From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Only 8 Weeks 'til Netroots Nation!!!
Two…count 'em (Republicans, I'll help you: 1, 2) …two months 'til the epicenter of the universe becomes Providence, Rhode Island. Here's your weekly update:
- Panels panels Panels!!! After sifting through 500 submissions, Raven Brooks says, off we go....
Our final list of 70 panels includes some timely topics like the 2012 elections, the Occupy movement and reproductive rights, plus we'll highlight state battles on issues like immigration and labor. And this year we’re also including some topics not often touched on at Netroots Nation, including transgender issues, criminal justice and fracking. There are also 30 super useful, hands-on training sessions led by some of the top trainers in the progressive movement.
Your submissions helped us create an inclusive and engaging agenda---one that will help shape the national dialog for progressives in the coming months. So thank you to each of you who submitted an idea for consideration.
Sadly, my panel---the "How To Cope With The Fact That You're In My Stupid Panel When You Could Be At One Of The Cool Panels" panel---missed the cut by a whisker.
- Round 2 of the Netroots Nation scholarship competition is underway. You can enter yourself or someone you think is deserving of free admission and accommodations at the June 7-10 convention by clicking here. There are at least 20 more to be awarded by a partnership with Netroots nation and Democracy for America. Round two ends in 3 days.
- Another way to get a scholarship: help a great progressive group with small-donor fundraising via the Raise the Future program.
- The Netroots for the Troops campaign assembles care packages at Netroots Nation for our troops in remote combat areas overseas and VA hospitals here at home. The donation link is here. Please give one million dollars immediately. Or, as an alternative, we'll accept 50 or 20. Thank you!
- Registration rates go up on Monday! To register for the convention at the current rate and save some bucks, click here.
- For official hotel info, click here.
- To stay in the loop, get on the email list and follow NN12 on Facebook and twitter.
Oh, and we'll have details on the June 6 C&J party later this month, once the police confirm they do, indeed, have enough riot gear to accommodate our needs.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, April 12, 2012
Note: Just a heads-up that there won’t be a C&J on Monday as we'll be curled up in the fetal position under our bed all weekend long contemplating the possibility of a President Romney. Back Tuesday!
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the 2012 Olympic Games in London: 105
Days `til the Stockton Asparagus Festival in California: 15
Percent increase in U.S. healthcare spending in 2009 and 2010, respectively: 3.8%, 3.9%
Respective rank of these annual increases among the lowest of the past 50 years: #1, #2
(Source: Harper's Index)
Percent of respondents (including a plurality of Republicans) who believe public workers should be able to bargain collectively for their wages: 64%
(Source: Bloomberg via Think Progress)
Percent of New England's states who are among the seven states in America with the lowest teen birth rates: 100%
(Source: CDC report)
Official weight of Molly, C&J's 11-year-old chocolate lab, who got a clean bill of health at the vet Saturday: 79 lbs.
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
Just to make Tax Day even more exciting than it usually is, we have been treated to a series of recent reports that the Internal Revenue Service is busy cracking down on poor folks, while letting an estimated 1 million rich folks and corporations move to Bermuda to avoid taxes.
I used to consider taxes among the most boring subjects on earth. My attitude was, "Just tell me how much I owe; please don't make me listen to the details." But taxes are kind of fascinating, in a slow car-wreck way, because you get to see how much the rich and especially big corporations have gamed the system in their favor.
---April, 2002
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Yum. And the pooch is cute, too.
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CHEERS to getting his day in court. George Zimmerman was told by police to stay in his van. What kind of asshole feels such animosity and suspicion of someone that they would disregard that order, stalk a kid, and get in a scuffle that results in a homicide? That's what I keep asking myself: What was he thinking??? I guess we'll find out when Zimmerman goes before a jury of his peers on charges of second-degree murder. [Nancy Grace cartwheels past Bill in Portland Maine, shouting "Wheeee!!!!"] Gee, I hope this doesn't turn into a circus.
