Cheers and Jeers: Monday

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

We're not worthy! We're not worthy!

Daily Kos contributing editor DemFromCT, M.D. hasn’t not said he wouldn’t deny not thinking about turning down the nomination for vice president of the United States, which can only mean one thing: he might not not! It's just one of the many important issues we forgot to ask the expert in pandemics, pulmonary problems and political polling about in our continuing interview series, Yes, We're All Staring At YOU!

Cheers and Jeers: How long have you been blogging and what brought you to Daily Kos?
DemFromCT: I first started blogging at Daily Kos early in 2003, pre-Scoop. My teenage son, using the feature that allowed for changes in your name at that time, blogged as KidFromCT and occasionally asked for help with his homework. Someone always came through, especially with math.  That’s when I appreciated the value of the community. ;-)

But I got here from the same place that everyone got here. I got tired of yelling at my TV and decided to do something about it.

You're an M.D.  Is there any part of the human anatomy that you just look at and go, "Gaaack! Get that thing away from me!"
Yeah. Trust me on this, you really don’t want to know what it is, but it involves plastic surgeons and facial injuries.

You're a founding editor of the Fluwiki web site, which your bio states is "an international clearinghouse of pandemic influenza information and links, presented in four languages and accessed from six continents." Is the U.S.---under the firm, sure-handed guidance of the Bush administration---ready for a major flu outbreak, be it avian or some other kind?
Nope. No hospital, no state, could handle what would come up. The interesting thing is that everyone in the Bush administration readily acknowledges that, from Michael Leavitt to Michael Chertoff. Now, it’s interesting that I am the only Daily Kos front pager that will ever have on their resume that I co-blogged with a Bush cabinet official.

The funny thing is that they are aware of and fully accept my Daily Kos affiliation. There are some things (public health and emergency preparedness) that are non-partisan, and that’s an appropriate viewpoint to take.

What kind of music makes you feel invincible to the GOP horde?
Talking Heads, Judy Garland, and any swing music from the 30’s and 40’s. By the way, Louis Armstrong was a genius. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy ain’t bad for contemporary stuff

You recently started the popular early morning Abbreviated Pundit Roundups. How long of a shower do you have to take afterwards to get all the slime off?
I read the stuff every day. I am a big believer in reading everything from every perspective. So, I thought, we might as well blog it. By the way, I also started Sunday morning talk, now ably done by Sam Loomis. The best complement I got for Abbreviated Pundit was that people thought it was ghost-written by Bill in Portland Maine.

What's the one book every Kossack must read?
The Great Influenza, by John Barry. Written by a superb historian, it’s what really happened in 1918. By the way, I’m married to a medieval historian, so I have an appreciation for the craft. In any case, the worst natural disaster that ever struck the country happened in 1918. Katrina doesn’t even come close. With pictures and text, Barry makes it come alive. And if you have the opportunity, read anything by Howard Markel on the same topic.

What has struck you as the most absurd thing (so far) about the 2008 presidential election season?
Presumptive and arrogant, Barack Obama is that close to being described as uppity. Think about what that means and implies. To me, the description fits Andrea Mitchell, Chris Matthews and David Gregory much more than it describes Obama, but so it goes.

Finish this sentence: In the kitchen I make a mean...
If it fits on the grill, I can do a great job. On the other hand, I have never figured out how to do dessert on the grill.

You live in Connecticut. I'd like to offer you a chance to say a few words, on behalf of your state, to the rest of the country regarding Senator Joe Lieberman. I mean, WTF???
All I can tell you is that the Democrats in CT fired him. That he was too dumb to get the message is par for the course. The Reagan Democrats in the Naugatuck Valley re-elected him, but even they have buyer’s remorse (see Daily Kos-commissioned polls on the topic, wherein he’d lose a rematch with Ned Lamont).

What do you do for fun when you're not workin' the blogs, tracking pandemics, and savings lives?
Why, go to Maine, of course. Mount Desert Island is heaven on earth. And though I am from "away", I appreciate the common sense Mainers and the other New Englanders that never liked Bush to begin with.

No waffling here: dogs or cats?
Eh, cats, but my son is allergic, so dogs. And if dogs, then Labradors. There’s no other choice that is as satisfying. No other dog will go out in the rain by themselves, and wag their tail and thank you for the opportunity.

