Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Ariz. Gov. May Back Down From Jan. 31 Early Primary Date

ABC News? Amy Bingham reports: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has three days left to decide if she will move her state?s presidential primary election, as she has indicated she would like to, to Jan. 31, earlier than both the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary...

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Source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=a5d41bec5d2933b42186bb25ec7173cd

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The Fact Checker: Obama's 'halfway' fixation with the budget

"My administration has already put forward specific cuts that meet congressional Republicans halfway. And I'm prepared to do more." -- President Obama, weekly radio address, March 5, 2011

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/08/AR2011030801371.html?wprss=rss_politics

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Watching a Green Fiction Unravel

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/08/31/watching_a_green_fiction_unravel_262618.html

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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's collective-bargaining legislative maneuver: Opinions and questions going forward

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is closer to getting his proposed collective-bargaining rights legislation enacted. As Michael Fletcher reported:

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/10/AR2011031004185.html?wprss=rss_politics

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Did Thune actually hear the message on Social Security, Medicare and bipartisanship?

John Thune

Sen. John Thune (R-SD) told the Argus Leader that he heard two messages in his town meetings this August recess.
"Do something," Thune said Wednesday after a town hall meeting at the Brandon Municipal Golf Course. "Why can't you work together? There?s a high level of frustration with the inaction, and there's a lack of confidence in the country and the economy. They want to see us get something done."

That's one of the major insights he?ll take back to Washington, D.C. after the August recess, he said.

It ranks behind "don't cut my Social Security and Medicare. I've heard that quite a bit," Thune said.

That's his "insight," but one has to wonder if he actually got the message. Thune was among Republican senators who voted for the Ryan budget plan that would end Medicare. No mention of that in a town meeting in Brandon, in which he told constituents that "a Constitutional amendment requiring the federal government to balance its budget might be needed before Congress attempts to make major changes to the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs that make up more than half of all federal spending."

He also failed to mention that Social Security isn't standing in the way of the federal government balancing its budget. One suspects that, however many times Thune heard the messages of bipartisanship and protecting the social safety net, that's not a message he really heard, or will go back to D.C. and act upon.

(H/T Think Progress)


Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/z5J4fsfgWzU/-Did-Thune-actually-hear-the-message-on-Social-Security,-Medicare-andbipartisanship

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Despite Risks, Romney Presses Grim Picture of Obama

Mitt Romney has warned that America is on the brink of ?profound economic misery,? under Obama?s leadership.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=2d896c7f370a4ea0022f5c3382ab2a95

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Rep. Peter King's Muslim hearing: Plenty of drama, less substance

One half of the Muslim contingent in Congress paused, his voice high and breaking. He tugged at his glasses. He held up a finger and gathered himself.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/10/AR2011031002045.html?wprss=rss_politics

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Bachmann: Irene is God's message for Washington

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann's campaign said Monday she was only joking when she described Hurricane Irene and last week's earthquake in the eastern United States as a warning from God.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44313712/ns/politics/

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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

President Obama's uncle arrested

Onyango Obama is been charged with drunk driving in Mass. and held by immigration officials

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsMain/~3/eQzrZoO3ykY/8301-504083_162-20098912-504083.html

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Who would lead the Democratic National Committee?

If Kaine runs for the seat being vacated by fellow Democrat Jim Webb, President Obama will be charged with picking a new man (or woman) to run the DNC - one of the most public faces of the party on the verge of the 2012 election.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/13/AR2011031303878.html?wprss=rss_politics

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Open thread for night owls: Virginia quake may have exceeded North Anna plant design limits

Photobucket
From Reuters:
The historic earthquake that shut down Dominion Resources Inc's (D.N) North Anna nuclear plant in Virginia last week may have shaken the plant more than it was designed to withstand, the U.S. nuclear regulator said on Monday.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it has dispatched a special team of inspectors to the Virginia plant that was rocked by the 5.8 magnitude earthquake last week, after initial reviews from Dominion indicated the ground motion may have exceeded the plant's design parameters. [...]

The NRC has been reviewing the ability of U.S. plants to cope with major disasters after a massive earthquake and tsunami nearly led to a complete meltdown at Japan's Fukushima nuclear complex earlier this year --- the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

The article also notes that the task force involved has "urged a shift" in the NRC safety protocols so that nuclear plant operators would be required to have plans for natural disasters worse than what the plant was specifically designed to withstand. Wait?what? They currently don't have to plan for what might happen if they get an earthquake (flood, hurricane, etc.) that is more severe than the plant was designed to handle? What was the old non-plan, for everyone to just run like hell?

In Fukushima, disaster came about because of two separate (but closely linked) events: an earthquake that damaged the plant, followed by a tsunami that flooded critical plant infrastructure. Nobody could have foreseen that those two events would happen at once, we were told, even though Japan has a very long and well-understood history of quake-caused tsunamis.

