Displaying 2,281 To 2,310 Of 19,504 Comments The Political Illiteracy of Progressives: Matthews vs. Warren A very interesting POV, repearwo but no need to disrespect another’s post to assert your views. The post did indeed provide more enlightening information about our democratic process than the interview, your claim to the contrary is bewildering. I don’t see the disruption of the smoke filled rooms or “outsider” Presidents as bad for the Dems. For that to be true, it would have to be the case that Dems in Congress are more Progressive as a whole than Dem presidents and considering how many moderate and Blue Dog Dems there are, that would be difficult to document. Yes, the Dems are a party even though they aren’t as corrupt as they were in the past, they are a party even though they think for themselves (is lock step thinking what makes Repubs a party to you?), and yes, Obama has greatly advanced Progressive policies with the ACA, the stimulus, his support of equality for LGBT Americans and fighting for women’s rights via the ACA and Lilly Ledbetter. If you’re working backwards from a desired conclusion, that the Dems are a failed party, I suppose you can connect whatever dots you believe validate that but considering that Dems keep winning The Senate and White House and are again anticipated (so far) to retain the WH in 2016, I don’t see how the outcomes of elections validate your proposition. Wouldn’t it be truer to say that it is the GOP that most appears to be a destroyed party, in the midst of a civil war, unable to pass meaningful legislation and shrinking as it alienates a majority of the electorate to retain its shrinking base? » Posted By AdLib On July 3, 2014 @ 4:48 pm Thoughtful post, Beatriz09! And important because it is crucial to be self-critical to improve oneself or one’s group. To begin, I agree that the majority of Americans including a majority of Democratic voters still don’t understand the way our government works. Emoprogs are deluded into thinking The President is a dictator who can pass laws and do whatever he wants to do while poorly informed voters just throw their hands up and blindly claim both parties are to blame for what is in actuality, the Republicans blocking any progress. I’ve referenced the Pew poll from last week that showed 60% of Americans don’t know which parties control the two houses of Congress. If you don’t even know that Republicans control The House after all the repeal Obamacare votes, government shutdowns and extortion attempts…you sure aren’t going to have any awareness about Republicans filibustering every bill in The Senate. So I absolutely agree, it’s vital to educate voters about the way things are and how a 60 Dem majority and Dems regaining control of The House could solve the gridlock that’s harming our economy and society. At the same time, when it comes to hack pundits like Matthews, who worked for Tip O’Neil in The House, it defies believability that he doesn’t understand how filibusters work in The Senate or that Republicans have been blocking bills endlessly by using them. And I don’t know that I would blame Warren for not giving legitimacy to that obvious disingenuous question by answering it. Still, you are right, she could have knocked down that canard (and IMO, slapped Matthews around for being so disingenuous and pretending he didn’t know that Repubs were filibustering bills). Matthews and other pundits typically put ratings first, above any other principles. They seek conflicts because conflicts translate into ratings…especially Dem on Dem (or Repub on Repub) fights. Matthews also has a habit of trying to burnish his contrived “independently minded” credentials by periodically attacking those he supports on the Dem side. I.m aware of his many attacks on Obama that seemed arbitrary at best, interspersed with days where he greatly praised Obama. Same with Warren and the Dems in Congress, he’ll praise them 80% of the time then arbitrarily attack them 20% of the time. It’s a game, it’s about ratings and his constructing a public image of himself that he feels will keep him hosting his tv show. The fallout from such insincere punditry is that the public is misinformed. A poorly informed Dem watching that interview might immediately accept Matthews’ contrivance, “Yeah, that’s a good question! Why didn’t Dems get everything passed when they could in Obama’s first term?! They’re part of the problem too!” That’s one reason I have such disrespect for MSM hacks like Matthews who corrupt the public’s understanding of politics primarily due to their pursuit to promote their own careers. Here’s some background on Chris Matthews, it’s inconceivable to me that with his experience, Matthews has no clue about how Congress works: He served on the staffs of four Democratic members of Congress, including Senators Frank Moss and Edmund Muskie. In 1974, he mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Pennsylvania’s 4th congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in which he received about 24% of the vote in the primary. Matthews was a presidential speechwriter during the Carter administration and later worked for six years as chief of staff to longtime Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O’Neill, playing a direct role in many key political battles with the Reagan administration. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Matthews#Political_career_and_views And Matthews represents that he doesn’t know what a filibuster is and it’s a legitimate question to ask why the Dems haven’t passed bills? I have a one word answer to that:
» Posted By AdLib On July 3, 2014 @ 10:57 am Sally, what a wonderful tribute to the 4th of July! A very on-target expression of the independence and tolerance for others’ views of independence that really hits home. The story of the flagpole itself is a perfect allegory for the tightwire we can walk between the respect for our independence and the social pressure of conformity…the antithesis of independence. It can be a challenge to stay balanced on that tightwire, we see so many fall off spectacularly like the racists blocking the immigrant buses in Murietta who waved their plentiful American flags as they spoke hatefulness as a mob towards those yearning to breathe free. And there’s the sad irony of the rest of The New Colossus poem on the Statue of Liberty that these embarrassments to America no doubt are clueless about: The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Happy 4th of July, Sally and a happy 4th to all Planeteers! » Posted By AdLib On July 4, 2014 @ 8:43 am Nirek, what beautiful animals! And there they are, living right there with you. Thanks for sharing these pics! » Posted By AdLib On July 5, 2014 @ 5:34 pm Religion & The U.S. Constitution: The Official Record Zeke, couldn’t be a more timely article about how cautious and mindful the Framers were when it came to the separation of church and state. That wall had to be strong, secure and complete and despite the lapses that have and continue to occur, it was quite brilliant and far-sighted. Now if we can only get a new majority on the SCOTUS that understands history and the context of the 1st Amendment (The Framers didn’t want another religious entity oppressing their freedoms after breaking away from King George III) and views the 1st Amendment as a “Stop” sign instead of a “Yield” sign, we can get back to being the nation we’re supposed to be. » Posted By AdLib On July 2, 2014 @ 7:32 pm Corporations Are Religious Extremists Too! Wow, really funny, Funk! » Posted By AdLib On July 1, 2014 @ 10:52 am Funk, it is shocking to see that hypocrisy is going on in a self-acclaimed religious entity. » Posted By AdLib On July 1, 2014 @ 10:51 am Funk, well, I’d argue that it’s not the state that is permitting it to avoid laws, it is one radical ideologue (out of the Felonious Five) who has decided that. Replace one human being on the Supreme Court and everything changes. That shouldn’t be the case, conservative or liberal, the founding principles of this nation shouldn’t be so easy to flip. It’s all about one man, something is seriously wrong with that. » Posted By AdLib On July 1, 2014 @ 10:50 am Thanks NoMan, really appreciate your kind words and your support! We’re all in this together. » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 10:54 pm RSGmusic, I hope those employees of theirs who would hopefully lose their jobs in the future due to the backlash against Hobby Lobby and the endless boycott, do go out now to find better jobs and employers before they have no job. Those of conscience and anyone who really values the principles of our country and it’s founding should hopefully be ready to boycott them and the other companies that follow in their footsteps. Let them set up their businesses in other countries where religious beliefs rule, such principles are not compatible with the bedrock principles of this nation. » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 10:46 pm Murph, it is kind of a flip of the middle finger by the SCOTUS Five to The Framers, to hold up religious beliefs that deny rights to citizens as superior to our laws. If this doesn’t wholly disqualify this SCOTUS of having the moral authority to rule over Constitutional issue in this nation, I don’t know what would. » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 10:40 pm Wow, what a great speech by Carlin, the kind of smart, brutally honest talk you rarely ever hear. Stewart and Colbert indict the system comedic ally but Carlin zooms out to expose the whole system as corrupt and a sham. Always was a big fan of his but never saw this clip before, thanks for this Monicaangela! » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 10:34 pm If you’re looking to share a list of companies to boycott along with Hobby Lobby, The Daily Beast has compiled an initial list of 82 other corporations, organizations and schools that will likely be joining them in treating women as 2nd Class