What are your favorite blogs besides Daily Kos?
Effect Measure, pollster.com and fivethirtyeight.com. Nate (poblano) is a genius, but I have to point out his methodology is still untested and unproved. Still, a highlight of Yearly Kos 2007 (Chicago) was meeting/presenting with a spokesperson from Effect Measure and meeting Mark Blumenthal from pollster.com, and a highlight from Netroots Nation 2008 was meeting Nate.

I have one question left, but the guard says it's my time to pump iron in the Yard.  Please ask and answer the final question yourself...

Why was there no polling panel at Netroots Nation in Austin??
That has to be rectified in Pittsburgh, even if I have to moderate one myself.

Heh heh...he said rectified.

Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

Cheers and Jeers for Monday July 28, 2008

Note: One Haus Two Haus Red Haus Sausage Haus!!!

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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the general election: 99, baby!!
Days `til the Beach to Beacon 10k Road Race in Cape Elizabeth: 5
Number of the 12 most vulnerable Republican senate candidates—including Maine's Susan Collins--who currently have no plans to be at the Republican National Convention because they "don’t want to be associated with the GOP brand": 9
(Source: Hardball)
Number of presidents who had no religious affiliation: 2 (Lincoln, A. Johnson)
Amount by which borrowers are behind on home-equity loans: $6.7 billion (a record high)
(Source: FDIC via The Week)
Pages of ads that a company must buy each year in Good Housekeeping in order to win its seal of approval: 1
(Source: Harper's Index)
Street value of an ounce of pot in Maine: $195
(Source: South Portland Police via the Portland Press Herald)

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NEW! Your Monday Brain Droppings by George Carlin:

There are times when you take fifteen minutes to decide which shirt to wear, because you're going to a place where there'll be a bunch of guys you've never met; guys you might even secretly want to impress.  So you settle on the special black, limited-edition number that your brother brought back from the Middle East.  The one that shows Saddam Hussein peeking out of a garbage can, flashing his middle finger and saying, "Ha ha, Mr. Bush, you missed me.  I was here at home all the time."  And you think, "No one has ever seen a shirt like this; this will make them jealous.  They'll all want it and wonder where I got it.  I'll definitely have the coolest T-shirt."

And then when you get there no one cares at all.  No one even tries to read the writing.  And all the other guys turn out to be dorks who will wear any piece of shit that's handed to them.  Like "Property of Alcatraz," "Gold's Gym," and "Life is a Beach."  What a letdown.

Personally I haven't worn T-shirts with writing on them for about ten years, but I do own what I consider to be the coolest T-shirt in the world.  It's plain white, and inside a kind of faded maroon circle, in an odd, feminine sort of print, it says, "Fuck the Cows."  But it's about two sizes too small.  Ain't that always the way?

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Puppy Pic of the Day: Pass the melted butter

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CHEERS to the hottest tickets in town.  In case you were on vacation (or plastered) last week when the news broke, next year's location for Netroots Nation '09 has been announced:

We selected Pittsburgh for a lot of reasons. One of our primary goals in choosing a host city is to provide an opportunity to not only bring together existing local and regional progressive communities, but also help create new ones. And our choice allows us to bring in progressive communities from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and beyond.

A new priority in 2009 will be greening our convention, and Pittsburgh is the perfect city to kick off this initiative. The David L. Lawrence Convention Center is the first and largest LEED certified in the country, and the city is a leader in green building, with more square footage than any other city in the country.

We bring this up because the lowest-priced registrations ($175) have disappeared, and there are less than 200 registrations available at the second-tier level ($225).  So if you're planning on going, don’t wait---the next level is, like, $10,000 (includes drink ticket).  Just enter through the giant orange door.  Be sure to indicate if you'd like to be seated in the pudding-wrestling or non-pudding-wresting section of the main arena.  Thx.

JEERS to unwanted side effects.  Remember that lovely little Medicare prescription drug plan that got shoved through Congress a couple years back?  Remember how we dirty effing hippies predicted it would be little more than a big sloppy kiss to the drug companies?  Let's see how that's working, shall we?

U.S. drug manufacturers are reaping a windfall from taxpayers because Medicare's privately administered prescription drug benefit program pays more than other government programs for the same medicines, a House committee charged in a report Thursday.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform found that taxpayers are paying up to 30% more for prescription drugs under Medicare's privatized Part D program for seniors and the disabled than under the government's Medicaid program for the poor.  "Medicare Part D has given the major drug companies a taxpayer-funded windfall worth billions of dollars," said committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman.

