cassandra_m
"You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas." -Shirley Chisholm
cassandra_m's Latest Posts
Thursday Open Thread [7.31.14]
So conservatives who simply cannot live in the Reality Based Community created their own version of Facebook. It is called Reaganbook — the “Facebook for Patriots”. Somehow these conservatives feel that they are being censored and hounded off of Facebook and they need their own social network. (There is nothing more appalling or more hysterical than conservatives who think they are being persecuted.) That site was recently pre-launched and that failed launch was subject to serious take-backs:
The Wilmington City Council Clown Show, Part Whatever
The effort to start getting Wilmington’s long-term budget problem under control had a major setback last night when they failed to override the Mayor’s veto of an ordinance that defunded 8 vacant WFD positions. Sherry Dorsey-Walker, Trippi Congo, Bob Williams, Justin Wright and Sam Prado were cravenly joined at the last minute by Darius Brown, who apparently thought that since this vote might lose, he should get off of the reform train.
The Latest Performance from the DE GOP Clown Show
Remember in 2012 when Jeff Cragg and Sher Valenzuela perfected the technique of campaigning for a Delaware office someplace other than in Delaware? That was seriously awesome, even though I don’t see those SE PA votes tallied anywhere on the Delaware Department of Elections site. But I digress. This cycle, Kevin Wade is taking that technique of campaigning for Delaware votes someplace else To A Whole New Level. Kevin Wade has gone to Israel:
on a week-long fact-finding mission in Israel, on the ground right now (July 29). Wade is researching the situation on the ground and interviewing many. Kevin Wade is also a co-host with the Conservative Commandos Radio Show. Wade will be posting interviews on YouTube from the war zone in Israel.
How the Left Took Over the Democratic Party
That’s the title of a recent Politico (sorry) long piece that tries to make the case that the activist base of the Democratic Party have taken the party over. It is an interesting article and worth the read. Part of the motivation of this piece seems to be in making the point that Hillary Clinton won’t have as much room to ignore the activist base as other Presidential candidates could. I’m not sure that’s true — largely because the activist base hasn’t been able to translate its agenda to the Democrats in Congress (yes, there are some, but there isn’t as much of a block as could influence White House policy). And because Democrats in Congress aren’t nearly as beholden to their voting base as they are to their check-writing base. But we already knew that I’m a major cynic on that point.
Saturday Open Thread [7.26.14]
How much more proof do you need that these wingnuts are over their heads? This fool of a Congressman from Florida (GOP, naturally) thinks that the State Department and Commerce Department employees sitting in front of him are actually representatives of the government of India. Apparently because it can’t be possible for the US Government […]
Friday Open Thread [7.25.14]
![Friday Open Thread [7.25.14]](http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BtTkD73CQAAIxnZ.jpg "Friday Open Thread [7.25.14]")
The Cape Henlopen School District is feeling the heat (it seems) over their decision to remove one book — The Miseducation of Cameron Post–from their summer reading list, so they decided to abolish the reading list all together. It wasn’t enough that they banned the first book without even reading it (they googled it and saw the controversy– gasp) OR even talking to the teachers’ group that put the book on the list. And as far as I can tell, they took this decision to abolish the summer reading list again without talking to a single soul responsible for curriculum. If I’m a parent in this District, I’m making the replacement of this entire school board crew a priority. Because they are pretty clearly incompetent. Apparently this move is meant to avoid actions by the ACLU, but certainly isn’t about helping students maintain some learning readiness.
Wendesday Open Thread [7.23.14]
The New Yorker takes a look at VP Joe Biden’s evolution in the White House:
Over the years, Biden has acquired a singular place in the pop culture of American politics. In a White House that privileges self-containment, Biden ambles between exuberant and self-defeating. He was barely in the West Wing before the Onion declared, in a headline, “SHIRTLESS BIDEN WASHES TRANS AM IN WHITE HOUSE DRIVEWAY,” establishing a theme—“Amtrak Joe,” the hell-raiser at the end of the bar—that is so enduring that it obscures the fact that he is a lifelong teetotaller. (Too many alcoholics in his family, he says. He grew up sharing a room with his mother’s brother, and recalled of the experience, “Even as kids, we noticed Uncle Boo-Boo drank a bit heavily.”)
