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September 2008 - Posts

Quote of the month (on Palin and pandering)

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 11:19 PM
Via the mighty Joe Powell , Matt Taibbi said this about Sarah Palin's address to the GOP convention: It was like watching Gidget address the Reichstag. That, my friends, is priceless. Share this post: Email | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit
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Dance with the one that brung ya

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 8:50 PM
Although I'm convinced some kind of large-scale federal intervention is necessary to correct the current economic crisis, the bill that was voted down yesterday was, in my opinion, fatally flawed. It did little to address the fundamental problem of escalating
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You're just jealous

Sunday, September 28, 2008 8:40 PM
The hideous Nina Easton has written a long apologia for the demons of Wall Street who have inflicted a financial and economic crisis on the rest of us. In it, she goes to great lengths to assert that the public outrage over the bailout is due to nothing
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Quote of the day (on the bailout and small town America)

Sunday, September 28, 2008 12:42 PM
The inimitable Newscoma had this to say about the bailout and the growing job losses in small town America: People are hurting everywhere and if one, and I mean, ONE, Wall Street exec gets a bonus for bad behavior, the local sheriff is just going to have
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The TennViews roundup for September 28, 2008

Sunday, September 28, 2008 11:13 AM
This week's TennViews roundup of Tennessee liberal bloggers is here . The bailout and the presidential debate dominated the blogs this week. My favorite quote came from Steve at WhitesCreek Journal : I don't know that much about this stuff, but according
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Feel Good Friday: "Searchin"

Friday, September 26, 2008 8:05 AM
By special request, this week's Feel Good Friday is "Searchin," by The Coasters: Outstanding song. Share this post: Email | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit
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Wanda Sykes sums it up

Thursday, September 25, 2008 10:58 PM
Via Newscoma on Twitter , here's Wanda Sykes on the bailout and Sarah Palin: Just watch the whole thing. It's five and a half minutes of hilarious stuff I wish I'd said. Share this post: Email | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit
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"The largest bank failure in American history"

Thursday, September 25, 2008 10:00 PM
Wow : Washington Mutual, the giant lender that came to symbolize the excesses of the mortgage boom, was seized by federal regulators on Thursday night in the largest bank failure in American history. Regulators simultaneously brokered an emergency sale
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Screwiness with Twitter

Thursday, September 25, 2008 4:15 PM
Something goofy is happening with the Javascript code from twitter.com that plops my Twitter feed in the sidebar: it's prompting visitors to enter a username and password for Twitter's servers. If that happens, just click Cancel on the dialog box. If
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Fire them both

Wednesday, September 24, 2008 10:43 PM
John McCain is desperately trying to avoid a debate with Barack Obama (and is even more terrified of the prospect of his incompetent running mate debating her opponent ), so he is using the current financial crisis to justify suspending his campaign.
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Why Pelosi and Reid need to go

Tuesday, September 23, 2008 10:51 PM
Here's why Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid need to be replaced as Congressional leaders, encapsulated in a single sentence : Congressional Democrats bowed to political pressure yesterday and agreed to let the ban on offshore oil drilling expire, a decision
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Quote of the day (on the bailout)

Tuesday, September 23, 2008 8:29 PM
E.J. Dionne summarizes the crisis in a nutshell : There is a moral problem for capitalism itself if taxpayers take on a burden created by the foolishness of the privileged and get little compensation in return. Share this post: Email | del.icio.us | Digg
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Energy consciousness

Monday, September 22, 2008 9:00 PM
Paolo Scaroni is the CEO of the Italian oil company ENI, one of the 25 largest companies in the world (it sells fuel in Europe under the Agip brand, among many other things). He had this to say about American oil consumption: If Americans used the same
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Trillion dollar life preserver

Friday, September 19, 2008 6:31 PM
The US government is about to write the largest welfare check in history, and the recipients will be banks and other financial institutions holding worthless debt. You and I will have the privilege of paying for it. In a late-night meeting in Nancy Pelosi's
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Feel Good Friday: "Georgia On My Mind"

