Sid's Fishbowl

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2011-07-28T10:54:00.001-06:00

Is this thing still working?

15 things you should know about Obama’s economic recovery plan (but probably don’t)

2009-03-01T16:40:00.001-07:00

Excellent stuff from MoveOn:

Last week, President Obama unveiled his budget—his blueprint for America—and it's ambitious, amazing, and unapologetically progressive. As Paul Krugman said, it will set America on a "fundamentally new course."¹
President Obama called his budget "a threat to the status quo," and trust me, the status quo noticed. Oil companies, big banks and insurance companies are already mobilizing to stop it.²
Unfortunately, most folks don't realize how far-reaching and progressive the plan is—that's where we all come in.
Here are 10 really incredible things about Obama's plan. Check them out and then send them on to your friends and family so that millions of people will have the information they need to fight to make this vision a reality.
The plan:

Makes a $634 billion down payment on fixing health care that will go a long way toward paying for a more efficient, more affordable health care system that covers every single American.³
Reduces taxes for 95% of working Americans. And if your family makes less than $250,000, your taxes won't go up one dime.⁴
Invests more than $100 billion in clean energy technology, creating millions of green jobs that can never be outsourced.⁵
Brings our troops home from Iraq on a firm timetable, finally bringing the war to a close—and freeing up almost ten billion dollars a month for domestic priorities.⁶
Reverses growing income inequality. The plan lets the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire and focuses on strengthening the middle class.⁷
Closes multi-billion-dollar tax loopholes for big oil companies. ⁸
Increases grants to help families pay for college—the largest increase ever.⁹
Halves the deficit by 2013. President Obama inherited a legacy of huge deficits and an economy in shambles, but his plan brings the deficit under control as soon as the economy begins to recover.¹⁰
Dramatically increases funding for the SEC and the CFTC—the agencies that police Wall Street.¹¹
Tells it straight. For years, budgets have used accounting tricks to hide the real costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts, and too many other programs. Obama's budget gets rid of the smokescreens and lays out what America's priorities are, what they cost, and how we're going to pay for them.¹²
Stops unnecessary government subsidies to big banks, health insurance companies and big agribusinesses.^13,14,15
Expands access to early childhood education and improves schools by investing in programs that make sure every child has a qualified, strong teacher.¹⁶
Negotiates for better prescription drug prices using Medicaid's tremendous bargaining power.¹⁷
Expands access to family planning for low-income women.¹⁸
Caps the pollution that causes global warming, and makes polluters pay to support clean energy innovation.¹⁹

Sources:

1. "Climate of Change," The New York Times, February 27, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/opinion/27krugman.html?em

2. "Obama Calls His Budget Sweeping, Needed Change," The New York Times, February 28, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51201&id=15687-4728901-OwxrS.x&t=2

3. "Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51202&id=15687-4728901-OwxrS.x&t=3

4. "Obama Expects Fight Over $3.55 Trillion Budget Plan," Bloomberg News, February 28, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51203&id=15687-4728901-OwxrS.x&t=4

5. "Energy Budget Is Sunlight After Eight Years of Darkness," Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51204&id=15687-4728901-OwxrS.x&t=5

6. "The Economic Cost of War in Iraq and Afghanistan," The New York Times, March 1, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/weekinreview/01glanz.html

7. "Tax Cuts," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-tax.html

8. "Energy Budget Is Sunlight After Eight Years of Darkness," Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51204&id=15687-4728901-OwxrS.x&t=6

9. "Student Loans," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-edu.html

10. "Obama unveils budget blueprint," CNN, February 26, 2009
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/26/budget/

11. "Obama budget would boost SEC, CFTC, FBI," Reuters, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51205&id=15687-4728901-OwxrS.x&t=7

12. "Obama's budget," Los Angeles Times, February 27, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51206&id=15687-4728901-OwxrS.x&t=8

13. "Student Loans," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-edu.html

