De Magno Opere

• Ever Have the Feeling

  
  
  
  That we're all reliving the Hoover Administration?' [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 2:15pm EST
  

• Wait Until You See the Spray-On Tanning Expenditures

  
  Oy! And Boner has the gall to lead the call for accountability on stimulus funds in Ohio?
  
  Wonders never cease... [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 10:50am EST
  

• Looking Back

  
  Uh oh. Someone is looking back instead of just looking forward to decreased spending in a time of continuing economic collapse:
  We’re never going to decrease the deficit until we create jobs, bring revenue into the Treasury, stimulate the economy so we have growth. We have to [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 7:40am EST
  

• Enough With the Excuses

  
  The "It's Not Our Fault" Party and it's defenders continue giving me a reason to ask, when is it your responsibility for what does and does not get done in Washington?
  
  Because I'm pretty darn sure neither BushCo (nor the Republicans) made the "We've Only Been Here 10" [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 8:00am EST
  

• Your Daily Obama Floater

  
  Oh gawd. Jamie Dimon to replace Timmeh?
  
  Get your figurative (or real, up to you) passports ready. This ship is going to start sinking real fast... [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 5:00pm EST
  

• One Person Can Make A Difference

  
  To understand why Timothy Geithner (or Larry Summers, or Ben Bernanke) must go, despite assertions that one person isn't going make that much of a difference, you only have to read between the lines:
  Ever since the Great Recession began economic analysts at some (not all) major Wall' [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 8:25am EST
  

• Gratuitous Doctor Who Reference of the Day

  
  Courtesy Paul Krugman. [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 9:35am EST
  

• ACORN Ran Over My Dog

  
  Is it that time of the year again, already?
  
  And ACORN obviously stole this guy's weed meds.' [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 5:15am EST
  

• Bringin' The Hurt

  
  God, I love the brutal nature of honesty applied without the merest hint of the usual Washington politic-politeness:
  "I'm getting tired of saving Obama's can in the White House," said Conyers. "I mean, he only won by five votes in the House, and this bill wasn't anything to" [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 3:35pm EST
  

• Too Much to Process

  
  Let's see. Yesterday we had:
  
  The release of the Senate Insurance Industry Welfare Bill [PDF].
  
  A call for the heads of Timmeh and Larry (but not Ben "Moe" Bernanke).
  
  And efforts to stop an audit of the Federal Reserve's $24 trillion giveaway.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 8:35am EST
  

• John Boccieri and the Costs of Doing Nothing

  
  I'm still waiting for an answer to a question from John Boccieri's office. I look forward to the response, but while I'm waiting, it's that time again.
  
  Boccieri is right to be concerned about the cost of the Insurance Industry Bailout Bill. It does nothing to contain costs. [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 6:15am EST
  

• A Fine Line

  
  The ADL released a report on a lack of trust in the government. They focused on the teapartiers, racism, and Obama - all with good reason.
  
  I take a different view of the causes of this distrust, not because I disbelieve in the reality of the racism [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 6:00am EST
  

• Too Big To Work

  
  I've been hesitant to do much with this opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal, but even a broken watch is right twice a day:
  The Obama administration's plan is to have the Federal Reserve regulate banks that might pose a "systemic risk" if they were to fail.' [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 5:45am EST
  

• Bait and Stupak

  
  John Boccieri - and many other Democratic Ohio Representatives - have few excuses for their votes, but Bart Stupak should probably face some rather serious consequences for bullshiting his way through the Rules Committee.
  
  I wonder if expulsion from the Caucus is enough of a punishment for [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 4:25pm EST
  

• Can We Please Quit Coddling China Now?

  
  It's no secret I'm not particularly convinced by arguments that protectionist moves by the U.S. aimed at reforming the Chinese economy (for their benefit as well as ours) would result in the collapse of the U.S. economy.
  
  So, it is with that background in mind that I' [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 2:05pm EST
  

• Debt Reduction, Not Jobs

  
  Want to know what's on Obama's mind with unemployment over 10 percent, 1 in 6 Americans unable to put food on the table, and another record rise in mortgage delinquencies?
  
