It was just yesterday that we decided to take a day off from politics and talk about music, both familiar and not so much; the conversation ran a bit long, and when we got halfway through we decided to get together tomorrow.
It was pretty fun, what with sewers and male models and Gorillaz and all, and when we had put down the pen it was just after taking in Sarah Vaughan's reworked dance version of the Peggy Lee classic, "Fever".
They say tomorrow never comes...but now it has...and we have eight more songs to talk about before we can finish our multigenerational "Summer Music Appreciation Playlist".
Today we'll incorporate jazz and dance, the invention of modern musical recording, arguably the greatest saxophone player ever, and a shout out to "our man in Paris".
If all that wasn't enough, we also discover what happens when you graft a certain Pepper onto Jamaica's musical tree.
You don't want to stop now, so jump on board and let's get this train rollin'.
It is a huge news day today, what with death and confirmation on everyone's mind...and I'm not going to do anything about it-well, not today, anyway.
Instead, I'm taking the day off to bring you something more compelling: a music appreciation class, with recordings old and new, and just right for your summer soundtrack.
And if that's not enough...by an amazing coincidence, we also get to talk about the (I never even know it existed) McRice burger, and, just for a summer bonus, we even have a smoking hot male model to grab your attention.
It's all about fun today, so let's get right to having some.
Find out how much you saved. (The "Making Work Pay" amount from form M is the general one, but there are many new savings listed in the "what's new" section of the directions.) Then tell your friends, even more important, tell your local paper. After the jump is what I wrote to the Chicago Tribune.
When you've written your LTE come back here and list the name of your paper in a comment. If this has scrolled off the screen, write a new diary listing your LTE and enough information that others can copy you.
After decades of no results and the continuing of lackluster environmental policies, many are hopeful we are finally beginning to see real action taking place in the social, political and legislative sectors. Members in the Senate have been steadily working on a new climate change bill that aims to reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the United States and step up green energy solutions.
The New York Times is scratching my back on one of my complaints about the Democratic Party, namely the failure or refusal to get down in the trenches when necessary and fight the Republicans where the GOP has left vulnerabilities. Republicans routinely oversimplify problems, and that creates an opportunity for Democrats to call out GOP candidates for their shallow understanding of complex problems.
A poll reported on-line in today's New England Journal of Medicine, http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/?p=1790&query=TOC, shows that a considerable majority (63%)of practicing physicians favor a mixture of public and private options for healthcare reform. Twenty-seven percent favor having only private insurance while 10% favor having only a public plan. These results are essentially consistent across all demographic subgroups, specialties, practice types, and practice locations.
As the article's authors note, the opinions of physicians largely mirror those of Americans in general. Maning that physicians are not among the groups opposing inclusion of a public option in healthcare reform.
(Please attend events with you Congress critter and report on the events. - promoted by Carl Nyberg)
"What's important," said Rep. Don Manzullo at today's health reform town hall meeting in Elizabeth, Ill., "is that people be heard."
"People," in this case, not including your diarist. When I was called on and began to reel off ShadowSD's town hall talking points, Manzullo cut me off and went to another questioner.
We heard across the board -- in private -- substantial, continuing and rising concern," Representative Mark Kirk said after a trip to China that included talks with government officials and central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan.
It's clear that China would like to diversify from its dollar investments, the lawmaker said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think-tank.
Isn't this contrary to what Sec Geithner said, who represented our government in China last week? Geithner told "the Chinese leaders had expressed justifiable confidence on the future of the recession-hit US economy."
Living in Chicago reminds me a lot. When we got married and bear 2 kids, namely Mariah and Tony. From the past, it is not that hard to give my family need, they've been my precious gems and i couldn't say no to all their wishes.
Recession or not my daughter Mariah is getting married. After two years of being squired around town by young Norton, who I regarded as a son after the first month, they’re finally talking the giant step. My wife and I are thrilled, and relieved. Adding Norty to the family will be an easy task and he will be a great asset. He may even get to help me in my law practice one of these days. “So where do we begin?” asked my wife after dinner. “Where everything begins these days,” I said. “Online. Type ‘wedding costs, or weddings or wedding preparations’ into Google and see what you get. That should keep you busy for the first month.” I’m not sure what my wife will find on the internet. One thing I do know, though, is that a wedding is probably not a subject for a Personal Loan from the Money Store.
