There are not words to express how truly awful this song is. And, OMG, they actually made this into a movie with Rob Lowe!
How many of you made it to the end?
Okay, okay. I’ll post some good Christmas songs later!
Author Archives: pandora
DL’s War On Christmas Party TONIGHT!
Be there (with lots of food for the Food Bank) or be a Grinch!
Date: Thursday, December 16th
Time: 7pm
Place: Timothy’s on the Riverfront in Wilmington
Admission to the event is food for the Food Bank. Please bring as much as you can – people are really hurting.
Feel free to use the comment section to RSVP! All are welcome.
*We’ll be located in the bar area, and I’ll be making up a table sign.
Republicans Really, Really Want To Shut Down The Government
Via TPM:
Republican and Democratic leaders are now engaged in a brinksmanship that could result in a temporary shutdown of the federal government. After the election, Republicans voted among themselves to eschew all earmarks for two years, and now they have to make good on their pledge. Yesterday, Democrats’ chief appropriator, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) unveiled what’s known as an omnibus spending bill — a bundled up package of appropriations legislation, earmarks, and other measures — which would keep the government running for a year.
In response, most Republicans — even those whose multimillion dollar earmark requests are included in the legislation — are saying, “Hell no you can’t!”
And how will the GOP achieve their goal?
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who led the GOP’s anti-earmark crusade, will use the rules of Senate procedure to force the 2000-page omnibus to be read allowed on the Senate floor — a tactic which could eat up enough time to force the Democrats’ hand.
Some Republican appropriators and others are expected to support the legislation. But vulnerable, and anti-earmark, Democrats are expected to defect, and it’s unclear whether the legislation — which was once expected to pass handily — can muster the 60 votes it will need to overcome a filibuster.
Threatening to shut down the government is a silly tactic, actually looking forward to doing it is irresponsible and childish.
I hope Reid keeps the Senate in session over the holidays. Let’s see how committed everyone is.
An Interesting Poll
Steve Benen breaks it down, but here is what stands out to me:
Elsewhere in the poll, Americans said they are concerned about the deficit, but when asked about nine different ideas for deficit reduction, the public opposed all nine. Try not to be surprised. [emphasis mine]
Seriously, we’re all talk.
About that GOP mandate…
Republicans may have made major gains in the November elections, but they have yet to win the hearts and minds of the American people, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The midterm elections — in which Republicans gained 63 seats to take control of the House and added six seats to their Senate minority — were widely seen as a rebuke to President Obama. Still, the public trusts Obama marginally more than they do congressional Republicans to deal with the country’s main problems in the coming years, 43 percent to 38 percent.
The poll suggests that the election, while perhaps a vote against the status quo, was not a broad mandate for Republicans and their plans. The survey also underscores the degree to which Americans are conflicted about who they think is setting the agenda in Washington.
Finally, you can make of this what you will:
As for heightened progressive criticism of the White House, polls like these continue to defy expectations. The president’s approval rating among liberals remains steady at 87%, and only 11% of the country thinks Obama is negotiating too much with Republicans.
Interesting stuff.
DADT On The Move
Via Greg Sargent:
This was uncertain as late as this morning. But just now, in a briefing with reporters, Steny Hoyer confirmed it: House Dems will indeed introduce a stand alone bill this week to repeal don’t ask don’t tell.
Hoyer said that House Dems will introduce a repeal bill that “reflects the Lieberman-Collins bill verbatim,” my Post colleague Paul Kane confirms. That means House Dems are set to introduce their own companion of the stand-alone bill that Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins introduced last week. Both the House and Senate bills mirror the language in the original defense authorization bill, which Republicans blocked in the Senate.
Hoyer said the timing of the House’s bill is to be determined, but it will be this week.
I realize there are a thousand ways to make this not happen, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
Don’t Forget! DL’s Annual War On Christmas Party!
It’s that time of year again! Please join us at Timothy’s on the Riverfront for our annual War on Christmas Party!
Date: Thursday, December 16th
Time: 7pm
Place: Timothy’s on the Riverfront in Wilmington
Admission to the event is food for the Food Bank. Please bring as much as you can – people are really hurting.
Looking forward to seeing everyone!
Tone Deaf
I’m really not certain if writing this post is worth it. I’m also not certain I want to go down this road again. Truth is… I’m weary. Even sadder, I’m tuning out.
First, this isn’t a post about policy – it’s about tone.
