From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
THREE weeks 'til Netroots Nation Detroit!
With the liberal event of the year only 21 days away, we hope your to-do list (get haircut…pull tuxedo tank-top from bottom of laundry pile…memorize sum of all knowledge for pub quiz…vacuum interior of blimp) is getting pared down. This week's update is chock full of netrootsiness:
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Mary Rickles confirms these attendees: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA), Rev. William Barber, Gov. Howard Dean, Sen. Chris Murphy (CT), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI), Rep. John Conyers (MI), Rep. Keith Ellison (MN), Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ), Rep. Alan Lowenthal (CA), Rep. Gary Peters (MI), Rep. Mark Pocan (WI), Rep. Mark Takano (CA), State Sen. Stacey Abrams (GA Minority Leader), Shadow Rep. Nate Bennett-Fleming (DC)
And candidates Mark Schauer (Gov-MI), Shenna Bellows (Sen-ME), Rick Weiland (Sen-SD), Pam Byrnes (MI-7), Jim Mowrer (IA-4), Nina Turner, (SoS-OH), Maggie Toulouse Oliver (SoS-NM), Sandra Fluke (State Sen-CA).
• Kossack/Goddess Vicki's Miracle Wonder Google Spreadsheet with all the panels, trainings and special events at Netroots Nation---including the moderators and panelists---is here in all its color-coded glory. Easy to print out and take with you for easy reference. Thanks, Vickster!
• Just a few of the parties/events confirmed by Linda Lee: Karaoke Party sponsored by PPFA, annual Chairman's Pub Quiz, Laughing Liberally comedy show, closing party sponsored by AAM at the Michigan Science Center, Candidate Meet and Greet hosted by DFA and ActBlue, and the New Tools Shootout and reception hosted by Google.
• RSVP now for the Daily Kos/C&J Meet 'n Greet 'n Eat at Vicente's Cuban Cuisine on Wednesday, July 16 starting at 5pm. Let Navajo know you're going via kosmail by clicking here.
"Welcome! Or as we say
in Detroit: Welcome!"
•
You can get reduced or free registration to NN14 through the volunteer program. If you're interested in volunteering (registration booth, name badge/swag bag assembly, etc.) and getting credit toward your registration, please email Eric at:
volunteers[at]netrootsnation.org.
• Hotel rooms at the Detroit Marriott are sold out, says word on the street. Please read the update here for details and options.
• Register to join the NN14 fun here, and follow #NN14 via Twitter here.
Personally, I'm looking forward to finally meeting Sandra Fluke, the catalyst for the fall of the Limbaugh Empire. Game of Thrones is child's play compared to that.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, June 26, 2014
Note: The last of the declared chemical weapons have been removed from Syria and they are now being processed in a secret location where no one would ever think to look. Also you may notice some body discoloration and/or meltage while splashing in the kiddie pool today. This is temporary and should wear off in your next life. ---Mgt.
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22 days!!!
By the Numbers:
Days 'til America turns 238:
8
Days 'til the
Forecastle Festival in Louisville, Kentucky:
22
Shrinkage in annual GDP during the
1st quarter:
2.9%
Rank of Washington state, Vermont and West Virginia among states with the fastest increases in personal income during the first quarter:
#1, #2, #3
(Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis)
Percent by which moms are more likely than the average adult internet user to purchase digital music:
20%
(Source: Nielsen Research)
Number of bones we have at birth and when we're adults after some bones have fused together, respectively:
300, 206
(Source: The Internet)
World Cup Soccuh
Switzerland 3 Honduras 0
Ecuador 0 France 0
Argentina 3 Nigeria 2
Bosnia-Herzeblagojevich 3 Iran 1
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
Meanwhile, back at the full-force fun festival known as Washington, here’s a moment to cherish.
Two weeks ago, Amir Taheri had an Op-Ed article in the Canadian National Post claiming that the Iranians have a law requiring Jews to wear yellow badges. It turned out to be a complete fabrication and has been the subject of much contempt among bloggers. So Tuesday, Taheri was invited to the White House along with other "experts" to give the president their "honest opinions." With advice like that, our war in Iran will be a slam-dunk.
---May, 2006
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Behold the pics of The FurrTOGRAPHER
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CHEERS to C&J LGBT Pride Month Triple Play!!! It's all good:
DOMA Plaintiff Edie Windsor
reacts to the court's decision.
1) One year ago today the Supreme Court allowed the reinstatement of same-sex marriage rights in California and overturned parts of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The right-wingers freaked, saying it "made Jesus weep," "was an act of tyranny,"
"rewarded corruption," "took us a step closer to a second civil war," "makes us no longer a republic," "is proof that lefties hate their fellow Americans more than they hate our enemies," "frees mobsters to celebrate anus worship and marry one or more goats," "Green-lights gays to go to churches with lead pipes and demand marriage," "is fascism against cake makers, florists, and photographers" and, of course, let's not forget "it shoves gay marriage down our throats." I was grateful to conservatives that day---for reminding me once again why I'm a liberal.
New gay marriage map with
Indiana painted equality blue.
2) Yesterday the bigots lost marriages cases via the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Utah and a federal judge's ruling in Indiana that brought the first same-sex marriage to that red state. If Ohio goes next, we'll have Wisconsin and Michigan completely boxed in and resistance will be futile.
3) Senator Susan Collins is finally on the marriage-equality bandwagon. It was her ticket to an endorsement by the Human Rights Campaign.
