From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
Trying to make Slinkerwink blink
Look up "tenacious" in the dictionary and chances are you'll find a photo of long-time Kossack and Recommended Diary stalwart Slinkerwink. Her health care reform columns here---and at Firedoglake and Huffington Post---are moving thousands to take action and make their voices echo in the heads of our members of Congress. She's a graduate of Smith College with a B.A. in Government, and recently was named as a Netroots Nation ’09 Scholar by Democracy For America and Daily Kos because of her sharp and incisive political writing.
She's a former congressional staffer and has been involved with the progressive netroots since 2004. She enjoys the use of social media on domestic policy issues, and can be followed on Twitter. This morning Slinkerwink tries to maintain normal blood pressure as she gets a grillin' in this week's edition of our C&J interview series, Yes, We're All Staring at YOU!
Cheers and Jeers: How long have you been blogging and what originally brought you to Daily Kos?
Slinkerwink: I've been blogging since I first came to Daily Kos by way of the Dean campaign in 2004. I'm user id 4335 for those who care about userids and use it as a bloody cudgel against newcomers who they accuse of being trolls. Here's my first Daily Kos diary which was way before I ever learned or used blockquotes as a formatting tool. Yes, there was a time on Daily Kos when there were no blockquotes. We were like savages in 2004 when we started typing away on our keyboards on this great big Orange Satan.
You've been doing dynamite work with your action-oriented health care reform diaries. In your opinion, what is fundamentally wrong with our health care system that needs to be fixed?
What's fundamentally wrong with our health care system is how we allow our elected officials to be bought off by the donations from these health insurance companies via their lobbyists. Our health care system would've been regulated a long time ago, with many of these issues addressed, if not for their undue influence on elected officials. It's why I'm also a strong supporter of campaign finance reform, and yes, term limits in the Senate.
Do you think Obama took the right course of holding back early on and letting Congress hash it out?
I think it may have been to Obama's benefit to get involved sooner in order to outline some of what he wanted, but he's getting involved right now, with ads targeted at moderate Senate and House Democrats in their districts, and a massive public push this week. So that might work out well in favor of the passage of the health care legislation.
What kind of leverage does the president have to lean on Congress and get a strong public option passed? Are there signs he's using it?
As I said before above, he's using that leverage now. He'll be meeting publicly and in private with Members of Congress to get them to get the legislation out of both houses of Congress. I hear that Obama's planning to get the Senate Finance bill pushed through by Friday this week. That's really big news.
What kind of music makes you feel invincible to the GOP horde?
Music? Heh, kidding. Even though I'm deaf with a cochlear implant, I love alternative music and jazz. There's nothing like the sound of Billie Holiday's voice. The first time I heard her sing "Strange Fruit," it brought me to tears. That's how powerful her voice is. It's a pity there isn't any more like her today.
What's the one book every Kossack must read?
It should be Diana Kennedy's "Mexico" cookbook. It has these lovely recipes and a story behind them. It took me right into the heart of Mexico when I experimented with Mexican food in my own kitchen.
What are the most important action steps Kossacks can take to influence Congress to pass a strong health care reform bill?
Call, call, call, fax, and e-mail. Also, in-person visits are very helpful as well.
Finish this sentence: In the kitchen I make a mean...
...pasta. Seriously, I've gained a couple of pounds from all the pasta I've eaten. My fiancé would personally say that my enchiladas are the best dish I make, but he's biased. :-) And I say it's pasta that I'm good at.
Besides health care, how is the Obama administration doing overall after six months in office?
They've really got a huge agenda. I don't envy them one bit. In my view, they're doing well considering the challenges ahead, but I do think they could rethink their economic approach. It's the same mindset that got us into this problem, and that's the problem with Obama's economic team.
No waffling here: dogs or cats?