On the same subject, I suspect that by the time my baby daughter is safely wed, I will have chalked up a long list of loans. The wedding search I was right. It is all online. There are sites where you type in your zip code, go through and tick off a list of options, answer a few questions and the computer spits out an estimate for a wedding of your choice after a couple of seconds. Be warned, none of the estimates are cheap and depending on your zip code, it will pay you to tell your daughter to elope or just move out of town with her boyfriend. The wedding is just the beginning Some couples end up using all the monetary gifts they get to pay for the wedding, especially where the parents cannot afford the big splurge or are not willing to refinance their mortgage to finance it.
Other couples split the costs down the middle and in other cases, the wealthier family foots the bulk of the bill. Whatever the case, we’re talking about major money. The day after the wedding, the money problems start in earnest. After the ball is over… We have the photographs and the video of the wedding, we have gone through the list of gifts and we have mailed out thank-you cards. They have another 2 weeks in Tim’s rather crummy apartment and then the lease comes to an end and they have to move. They’d love to move into that super place they saw on Maple Street. It’s still vacant but the rental is sky-high. We need to sit down and help them build a budget. The newly-wed budget.
The private mercenary company owned by Eric Prince may run but they cannot hide behind their name change. A name change will not allow this ruthless mercenary company to escape its bloody history.
April 25th will be the first national conference of citizens from all across the US coming together to share and discuss plans for eliminating these private military companies before they turn their lawless weapons on U.S. citizens.
The conference will be held in Stockton Illinois just 20 miles from the Blackwater training site in Jo Daviess County Illinois. Jeremy Scahill author of the NYTimes bestseller, "Blackwater: The Rise of The World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" will be a keynote speaker. Another keynote will be given in the morning by Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative non-Violence.
The conference is part of a Midwest Regional Retreat of Catholic Workers and will culminate in a demonstration at the gate of Blackwater.
Two months ago, I entered this race declaring we are in the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Every day more and more people lose their jobs, health care, and homes. We are witnessing not the unraveling of a few years of excess, but the insolvency of many of the economic practices and theories that became conventional wisdom over the past 30 years.
Most important of these, and that which has caused the greatest destruction, is the idea that debt is wealth. Over the last 30 years, American wages stagnated and people grew deeper in debt -- their homes, educations, health care, every aspect of life. And at the national level, the story hasn't been much different. We lost manufacturing and borrowed from across the globe. There were only two winners in all this, Wall Street and the banks.
I sometimes tune into Republican radio (Limbaugh, Hannity, and associated morons) just to hear how off-base they are on the issues of the day. However, the wild rantings of these wingnuts is guiding the Republican Party of today and it's scary. They have abandoned any remotely rational thoughts and gone straight to fear and hate-mongering. "Democrats want to destroy America!" "Obama wants to shred the Constitution and make us the United Socialist States of France" (That last bit was actually uttered by Sean Hannity on air). These are stupid things, but when 20 million brained washed listeners tune in everyweek to hear it, it's not going away like we wish it would.
From Julie Sweet, campaign manager, Geoghegan for Congress:
In a crowded field, the organized candidate wins. That's why the Geoghegan campaign owes the Netroots - we wouldn't be where we are right now without your organizing for Tom.
The race is less than three weeks away, and we can't let up now. Every day, supporters like you are phone banking and canvassing to tell Fifth District voters about Tom's vision for real progressive change - social security benefits that people can live on, single-payer healthcare, and getting working people out of debt.
As a proud progressive and member of the Democratic Party of Dupage, I invite all of you to our annual Presidents' Day Gala on Feb 8th, Sunday evening, 6pm at Drury Lane Theater.
Tickets are $75.00. Dick Kay, former NBC5 political commentator and
WCPT host, will be our keynote speaker...along with other political figures.
Please view our website for more information: http://www.dupagedemocrats.com/
There's nothing better than seeing a room full of Democrats, working together for the good of our state and country. I'm really excited about Dick Kay's appearance as I have been listening to his show on WCPT...and I hope you are, too.
Some supporters of the bailout bill explained their vote for that package in large part as a reaction to (and intended fix for) the stock market decline. Recall that on Sept. 29, when the House voted "no" on the first version of the bill, the Dow Jones Index dropped to 10,365. Although that was indeed the biggest one-day point drop in U.S. history, that drop was after an unwarranted runup on Sept. 26, much like the one on Sept. 19. The Sept. 29 plunge merely returned the Dow to the direction it had been heading on Sept. 15 when it finished at 10,609. In truth, the market had already been in bear mode for 11 months. By Sept. 15 it had already shed 25% from its peak in mid-October, 2007. The Sept. 29 decline was not the largest percentage-wise in history, and was only another 2% off the Sept. 15 close - hardly warranting a panic reaction by a legislature.
