"One song which would really tear the house down was 'Tutti Frutti.' The lyrics were kind of vulgar. White people, it always cracked 'em up, but black people didn't like it that much. They liked the blues." --Little Richard
"If rock and roll has to be only one thing, then you might as well say it can only be Little Richard." --Bono
Like many struggling rock stars, I've endured all kinds of cheap taunts and envious smears in the foul underbelly of the music industry. It comes with the territory--when making the quantum leap from bleating opinionated man-child to Serious Ball-Busting Artist, the attendant fallout irrevocably mutates many observers into one-note projection machines. These poor souls are called "critics," and I know how they think, because I used to be one myself.
And when it is important, you use every tool you have to negotiate with.
Even the ones that "some people" might disagree with or be shocked by. Like throwing tantrums, screaming at the top of your lungs, making "outrageous" statements and proposing outrageous policies, and making outrageous demands, aligning (temporarily and event specifically) with people you otherwise despise, and yes.....threatening to kill the bill. Or with hold your vote. Or primary people.
You DO go over the line. Because that is how the line moves.
Here I am again, you substitute editor of the Afternoon Edition. Our editor-in-chief, ek hornbeck is recharging his "batteries" and gearing up to Live Blog the NCAA Championships. I'm even more clueless about basketball than I am about Baseball or American football, ask me about sailing or le football, I'm much better versed.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The NCAA tournament is famous for the little guys shocking the marquee powerhouses and turning into the darlings of March.
Upsets happen.
In every region, every year.
With one lopsided exception: No. 1 vs. No. 16.
When brackets are e-mailed to the office staff after the 65-team field is set, typing the "W" in that 1-16 matchup is about as automatic an annual occurrence as ringing in the New Year on Dec. 31. With good reason: The Washington Generals have better odds at victory over the Harlem Globetrotters than a No. 16 seed does over a No. 1.
We lost on HCR. Plain and simple. The only mistake is to think the bill couldn't have been worse. We could have co-ops and triggers, you know.
But I don't really care. Political loss is no stranger to the left here in the US of A.
This weekend, I will witness what we won, only one of the jewel treasures won for ALL Americans from the left.
People whose only wish is to become citizens of the United States of America will be gathering in Washington D.C. on March 21.
And their idea of the spirit of being American is not of Thomas Jefferson or George Washington, not of Anita Bryant or John Wayne or the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Mr. Roberts.
Their inspiration is Harvey Milk and gay liberation.
It is now a fact that Harvey Milk was a great gay American, and the American story of the continuing fight for liberation by GLBT citizens is so firmly planted in our culture that immigration groups can use this American struggle as an inspiration that embodies the best and highest values of our society.
March 15 marks the beginning of the United We Dream Network's "National Coming Out of the Shadows Week." This campaign draws inspiration from the struggle for equal rights by the gay and lesbian community. On the homepage of dreamactivist.org, the online hub for the United we Dream Network, the following quote from famed activist Harvey Milk is prominently displayed to encourage undocumented students to disclosure their status to advocate for equal rights and the passage of the Dream Act:
Brothers and Sisters, you must come out! come out to your parents, come out to your friends, if indeed they are your friends, come out to your neighbors, come out to your fellow workers. Once and for all, let's break down the myth and destroy the lies and distortions. For your sake, for their sake. For the sake of all the youngsters who've been scared by the votes from Dade to Eugene. On the Statue of Liberty it says "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free." In the Declaration of Independence it is written, "All men are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights." For Mr. Briggs and Mrs. Bryant and all the bigots out there, no matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words from the Declaration of Independence! No matter how hard you try you can never chip those words from the base of the Statue of Liberty! That is where America is!
Approximately 3.2 million undocumented immigrant children and young adults live in the shadows. It has been almost ten years since Congress promised them the American Dream. The wait has become increasingly insufferable.
Well, there's a reason they call this March Madness.
It's been insanely complicated to even set up this table which is organized by viewing time for your convenience. Over 20 hours it took me, I hope you appreciate it.
There is only one channel, CBS, which means they are going to jump around from game to game in a random manner dictated by the Sports Director (thus the name). I'm not even going to attempt to live blog it except for the random comment or 60.
Slackers.
