Independence Day Open Thread [7.4.12]

5 Comments
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” – The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.

Saturday Open Thread [6.30.12]

12 Comments
Moving day for me. If I read my new redistricting maps correctly, my new representatives in the General Assembly are Senator Cathy Cloutier (R-5th) and Representative Debbie Hudson Capano or Debbie Capano Hudson (R-12th). Ugh. Quite a change from Margaret Rose Henry and Dennis P. Williams. Well, perhaps in 2014 I will take out Debbie, if no Democrat files and wins this year. Don't know who your legistatlor is? Find them here. You have to be registered to vote for that link to work. If you are not registered to vote, then what the hell are you doing being interested in politics and reading Delaware Liberal and not being registered?? It boggles my mind. Go here now. Register. Don't do anything else until you do.

Thursday Open Thread [6.28.12]

26 Comments
Obamacare survives and it is a win for the good guys! Certainly Obamacare is not the end of the line, but am hoping that progressives will finally look at this as an opportunity to launch an effort to make Obamacare better. The AP-GfK took a poll recently that noted that if Obamacare was overturned, Americans did not want their government to give up on reining in health care costs and issues. To me, that looks like opportunity, for a public option, for single-payer -- as long as it gets closer to better control of costs and getting better outcomes for it. But it is time to step up and push for useful revisions to Obamacare before the wingnuts sell everybody on something stupid like buying cheap insurance (that really isn't insurance) from Texas.

Wednesday Open Thread [6.27.12]

3 Comments
Republicans always talk about the 47% who don't pay taxes, and are now saying taxes must be raised on the poor so that they pay their fair share. It never occurs to them that maybe they don't make enough money to even pay tax. Meanwhile, those who make hundreds of millions if not billions are also not paying any taxes, and yet the Republicans are fighting tooth and nail to make sure it stays that way.

Tuesday Open Thread [6.26.12]

23 Comments
Bruce Bartlett totals up the damage former President George W. Bush did to the country's fiscal health. He finds that if the Clintonian policies had continued over the course of the 2000's (i.e. had President Gore been sworn into office rather than the usurper), then the United States would have had a budget surplus of $5.6 trillion at the end of Fiscal Year 2011.

Friday Open Thread [6.22.12]

34 Comments
As if you would need a reason to not read Politico, here is another one:  a Politico reporter gets canned for telling someone on MSNBC that Mitt Romney is more comfortable around white people.  How do you get fired for making an observation that pretty much everybody will make:
Williams noted that Romney’s preference for Fox & Friends, and similarly partisan settings, was interesting because it was “unscripted and it’s the only time they let Mitt off the leash.”He made the point that for Romeny to be successful he needs to broaden the range of people with whom he interacts.
Williams: Romney is very, very comfortable, it seems, with people who are like him. That’s one of the reasons why he seems so stiff and awkward in some town hall settings, why he can’t relate to people other than that. But when he comes on Fox and Friends, they’re like him, they’re white folks who are very much relaxed in their own company.
Forgot. It is a firing offense for political reporters to tell the truth about conservatives.