GOP: Vote for us. We have no solutions.

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Thursday April 15, 2010 · 7:15 AM PDT

2010/04/15 · 07:15

Happy Tax Day, everyone. I walked my four-year-old to school today and explained what was so special about April 15 that I needed to carry a mug with me for my free cup of coffee at Starbucks. "Principles of this country that a four-year-old can understand better than the Republican Party" is perhaps a diary for another day (which would also point out how much easier FDR's Four Freedoms were for him to understand than for so many of us).

Anyway, Starbucks had the printed version of Politico, so I picked one up and read the following:

But Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican who is leading the effort to craft the document, says that including specific legislation in the contract would smack of the backroom deals the GOP accuses Democrats of making, so "you won’t see it written out."

Poll

35 votes Show Results

Voters in the middle will reject the GOP if they can't do better than this.

35 votes Vote Now!

Voters in the middle will reject the GOP if they can't do better than this.

Hell no!

2 votes

Yes, even the "undecided voter" can smell BS when it's piled this high.

15 votes

I don't know what goes in those folk's heads.

17 votes

Pie

1 vote

BREAKINGx10: Deal with Stupak is OFF! "We think we have the votes without him."

tdub

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Saturday March 20, 2010 · 7:23 AM PDT

2010/03/20 · 07:23

UPDATEx10: CQ, The Hill, and Roll Call all report Stupak bloc "cut in half," Stupak himself may vote yes in exchange for the executive order. That number 6 puts us on the verge of clinching this thing. And by now you've all heard the confidence of Obama and House leadership that they will have the votes. This is why the crazies are threatening gun violence and screaming the N-word and F-word.

I recommend Ezra's twitter list for the latest!

Poll

1876 votes Show Results

Your prediction

1876 votes Vote Now!

Your prediction

HCR passes with Senate abortion language

1588 votes

HCR passes with Stupak abortion language

62 votes

HCR fails over this bullshit

226 votes

Why so narrow a vision of what our children should learn and be?

tdub

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

Sunday March 14, 2010 · 10:58 AM PDT

2010/03/14 · 10:58

A lot of hype is surrounding the release of national K-12 education standards in draft form by the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI), an effort under the auspices of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).

Teacherken has already written two excellent diaries questioning the wisdom of this effort to conceive national standards.

I want to take another angle and sound the alarm about how narrow-minded a vision of the curriculum they promote--and, by extension, how narrow a view they have accepted of the lives our children will go on to lead as human beings and citizens of a democracy.

Poll

41 votes Show Results

Should every American child have the opportunity to pursue a broad and deep curriculum beyond the basics?

41 votes Vote Now!

Should every American child have the opportunity to pursue a broad and deep curriculum beyond the basics?

Yes, those "frou-frou" subjects are what we want people to learn if we regard them as human beings with great potential

35 votes

No, we need to keep our focus on the basics

5 votes

Pie

1 vote

The Death of a President: JFK and Obama "Wanted"

tdub

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Tuesday September 15, 2009 · 7:27 PM PDT

2009/09/15 · 19:27

The new issue of Vanity Fair has an interesting article about William Manchester and his authorized account the JFK assassination, The Death of a President. The main focus is on Manchester's ordeal writing the book and bringing it to publication, on his eventually difficult relationship with Jackie Kennedy, who felt that it captured too much that was too personal. (Read the article to learn why this important book is still out of print.) But it's the following passage that chilled my blood:

Manchester also discovered that Dallas "had become the Mecca for medicine-show evangelists ... the Minutemen, the John Birch and Patrick Henry Societies, and the headquarters of [ultra-conservative oil billionaire] H. L. Hunt and his activities."

"In that third year of the Kennedy presidency," Manchester wrote, "a kind of fever lay over Dallas country. Mad things happened.

tdub

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Monday March 23, 2009 · 8:39 PM PDT

2009/03/23 · 20:39

In these terrifying times, when our government is taking huge risks with the future of our national fortunes (and the risks are huge whatever policy is chosen), there is a lot of understandable anxiety around here. In short: Whom should we believe? The Obama Administration in the person of Timothy Geithner? Or the dark warnings of Krugman, Stiglitz, and Roubini?

Poll

48 votes Show Results

Where do we stand?

48 votes Vote Now!

Where do we stand?

