We’ve been watching as the Republican Party has been losing its collective mind. With the merger of the Tea Party and the GOP, we’re seeing more and more of the nuts getting the GOP nomination in prominent Senate, House and Governor races.
That’s emboldening the nuts in the GOP who already hold office. The latest case is GOP Representative Louie Gohmert and his “terror baby” allegations. Watch as Anderson Cooper gives him a forum and helps him make a fool of himself.
This summer is one of the hottest on record — especially on the East Coast. Washington D.C. had the hottest June on record since 1871 with 18 days of temperatures above 90 degrees. The temperatures in New York City have been about 5 degrees higher than normal during the month of July. While the East Coast has borne the brunt of this heat wave, other parts of the country have been baking during the month of August. While excessive heat can be dangerous for anyone who is not careful, the heat can be more risky for some groups of people like those with diabetes, the elderly, and the young.
People with diabetes can have extra difficulties during the oppressive heat. The Joslin Diabetes Center suggests that these people drink plenty of fluids, exercise in a cool place, and continue to monitor blood glucose levels at least four times a day. Heat can cause fluctuation in glucose levels, so it is important to keep a close eye on the levels during this heat wave.
Elderly people do not adapt to stress caused by extreme heat as well as younger people. Older people are also more likely to be on a medication that can affect the way the body regulates itself during exposure to extreme heat. Elderly people should stay hydrated, rest, and avoid being in the heat if at all possible.
Babies and children are also at risk during this heat wave; children generally rely on someone else’s judgment and management of their surroundings. Infants and children also have to wait for someone else to provide fluids which can put them at risk for heat-related health problems. Keeping the children hydrated and cool is key; swimming pools are as popular for children and adults who can swim as a sportsbook reviews site would be to a gambler during this incredible heat.
It’s been a long summer of bad news across the globe. The summer started with the massive oil-spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While the news of oil giant, British Petroleum’s struggle to contain the immense spill was never very good, the news to the tourism industry along the Gulf was even worse. With summertime tourists staying away, 2010 was not a good year for residents still recovering from Hurricane woes of the past few seasons, and in particular the recent memory of Hurricane Katrina.
News from the White House this summer wasn’t particularly encouraging either, as current events enthusiasts from across the world watched as unemployment rates reached double-figures for the first time in recent memory. Even though not all the news was good, comparing mortgage refinance rates continued to be a hot topic among consumers as the summer drew to a close.
In the early stages of 2010, news from the South American country, Chile, was not good. The earth-quake ravaged country in South America was shaken by a series of massive earthquakes, only to have their shell-shocked population tremble as the aftershocks continued to cause a stir several months after the Tsunamis had subsided.
Some of the news from the sporting world this summer was stellar. The United States soccer team making the round of 16 at the 2010 world cup was atop all of the current events highlight lists in June and July. The news surrounding Brett Favre’s return to the Minnesota Vikings was bad then good (depending on how you view his often retired and unretired self). The Minneapolis Star Tribune first reported, Favre was retiring, only to retract that news statement one day later, as Farve continued to ponder his options heading into August.
The summer concluded with the not-so-good news of the massive destruction and flooding in the country of Pakistan.
With the increase in online blogs and other sources to obtain news about current events, traditional print media has been undergoing a metamorphosis. Newspapers that used to be looked at as leaders in news reporting and opinion have been losing subscribers; local papers have been supplanted as a source for news. In order to remain competitive in this tough market, newspapers have had to adapt to the changing times.
Merging two or more smaller city or community papers into one is one way to remain competitive. Three county newspapers are merging into one in the Green Bay area; in the DC area, the Loudoun Times-Mirror and the Loudoun Independent are merging into one paper as well. Merging the papers keeps the vast majority of employees engaged while continuing to inform the local populations.
Traditional print media has also begun to embrace online concepts. Most traditional papers now have an online presence where customers can gain access to current issues and archived features. Some online options offer additional features that may not be available in the printed version. For the price of a Wall Street Journal subscription, you can receive daily delivery of the print edition and access to the online property for reading on the go. The New York Times has an online presence which the organization may start charging readers to access next year. Even smaller papers have online versions that readers can access.
Newspapers have been also reaching into the ranks of well-known bloggers and employing them as columnists at traditional media outlets. Economics blogger Ezra Klein has an online column on WashingtonPost.com while Ross Douthat has a column in the New York Times. The hope is that many of the online fans of popular bloggers may follow them to their new traditional media gigs.
Embracing the changing times and the online culture may allow traditional print media to continue into the future.
