Thanks, Elliott. Is it really so much Tim Geithner day, or day two of highlighting the tax code obstructing upward mobility for working people? I can’t but notice that the candidates of the right don’t need to establish any kind of qualities sane voters might choose to vote for, but instead just run down the left – and depend on the open mind of the silly librul to give them a wedge to drive into any possibility of voting in decent representation for our own, public, interest.

Also; The right just lurvs them the Trayvon Martin tragedy, to show that the crazed left wing media wants to take away their guns.

Good morning all.

Quiet morning. Was listening to CNN, where Woodward, OK Mayor Roscoe Hill telling us they have a state of the art warning system but it got hit by lightning. hmmmm

Funniest story from yesterday was gov of VT being chased in his altogether by a bear.

I’m reading while having my coffee. Then going out to start planting some of the herb seedlings.

Needs a bear alarm.

The brain fart was trying to retrieve the bird feeders. Let the bear have them, then when the bear is gone bring them in.

I haven’t seen any bears in the neighborhood yet, but they’re around. My bee keeper is paranoid about them, and with good reason.

I’m off. Be well.

Feeding outside is the problem, imho, no longer do that – now that it’s spring, the birds are better off that way.

Good Morning, Ruth, Elliot.
Laterz, eCAHN.
No bears here. Just coyotes. And, lots of birds.

Rain makes birds happy, and me too since it washes away the privet pollen and my stuffed up head.

Up! is on too, good stuff.

I really like the two new weekend shows. Chris Hayes has amazing energy. Imagine what he was like as a kid.
Melissa Harris Perry is interesting too. Her students must really enjoy being in her classes.

Having intelligent and informed facts discussed totally wipes out the MTP variety. Such a lovely way to spend the a.m. Have to decide whether or not to ignore Katrina vanden Heuvel tho, since I can catch msnbc shows later on vids.

Wow! What a collection of fake Dems. Especially on Meet the Press.

Yep, I gotta say, Hayes and Perry have got me watching Sunday political shows again.

n.b.; that was PA talk, where adding -ed makes a verb into a noun; e.g., The car needs fixed.

Hiya all! Chris Hayes’s show yesterday was great, except thanks to the chick from the Moonie Times, it turned into more of a yell fest than it usually is.

Ruth, I saw your “Harrrdly everrr!” comment yesterday and it gave me a nice chuckle! It’s going to take weeks to get that music to stop playing endlessly in my head.

Agree, I was turning off the talking heads on a regular basis, this is actually giving us the facts.

Oh, you can ignore anyone you want.
Do you know what Hayes’ background is? I saw him first when he filled in for Maddow. Maybe I’ll go look him up on the google. I’m barely awake, but I’m curious. Again.

Ohio talk too, Ruth. I didn’t even notice, and I’m a grammar Nazi.

Oh, so glad – not that you’ll have the ear worms but that you got a chuckle.

He’s vanden Heuvel’s husband, and they were both founders of The Nation. He’s a longtime substantive journalist.

Too true. Me too. Intelligent hosts with interesting guests.

Morning all and fellow travelers. Good to see John McCain back on the circle jerk circuit.

I see Schiffer once again has McCain on to tell us what he would have done last week as President if it hadn’t been for that Kenyan, Indonesian, Islamic, Socialist usurping his rightful place. Like birtherism, it’s my opinion this wouldn’t be happening to a white president. My evidence? When has it ever happened before?

He is (or was) the Washington editor of The Nation. His wife works in the White House, which he is careful to point out when anything comes up that might imply a conflict of interest.

I don’t have cable any longer so I watch online. I will have to find Melissa Harris-Perry’s show and give it a try, because I like her. But I haven’t got much more time for TV, even watching online with no commercials.

Instead of the same old veal pen denizens who come on and bleat the current narrative and whatever passes for conventional wisdom in the one place in the country that is unlike every other place.

Thanks. Didn’t know about the relationship.

