The radio hosts struck a defensive, even embattled tone at times on Monday. They said Saturday’s shooting had nothing to do with either their broadcasts or the state’s tense political environment; they read e-mails over the air that were critical of their political stances, and some spoke about death threats they had received.
Talk Radio Hosts in Arizona Reject Blame in Shooting - NYTimes.com
This is exactly why I’ve been relecutant to talk about the politics involved in the Gabrielle Giffords shooting. For starters, I’m not sure I agree there was a direct correlaton between modern political discourse and the shooting.
Secondly, I don’t want to give these people any thing else to feel victimized about. The right seems to think that Obama, the press, gays, hell, even people who don’t like to eat HFCS are all out to get them— to take their America away from them. Even if they don’t believe that, the pretend that they do. They speak and rally around rhetoric that makes it seem as though their world’s are under attack and that they need to come together to stop the affront.
I hate the idea that the right is going to raise money around the idea that we are blaming them for the Tucson shooting.
More than all that, I just don’t know how to stop it. I’ve tried to ignore it. I don’t let myself get fired up about Palin or Beck, because I feel like if I ignore it, it’ll go away like a playground bully.
I don’t know what to do anymore. I vote. I donate. I write half baked posts like this. I look at my independent and libertarian friends like they are crazy. What else can I, we, do?
Source: The New York Times
308,745,538
Most interesting, and likely very distressing to Democrats in the rust belt and midewst are the declines in congressional seats.
…but when the chips were down, it was Lieberman who carried the bill through the Senate, who lobbied for and got crucial Republican support to block a filibuster, and who in the end made possible the overwhelming 65-33 victory. His commitment to equality for gay soldiers is by all accounts genuine and unwavering, and it will grace his biography, whatever else may stain it.
DADT Senators - DADT Repeal Vote Is Story of Four Senators - Esquire
A nice blurb for Lieberman and the entire article serves as a good defense for Obama and the question for how well (if at all) his presidency is going.
Source: esquire.com
Evolution of the two-party vote during past century
Political science PhD candidate David Sparks said, “Using county-level data, I spatially and temporally interpolated presidential vote returns for the two major party candidates in each election from 1920-2008. The result illuminates the sometimes gradual, sometimes rapid change in the geographic basis of presidential partisanship.”
Source: flowingdata.com
Major corporations recognize that the federal government remains an indispensable source of both critical legal protections and vast treasure chests of plunder.
For Corporate Amercia, “Big Government” means huge federal contracts (no-bid in the case of favored outfits like Halliburton and Blackwater), massive subsidies, tax breaks, investment guarantees, low-cost oil and mineral leases, and of course, the “too big to fail” doctrine which will remain in place despite reforms of Wall Street practices.
The virtually unconditional bailout of Wall Street is perhaps the most clear-cut example. The banks got bailed out, yet have shown their gratitude to the public by awarding themselves huge bonuses, while withholding loans from small businesses and families, and conducting foreclosures at such a rapid pace (10 times the daily volume during the Great Depression) that several major banks have failed to follow all procedures required before kicking a family out of their home.
Citibank, in a confidential document, describes the U.S. economic system as nothing less than “a plutonomy” where the super-rich thrive regardless of the fate of the bottom 90%. The richest 1% now take home 23.5% of all US income, more than the bottom half.
America’s ‘Plutonomy’ Drives Warped Electoral Season (via ryking)
Yes. The past 30 years of congressional and administrative politics have brought us to this point of immense inequality and, arguably, self-destruction.
So what are we talking about? Redistribution? Revolution? You can’t support a new traffic light without being called a socialist in the current climate, let alone any satisfactory, regulatory legislation.
Let’s start with not renewing these tax cuts Congress was too chicken shit to address before recess. Then, and I’m not an economist so I’m completely prepared to be called an asshole and an idiot for suggesting it, but let’s consider a tax system based on consumption. Just saying.
(via ctcircusfreak)
Source: ryking
Jasen Comstock: Is anyone else mildly annoyed by the Stewart rally?
I feel like Colbert is hamming it up like he always does — it’s weird when people take his actions seriously. This is the guy who testified in front of Congress in character.
Stewart, on the other hand, I feel has devolved over the last few months into some sort of…
I disagree.
I think Jon is angry too. He’s angry at lies and manipulation by other pundits. I think he’s angry that his President and Congress haven’t done more in the past two years. I don’t think he wants to reject the system, I think he wants to reject the people within the system.
He’s angry and the craft of manipulation that seems to distort so much of politics and the news. Ever watch him talk about how Nixon would, by today’s standards, be considered a liberal? Every time he drops that sound bite you can see his eyes light up. I think he’s shocked that we’ve all let the most hateful, angry, back-biting, manipulative components of our system prevail and grow.
Jon’s the kind of guy who is angry we are still calling the World Trade Center area Ground Zero, when the new towers are going up a new floor every week.
But Jon understands that most of us don’t live our lives in a constant state of political awareness. We read a headline here and there. An editorial in the local paper there. We talk about it near election days and when someone knocks on our door asking for a vote. We don’t live in the same machine as politicians, campaigners, and the news media.
In fact, Jon may make fun of the Tea Party for trying to reclaim some fantasy-land of freedom and capitalism, but he’s desperately trying to get us back to a fantasy past too. A time where Democrats and republicans worked together and when Congress took action and President’s acted decisively. A place where politicians always stood for and enacted all those promises and stump speeches.
I don’t think Jon rejects politics because he’s jaded or because he’s too cool for those who care. Jon rejects it because in his eyes, it’s just not working as it could. As it should. I think Jon is convinced that many American’s feel the same way. I think I do too.
Stephen Colbert’s opening statement from today’s Congressional testimony. Fantastic!
Source: colbertnation.com
![thedailywhat:
Double Take Digest of the Day: Obama and Palin work out their differences over shakes at Pop Tate’s Chocklit Shoppe in an upcoming two-part Archie story arc about heated student government campaigns at Riverdale High.
Part 1 ships December 15.
[robot6.]](http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l92n9kOYm51qzpwi0o1_500.jpg)
Double Take Digest of the Day: Obama and Palin work out their differences over shakes at Pop Tate’s Chocklit Shoppe in an upcoming two-part Archie story arc about heated student government campaigns at Riverdale High.
Part 1 ships December 15.
[robot6.]
(via postmodernista)
Source: thedailywhat
I’m a little confused.
Where I’m from, mayor’s don’t lose office. Especially, if they suck at being mayor.
Mayor Coleman Young won re-election 4 times, serving 5 terms, despite holding office during Detroit in the 70’s and 80’s. Those were the years that the city burned down annually and it was the murder capital of America.
Good times.
Kwame Kilpatrick is another example. He may have killed a stripper in the mayoral residence. The stripper’s sister was murdered too. He won his re-election. He had an affair in office with his chief of staff (LOL-Gate). Tax fraud, mail fraud, an FBI investigation, and a host of other crimes and accusations of misconduct finally led to him resigning from office.
So how does a man who has reduced crime, raised test scores, and has kept unemployment lower on average than other cities in recession lose?
According to the Washington Post, he ran a really shitty campaign and didn’t apologize for being a bit of a dick.
Politics is a strange world and despite holding a degree in Political Science, I’m still regularly confused by it.
At least he didn’t kill any body.
Get ready folks. Its political ad season.
Right wing extremist groups have grown 244% in the past year.
Gee whiz! I wonder why.
And each and every one of them can STFU.
Would I be going too far out on a limb if I considered all of these groups to be chapters of the KKK?
Source: thecranium
