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 0 106 4211

Articles from The Liberal Doomsayer

It's "Beat Up Patrick Murphy" Tuesday 2007-07-24 11:09:00 The following Guest Opinion appeared in the Courier Times last Friday July 20th, and it is one of the most malicious pieces of garbage I’ve ever read attacking Patrick Murphy (written by Donald Petrille, Jr. of Bedminster; he resides in Perkasie, PA and he is past chairman of Bucks County Federation of Young Republicans).(This is a long one...).Last November, millions of Americans voted for change. Unfortunately, Bucks County voters did not know that Patrick Murphy would help usher in a new budget unlike anything our nation has seen since the 1970s.The Democrats’ 2008 budget sets off a vicious cycle of higher taxes fueling higher spending and greater spending demands – which in turn will trigger even more tax hikes, followed by more spending. As a member of Democratic leadership, Murphy is responsible for finding the votes to ensure these massive tax increases become law.OK, this is one of the first pieces of utter misinformation from Petrille. Patrick Murphy is NOT a member of t ...

Good News For A Change 2007-07-24 10:16:00 Libya decided to act like a country that respects legal precedent and procedure and freed the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of infecting children with the AIDS virus (noted here).The charges were trumped up and ridiculous from the start, but fortunately, sanity prevailed (the whole situation reeked of a shakedown scheme for the children’s families; the losses of the families were terrible, of course, but to allege that medical professionals would do this was monstrous – as the kos post notes, scientific data clearing the workers was disallowed at their sham of a trial).I’ve had a little bit to say about this (nothing special, I know), so I just thought I’d note that this was resolved fairly for the six medical professionals who had suffered way too much over this already. ...

Monday Videos 2007-07-23 22:47:00 Spoon ("The Underdog")......Happy Birthday to Chad Gracey of Live, from York, Pa. ("The Beauty Of Gray" - "Mental Jewelry" rocks, by the way)......Happy 64th to Tony Joe White ("Polk Salad Annie," his hit from back in the day)......and a happy belated birthday to Yusef Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens of course ("Miles From Nowhere" and "Father and Son," recorded live in 1976 - anyone who thinks that this man is a terrorist should familiarize themselves with his story and his music before thinking of something so dumb.) ...

No “Climate Crisis� For Shaheen 2007-07-23 16:17:00 I’ve said nothing about the upcoming (2008) Senate election in New Hampshire between incumbent Repug John Sununu and former governor Dem Jeanne Shaheen in “the granite state,� but I have to admit that I got a laugh out of the following quote from Sununu in this Bloomberg News story…New Hampshire Senator John Sununu said he wouldn't campaign with George W. Bush next year ``in this climate'' because of the president's low job-approval ratings.Sununu is doing little better than the head of his party based on these numbers, and they are as follows (noted here, from CNN dated last week)…Sununu 38%Shaheen 54%Undecided 7%And based on the laundry list of Repug boilerplate that Sununu is clinging to based on the Bloomberg story (including Iraq, of course), I think he’d better keep his umbrella handy because he’s going to see a lot of rainy days.(Actually, I was kinder to Sununu than I’d planned to be; as the story notes, Shaheen leads by 56% to 34% for Sununu – and how fun ...

Can't Leave Soon Enough, Jim 2007-07-23 15:12:00 In the past, I afforded outgoing Veterans Administration head Jim Nicholson a measure of respect because he served our country for eight years as a paratrooper and Ranger-qualified U.S. Army officer before serving 22 years in the Army reserve (based on his White House bio here, assuming it is to be believed).No more; this story tells us that, while overseeing the VA, he acted in a manner typical for any Bushco flunky while running that agency, and as a result……a coalition of injured Iraq war veterans is accusing VA Secretary Jim Nicholson of breaking the law by denying them disability pay and mental health treatment.…Suing on behalf of hundreds of thousands of veterans, it charges that the VA has failed warriors on several fronts — from providing prompt disability benefits, to adding staff to reduce wait times for medical care to boosting services for post-traumatic stress disorder.The lawsuit also accuses the VA of deliberately cheating some veterans by allegedly working with ...

Sorry, Russ 2007-07-23 11:39:00 I really want to support Russ Feingold on his proposal to censure Bush and Cheney for the warrantless spying program and their conduct of the illegal Iraq war (yes, it is now, has been and always will be illegal – haven’t stated it in so many words lately I know). I really want to do it if for no other reason than as an act of loyalty to someone who was one of the few Dems to show a spine for a long time against this bunch (the numbers have grown since Feingold first stood up, but not nearly to the required level).But I really can’t.It’s impeach or nothing, Russ. There’s no sense messing around any more with this bunch. Besides, you brought this up in March of 2006, and even though it was and still is an honorable and statesman like thing to do, it still falls short then as now.If you can make the case, then a slap on the wrist isn’t nearly sufficient. They merit nothing less than removal from office.(And just so there are officially three mentions, Impeach Bush/Cheney…Av ...

Blame The Dems Now And Forever 2007-07-23 10:50:00 (I mean, why should the Inky deviate from its script at this point?)The Philadelphia Inquirer ran this hit piece on its front page yesterday from Noam S. Levey of the L.A. Times…WASHINGTON — Sen. Harry Reid offered his cooperation in December when the Iraq Study Group unveiled its recommendations with a plaintive call for a bipartisan effort to change the course of the war."Democrats will work with our Republican colleagues," promised the Nevada Democrat and soon-to-be majority leader, just weeks after an election that swept Democrats into the congressional majority on a wave of public frustration over Iraq.Eight bitter months and nine major Iraq-related votes later, the meaning of Reid's pledge has come into sharp focus: Democrats will work with any GOP lawmaker willing to vote for a mandatory troop withdrawal; other Republicans need not apply.This bellicose, uncompromising legislative strategy — on display again this week as Reid refused to allow votes on nonbinding GOP-backed ...

