The Liberal Doomsayer My blog deals primarily with national politics in the U.S. as well as, on occasion, local politics in Pennsylvania. From time to time, I may have something to say about sports and entertainment as well. I try to interpret information that shapes the news and provide context to current events. I am definitely left of center politically, but as far as I'm concerned, neither major party is perfect. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 35 0 59 4457

Articles from The Liberal Doomsayer

Try Again On FISA, Harry 2007-12-17 21:56:00 Ted Kennedy tells Harry Reid what he thinks of the FISA bill that was brought to the floor for a vote (and then WITHDRAWN!! SUCCESS!!).We will have to fight this again in January, of course, but good has been done for now (and Tony Fratto and the rest of Bushco can kiss my ass, by the way - OOGA BOOGA!! TERRA, TERRA, TERRA!! AMERICANS WILL DIE!! 9/11, 9/11!!).Hat tip to Prof. Marcus for this... ...

Hispanics Can Be Idiot Columnists Also 2007-12-17 15:08:00 You know, I really try not to look for people like Ruben Navarrette, Jr., as well as Kathleen Parker, Jack Kelly, and assorted other right-wing media numbskulls. However, they seem to return to our discourse with the consistency of cockroaches seeking moisture and food scraps through fissures in concrete.And Navarrette really uncorked a lulu in his corporate media column today on CNN (I’ll get to it in a minute).Now I’ll be the last person to defend Bill Shaheen, the (former) New Hampshire campaign co-chair for Hillary Clinton, who had the following to say about Barack Obama (from Navarrette’s column)…In his remarks, Shaheen, a local attorney and Democratic powerbroker, said he was worried that Republicans would have a particularly easy time going after Obama's drug use as a teenager because he has been so open about it. He contrasted this with George W. Bush, who Shaheen said wisely ruled out answering questions about his behavior as a younger man during his presidential run ...

The (Real) Trouble With Harry 2007-12-17 10:56:00 (Posting is going to be “up in the air” today, and it will probably start to trail off as we get closer to the holidays.)After spending way too much time here defending Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (including yesterday, for valid reasons I should add), I find myself utterly repulsed by his actions on the FISA bill that he plans to bring to the floor of the U.S. Senate today, as are many of you I'm sure (Sen. Russ Feingold has more here – h/t Atrios – and more is here from The Daily Kos; here and here are prior related posts, and I would call these numbers pretty decisive).I can tolerate some of Reid's actions on legislation regarding Iraq, for example, since as we know all too well, the Democrats don’t have enough of a majority in that body to overcome Repug obstruction (to say nothing of not having a Democratic president). But the bill he plans to introduce that grants retroactive telecomm immunity is a cave-in, pure and simple.Because of this, I’ve been reading up ...

Sunday Videos 2007-12-16 22:32:00 Two from Dan Fogelberg, who left us today - "To The Morning" ("A boy dreams of another time and place")......and "These Days" (an album/photo slide show). ...

Trying To Close Dubya's "Back Door" 2007-12-16 10:42:00 Last week in this post, I noted the following quote from George W. Milhous Bush about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's plan to hold "pro forma" sessions that would last approxi- mately 30 seconds over the holiday break; Incurious George had this to say in response:“If 30 seconds is a full day,” Mr. Bush said, “no wonder Congress has got a lot of work to do.”Hah hah, you moron (as the post also noted, Dubya had taken as much vacation time in three years as Bill Clinton took in seven, and I believe that, by now, he has shattered the record set by Ronnie Ray Gun - and never forget how we loved "The Gipper" for his "optimism"...easy to have a good outlook on life when you're well connected and rich).Well, as the post also noted, the point of Reid's maneuver was to prevent the "Dear Leader" from making recess appointments, and this New York Times story tells us of one that Dubya would likely make for some human slug named Robert J. Battista, whose term as head of the National ...

More Holiday Stuff 2007-12-15 23:21:00 And now, "The 12 Days Of Christmas" from YouTuber boymongoose (a "sign of the times," for yours truly and many others in IT-related jobs)......and Sir Cliff Richard ("Mistletoe and Wine") ...

Helping Out Bob Wexler 2007-12-15 21:50:00 Just trying to lend a hand to a hero in response to this...(The "Senator From MBNA" who is allegedly running for president has a nice quote here; some words supporting the House effort of Wexler, Baldwin and Gutierrez would be even better.)And in case we need a reminder, here's one......and here's another. ...

Friday Videos 2007-12-14 23:25:00 Tango Underground ("Jatek Hatarok Nelkul"; I believe this is an example of Argentinean punk rock)......Kate Nash ("Foundations"; sounds like trouble in paradise, sadly)......Happy belated birthday to Davey O'List of Roxy Music ("Do The Strand"; a tad influenced by Kurt Weill, I suppose)......Happy belated Birthday also to Tom Verlaine of Television ("Call Mr. Lee")...Time for seasonal stuff now: "Raging Rudolph" from "MAD T.V." (synch is off by about a second)......and "The Christmas Waltz" by The Carpenters.Update: Oh yeah, I usually have an '80s tune on Fridays, so here's "It Doesn't Have To Be That Way," by The Blow Monkeys (looking for that great Jim Croce song by the same name - I'll keep looking...). ...