  Rahmbo says it's debt reduction:
  A plan for reducing America’s long- term federal budget deficits [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 10:55am EST
  

• Buh-Bye Timmeh?

  
  This isn't new. It's not really news. It's been known for some time that Timothy Geithner was not only behind at least some portion of the bailouts, but that he bore a significant portion of responsibility for the greatest swindle in American history.
  
  As to assertions' [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 8:40am EST
  

• John Boccieri and the Concerns of the 16th District

  
  Once again, let's review John Boccieri's latest excuses for why he voted against H.R. 3962:
  "After nearly 150 roundtables and meetings in my district, it's clear that my constituents agree our nation's health care system is in critical need of reform. While I fully support quality, affordable" [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 5:20am EST
  

• Time To Go

  
  As I continue with my attempts to work out how auto sales jumped (is it real sales or an accounting trick using maturing 2 and 3-year leases?), I have to stop and speak about something closely related to our economic situation.
  
  The renewed efforts to roll back [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 5:05pm EST
  

• They Go There

  
  I believe this is the definition of hypocrisy. [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 5:10am EST
  

• Why Deficits Do(n't) Matter

  
  I really don't know who Obama listens to for his economic advice (Rahm? Geithner? Summers? Orszag? The Washington Post? All of the above??), but this is a surefire way to make sure everything the Republicans say about this Administration's economic plans will become a self-fulfilling prophesy:
  The Obama [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 6:15am EST
  

• Bad News Mr. President

  
  Unless your half-assed Administration - and the more-than-half-assed Congress - are willing to engage in quite a lot of deficit spending and/or use the tax code to encourage the desired behaviour from our Corporate Masters, there is no suitable fix for the jobs situation before the 2010 elections.
  [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 3:20pm EST
  

• An Interesting Poll

  
  While one poll a trend would not make, no one could have predicted that following the "third way" in politics would result in a reversal of fortunes for Obama (and Democrats in general) in Ohio...
  
  Case in point: People aren't too happy about being forced to buy shitty,' [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 12:10pm EST
  

• Required Reading For the Stupak Bloc

  
  I personally have no opinion on the subject abortion, despite the appearance my opposition to any attempts to decide for someone else what they should or shouldn't be allowed to do with their bodies might give.
  
  I have no opinion on the subject of abortion because a) I'm [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 8:30am EST
  

• The Wide Ranging Effect of Boccieri's Anti-Choice Vote

  
  E.J. Dionne (WaPo - Villager) says the Stupak Amendment's potential to ban private-insurance coverage of abortions would only affect 13% of all abortions, using the usual flawed reading of data method to support the point of view desired.
  
  A less flawed interpretation places the percentage of abortions' [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 5:40am EST
  

• Not So Happy 10th Anniversary

  
  Chris Dodd recently released his competitor to Barney Frank’s watered down financial reform legislation. Once again, a single regulator is not the answer, but neither are 50 independent state-level authorities.
  
  Shopping around isn't restricted to the federal level.
  
  Other than that, I haven’t quite finished reading' [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 12:55pm EST
  

• John Boccieri and His So-Called Concerns

  
  [NOTE: All links fixed... I hope.]
  
  John Boccieri is a veteran, an Air Force Reservist who has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. So I decided to give him a break yesterday.
  
  Break time is over...
  
  Beside it being made clear that a real health care [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 9:15am EST
  

• Timothy Geithner Is Still the Treasury Secretary

  
  And, we all have to ask why that is? [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 5:40am EST
  

• $1.15 Trillion for Empire, Not A Penny For Anything Else

  
  Uh-oh. The Serious Democrats Caucus is getting antsy about the debt:
  Of all the various blocs and gangs that have been formed in Congress this year, Senators Bayh, Conrad, Feinstein, Lieberman and Warner have managed to form the most regressive one yet. Currently, these five Democrats are demanding [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 12:45pm EST
  

• I'm Morally Opposed to Being Morally Opposed

  
  It didn't take long for someone to be at a minimum middling brilliant about the "morally opposed" argument for banning federal funds for abortions.
  
  I would have gone for the separation of church and state argument (being anti-choice is a religious objection, morality is something completely different),' [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 9:35am EST
  

• Props Where Props Are Due

  
  I'll be the first to admit Obama is slicker than Slick Willie when it comes to his position on just about anything, but there is one thing you can count on with some consistency from our President.
  
