loyal readers of this humble space know that b.a.d., or blogroll amnesty day for short, is a celebration of blogs of all sizes thru-out blogtopia, and yes we coined that phrase!
our inexplicably missing friend, jon swift, describes the origins of our holiday here.
in a nutshell, which is where we keep all our salient points, b.a.d. is a day where we ask everyone to "spread the linky love" (as blue gal so aptly puts it) thru-out blogtopia (y!wctp!) to the lesser-trafficked of our brethren and sistren.
we believe that not only will this open your readership to new and exciting voices; it can't hurt your cyber-karma, either.
with that in mind, we now take a moment to thank those participating blogs:
Sharp-eyed Ben was reading my story when he noticed something I had missed:
Lieberman managed to misspell the name of Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), who, I swear, has uttered the phrase "As long as you spell my name right" in my presence.
Wrote Lieberman: "I fear the people who are advocating the Medicare buy-in are doing so not because they think it will give more help to these Americans than the subsidies and exchanges, but because they see it as a big step toward a single payer system as Congressman Anthony Wiener [sic] and others have explicitly said."
Ben quickly contacted Weiner, who has become one of the most outspoken progressives on health reform.
Quipped Weiner: "Maybe he couldn't spell 'flip-flop' or 'back-stab,' either."
Zing.... More recently? Weiner had this to say about Harold Ford trying to get into the NY Senate race:
Months and months of obstruction that the Democratic party had to sit through waiting for Norm Coleman to give up what he had lost in the elections, a reality of election law that the Dem party had to deal with in Minnesota and in the Senate waiting for a 60th vote. And Scotty Brown is out there making up conspiracy theories about the elections before they have even happened?
State Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), the Republican candidate running for the special election in Massachusetts next week, has been campaigning for the last several days telling crowds an odd conspiracy theory. Brown is alleging that state officials, including the Secretary of State’s office, are devising a plot to deny Brown’s election certification, if he wins, until after health reform passes:
BROWN: The latest development is Senator Kirk, the interim senator which we manipulated senate the succession issue to make sure that we had that 60th vote to kind of ram things through, well he announced today that he’s not resigning and that the Secretary of State thinks he needs to wait until every single ballot is counted and recounted and triply counted, and they’re not going to certify me until after the healthcare debate. Now, you know what that does, that makes me sick to my stomach. [...] We called on her [Martha Coakley] to stand up to the manipulation of another vote in Washington. We’ve called on her tonight to stand up and say ‘no, no, whoever wins, you certify them right away.’
ThinkProgress contacted the Massachusetts Secretary of State office for comment on Brown’s theory that officials are conspiring to refuse to seat him immediately after the election on January 19th. Brian McNiff, a spokesman for the Secretary of State, called Brown’s remarks “nuts.” He then explained that by law, election officials must wait 10 days after the election for military and overseas ballots. Also, by law, an additional five days (totaling 15 after the election) are required for cities and towns to verify and report ballots. Responding to a question about Brown’s conspiracy theory, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) said, “That is the stupidest thing I’ve been asked in a long time. That is insane, the suggestion could only come from a demented right wing source.”
Early this morning Tea Party Express organizers asked for donations to help Brown:
"We are in a fundraising drive so that we can buy as many TV ads supporting Brown as possible," they wrote to supporters.
"We must take action, for if we can pull out a victory, we stop the Democrats dead in their tracks in their effort to secretly ram through their socialistic healthcare plan," they wrote. "That's because Scott Brown wholeheartedly opposes the Democrat's government-run healthcare plan and has made his opposition to it a central part of his campaign."
No matter what happens in that election, the Democratic party already passed something in the Senate, as craptastic as it is, and if there is even a hint that the obviously addle-brained Brown won't join the rest of the Senate to pass anything the House adds to that?
Just like the Christianists, GOP operatives are trying to use the teabagers as an ATM machine for Brown's own political purposes with a blatant disregard to the tea party activists' own stated interests, as crazy as most moderates and the left find some of the teabagers' ideas are.
OOPS! Brown is lying to everyone - Left, Right and Center. And hoping nobody notices until after the elections.
Everything new can and will be passed long before that election is certified. Even if they change some of the stuff in their "conference-not-a-conference". Election is the 19th? It takes a minimum of 15 days after that for the elections to be certified in Mass.. That means certification is into February... That is the law. And assuming no lengthy legal battles like Al Franken had. That means the Senate can vote on the fixes and have the new bill back to the House before either Brown or Coakly ever sees the inside of the Senate.
For those of you confused about the lack of motivation from activists in supporting Obama's and Congress' healthcare reform, healthcare activists take to the streets in California demanding REAL Healthcare Reform.
When you're a Tea Party activist and you've been caught holding a racist sign that refers to taxpayers as the "n" word, maybe it's better to just leave the whole subject alone.
Dale Robertson seems to disagree. Over the weekend, the Houston-based Tea Party leader posted the photo of himself at a rally last year that you can see [here].
