November 2009
37 posts
2 tags
“Hope Is Fading Fast”: A Devastating Take on The... →
I think I might have to get one of these.
(via @savagemike)
NOVA - What Are Dreams? →
Very cool Nova this week about ‘the world of sleep’, including sleepwalking cats.
This Week's Globe Trekker: The Transatlantic Slave... →
1 tag
Communicating with 'A Woman's Nation' →
“A new book by Maria Shriver documents women’s ascension into the workforce and the fundamental societal changes that have occurred as a result. An important question remains: how should political campaigns communicate with working women?
“For campaigns, women are key. Obama captured 56% of the women’s vote in 2008; by contrast, Corzine captured 50% of the women’s...
Badfellas : How Rahm And My President Killed... →
Lee Stranahan:
“When I supported Barack Obama in 2008, two of most compelling reasons were his stand on health care reform and his strong opposition to the power of lobbyists in Washington. When he was elected, it was like we were all elected. Finally, we’d have one of our guys as the President.”
(full story)
Dear Progressive Allies in Health Care Reform:... →
“Unfortunately, I’m not sure I have seen this kind of unity when it comes to the anti-choice Stupak Amendment. In my email inbox, I’m getting elation-infused emails from Moveon.org, my state Democratic party, Americans for Democratic Action, even SEIU. Organizations for which I have tremendous respect - truly. But even as your emails proclaim that “the fight is far from...
1 tag
1 tag
“Crazy people are like wasps - if you pay too much attention to them they only...”
– Ray Fischer
3 tags
2,200 Vets Died Last Year Because They Lacked... →
jonathan-cunningham:
“Like other uninsured Americans, most uninsured vets are working people – too poor to afford private coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or means-tested VA care,” said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a professor at Harvard Medical School. […]
Dr. David Himmelstein, the co-author of the analysis and associate professor of medicine at Harvard, commented, “On this...
1 tag
ryking:
“[Note from Ryking: What Pearlstein fails to mention below is that the endless senatorial holds on nominees have been placed by Republicans. The 60-vote “requirement” to pass legislation after two centuries of “51 votes wins?” A GOP requirement that the Democrats idiotically went along with.]
Last weekend, after months of committee deliberations, backroom dealmaking and leadership...
Think Progress » Maddow Rips Rep. Pete Hoekstra... →
(via ryking)
The Democrats' new "Family" values:
Thanks to C... →
“American women will pay the price for the Democratic dithering that allowed Saturday’s passage of the Stupak-Pitts amendment, a worm virus inserted into the House healthcare reform bill with surgical precision. But the Democratic Party will suffer collateral damage.
‘Stupak-Pitts isn’t just “the biggest restriction on women’s right to choose in our...
1 tag
Chomsky on acceptable opinion
jonathan-cunningham:
christielouwho:
jonathan-cunningham:
poortaste:
“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the...
2 tags
What Good Is A Democratic Majority If It Governs...
ryking:
Anthony Wiener has abandoned single-payer, joining the rest of the Dems who foolishly abandoned it months ago:
“I feel very strongly that the employer-based model is not the way to go and single-payer is the better way,” Mr. Weiner said in an interview. “But I never wanted it to be the situation where we literally let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
Unfortunately Mr.Wiener, the...
2 tags
ryking:
“…[C]entrism is a political position too. And you see moderate bias — i.e., a preference for centrism — whenever a news outlet assumes that the truth must be “somewhere in the middle.” You see it whenever an organization decides that “balance” requires equal weight for an opposing position, however specious…
Often, moderate bias is just the result of caution, but the effect is to bolster...
2 tags
With "Democrats" Like These...
ryking:
…who needs Republicans? 64 Democrats joined 176 Republicans to stick a shiv in the backs of hundreds of thousands of poor women; bipartisanship at its “finest.” Notice how it’s always one-sided and hews to the right?
The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Saturday to tighten a ban against using federal funds to finance abortions under the proposed Democratic healthcare reform...