Definitely dogs. I have a seventeen year old miniature toy poodle named Max who lives with my mom. I got him when I was ten. He's now deaf and blind. He used to be obedient because he could hear, but now that he's deaf, he's very happy because he doesn't have to listen to any of our commands.
I have one question left, but someone is wrong on the internet and I must correct them! Please ask and answer the final question yourself...
Do I really need to correct this person?
It'd hijack the thread, and I hate thread-jacking.
Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Note: Today's C&J has been translated into English from the original baby talk.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Ramadan: 31
Days `til Lollapalooza '09 in Chicago: 17
Current U.S. consumer savings rate: 6.9%
Last time the savings rate was that high: 1994
(Source: New York Times Economix blog)
Number of Toyota Camrys sold in 2008: 436,617
Number of Cozy Coupes sold in 2008: 457,000
(Source: USA Today)
Average annual Maine blueberry harvest, in pounds: 80 million
(Source: Portland Press Herald)
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Tuesday Words of Wisdom from the Right-wing Blogosphere:
Let's send all of the liberals to the peoples paradise of californicatia. Then we can let Lex Luthor finish what he started in Superman. /not really advocating genocide by landslide - put the stick down stinky.
---Commenter "DaddyG" at Little Green Footballs
All together now: One...two...three... Classy!!!
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Good Samaritan, indeed
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CHEERS to raiding the armory. Y'know how we frequently (and rightly) complain that Dems are constantly "keeping their powder dry?" Well, yesterday, the president hauled out a few barrels of the stuff, lit the fuse, and rolled 'em downhill into the GOP officers' latrine:
Just the other day, one Republican senator said---and I'm quoting him now---"If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him." Think about that. This isn't about me. This isn't about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking America's families, breaking America's businesses, and breaking America's economy.
And we can't afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to health care. Not this time. Not now. There are too many lives and livelihoods at stake. There are too many families who will be crushed if insurance premiums continue to rise three times as fast as wages. There are too many businesses that will be forced to shed workers, scale back benefits, or drop coverage unless we get spiraling health care costs under control.
Not that my opinion should serve as an excuse to take our feet off the necks of the Blue Dogs in Congress, but I think fear of a 1994-style whuppin' at the polls is going to ensure that health care reform passes this year, and that the resistance on display now is simple political pandering ("What's in it for me?") and posturing ("I'm changing my mind at the last minute and throwing my support behind the public option for the good of the country! Adore me!") It's like a chess game where all the pieces are characters from Heathers. Ain't republics a hoot.
JEERS to the molasses of bureaucracy. One reason why progress on Obama's economic stimulus package is slow out of the gate compared to Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s is because, 75 years later, there are more hoops to jump through, says the Boston Globe:
[W]hile Roosevelt ordered the construction of Bonneville Dam and other huge public works projects with the stroke of a pen, officials embarking on big infrastructure projects today find their hands tied in ways that were unheard of in the 1930s.
"It’s a different time. Things don’t move as quickly," said Stephen Wright, Bonneville’s administrator, reeling off the checklist for construction projects. "Just the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act would make it impossible to do what Roosevelt did," Wright said, referring to rules that require the agency to complete lengthy environmental impact reviews and hold public hearings before breaking ground on a project.
When I worked at McDonald's and something needed to get done right away to the exclusion of all else, the manager on duty would yell: "Expedite on two McChickens and three quarter pounders---let's go!" Maybe Obama should give that a try with roads and bridges and dams. If he yelled it into a bullhorn while dangling from a helicopter, it'd be a slam dunk, I bet. That's a freebie, Rahm.
CHEERS to comeuppance. 35 years ago today, on July 21, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon. That same day, he was giving a speech at a private home in Bel Air, California. Let's see... He talked about the host's tent. He talked about the struggle between Greece and Turkey. He talked about his trip to Egypt. He talked about some old administration officials. And then he closed with a fine whine:
"You wonder sometimes, and I am often asked, you know, how do you really take the burden of the Presidency, particularly when at times it seems to be under very, very grievous assault. Let me say, it isn't new for it to be under assault, because since the time we came into office for 5 years, we have had problems. There have been people marching around the White House when we were trying to bring the war to an end, and we have withstood that, and we will withstand the problems of the future."
