Archive for Unstable Isotope
Opinionated chemist, troublemaker, blogger on national and Delaware politics.
Harry Reid Eats His Wheaties
I’d like to start this post with a sincere wish for the rapid recovery of Harry Reid’s wife and daughter, who were in a serious car accident yesterday. Health care reform looks more certain to pass any day now. One hold-up has been the distrust between the House and the Senate. The Senate is now an almost completely dysfunctional body and the House is worried that the fixes to the health care bill will not see action. There are now at least 54 Senators on board with reconciliation for the sidecar bill containing fixes to the Senate bill and Harry Reid has sent a letter of notice to Mitch McConnell that Democrats are going to pursue reconciliation:
12Mar2010 | Unstable Isotope | 0 comments | Continued
Thursday Open Thread
Welcome to Thursday and welcome to your open thread. As usual, I’ll provide a couple of links for you to talk about if you wish but there is nothing that is off-topic in an open thread.
A story spread all over the rightwing news media about a ban on fishing by the Obama administration. [...]
A Bill We Should All Support – Medicare Buy-In
Progressive hero Alan Grayson has introduced a short 4-page bill to allow Americans to buy into Medicare coverage (without subsidies). Think Progress’s Wonk Room describes the bill, called the “Public Option Act” or “Medicare You Can Buy Into Act”:
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) has provided the White House with a real opportunity to win back [...]
Republicans Want To Raise Your Taxes
Paul Ryan is a Wisconsin Republican and a rising star in the party. He’s the ranking member of the House Budget Committee and several weeks ago he unveiled his plan for balancing the budget. It was a Republican plan on steroids – huge tax cuts for the wealthy, elimination of Social Security and [...]
11Mar2010 | Unstable Isotope | 5 comments | Continued
Wednesday Open Thread
Welcome to Wednesday! Is anyone else finding this week incredibly long? It’s time for your open thread, so tell us what’s on your mind.
Hey, I love this news but with all news about diet take it with a grain of salt:
Led by Dr. Lu Wang, preventive-health experts at Brigham conducted the first long-term [...]
John Carney Chosen For DCCC’s Red To Blue Program
Former Lt. Gov John Carney has been chosen in the first group of “Red to Blue” candidates by the DCCC. This is good news for John Carney, because that means his race is being placed in high priority by the Democratic party.
Chairman Van Hollen joined DCCC Vice Chair Bruce Braley (IA) and Red to [...]
Glenn Beck, Cult Leader
The leaders of cults tend to be charismatic individuals who brainwash their followers. They do this by isolating them from their friends and family so that the members are dependent on the cult leader for their world view. They also make distinctions between “us” and “them,” with “us” as the good guys and [...]
10Mar2010 | Unstable Isotope | 8 comments | Continued
The Delicate Flowers Of SCOTUS
Someone’s had their widdle feelings hurt:
Speaking to law students at the University of Alabama, Roberts said he had “no problems” with criticism in general.
“On the other hand, there is the issue of the setting, the circumstances and the decorum,” said the Chief Justice. “The image of having the members of one branch of government standing [...]
The Train To Crazytown
Newly disgraced former Congressman Eric Massa appeared on Glenn Beck’s TV show today. For some reason, the rightwing embraced Massa – I guess believing that Massa had the power to hurt the Obama administration. The interview didn’t go as Beck expected (he wanted to bash Rahm Emmanuel the whole time I guess):
“I wasn’t [...]
GOP Grooming Obsession
The Crist-Rubio Senate primary race down in Florida is beginning to be a blowout for Marco Rubio. There’s been all kinds of rumors that Crist would switch parties or become independent, which he denies. There’s a brewing scandal on some expenses that Rubio charged to a state party credit card, including $130 at [...]
9Mar2010 | Unstable Isotope | 2 comments | Continued
Tuesday Open Thread
It’s Tuesday and it still feels like spring. I think I’m starting to get used to this weather. So, are we ready for an open thread?
P.T. Barnum said there’s a sucker born every minute and I guess he’s right about that:
Instead, two glass vials purportedly containing the ghosts of two dead people sold [...]