CHEERS to lunch most foul. Ladies and gentlemen, now being served up on a platter on top of the family station wagon: the Mitt Romney sandwich:
GOP BASE ROCK
Romney
NORMAL PEOPLE HARD PLACE
Comes with fries and a side of Prilosec.
Bon appetit, Obama.
JEERS to cerebral hemorrhages. They suck. Franklin Roosevelt died from one 67 years ago today down in Warm Springs, Georgia. While his generation got a rendezvous with destiny, ours got a rendevous with a fuckup named Dubya, and we'll be paying for it the rest of our lives---thanks a lot, fate. Now comb your hair and go pay your respects. And, as always, regards to Eleanor.
JEERS to academic, um, flexibility. That's a nice way of saying: Hey Tennessee public school kids, guess what? Thanks to the actions of your state's governing bodies, you now have a license to rely on a collection of outlandish and ancient parables as actual science!!! That's right---women are men's ribs, Jesus rode a dinosaur to Wal-Mart, climate change is a hoax, and the universe is only 6,000 years old! Of course, the source of this "alternative" science is limited to The Bible, so the rest of you religious types can go straight to you-know-where with your silly "theories." This is America, dammit---we have standards.
CHEERS to today's boring correction. The criminal mastermind recently deleted by President Barack Obama from the FBI's Most Wanted list---Osama bin Laden---has been replaced. The new criminal mastermind on the FBI's Most Wanted list is: Eric J. Toth, a "schoolteacher from the Washington area accused of possessing [and producing] child pornography." Please update your Do-Not-Send-A-Christmas-Card-To list accordingly.
JEERS to days we'd like to forget. On April 12, 1861, in one of the most tragic mix-ups in American history, Confederate troops accidentally fired cannons loaded with lead balls---instead of the "prank" cannons loaded with confetti---at Fort Sumter, thus igniting the Civil War. Northerners...so touchy.
CHEERS to payback. John Edwards, the former Democratic veep candidate-turned-shit-on-a-shoe, has great news for America's taxpayers now that he's paid back $2.1 million in federal matching funds from his '08 campaign: "YOU get one sixth of a penny and YOU get one sixth of a penny and YOU get one sixth of a penny and YOU get one sixth of a penny…!!!" Coincidentally, that's the same portion of Edwards' conscience that's still functional.
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Five years ago in C&J: April 12, 2007
CHEERS to the Big Ten. Responding to Don Imus's racist on-air comments, the Rutgers women's basketball team showed grace in the spotlight on Tuesday. They'll meet with him in the next few days to hear him apologize for ending their amazing season on such a sour note. Remember ladies, sometimes a 'mercy swirlie' is the ultimate act of forgiveness.
JEERS to The Shirker in Chief. President Bush---apparently eager to spend more time with his GameBoy---appears to be trying to abdicate his responsibility as Commander-in-Chief by hiring a "war czar." Only problem is, nobody credible wants the job. Not that that's ever stopped him before. ("Hello, Brownie...?")
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And just one more…
CHEERS to Mint'y freshness. While debate rages over whether or not to ditch the penny (I think it's just a conspiracy by the lobbyists at Big Nickel), the America the Beautiful state quarter collection rolls merrily along. The latest release---a fine addition---depicts New Mexico's Chaco Culture National Historical Park:
The Chacoan sites are part of the homeland of Pueblo Indian peoples of New Mexico, the Hopi Indians of Arizona and the Navajo Indians of the southwest. … Chaco is remarkable for its multi-storied public buildings called "great houses," enormous circular ceremonial subterranean structures called "great kivas," and distinctive architecture featuring a notable concentration of petroglyphs and pictographs. The Chacoan people combined pre-planned architectural designs, astronomical alignments, geometry, landscaping and engineering to create an ancient urban center of spectacular public architecture.
Art? Science? Math? Responsible land use? Respect for the public good?
Dirty fucking hippies!!! Best…money…evuh!
Have a nice Thursday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"I always stop at Cheers and Jeers, perched on the rocks at the edge of the sea. I get my lobster roll and chowder and sit outside watch the ships roll in and out of Portland Harbor."
---Steve Jermanok
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