Citizens: » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 10:28 pm Monicaangela, so true but the ignorance of so many voters is a big obstacle (most don’t even know which parties control each house of Congress, a Pew poll showed that this week). And with gerrymandering, it’s a slim but not impossible chance to take back the House. However, if one of the SCOTUS Five would be beamed up to a UFO, changing the majority to a moderate/liberal one could reverse so much of this damage. I do hope often that I will wake up to the news one day of Scalia being taken away for endless alien “probes” forever and Obama nominating a new justice to turn around that majority. » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 10:10 pm slm, I have been a strong supporter of single payer but the reality was that there were never enough votes in the Senate to pass a single payer bill. The Blue Dog and conservative Dems like Mary Landireu, Max Baucus, Joe Lieberman, etc. opposed it and combined with all Repubs standing against it, such a bill could simply never pass, the math was inescapable. Pelosi and The House really wanted to pass single payer or Medicare for all but they could only have done so as a political gesture or use the limited time they had before the 2010 elections (through which Dems would lose the House and they saw that probability on the horizon) to get something passed that the Senate could pass. It is very unfortunate that single payer couldn’t be passed then but imagine how much worse things would be had the Dem House run out of time in passing the ACA with The Senate. » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 10:03 pm KT, I think that what the Felonious Five have done is worse than upholding a religious law, they’ve stated that those whose religious beliefs conflict with federal law can ignore laws! The highest court in the land has decreed that this is not a nation of laws, that the Supreme Court is not Supreme and that religious beliefs trump the welfare of the many. It’s sick, for our SCOTUS to announce that religion overrules the law of the land. Then who needs them anymore, if laws are inferior to religious beliefs, than SCOTUS judges are inferior to religious extremists. » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 9:51 pm Kalima, you say it all so well, with the outrage that is required when such an affront to a civilized society is committed. This decision cements chauvinism in the law, those whose religious beliefs include the denigration of woman into being lesser people have just been given a full endorsement. This is a dark day for the nation and a desecration of our SCOTUS and society. » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 9:44 pm Sally, I can only imagine!!! One decision pressing so many buttons on religion, corporations, The Constitution, Plutocracy, the ACA and the radical SCOTUS Five…not surprising it’s inspired a flood of cartoons! You can use the company card to buy a sufficient supply of alcohol to get you through the week and complete The Sunday Funnies! » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 5:33 pm Nirek, thanks for the detailed background on attempts to impeach SCOTUS judges! Since The House is the entity that has to hold impeachment hearings, I don’t think we’d see any impeachment of any of The SCOTUS Five no matter how horrible they decimate The Constitution. I sure would love an amendment that gave Justices a limited term, maybe 13 years and then they’re out (so they wouldn’t coincide with Presidential elections). Then we could have a more reflective and responsive SCOTUS and if there was one or more rogue elements on the bench, as we have now, they wouldn’t continue until and possibly through dementia (as appears to be the case with Scalia). » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 5:23 pm And apparently The Psychic Network! 😉 » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 5:14 pm Beatlex, this decision by the SCOTUS is far more of an abortion. » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 5:13 pm Sally, you beat me to it (posted a similar comment below before seeing yours!). So true! » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 5:11 pm RSGmusic, hard to believe but you’re right, the SCOTUS has now decreed that employees must live by their employer’s religious beliefs even when it infringes on federal law. It is outrageous and absurd that we would have a SCOTUS that believes that when you balance religious beliefs against the rights of citizens in the US, religious beliefs win. No doubt ISIS just clicked “Like” on the SCOTUS’ Facebook page. » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 5:08 pm Kes, that’s a pretty clever graphic, really hits the bull’s eye! » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 4:59 pm slm, you’re right, the direct impact is the SCOTUS applying a second class status for women when it comes to health care (I assume Hobby Lobby won’t have a problem