History will shame us for every week we let Geithner stay on and/or do not do Krugman's full bidding instantly

14 votes

Insolvency problem? What insolvency problem? We just need to solve this liquidity problem.

3 votes

Geithner and Obama can damn well figure out when and how to restructure banks--they just need a kick from us to take these "stress tests" mortally seriously

31 votes

Bachmann, Shadegg, and their kind

tdub

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Wednesday November 05, 2008 · 8:40 AM PST

2008/11/05 · 08:40

This will be a very short diary. I only want to make one hopeful point in light of seeing some of the worst GOP Members of Congress keep their seats.

That's this: for every house seat the Democrats gain, the Bachmanns and Shadeggs come to represent an ever larger portion of the House Republican caucus. The GOP is backing itself into a corner and is completely failing to DUMP the aspects of their "brand" that are most toxic to their future with the American electorate.

Poll

71 votes Show Results

What kind of reorientation did we just see?

71 votes Vote Now!

What kind of reorientation did we just see?

Permanent Democratic majority

3 votes

Now this government is our baby & we'd better work hard to make it thrive & be loved by the world

67 votes

Overweening hubris leading to Republican comeback

1 vote

Update: Obama WINS Virginia!! (was: Obama overtakes McCain)

tdub

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Tuesday November 04, 2008 · 6:57 PM PST

2008/11/04 · 18:57

Update 2: FOX CALLS VA. FOR OBAMA! (It's Fox, but I'll take it!)

Update: I'll keep updating until a major news organization calls it, but the margin is now ~~nearly~~ more than 50,000 votes, and I predict it will only get better for Obama.

As votes from the...sometimes neglected...parts of REAL VIRGINIA (which is ALL OF VIRGINIA) continue to come in, Obama now leads!

Obama ~~1,317,348 (50%)~~ 1,504,733 (51%)
McCain ~~1,309,165~~ 1,453,659 (49%)
[90% reporting]

Poll

173 votes Show Results

What's the next clap of BLUE THUNDER?

173 votes Vote Now!

What's the next clap of BLUE THUNDER?

Indiana

33 votes

Missouri

7 votes

North Carolina

70 votes

Colorado

44 votes

Nevada

10 votes

Arizona

9 votes

Good progressive people, good progressive values: Don't be defensive

tdub

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

Monday October 20, 2008 · 7:01 AM PDT

2008/10/20 · 07:01

Allow me to interrupt this wonderful and highly approvable moment of Colin-Powell-inspired unity, as we are all enjoying the glow of knowing that good Democrats can sleep easier, knowing that everyone's favorite UN-lying, medal-decorated, Republican is on our side, thus proving our case that we're patriotic, real Americans on this side after all!

I'm writing this diary for one reason only. I'm disheartened, and tired of even our left-wing friends here at Daily Kos bending over so far backwards to prove that, if wingnut America (27%) only knew us better, they'd appreciate that we're all (of course) equally blood-and-guts "real" Americans of the kind they could love.

tdub

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

Thursday September 25, 2008 · 1:55 PM PDT

2008/09/25 · 13:55

The Washington Post reports that the following "deal" has been reached:

Paulson would receive $250 billion immediately and another $100 billion upon White House certification of its necessity. The final $350 billion could be dispersed without additional Congressional approval, but Congress would be given 30 days to object.

In other words, fully half of the mind-staggering sum of $700bn will be available to the Bush Administration to dispense with no further Congressional green-lighting.

Poll

32 votes Show Results

What should be done now?

32 votes Vote Now!

What should be done now?

Stop, reconsider, and come up with a smarter or surer approach.

22 votes

Try $150bn at first as Schumer suggested.

6 votes

Go forward with the deal as being reported.

4 votes

Other (please explain in comments).

0 votes

RSS

GOP: Vote for us. We have no solutions.

BREAKINGx10: Deal with Stupak is OFF! "We think we have the votes without him."

Why so narrow a vision of what our children should learn and be?

The Death of a President: JFK and Obama "Wanted"

Two points in Geithner's favor we're missing

Bachmann, Shadegg, and their kind

Update: Obama WINS Virginia!! (was: Obama overtakes McCain)

Good progressive people, good progressive values: Don't be defensive

Stop the reckless $350bn blank check! Heed the doubting economists!