2 tags
ryking:
“Neither Republicans nor Democrats adequately acknowledge that it is deeply weird to tie health insurance to one’s job, and even stranger to discuss health care reform as though it is primarily a matter of getting everyone insured.
These two dysfunctional features are preserved in the legislation just passed by the House. Employer- provided health care distorts labor markets by...
2 tags
ryking:
“In the House, the Stupak anti-abortion amendment passed 240 to 194 with one member voting present. 64 Democrats votes yes on the Stupak amendment. The Stupak amendment would effectively ban insurance companies from selling insurance plans that cover elective abortion on the individual and small group market. It would be one of the most far reaching national restriction placed on abortion...
2 tags
3 tags
ryking:
“…Conservative Republicans are hobbled. We’ve got a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate and a Democratic President … in what is arguably the most important Democratic domestic policy initiative of the past three decades, also during what is arguably the easiest point in the process for liberals—the House vote—and the bishops weren’t able to convince Democrats to even consider expanding...
3 tags
ryking:
“Democratic women are outraged, saying it will require women in the exchanges to buy a separate insurance rider to cover abortion, even if they buy private insurance, in effect expanding the Hyde restrictions to the private sector. “It is ridiculous,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. “No one plans an unplanned pregnancy.” Oakland Democrat Barbara Lee said it will “take us back to the days...
2 tags
4 tags
With "Democrats" Like These...
ryking:
…who needs Republicans? 64 Democrats joined 176 Republicans to stick a shiv in the backs of hundreds of thousands of poor women; bipartisanship at its “finest.” Notice how it’s always one-sided and hews to the right?
The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Saturday to tighten a ban against using federal funds to finance abortions under the proposed Democratic healthcare reform...
“Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible...”
– Thomas Jefferson (via azspot)
Another Day, Another Shooting Rampage
ryking:
— Two Dead, Eight Wounded In Orlando Shooting, Police Searching For Gunman
— “Suspect Revealed Jason Rodriguez license plate DU119UX.”
Ft. Hood, Facebook, and Flamewars
ryking:
Just got into my first Facebook flamewar with right-wing trash trying to tar and feather anyone who points out that Nidal Malik Hasan was the victim of intense and prolonged bigotry. Several right-wingers denied that bigotry exists anywhere, let alone in the military.
It boggles my mind that there are people denying that bigotry is an issue in the military, or trying to downplay it as a...
ryking:
“Ft. Hood’s commander, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, said today that there are unconfirmed reports that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan shouted “God is great” in Arabic before opening fire yesterday at the Army base. Again: we will soon be able to hear Hasan’s motivations in his own words. Even if he shouted such a thing, it would no more reflect on his co-religionists than does the fanatic who murdered...
3 tags
Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
Yoko Ono was on Fallon tonight, with Plastic Ono Band. Sean Lennon on guitar in the band. Yoko getting her freak on, worked up over the D train. Video should be available by tomorrow…I’ll edit to include link - I was just too excited to wait to post.
Yoko’s music isn’t often my cup of tea, but she’s always been fearless, and her music was way ahead of it’s...
1 tag
3 tags
"Becoming Human" - 3 part Nova series →
Becoming Human Part 1 First Steps: Six million years ago, what set our ancestors on the path from ape to human? Tuesday, November 3 at 8 pm (hopefully you caught this)
Becoming Human Part 2 Birth of Humanity: New discoveries reveal how early humans hunted and formed families. Tuesday, November 10 at 8 pm (Check local listings)
Becoming Human Part 3 Last Human Standing: Many human...
3 tags
Harry Reid Writes a Polite But Scolding Letter
ryking:
The Republican Party sent a letter to Reid (and several media outlets, of course) accusing the Democratic Party of crafting health care reform legislation in secret meetings. Reid sent a letter to the GOP in reply today that basically says:
1) The legislative process was transparent and public.
2) The GOP was a part of that process; Republican senators added tons of amendments to the...
