Palin Strikes Out Bitterly at Obama Only to Hit Herself 
The half-term governor of Alaska who quit mid-term due to an inability to get her agenda passed and indeed, even her own Attorney General nominated (a first in Alaska), strikes out at Obama, calling him “inexperienced” and unable to get a bi-partisan bill due to his “lack of management experience.” Oh, wow. This from the woman who has forced to quit after tearing Alaska apart with her lies about her ethics violations, failed fiscal policies, numerous shady dealings, and an inability to even get her own Attorney General nominated (a first in Alaskan history). A woman so cankerous, inexperienced, and unaware of the legislative process and law that she was ...
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I'm not quite sure why I've got this grudge against World War Two movies. I could just as easily write a manifesto against vampire or zombie films, since along with World War Two, those topics comprise about 99% of the ideas coming from Hollywood. So I admit my annoyance is not rational. That's what makes it fun to analyze. We're heading into the wilds of my mind where nothing makes sense. No jokes, please. For me, the last straw that led to this public plea for no more World War 2 movies was the hype permeating HBO for their new mini-series The Pacific. Like all last straws, there's nothing I have against The Pacific specifically, it's just I've had it with World War Two films in general. But why? One thing I'm sure of: I'm tired of ...
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The score from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on the current healthcare reform bill is in. Or, at least, preliminary numbers. Those numbers look very good. According to Chris Frates with Politico, the bill would reduce the deficit by "$138 billion over the next decade, but cautions that it has not yet analyzed all the provisions. So far, it has analyzed $82 billion worth of savings." In a bill designed to bring down healthcare costs, savings to the government from Medicare, Medicaid, and employee health plans should surprise no one. The release of the numbers has been a game-changer, with wavering Democrats coming around to support the bill in droves. Which is, of course, bad news for Republicans who are determined to ...
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When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.
- Sinclair Lewis  It might be a bit of a stretch to equate the teabaggers with fascists, but I am convinced that they represent something we should not ignore. What may have started as little more than difficulty understanding that our taxes help to support many of the services on which we rely, has morphed into a celebration of poisonous rhetoric, racism, and wild conspiracy theories. We've got bithers, deathers, and czarists being supported by Fox "News" as useful pawns in their efforts to delegitimize an American president. What I find increasingly disturbing about all of this is the Christian extremist tone it has taken on and the fact that politicians such ...
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Ed Cohen raises another valid concern about the rise of anonymous comments in BOTH old and new media. And that is that anonymous comments usually have the commenter "tweaking" the quote before it sees the light of day. In real life people don’t adjust their quotes. It’s therefore natural that manufactured utterance does not resonate. But everything I’ve experienced in Washington, and heard from journalists there, suggests control over the message has reached obsessive proportions. Even background (anonymous) interviews morph into “background with authorization,” so that a quote from “an official” must pass the review process lest “an official,” should misspeak.
The Obama administration is particularly active in this regard. I’d say one of ...
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 Chet Edwards is the representative from the 17th Congressional District in Texas to the United States House of Representatives. He claims to be a Democrat, but almost never votes with the Democratic Party on important legislation. He's one of those conservative "blue dogs" that wants to use the party to fulfill his own political ambitions, but is not willing to support the ideals and goals of the Democratic Party.
He might as well switch parties, because he votes with the Republicans more than he does with the Democrats. Just take a look at his votes on health care reform. He voted against the health care reform bill passed by the House of Representatives, and has already announced that he will again vote against health care reform ...
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 JD Power Company has released its 2010 dependability ratings for autos. Surprisingly after all the recent news stories about them, Toyota is still in the top ten. But the winner this year is Porsche (and at their price, they ought to be good). The top brands are listed below, along with the number of problems per 100 cars. Frankly, with the top score at 110 problems for every 100 cars, it doesn't look like any of the car companies is doing very well. Here are the top 14 brands (who finished at or below the industry average of 155):
1. Porsche - 110 2. Lincoln - 114 3. Buick - 115 3. Lexus - 115 5. Mercury - 121 6. Toyota - 128 7. Honda - 132 8. Ford - 141 9. Mercedes-Benz - 142 10. Acura - 143 11. Hyundai - 148 ...
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 Secretary of Education Arne Duncan may have just kicked a hornet's nest. He's taking on the NCAA's "March Madness" basketball tournament, and I have a feeling his new idea is not going to go over too well with college basketball fans. After all, this is the time of year for bragging rights among college alumni across this nation, and those bragging rights are attached to a fan's college making the NCAA championship tournament. Although only one team can win the tournament, there is prestige in just making it to the tournament.
But Duncan says there are teams in the tournament that shouldn't be there -- not if we are serious about education in this country. Duncan says any school that doesn't graduate at least 40% of it's ...
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Recently, there have been several posts about the Texas board of education, and their efforts to rewrite American history to serve the Christian Fundamentalist worldview. Well, phrase in particular, uttered by one of their members struck. It was that little bit about America being an "Exceptional" nation, and that they intend to teach that to American children. Let's get this straight: Americans are in no way exceptional, we are at best, mediocre, at worst incompetent.. We have become a nation of screaming whiners, who want to have the luxurious lifestyle we have had post WWII, without any self sacrifice or effort on our part. If we were exceptional, we would have built a Mars colony with a population of 3 ...
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It seems progress is inchin’ its way forward, even in the Catholic Church. Yesterday, 60 leaders of religious orders representing 59,000 nuns joined with the Catholic Health Association to support the Senate health care reform bill. The Nuns’ support for the bill is in direct defiance of Catholic Bishops, who came out against the bill on Monday claiming it funds abortion (it doesn’t, much to my dismay). The Bishops assumed they were speaking for the entire Catholic Church. You know, the way a man tells a woman whom to vote for in Real America. Oh, dear. You can’t blame the boys for assuming they were the voice of authority. That’s how this whole religion thing works. It’s based on patriarchy and serves to enable and support ...
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