  He does give a damn about the grunts.
  
  Granted,' [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 5:05am EST
  

• Thank John Boccieri

  
  Ever wondered why the online activist set has abandoned Obama - or more specifically - Organizing For America?
  
  Wonder no more (from an email sent on Sunday, which I just read today - long story):
  Last night, your representative, Rep. John Boccieri, cast a courageous vote to help [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 2:05pm EST
  

• Congratulations!

  
  Only one person could have shepherded through the worst assault on women's rights in a non-Sharia law country ever, but done so in order to pass a completely worthless bill.
  
  Which doesn't even begin to address the provision that might take the "public" out of the [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 10:45am EST
  

• A Socialist Attempts to Save Capitalism

  
  If this what the Morons are afraid of when they speak of socialism, then I'm all for socialism:
  Senator Bernie Sanders introduced legislation that would break up financial institutions that are too big to fail. "If an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to'" [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 5:40am EST
  

• Are Democrats Prepared to Destroy Abortion Rights?

  
  I've said it before, I'll believe it when I see it, and as evidenced by the previous origami-act put on by the Congressional Progressive Caucus when it came to a worthwhile Public Option, I highly doubt anyone is going to vote against the already heinous health care bill [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 6:35pm EST
  

• Would Boccieri Have Voted Against Medicare Too?

  
  So-Called Democrat, and Representative of Ohio's 16th District, John "I get tax-payer supported health care, too bad for you!" Boccieri, explained his No vote on H.R. 3962:
  While I fully support quality, affordable health care coverage for everyone, I am disappointed the House bill sadly does not go' [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 5:35am EST
  

• John Bocceri - Against Women's Health (and the People)

  
  The vote is in. It's not a perfect bill, it's not even close. I'm happy a Republican voted for it, because that's so very much more important than having a bill that solves significant problems.
  
  I personally consider all of this significant portions of evidence of a coming [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 11:52pm EST
  

• It Takes A Villager (To Get It So Wrong)

  
  Wow. Even Bruce Bartlett - THE world-famous supply-sider - knows better than everyone's favourite "liberal" rich guy-cum-newspaper owner-cum-Villager Extraordinaire Mort Zuckerman to place the blame for our current federal deficit on Obama's spending policies.
  
  To wit:
  To recap, the deficit came in $223 billion higher than [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 11:20am EDT
  

• The Third Bush Term (Supporting Evidence)

  
  I included this as a drive-by link in the previous post, but here's something Matt Taibbi wrote that I believe deserves further consideration.
  
  This explains more than everything that's wrong with this Presidency:
  We’re coming up on the one- year anniversary of Barack Obama’s election. I think [...]
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  Posted: October 24, 2009, 10:15am EDT
  

• Disconnect We Can Believe In

  
  I really don't want to hear jack shit from Valerie Jarrett, who like others in this Administration (see: David Axelrod and Bob Gibbs), are hung out to dry with an alarming regularity.
  
  I want to hear from the President himself, or whoever the hell actually holds the' [...]
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  Posted: October 24, 2009, 8:40am EDT
  

• The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is...

  
  Not the Republicans, who despite their penchant for being outright insane, aren't actually in position to matter anymore.
  
  No, it's our President we - and the Democratic Party - really have to fear.
  
  I would normally consider this a form of wild conjecture on why the [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 6:20am EDT
  

• What You Get For Pushing Individual Mandates

  
  My main objection to voting for (or supporting) Hillary Clinton was not the Iraq war vote, the potential for four to eight years of Republican distractions, or any of the other usual reasons several other people had.
  
  My main objection was her insistence on pursuing individual health insurance [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 9:35am EDT
  

• How To Really Save the Economy

  
  I like Robert Reich rather a lot, so it's somewhat hard for me to say he's also a victim of the political expediency disease that infects the national discussion of how to fix this severely broken economy.
  
  But it's worthwhile to examine another manner of Keynesian stimulus.[...]
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  Posted: October 11, 2009, 8:30am EDT
  

• Obama: The Greatest Republican President We've Ever Had

  
  I love lip-service. It gives people like John Emerson (your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to read this) a chance to illustrate why people such as I understand the real game plan for the Democratic Party as illustrated by Obama.
  