with their insurance covering Viagra). So prejudices woven into religious dogma are now considered Constitutional? What if Islamic Fundamentalists have a family-owned corporation in the US, can they refuse to respect federal laws that conflict with their anti-woman beliefs? Though this erosion of women’s rights is the latest “gift” from the SCOTUS Five, they are proving they are an equal opportunity oppressor of all but the wealthy. » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 4:58 pm Nirek, hate to say it but the only way the people can stop this SCOTUS is to keep Dems in the White House so that when one of the Felonious Five die or are incapacitated, they can be replaced and the majority can shift back to sanity. » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 3:33 pm Shutzy62, they’ve been scary for quite a while when it comes to the SCOTUS, beginning when they chose Bush to become President. » Posted By AdLib On June 30, 2014 @ 3:30 pm At “JERSEY BOYS”- A Theater Full Of Baby Boomers Singing Along To The Four Seasons’ “Sherry” Glad to hear it was so enjoyable. It’s always a challenge to adapt a Broadway musical into a film and make it feel like a film instead of a filmed stage musical. And Clint Eastwood seemed to be an unexpected pick to direct a musical. I always appreciate smart critic reviews but that’s always to be measured against the enjoyment of the audience. Sounds like despite its issues, the joy of watching it and having that nostalgia reawakened really outweighed everything else. Very cool! And really appreciate the movie review! Don’t let the minimal comments deter you, it’s something rare here that’s been missing from The Planet and I’ll be offering some as well along the way. » Posted By AdLib On July 2, 2014 @ 5:48 pm The Court Ruling that Could Kill ACA Here’s one reason Roberts and the SCOTUS better tread lightly from now on, if they lose the confidence of the American public, their decisions become meaningless: Gallup poll: Confidence in Supreme Court falls to 30% There was time when a majority of Americans were confident in their Supreme Court, but those positive feelings have been eroding in the last quarter of a century so that just 30% now say they have confidence in the institution, according to a Gallup poll. » Posted By AdLib On July 5, 2014 @ 5:31 pm Where’s the Headline on Human Extinction? Misterbadexample, there is no question that the most important crisis for the human race is not repealing Obamacare but the destruction of a habitable planet due to Climate Change. It’s literally a matter of life or death but because it impacts the hording of wealth by the wealthy, it has been ignored, shoved aside and propagandized against in the MSM. As severe as the considered projections are about how soon Climate Change could threaten much of the Earth’s population, there are signs that the impetus to take meaningful action is growing. The sad thing is that, as is typical for Americans, we don’t plan ahead, we wait until a predictable disaster has come down the road and plowed us over…then we try to do something to address the damage it’s wrought. Recently, there have been numerous stories about the financial impact of Climate Change and as angering as it is that the only way to get the greedy to want to do something to save the human race is to threaten their wealth, that is the case. More and more corporations and the wealthy seem to be reticently acknowledging that if nothing is done about Climate Change, they will lose money. So the resistance to taking action seems to be softening. What is a pity is that it will probably take more major disasters brought about by Climate Change until enough of the wealth class come to the screamingly obvious conclusion that destroying the planet is bad for business. What can we do then, when the warming of the planet is in full swing and propagating even greater warming? Reducing carbon emissions at that point won’t reverse Climate Change (but it needs to be done to have any hope in reversing it) so we will have to not only be working with the rest of the world to deal with massive problems worldwide but we will need to implement innovative solutions to sequestering CO2 and fostering greater reflection of heat from the planet. There are myriad logical and viable proposals to address and attempt to reverse Climate Change, it is not hopeless or necessarily unavoidable but it will take an unprecedented commitment around the world to have a chance to win this fight. It’s messed up that Americans typically won’t take action that’s needed until they are suffering enough from the problem they’ve ignored for too long. Though so much unnecessary destruction and suffering now seems ahead for us, when things get bad enough, I think the pressure to take drastic actions will build as well. » Posted By AdLib On June 27, 2014 @ 9:10 amComments Posted By AdLib
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
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