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
By Their Oppression of People Not Like Them Shall You Know Them
Dana Millbank tells the story of how Rick Santorum went back to the US Capital this week to help lobby against the human rights of disabled people. That’s right — Mr. Culture of Life is fearlessly lobbying against the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities. This treaty was actually negotiated by the George W. Bush’s administration and has been ratified by 126 nations, including China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, and Syria.
In Which We Find John Stapleford Blaming Black and Brown People for Big Government
That was the nicest title I could come up with after reading this new bit of stupidity from John Stapleford of the brain dead CRI. Titled What role does government aid play in elections?, we find Stapleford trying to gin up some numerical proof for Mitt Romney’s claim that Obama won because he gave out gifts to key voter groups. And as usual for Stapleford, he produces a ton of numbers that aren’t sourced anywhere, counting on readers not to notice and counting on readers to not ask questions about the numbers he provides. In other words, it is the usual CRI bullshit. And I want to know how he gets paid for this. Seriously. And explain to me how it is that wingnut welfare — which Stapleford is clearly a beneficiary of — isn’t it’s own gift to the angry white people being paid to push this bullshit to people who really need better information than this. Because I’d bet ALOT OF MONEY that the number of wingnut welfare recipients that voted for Mitt Romney approaches 100%.
Filibuster Reform
It finally looks like Harry Reid has been convinced to rein in the principal form of GOP obstruction in the Senate — the filibuster. And it doesn’t look like he’ll eliminate it — but reform it so that it takes some committed work to block the Senate’s work. Apparently some of the rules revisions are still being thought out, but so far, the rules would change as follows:
QOTD — Did You Know That The Deficit Is Shrinking?
Seriously. It has shrunk 3.1 percentage points since 2009. From the Investor’s Business Daily (via Ezra Klein):
Public Hearing on Proposed Campaign Finance Regulations
Back in August, Governor Markell signed three pieces of legislation designed to update the state’s campaign finance regulations. These new regulations are required to be implemented by December 31, 2012. As part of the process, the new regulations were posted in November 1, and Public Hearings are set for Thursday, November 29, 2012:
The Fraud That Is The Campaign To Fix The Debt
You may have heard of this group back in late October, when a group of 80+ CEOs signed a letter to Washington that asks Congress work out a deficit-reduction deal that calls for both increases revenues and cuts spending. This letter (and the launch of this group) had enough of the optics of bipartisanship that Senator Chris Coons rushed out with a statement that endorsed this “balanced approach” to deficit reduction. You can see something of these optics in the Statement of Principles that these CEOs published:
Thanksgiving Open Thread [11.22.12]
![Thanksgiving Open Thread [11.22.12]](http://delawareliberal.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/firstillegalimmigrants-240x180.jpg "Thanksgiving Open Thread [11.22.12]")
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Hope that all of you are safety ensconced with your family and/or your friends — watching the parades, watching football, cooking, eating and drinking. And giving thanks. We here at Delaware Liberal are thankful to be among so many committed political junkies and activists who share so very much of their commitment, passion and knowledge with the rest of us. We are, of course, grateful for our families and friends who sometimes don’t quite get this passion for politics, but today we ask you what you are thankful for this season. Let us know in the comments if you drop by today.
Tuesday Open Thread [11.20.12]
Another late Open Thread! There is too much Thanksgiving preparation going on here.
Buzzfeed reports that Obama campaign manager Jim Messina is expecting the Obama political organization will stay alive this round, rather than be put into mothballs as he did the first term. And that organization’s first job might be to organize around the fiscal cliff discussions:
Messina said the campaign will not immediately turn over the operation to the Democratic National Committee, but he also suggested Obama will not repeat what is widely seen as a mistake of his first term: switching off his grassroots operation at the behest of Congressional Democrats, who bridled at its organizing in their districts.
This time, Messina suggested that the campaign’s vaunted “Dashboard” social media system would be helpful during the fiscal cliff, allowing Obama supporters to call members of Congress.
“People just spent five years winning two presidential elections together, now they’re not just walking away,” he said.
This is good news.
QOTD — Who Was the Worst Candidate of 2012?
Chris Cilizza of WaPo put together his list and awarded the Worst Candidate in the World (actually, they call it the Fixy) to one of the GOP’s professional whakos — Rick Perry.
Late Night Video — Gettysburg Address
Today is the 149th anniversary of Lincoln’s delivery of this speech that he presented at the dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery in Gettysburg. It was commemorated with remarks by Steven Spielberg, near the site where Lincoln gave his address. The video inside Gregory Peck delivering the address.
Monday Open Thread [11.19.12]
YIKES! No Open Thread! Sorry about that, gang. Apparently we are all on holiday or trying to get on holiday already.
President Obama’s Press Conference Today
President Obama will be conducting his first Press Conference with the White House Press Corps since March 6, 2012. As every reporter talking about this will remind you. It is scheduled to start today at 1:30 EST. There’s lots to cover — the Fiscal Cliff, new cabinet appointments, an immigration policy that seems to be coming out of mothballs, *compromise* (and *bipartisanship*), 2013 agenda, Joe Biden’s appearance on Parks and Recreation tomorrow night and the ever popular saga of General Petraeus’ mistresses and wannabes. Feel free to use this thread to live blog what you see or hear from the President today.
Mandate — With the GOP Taking the Blame for Failure
I’m talking about the fiscal cliff discussion — which I’ve decided to call the fiscal con, from a renaming effort that NPR had for this thing. The WaPo and Pew took a poll asking people what their expectations are on the outcome and who would be at fault for the failure of any talks. By a margin of 51% to 38%, those polled do not think that the fiscal cliff discussions will be productive. And if they fail, the folks polled will point the finger at the GOP 53% to 29% (10% blaming both sides equally). Even better — majorities seem to understand what is at stake for themselves and for the country.
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