  Pay lip-service to as [...]
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  Posted: October 11, 2009, 6:00am EDT
  

• Obama Won What?

  
  I have three words to describe why President Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.
  
  George W. Bush. [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2009, 8:20am EDT
  

• Two Things

  
  I have very little to say about the "opt-out" option, although you can warp your brain around two different views, and realise this rather interesting (but entirely unspecific) suggestion isn't likely to go anywhere anyway.
  
  That out of the way, what's really bringing me out of' [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2009, 4:55am EDT
  

• A Democrat Who Should Really Apologize

  
  I'm usually glad to be wrong about such things, but in this case, it's sadly apparent Geithner and Rahm were waiting behind the door of the press room exit to jump Gibbs:
  White House officials on Wednesday insisted that they are satisfied with congressional action on regulatory reform' [...]
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  Posted: October 01, 2009, 7:25am EDT
  

• Nothing to Apologize For

  
  In the interest of not allowing the forest to be lost for the trees, this etymology lesson might be useful...
  
  
  Holocaust - according to the Webster's English Dictionary - was not a word created in 1939. Or 1945.
  
  Holocaust is a word that has often [...]
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  Posted: October 01, 2009, 5:35am EDT
  

• Too Bad Republicans Are Crazy

  
  I suspect it's rather common knowledge that in order for a representative democracy to work, you need to have two strong parties. Not one that feels no significant threat when they sell everyone else out, and another that is completely, utterly, bat-shit crazy.
  
  I do hope [...]
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  Posted: September 30, 2009, 2:30pm EDT
  

• Here We Go Again (Iran Edition)

  
  Did Mr. Foreign Policy's Administration trump up the charges against Iran?
  
  Can you say deja vu all over again? [...]
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  Posted: September 30, 2009, 10:50am EDT
  

• Why The Public Option No Longer Matters

  
  Two interesting views of yesterday's disaster brought to us by Max Baucus, et. al. (D - Wholly Owned Subsidary of AHIP) are here and here. The first leads to the conclusion that we're likely to be saddled with a trigger-less (good) but non-negotiable (bad) public health insurance' [...]
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  Posted: September 30, 2009, 5:05am EDT
  

• Something He'll Fight For?

  
  There was no real surprise behind today's votes in the Finance Committee, especially considering what Robert Reich had to say just yesterday.
  
  The most value that can be squeezed from these two votes is the very literal confirmation of who has been bought and paid [...]
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  Posted: September 29, 2009, 5:00pm EDT
  

• Approaching the Zenith of the Anti-Government Movement?

  
  I wouldn't normally comment on something such as a Census worker found quite probably murdered in southern Kentucky, but considering one of my first jobs was with the U.S. Census - and I seriously considered helping out again - this scared the living shit out of me.
  [...]
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  Posted: September 24, 2009, 8:10am EDT
  

• Welcome to the Team Of Rivals

  
  Mike Lux probably shouldn't have been so quick to apologize for this.
  
  For, as others have noted by various means, it really depends on who is passing out the information in this Administration.
  
  Who responded to this rather obvious revelation, the compromisers, or the' [...]
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  Posted: September 24, 2009, 6:20am EDT
  

• And the Trap Is Sprung

  
  While the Administration is busy kissing President Snowe's ass, her compatriots have started the process of springing the trap they've laid so very, very well for the Democratic Party.
  
  Thanks to all this waffling and compromising, we're likely faced with being forced to have insurance coverage [...]
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  Posted: September 23, 2009, 2:15pm EDT
  

• More Afghanistan

  
  I'm not sure anyone should really pay attention to any of the people who screwed up the entire effort in Afghanistan, but I do recommend reviewing the very recent instructive consequences of the Bush/Cheney/Rice fuck-up du jour.
  
  More troops without a plan to use them effectively' [...]
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  Posted: September 23, 2009, 11:10am EDT
  

• Why I Regularly Disable Flash

  
  Oh. Dear. God. Please. Make. It. Stop. [...]
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  Posted: September 23, 2009, 9:55am EDT
  

• Best Backfire Ever

  
  I love it when a plan comes to together.
  [...]
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  Posted: September 23, 2009, 8:05am EDT
  

• The Independent Fed?