This article from Politico is quite disturbing. Anyone associated with the radical thinking of Catherine MacKinnon would never make my short list. The fact that Kagan just recently made an argument centered around the notion of restraining speech of “minimal value” is even more disturbing. Fortunately, even the current conservative court smacked down her ridiculous argument in an 8-1 decision.
Will any liberal Senators challenge Kagan on this? It’s hard to imagine filling one of the “liberal” seats on the court with someone who willing to gut the first amendment in the same manner we’ve some to expect from religious ideologues on the right. Unfortunately, radical feminists like MacKinnon were anxious to impose their sense of morality on the rest of us, and with Kagan we might have one of their allies on the court.
Hopefully Kagan will clear this up in the hearings, though I won’t be holding my breath.
My most recent entry ended up with the extension cut off. Here is more of what I have to say, provoked by the senseless hysteria among liberal commentators, led by MSNBC and HuffPost.
Many liberal pundits are making absolute fools of themselves bashing Obama over the Gulf spill. They are just emoting and have no solutions anyone could try. There is no easy out on this, and the patience to build and support adequate government oversight of industries is the key here, as in many other areas.
It is not just right-wing government bashers and wealthy corrupters who have destroyed the nation’s capacity for governmental decision-making. It is also
short-sighted liberalism that tries to turn everything into a personal crisis, and assumes that presidents are omnipotent commanders. Since the 1970s, liberalism has emphasized rights, identity politics, and action through courts or presidential orders. It has neglected the patient business of building government and creating enduring majorities through Congress.
Well said.
Cable television has of course made this problem even worse. Everyone is in a rush to analyze everything, and if something doesn’t go the way the activists want, many of them need to find an instant villain. If Obama decides that he has to give on a point so that the larger legislation can pass, then he’s immediately dubbed a sell-out or a weak fool by people who are supposed to be his allies (or at least share the same goals).
There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing, and the left should make their voices heard. Primaries against Democrats who consistently oppose the left make sense as well.
But silly “kill the bill” calls during the health care debate showed just how hysterical many liberals can get when they don’t get their way.
We’re starting to see them same thing on energy. The notion that Obama can somehow bully Midwestern Senators from coal country to accept carbon caps is ridiculous. Of course liberals should press the case, but attacking Obama with emotional outbursts solves nothing.
Energy should be focused on those on the right who screamed “drill, baby, drill” and who did the bidding of big oil for years. For years we’ve had the opportunity to invest in a clean energy future that could help our economy and also slow down the billions we are sending overseas to people who want to destroy us. Politicians on the right did everything to stop it at every turn. Attack them.
Meanwhile, we won’t get a perfect energy bill, but if liberals can keep their head while arguing their case we can make a substantial down-payment on a clean energy economy.
Most everyone finds themselves in need of emergency cash at some point in their lives. Payday loans can really help out when you need them most.
Let’s say that you’ve found the perfect anniversary gift that is on sale but the sale ends at the end of the week and you don’t get paid until Monday. A payday loan can be used to purchase that gift so that you don’t miss it. Then when you get paid you simply pay the loan back. Sometimes there are more dire needs for fast cash such as a rent payment or an automobile payment. While payday loans aren’t a fix-all every month, they can be used when there is an emergency such as being out of work due to illness or just falling short in your finances for the month.
What about that car repair that came up unexpectedly? We can’t always plan for emergencies and while it’s smart to have a backup plan, that’s not always possible. If you had major auto repairs that were unforeseen then a payday loan could help you get your vehicle up and running.
No matter what you may need a payday loan for, use them wisely by always finding out the terms and conditions, payback schedule, interest rate, and anything else that will affect your wallet.
One thing that is helpful in choosing a payday loan is convenience. Most of the time there is no credit check, and you can have the cash in your bank account within 24 hours on average. There are no upfront costs involved and no one has to know that you took a payday loan. While most banks and loan companies will need an extensive amount of information and may even want collateral, you’ll never have to put anything up front with a payday loan and the paperwork is minimal.
The cornucopia of information that the Internet provides can keep any sports fan sated, no matter how obsessed. Nearly every stat, every score, every game, and every scouting report is available online. If you want to look up Kobe Bryant’s assist average or Rajon Rondo’s three point field goal percentage, you can do so in a matter of seconds. In fact, there is so much data online that a new era in gambling has emerged. Just as there are now thousands of day traders playing the stock market with success, there are now thousands of people who are betting on sports via the internet.