In this country, the east coast experienced a rare earthquake, closely followed by a hurricane causing extraordinary flooding. In this case, two unrelated and extraordinary natural disasters, coming one on the heels of another. Improbable? Of course. But not impossible. And either earthquake or hurricane could certainly have been much, much worse.

The most obvious lesson to be learned here is that God hates Eric Cantor personally, or at least doesn't care much for his district. Something else to be pointed out, however, is that it may not necessarily a good idea to rely on any infrastructure that, if something happens that the original designers didn't expect, might render an area the size of Rhode Island uninhabitable:

Areas surrounding Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant could remain uninhabitable for decades due to high radiation, the government warned on Saturday as it struggles to clean up after the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. [...]

In a meeting with local officials on Saturday, the government estimated it could take more than 20 years before residents could safely return to areas with current radiation readings of 200 millisieverts per year, and a decade for areas at 100 millisieverts per year. [...]

Japan has banned people from entering within 20 km (12 miles) of the Fukushima plant, located 240 km northeast of Tokyo. Around 80,000 people have been evacuated since the March 11 quake and tsunami and many are living in shelters or temporary homes.

We've gone past the point where "nobody could have foreseen" is a viable excuse. We've foreseen, been there, and done that. The question is what we do in response.

Top Comments for today are here.


Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/lXcORH5vkU0/-Open-thread-for-night-owls:-Virginia-quake-may-have-exceeded-North-Anna-plant-design-limits

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Irene costs restart Washington budget battle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington's never-ending budget battle threatened to snarl the recovery from Hurricane Irene as a top Republican said on Monday that any federal aid will have to be offset by spending cuts elsewhere.

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/Reuters/PoliticsNews/~3/FuEbEjorRdI/us-storm-irene-debt-idUSTRE77S4XY20110829

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Congressional freshmen include dozens of millionaires, financial disclosures show

The members of this year's freshman class in Congress are far wealthier than the people they represent, with dozens of millionaires joining the ranks of the House and Senate, according to an analysis released Wednesday.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/09/AR2011030902631.html?wprss=rss_politics

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White House Hosts Hundreds of Bowlers in May

Visitor logs show dozens of visitors came to go bowling.

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Source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=00d7f939a0b6afee07187b908e4225f3

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The Case for Partisanship, Part 1: Presenting the choice for Democratic values and policies

These challenges are not all of government's making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush. America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.

[. . .] It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.

For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you don't have boots. You're on your own.

Well it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America.

You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country. We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma. We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was President - when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush.

We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job - an economy that honors the dignity of work.

The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great - a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight. [Emphasis added]

The excerpt above is from my favorite speech by President Obama, his 2008 Democratic Convention speech. I like the speech so much that I have embedded the video and ask that you all watch it again. It is also an important document for understanding what we Democrats need as a party and what the nation needs from its leaders?a clear-eyed, full-throated explication and exhortation for Democratic values.

I believe this is imperative not just because it will, in my view, help the president win reelection?a critical goal for all of us?it is also imperative because the nation must be presented a choice, a critical choice, of how we meet the unprecedented challenges we now face. The president has, in my view, not always made the best choices in terms of policies, particularly on the economy. Perhaps the choices were constrained by certain political realities. Unfortunately, these choices were not presented as made as a result of unwise constraints placed on the president's vision by the Congress. Instead, they were presented as the president's choices. The time has come for the president and Democrats to present what they think should be done to face our problems. And if the Republicans block the Democrats and the president from doing what they believe the country needs, then the president must go to the country and present the choice. He must say THIS is what we need to do. The other party disagrees. You, the American people, must  make the choice.


Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/Z32yC825er0/-The-Case-for-Partisanship,-Part-1:-Presenting-the-choice-for-Democratic-values-and-policies

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Irene?s 1-in-100 Year Rains Trigger Deadly Flooding

Some folks in the media and denier-sphere have tried to downplay the severity of Hurricane Irene.� That’s probably because they don’t live in my home town of Middletown, New York, one of the many Hudson Valley & Catskills towns devastated by Irene.� Where I grew up, this was the storm of the century. Above is [...]

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/08/29/307300/irenes-rains-deadly-flooding/

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Monday, August 29, 2011

Sunday Talk: Flavor of the month


A slew of national polls released this week confirm that Rick Perry's entrance into the presidential race has shaken things up, knocking former front-runner Mitt Romney off his pedestal.

The effects of the Perry boomlet?which is no doubt God's response to the Texas governor's recent prayerfest?were also being felt in Minnesota, where favorite daughter Michele Bachmann fell to fourth place.

Meanwhile, Constitutional poster child Ron Paul saw his fortunes rise, no thanks to FEMA.

Although Republican voters are now more satisfied with their choices, some continue to hold out hope that a super-size option will be added to the menu.


Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/IZyHJoz257E/-Sunday-Talk:-Flavor-of-the-month

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