Are you sure, Ruth? I thought his wife worked in the White House.

And yes, I came back to the thread later and saw your comment. I don’t find too many people who know Pinafore. The music is especially “ear wormy” stuff.

Edit to add: an interesting thing about this production is that the cast is all college students, theater and performance majors, and very racially mixed. After the first five minutes you don’t really notice, and they’re all very talented, but at first it’s interesting that the Captain is African American and his daughter is Caucasian.

He’s a great advertisement for his agent.

I’m barely awake, but I’m curious. Again.

A trait that separates us from the conservatives. Barely out of bed and already asking questions. If ignorance is bliss, why are conservatives always so pissed off?

Chris Hayes’ wife is Kate Shaw who does work for Obama as associate council btw. Though I’m a fan of Hayes, it’s yet another example of the incestuous relationship between the ruling caste and the toady media.

Oooops, I was misinformed. sorry. they are co-editors, but evidently I was mistaken.

It’s still o’dark thirty here, and I’m not ready to go out and plant herb seeds, like eCAHN.
You are such a busy girl. Eager Beaver. You’re making me look bad.
(And, thanks to you and Ruth, I had the hardly ever song in my head all day yesterday. And, now it’s back. Thanks alot.)

The Nation wasn’t “founded” by Vanden Heuval and her husband. The Nation was founded in the mid 19th Century.

Good point. About the bliss. Maybe, deep down, really deep down, they know they should be knowing more facts, asking more questions.
I also think that’s why the fundies are such zombies. Don’t ask. Don’t wonder. Just swallow. Sounds pretty boring to me.

yikes, I had gotten a totally wrong bit of info. Thanks everyone for straightening me out. Another example of what kind of fact comes from the media, and why we have to double triple check to make sure we get it right. Really.

Along with incest one would have to include nepotism as well.

True to a great extent, but I’d also point out that these people often work in the same places and are in contact because of time, place and profession, so there’s a certain amount of just plain ol’ proximity that brings them together and puts them into their jobs, which is to be expected.

Just another way to look at it…

Try getting up in the night to use the potty and finding, “He said damme!!” rolling around in your head!! Or “And he is an Englishman!”

There, I’ve given you two more. Might as well suffer together. LOL.

Gosh, that sounds like a very progressive production. I like it! A lot.
Last week, I think it was, on Melissa’s show they were talking about race. Watching it, I remembered that when James was a bitty guy, just into school, when he talked about his friends, and wanted to describe them, he’d use hair color, not skin color. I don’t think he even noticed the difference.

just plain ol’ proximity

The 1% have a lot of that. LOLOL

Very funny, mister. :)

A wandring minstrel, you … fiend.

Proximity isn’t an excuse for the relationship our supposed fourth estate has with the other three. Add the fifth estate, (lobbyists), into the mix and things get really ugly for normal people.

If they didn’t see each other on panels and read each other in print, it would make them uninformed.

Ha! How about, Polished the handle on the big front door.
My father bought a stereo when I was young and he bought a lot of albums that he played every weekend. I was introduced to a lot of music at a very young age. Parents had season tickets to the Music Center too and when they saw a musical they really liked, they’d buy tickets for me and my sissy to see those as well.

We are going to Florida in May to sing with a choir from West Palm Beach that came here a year ago to sing with us (the two directors are longtime friends). Hopefully once we start rehearsing the music for that next week, it will drive out the Pinafore music.

Well, thankfully, I’m not normal, so no ugly for me?
Not only to I wake up curious, I wake up silly sometimes.