Instead of raging against the indignities of the Vice-Presidency, Biden luxuriates in the job. Perched in his chair during the State of the Union address, peering down on his former congressional colleagues, Biden makes a pistol out of his finger and thumb, and blasts away, winking and gunning with no evident irony. Last year, C-SPAN taped him getting ready to swear in new senators. He greeted each senator’s family with frisky enthusiasm. To the old ladies, he’d say, “You’ve got beautiful eyes, Mom, holy mackerel.” To the young women: “Remember—no serious guys till you’re thirty!” To the little kids in their Sunday best: “Take care of your grandfather. Your most important job.” The full package—the Ray-Ban aviators, the shameless schmalz, the echoes of the Fonz—has never endeared him to the establishment, but it lends him an air of authenticity that is rare in his profession. It has also produced a whiff of cult appeal, such that his image now has more in common with Betty White than with John Boehner. In May, after a teen-ager invited Biden to her prom, he replied with a corsage and a handwritten note encouraging her to “enjoy your prom as much as I did mine.” On Twitter, people went affectionately berserk.
In Which We Find the Christian Right Trolling for an Activist Judge
Or, as named in this article, the “new frontrunner in the race for dumbest Christian Right lawsuit”. In this case, we have a nurse (how she got past the schoolwork, we’ll never know) who applied for a job at a Title X clinic in Tampa (Title X meaning that they explicitly in the business of all things family planning). She went into this interview telling her would-be employer that she could not dispense birth control pills, because she “believes” they cause abortions:
Senator Elizabeth Warren at Netroots Nation
The media doesn’t typically pay that much attention to Netroots Nation — unlike CPAC coverage (which is pretty much non-stop on NPR), where I think the media flocks to in order to hear the crazy. Still. NPR covered VP Biden’s speech at Netroots Nation in order to cite him as a source for the Malaysian Airlines plane being shot out of the sky and to spin out the Presidential Horserace story for Democrats. I Googled Elizabeth Warren’s speech and found not one, but 3 Politico articles on how she is the heart of progressives at this event. Then there are the horserace articles about whether Warren will take on Hillary Clinton in the Presidential primaries. It’s just sad that you have to provide some juicy theater for the press to cover you.
Late Night Video — Stephen Colbert Breaks Down the Fake Compassion of Conservatives For You
This is, of course, a dissection of the compassion theater being acted out by conservatives before they call for completely not compassionate treatment of the kids coming to our border.
Vice President Biden at Netroots Nation
Here is the video (about 47 mins) of VP Biden addressing the progressives at Netroots Nation in Detroit this week. Props to him for showing up there. Loved how he owned the perception that he is gaffe-prone. And he made the pitch that progressives were crucial to the political conversation and were needed more than ever. Then again, this Joe Biden telling progressives that he is one of them (touting — among other things — that he led the fight against Bork, Alito and Roberts) is the same Joe Biden who mistreated Anita Hill during the Thomas confirmation hearings. At the 20 minute mark, VP Biden is heckled by a group of folks opposed to deportations and encourages the applause for them. Nicely done, too. So take a look and tell us if you think he is running for President:
Sussex County Got a Little Brighter This Afternoon
Bill Colley was finally fired from WGMD. I think I can hear the cheers from here!
WGMD fired me today. Surprisingly I'm not bitter and actually feel, for the moment, liberated. For 7 years had the time of my life!
— Bill Colley (@BumpColley) July 18, 2014
Why Would Anyone Shoot Down a Malaysian Airline Plane over Ukraine?
Seriously, I was astonished and sick when I heard that this plane disappeared from radar, then heard it was shot down. The pictures are horrific and while the Ukrainians and the Russians have rushed to say they were not responsible, someone shot down that plane. There’s not much anyone knows at this point, but why would anyone shoot down this plane? Tell me what you think in the comments.
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