TresFrais Politics

And from Eschaton

2011-10-21T14:50:00.002+01:00

One of my all-time favorites, where I cut my milk teeth on political grassroots blog reading

Ra Ra

2011-10-21T14:43:00.000+01:00

Critics and presidential contenders say Obama is "weak" on foreign policy, yet under his presidency, the Seals and the CIA have taken out Bin Laden and now Quaddafi is gone:

Republicans largely cheered on Thursday the apparent killing of Libyan leader Moammar Khaddafy, though a number of the party's standard-bearers had expressed initial criticism of President Barack Obama's action to help remove the dictator from power

Khaddafy's death after being deposed in August, would seem, at first glance, to provide some measure of validation to Obama's strategy in Libya. The president authorized the U.S. to join in limited airstrikes with NATO in consultation with international partners and institutions.

That decision won him little praise from the GOP, and opposition even from members of his own party, and especially the GOP presidential hopefuls vying for Obama's job.

Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-21T14:16:00.000+01:00

Is Occupy Wall Street the liberal conscious of the Democratic Party?

Unions jumping into the fray!

The Business of Women's Health 2nd Annual Summit

2011-05-04T21:08:00.000+01:00

Great Success!

Keynote Speaker Saralyn Mark MD, NASA, Recently on Good Morning America

Your Tax Dollars at Work, Ladies and Gentlemen!

2011-05-04T20:54:00.001+01:00

The Republican-controlled House voted to repeal the law this year. But with Senate Democrats standing in the way of full repeal, House Republicans are now working on bills to try to undo the law bit by bit.
Two weeks ago, the House passed a bill that would yank money for a prevention and public health fund. A bill repealing grants for operating school-based health centers also could come to the House floor as early as next week.

Link to Article here

Great Rundown on Some C C CRazy Ideas

2010-11-08T19:36:00.000Z

8 Ways the Election Will Change Women's Health & Reproductive Rights
This is from a new site called I just went on. I love the short sweet packaging of complex information in this article, I think its key to reaching out to all non political folks and political folks alike.

Reform Vs Repeal

2010-11-08T19:26:00.001Z

Interesting overview on the topic here:

Republicans will now have the power to block funding for many parts of the overhaul, and block funding they surely will. There has been a massive seat swing in the House (239/196) which will embolden the new House to assert all their might and power. PPACA will not likely be repealed in this Congress, so 2012 could be a potential tipping point when more Senate Democrats (20) are up for re-election, as compared with 6 Republican Senators.

In case you needed proof

2010-11-05T13:51:00.002Z

From the WSJ:

House Republicans have pledged to repeal the law, which is designed to expand insurance to 32 million additional Americans, or at least choke off funding to implement it. Democrats in the Senate can block any repeal, and the defunding strategy faces roadblocks.

In case you needed proof that, rather than having any intention of diplomacy, cooperation or progress, Republicans continue to obsess over screwing the democratic administration and keeping anything useful from happening.

Once again confirming, in case there was any doubt, that CONSERVATIVE EXTREMISTS, like other EXTREMISTS from all walks of life, have NO INTEREST or CONCERN for any perspectives different from their own:

In a draft of a confidential memo to be distributed to all incoming House Republican lawmakers, Dick Armey, a former Republican majority leader who is chairman of the conservative group FreedomWorks, and Matt Kibbe, its president, told lawmakers that a repeal of the Democrats’ health care law was “nonnegotiable” and warned that they would face a severe backlash from voters if they did not succeed in reversing the law.
“Politically speaking, your only choice is to get on offense and start moving boldly ahead to repeal, replace and defund Obamacare in 2011, or risk rejection by the voters in 2012,” Mr. Armey and Mr. Kibbe wrote.

You can forget about any kind of middle way, or even cooperation. In fact, these people seem to have no clue as to the wide and varying opinions of the American population which demands such an approach. Or rather, they just don't care.

2010-11-04T13:08:00.001Z

The US has the most expensive healthcare in the world yet is at the bottom on the list of best healthcare services.

If healthcare reform is repealed, the economy will not recover because the healthcare system is bankrupting the country.

Some food for thought

Credo Action

2010-10-22T20:46:00.000+01:00

Defend NPR from Sarah Palin!

From Credo Action:

Tell Congress: Don't cave to Sarah Palin. Stand up for NPR!

National Public Radio recently fired Juan Williams after he appeared on Bill O'Reilly's show on FOX News and made some controversial remarks.

Now, Sarah Palin and other professional right-wing demagogues are exploiting this issue as an excuse to push Congress to defund NPR, which is something conservatives have wanted for decades.

Whatever you think about the Juan Williams controversy, we cannot allow the right-wing to dictate public policy by throwing a fit. And we cannot allow Congress to lie down when confronted with hypocritical, fake outrage from the Right.

Tell Congress: Don't cave to Sarah Palin. Stand up for NPR!