But it's not all bad.  Right now Montel Williams is delivering fistfuls of Prozac and Valium via his Magical Pharmadistraction Bus at the rate of two communities a day, so everyone will eventually be pleasantly dazed and confused as our pockets continue to be picked.  So don't ruin the moment, hippies.  Remember America's new golden rule: It's better to be medicated than right.

CHEERS to Bubba's foresight.  Addressing a veterans convention in New Orleans on July 28, 1996, Bill Clinton called on Congress to pass expanded measures against acts of terror in the United States.  It was a more innocent time back then, and today the Adult Children Moving Back in with their Parents Act seems rather quaint.

CHEERS to legislators in shining armor.  The Senate approved a twenty-gazillion-dollar housing crisis bill over the weekend, and President Bush will sign it today.  After hammering out a compromise with Republicans, the final bill ends up giving strapped homeowners a free truckload of shingles and a new welcome mat.  Sweet.

P.S.  Like my new T-shirt?  It says, "I'm a renter and all I got was a bill for this lousy housing bailout."  Edgy.

CHEERS to Obama's pogo stick.  Hey, all you idiot media pundits who claimed that Barack Obama wouldn’t see a bounce in his numbers because his overseas trip went too well---Suck on this: "Barack Obama now leads John McCain among national registered voters by a 49% to 40% margin in Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted July 24-26.."  I actually heard someone on The Chris Matthews Show yesterday say that it was just terrible that Obama didn’t have a 12-14 point lead.  Yeah, and when he failed to part the Red Sea last week, well...that was pretty much the kiss of death.

JEERS to the pain, the pain!  On July 28, 1865, the American Dental Association proposed its first code of ethics.  Celebrate the occasion by sticking a sharp metal pick into the mouth of someone you love. (If you need a refresher tutorial, here's a free demonstration by Dick Cheney.)  Be sure to get under the gum line!

JEERS to fuzzy logic.  Poor John McCain.  He's so confused about where he stands on anything that his brain stem must resemble a pretzel by now.  Take, for instance, his stance on a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq.  Atrios sums up his position this way:

Maliki likes Obama's timeline.
McCain likes Maliki's timeline.
McCain thinks Obama's timeline will cause the destruction of America as we know it.

And Josh Marshall says:

[H]e's all for Maliki's 16 month timetable for withdrawal and dead-set against Obama's 16th month timetable for withdrawal.

Meanwhile, yesterday on This Week  McCain forgot he'd ever said the word "timeline."  But we'll give him a little credit: at least he remembered to wear pants during the interview.

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One Year Ago in C&J: July 28, 2007...

CHEERS to the loveliest phrase in the English language.  No, not "Lieberman caught with hooker"...not "Sam Brownback wins 100% of GOP primary vote"...not "Stem cells rally in D.C. for stem cell research."  No, the loveliest phrase in the English language is "Rove subpoenaed".  Joe at Americablog is right that "Bush's brain" will extend his middle finger to the Senate Judiciary Committee.  And when he does, Joe says:

"Play hard ball: cut his salary from the budget, take away his security clearance, make him pay.  The guiding principle for Senate Democrats should be: what would Rove do?"

Absolutely.  (But I think we can agree to skip the nightly koala-bear sacrifice ritual.)

P.S. To the person who came up with the spelling of subpoenaed: what the fuck were you smoking???

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And just one more...

CHEERS to stars who are ready for their close-up.  Director Rory Kennedy (youngest child of Robert and Ethel) has finished her documentary on the life and career of journalist Helen Thomas.  It's called, Thank You, Mr. President, and Editor and Publisher has a nice write-up on its premiere.  But we're not real happy to read this:

But Thomas, 87, missed the showing on Wednesday night because she is still recovering from an illness that has sidelined her since May and is likely to keep her off the job until at least Labor Day. ... [Hearst Newspapers' Charles] Lewis declined to comment on Thomas' health, other than to say she is recuperating. Lewis told E&P last month that Thomas was hit with the illness on May 18 and had not written a column since May 14.

Get well soon, Helen.  I here Obama's jonesin' to call on you to ask the kickoff question at his first presidential press conference.  Make him squirm.

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Ahhh, yes...curdled vanilla pudding in front of a yellow backdrop.  Much better, Senator.  Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?

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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:

"I speak to you not as a candidate for president, but as a citizen---a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of Cheers and Jeers."
---Barack Obama
7/24/08

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