If the Senate's swearing in this week, doesn't Patterson have to get going on his appointment?  Wouldn't his appointee need to, you know, find a place to live and get started?  What's the hold up?  Is he lost on the SNL set, or something?  Just curious.

Okay I'm mixed on this one.  On one hand, Blagojevich is psycho.  I've never wanted him for governor and only voted for him in the general election because the Republicans didn't have anyone better.  And, yeah he's under indictment and pretty crooked.  Not a good guy.

Thanks for the good wishes - we "survived" O'Hare and are now back at home.  Sadly, we never made it to our destination, but we were able to get easy seats back to our home airport.  So, here we are, a little defeated but safe and sound.  On the upside, we were able to host an impromptu holiday dinner for some friends last night, and had a wonderful time.

If you've been following the news you (may) know that O'Hare airport is still a delayed mess after the storms earlier this week.  And I should know, because I've been here for a day and a half!  Yay!  Unfortunately, I'd be on Southwest except it flies out of Midway and doesn't have any commuter lines from the boondocks town I live in (and flying United seemed easier than driving the two hours to Midway - a mistake I'll never make again!). 

This story made me weepy.  Back in October, Archway cookies shuttered a plant in a small town in Ohio without warning.  About 300 people suddenly lost their jobs, and none of them ever expected to work at the plant again.

When it promised to reopen the bakery, Lance gave all 300 former Archway workers a $1,500 prepaid debit card.

So, even with companies using the lousy economy as an excuse to give the shaft to employees and customers who have supported them for years, there's at least ONE company that is run by decent human beings.  I plan to go find some Lance products for our Christmas stockings and I hope everyone else will support this responsible employer.

This debate about Rick Warren at Obama's swearing in ceremony has been interesting to read and I'm in the unusual position of seeing both sides (unusual for me, I mean).  On one hand I absolutely see where Loki (here and here) is coming from and feel that the choice of Warren so soon after the passage of Prop 8 was a lemony-salt mixture in an open wound to the very people who did the grunt work to get Obama elected.  On the other hand I also agree with Stillidealistic (here) that anger and hatred won't get us far - we need to find some common ground in order to make progress.  

So the question is, how do we build on these still-tentative partnerships between religious and secular people of good will? It's going to take more work, a lot more work than we've done so far. The tensions and the suspicions on each side of the religious divide will have to be squarely addressed. And each side will need to accept some ground rules for collaboration.

I think what a lot of us forget is that when we fell for Obama's dreamy spell of Hope, he is that he was offering attempts to bring both sides together and foster a "purple" country, not a promise to only promote OUR side of every issue.  After the "so what?" attitudes of our current President and Vice President to anyone who isn't in the "conservative base" it's hard not to want someone who will give the conservatives the  "nanny-nanny-boo-boo" and uber-liberal policies they so richly deserve.  But, that's not how Obama defined himself and is not what he promised.

I don't know how I missed this (although most of my research has been in balance chasing), but it looks like the Federal Reserve, Office of Thrift Supervision, and the NCUA are voting tomorrow on some major credit reforms including:

So I got an email from American Express today.  It's the second one in two months where they tell me (without providing a reason) that I'm going to get a spending limit decrease.

Read more »

It sure does seem like Republicans have lost their rhetorical touch.  It's irrelevant to argue whether or not Pelosi was the reason why their voting bloc disappeared - the fact that they cited this as THE reason is really pathetic.  "The lady was MEAN!  She hurt our feelings!  We don't care if it costs the country $1 Trillion dollars [the amount Bush said we lost on Wall St. yesterday]...she needs to be NICE to us!  Don't say WE screwed it up...we need to be re-elected!"

This is a rationale for voting for Homecoming court (and maybe Prom Queen if the b*tch stole your boyfriend, too), NOT a bill.

I wonder if they actually READ it?  They couldn't find ONE clause in the bill that would kill it and use that as a reason?  They had to use meanness as an excuse?

You'd think grown ups could swallow their pride in the name of getting the job done...it would have made for a (comparatively) stronger press conference if they'd voted for it and THEN said, "we're better people than mean old Pelosi."

Side note:  Anyone else notice that it's nearly impossible to send the House an email right now?  I think the server's flooded...

