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: 33 0 59 4457

Articles from The Liberal Doomsayer

Thursday Political Stuff 2007-12-13 23:43:00 A great new video from Brave New Films about the affliction which affects us all......and even though this looks like science fiction, it most definitely is based in fact. ...

Some Reality Therapy 2007-12-13 16:27:00 By the way, every time I think I'm going to lose my mind from the Congressional Democrats and their continual lack of fortitude, I watch this and realize how lucky we actually are that they're in charge (the stuff does scroll by a bit fast, though).Update: And by the way, I know Craig reconsidered his resignation, but he definitely isn't running again. ...

A "Second Opinion" On "McConnell Care" 2007-12-13 13:57:00 This CQ Politics story tells us that…Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is favored for re-election in 2008, but he faces the threat of a serious Democratic challenge in his home state of Kentucky. So the four-term incumbent is not waiting for the election year to tout his clout in steering funds back home: In one of two early TV ads released last week, McConnell's campaign lauded his ability to obtain federal dollars for Kentucky health care facilities."Mitch McConnell is fighting for better health, securing more than $200 million for our research universities," an announcer says.Thank God for the fine people at Ditch Mitch KY, specifically Joe Sonka, who asks the following about Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao…Aren't you the same guy that continues to vote against the expansion of SCHIP, giving health care to millions more children from low-income families? The one with very broad bipartisan support that Bush continues to veto, with your approval? Aren't you the same guy whose office ...

Sit Up And Beg, Sheryl 2007-12-13 12:18:00 I have a question for Clark Hoyt, the public editor of the New York Times; where does it state in the job description of reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg that she must receive Bushco stenography unchallenged and write it up accordingly for publication?(Warning: this is familiar territory - SCHIP, yet again - but as Atrios says, “zombie lies never die.”)As noted in Stolberg’s report…To achieve (the) goal (of maintaining SCHIP enrollment of 6.6 million kids), the Congressional Budget Office says Congress would need to provide at least $5.8 billion, $800 million more than the current spending. The bill that Democrats sent to Mr. Bush would have increased spending $35 billion, bringing the total to $60 billion over five years, and would have added four million children to the rolls.Oh, and I should note by the way that, while President George W. Milhous Bush tries to pinch pennies regarding the health of our kids, the cost of his Iraq war grows by $200 million every day at a minimum (a ...

MoveOn Is At It Again! 2007-12-13 10:37:00 (Posting is a big question mark for today, by the way – don’t know yet…).Those shameless rascals :- ) – can hardly wait to hear the howls of outrage from “the usual suspects” over this one…Dear MoveOn members,How did President Bush respond to the bombshell last week that Iran had stopped its nuclear program? Here's how one of his top military commanders put it: "There has been no course correction."(1)For years, Bush and Cheney and Rove have governed using fear—talking up war and terrorism to win elections and push their agenda. They used this method to get us into the war in Iraq, and now the President's at it again—trying to rally support by marching the nation toward war with Iran.Someone's got to call him out. Our ad team has come up with a unique twist on the issue. We want to run this as a full-page ad in The New York Times. Can you help out with $25 to help run the ad? We think you'll like it—take a look.Click here.We need to expose not just the President ...

Wednesday Videos 2007-12-12 22:36:00 Sneaker Pimps ("Spin Spin Sugar"; chicks with "tats" generally skeeve me, and this one does a bit also)......I've been wondering all day long what kind of a tribute Ike Turner deserves, and to be fair, he does merit a place in the recorded history of popular music in this country, specifically R&B, so here he is with Tina Turner performing a medley, probably back in the late '50s-early '60s, including "I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine," probably the most inaccurate song title of all time (and I definitely will not beat my wife to commemorate his passing)......Happy Birthday to Dionne Warwick (her psychic friends told her I would embed this YouTube fan video for "Do You Know The Way To San Jose?," which I believe was her first #1 hit after years of recording other great Bacharach/David songs - "with a dream in your heart, you're never alone")......and Mr. S. would have been 92 today ("Softly As I Leave You"; yet another nice fan video). ...

More Holiday Stuff 2007-12-12 22:13:00 Perry Como ("Do You Hear What I Hear?"; a nice little fan video)......and now, time for "Song Of Joy" with The Burping Snowmen! ...

Wednesday Political Stuff 2007-12-12 21:55:00 Maybe this truly captures the appeal of Mike Huckabee (h/t Daily Kos)......but don't forget Willard Mitt too (this Stranahan guy is pretty good). ...

Seasons Greetings From Dubya, Kids 2007-12-12 21:50:00 I'm so glad President Numbskull is "off the sauce." Only someone drunk would veto SCHIP for a second time.Oh, wait...Update 12/13/07: This idea is so good that I should have thought of it first (h/t Molly I. at Eschaton). ...

