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Saturday, June 11, 2005
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I always knew Big Bird was a commie. In a move to demonstrate to the unbelievers that Republicans aren't Evil Lite, but in fact the real thing, a House subcommittee voted Thursday to eliminate the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
My guess is that public broadcasting is just such a positive force for
people it has to go. If Congress actually manages to kill PBS and Sesame Street,
people stuck at home all day with small children are particularly going
to suffer without the daily dose of peace and quiet brought to you by
Big Bird and the letter S.
How did the Democrats lose again? All you "family values" sorts who
voted for Republicans this last election--are you gonna tell the truth
to your kids if they actually manage to get rid of Sesame Street?
"Sorry about losing Elmo and Big Bird, kids, but no price is too high
to pay to keep the gay guys down the street from getting their own
Target wedding registry."
Via Catch, where you'll find some extremely funny comments. [Pandagon]
4:07:04 PM 
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Slavery in America. Breaking from AP:
A Saudi Arabian couple was in custody Friday, accused of turning a
young Indonesian woman into a virtual slave, forcing her to clean, cook
and care for their children while she was threatened and sexually
assaulted.
A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted Homaidan Al-Turki, 36, and
his wife, Sarah Khonaizan, 35, on charges of forced labor, document
servitude and harboring an illegal immigrant.
Slavery is a stain on America, if never again means anything...
[BOPnews]
4:05:59 PM
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Bush cracks. The bad economy is grinding on Bush,
one reason why the Fed and the Executive have let loose a "Guns and
Butter" inflationary cycle - as indicated by the debt report that Hale
wrote about, and the trade figures which show that US demand continues
to spiral upwards. This attempt to load private citizens with the debt
for Keynesian stimulus failed in Korea, it is failing in Britain, and
it will fail here as well.
Headline number - his personal favorability is below 50% for the
first time. "Steadfast war President" is becoming "Stupid ass bore
pustulence". This is not necessarily going to clear up - good job
creation and bad inflation numbers can sink a President - ask Carter,
Reagan, Hoover and Johnson who all tried to primp up the economy at the
cost of letting real wages fall.
[BOPnews]
4:05:23 PM
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Where Is The Love?.
Reviewing John Harris's The Survivor*, Alan Ehrahalt makes a
point worth taking on : Roosevelt made enormous and sometimes reckless
changes in the American government and economy, and when his critics
loathed him for it, he loathed them back. ''They...
[Ezra Klein]
4:04:28 PM
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Stops on the Infobahn .
Let me heartily recommend that if you haven't heard it already, you listen to the .mp3 of Friday's Rachel Maddow Show. Or at least read the relevant blog post. Aside from the usual interesting take on news that is or should be on the front page (the House subcommittee vote to eliminate funding for children's programming on public broadcasting and all public funding for public broadcasting within two years; Jesse Helms' book, and more), Rachel announced that she will be starting a regular gig as a panelist on the new MSBBC show, The Situation with Tucker Carlson. There's a certain irony here, since the show Rachel used to do an hour later on AAR with Chuck D and Lizz Winstead was called Unfiltered - which name was stolen for another Tucker Carlson show.And via Rachel's blog, check out Raw Story on John Conyers and the Downing Street memo. And Steve Soto, in Critical Issues For Conyers To Explore At Next Week's DSM Hearing, says there are three witnesses Conyers should call to make the administration squirm. Chris Floyd is a good, smart journalist (for The Moscow Times - that's the Moscow in Russia). What does a good, smart journalist do when he gets it wrong? He admits it. And via Chris, this article, by Muriel Grey, of all people, on a curious phenomenon: But
what if that isn't true? What if poverty in some of the worst affected
areas of the globe is not simply the result of mismanagement,
incompetence, corruption, and indifference? What if it's the result of
deliberate economic engineering? Jonathan Alter made fun of Fox. Fox head honcho Roger Ailes hit back with phony smears. Via Ezra Klein, who congratulates Alter for standing up to 'em. I was interested to hear that Howl's Moving Castle was being made into a movie. Gregory Harris (of Planet Swank) did a brief interview with Pete Doctor, who worked on the movie. Via GailOnline, I learned that it's fun to use Google to translate The Sideshow into Japanese. And I also found this tutorial on Social Security.
[The Sideshow]
4:03:04 PM
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What World Does Wal-Mart Want?.
You know you're a nerd when your breaks from studying are to write
about health policy. But then, I do know I'm a nerd, so no problems on
that front. This study break is brought to you by Jon Cohn,...
[Ezra Klein]
1:24:34 AM
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George W. Bush Is an Unpopular President.
Could it be because he's incompetent? Daniel Froomkin writes: The
Increasingly Unpopular President: "the just-out Associated Press/Ipsos
poll, Bush's job approval ratings and the public's confidence in the
direction he's taking the nation are both at their lowest levels ever.
A whopping 55 percent of those polled actually disapprove of the job
he's doing, compared to 43 percent who approve.... This week's
Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that 51 percent of respondents said
they had an unfavorable impression of the president.... And the more
you dig into the results, the worse it gets. Will Lester writes for the
Associated Press: 'While Bush has gotten generally low scores for his
handling of domestic issues for many months, most Americans have been
supportive of his foreign policy. Not any more. 'In fact, as with The
Post's poll, the AP poll shows there is no longer a single area in
which the public approves of the job Bush is doing. On the economy, the
approve/disapprove split in the AP poll is 43/54; on health care,
education and the environment, 40/57; on foreign policy issues and the
war on terrorism, 45/52; on the situation in Iraq, 41/56; and on Social
Security, 37/59. When is...
[Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal]
1:22:49 AM
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Sunday Sermonette.
"My earlier views at the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of
salvation and the human origin of the scriptures, have become clearer
and stronger with advancing years and I see no reason for thinking I
shall ever change them"
--Abraham Lincoln, 1862
[Majikthise]
1:14:43 AM
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Mortgage Rates Defy Fed and Delight Consumers.
David Leonhardt | June 10
NYT - Testifying before Congress yesterday, Alan Greenspan, the Fed
chairman, called the current situation "clearly without recent
precedent." Even as the Fed has lifted its benchmark short-term rate
eight times since last summer in an effort to choke off inflation, the
average rate on a 30-year mortgage has fallen to 5.61 percent, from 6.3
percent, according to BankRate.com. Mortgage rates are now slightly
higher than they were in 2003, when they were the lowest in at least
three decades. In effect, the bond market - where long-term interest
rates, including those for mortgages, are set - is stimulating the
economy while the Fed is trying to stabilize it. Graphic: Lower and
Lower Rates.
[The Agonist]
1:12:47 AM
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Did You Take Your Stupid Pills Today?. Trent Lott is chiding Howard Dean as someone who "still hasn't caught up with reality".
Trent Lott.
Why is that name familiar?
Oh, because Trent Lott is the Republican senator who lost his job
as top senate Republican because he said that if America had elected a
racist, segregationist President in the guise of Strom Thurmond this
country would be better off.
[Insert comment about glass houses, throwing stones, and idiot racist senators from Mississippi] [Oliver Willis's blog]
1:10:58 AM
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© Copyright
2005
Michael Mussington.
Last update:
7/1/2005; 6:37:32 AM.
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