14. "Health Insurance Stocks Dive on Medicare Advantage Cuts," The Wall Street Journal, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51207&id=15687-4728901-OwxrS.x&t=9

15. "Agriculture," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27web-agri.html

16. "Investing Wisely in Our Children," Center for American Progress, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51208&id=15687-4728901-OwxrS.x&t=10

17. "Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51202&id=15687-4728901-OwxrS.x&t=11

18. "Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51202&id=15687-4728901-OwxrS.x&t=12

19. "Setting 'Green' Goals," The New York Times, February 26, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51209&id=15687-4728901-OwxrS.x&t=13

Your flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore

2009-03-01T12:07:00.001-07:00

Paul Harvey gone but not forgotten. FAIR remembers one of the most sickening rants ever to pollute American airwaves.

R.I.P.? No fucking way.

Funniest line of the year (so far)

2009-02-27T11:42:00.001-07:00

The Poor Man quotes Mitch McConnell, speaking at CPAC, the right-wing drooling loon-fest:

…[W]ho wants to hang out with guys like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich when you can be with Rush Limbaugh?

Wait, wait, that’s not the funny part (although it is pretty hilarious). The funny part is TPM’s response:

I’ll say this, Rush definitely has the better drugs. So in a sense, yeah. But only in the sense that certain insufferable pricks become momentarily sufferable if they’ve got the good gear. I’ll do blow with Hitler if he’s got the uncut shit.

Word.

Lunacy in Colorado Springs

2009-02-25T16:23:00.001-07:00

These people are just fucking insane. They don’t seem to understand that no sane person would worship a God who wants little babies to get AIDS so mothers can “feel guilt” and “see the negative consequences of that promiscuity.”

It almost makes me wish I believed in any sort of god, so I could take some comfort in the knowledge that He or She or It would smack these fools upside the head when they reached the Pearly Gates. “No, you idiot! You got it completely backwards!”

Joe the Economist?

2009-02-03T08:50:00.001-07:00

At first I thought this was a joke:

The ubiquitous Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, aka “Joe the Plumber” and “Joe the War Correspondent,” will soon add a new moniker to his profile — “Joe the Economist.” Politico reports that House GOP congressional aides decided to invite Wurzelbacher to a meeting on the stimulus in hopes that it will attract some media attention

But no. It’s apparently for real.

I certainly hope that at least some Republicans are profoundly embarrassed by this. But I’m not holding my breath.

Limbaugh: How low can you go?

2009-01-29T07:54:00.001-07:00

Digby finds an awesome quote from Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL):

Rush Limbaugh is a has-been hypocrite loser, who craves attention. His right-wing lunacy sounds like Mikhail Gorbachev, extolling the virtues of communism. Limbaugh actually was more lucid when he was a drug addict. If America ever did 1% of what he wanted us to do, then we'd all need pain killers.

First Democrat in this Central Florida district in 24 years. Nice work!

Understanding talk radio

2009-01-28T09:24:00.001-07:00

Tom Tomorrow explains rule #1:

[W]hen you assume that pretty much everything you hear on right wing talk radio is dishonest bullshit, you will rarely be proven wrong

Heh. Indeed.

Paranoia strikes deep…

2008-12-20T16:37:00.001-07:00

Into your life it will creep:

A top level Republican IT consultant who was set to testify in a case alleging GOP election tampering in Ohio died in a plane crash late Friday night.

Michael Connell -- founder of Ohio-based New Media Communications, which created campaign Web sites for George W. Bush and John McCain -- died instantly after his single-prop, private aircraft smashed into a vacant home in suburban Lake Township, Ohio.
[…]
Connell is a long-time GOP operative, whose New Media Communications provided web services for the Bush-Cheney ’04 campaign, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Republican National Committee and many Republican candidates. This in itself might have raised questions about his involvement in creating Ohio’s official state election website.
However, the alternative media group ePlubibus Media further discovered in November 2006 that election.sos.state.oh.us was hosted on the servers of a company in Chattanooga, TN called SmarTech, which also provided hosting for a long list of Republican Internet domains.