  
  The usually clear-headed Barry Ritholtz makes a serious mistake. He believes the Federal Reserve is currently independent:
  The Fed needs to be VERY concerned with maintaining their independence.
  I'm not exactly sure having the current Treasury audit the Fed's governance structure is going to shed more light' [...]
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  Posted: September 23, 2009, 5:35am EDT
  

• Blocking Reform Hazardous to Political Health?

  
  I'd find it odd that those Finance Committee members who stand against effective reform are the ones seeing significant drops in their support, but I already figured out that Americans aren't as stupid as they've obviously assumed.' [...]
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  Posted: September 22, 2009, 2:25pm EDT
  

• Dispatches From the Revolution

  
  I once said the Iranian Theocracy wasn't going to end soon (or well). I'm still pretty sure it's not going to end soon, but it might not matter how well it ends.
  
  It may just matter to the people who count, that it ends... period.[...]
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  Posted: September 21, 2009, 4:35pm EDT
  

• Got Racism?

  
  Jesus. You really can't frame this any other way...
  
  
  ' [...]
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  Posted: September 20, 2009, 9:25am EDT
  

• How To Fix the Senate

  
  I kind of had to laugh at reading this overview of movements to expand the House of Representatives to make - in a nutshell - more representative. But then I came upon something I did not know, nor had ever heard of:
  I realize this could be done [...]
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  Posted: September 19, 2009, 4:03pm EDT
  

• Someone Screwed Up

  
  I'm not sure who let this one go by in the Administration, but we have an honest to god, newly-minted, Supreme Court Justice with brains.
  
  Somebody's going to have to pay for this...
  ' [...]
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  Posted: September 18, 2009, 2:55pm EDT
  

• Absolute Crap You Can Believe In

  
  Since Max and Kent's Excellent Adventure, some interesting items have come up.
  
  I'm going to turn my attention on the one true friend health care reform has in the Senate (as in, the one remaining halfway decent Senator who has focused on the issue rather than the' [...]
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  Posted: September 17, 2009, 5:18am EDT
  

• Making The World Safe For American-Style Democracy

  
  Until something is done about this kind of crap - which is merely symptomatic of the widespread level of corruption that is the Karzai Administration - increasing troop levels is not necessarily a wise idea.
  
  Afterward is a different story, but there will be no [...]
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  Posted: September 16, 2009, 4:45pm EDT
  

• Why The Lack of Trust?

  
  I'd have more confidence now, especially in comparison to the last two months, in anything this Administration says and/or does, but you have to remember... Obama picked Tim Geithner to be his Treasury Secretary.
  
  Latest Timeh Moment: among all the meaningless words lies from Geithner I bore' [...]
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  Posted: September 16, 2009, 2:20pm EDT
  

• No, Really?

  
  Is the Baucus (D - Insurance Industry) plan a potential Republican trap waiting to be sprung?
  
  You fucking betcha!
  [...]
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  Posted: September 16, 2009, 12:25pm EDT
  

• Officially Had Enough

  
  Welcome to the Third Bush Term (this would qualify as well):
  Wendell Potter, a former executive at Cigna, said the Baucus plan “would not provide affordable coverage … gives the industry too much latitude to charge higher premiums based on age and geographic location, fails to mandate [...]
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  Posted: September 16, 2009, 7:25am EDT
  

• TARP Forever!

  
  This is what happens when you put a significant player behind the financial industry's massive shitpile in charge of cleaning up the shitpile.
  [...]
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  Posted: September 15, 2009, 7:45am EDT
  

• 55 Percent of America to Senator Snowe

  
  Drop dead. [...]
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  Posted: September 15, 2009, 5:20am EDT
  

• Obama and the Democrats Continue to Seek Massive Losses in 2012 and Beyond

  
  I'm not so sure about any major shifts in the state of the political landscape in 2010 - especially when one takes into consideration how weak the Republican Party really is - but I can confidently predict that this kind of continued waffling and screwing around, will' [...]
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  Posted: September 14, 2009, 7:15am EDT
  

• The Best Thing I've Heard Yet

  
  Nothing, really, about Obama's speech this past Wednesday made me want to dance and sing (or anything even closely approaching either), but this is by far the most unequivocal statement in support of a public option - with one caveat:
  "I intend to be president for a while" [...]
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  Posted: September 12, 2009, 12:35pm EDT
  

• All Rise For the Speaker of United Health Group

  
  Ah, Nancy, you fucking bitch.
  
