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The filibuster doesn't need to change. Harry Reid needs to change how he caves to the threat of a filibuster.
correction - not going to take.
Thom - about the Progressive Media Summit --- don't we think liberals should be smart enough to come up with a better name than PMS?
Appears the filibuster's new name is going to take.
Tarantino - because it kills bills.
The Senate, as an institution was never meant to be democratic. There are more constituents in my congressional district than in Max Baucus' state.
ps, I like my coffee hot, not cold in the saucer.
Re: Jim Hightower's "state bird": coincidentally, Ben Franklin nominated the turkey as the national symbol.
Harry Reid needs to pull Chris Dodd to the side and tell him to stop negotiating with Corker. Why does Dodd think negotiating with a person that has no intention of negotiating in good faith? Negotiations should be before the entire committee so the Dem majority can vote down Corkers proposals.
French bread spiked with LSD in CIA experiment
A 50-year mystery over the 'cursed bread' of Pont-Saint-Esprit, which left residents suffering hallucinations, has been solved after a writer discovered the US had spiked the bread with LSD as part of an experiment.
Henry Samuel in Paris
Published: 7:00AM GMT 11 Mar 2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7415082/French-b...
*****************************************
In 1951, and just coming to light in 2010. When do you think 9/11 files will be opened?
Charles I had a similar experience with FOX news yesterday. I was watch MSNBC when my two year old climbed up on the couch and across the TV remote. Everything went haywire on the TV. I pushed a couple of buttons and the TV came back on, Bill O'Reilly was spouting off about Tom Hanks, I continued watching figuring that MSNBC (Rachel Maddow I think was what I had been watching at the time) was making a point of how crazy Bill O was being... slowly I realized that the clip was running a bit long, then it dawned on me that it was Fox News and Bill was must be doing his usual craziness. My wife and I laughed about it, remarking that it must be easy to pick any random moment on FOX and assume its a clip showing how nutty they are.
I remember the memorial service at the Felt Forum way back when, after singer/songwriter Phil Ochs took his own life due to dispair at the lack of progressive progress.
Chills went up my spine when a tape from the underground from Abbie Hoffman was played, "Our brothers' dead..."
I can still hear it.
Never givin' up, we owe it to those who came before, and those still to come.
War is Over
Silent Soldiers on a silver screen
Framed in fantasies and drugged in dream
Unpaid actors of the mystery
The mad director knows that freedom will not make you free
And what's this got to do with me
I declare the war is over
It's over, it's over
Drums are drizzling on a grain of sand
Fading rhythms of a fading land
Prove your courage in the proud parade
Trust your leaders where mistakes are almost never made
And they're afraid that I'm afraid
I'm afraid the war is over It's over, it's over
Angry artists painting angry signs
Use their vision just to blind the blind
Poisoned players of a grizzly game
One is guilty and the other gets the point to blame
Pardon me if I refrain I declare the war is over It's over, it's over
So do your duty, boys, and join with pride
Serve your country in her suicide
Find the flags so you can wave goodbye
But just before the end even treason might be worth a try
This country is to young to die I declare the war is over It's over, it's over
One-legged veterans will greet the dawn
And they're whistling marches as they mow the lawn
And the gargoyles only sit and grieve
The gypsy fortune teller told me that we'd been deceived
You only are what you believe I believe the war is over It's over, it's over
Phil Ochs
I made the mistake of watching the first 15 minutes of Glenn Beck yesterday. He was railing about Obama issuing an executive order that was going to take away our right to fish. He then spun this into they're taking away our freedoms. This drifted to him eating a pie that has been banned in New York. His datribe was oozing distrust and fear of the government generally and Obama specifically.
As any good Progressive would do, I did a quick search for this ban. What I found was an opinion piece on espn.com about a commission Obama created last year to look a consolidating local, state and federal environmental regulations. The author was stirring up panic that the commission will ban fishing. The panel has not released any recommendation other than Obama passing their future recommendations via executive order.
I expected to see "The governement can have my fishing pole when they pry it from my cold dead hands!" but only found one occurrence. I was pleasantly surprised that the comments to the piece were very articulate discussions. But the tone did change shortly after Beck's ranting.
I'd like to hear more about the Australian fines for not voting. I'm not sure if I do or don't like the idea yet. Sounds good, but is it just for National elections, Local elections, both?
Here's a test question for Tancredo:
You have enough money to either pay for rent or for your monthly food budget, which do you spend the money on?
Oh wait, that's not a test question, that's just a question an ever increasing American lower class has to answer on a usual basis.
Debbie Stabenow is a progressive ?
Wow! who knew,must be an election year.
No progressive would have voted for the banruptcy bill but that's just me I guess.
"what do you have left if you have no hope?"