Larisa Alexandrovna, One of my sources died in a plane crash last night...

Mike Connell set-up the alternate email and communications system for the White House. He was responsible for creating the system that hosted the infamous GWB43.com accounts that Karl Rove and others used. When asked by Congress to provide these emails, the White House said that they were destroyed. But in reality, what Connell is alleged to have done is move these files to other servers after having allegedly scrubbed the files from all "known" Karl Rove accounts.
In addition, I have reason to believe that the alternate accounts were used to communicate with US Attorneys involved in political prosecutions, like that of Don Siegelman. This is what I have been working on to prove for over a year. In fact, it was through following the Siegelman-Rove trail that I found evidence leading to Connell. That is how I became aware of him. Mike was getting ready to talk. He was frightened.

A shiver runs down the spine…

After eight years, Americans finally get it

2008-12-18T17:31:00.001-07:00

Think Progress:

In a Pew survey released today, “just 11% said Bush will be remembered as an outstanding or above average president,” which is “by far the lowest positive end-of-term rating for any of the past four presidents.” Sixty-four percent of respondents said that the Bush administration “will be remembered more for its failures than its accomplishments.” The poll also asked people to describe Bush in a word. The top word that came to mind for 56 percent of respondents was “incompetent“:

Damn shame they couldn’t have figured that out in 2004.

Obama’s margin: 9.1 million and still counting

2008-11-26T10:18:00.001-07:00

Excellent work from CB8421 over at DKos, who has been painstakingly tracking the Presidential vote totals since Election Day, as many states continue to count and count and count. Here’s the latest summary:

Total votes: 130,222,663
Obama: 68,724,397
McCain: 59,599,875
Margin: 9,124,522
Percent margin: 7.00% (52.77% to 45.77%)

So what most people remember from election night is all those reports that the result was 52-47 or 52-48. The real margin is a full 7 points now, which adds up to more than 9.1 million votes in Obama’s favor.

As CD8421 notes, that’s a mandate.

Go read the whole thing.

The kids are alright

2008-11-09T09:15:00.001-07:00

Awesome:

Draining the swamp

2008-11-08T21:40:00.001-07:00

Music to my ears:

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.
A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.
In some instances, Obama would be quickly delivering on promises he made during his two-year campaign, while in others he would be embracing Clinton-era policies upended by President Bush during his eight years in office.
"The kind of regulations they are looking at" are those imposed by Bush for "overtly political" reasons, in pursuit of what Democrats say was a partisan Republican agenda, said Dan Mendelson, a former associate administrator for health in the Clinton administration's Office of Management and Budget. The list of executive orders targeted by Obama's team could well get longer in the coming days, as Bush's appointees rush to enact a number of last-minute policies in an effort to extend his legacy.

Oh, and please impound all the hard drives as evidence on Day 1. Kthxbai.

New World Order

2008-11-08T12:09:00.001-07:00

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

Bye Joe

2008-11-06T13:43:00.001-07:00

Statement out from Sen. Reid ...

Today Senator Lieberman and I had the first of what I expect to be several conversations. No decisions have been made. While I understand that Senator Lieberman has voted with Democrats a majority of the time, his comments and actions have raised serious concerns among many in our caucus. I expect there to be additional discussions in the days to come, and Senator Lieberman and I will speak to our caucus in two weeks to discuss further steps…

Hang a big red R around his neck and shove him out the door, Harry.

Damn, what a tool:

A commenter at FDL advises Reid, “It’s time to ‘settle all the family business.’”

(via TPM)

Deep thought

2008-11-06T10:04:00.001-07:00

Can we foreclose on the White House? The current occupant hasn’t been living up to the terms of his agreement.

Dancing in the streets

2008-11-05T15:21:00.001-07:00

Awesome:

Deep thought

2008-11-05T12:15:00.001-07:00

Being President of the United States is kind of like being a community organizer, only with real responsibilities and 300 million people in your “community.”