Good morning, pups. I’m late today. We’ve got The Pasty Little Putz, Dowd, Kristof and Bruni. We’re spared The Moustache of Wisdom, who is off today. The Pasty Little Putz, in “The Man With the Google Glasses,” has decided to warn us about the danger of isolation — or worse — in the rush to virtual communities. MoDo cries “Come Back, Sarah Palin!” and says having defined Mitt Romney as the “Eh, I guess” candidate, “Saturday Night Live” writers wonder if there’s anything else to say. MoDo, honey, the Republicans themselves have defined Mittens that way, and the SNL writers merely comment. Mr. Kristof, in “A Veteran’s Death, the Nation’s Shame,” says for returning soldiers, home has been deadlier than the battlefield. Some say the V.A. isn’t doing enough to help. In “Working and Women” Mr. Bruni says Hilary Rosen’s remark about Ann Romney reflected many sad truths about politics today.

Here they are.

The coffee and tea are ready, and I’ve got French toast made with challah. I’m feeling a bit fragile today, so I’m going to curl up with another cup of tea and a book outside, where it’s particularly nice today and the jasmine is in bloom. Have a great day.

I agree the new shows are somewhat better than the others but they still take their lead from what the WH’s agenda is — which is 100% campaign driven.

Expecting millionaires and billionaires to raise taxes on themselves is ridiculous. Ain’t gonna happen. Just distracts attention from the wars and the unemployed.

That one is such fun. Hopefully it is articulated clearly enough that the audience gets the irony of what the Admiral did to become the “ruler of the Queen’s navee.” The young man cast in that role is a very large young African American guy who wears a white wig, and he strides all over the set doing that number. I know the lyrics because the choir repeats what he sings.

Aren’t you interested in hearing the courtesans take on the Ann Romney “Affair?”

Thanks, Marion, hope the cure works wonders. A sad reflection on politics? here I thought it was about economic class distinctions.

Introducing and working for passage for legislation when it doesn’t have the votes to pass isn’t equivalent to not trying, though it’s the common practice right now to blame the one who tries and fails instead of the voters against good bills.

Thanks, Marion. I’ll try some french toast, thank you.
If if wasn’t for this virtual community, I’d be even more isolated. Some days, the only time I talk to people is online. Maybe I need to get out more, but much of the world just bores the youknowwhat out of me. I had a brief chat with the young man outside the grocery store who was getting signatures for legalizing marijuana, though.

Hayes is kicking serious narrative ass though, totally debunking the fake “controversy” over what Hilary Rosen said. He still hasn’t pointed out that Rosen said nothing that was untrue though, and that the elite are just pissed because she said it.

Nice. Good to see race and physical appearance less important than, you know, actual talent.

The maid taking care of the kids is the new version of the ‘invisible hand’.

If you can get out more do so. Life in the U.S. is very isolating for a variety of reasons, physical design of cities/communities being an important one. It’s been said that Europeans live their lives on the streets, Americans live their lives in their autos. Community is not built by people passing one another in their vehicles but by people meeting one another face to face on the street.

From wikipedia, Hayes attended New York City’s Hunter College High School.[5] He attended Brown University for his undergraduate education, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and worked with Production Workshop, the university’s student theatre group. Previously, Hayes was Adjunct Professor of English at St. Augustine College in Chicago.

Okay, that’s a background that tells me how he got to where he is now.

Expecting millionaires and billionaires to raise taxes on themselves is ridiculous.

Eventually taxes will go up on the rich but it will be in spite of them, rather than with their cooperation. The country will swing left again just as soon as some event offensive or profound enough occurs that cause the apathetic wake up and realize they are actually liberal in policy preference. The quarter to a third of the people who have been driving us inexorably to the right aren’t going anywhere but they will be overwhelmed when the apathetic become uncomfortable enough to pay attention.

Thanks, and yes I did re-learn to do my own research, not just go with something I read somewhere and just accepted. Amazing, the amount of disinformation that gets shoved at us. Kind of like trickle down knowledge, it isn’t true.

Introducing and working for passage for legislation when it doesn’t have the votes to pass isn’t equivalent to not trying …

Oh, I agree. Would love to see that across the board, as a means of governing, not campaigning. Re taxes, he’s as bad an offender as Shrub.

Would I like to see him run on promises to try to lower the age in SS and Medicare, implement a public option, go for another stimulus with a jobs program, etc.? Hell, yes.