Don't Rebuke The "Spooks" 2007-12-12 17:24:00 (Not for Iraq anyway; Intel parlance for spies, I hasten to add…)This is the first chance I’ve had to note this, but last Sunday in the New York Times, writer Tim Weiner took the C.I.A. to task even though it released the information that Iran had abandoned its nuclear program four years ago (noted earlier today and elsewhere)…Why would the United States start a war to stop a weapons-of-mass-destruction program that had been placed on hold? Been there, done that. American spies and analysts conjured up phantom Iraqi weapons programs in 2002; the nation went to war largely on the basis of that bad intelligence. And yet, according to the new analysis, American intelligence seems to have erred in much the same way in 2005, assuming Iran’s nuclear bomb was still in the works when it was not.But last week’s about-face showed that the analysts are unlikely to make the same mistake thrice. Why? Because American intelligence is now asking itself: How do we know what we know?The natio ...

The Campaign Never Ends 2007-12-12 16:36:00 Just a quick mention of this Bucks County Courier Times article yesterday noting that Patrick Murphy……held a congressional field hearing (Monday) to discuss ways to improve response to disasters at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center just outside Doylestown (PA), which attracted about 50 people.The 11 people who testified covered a range of topics, from efforts after Hurricane Katrina to general disaster response to addressing floods along the Delaware River. Though the particular disasters differed, one theme was constant: Much more could be done, much faster and better, if information got to the right people at the right time.“There is no coordination between federal and state governments and the private sector. It just doesn't exist,” Grover Friend said during a break in the hearing. “Americans are wonderful people. In times of disaster they want to help. The problem is knowing how to do it.”I presume that Friend is a resident; he is not identified in any other capaci ...

Today's Weather Forecast 2007-12-12 14:53:00 I know Dubya hates Al Gore, but I didn’t know Pope Benny did also.But before I get to the Vatican, I want to note this New York Times story today that tells us that Bushco has decided to “mess around under the hood” with a bill that passed the House and is pending in the Senate that would regulate auto emissions and fuel economy.Here’s the rub…Primary regulation of mileage standards has historically fallen to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an arm of the Transportation Department. But vehicle tailpipe emissions are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, and a Supreme Court ruling this year affirmed the E.P.A.’s authority to regulate emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from passenger vehicles, which basically would mean regulating their fuel use.The White House, echoing a position taken by auto manufacturers and a coalition of industry groups, is asking that the energy legislation be changed to specify the highway safety administrati ...

The War On Another Battlefield 2007-12-12 12:00:00 I don’t know about you, but I continue to remain skeptical about the timing of the latest NIE report declaring that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 (here).Some think the report was floated by our intelligence services to head off a confrontation with Iran. That may be so; regardless of the reason, though, the report was good news then and remains good news today.But being the fundamentally corrupt capitalists that they are, I don’t imagine that the Bushco regime acted in anything but its own self-interest here, as usual, either in controlling the release of the report or going along as actors after it emerged when they discovered a way to use it to their advantage.And in the event that the former case is true, I want to suggest that they did so in an attempt to appease Iran to the point where that country would continue to transact oil using the dollar as currency and thus stabilize or lower the price of oil. Our ruling cabal would surely know that a continuing rise ...

Tuesday Videos 2007-12-11 22:47:00 Chuck Prophet ("Freckle Song")......Happy Birthday to Mike Mesaros of The Smithereens ("A Girl Like You")......Happy Birthday also to Justin Currie of Del Amitri ("Roll To Me"; clever stuff)......and I'm really late with this, but happy belated birthday to Mike Smith of The Dave Clark Five ("Can't You See That She's Mine"; these guys had a nice run until those four moptop lads from Liverpool showed up; the guy has fallen on hard times so best wishes from yours truly - entry of these guys into the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame is truly a no-brainer)......Now for seasonal stuff: "Silver Bells" with Johnny Mathis (a nice little homemade vid from YouTuber SirKnott)......and Santa has a brush with the law ("bad boys, bad boys, whatcha' gonna do?"). ...

Before The WGA, There Was The MLBPA 2007-12-11 16:46:00 I don’t have any updates on the writer’s strike at the moment (I believe negotiations have broken off for now – I’m sure you can find a more current update somewhere), but in the category of labor news, I should note that former Major League Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent wrote a column in the Op-Ed section of the New York Times last Saturday that definitely deserves mention (all the more startling when you realize that the subject of Vincent’s column was Marvin Miller (pictured), the founder of the MLB Players Association, with Vincent representing management).The topic of Vincent’s column was the inclusion of former commissioner Bowie Kuhn into baseball’s Hall of Fame while ignoring Miller, with Vincent arguing that Miller did more for the game than Kuhn and thus deserves inclusion also.And I know now that professional athletes today have a very different lifestyle than that enjoyed by their predecessors, so it’s hard to see them in the same light as you would see ...