For years, NPR has allowed Juan Williams and Mara Liasson to accept payment for appearing on FOX News while maintaining their roles as journalists with NPR. We've long believed it was inappropriate for NPR journalists to accept payment from a clearly partisan propaganda organ such as FOX News. And we still believe that NPR should have policies that prevent its journalists from accepting paid positions from FOX, the Republican Party, Tea Party groups and other organizations within the right-wing noise machine.

Sarah Palin and others like her are cynically using the controversy over Juan Williams' remarks and his subsequent firing as a pretext to push for a longstanding goal.

It's been said that NPR receives 98% of its funding from non-government sources. But that's highly misleading. The government--through the Center for Public Broadcasting--provides a significant source of funding for NPR and NPR member stations, which is part of what allows NPR to present news that avoids that hasn't degenerated into the infotainment we regularly get from most of the corporate media.

And the right wing is not just talking about taking away funding from NPR. Sen. Jim DeMint is reportedly introducing a bill that would zero out funding for ALL public broadcasting, including NPR, PBS, Pacifica and more. So governmental defunding could not only destroy NPR as we know it, but also deal a significant blow to the entire public interest media sector.

Time after time, the right-wing noise machine creates an echo chamber of reprobation and consternation that prompts weak-kneed Democrats to fold faster than you can say, "FOX News isn't really news."

It happened with ACORN. It happened with Van Jones. It happened with Shirley Sherrod. We can't let Sarah Palin and the right wing bully Democrats into selling out such an important part of our media landscape.

Tell Congress: Don't cave to Sarah Palin. Stand up for NPR!

2010-09-15T03:32:00.001+01:00

fall is approaching....and i have so many pieces in the fire, or none at all....depending on how you value such things.
my dad calls them thought bubbles but recently i can assure you that they are growing arms and legs and about to crawl out of the tub and run off down the street with me.

maybe i like fall best because it symbolizes change. and i am nothing if not constantly changing. but for now, i am happy to be back in new england, with my husband and best friend, exploring our options which are as big as we build them on any given day.

There can be something to be said about the economy now, although i am blessed with lots of debt but no childcare or other grown up responsibility, and that is, that living with no idea of what is going to happen makes you draw on your creative juices and make a hybrid. its teaching me more perhaps, about what i want and don't want, who i am and could be, than any other long, tedious, and primarily broke lesson of my life. i have been blessed with the freedom to search. and i feel very strongly that that search is close to ending. i feel myself fine honing. it feels....more specific. which is alien to me. more importantly i feel more confident in myself. i know that what i am bringing to the table is something no one will have seen before.

kinda like a fancy burger, or tap dancing Ctenophores. OR DRACULA

bwuaahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Done

2010-07-25T23:02:00.001+01:00

Oh wow. It's definitely been a while. I just finished my ma thesis which goes off to the book binder this week. Strangely enough, there is only one in town, while there are I don't even know how many freaking grad programs and its 8 weeks behind. Figures. So I have to send it off tomorrow but I have seriously had my head up my butt the last couple of weeks with it as well as French and Spanish, which has been hectic since I've never taken the latter and I am in an intermediate course. haha. Luckily I have a great instructor who has been a great help. We go to the Carribean two weeks from Tuesday which is v. v. exciting!~ Almost as exciting as being done with this phase of my life. Out of the Midwest, for - ever -- is my intention. Here are some memories though that come to mind when I think of living here. In Billboards.
Oh and P.S.
Best thing I've heard anyone say all week? "you can't swing a cat round here without hittin someone with a P.H.D." no joke. it was at the farmers market.

2010-05-30T15:10:00.002+01:00

DRILL BABY DRILL?

2010-05-30T14:55:00.001+01:00

From Bernie Sanders,

This crisis occurred at a time when the United States was considering opening new areas to offshore oil drilling. The fact is that offshore drilling simply does not achieve the goals that its advocates claim, and it is not worth the risk. If we are serious about wanting to break our dependence on foreign oil and move to energy independence; if we want to lower the cost of energy; if we want to combat climate change and cut greenhouse gas emissions; if we want to create millions of new jobs – then more offshore drilling is not the way to go.

More good news

2010-05-30T14:47:00.000+01:00

The consequences of this disaster is one that, no doubt, not only we but our children and even their children may be dealing with. Aside from the state of the ocean itself, we will be faced with what happens to the nourishment we enjoy from the ocean, and weather we will be able to enjoy them anymore.
Susan D Shaw:

As the boat entered the slick, I had to cover my nose to block the fumes. There were patches of oil on the gulf’s surface. In some places, the oil has mixed with an orange-brown pudding-like material, some of the 700,000 gallons of a chemical dispersant called Corexit 9500 that BP has sprayed on the spreading oil. Near Rig No. 313, technically a restricted zone, the boat stopped and I (wearing a wetsuit, with Vaseline covering exposed skin) jumped in.

Though all dispersants are potentially dangerous when applied in such volumes, Corexit is particularly toxic. It contains petroleum solvents and a chemical that, when ingested, ruptures red blood cells and causes internal bleeding. It is also bioaccumulative, meaning its concentration intensifies as it moves up the food chain.

