From an email ostensibly from Obama mailed by Organizing for America:

> This evening, at 11:15 p.m., the House of Representatives voted to pass  
> their health insurance reform bill. Despite countless attempts over  
> nearly a century, no chamber of Congress has ever before passed… Read full post »

Well, the House passed the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to HB 3962, the current health care so-called reform bill. And it did reform health: back to before Roe v Wade. Any woman who needs a government-subsidized plan will be unable to get an abortion without buying a rider, which will be unavailable becaus… Read full post »

While I've just read that Saturn is going on a "I've got a real job (two, actually) where I get actual money" sabbatical, this applies to her because of her previous reporting and any future reporting she, or any of us at OS, does.

Empty Wheel (Marcy Wheeler) reports on… Read full post »

this is a test

Ross Douthat is the new right-wing kid on the NY Times op-ed block. He lives up to his job description by writing a plea for an end, by 2028, to what he calls "race-based discrimination."

According to Douthat this horrible thing, that corrodes racial attitudes among whites, is affirmative action.&nb… Read full post »

The Department of Justice is floating trial balloons about—finally—investigating torture. BUT, only those actual torturers who went beyond the parameters of the torture memos, so-called rogue torturers, rather than people who tortured by the rules.

This means, if the current UFOs are accu… Read full post »

Reading Jodi Kasten's post,  "American Ingenuity: But Wait! There's More!", and having just heard from my Congressman, Earl Blumenauer, a member of the Out of Iraq Caucus, I was inspired to look at the Congressional caucuses, coalitions, task forces and working groups (all more or less the same… Read full post »

CNN headline: Was Navy Sailor Killed Because He Was Gay?

Or, he might have been killed because he was black. Or, he might have been killed for both. When the military has a policy that requires you to hide who you are, to not know if asking for help because of homophobic… Read full post »

"Many political observers in Alaska are fixated on rumors that federal investigators have been seizing paperwork from SBS [Spenard Building Supplies] in recent months, searching for evidence that Palin and her husband Todd steered lucrative contracts to the well-connected company in exchange for gift… Read full post »

Was Iran's Election Stolen?

Iran and Leftist Confusion 

That's all. Go read them.  Read full post »

If George W. Bush took the action or made the statement that Obama did, would I be critical?

If the answer is yes, and you are not treating Obama the same, why the hell not?  Read full post »

I did not vote for Barack Obama. I was already convinced that he was not to be trusted because he went back on his promise to filibuster the FISA Amendments Act, because he abased himself before the Israel lobby AIPAC (though, on Israel. he seems to be doing the right thing… Read full post »

I just listened to Obama's press conference.

It's the first one I've listened to in decades, because I couldn't stand the lying sleaze coming out of the mouths of the presidents.

Now I'm repulsed by these twits pretending to be reporters. These people are horrible: they ask gotcha… Read full post »

My father died on Valentine's Day, 2003, much to my mother's annoyance. She thought it was very selfish of him. I mean, of all days!

My parents were childhood sweethearts. I have a two-picture frame of them, above where I'm typing, as teenagers and at their 50th anniversary, smiling still after 60… Read full post »

Just like the headline says. I have been signed up for almost two years (July, 07), but it didn't move me, so to speak.

 I got moved. 

 I'm still not  sure how to do stuff, but perseverence furthers. No blame. Saith the I Ching. Read full post »

So, what is a centrist, anyway?

For the people who report, edit and publish The Hill, ... well, I'll let them describes themselves and give examples of centrists:

"The Hill is known among those who influence policy as a "must read" in print and online. It signals the important issues of the moment.… Read full post »

Our country is in the depths of recession/depression. Unemployment is now around 20%, when we count people who are working part time and want full time work, those who have stopped looking anymore, and those who want work and can't find it (that's my hand you see raised).

The best… Read full post »

From Article IV of the United States Constitution: 

Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. 

From the Defense of Marriage Act: 

No State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian t… Read full post »

From Chris Floyd's "Liberal Hypocrisy in the Name of 'Humanitarianism'":


I realize that in our current cultural atmosphere, where everything is politicized and every debate is a conflict between "us" and "them," intellectual consistency is too much to expect from anyone. Nonetheless, it must be noted… Read full post »

Chris Floyd writes on a blog called Empire Burlesque. For those of you who accuse me of being too harsh about our "Dear Leader." I suggest you read Floyd, regularly. If you don't agree with him, please defend your position with facts, not ranting. I will delete comments lacking the former.… Read full post »

The letter from Joe Lieberman & Lindsey Graham put out when the House decided, at least for the moment, not to retroactively protect the Obama/Bush regime from embarrassment for their policy of torture. [Thanks to dday at Digby's.]

 "We strongly believe that the first responsibilities of go… Read full post »

The Graham-Lieberman Amendment, supported by Obama: 

AMENDMENT PURPOSE:
To provide that certain photographic records relating to the treatment of any individual engaged, captured, or detained after September 11, 2001, by the Armed Forces of the United States in operations outside the United State… Read full post »

So, here's what's happening with the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives: 

It is a new creation of Obushma and is headed by Alexia Kelley, most recently the head of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (and they decide that, dontcha know), a front organization for anti-women forc… Read full post »

The time has come to face the delusion, people. I am talking about the premise that Obama is the Great White Black Hope. And the corollary that he should not be criticized because he's only been in office 100, 150, 175 days, one year, four years. OK?

I'm not talking about what… Read full post »

The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), signed by Bill Clinton in 1994, makes it a federal crime to use force, the threat of force, or physical obstruction to prevent individuals from obtaining or providing reproductive health care services.

Scott Roeder, who was arrested for George Till… Read full post »