tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38161582009-11-11T14:11:31.650-06:00<b>"The effect of a good government is to make life more valuable,-- of a bad one, to make it less valuable."</b>-- <i>Henry David Thoreau</i>Lenorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057280296153171740noreply@blogger.comBlogger1080125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-45574366130451395142009-11-11T14:00:00.004-06:002009-11-11T14:11:31.658-06:00

Dean Baker explains:There is a major national ad campaign, funded by the oil industry and other usual suspects, to convince the public that measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and slow global warming will result in massive job loss. This ad campaign warns of slower growth and the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, possibly even millions of jobs, if some variation of the current

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-33723700366842922002009-10-13T17:48:00.001-05:002009-10-13T17:51:39.261-05:00

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-85998267953885205032009-10-12T05:47:00.000-05:002009-10-13T17:48:19.196-05:00

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-9296334727782361472009-08-26T17:41:00.009-05:002009-08-29T23:19:07.062-05:00

The words aren't flowing today so I'll paraphrase someone who was intimately acquainted with loss:Edward Kennedy "need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him...pray that what he was to us and

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-2203350257574151792009-08-18T11:55:00.000-05:002009-08-18T11:56:05.277-05:00

Lest we forget...The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cHeadlines - Richard Clarkwww.thedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorSpinal Tap Performance

Lenorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057280296153171740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-26028595008523228242009-08-12T09:23:00.003-05:002009-08-12T12:37:03.321-05:00

From Campbell Brown to Jon Stewart to Barack Obama himself, the recent recipe for dealing with the crazies and operatives who’ve dominated the coverage of the health care debate appears to be as follows: Separate the fear mongering about death panels and such nonsense from the “legitimate” concerns about cost, being able to keep one’s current insurance, etc. Then, having sorted one from the

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-26735969043970903002009-08-10T09:22:00.008-05:002009-08-10T12:25:28.467-05:00

When the makers of the animated film The Incredibles wanted a visceral symbol for our society’s moral turpitude they knew exactly what to do: depict an insurance company executive--single-minded in the pursuit of profit and lacking even the slightest glimmer of sympathy for his fellow humans. The message was so clear that a four-year-old could get it: the only way that insurers make money is by

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-46670976607963673652009-07-31T12:41:00.002-05:002009-07-31T12:45:04.517-05:00

Finally warm enough to take him to the lake and let him play in the water. I can't believe I just wrote that on the last day of July in Chicago. What happened to summer?

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-19078790841336527182009-07-11T12:50:00.014-05:002009-07-15T13:05:14.014-05:00

If you were wondering how wealth, income, and power have been, and still are, distributed in the USA than have a look-see at an article by Professor G. William Domhoff, available at the Sociology Dept. at UC Santa Cruz. I've excerpted some of the more upsetting paragraphs, tables, and figures below.In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2004, the top

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-77787150976090148802009-07-04T08:37:00.001-05:002009-07-07T12:10:16.607-05:00

Watching The Fog of War for the second time around, I couldn't help but wonder: is this watery-eyed man in Rumsfield's future? Twenty, or so years, down the road will he subject himself to hours of interviews on his many errors in the Iraq war?As of today confirmed deaths in the Iraq War stand at just over 4,300, a far cry from the over 25,000 who died during McNamara's seven-year term as

Lenorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057280296153171740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-36612515577522670742009-07-03T17:32:00.003-05:002009-07-03T22:56:32.754-05:00

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-35380523651558320802009-06-19T13:12:00.002-05:002009-06-19T13:14:32.906-05:00

Ian Frazier says it best. O my children, you are disobedient. For when I tell you what you must do, you argue and dispute hotly even to the littlest detail; and when I do not accede, you cry out, and hit and kick. Yes, and even sometimes do you spit, and shout "stupid-head" and other blasphemies, and hit and kick the wall and the molding thereof when you are sent to the corner. And though the

Lenorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057280296153171740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-70379447196398126802009-06-05T14:34:00.004-05:002009-06-06T12:08:07.340-05:00