Online sports betting has exploded in popularity for many reasons. For one, there is now a wide variety of sites on which it is possible to place bets on sporting events from the Superbowl to Strikeforce. These sites are a lot easier to work with than the traditional sports bookie, and they are a lot less likely to break your kneecaps if you do not pay up on a lost bet. Secondly, the average sports fan has nearly as much, if not all of, the access to data as the Vegas odds makers do. This means that with enough diligent research, you can have all the facts at your fingertips that might impact the outcome of the sporting event you are betting on. You can bet more intelligently than ever before.
As most sports fans know from betting on the NCAA tournament, putting a little money on the game can make it a lot more enjoyable if one does so responsibly. And if you think you are up to the task and you are good with research and data analysis, online sports betting could be an additional income stream for you. Just do your homework before you click on that bet.
This organization is so obsessed with getting hits and ratings that they will hype up every controversy they find, no matter how trivial or how ridiculous the charge. How is a stupid charge from a fringe blog worthy of a news headline on CNN?
We’re getting to the end of the conservative movement that really kicked into gear with the election of Ronald Reagan, and now we’re seeing the inevitable final stages, as the loons on the far right start reeking havoc on the Republican Party.
Future historians tracing the crackup of the Republican Party may well look to May 8, 2010, as an inflection point.
That was the day, as is now well known, that Sen. Robert Bennett, who took the conservative position 84 percent of the time over his career, was deemed not conservative enough by fellow Utah Republicans and booted out of the primary.
Less well known, but equally ominous, is what happened that same day, 2,500 miles east in Maine. There, the state Republican Party chucked its platform — a sensible New England mix of free-market economics and conservation — and adopted a manifesto of insanity: abolishing the Federal Reserve, calling global warming a “myth,” sealing the border, and, as a final plank, fighting “efforts to create a one world government.”
You can read the rest of the article for some of Glenn Beck’s greatest hits.
What’s left of the conservative movement and the Republican Party?
We have the Reagan worshipers who have become so dogmatic that they think tax cuts solve everything at every time in history, regardless of the circumstances. These folks seem to forget that George W. Bush enacted huge tax cuts that would be followed by the greatest economic collapse in 80 years. These folks also turn on former allies like Bruce Bartlett and David Frum who dare top open a debate on how conservatives might adapt to the changing circumstances of today’s economy.
Then we have the religious right, who’s leaders keep getting caught up in sex scandals. All these folks who preach morality can’t keep it in their own pants. Most of the public has tuned out these self-righteous fools at this point.
We also have moderate Republicans who would like to see the government spend less and who also tend to be social liberals. These reasonable folks abandoned the party and the conservative movement long ago.
And finally we have the Tea Party clowns. Many of these folks are angry as hell – some are angry at everybody, while others don’t know why they’re angry. As noted above, they can be a force at times, and they may be the GOP’s not-so-secret weapon in the fall as anti-incumbent fever hits new highs.
Or, they may just turn off everyone else with their peculiar brand of crazy. Nuts like Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and and Michelle Bachman can rile up these nut jobs, but they may end up giving the Democrats a lifeline as well.
Most people don’t like the crazies. The GOP did a great job for years of exploiting the loony left and painting the Democrats with a broad brush, and now the tables are turned, and the Tea Party folks are giving Democrats some good talking points for the fall.
The primary races are in full gear, but we’re starting to see themes emerge for the fall mid-term elections.
President Obama looks like he’s itching for a fight, and that’s good news. George W. Bush did a great job helping Republicans in the 2002 mid-terms, and Obama seems determined to nationalize the elections and get the Democratic base energized for a tough 2010 cycle. He had some great lines:
“After they drove the car into the ditch, made it as difficult as possible for us to pull it back, now they want the keys back. No. You can’t drive. We don’t want to have to go back into the ditch. We just got the car out.”
The President also used his old mopping metaphor, saying that Democrats were busy cleaning up the GOP’s mess, only to have Republicans criticize: “Hold the broom better. That’s not how you mop.”
Early yesterday morning, Valerie and Rob Shirk corralled their 10 home-schooled children into their van for the 2 1/2-hour drive from their home in Connecticut to Boston, arriving just in time to hear Sarah Palin denounce government-run health care at the tea party movement rally on Boston Common.
They thought it would be a learning opportunity for their children, who range in age from 9 months to 15 years old and who held up signs criticizing the government for defying the “will of the people.’’
“The problem in this country is that too many people are looking for handouts,’’ said Valerie Shirk, 43, of Prospect, Conn. “I agree with the signs that say, ‘Share my father’s work ethic — not his paycheck.’ We have to do something about the whole welfare mentality in this country.’’
Okay — that’s fine. There’s a legitimate argument that we should cut government spending.
But wait, there’s more…
The couple, who rely on Medicaid for their health care, were also upset about the nation’s new health reforms.