I'll attempt to update the results as they come in, and the second half of the round of 64 comes tomorrow. This weekend is the round of 32 and it's going to take me just as much time to prepare and I'm not going to be around Saturday night (hopefully) because I'm going to be visiting a dog that bites my shoes and talking about Science Fiction.
After that I may have more interest if any of my favorite teams (Syracuse and Michigan State) emerge un-upset though I'm not predicting anything except early exits for either of them. I'll keep rooting for The Big East (the best conference in Basketball!) until they all lose (which is sure to come).
Update: This writer hasn't had the opportunity to listen to progressive radio consistently as of late, but have sent e-mail messages to the Thom Hartmann Show, the Norman Goldman Show, the Randi Rhodes Show and the Mike Malloy Show. These messages include a note of thanks if they have already covered this story and encouragement to provide some airtime for this bill if they have not yet done so.
The Ed Schultz Show interviewed Alan Grayson today between the 30 and 45 minute mark of the first hour. If interested, you can go to here, where you can find links to a live or tape delayed feed on various stations about the country.
Once this writer receives an e-mail response from his representative, this article will be further updated. Stay tuned!
H. R. 4789 is so simple and makes so much sense that corporate Dems will stumble all over themselves trying to sweep this pesky bill under the rug and pretend it doesn't exist. This bill is only four pages long and within two days has gained at least 50 co-sponsors as well as more than 25,000 signatures on a mass e-mail petition.
Would you like the option of buying into Medicare at any age, at cost? This bill, if passed, would not require even one cent from taxpayers. War hawks should be reassured since this bill would not divert a single penny from funding dedicated to blowing up innocent people on the other side of the globe.
Rep. Grayson eloquently explains this bill on the video that follows...
There may be acts that are more indecent than destroying a homeless person's shelter, but shredding the tents of homeless people living under a fucking freeway and rifling through what pathetically meager belongings and comforts they rely upon is really kicking them when they are down and putting the boot to the neck of an already beleaguered humanity. Such mindlessly horrific coercion of the weak and dislocated by the powers that be, in this case, local "peace officers," is really emblematic of what our country has become. First, alienate people and push them to the fringes of society, take away their jobs and homes, then destroy any remaining belongings and remnants of social support they have at the edge of life itself. I'm sure many more of us will be enjoying such fruits of economic apartheid in the years to come.
I picked this off of google cache, written post election, Nov 18 2008, marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives
Obama Wants Orszag At OMB
18 Nov 2008 03:05 pm
Barack Obama has tapped CBO director Peter Orszag to be director of the Office of Management and Budget, my collegues at National Journal report today.
He's a youngish overachiever, just 40, and subscribes to the theory of what he once called "cool-headed, warm-hearted" economic policy. Judging by his blog, Orszag has smart and interesting things to say about the intersection of psychology and economics, the long-term vs. short-term effects of climate change legislation, honest budgeting and accounting, and lots more.
OMB is the executive branch's budgetary arm and management oversight evaluator. The director serves as a key presidential adviser on the economy and is responsible for projecting the fiscal consequences of any presidential decision. OMB would figure out how much Barack Obama's health care plan will cost, for example, as it gets introduced in Congress. It'll score every bill that Congress sends to Obama. It's the repository of policy, responsible for official statements. More to the point, though, is that OMB will administer Obama's transparency agenda. Regulatory reform will originate at OMB.
The world's five biggest AAA-rated states are all at risk of soaring debt costs and will have to implement austerity plans that threaten "social cohesion", according to a report on sovereign debt by Moody's. The US rating agency said the US, the UK, Germany, France, and Spain are walking a tightrope as they try to bring public finances under control without nipping recovery in the bud. It warned of "substantial execution risk" in withdrawal of stimulus.
That would be the tight-rope without a net. Tanking economies and "social cohesion" swamp all else.
I am going to attempt to make colcannon for dinner. If anyone has any experience with that, or a good recipe to share, please post it here! Otherwise, I'm winging it.
Listen to the classic "Canción Mixteca," sung in Spanish by the Mexican supergroup Los Tigres del Norte, accompanied by [Irish] accordion, bajo sexto, tin whistle and uilleann pipes.
"How far I am from the land where I was born! Immense longing invades my thoughts, and when I see myself as alone and sad as a leaf in the wind, I want to cry. I want to die of sorrow."
