I'm too swamped to write-in depth at the moment. I'll be back at the end of the week with big picture content. In the meantime, here's a roundup series: links from the past few days to pass around, as well as brief observations on five topics.
I am one of those people who will actually watch those boring, boring, hearings on C-SPAN that most of us flip right on past while watching TV, and this past week I've been watching one of the longer events the channel broadcasts...but it's been far from boring.
The Coast Guard and what used to be the MMS were in Houston looking into what caused the Gulf oil spill and they're taking testimony from representatives of the involved parties...and let me tell you, this is more than just an accident inquiry-it's also a warm-up for the lawsuits that are surely going to follow.
It's no secret that House Republican leader Rep. John Boehner (Ohio) and his colleagues are tight with their corporate chums. They even defend poor little old BP from the meanies working to hold petroleum giant accountable for the Gulf oil spill.
One of Boehner's trusted lieutenants, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), even went so far as to claim the Obama administration's efforts to persuade BP to establish a $20 billion recovery fund for Gulf Coast residents was a "shakedown." How dare they pick on BP like that?
To remind voters in Boehner's home district of his loving relationship with BP and Big Oil, our friends at Act Blue have erected a second billboard, with our help and that of People for the American Way, that notes the golf-loving Boehner's affection for BP is "Par for the Course." Click here for more on Boehner and his golf jones.<!--more-->
Be sure to visit BeatBoehner.com and click here to find out more about Justin Coussoule who is running with labor's support to unseat Boehner in Ohio's 8th Congressional District. He is a West Point graduate, a former Army captain, a lawyer and a small business owner.
Boehner's so-called job creation strategy is to return to the Bush policies of tax cuts for the wealthy and big business and free rein on Wall Street. Tuesday in St. Louis, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka summed up Boehner's jobs program.
His idea of job creation is to hire a second caddy.
Just in case ya didn't know, this is an open thread where everyone is welcome to congregate and post links and/or other stuff as well as just chatter about whatever's on their mind.
So, I'll start: Hey all! I've been in email hell today...
Carly Fiorina, California Republican U.S. Senate candidate, shares a wide range of skewed views straight out of the Sarah Palin manifesto. But there is one key Palinesque policy she embraces that she'd just a soon the state's Latino voters didn't dwell on.
Fiorina, who casts herself as friend of Latinos, is a strong and strident supporter of Arizona's anti-immigrant law that civil rights groups denounce as discriminatory and an open to door to racial profiling. As a U.S. senator, Fiorina very well could back a national anti-immigrant law patterned after Arizona's.
When Lawrence O'Donnell started berating the woman who received the email from Alan Simpson with this BS (5:05)], I was forced to leave the room until Rachel came on:
It is solvent until 2037.
Workers your age who are contributing to social security every day, we concurrently tell you when your time comes to collect, the money will not be there according to all projections we have today.
"According to all the projections we have today"? First, that is false. Its according to one projection we have today ~ among a range of projections that are made. And second, if Lawrence O'Donnell is going to shift from host to pundit, he is responsible when he uses figures in a misleading way.
Over the fold, how this is wrong, let me Countdown the Ways.
We have already posted several telling interviews from our filming at Glenn Beck's 828 Restoring Honor Rally, but we haven't yet posted our most emotional, interactive, and intense experiences. Towards the end of our day downtown, we stopped to chat with some folks from the crowd- as we did throughout the day. When we began our interview with Madonna from Indiana, we were in the exact center of a circular cement area that is the entrance way to the World War II Memorial. Our conversation started with Madonna, the only person in her group of 5 or so who decided to stop and chat with us. Quickly, however, not only did several of her friends decide to join our discussion, but several onlookers decided that they belonged in our conversation as well. Before we knew it, we were encircled by 30 or so rally goers who decided to engage us (verbally) in an effort to try and convert us to Glen Beck's White Christian Civil Rights Utopia. Below is the majority of the half hour experience in 6 parts and at the very bottom is all 30 minutes of our discussions unedited.
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
It seems as if many people have been paying more attention to the Beckapalooza in DC ... and the whole furor had me initially confused, as originally I thought it was something to do with Beck the Mongolian Chop Squad ...
But last weekend, there was an election in Australia, and on the night it seemed like it could be the closest in Australian history. As the week went on, that proved to be the case. And I got to thinking, listening to the various independents that hold the balance of power, that there could well be an unlikely working partnership available, where trains could help delivered a progressive governing majority on the most improbable of foundations.
NB: the grassfire in a dry lake bed shot that I use on occasion is in fact from Australia, suffering what has been characterized as a long running drought, but what seems more likely to be a secular shift to a dryer climate.
I have become increasingly uneasy and dismayed by the timidity of the White House/DNC political effort. Specifically:
1. The Alan Simpson situation (why is he still around)?
2. The lack of a positive political agenda:
a. The President's speaches continually harp on "we have a long way to go; it's not going to be easy, etc."
b. Where is the "I understand your pain, and here is what I plan to do about it: Let the Bush tax cuts expire. Start from that position to propose legislation to cut Middle and Low income tax rates and pay for those cuts by raising Upper income tax rates to about 2% more than they were before Bush cut them; etc., etc,". (You get the idea).
So, what do I do?
1. Vote Republican in the hope they will further weaken the economy? (not a choice for me).
2. Quit donating to the DNC and every other group except for my local (Senate and House) Democratic candidates. (This is my current position, but I don't like it).
3. I can't even think of another option so I am asking for ideas. Assuming "we" want to get the White House and DNC energized, what can we do? And do it soon.
Hello there everyone! Good to see you here tonight surfin' the Progressive Blue! Welcome to the Monday Night Twilight!
(photo by LaEscapee)
Hey everyone! Well, it's another new week to get through. Hope the first day of the workweek was good for everyone! So let's start the evening week well!
Just in case ya didn't know, this is an open thread where everyone is welcome to congregate and post links and/or other stuff as well as just chatter about whatever's on their mind.
So, I'll start: So, I got one of those "Obama is bad" chain emails from my pop this evening...
cross-posted from Sum of Change and check out Pam Spaulding's post at PHB for more thoughts and discussion.
Yesterday we sent cameras to Glenn Beck's 828 rally and Al Sharpton's rally and march. We posted a handfull of videos from each. But first, a personal comment, if you don't mind. My parents and grandparents were civil rights activists (not to mention anti-war activists and labor organizers). On the same grass where we stood yesterday, my mother stood 47 years ago to watch Martin Luther King Jr. declare his dream for the world. I highly doubt anyone will remember yesterday the way my mother remembers 47 years ago.
Hey there everyone! Good to see you here this weekend surfin' the Progressive Blue!
(photo by Fort Photo)
Welcome to our version of the Saturday/Sunday Evening Open Thread! It is open for anything including link parking and has a question for all of you PBers!
When Lawrence O'Donnell 