Okay, I was prepared for a vicious series of RNC speeches.  Republicans attack...that's what they do...and they do it fiercely when they're losing. 

I figured they would fail to roll out a real agenda - despite the pressure they put on Obama to do just that - because all that "policy" and all those "details" stink of elitist intellectualism, and don't boil down nicely into 10-word-answers and slogans.

So, based on who they are, the bar was set really low.  I was curious to see what they did with their "Service" theme, and as usual, they seem to think the only real way to "serve" is in the military.  Big surprise.

But then Palin made the crack about community organizers and I wanted to vomit.  They want small government.  They want to cut funding for social programs.  They think the people and the markets should take care of themselves.  AND THEN THEY DENIGRATE THE VERY PEOPLE WHO TRY TO DO THAT.

McCain urged his audience to "stand up and fight for your childrens' future," but what he didn't say is that everyone should only look out for their own; once you try to organize a community, suddenly you're a second class citizen.

So, while the Republicans were failing to roll out an agenda to talk about how can improve, say, public schools, Reverend Meeks in Chicago was rolling out a city-wide boycott of the Chicago Public Schools to protest inequities in school funding.  He took 2000 children and parents to attend classes on the lawns of schools like New Trier (a very well funded suburban school).  Then he took them to corporations in the Chicago Loop highlight the issue to businesspeople (and to show the students what a good education could get them).  Teachers conducted classes in lobbies and hallways (and on the tv news they said the conditions in the hallway were better than their classrooms).  All of this was organized and executed in the name of helping all students get a quality education.

The system is broken and unequal, but the problem of our school system not only doesn't merit a bullet point in ANY Republican speech, they take it upon themselves to MOCK the people who are actually trying to fix it.

No, Governor Palin - Community Organizers are not assigned specific "responsibilities."  That's because they are VOLUNTEERING to do the work you don't want to bother with.  They take the responsibility on themselves, they aren't assigned to it.  Dr. King was a community organizer.  Are you trying to tell me that his work was useless because he wasn't told what to do?  Because he wasn't paid for it? 

There are real people in this country who are working their hearts out for NOTHING (or next to nothing), to clean up the messes made by our Republican government while the folks who were ASSIGNED to do this work were sitting around, stealing, lying, picking up cops in bathrooms, firing their brothers-in-law, sending troops into stupid wars, and misspending our tax money.  Yes, we should ABSOLUTELY mock these people for all that they do.  That's definitely the MORAL choice.  Thank you so much for making that clear for all of us. 

They just don't get it.

I was going to post this in response to Desidero on a different thread, but figured I could just share w/ the whole class!

There's a freaky blog up by Nate Silver (for baseball nuts he's the one with the PECOTA algorithm that predicts player and team performance with scary accuracy).  Silver's algorithm also predicted primary results down to the percentage split.  Anyway, it seems that polls are good predictors when you pull vast quantities of data from the right responses, combine them with demographic data and voting patterns from past elections and monitor them over the long term - very cool!

I heard this as an aside on CNN and it turns out it's true.  Florida and Michigan had their full votes reinstated.  And Florida got front row seating (couldn't tell if Michigan also got princess treatment).

WTF?

Why did the DNC put us through all these shenanigans if they were going to just give them full-seating later?  And, what does this say to the leaders of those states who created the shenanigans in the first place (especially since Michigan in particular has made primary-jumping a habit)?  Hold out long enough and you'll get your way?  What a crock!

And...in the interest of full-disclosure, I've been an Obama supporter since he was in the Illinois legislature.  At the time, I thought the outcome of the DNC meeting earlier this summer was fair.  But, right now I can't help but feel Sen. Clinton got screwed with her pants on.  Why take away a chance to continue only to hand it back when it's too late?  Does this open a back door for the Clintons?

Sorry for the rant...but, it's late, I haven't posted in nearly two months and I feel compelled to call SHENANIGANS!

I still like Obama...not sure about the Party, though.

Excuse the hyperbole of the title - I know sitting behind a desk cracking jokes isn't the same thing as reporting from the field.

Nevertheless, I saw this on the Daily Show a couple of nights ago, and as happens most nights, was blown away at the level of candor that Stewart brings to the show, and prompts his guests to achieve.