But let's assume that Congress was warranted in passing the bailout bill in order to prop up the stock market. Or was scared stiff by an industry that took them in a backroom and said "give us a trillion dollars or we'll trash all your constituents' 401Ks." Let's assume that the bailout was "about protecting people's retirement accounts and pension plans." How's that working out?
At this point in the calendar, it's time for a brief consult with the lads . . .
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double
So you gotta let me know
Should I stay or should I go?
In the course of my work on The Care of Students with Diabetes Act, I've learned a lot about how Springfield works (and doesn't). Some of what happens in our name is admirable and worthy of our respect. Some of our elected officials are truly remarkable, talented people. But there are also deep and growing problems that go beyond personalities and the pros and cons of particular legislation.
On Election Day (or sooner if you're an early voter), you will be asked whether or not Illinois should convene a Constitutional Convention. I am writing you today to encourage you to vote "Yes." Reforms are needed and these three stand out:
The Chicago Tribune just endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States!
The notice appeared on the Tribune's website at 2:33 pm CDT this afternoon. Thus, on Friday, October 17, 2008, in the 162nd year of the existance of the World's Greatest Newspaper, a Democrat has finally been endorsed for President of the United States of America.
One Term Republican Peter Roskam is good at doing things in twos. He voted against the bailout, twice, helping to exacerbate a national financial nightmare. And he continues to smear Jill Morgenthaler with a series of TV and Radio commercials that are full of untruths and misleading information. Just like he did to Tammy Duckworth two years ago.
During the last campaign, Roskam claimed that Tammy wanted to "Cut and Run" from Iraq. What a cruel joke. Tammy can't run anywhere. She lost both her legs in Iraq.
His toofer this time is a pile of nonsense against veteran Jill Morgenthaler. Jill has thirty years in the military, including ten months in Iraq and a bronze star. Both of these women are strong leaders, recognized by the military with the ranks of Major and Colonel. Both have run straightforward honest campaigns. And both have said that we should get out of Iraq. It has been over 300 billion dollars and plenty of blood since Tammy said it two years ago.
Securing the votes in Congress to pass real immigration solutions into law isn't going to be easy. The next President - no matter who wins - will need to lead his own party first to get it done.
Rep. Gary Miller (R.-CA) today urged Congress to ignore the voters, saying
"If you just solely rely on the phone calls we're getting from home, listening to people who don't understand the complexities of our marketplace and what we're dealing with here, the easiest vote for you to make would be a no vote today. You have to go beyond that."
With all due respect to all those "fighting for us," I think we activists owe it to ourselves, to our children, to our neighbors, to our country, to call up each and every one of our congressional representatives and ask them point blank the following questions about the bailout bill a/k/a the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008:
1. Have you read it?
2. Do you understand it?
3. Do you agree with it?
4. Is this the best we can do?
5. Are you willing to be held politically accountable for its consequences?
If the answer to any of the above is no, then a Yes vote should not occur today. For that matter, if the answer to either 1 or 2 is no, the representative should not be in office. I don't expect every rep to read every bill -- there are too many. But some, you have to.
At the risk of being labeled Beyond Wonk, I have read the summary of the bill, the congressional section-by-section summary, and now the entire 110-page bill itself. Much of my life consists of reading the fine print. It's clear that some of the things most progressives wanted to see in there just didn't happen. That's to be expected. More important, tho, I think it's not all that it's stated to be, and at the same time more. This bill seems to me to be a lot like many of the mortgages that people signed, that led us into this mess in the first place. If you don't really understand all the important terms of the paper you're signing, you shouldn't sign it even if someone is holding a gun to your head saying the deal will fall thru otherwise.
I am hard-pressed to see why there needs to be such a rush job on this for the House, or how 48 hours' consideration -- what the Senate is being given -- would kill us.
The last time so important a piece of legislation was passed so quickly, with so little debate, it was called the Patriot Act. Same m.o., where it was in the works for a long time then was rolled out following a crisis. How did that turn out?
My comments on sections where I have questions follows. To make sense of this you may want to open another window and view the bill in PDF or online. Some sites where you can view or download are publicmarkup.org, a division of the Sunlight Project, and nowpublic.com. The publicmarkup site is esp. nice as it provides for section-by-section blogging.