Notice something strange about the words on that sign Robertson is holding? That's because it's a (very poorly) photoshopped image. In the real photo, Robertson's sign bears a very different message.
If only all idiotic comments were so easily (air)brushed aside? The GOP could just make a photo like this one:
MAY 1, 2003: Mission Accomplished
"My fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended."
-Bush, 5/1/03
Efficient, light, and affordable. That is the philosophy behind the Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car, and one of the smallest as well. Launched earlier this year in Tata’s home market of India, the Nano is a lesson in minimalism, with a trunk that doesn’t open, a single wiper blade, and a number of other cost cutting features that keep its price down to just $2,160. Yes, you can buy a brand new car for just over $2,000 American dollars in India.
In fact, you might be able to buy one here in the good old U.S.A. in a few years. Reuters is reporting that Tata is considering selling the Nano right here in America. The question is, would Americans buy it?
I am thinking that if they managed to keep it under about 5 grand and it was road safe it would be an awesome commuting car and even better as that first car for a kid.
Fuel consumption? 61 mpg highway and 51 mpg city.
That is some crazy good gas mileage already AND... They are talking about an electric or hybrid version. And given that they are unveiling "His and Hers" versions, His will be Wild Lime outside and leathery inside while Hers will be Cocktail Red and flowery inside and out, a matching set could be seen in a lot of driveways at a low enough price.
In other car news... Toyota is unveiling a Baby Prius that will be a bit smaller and about 3 grand cheaper than its older hybrid sibling.
That's the word from PPP's poll they've done this week in Connecticut.
Want to know how far Joe Lieberman has fallen in the wake of the health care vote last month? Barack Obama's approval rating with Connecticut Republicans is higher than Lieberman's with the state's Democrats. 81% of Democrats now disapprove of Lieberman's job performance with only 14% approving, and he's not real popular with Republicans who disapprove of him by a 48/39 margin or with independents who do so by a 61/32 spread either. It all adds up to a 25% approval rating with 67% of his constituents giving him bad marks.
Lieberman managed to antagonize both sides with his actions during the health care debate. Among voters who support the health care bill 87% disapprove of how Lieberman handled it with only 10% supporting it. But by voting for the final product after getting it watered down he also managed to earn the unhappiness of constituents opposed to the bill, 52% of whom say they disapprove of what Lieberman did to 33% in support.
Overall just 19% of voters in the state say they like what Lieberman did on the issue with 68% opposed.
It's important to remember that all four leaders are unpopular. Pelosi, with a 42%-49% approval rating, only looks good by comparison. Her counterpart, Mr. Boehner, remains roughly as popular as a case of chlamydia (18%-62%). McConnell (18%-64%) is even worse off. And less than a third of respondents (32%) approve of the job Harry Reid is doing.
Yet, the trend lines tell a story. The Republicans have seen only two upticks all year, and they were during the August recess teabagging insanity and during the debate over the Senate Health Care bill (the House passed their version on Nov. 7th) when the Republicans were using every obstructive trick in the book. Clearly, the Republicans have found their only rewards when they've been maximally oppositional.
On the Democratic side, I'm guessing that Pelosi has benefitted from her ability to pass legislation while the country watched Harry Reid struggle to get anything done in the Senate. Yet, when Reid finally cobbled together the 60 votes he needed to pass the Senate's version of health care reform, his numbers started to trend back up.
Reid's numbers may have trended up, but the reality is that they probably only went up because finally finishing his job meant high expectations of what would result AFTER they added the Public Option back in during conference.
Just under 60 percent of those surveyed said they would like a public option as part of any final healthcare reform legislation, which Republicans and a few Democrats oppose.
Here are some of the results of the telephone survey of 2,999 households called from November 9-17 as part of the Thomson Reuters PULSE Healthcare Survey:
Believe in public option: 59.9 percent yes, 40.1 percent no.
86 percent of Democrats support the public option versus 57 percent of Independents and 33 percent of Republicans.
Quality of healthcare will be better 12 months from now: 35 percent strongly disagree. 11.6 percent strongly agree. 29.9 percent put themselves in the middle.
Believe the amount of money spent on healthcare will be less 12 months from now: 52 percent strongly disagree, 13 percent strongly agree.
Q1 Do you approve or disapprove of Barack
Obama's job performance?
Approve .......................................................... 54%
Disapprove...................................................... 38%
Not Sure.......................................................... 8%
Q2 Do you support or oppose President Obama's
health care plan, or do you not have an
opinion?
Support ........................................................... 47%
Oppose ........................................................... 43%
No Opinion...................................................... 10%
The Democratic Party is in for a rude awakening in the next couple of elections unless they turn it around NOW. Because right now? The base will turn on you, while indies that went your way in the last couple of elections will ignore you, and even the few remaining "normal" conservatives that you might have a chance of pulling out of the boiling pot of GOP/Teabagrrrrs whackjobbery will have nowhere to go, either.
Everyone gets that the Senate version, excepting for some parts of it like the Sanders' legislation, is a huge corporate giveaway without a public option available to everyone that wants it. Everyone, left, right and center.
