Archive for November, 2009

Senate Health Care Reform Debate Starts Today

The debate on the health care reform deal starts today in the U.S. Senate at 3 p.m. There is still one major sticking point in the negotiations: the fate of the public option. Don’t worry though, Compromisin’ Carper is on the case:
There is one idea that supporters hope could rally the centrists: Call [...]

30Nov2009 | Unstable Isotope | 1 comment | Continued

Monday Open Thread

It’s Cyber Monday today, supposedly the biggest online shopping day. I suppose you’re all back at work ready to go?
Well, it’s also open thread time and it’s time to tell us your thoughts.
First, congratulations to Chelsea Clinton on her engagement:

Chelsea Clinton is engaged to her longtime boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky, a spokesman for former President [...]

30Nov2009 | Unstable Isotope | 33 comments | Continued

Republicans Have Big Ones Too — Bills That Is

Remember the lie about the Health Care legislation was longer than War and Peace? Turns out that out of the top 10 longest bills, half of them have been written by Republicans reports Open Congress.
But long bills are written by both Democrats and Republicans. The second longest bill to appear in Congress over the past [...]

30Nov2009 | nemski | 2 comments | Continued

Hal Turner, FBI Informant

[Warning - this post contains some offensive language. -- UI]
Hal Turner is a rightwing radio host known for his extremist, far right views. He has a small, hard-core following among white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Hal Turner was named one the “40 To Watch” by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2003:
Just when some [...]

30Nov2009 | Unstable Isotope | 7 comments | Continued

Another Republican Presidential Contender Bites The Dust

This time it’s Mike Huckabee, and it’s not a sex scandal. It’s a clemency scandal (another one). The man accused in the execution of 4 police officers in Washington state was granted clemency by Mike Huckabee.
You may have heard that four police officers were murdered in what under different circumstances would look like [...]

29Nov2009 | Unstable Isotope | 34 comments | Continued

100 Greatest Quotes from The Wire

I loved this show and saw it almost entirely in DVD or via bittorrent. In fact, this show is how I even found out about bittorrent. In any event, this was a brilliantly written show, with alot of memorable and true characters — with an extra special bonus throughout the seasons if you knew anything at all about Baltimore politics or law enforcement.

29Nov2009 | cassandra_m | 2 comments | Continued

Professional Cheaters

For every game, there’s a cheater. Read the interesting story of the Philadelphia Inquirer Sudoku tournament and the “Sudokubomber” Eugene Varshavsky.
On October 24, the paper hosted this year’s Sudoku National Championship, where a theretofore unknown solver going by the name of Eugene Varshavsky blazed his way to the top. He earned entry into a [...]

29Nov2009 | Unstable Isotope | 1 comment | Continued

Comment Rescue — Vote for PPP to Poll DE-Sen Race!

This is from xstryker in the Weekend Open Thread. Go vote to field a poll for Delaware and encourage your friends to do the same!

29Nov2009 | cassandra_m | 4 comments | Continued

“Too Much Work”

I really am weary of Sarah Palin, and am having trouble not thinking about Lindsay Lohan every time her name is mentioned, but what happened this weekend so encapsulates what this woman stands for. She didn’t finish the 5k run as promoted on her twitter account – She didn’t finish the race, opting to leave [...]

29Nov2009 | pandora | 8 comments | Continued

State/Walgreen’s Feud Delaying H1N1 Shots?

8-Ball sez: Signs point to ‘Yes’.
First, in the spirit of full disclosure allow me to stipulate that I’ve ‘got a dog in this fight’ as I’m close to someone who works for Walgreen’s. Although said someone worked for Happy Harry’s for 20 years and greatly admires Alan Levin as well.
Now, follow me on this. The [...]

29Nov2009 | El Somnambulo | 21 comments | Continued

Sunday Papers: The UK Iraq War Inquiry

We haven’t done this for awhile, but this effort by the British to take a hard look at how they came to be involved in the Iraq War doesn’t seem to have gotten much press stateside. So far, I’ve seen one NYT article (this post written on 11/28, tho) and heard some NPR reports.

29Nov2009 | cassandra_m | 3 comments | Continued

Weekend Open Thread

Here’s an open thread for you while we all recover from our post-Thanksgiving family, food and/or alcohol hangovers. What’s on your mind?
Do you remember when we talked about the hypothesis that the Higgs Boson was sabotaging the Large Hadron Collider. The sub-atomic saboteurs have decided to rest for a while because last week [...]

28Nov2009 | Unstable Isotope | 3 comments | Continued

Top 5 Republican Lies for 2009

Even though the year isn’t over, TPM catalogs the Top 5 ways that the GOP stepped into the national conversation with lies, distortions, bad faith and plain made up data.

28Nov2009 | cassandra_m | 3 comments | Continued

White House Gatecrashers: Fascinating?

We haven’t covered the story of the state dinner crashers, Tareq and Michaele Salahi here at DL because it didn’t seem like a big deal. The Salahis managed to get past Secret Service security, which raises some eyebrows, but ultimately nothing happened. The Salahis managed to get photographed with Rahm Emmanuel, Joe Biden [...]

28Nov2009 | Unstable Isotope | 25 comments | Continued

Carper on Hardball

This is from a show on 11/25 and Chuck Todd interviews him:

27Nov2009 | cassandra_m | Comments Off | Continued

Black Friday Open Thread

Today is Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. How many of you braved the stores today? I’m happily ensconced on my couch today. I try to avoid shopping on Black Friday if I can, I don’t like the craziness.
It’s your open thread so let’s get started.
Here is a cool [...]

27Nov2009 | Unstable Isotope | 31 comments | Continued

National Day of Listening

I was going to post up something about the Black Friday madness (even picked out some music), but I heard something yesterday which I think is much more useful.

27Nov2009 | cassandra_m | 9 comments | Continued

New Rules May Bar Lobbyist From Advisory Boards

I’m not sure why there hasn’t been more comment from the Obama administration on this:
Hundreds, if not thousands, of lobbyists are likely to be ejected from federal advisory panels as part of a little-noticed initiative by the Obama administration to curb K Street’s influence in Washington, according to White House officials and lobbying experts.
The new [...]

27Nov2009 | Unstable Isotope | 6 comments | Continued

Trouble In Paradise?

Remember all that talk about a Palin/Beck ticket? Glenn Beck says it isn’t going to happen and he has really good reasons why it won’t happen:
But just a few hours later on his radio show, Beck shot down the idea, saying he was “absolutely” ruling out a Palin-Beck ticket. He explained that if he [...]

27Nov2009 | Unstable Isotope | 12 comments | Continued