Cynicism is quitting. And you can't win by quitting.
A frank recognition that we have real problems is one thing, but throwing your hands up in the air and saying "Give Up!" is another. Despair is the only unforgivable sin, say the theologians, not because God will not forgive, but because the one in despair will not accept forgiveness. I'm sure there's a political equivalent.
Frankly, I LIKE a challenge. Anyone can win an easy contest; the glory is in winning a tough contest.
About 35 years ago, Republicans embarked on their strategic course to dumb down the American citizen by packing school boards.
More required reading: "Lies My Teacher Told Me," by James W. Loewen.
(yes, I'm a teacher)
@Gerald Socha re; "Your optimism on America’s future is misplaced and wrong. "
Well, yeah. however, I used to be a radio host, and my attitude of "I feel better since I lost hope" can make people want to stay away from you. what do you have left if you have no hope? Just cynicism, like the old beatnicks and today's goths. Which is better? hope or truth?
"The Great Left Wing Conspiracy"? To assassinate the Status Quo?
Required reading "Collapse - how societies choose to fail or succeed," by Jared Diamond.
It was nice to have Tancredo on, and it showed a basic problem of conservatives.
We agree there's a problem about civic knowledge.
Thom thinks the solution is to fix the problem (educate people.)
Tancredo thinks the solution is to keep the problem going, and just take power away to the people with the problem.
Which is the attitude of a winner?
the conservative cry is 2-part: "Cut My Taxes" and "Deport Aliens!"
"Deer Kill 130,000" -headline from leftwingwacko.com
The basic stuff Tancredo (my former congressman) wants to put into a voting test is meaningless to voting itself. The reason for the number of stripes on the flag has nothing to do with how you vote.
If he wanted to be serious, he'd include things like "How does a tax bracket system work?" (I know smart people who still think that it's possible for an increase in gross pay to cause a decrease in net pay by moving them into a higher bracket.)
Things like that would make sure that people know enough about how government works to be trusted with the power to vote. But Tancredo just wants to exclude people, not empower them with useful information.
Tancredo is frighteningly unaware of his environment. I suggest that anybody who thinks we need to test people because they were all fooled into voting for a "socialist" president knows nothing about education or politics. Barriers to education and politics used to guide civics curriculum; so we got rid of civics classes.
Here is my take on why I see no future for the United States of Hell.
We claim to be a Christian nation. People may say that they know the words of Jesus but do we as Americans put into practice the words of Jesus?
For our world to have a future we must know the thoughts and words of what is written below for your reflection.
Read Matthew 25:31-46! When you do it to the least of my brethren, you do it for me.
Read Matthew 5:1-12! The beatitudes!
Read Luke 10:25-37! Who is my neighbor?
Read Luke 12:13-21! These verses warn us against greed.
Be aware of the Just War Theory! Are we in imminent danger?
St. Ambrose says, “I shall pass this way but once, any good that I can do let me do it now, because I shall not pass this way again.”
Paul Wellstone says that politics is not about power. Politics is not only about money. Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning. Politics is about the improvement of people’s lives. It is about advancing the cause of peace and justice in our country and in the world. Politics is about doing well for people.
When we recite the Lord’s Prayer, we are acknowledging that God is the Father and we are all brothers and sisters.
The Cross is a sign of contradiction. It is not about death and hatred; it is about life and love.
Love the poor and your life will be filled with sunlight and you will not fear the hour of death. St. Vincent DePaul, the first social worker
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. Mother Teresa! We must always remember that we belong to each other.
Leo Buscaglia reminds us that the heart sees what the eyes fail to see. In life we may be called upon to see with our hearts. Our hearts must be filled with love and mercy.
The moral demise of a nation precedes the ultimate demise of a nation. America is in a state of moral demise because Americans do not believe in God. They have chosen the antichrist of money, nuclear weapons, and the words of false prophets.
Meanwhile, the clownish Eric Massa was on Larry King the other day, and he certainly had the Republican talking points down cold; Massa won election in a district that is solidly Republican, so we can surmise what it takes for a Democrat to win there. I fault King for allowing that conservaDem blowhard to shout over the issue that canned him—the sexual harassment allegations made by a male staffer against him. Frankly, good riddance to him, since we don’t need another de facto Republican, and who by calling himself a Democrat demonstrates his cynical opportunism. The Democratic Party deserves better than to tolerate destructive boll weevils like him. He decried the “culture” of Washington; the problem is, politicians like him are a large part of that problem. Republicans didn’t care what people thought about their use of reconciliation; why do the Democrats have to be hamstrung by the Republican’s and blue dog’s sudden cynical “conversion?” Massa, who found his perfect sobmate in Glenn Beck, ought to find a place on Fox News or a right-wing talk radio show, easy.