On that note, I have a few questions for certain Progressives/Liberals/Democrats:
What is your end goal? How does calling the President a liar, a corporate shill, a weakling, etc. advance your agenda?
For those calling to primary Obama… Realistically, how do you see this working? If your explanation concludes with a President Kucinich or Nader, try again.
What is most frustrating is that I see very little difference between the calls on the left to primary Obama and the calls on the right to impeach him. And that is where tone comes into play. I’d suggest toning down the personal attacks, but I’m certain that some would claim that makes me anti free-speech.
More Cookie Baking Music
Today’s baking includes oatmeal raisin cookies, Russian tea cakes and this song. I’ll be attempting chocolate truffles next week. Does anyone have any tips?
Gotta keep moving!
Tis The Season
Baking has begun in the Pandora household, and when I’m baking I go for a non-traditional take on Christmas music. Gotta keep moving!
Not sure why I love this, but I do!
Quote Of The Day
“Tragedy comes in threes. Pearl Harbor, Elizabeth Edwards’ passing and Barack Obama’s announcement of extending the tax cuts, which is good, but also extending the unemployment benefits.”
I’m trying to ignore her, but… C’mon!
Hey, I Found Those Republican Death Panels
PHOENIX — Even physicians with decades of experience telling patients that their lives are nearing an end are having difficulty discussing a potentially fatal condition that has arisen in Arizona: Death by budget cut.
Effective at the beginning of October, Arizona stopped financing certain transplant operations under the state’s version of Medicaid. Many doctors say the decision amounts to a death sentence for some low-income patients, who have little chance of survival without transplants and lack the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to pay for them.
“The most difficult discussions are those that involve patients who had been on the donor list for a year or more and now we have to tell them they’re not on the list anymore,” said Dr. Rainer Gruessner, a transplant specialist at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. “The frustration is tremendous. It’s more than frustration.”
Why am I not surprised that this is happening in Arizona.
Guess Republicans weren’t lying when they warned about Death Panels. Their motto: If you’re poor, you die. Perhaps they could kindly STFU about the sanctity of life.
Can I Get An Oh My! – HOUSE PASSES MIDDLE CLASS TAX CUT!
This afternoon, House Democrats will hold an up or down vote on vote on President Obama’s plan to extend tax cuts to income below $250,000, and they’ve figured out a way to prevent the Republicans from pulling procedural tricks that might sink it — a straight vote on whether or not wealthy people deserve an additional tax break.
[…]
The first was to hold an up-or-down vote under the normal rules. But that would give Republicans the opportunity to introduce what’s known as a motion to recommit — a procedural right of the minority that would have allowed them to tack an extension of tax cuts for high-income earners on to the legislation.
The second option — suspending the rules — would have foreclosed on that right, but would have required a two-thirds majority of the House for passage: 290 votes, an impossible hurdle.
How are they going to stop the procedural tricks?
But Democrats figured out a way to avoid this. They’re attaching their tax cut plan as an amendment to a separate bill [the Airport and Airway Extension Act, to wit]. That legislation already passed the House, and has just been returned from the Senate. The rules say it can’t be recommitted. So the GOP’s hands are tied.
Go Nancy! Make the Republicans vote against middleclass tax cuts!
UPDATE: Via TPM
The vote is still going and it’s not a final tally, but there are enough yes votes for it now — 228 — to pass.
HOUSE PASSES MIDDLE CLASS TAX CUT
Final vote: 234-188
Kentucky’s Creationist Theme Park
Oh, for crying out loud!
I just got back from the press conference where Steve Beshear announced his enthusiastic support for a Creationist theme park (“Ark Encounter”) that teaches children that not only did humans live with dinosaurs several thousand years ago, but they rode on “Noah’s Ark” with them. And the tax breaks that Beshear supports giving them.
Be ashamed, Kentucky. Be very ashamed.
And yes, Virginia, there really were dinosaurs on the ark.
Once question and answer time began, I asked if there would be dinosaurs on the Ark. Beshear was at the podium and gave me a blank stare. Finally, the AiG guy spoke up and gave a “well, you know what we believe” answer. After other reporters prodded him, he finally stepped up to the mic and said yes, there will be dinosaurs on the ark, because there WERE dinosaurs on the ark. Of course. [emphasis mine]
And Conservatives are concerned with education? What a joke, only it’s not so funny.
The Courier-Journal notes that “the National Center for Science Education asserts that ‘students who accept this material as scientifically valid are unlikely to succeed in science courses at the college level.’”
Ya think?