  Another few months of this, and I'll officially start raising/giving money to Libertarians with a wild abandon not seen since... ever.' [...]
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  Posted: September 12, 2009, 10:55am EDT
  

• Wrong

  
  No one still seems able to find the way the Obama Administration plans on controlling rising health care costs - sans a Public Option.
  
  No one in the Obama Administration seems to get the basic facts of why the Progressive Block is standing firm:
  A senior [...]
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  Posted: September 12, 2009, 9:25am EDT
  

• The Next Time

  
  The next time the world goes to hell, no one will be able to blame it on BushCo. [...]
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  Posted: September 12, 2009, 8:15am EDT
  

• Then You Shouldn't Have Voted For Him

  
  Honest John, the Last American Hero™, appears to be having some issues with the Chief Justice:
  It was just six years ago that the Supreme Court upheld the electioneering communications provision in McCain-Feingold and nothing has happened in that time to warrant the drastic step of overruling that [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 9:25am EDT
  

• The House Isn't the Problem

  
  I'm somewhat glad House Progressives are holding Obama's feet to the fire for what the people want, but I'm not exactly sure that's really a problem.
  
  Based not only on what came out of Harry Reid's mouth yesterday, but Tom Harkin's equivocation, I'd say the 17 morons' [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 7:10am EDT
  

• While Bush and Cheney Were Looking for Terruh'sts Under Your Bed

  
  They were destroying the lives of Americans much more effectively than any group of people - in airplanes or otherwise - ever could. [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 5:35am EDT
  

• This Is What He Really Said

  
  It's always helpful to have a Triangulating Bullshit Translator handy.
  
  Especially when all hope has been dashed in such a stunningly short period of time. [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2009, 4:55pm EDT
  

• That's Not What He Said

  
  Obama has not - as some may maintain - said at any time in the past six weeks that any health care reform package must contain a public option.
  
  Merely that it must contain an insurance exchange, which includes a public option as a means to [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2009, 3:15pm EDT
  

• Another Opportunity Wasted

  
  I'm really beginning to feel the same way about this whole health care reform deal.
  
  More in the sense that it has provided a very convenient distraction rather than that of a pressing issue that couldn't have benefited from a longer-term public education campaign.
  
  While we [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2009, 8:15am EDT
  

• The President I Voted For Makes A Surprise Appearance

  
  Alright. Let me start with the quintessential socialist libertarianism that is the Barack Obama I voted for, and also - in a sense that couldn't be expressed in so many words during the late-18th Century - that of the Founding Fathers I've long admired:
  You see, our predecessors [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2009, 6:40am EDT
  

• Another Speech...

  
  ...in a long line of speeches? Perhaps.
  
  I'm not necessarily overjoyed, nor entirely disgusted, by Obama's speech last night. No, I thought it was well executed, and I'll expand on that at another time.
  
  But speeches are great as far as they can possibly go [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2009, 1:15am EDT
  

• Got Deficits?

  
  When it comes to helping the people who put them in office, everyone in the Centre-Right Party is a deficit hawk.
  
  If only they would have thought about those deficits when they were voting for Bush's tax cuts, or even better, the Iraq war:
  In a health [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2009, 10:55am EDT
  

• A Warning For Democrats

  
  You can be as mealy mouthed as you want, straddle every possible fence, and screw around forever, but the facts of the matter are pretty clear.
  
  You fuck up health care reform in such a manner that it causes even more economic pain and you are [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2009, 9:40am EDT
  

• Clean House

  
  Why is Max Baucus allowed to caucus with the Democrats in the Senate?
  