He forgot to add four crucial words: "...for 19 more days." Silly Dick.
JEERS to swan-diving into the deep end of a pool full of crazy. Have you SEEN this??!! This is today's must-watch---a fact-free rant on climate change by a teabagger who sounds like a cross between Michele Bachmann and a gnat sucking on helium. Be sure to listen to the crowd's reaction. I don’t need an answer right away, but...at what point do we seriously consider putting these people in a rubber room so they won’t hurt someone...like themselves? I'm thinking when they get within 50 miles of my house.
CHEERS to entering the faux-lion's den. Remember when Democrats in Congress were told not to accept interview requests with Stephen Colbert because he might make them look---gasp!!!---silly? Well, Maine's new Congresscritter, Chellie Pingree, must not have got that memo, because she taped a "Better Know A District" segment with him yesterday:
She said the taping session included an argument over whether wind is truly a renewable energy source, with Colbert maintaining that the wind can be used up. Pingree said she also battled Colbert in a thumb-wrestling match.
In the past, Colbert has made many members of Congress look a little lost, even silly, by pretending to know nothing about them or asking outrageous questions. He asked Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, who is gay, what his wife thought about his weight problem. He asked Republican Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming to describe Wyoming’s "black guy."
I'm looking forward to it. Mostly because Maine's First District, including Portland, will finally get filled in on Colbert's giant map. And then we can finally get some sleep.
ACH DU LIEBER! to real-life underpants gnomes (via lurkerbg). I hate it when people in other countries steal my act:
A German man caught trying to steal three pairs of men's underpants from a sports hall was found to have amassed more than 1,000 pairs in his home, police said. The 56-year-old man was spotted stealing the underpants and managed to flee, but police identified him and paid him a visit. ... The police could not immediately be reached for comment on what the man wanted the pants for.
A bedspread, obviously. To match the drapes.
JEERS to logical summersaults. Key West Kossack and part-time goddess Vicki sent me this email last night. If it was an actual letter---like, those ancient notes they used to write on paper and send through the...um...um...Mail!---it would probably have her tear stains on it:
Today, a friend of mine condoned torture, nay, praised pouring water on someone's face, because 1) it works, 2) we haven't been attacked since 9/11.
After I finished gagging, I asked: "But what about that soldier that the Taliban has now? What if he gets tortured?"
He says: "We punish them."
Logic I cannot follow. Walk away, have stiff drink.
Make it a double.
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Five years ago in C&J: July 21, 2004
CHEERS to winning with one hand tied behind your back. In its first full Arbitron ratings book, Al Franken nearly triples Bill O'Reilly's share among coveted 25-54 demo in New York. Seethe, Bill. Seeeeeethe.
JEERS to the war president. Under Bush, America loses its 900th soldier in Iraq. Let's review: No WMDs, no link to 9/11, 1/80th the original estimate of mass grave victims, no imminent threat to anyone, and now Iraq is Terror Central. If you have a punchline, be our guest--we got nothin' but contempt.
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And just one more...
CHEERS to the power of the pen. Vanity Fair's editors took a gander at Sarah Palin's "I'm Not A Quitter And I'll Prove It By Quitting" speech. It's very funny to see just how bad it is. But...for anyone who has ever submitted their writing to the scrutiny of the evil red pencil, this is what our nightmares look like. If you need me I'll be in therapy.
Oh, and happy 61st birthday to Garry Trudeau. Now and always one of my favorite male strippers. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"Cheers and Jeers is lovely, and it's a great spot, but with all the pigeons, I'd bring an umbrella just in case the birds drop some gifts from above."
Brooke Ferencsik
TripAdvisor
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