Thu Sep 02, 2010 at 21:56:53 PM CDT
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- Affordability in the housing market, from The Bonddad Blog. I suppose the diarist might well be proved right, someday.
- Good reasons for voters to want to take a mulligan, from Blue Jersey.
- The Brad Blog on a 'change' that likely won't change anything in corporate media.
- An underreported aspect of Arizona's SB 1070. 'For-profit prisons'...that is messed up.
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Wed Sep 01, 2010 at 22:12:55 PM CDT
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- Glenn Greenwald on right-wing excuse-making in Iraq, etc.The predominant attribute of American elites is a refusal to take responsibility for any failures. The favored tactic for accomplishing this evasion is the "nobody-could-have-known" excuse. - There have been a lot of these types of diaries (don't give up on November) at Daily Kos lately. They're pretty good, I think.
- The Washington Times changes ownership, again. I mention this because plenty of righties, including bloggers, still, in all apparent seriousness, cite that rag as legitimate source material. Via TPMMuckraker.
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Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 21:55:39 PM CDT
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- Dean Baker, of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, has a quick budget quiz, via The Huffington Post.
- Much as I dislike linking USA Today, this is an important compiliation of information on record need for anti-poverty programs.
- Political Animal: 'Planning ahead for a government shutdown.' Last month, I put the odds of a government shutdown, in the event of a GOP majority, at over 50%. I continue to think that's a reasonable assessment. Indeed, it almost seems likely -- Republicans have decided that President Obama is not to be negotiated with, and there is no acceptable compromise between the White House's position and the GOP's.
Besides, if Republicans are rewarded in the midterms after moving sharply to the right-wing, they'll consider it a mandate for unflinching radicalism. I'd be surprised if they didn't shut down the government.
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Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 21:55:56 PM CDT
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- The GOP candidate in CD1 is not, in fact, the proverbial 'salt of the earth,' from Bluestem Prairie.
- Alaska politics. Unreal. From The Mudflats.
- Firedoglake on the current status of financial industry regulation.
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Sun Aug 29, 2010 at 21:37:54 PM CDT
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- Texas Kaos on GOP/Tea Party puppetmasters the Koch brothers.
- Minnesota Brown has reflections on beginning another school year.
- Audio of Sen. Al Franken at The Fair, from MPR. Sen. Franken discusses, among other things, how each cloture vote requires 30 hours when nothing else can happen, how Republicans are filibustering nominees and bills they vote yes on, and that the small business tax breaks a questioner asked for could have been passed months before.
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Sat Aug 28, 2010 at 21:58:54 PM CDT
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- This one, from author Tim Wise, was probably meant to get left-of-center types to engage in some possibly discomfiting reflection. In my case, that's what happened, anyway.
- Some good news about the for-profit 'education' industry - i.e. not good news for the industry itself - from The Cucking Stool.
- Photos and commentary from an observer of Saturday's event in DC.
- How the Other Half Lives is a photo/text expose of extreme poverty in NYC in the 1800s. A representative photo is here. An index to the whole thing is here.
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Sun Aug 22, 2010 at 22:03:38 PM CDT
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- Here's major Obama-boosting, from Frank Schaeffer.Who actually has failed...
...are the Americans that can't see the beginning of a miracle of national rebirth right under their jaded noses. Who failed are the smart ass ideologues of the left and right who began rooting for this President to fail so that they could be proved right in their dire and morbid predictions. Who failed are the movers and shakers behind our obscenely dumb news cycles that have turned "news" into just more stupid entertainment for an entertainment-besotted infantile country.
Here's the good news: President Obama is succeeding without the help of his lefty "supporters" or hate-filled Republican detractors! - I sometimes imagine the debates among scholars, say 30-50 years from now, as to whether Reagan or Bush II was the worst 'modern' president, and quite possibly the worst ever as well. This diary, from The Existentialist Cowboy, makes the case for the former.
- Open Left: 'Picking idiots is so much fun! Why not join in yourself?'
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Sat Aug 21, 2010 at 21:49:05 PM CDT
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- An overview from Daily Kos on how positive change does happen, fueled by the left, uncertain and frustrating a slog though it generally seems to be.
- "The U.S. Intelligence Community comprises 17 federal agencies and departments..." An overview of my idea of a real government boondoggle.
- AlterNet on various, and worsening, manifestations of anti-Islamic bigotry. Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent who has interrogated several dangerous terrorists, wrote this week that "when demagogues appear to be equating Islam with terrorism" it reinforces "the message that radicalizers are selling: That the war is against Islam, and Muslims are not welcome in America." He added: "from a national security perspective, our leaders need to understand that no one is likely to be happier with the opposition to building a mosque than Osama Bin Laden. His next video script has just written itself."
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Thu Aug 19, 2010 at 21:45:39 PM CDT
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- 'Obama's Justice,' from The Atlantic.
- A brief, but effective, little post, from Crooks And Liars.
- Proponents of 'austerity measures' (except, of course, for the wealthy) can reference how well they're working in Greece. Well, not exactly. From Spiegel Online.
- Juan Cole on the US drawdown in Iraq. Some of the comments are also trenchant. Of course, this flat statement is not entirely accurate. The remaining 50,000 troops are viewed as trainers and logistics support to the Iraqi government. But they include special operations units, helicopter gunship crews, and other war fighters who are still going to be engaged in combat but will not be categorized as being in Iraq for that purpose. Iraq has no air force to speak of, and the US will be providing the air support until at least 2018.
But it would be wrong to see Thursday's landmark as meaningless. It is a little bit immature to demand an all or nothing military situation. What Obama has done is stay true to US commitment to get combat units out by September 1. That should reassure Iraqis- and Arabs and Muslims in general - about US intentions.
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