Suck on that, Sarah and Rudy.

A message to my friends on the right

2008-11-05T10:15:00.001-07:00

Doesn’t smell like victory

2008-11-03T10:01:00.001-07:00

Wow. The day before the election, and John McCain is drawing crowds that can practically be counted by hand. From the St. Petersburg Times Florida Politics Blog a few minutes ago:

Tampa McCain rally: Where is everybody?

About 30 minutes before John McCain is scheduled to lead a rally outside Raymond James Stadium, looks like there's maybe 1,000 people here. What's up with that? On the day before the election? Bush drew at least 15,000 people to a rally just across the street on the Sunday before the 2004 election.
"We are the quiet majority that goes out and gets things done. ... I smell victory,'' said state Rep. Kevin Ambler. Good thing he smells it, because it's hard to see it with this crowd.

And a half-hour later:

"If you can't round up 1,500 people the day before the election, you've got a serious problem. From an organizational standpoint, they've done a terrible job. ... It could be a long, ugly night tomorrow." --- Republican consultant Chris Ingram of Tampa.

Let’s hope it’s a short night, actually. I’m thinking a concession speech maybe around 8:04PM Arizona time?

(via)

Eisenhower was right

2008-11-02T18:40:00.001-07:00

In a 1954 letter to his brother, Edgar Newton Eisenhower, President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote:

Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas.

Their number is negligible and they are stupid.

That last line kinda rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?

(via Open Left)

“We shall see the reign of witches pass over…”

2008-11-02T13:34:00.001-07:00

History lesson:

A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt......If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake.

-- Thomas Jefferson, from a letter he sent in 1798 after the passage of the Sedition Act

A little patience indeed…

(originally posted here November 9, 2004, in the wake of that squeaker of an election, and oh man does that seem like an eternity ago)

Ready for your Wall Street flyover, Mr. President?

2008-10-24T07:04:00.001-06:00

Amazingly, this is not Photoshopped. And it’s recent. You can tell Karl’s not around anymore.

(via)

QOTD

2008-10-22T07:31:00.001-06:00

“If it's true that Barack Obama really is a terrorist, then we have the worst Department of Homeland Security in the universe.”

(more amusement at the must-read Cheers and Jeers)

Don’t get cocky

2008-10-20T13:38:00.001-06:00

From fivethirtyeight.com:

What we're seeing on the ground with volunteering, especially with public polls showing double digit leads in Pennsylvania, is that the "flake rate" for volunteers is higher. "Flake rate" is the term for how the percentage of people who sign up to do a canvassing or phonebanking shift, and then don't show up. It tends to happen when a candidate's supporters get complacent. And it can happen in a hurry.
Indeed, Barack Obama himself hopped on a nationwide all-staff conference call Friday to emphasize this point to the troops. Pledging to "come down hard" on anyone getting "too cocky," Obama specifically and pre-emptively called out any semblance of lack of focus. High-fiving, for example, is strictly verboten. Acknowledging everyone must be exhausted, he pointed out that he was pretty worn out too. "I've been doing this longer than you, and I'm older than all of you." The message: if I can finish this off, so can you. Do not doubt that this is a man firmly in control of his campaign.
[…]

David Plouffe followed Obama with steady words, and, because he doesn't swear often, language timed for effect. As a baseline, the campaign was in excellent shape to win all the Kerry states, Plouffe said. In many Bush 2004 states, the campaign was in very strong shape as well. The message: we just have to stay focused and do our jobs, not let up one inch and we'll win the election.
"I'll say what I said back in New Hampshire," he concluded. "Let's go win this fucking thing."

Vote early. When you do, you ensure that your vote gets counted, and you get your name crossed off the lists of potential voters that the campaign has to target, meaning that they can concentrate on a smaller and smaller group as the days go by.

After you vote, spend as much time as you can getting voters to the polls in states where it matters. Knock on doors if you can. That’s the best way to get out the vote. Much more potent as a tactic than phone-banking.