A timeline of failed attempts

2010-05-30T14:31:00.000+01:00

GULF TIMELINE FROM THE NYT

Great photo project on "coming home"

2010-05-30T14:23:00.000+01:00

Pioneer Woman

Cannot Believe This

2010-05-30T14:14:00.000+01:00

So, BP has a new idea that probably wont work and we are looking at the potential of leaking oil until August??

From the NYT

NEW ORLEANS — In another serious setback in the effort to stem the flow of oil gushing from a well a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico,BP engineers said Saturday that the “top kill” technique had failed and, after consultation with government officials, they had decided to move on to another strategy.

LIVE VIDEO FEED FROM DEEPWATER HORIZON BP OIL WELL

2010-05-28T15:47:00.004+01:00

http://www.youtube.com/pbsnewshour

BLACK GOLD.

2010-05-28T15:25:00.001+01:00

Well this is brilliant. Two days from now, BP may be able to tell whether what they have done to contain the MASSIVE OIL SPILL in the Gulf of Mexico will actually work! You're beautiful

"I believe it will be around 48 hours before we'll have clarity as to whether or not it has been successful," Hayward told the CBS Early Show. "Clearly I'm as anxious as everyone in America is to get this thing done."

Gee, thanks Mr Hayward. You know, you oil peeps just do soooooo much for us.

Meanwhile, a team of government scientists said the oil has been flowing at a rate up to five times higher than the company and the U.S. Coast Guard had previously estimated.
Two teams of scientists calculated the well has been leaking between 504,000 and more than a million gallons a day, meaning at least 18 million gallons have spilled so far.
In the worst-case scenario, 39 million gallons have leaked.
When the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground in Alaska in 1989, it spilled nearly 11 million gallons.
"Now we know the true scale of the monster we are fighting in the Gulf," said Jeremy Symons, vice president of the National Wildlife Federation. "BP has unleashed an unstoppable force of appalling proportions."

full article here

A day late and a dollar short (convert currency for UK readers)

2010-05-27T15:02:00.000+01:00

Wow,

A day late on this development, I seriously must have my head up my....well... somewhere that doesnt have any news.

LONDON -- Conservative leader David Cameron walked into No. 10 Downing Street on Tuesday night as Britain's new prime minister, ending five days of political limbo and 13 years of Labor Party rule after forging a historic coalition that spans the country's political spectrum.

Power sharing with Clegg and the Lib Dems! First coalition since 1940s. Change at last?!?

Change or deadlock that it is, we will have to wait and see:

Although Clegg has sought a more independent line with Washington and vowed to bring British troops home from Afghanistan within five years, the Liberal Democrats have not advocated an immediate withdrawal, and the key post of foreign secretary went to William Hague of the Conservatives, who are staunch backers of the special relationship. In addition, Cameron appointed his chief economic adviser, George Osborne, as chancellor of the exchequer, or treasury secretary, and another top Conservative official, Liam Fox, as defense secretary.

It happened pretty quickly:

Brown tendered his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II even before the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had completed their negotiations. Brown's surprise announcement set off a dizzying chain of events that forced Cameron to jump into his silver Jaguar to follow Brown in meeting with the queen.

Mmm. silver Jaguar. Fancy.

Full article at the Washington Post

National Security Strategy

2010-05-27T14:52:00.000+01:00

From the NYT:

Critics already argue that Mr. Obama does not place enough importance on fighting terrorism or fully embrace America’s singular role in the world as he seeks the favor and cooperation of other nations.

Wow, what an A hole. Imagine, a world leader seeking cooperation and diplomacy.

Mr. Obama also defines national security more broadly than his predecessor did, making the case, for example, that reducing the deficit is critical to sustaining American power. He emphasizes issues like the economy, education, climate change, energy and science. In that way, he tries to draw a broader theme linking his presidency to the notion of a “new foundation,” the phrase he previously has coined as a slogan for his domestic program. “Our national security begins at home,” the strategy says.

Hear hear. It's a move back toward rationality, but not that crazy for anyone with any common sense.

Says it best

2010-05-19T16:09:00.001+01:00

Posted on DailyKos

Perhaps the White House could attack their plans to privatize Medicare? Or perhaps their bigoted immigration laws? Or call their bluff on their plans to repeal healthcare rights for people under 26?

The contrast this fall should make the choice for voters clear: Vote Republican, and this country will get radical immigration laws, privatized Medicare, and the end of healthcare rights for America's youth. Those are all things they have called for or acted on. Make them defend it. Give those 2008 voters a reason to show up.

updates on my life

2010-05-17T19:01:00.000+01:00

I am in the death throws of my MA program, so have had NO time to look at anything other than french grammar, and the extreme right. Hope to start posting regularly at some point by summers end, till then will do what I can I guess. Recent article I contributed to can be found here: http://www.indiana.edu/~west/documents/April10NewsletterWEST_WEB.pdf

Funny enough, the last two weeks have been more stressful than my whole graduate career. Moreover, it looks like my summer classes will have me studying two foreign languages a day five days a week. The last giant hoop. Please let it be over soon. Flying colors would be nice.

2010-04-26T15:21:00.000+01:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.