Friday Political Stuff 2007-12-14 22:18:00 Just a reminder that as mad as we get at the Dems in Congress, some of them are merely cowering (which is bad), but the "Grand Obstructionist Party" is doing something wholly other (and by the way, that number is a lot higher than 23 now, as you can see here; 59 as of now to be exact)......and "The Pap Attack" takes on Abu G. ...

Friday Wrapup (12/14/07) 2007-12-14 17:22:00 In the post a few minutes ago about the congressional votes, I noted that the Senate Dems had to give in on the energy bill, and I linked to the New York Times story by John Broder; in the print edition, there’s a photo of Reid and Charles Schumer next to a cardboard sign noting that the Repugs thus far have filibustered 59 bills (no mention of that in the story). More information on that is available here.Now we know that Mike Huckabee is a serious Repug contender; he’s hired Ed Rollins (more here).This story tells us of a “bot” pretending to be some kind of a flirty Internet chat room stranger (it’s “the most wonderful time of the year,” as we know, and who doesn’t want company, right?), but in reality, it’s a cyber thief coded by Russian programmers that steals confidential information (I can’t think of any punishment too severe for the people who concoct this stuff).Finally (on a computer-related note), I want to mention that your humble narrator has recently en ...

Where The Rubber Meets The Road (12/14/07) 2007-12-14 16:16:00 As reported in last Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer, here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes last week.HouseNew Energy Policies: Members voted, 235-181, to raise vehicle mileage standards 40 percent over 12 years and require utilities to generate 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources.A yes vote backed a bill raising taxes on oil firms to finance an array of new energy policies. (HR 6)Voting yes: Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Michael N. Castle (R., Del.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.), Joe Sestak (D., Pa.) and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).Voting no: Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), H. James Saxton (R., N.J.).As noted here, the vehicle mileage standards provision made it through the Senate, but the affected industries, led by the U.S. Chamber of Comm ...

Dubya "Decides" To Run For Cover 2007-12-14 15:52:00 In today’s New York Times, Sheryl Gay Stolberg does some more “by the numbers” reporting on Dubya “win(ning) on energy, children’s health and spending bills,” a claim I won’t contest because of the appalling failure of the Democratic leadership to stand up to George W. Milhous Bush.However, I will defend Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid somewhat for this…Mr. Bush likes to say his relations with Democrats are cordial. Just last week, he played host to members of Congress at the White House’s annual black-tie Christmas ball.But munching on crab cakes and sipping spiced eggnog are not the same thing as hashing out policy, something Mr. Bush, who prefers delegating over details, is loath to do. At a ceremony in the Capitol for the Dalai Lama last month, Ms. Pelosi, the House speaker, and Mr. Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, buttonholed Mr. Bush and asked to meet to discuss their differences on children’s health.He told them their aides should talk to his health secretary ...

A Flight Of Fancy? 2007-12-14 14:23:00 I read this news story about the latest development with Ron Paul, and all I could think of was this lyrical weirdness from Captain Beefheart (hey, it’s just how my mind works, y’know?). So, here’s a parody for the occasion, with an assist from this information (and I know at least one person who isn’t going to be happy about this)…Master masterThis is the thing that fliesIt’s gonna make Ron Paul phatJust stay away from other aircraft, just swerveOr Ron will wipe it out like the Federal ReserveIt’s the blimp, It’s the blimp!Get us coverage from the “media cheats”Right under the noses of the world’s elitesListen for the cheering, if you canFrom “Constitutionalists,” the Freedmen and The KlanNothing but hoots and applauseAs Paul keeps calling to abolish the Commerce ClauseAnd oh, the mother ship looks divinah!Trapped over the airspace of CarolinaWhat a shame we didn’t set up our LLCIn time for the blimp to make the “Boston Tea Party”‘Cos who’s the one ...

Bushco's CDC On The Job 2007-12-14 13:45:00 So yesterday, Dr. Julie Gerberding of the Centers for Disease Control told us here that the shortage of a childhood meningitis vaccine “should not become a public health threat.” Hopefully, Dr. Gerberding will be correct.And today, the CDC thinks that it might be a good idea at long last to do formaldehyde testing of the trailers in which victims of Hurricane Katrina lived after they complained of health problems; about 90,000 people are living in the trailers, mostly in Louisiana and Mississippi with smaller numbers in Alabama and Texas (h/t The Daily Kos).Proactivity, thy name is Bushco (I'll admit, though, that FEMA is the primary culprit on the slow response to the trailer issue).And regarding the CDC itself, did you know that (according to here)…Top officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received premium bonuses in recent years at the expense of scientists and others who perform much of the agency's scientific work, agency records show...From 2002 thro ...

News To Build On 2007-12-14 07:40:00 This TPM Election Central link (h/t Avedon Carol at Eschaton) tells us..Though the exchange (in the last Democratic debate before the Iowa caucuses) between Hillary and Obama at the debate was most attention grabbing to the media, it was John Edwards who most impressed the voters who were assembled by CNN and Fox News to gauge reaction.The post tells us that Edwards scored with a familiar (though no less important) message about "taking our country back" and the (rigged) tax code. And in fairness, Barack Obama scored well also along with Hillary Clinton.And in other news (concerning the climate change summit in Bali)...The escalating bitterness between the European Union and the United States came as former Vice President Al Gore told delegates in a speech that “My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali.”Mr. Gore arrived at the conference from Norway, where he, along with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, receiv ...