This is GOOD NEWS for John McCain, and it comes at the expense of 42,000 Arizona children. What a sellout maverick.
Roughly translated, McCain and the Arizona GOP's message to sick AZ children would read like this . . . .
Dear Tiny Tim,
SCHIP costs money that should be going to tax cuts for the rich. Get a job and buy private insurance. Until then, don't get sick, and if you do, die quickly.
Tough shit, Sen. John McCain
U.S. Sen. John McCain may finally get his health-care wish, which is less care for fewer of Arizona's children.
The Arizona legislature voted to permanently end the state's participation in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), 13 years after McCain voted against it and 3 years after leading the charge against reauthorizing the popular bi-partisan program.
McCain's home state of Arizona is now the first and only state to ever opt out of SCHIP.
For Immediate Release
Rodney Glassman U.S. Senate
Exploratory Committee
I think they are withholding the CBO score because without the Public Option, cutting back on the excise tax (Cadillac tax, yes they did that by giving Unions a reprieve, and not raising taxes on the wealthy, the House bill is more costly than even the Senate version. In order for it to pass via reconciliation the bill must be cost effective and in the case of this particular bell must cost less than the one the Senate has already passed. Ergo, hold back the CBO report until they can hammer out details that add to the cost to tax payers. Confused? That's what they want.
The Senate bill further entrenches the private health insurance system. It continues the terrible pattern of privatizing our social safety net in such a way that business skims 20% off the top. It makes sure the big, life saving medications of the future remain incredibly expensive, so as to enrich the drug industry. It takes a giant step towards eroding women's reproductive rights. It wastes hundreds of millions to fortify the same, broken health care system that is crushing our economy. The worst part is I don't see anything in this bill that might serve as a path to real reform. There is no public option or Medicare buy-in. There is no proper state single payer waiver. There is no mechanism to move to an all-payer system and/or a clear path to force for-profit companies out of the health insurance market.
Democrats hoped to receive the Congressional Budget Office report on the legislation's budgetary impact late Tuesday night. Because Democrats are using special budget rules, known as reconciliation, to protect the package from a Republican filibuster, the measure must reduce the deficit by at least $2 billion over the next five years and avoid increasing the deficit in any year thereafter. Under normal circumstances, that rule would require the bill simply to contain enough revenue-raising provisions to offset new spending. But, like so much else in the health-care debate, this time it is more complicated.
Instead of being measured against current law, the deficit-reduction potential of the "fixes" package will be measured against the Senate bill, which must be passed by the House before the Senate can approve the fixes. The Senate bill would trim $118 billion from the deficit over the next decade and hundreds of billions of dollars in the following 10 years. For the fixes package to comply with reconciliation rules, it must also promise significant long-term deficit reduction, aides said.
However, the abortion language was always going to be a problem for the Illinois lawmaker, and this is a fairly clear sign that he has returned to the Stupak bloc and out of the "Stupak-curious" realm. So add another no vote to the big board. With leaners, you're at 205-210, with Democrats able to lose only 5 of the remaining uncommitted 16:
Why have we not yet seen a reconciliation bill with a final CBO score? It needs to be made public today if they want to have it online for 72 hours before a planned Saturday vote. The answer seems to be that they are having trouble putting together a reconciliation bill that the CBO will project as saving a sufficient amount of money.
There is, of course, a very easy solution to the House Democrats' CBO trouble. They could add a public option or Medicare buy-in. The CBO projects that even a very weak and restricted public option would save the government $25 billion. A stronger but still restricted public option would save roughly $110 billion. Those savings would be more than large enough to produce an acceptable CBO score.
Of course, Democrats are not going to include a public option because it would ruin bipartisanship, we need Olympia Snowe, Ben Nelson, Joe Lieberman, Blanche Lincoln, Dick Durbin would whip against it, the Senate does not have the votes, the Senate has the votes the House does not, it might delay the bill Obama traded it away to the for-profit hospitals in a backroom deal. Instead, I suspect that they will make up the loss by either raising more taxes or cutting much-needed aid to students and community colleges.
Have fun explaining that move Democrats. Go home and tell your constituents that not only did you deny them the public option they overwhelming want, but you decided to take money from low income college students, and use it to protect the profits of the private health insurance industry.
Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
This is GOOD NEWS for John McCain, and it comes at the expense of 42,000 Arizona children. What a 