...is always open.When David Horowitz is complimenting you, it's way past time to trash the preferences and uninstall the software.Michael Smith at Stop Me Before I Vote Again describes Obama's Cairo speech as an "...emetic concoction of falsehood, sanctimony, and hypocrisy..." The whole sick-making performance is like this -- Parson Obama, master of the drone aircraft and the cluster bomb for

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-23188136237720178222009-05-22T17:32:00.002-05:002009-05-22T17:41:49.620-05:00

It's always heartening to find that there are many who are not hoodwinked by the rhetoric:Mr. Obama, You are a fine speechmaker and have helped the government and people of the U.S.A. generally feel a more sincere and positive connection to the civilized world than they have had a right to feel in recent years. However, to name a few of what I honestly feel are dangerously misguided positions of

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-13614202582429016902009-05-22T17:23:00.003-05:002009-05-22T17:27:00.236-05:00

Finally warm enough to drink water with two feet. He kept batting at the reflection of himself, or something, in the water. I couldn't get a pic of that. Maybe next time.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-63081156950211835992009-05-18T09:56:00.003-05:002009-05-18T10:02:30.773-05:00

(click on image for a larger version)From the Center for Economic and Policy ResearchThis report finds that the U.S. is the only country among 22 countries ranked highly in terms of economic and human development that does not guarantee that workers receive paid sick days or paid sick leave. Under current U.S. labor law, employers are not required to provide short-term paid sick days or

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-72035129785185003082009-05-15T09:37:00.001-05:002009-05-15T09:41:25.867-05:00

He's very sweet after a long walk by the lake, otherwise he's cranky.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-50942500268841704662009-05-14T22:58:00.004-05:002009-05-14T23:43:05.949-05:00

...or as Maurice White would say "Can I get a right-on?"

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-43217425843449530512009-05-09T16:18:00.007-05:002009-05-09T18:24:30.845-05:00

So what has struck me most about the Miss California thing is what it says about that strain of Protestantism. There's nothing special about the fact that she did the softcore photos; that hardly registers on the hypocrisy scale any more -- not after legions of Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader prayer leaders, dope fiend anti-drug crusaders, barely closeted gay ministersdenouncing homosexuality, etc.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-18846055620887447692009-05-03T14:29:00.011-05:002009-05-05T16:21:14.588-05:00

Last week Georgia Governor, Sonny "chickenshit" Perdue signed into law a bill permanently designating that:every April “shall be set aside to celebrate the Confederate States of America, its history, those who served in its armed forces and government,” and all those who contributed “to the cause which they held so dear.”I would think that this news would cause more than a ripple of interest and

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-69130915967304146592009-04-25T17:55:00.011-05:002009-05-05T16:20:44.557-05:00

I think that the current NAFTA regime lacks the worker and environmental protections that are necessary for the long-term prosperity of both America and its trading partners. I would therefore favor, at minimum, a significant renegotiation of NAFTA and the terms of the President’s fast track authority.Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday he is ``delighted'' the administration of U.S.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-25331671703473712592009-04-25T10:56:00.005-05:002009-04-25T11:03:42.443-05:00

Ominous news from the Army Times:U.S. European Command has deployed to Israel a high-powered X-band radar and the supporting people and equipment needed for coordinated defense against Iranian missile attack, marking the first permanent U.S. military presence on Israeli soil....EuCom has repeatedly deployed troops and Patriot air defense batteries for joint exercises and Iraq-related wartime

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-17117513915446845522009-04-24T12:42:00.002-05:002009-04-24T12:44:53.931-05:00

Spring has sprung, but not Kodi.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-54961903664382230042009-04-20T10:05:00.003-05:002009-04-20T10:15:31.780-05:00

We're adding emptywheel to our home remedies. Marcy Wheeler, welcome!

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-61141943691458201522009-04-18T13:29:00.006-05:002009-04-18T14:12:27.000-05:00

...of public schools and teachers unions?Here's Morning Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan, and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty talking about education reform:Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy• Privatization of public schools?• Freeing teachers and principals "from the burdens of contracts" -- i.e. union busting?• using D.C. as a national model?Is this really what's

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0