer. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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