But he’s not doing that. Raising taxes on the wealthy solves no problems.
IMHO. YMMV

Hope so. I won’t live to see it, I’m afraid.

Can I quote you on that? I happen to agree, but you always use words so well. I’m in awe of some of the minds here.

I especially like the “UP” format. I haven’t watched Melissa H-P, but Rachel and Olbermann and the others (O’Donnell and Ed whatsisname) seem to have the same kind of show, with the host and video clips and two or three guests who talk one-on-one with the host. The panel format with each member from a very different area of knowledge, all discussing the various topics, mostly without yelling over each other, is refreshing.

That chick yesterday (I use the term deliberately) couldn’t get past her reichwing talking points, and was very willing to talk over and interrupt the others.

You never know when that event will happen. Never say never.

Raising taxes on the wealthy is one measure, and solves some part of the problem, and is passable. Condemning some one for not solving the entire gamut of problems by one positive measure is pretty much cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Raise taxes on the rich to 51%. Lift the SS cap. Medicare for all. No more “preventive” wars. Investment in clean energy and all of the sciences and in public education, along with tuition assistance for university. Swing back to a sustainable, manufacturing based society before it’s too late.

Problem solved.

Chris Hayes DOES bring up issues that Obama should be addressing.

Being wrong and knowing it adds to that tendency, I have noticed.

We’ll have to disagree on that.

Are you very ill buzz? Because it’s getting close and history shows us it will be sudden and very fast. As a nation, we always flip to the left, then we slowly creep to the right.

Perry has the same format. I think you’d like her show too.
And, that “chick” will probably not be invited back. Just a guess.

Now wasn’t that easy? Sadly don’t expect Zero to tap you on the shoulder. His mind is made up and it was made up primarily by following the lead of the Mittster.

Peggy for President.

Dunno about being a “great” mind. I’m aware of history and I keep a pretty close watch on events. As soon as something happens than makes the apathetic more uncomfortable than the actual having to think about it makes them, the nation will flip. After that, participation will gradually decrease again and the country will slide rightward for a few decades.

Through the political process? Just don’t see it.

As a scientist, you know some (chemical) processes are irreversible. Now, if you’re referring to revolution, that may be in the cards.

Reams and reams of policy can be condensed down into less than a paragraph. There’s your problem ma’am.

I like her, so I am sure I would. I just have to find time to watch.

Chris Hayes (or whomever schedules his guests) seems to strive for a variety of viewpoints, and he nearly always has a conservative on the show, but they’re usually sharper and much more civil. He also seems to have women and a mix of races, too, and many people I’ve not heard of at all. Just an all around good show, IMHO.

EDIT to add: in other words, not much like the Sunday morning blatherfests with the same old white guys talking about the horse race.

Oh no buzz, I wasn’t predicting how it will occur, just that it will occur. I hope it doesn’t come to revolution but it may.

Good morning all and thanks for the post Elliott.

Hi, oldnslow. Did Ms. CBL get that fantastic cake baked?

Did the French bourgeoisie and peasants circa 1786 feel their only option was to wait for their oppressors to merely “exit” the scene as a result of natural causes? There was a catalyst and the result was an explosion.

Did the storms bypass you: we’re getting wet but with minimal noise up here next to OK.

Like a the 2,000+ pages of the ACA?

I think preventing that from happening is what our current police state is all about. Our 1% will deal with our 99% much more harshly, IMO.

Hillary care was a forefather of the ACA, and just as complex, a detail you won’t hear about.

There was a catalyst and the result was an explosion.

Yep. And I submit that conditions are approaching that critical state and that most likely the catalyst will be the tiniest, most innocuous seeming thing and the whole public will blow up. Except that it doesn’t necessarily include violent overthrow type of revolution. That’s only happened once and the rebels lost. But the country swung hard left in the aftermath.

The cake is baked but not yet ready to go. Party at 3:00 this afternoon but the decorator is still sleeping.