Flash back to his amazing appearance on Crossfire a few years ago, and it seems like he (and Colbert) have taken their form of "reporting" more seriously than the folks who are Constitutionally charged/protected to keep us informed.    He does us a great service each  night by shaming the MSM - and making us laugh while doing it.   Why can't real journalists do their jobs as well?  And to those who argue ratings - my guess is that hard-nosed, unbiased TRUTH would bring astonishing ratings because of its sheer novelty.  'Course, it probably helps that Stewart isn't above dorm room humor...

Hi all -

With the middle part of the country completely under water, I have question for folks who know things about things (and unfortunately I realize I won't get much in the way of answers during the day, but I'll give'er a try anyway).

I was watching some video clips from the past few weeks, and one interview stood out - it was a woman in Indianapolis whose home took on 4 feet of water.  She said her family pretty much lost everything, and the interviewer asked her if her insurance company or FEMA had been out to see her yet.  She said the insurance company refused to come because she didn't have a flood policy - and she was angry because, she said, the bank and the insurance company discouraged her from obtaining flood insurance when she purchased the home.  Apparently she was told that area had never flooded in recorded history and therefore she'd be throwing money away to buy flood insurance.

Okay, so here are my questions (for those who know anything about insurance or flood insurance or FEMA):  1) If experts actively discouraged homeowners from purchasing flood insurance because an area "doesn't flood" - and then it does - isn't that enough to invoke the "acts of God" clause in a homeowner's policy?  It seems to me the floods in some of these areas are as random and unusual as tornadoes (I'm not including the river areas in this - I actually mean the dry areas in Indy).  2) What is FEMA's obligation to folks who didn't purchase flood insurance - are they limited in what they can do to help people?

Last:  Where are Bush and McCain while the Midwest is drowning?

I just received this email from the Obama campaign. 

We need your help right now.

In Quincy, Illinois and surrounding areas, the river is expected to crest on Monday or Tuesday.

There are emergency sandbagging operations going on right now and public officials have put out a call for all available volunteers. Your help is desperately needed.

The widespread flooding in the Midwest has affected millions of people. We have an opportunity to use our grassroots movement to make a real impact at a time of urgent need.

If you can assist, please travel to one of these areas this weekend:

QUINCY, IL

Oakley-Lindsey Civic Center
South 3rd St. and Kentucky St.
Quincy, IL 62301
Map and Directions

Saturday and Sunday, June 14th - 15th
6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Volunteers are asked to come through the north doors of the Oakley-Lindsey Center. Everyone will be asked to sign a registration sheet as they enter and leave so the city can keep track of the volunteer service.

Volunteers are encouraged to bring shovels, gloves and sturdy shoes.

NIOTA, IL

If you'd like to help sandbag in Niota you can call Hancock County emergency services at 217-357-6004 for more information.

URSA, IL

Volunteers are still needed in Ursa. The operation is underway at Shaffer Farm, along the Ursa blacktop road, 1/8 mile west of the North Bottoms Road.

Volunteers are also requesting cold bottled water for those who are working.

More information on volunteering in this area:

http://my.barackobama.com/floodvolunteer

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by the recent flooding through the Midwest.

If you are not able to make it to Quincy but would like to help, visit the American Red Cross to donate to their relief efforts or find out how to get involved.

Thanks,

Obama for America

I've never been asked for anything by any politician besides money.  I've never received an email that was about anything but politics - who said what about whom - or policy. 

Maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but the campaign is using its donor list to get help for folks who really need it right now, and I am so proud to be on that list.  I can't explain it fully, but...I'm glad this person will be President in a few short months.

After 9/11 our "president" only asked us to shop.  For the first time in my life I'm proud of a leader I elected.

But enough about Obama...I'm going out to get an oil change and some air in my tires, 'cause it looks like I'm headed to Quincy tomorrow.

If any of you are anywhere near the Midwest, the folks in Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska and Kansas are not only dealing with the floods but have been devastated by the worst tornado season we've had in 10 years.  If you have time, come and help sandbag.  If you are far away or can't make the trip, please contact the Red Cross to donate blood, clothes and food.  It's really, really bad out here - people have lost everything they own to wind and water, and we know we can't yet count on our government to help them (not until January, anyway).

Thanks :)