Friday, September 19, 2008 8:21 AM
For this week's Feel Good Friday, kick back for a few minutes and listen to Ray Charles perform one of my favorite songs of all time, "Georgia On My Mind:" Share this post: Email | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit
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Quote of the day (on Social Security)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008 9:20 PM
From Taking Note : One good thing to emerge from this week’s market turmoil is that it lays waste to the argument that privatizing Social Security is in everyone’s best interest. Amen to that. Just try to imagine what would have befallen Social Security
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Slapped by the invisible hand

Tuesday, September 16, 2008 11:05 PM
Under the "leadership" of Alan Greenspan (and I use that word loosely), the Federal Reserve refused to enforce the terms of the Truth in Lending Act and thereby explicitly permitted the explosion of sub-prime mortgages, marketed by predatory lenders to
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Dick Armey says Cheney lied to him

Tuesday, September 16, 2008 12:40 PM
Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) says Dick Cheney lied to him about the intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq : "Did Dick Cheney ... purposely tell me things he knew to be untrue?" Armey said. "I seriously feel that may be the
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Obama and McCain on science and technology policy

Monday, September 15, 2008 9:50 PM
A group called Science Debate 2008 sent a list of questions about science and technology policy to Barack Obama and John McCain, covering such topics as science education, stem cell research, the politicization of science, space exploration, and numerous
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The TennViews roundup for September 14, 2008

Sunday, September 14, 2008 1:14 PM
Your weekly reader of Tennessee liberal blogs is here . R. Neal has rounded up some great content this week, so grab a beverage and spend a while reading what Tennessee's progressosphere has been talking about. Share this post: Email | del.icio.us | Digg
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Feel Good Friday triple header

Friday, September 12, 2008 9:33 AM
Today's Feel Good Friday is a triple feature. First, let's start off with Fats Domino singing "Ain't That A Shame": During that same era, the performer known as Little Willie John was an enormous influence on his peers; he was a pioneer of soul, R & B,
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The Red Cross under stress

Thursday, September 11, 2008 9:15 PM
Hurricane Ike is fixing to beat the crap out of coastal Texas. For the fourth time in a month, the American Red Cross is having to respond to a hurricane. As a result of Fay, Gustav, and Hanna, the Red Cross has already incurred significant debt ; as
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Site upgrade

Tuesday, September 09, 2008 9:15 PM
I've applied a service pack to the platform running this site, and I've made some other (hopefully invisible) tweaks to the code behind it. If you notice anything out of sorts, leave a comment on this post or send me an email here . I'm not sure if everything
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Woodward's series on the "surge" and its real architects

Monday, September 08, 2008 5:10 PM
This week, the Washington Post is running a series of excerpts from Bob Woodward's new book, "The War Within," which details the decision-making process leading up to the "surge" in Iraq. In yesterday's installment , Woodward detailed Bush's refusal to
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The TennViews roundup for Sept 7, 2008

Sunday, September 07, 2008 8:46 AM
This week's roundup of Tennessee progressive bloggers is here . In addition to the roundup, R. Neal includes this note: SPECIAL NOTE: Our condolences to Katie Allison Granju , whose father passed away unexpectedly. You should go pay Katie a visit and
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Feel Good Friday: "True Fine Mama"

Friday, September 05, 2008 7:53 AM
This week's pick for Feel Good Friday is "True Fine Mama," by Little Richard: Play it. Get up and dance a little. It'll make you feel good. Share this post: Email | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit
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McCain imitates Caligula

Wednesday, September 03, 2008 11:05 PM
Legend has it (according to Seutonius) that the Roman emperor Caligula ordained his horse Incitatus as a priest , and threatened to install that same horse as one of Rome's two consuls (who acted more or less as vice-emperors). Caligula was by all accounts
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Google Chrome released into the wild

Tuesday, September 02, 2008 8:56 PM
Today's tech buzz has been all about Google's release of its very own web browser, Chrome . I've seen tons of breathless blog posts, comments, and Twitter updates about this over the last 24 hours; hordes of people were eager to start downloading it the
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Labor Day scorecard: American workers not doing well

Monday, September 01, 2008 11:46 AM
A Rutgers University study has been released that paints a somber picture for American workers : In its first national labor scorecard, the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations said more than 10 percent of Americans are unemployed, discouraged
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