The people that might stick with you want a public option now. And you, President Obama, need you to stand up for what you campaigned on. You can deliver or risk losing all that you and the Dems have gained in the last few years.
I know I am giving a harsh assessment of this sitch, but it is more realistic than just passing anything and crossing your fingers hoping people won't notice. And I guarantee this: If you stick with the Senate version and it is so full of the holes that it has? As soon as it passes the media will begin to pick it apart to the GOP's advantage.
Same thing they do every time. Thankfully at least one of the major media sources is telling you the truth about this on TV. KO on Countdown:
Via BarbinMD, we catch a glimpse into the mind of a "Man of Faith" and Tea Party leader:
But that's not just your typical, nameless, racist teabagger, that's the face of Dale Robertson, the head of teaparty.org., and the man who is devoted to "developing strategy to bring the Republic back under the control of ‘We The People.’"
Ok GOP... You can drag them under your tent because we will never want them on the left. Take all their money too, since that is what all you really want them for. They are and always have been yours since the days the GOP opened their arms to the bigoted Dixiecrats, anyways....
We grabbed a card off of one of those Christmas "Wish Trees" for a local homeless shelter when I took the boys out to get their hair cuts the other day. It was from a 10 year old girl living in the shelter. What was she asking for?
As a longtime Santa Claus at a suburban Chicago mall, Rod Riemersma used to jokingly tell children they would get socks for Christmas if they were naughty.
This year, he stopped telling the joke. Too many children were asking for socks. "They've probably heard their parents say, 'Geez, I wish I had some money to get them clothes,' " says Mr. Riemersma, 56 years old.
...snip...
Sometimes even the best training can't keep Santa from being caught off guard. Mike Smith, who works as Santa at the Polaris Fashion Place in Columbus, Ohio, says a 5-year-old girl wearing a Dora the Explorer sweat shirt last month hopped in his lap and asked, "Can you turn my daddy into an elf?" "Why?" he asked.
"Because my daddy's out of work, and we're about to lose our house," she said.
I know it's early to be making this call but I'm almost certain no one topping this comment today:
It's ok that Larry Cafero doesn't know my name. Over the course of the next year, he'll quickly realize that Connecticut voters don't know his, either.
-Connecticut Democratic Party Communications Director Colleen Flanagan
This comment from Flanagan was made in light of a cheap shot from House Minority Leader Larry Cafero's in which he purposely mispronounced her name "Kathleen" (even after being corrected by a reporter.
After being told that the Democratic Party's spokeswoman's first name was Colleen, Cafero said, "I wouldn't know Kathleen Flanagan if she bumped into me on the street."
State Rep. Cafero's latest hissy-hit has to do with the disclosure Thursday that he used his staff to set-up a meeting with The Norwalk Hour to announce that he's running for governor and that the newspaper would embargo the announcement.
Here's the email sent by Cafero's press secretary Patrick O'Neil.
"Larry, we're all set with The Hour," O'Neil's message said. "They'll have the editorial board and a writer waiting for you at 10 a.m. They've agreed to the embargo and were much appreciative of the advance notice and exclusive interview. Jared Ferrari, the managing editor, will be coordinating the deal."
All I know for sure is that if his name is Barry we should be demanding to see his birth certificate - teabaging rules dictate that he can't be 'Murikan - and the rest of the emails in his government account to see if he has been using it for other nefarious reasons because that would be the only sane reaction to this news.
We might want to see his psychological evaluation scores, as well, regardless of whom he thinks he is.
Coming fast on the heels of its more famous cousin the Leonid meteor shower—which peaked less than a month ago—the Geminid show should feature as many as 140 shooting stars per hour between Sunday evening and Monday morning.
The Geminids are slow meteors that create beautiful long arcs across the sky—many lasting a second or two.
Favoring observers in the Northern Hemisphere, the Geminids are expected to be most frequent within two hours of 1:10 a.m. ET in the wee hours of Monday.
The Geminids are a meteor shower caused by an object named 3200 Phaethon, which is thought to be an extinct comet. The meteors from this shower can be seen in mid-December and usually peak around 12–14 of the month. The Geminid shower is thought to be intensifying every year and recent showers have seen 120–160 meteors per hour under optimal conditions. The Geminids were first observed only 150 years ago, much more recently than other showers such as the Perseids and Leonids.
The meteors in this shower appear to come from a radiant in the constellation Gemini (hence the shower's name). However, they can appear almost anywhere in the night sky, and often appear yellowish in hue. The meteors travel at medium speed in relation to other showers, at about 22 miles per second, making them fairly easy to spot. The Geminids are now considered by many to be the most consistent and active annual shower. In 2005, viewing of the shower was restricted due to a full moon washing out the fainter meteors. The 2006 shower had a less full moon, however the 2007 shower was a new moon, with the best viewing position being in the southern hemisphere, with Australia and New Zealand being noted spectacle locales. In 2008, the Geminids coincided with a full moon. In 2009 the peak date occurs two days before a new moon, making for ideal conditions.
That's the word from 