And one more thing: the Boy Scouts will
lead the New York City pride Parade Sunday. They'll no doubt get lots of tut-tuttage from the higher ups, which is why I've come up with the perfect excuse: they can just say they were there to help little old drag queens cross the street.
JEERS to leadership for by dummies. If you want to improve conditions in both the health of your citizens and the health of your state's bottom line, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that expanding Medicaid in accordance with the Affordable Care Act is low-hanging fruit. Maine's Teapublican Governor Paul LePage knows this well, but he just doesn’t care …and this is the result:
Silly Mainers. Welfare
is for corporations.
Maine’s sluggish growth in personal income during the first quarter of the year may largely reflect Gov. Paul LePage’s refusal to expand Medicaid coverage in the state under the Affordable Care Act.
The federal Bureau of Economic Analysis said Tuesday that Maine’s personal income grew just 0.5 percent during the first three months of the year, below the 0.8 percent average increase nationally. Maine’s growth rate in personal income was 39th nationally and last among the six New England states. The decision to not expand Medicaid means Maine is forgoing the full federal reimbursement for the cost of greater health care coverage, estimated at about $300 million for the state this year.
Governor Teabag believes the key to his November reelection is declaring war on
welfare recipients and
"illegals." It makes sense to him politically because it feeds into his base's prejudices, and it makes sense to him personally because unching down is
fun!!!
JEERS to the magnanimity of the bested teabagger. Let's check in and see how Mississippi's farthest-right fringe and their candidate (I forget his name already…Quincy Hoobalooba???) are getting along with the victorious establishment Republicans and their candidate Thad Cochran, a 120 year-old doorstop who soaks up taxpayer dollars through his pores and wrings 'em out over Mississippi:
Well, I see they at least agreed to put down the chainsaws. But I wouldn't hold my breath for a group hug anytime soon.
CHEERS to gastronomical greetings. On June 26, 1963, President Kennedy delivered a speech in then-West Berlin where he said, famously, "Ich bin ein Berliner!" Over the years many people have erroneously said that he was calling himself a jelly doughnut, but that is not true---he was referring to himself as a citizen of Berlin. Unfortunately, things later turned awkward when, after his speech, he said he was so hungry he could eat half a dozen Frankfurters and sent that city's residents scrambling to their cellars.
JEERS to little thought experiments. I understand that when Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal gets in front of a rabid fundamentalist audience, he feels no hesitation to go all Jefferson Davis on America's ass:
"My anti-tyranny finger
is locked and loaded!"
"I can sense right now a rebellion brewing amongst these United States where people are ready for a hostile takeover of Washington, D.C., to preserve the American Dream for our children and grandchildren. … The left is trying to silence us, and I'm tired of it. I won't take it anymore."
So, my thought experiment: I wonder how Mr. Jindal would feel if President Obama publicly called for a "hostile takeover" of Louisiana…that he's tired of "the right" undermining this, that and the other and therefore gunplay is the only solution to "preserve the American Dream for our children and grandchildren." (They do love using children as shields, don’t they?) I suspect he'd flip his lid and Drudge's blinky light would explode. I guess I just find it odd that Jindal was speaking at a conference espousing a religion (guess which one) whose golden rule is, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Almost as odd as I find Jindal.
Now THIS is a real sport.
CHEERS to World Cup madness. Today is D-Day, Judgment Day and St. Swithins Day (not sure how that got in there) all rolled into one as the United States plays Germany in the sport of Feet-and-Head Ball. If America wins, there will be tears of joy, tickertape parades, mass-waving of giant foam "#1" fingers, fireworks, presidential proclamations, and undisputed bragging rights as the most exceptional nation in the universe. If Germany wins, soccer sucks and we never cared, anyway.
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Five years ago in C&J: June 26, 2009
JEERS to things we shouldn't be reading in the paper eight years after the attacks of 9/11. Not that it's surprising, I guess, but did you know that Decider Bush and Darth Cheney were so eager to fellate the NRA that they wouldn’t even take steps to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists? Wow:
Citing a "terror gap," Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Reps. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Robert C. Scott (D-Va.) released the study, and Lautenberg introduced legislation yesterday to give the U.S. attorney general authority to stop the sale of guns or explosives to terrorists.
"The special interest gun lobby has so twisted our nation's laws that the rights of terrorists are placed above the safety of everyday Americans," Lautenberg said in a written statement. "The current law simply defies common sense."
But in fairness, they did keep America safe
from exploding monkey diapers. Make sure you remember that, biographers!
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And just one more…
CHEERS to "The Ugly." That's what actor Eli Wallach's character, Tuco, represented in the iconic spaghetti western The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Wallach has gone to join the "Bad" (Lee Van Cleef) in the hereafter at the age of 98, sorry to say. ("Good" Clint Eastwood outlasted them both.) Wallach will always be in the upper echelon of the great character actors who portrayed "more bandits, thieves, warlords, molesters and mafioso that you could shake a stick at." But he also took the romantic lead a few times, including this sentimental valentine at the age of 92 with Cloris Leachman in New York, I Love You:
And the cherry on the sundae: he got to play Mr. Freeze in Batman TV series---that's legend territory. More on Wallach at The Hollywood Reporter. I know what I'll be watching this weekend. (Hint: Aheeeyaaaeeeyaaaah!!!!
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:
"If you resist Cheers and Jeers, you starve yourself. If you fight against it, it is you who will bleed."
---President Snow
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