Today's Impeach Moment 2007-07-21 22:02:00 Avedon (via Atrios)...Impeach Bush...Over and out.(and Impeach Bush and Impeach Bush to fill the post quota...) ...

Friday Videos 2007-07-20 23:17:00 Interpol ("Rest My Chemistry"; I heard this on 'PRB tonight and I've had it in my head for the last couple of hours - video is just a bunch of band shots, but I like the tune)......Happy belated birthday to Brian Glascock of The Motels ("Suddenly Last Summer," some '80s fluff recorded before he joined the band, actually; I get all the other music video clichés for that period, but the ice cream truck is a new one)......Happy Birthday to both Jack Irons and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam ("Alive")......and Happy Birthday to the one and only Carlos Santana (performing the epic version of "Soul Sacrifice" at Woodstock in 1969 with the rest of the band; hard to tell who gave a more amazing performance, though drummer Michael Shrieve, all of 19, might have topped everyone). ...

Harry Potter And The Ghastly Hype 2007-07-20 22:20:00 This (below) is probably the best (?) parody I could find out there in light of that book that is due to go on sale in these parts within the hour.(We just came from a Harry Potter party at Barnes and Noble; fun, but I thought I left oppressive crowds behind in Orlando - more fool me I guess. The young one was dressed as a dementor, and I of course was a "muggle," which is about as far as I go with this whole thing). ...

Three More For Friday 2007-07-20 15:38:00 (I’ve had to shift gears like crazy today since my two main posting topics aren’t available online for some reason, so…)Under the “Brownie’s Still A Gasser,” dept., we have the story of formaldehyde in FEMA trailers, a chemical known to cause sore throats, burning eyes and respiratory problems.As noted here…“They wanted to ignore the problem,” (House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry) Waxman said, referring to headquarters officials. “What we have is indifference to the suffering of people who are already suffering because of Hurricane Katrina, and this is from an agency that’s supposed to serve the public.”Mr. Waxman said that after news reports in March 2006 about formaldehyde in the trailers, members of the field staff urged immediate action. He quoted a response in an e-mail message from a FEMA lawyer who said: “Do not initiate any testing until we give the O.K. Once you get results, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them.”The documents inc ...

What Took Him So Long? 2007-07-20 15:10:00 So the courts want “all evidence” when reviewing the status of Guantanamo detainees, huh? What are they, a bunch of America-hating li-bu-ruuuls? (smirk)I wonder if the fact that Dubya felt he had to maybe, um, hide some unpleasantness that might come out in that event is the reason why he issued this order?And in a related story, with the preznit “going under” for a medical procedure in a very personal area that is actually normal for someone his physical age, that left will leave Deadeye Dick officially in charge tomorrow for a time (insert your punch line here).And since that’s only two mentions of President Numbskull…oh wait, never mind.Update 7/21: And thanks so much to "the most trusted name in news" for bringing us continual updates on the state of Dubya's...rear end (Tony Snow, for the record, refused to confirm the reported presence of a hemorrhoid). ...

Friday News Grab Bag 2007-07-20 12:26:00 (just throwing this stuff together here…)The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a half-page ad in its Nation and World section yesterday from a group called America’s Student Loan Providers in which it advocated the Nelson-Burr Amendment, which mcjoan at The Daily Kos refers to here as “a big gift to the student loan industry.” As mcjoan notes…The amendment would reduce funding for by something like $4.2 billion for the amount of money that the Senate bill would devote to students receiving the maximum Pell Grant. The neediest students would lose out on an average of $300 in increased scholarship aid. The lending industry doesn't need the protection of the Nelson/Burr amendment. It's doing just fine.The House action was a response to cleaning up the mess in the $85 billion (!) student loan industry, highlighted by the recent resignation of Theresa S. Shaw, the individual responsible for overseeing the program, no doubt due to lax oversight of lending practices (“Terri has told us ...

With Hat In Hand 2007-07-20 10:49:00 Are we actually seeing signs of humility from Bushco lately? Some indications of their horrendous mistakes that have led to such murderous chaos, particularly in the Middle East?Well, no, I suppose, but the closest thing to that would be something approximating common sense. Some of that appeared in the following New York Times column today by Zalmay Khalilzad (pictured), the United States ambassador to the United Nations (see, now they tell us that the U.N. should be involved in that mess, when we should have been partnering with them every step of the way).I just want to add a few thoughts to what Kahlilzad says here – he’s smarter than your typical neocon wingnut so I don’t have much to say, though he’s definitely one of them to be sure…AFTER meeting with President Bush on Tuesday, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the Iraqi situation is “a problem of the whole world” and that the United Nations is prepared to contribute to the “Iraqi government and people to h ...

Thursday Videos 2007-07-19 23:08:00 The Von Bondies ("C'mon C'mon"; short, loud, and it gets to the point in a hurry)......Happy Birthday to Bernie Leadon of The Eagles ("Witchy Woman," from 1973)......Happy Birthday to Brian May of Queen (performing "Love Of My Life" and accompanying the one and only Freddie Mercury here - R.I.P.)...Update 7/25: Wow - "to infinity and beyond," huh Brian? Way to go!...Happy Birthday to Alan Gorrie of the Average White Band ("Cut The Cake")......and finally, for anyone who has missed it thus far, the King Tut exhibition opened at the Franklin Institute here in Philadelphia a little while ago, and to get everyone in the mood to go see it, I present this. ...