  If this unrealistic K-Street bastard is a Democrat, then I'd really hate to see whatever plan the Republicans could possibly have in mind.' [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2009, 7:10am EDT
  

• Go Ahead, Screw Yourselves

  
  Ladies and gentlemen, Paul Krugman finally explains to the Villagers (including one admirable - and quite former in my opinion - blogger who somehow got sucked into the Washington Posts' field of gravitational stupidity) why a public health insurance option is not only a preferable part of any health' [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2009, 5:35am EDT
  

• Losing Patience

  
  Welcome to the "League of the Extraordinarily Pissed Off" one Steven Hillibrand:
  “I am one of the millions of frustrated Americans who want to see Washington do more than it's doing right now,” said Steve Hildebrand, the deputy campaign manager who oversaw the Obama campaign’s field organization and [...]
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  Posted: September 08, 2009, 6:35pm EDT
  

• And the Folding Begins

  
  Ah, yes. Who would have guessed that some of the "Progressive" Dems in Congress would start folding?
  
  It's really not that hard to stand up for what you believe in when your district is as safe as can be. But you have to believe in something first.[...]
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  Posted: September 08, 2009, 4:15pm EDT
  

• I Defer To My Colleague, The Senator From Standard Oil

  
  The bullshit keeps going, and going, and going...
  
  More here. [...]
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  Posted: September 08, 2009, 1:35pm EDT
  

• Baucus Care

  
  There's so much wrong with this, I'm not actually sure where to start. I've been trying for several hours to pick just two or three of the most heinous parts to detail in excruciating detail, but I can't narrow it down that far.
  
  Expansion of Medicaid? Forget' [...]
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  Posted: September 08, 2009, 1:00pm EDT
  

• Because They Just Can't Help Themselves

  
  Can you say "next financial bubble"?
  After the mortgage business imploded last year, Wall Street investment banks began searching for another big idea to make money. They think they may have found one.
  
  The bankers plan to buy “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly [...]
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  Posted: September 06, 2009, 9:40am EDT
  

• But... But... They're SOCIALISTS!

  
  Republicans are right. If we let Democrats take our health insurance system from a for-profit death panel style means of operation to a government-run plan, we could face the horrors Canadians face everyday.
  
  Like more jobs being created and shit...
  
  We wouldn't want that, now would' [...]
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  Posted: September 06, 2009, 7:10am EDT
  

• It's Official

  
  The people running the White House are either corrupt, or complete morons:
  Okay, so the White House is circulating an upbeat polling memo citing a bunch of public surveys showing that public opinion still tilts heavily in Obama’s favor on health care.
  
  The memo, by Obama [...]
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  Posted: September 05, 2009, 5:15am EDT
  

• Or The Progressives Will Stand Firm

  
  I still don't trust any Congress-critter, but it's about damn time someone stared down that guy in the White House who claims he's a Democrat, but seems more interested in private advice from - and approval of - Republicans (as worthwhile as the advice, rather than the' [...]
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  Posted: September 04, 2009, 9:15am EDT
  

• Got Recovery?

  
  Listen, saying we're in a recovery when jobless claims are still over half-a-million per week, and those who still have jobs are finding it incredibly difficult to maintain their existing debts (wasn't TARP or some other alphabet-soup crap supposed to solve that too?), is like saying fire [...]
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  Posted: September 04, 2009, 7:10am EDT
  

• This Is Not Helping

  
  Afghanistan is definitely something I would give the Obama Administration time to sort out. It is not his fault - or lack of direction - that led the last President to divert about 90 percent of the available military ground resources of this country to fight in a country [...]
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  Posted: September 04, 2009, 5:35am EDT
  

• I'm Not Even Sure He Brought a CAKE KNIFE!

  
  About the best thing I've read yet about the latest Democratic Fail.
  
  And despite what you may believe I've been railing against since before inauguration day, it's the entire party that's failed. Obama is merely the latest symptom, not necessarily the cause.
  
  When you find falling [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2009, 1:10pm EDT
  

• It Depends on Your Definition of "Economic Recovery"

  
  I know there's some happy talk about these predictions (which like all predictions is based on half a cups of facts, and half a cup of profit motive), but read between the lines:
  Government efforts to funnel hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy [...]
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  Posted: September 03, 2009, 7:35am EDT