How Progressives Have Shaped Health Care Reform
We’re now in the final stretch of the health care reform battle. Within the month we’ll either have a vote or the Democrats will give up on health care reform for the near term (or make some tiny improvements). President Obama is out giving a strong defense for the need for health care [...]
9Mar2010 | Unstable Isotope | 55 comments | Continued
What’s That Word I’m Looking For?
There’s a word that applies here but “ironic” isn’t it:
The vocal opponent of health care reform in the U.S. steered largely clear of the topic except to reveal a tidbit about her life growing up not far from Whitehorse.
“We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada,” she said. “And [...]
Monday Open Thread
It’s a beautiful Monday today! I’m glad we’re getting the spring weather finally. I guess Delaware Dem is going to remove that hit contract from Punxsutawney Phil now?
I was busy watching and tweeting away during the Oscars. Here’s the story behind one of the weirdest moments of the night:
The most riveting face-off [...]
Daily Kos Features Delaware’s Weatherization Stimulus
Meteor Blades at Daily Kos has published a post about how states are slow to use their stimulus weatherization dollars. One exception that is cited is the state of Delaware (with a h/t to Delaware’s very own TommyWonk).
In fact, thanks to foot-dragging at the state level, only 8% of that money had been spent [...]
They Just Can’t Help Themselves
If you watch the news media very much (especially Fox), you’d think that Obama is a terrible failure and extremely unpopular. The truth is that Obama remains fairly popular, around 50% approval, despite the terrible economic conditions. He’s more popular than Reagan was at this point in his term (Reagan eventually hit 37% [...]
8Mar2010 | Unstable Isotope | 4 comments | Continued
State Republicans Defend The Employee Pay Scandal
Last week, the News Journal published an article on the abuse of legislative perks by the GOP in the General Assembly. Among the revelations were that the GOP majority paid political consultants out of taxpayer funds, including one consultant who never showed up for work.
Today in a letter to the editor, House Minority Leader [...]
Weekend Open Thread
Welcome to this beautiful weekend! My yard is now 100% snow free and it feels like springtime. I hope everyone is out and about enjoying the weather.
Wolf Blitzer apologized for his “Department of Jihad?” chyron in the CNN broadcast:
“CNN had no intention of suggesting that the Justice Department supports terrorism,” he said. “Lawyers [...]
The Ghost Whisperer
DADT repeal has been a hot topic this year, and surprisingly uncontroversial. The repeal is supported by more than 70% of Americans. John McCain has become one of the leaders in Congress against DADT-repeal. At one point during the hearing, McCain showed a letter which he claimed had been retired military officers [...]
6Mar2010 | Unstable Isotope | 7 comments | Continued
Friday Open Thread
It’s Friday and it’s time for your open thread. Let’s thread it up!
Really, there’s literally nothing that the right can do to get the media to question their integrity. Right now, Liz Cheney is orchestrating a smear campaign against some lawyers in the Justice Department who wrote briefs in favor of habeas corpus [...]
NBC Covers Up Palin’s Cold Reception
Sarah Palin apparently made an odd appearance on Jay Leno’s show this week. She did a stand up routine as well. As I said – SHE’S INVADING, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! An Alaskan critic of Sarah Palin attended the taping and shares his take on her appearance.
I’ve dealt with sound engineering for [...]
Thursday Open Thread
It’s Thursday and boy has this week flown by fast. It’s more than halfway over now! So, are you ready for your open thread?
Sarah Palin may not be Vice President but she soon may be unavoidable. She’s reportedly shopping a Palin reality series around those Hollywood liberals:
With Mark “Survivor” Burnett in tow, [...]
More Family Values
How many prominent California Prop 8 supporters have been shown to be huge hypocrites? I’m losing count. There’s the state legislator who bragged about his lobbyist mistress, and Miss California’s sex tapes and now there’s this:
It’s no good for a family values Republican to get picked up on a DUI. But substantially worse [...]
Wednesday Open Thread
Welcome to Wednesday. It’s time for your open thread, so let’s get started.
What’s worse than bad rap? Bad conservative rap!
I love the part when he’s going on about pies. Why? Oh, and if you got through the whole thing – congratulations, you have a strong will.
Now for something uplifting. Roger [...]
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