When asked why her family used state-subsidized health care when she criticized people who take handouts, Valerie Shirk said she did not want to stop having children, and that her husband’s income was not enough to cover the family with private insurance.
“I know there’s a dichotomy because of what we get from the state,’’ she said. “But I just look at each of my children as a blessing.’’
Whaaa?
How is this level of hypocrisy even possible? Shirk knows “there’s a dichotomy” considering at a rally protesting health care reforms while at the same time she’s accepting government-run health care, and she explains it away by saying that her children are “a blessing.”
She talks about personal responsibility, yet she can’t stop herself from having more children even though she freely admits that she and her husband can’t afford it. She rails on those who are looking for handouts, yet she’s happily takes those handouts!
I don’t have time right now to lay out all the reasons, but the hiring of Erick Erickson from RedState.com as a contributor is just another example of how clueless CNN is these days.
Erickson has said he needs to “grow up over time” now that people actually listen to or read what he says, but that hasn’t stopped him from making more stupid comments. I’m glad to see bloggers get air time, but is this the best they can do?
This video is a perfect response to the collective emotional meltdown we’re seeing from many on the angry right. John Boehner isn’t telling his knucklehead supporters to throw bricks through windows, but he’s part of the leadership on the right that has ratcheted up the rhetoric ever since the summer of 2008.
It’s been a long year since President Obama and the Democrats began the process to reform our health care system and provide relief to the million of Americans, mostly working families, who didn’t have access to affordable health insurance. Last night, victory was finally achieved.
The process was brutal. Passing legislation is rarely an easy process. It’s usually messy, and with an initiative this big and controversial, it was bound to be a difficult process. But it was made even worse by the strategic decision by the GOP to do everything possible to kill the bill. Obama tried to strike a bipartisan deal, and the GOP happily strung him along while they whipped up opposition from the angry right and the Tea Party crazies. The process became the story, hurting the popularity of Obama and the Democrats.
Despite all these challenges, the Democrats were poised to pass health care when Scott Brown won a stunning win in Massachusetts. Most assumed that Obama would fold and that his presidency was permanently wounded. Pundits on the right and the left had a field day questioning Obama’s effectiveness and his toughness.
Yet Obama doubled down, and he had a tough ally in Nancy Pelosi. The right loves to hate her, and now they have another reason, as she pushed this through the House when most assumed she’d never pull it off.
There were many ups and downs in the process, but I think that Obama’s visit to the Republican House retreat will be remembered as one of the turning points. The GOP was feeling cocky after Brown’s victory, and they were believing their own talking points. Obama eviscerated one Republican congressman after another on live national television. It was like a professor schooling a bunch of obnoxious high school kids.
I think the White House realized that it was time to fight and take on the GOP. Obama was back on his game, and the overconfident GOP wasn’t up to the fight.
This is a huge victory for Obama, the Democrats and the country. Health care is the signature issue of this presidency, and failure here was not an option.
Howard Dean no longer wants to kill the health care bill. He finally figured out what every progressive should have known (unless they were so consumed with anger and emotion over the loss of the public option) – that this bill is a good start.
It appears that most Democrats in the House feel the same way. Now, will other hysterical lefties like Keith Olbermann come along? We’ll see.
I just watched Howard Dean on Meet the Press, and while he’s not supporting the health care bill, he’s no longer arguing that we should “kill the bill.”
Dean acknowledged that a number of improvements have been made the the Senate version over the past week, and he insists more improvements need to be made in conference. Many of his points might be attainable, so we can expect more improvements as the conference gets underway.
He doesn’t support the bill, and he may not support the final compromise, but his arguments are now much more constructive in how the bill can keep improving. He didn’t mention the reconciliation process once, and he refused to repeat his suggestion that Democrats should kill the bill.
I stopped watching MSNBC in the mornings because Dylan Ratigan is incredibly annoying. He has some good points at times, but he’s only interested in repeating his own opinion . . . over and over again.
Here’s a clip of Ratigan at his worst with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Even Chris Matthews rarely gets this annoying.
If he wanted a real discussion, he could have gotten an answer. Insurance stock went up after the public option was dropped for very obvious reasons – yes, the public option would have resulted in real competition. Fine. End of story. That does not mean, however, that the bill is a “giveway” to the insurance companies as he implied, because as the Congresswoman tried to explain, the bill does include robust regulation of the insurance companies.
Is this perfect? Of course not. Would a public option be better? Of course. But Ratigan just wanted to yell and scream about his simple point that the insurance companies are now better off than if the public option had stayed in the bill.
Of course, a child could probably figure that out as well, but Ratigan thought he was making a big point, so he acted like an ass.