We had a very late night out with friends. Austin on Saturday night may be the coolest party town in the country and this weekend was an annual car show that attracts thousands of car freaks and their rides. Cruising South Congress was the order last night. Much fun.

Hayes: Ashley Judd = Super Bad Ass

Yep. Exactly like that.

Medicare. For. All.

There feds! Reduced to three teeny little words.

You’re welcome.

The Bastille was not full of petty thieves.

Just cloudy and very windy here. No real rain yesterday. Ran into a few drops riding home last night but that was it, a few drops.

Did you read what Judd wrote? Changed my entire opinion of her. (actually I didn’t really have one of her.)

It’s coming

Went right over your heads, then, figuratively speaking.

Although there are some positive provisions in the ACA it’s by and large a piece of sh_t. Hillary’s would have been too.

Politically, I see nothing on the horizon to drive us leftward. Expecting it to happen in an Obama second term is pretty ridiculous, IMO. Also, I see no leader on the left to drive us leftward in the near term.

Hope I’m wrong.

Just saw her comments on the tube.

Doesn’t look too bad down our way, no?

What’s this about Ashley Judd?

Certainly no “leaders” among the current ruling clique but there are certainly people below the radar we aren’t even aware of on a national level.

The insurance industry had not gotten the right to require insurance be subscribed to by all. It was a single payer concept.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/hillary_care_and_socialized_me.html

I think you’re misunderstanding what I’m saying. I’m not suggesting that the ruling caste will suffer an epiphany and spontaneously move left, I’m saying that an event will occur at some point that will wake the apathetic up and the vast majority of the country will be united again. In the aftermath of this event, the country will suddenly flip left. What I’m not saying is what the event will be, when it will be, (except my point about conditions being right for it soon), or what form the leftward shift will take. Could be violent but not necessary to be. Could mean deposing all of the ruling caste and forming a whole, new government to leaving the structure largely intact but replacing the bad ones with new ones, (I’m betting on some pretty harsh form of the latter at this point).

She wrote about how women are judged by society. Trying to find a link.

Link.

50-50 chance of showers, some severe, is what’s on the radio. We’ll have to see, I guess. Good Morning.;)

I like it when our conversation here goes full circle. Molly was talking about the intriguing casting of the show that she’s in. Physical appearance not being what pushed the choices.
When our culture is so overly addicted to style and “beauty” that we get vicious, maybe it’s time to assert qualities like compassion and intelligence and critical thinking as more important.

It will all come down to where you stand. The police state has already gone too far With the blessing of the 1%. This has to end. It won’t be pretty.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iAIM02kv0g

…maybe it’s time to assert qualities like compassion and intelligence and critical thinking as more important

Past time maybe.

No, I understand what you’re saying. In my job, I focus on families with main wage earners in their 40s and 50s who have lost their jobs, their homes, their ability to send their kids to college — the whole Cleveland, the whole American Dream. Most will never recover. These folks are helpless, or at least feel that way.

What passes for a policy discussion in the campaign and on these shows is just so-o-o ridiculous. I’ve lost any patience for them.

I hope you’re right — sooner rather than later.

What is your job to do? Sounds important and difficult….

You’re right. Definitely past time. For some reason, I was having a hard time writing that.
I’m glad my kids are mostly raised. I can’t imagine raising a daughter, especially, in these times.
Skinny jeans for babies? Oh, Please.

Beautiful! the nepotistic incestuous crazed left wing media host Chris Hayes just did a number on the host for Mitt’s fundraiser who was part of a group prosecuted for cooking a dog. No doubt Hayes is going to be the object of a great deal of character assassination for offending the audience of the right.

The people who you focus on represent some of the necessary conditions that are required for people to pay attention to the real internal threats to our country. Comfortable, hopeful people don’t start revolutions. It’s the uncomfortable and hopeless that rise up. It’s the ones with the deeply offended senses of right and wrong and fair play who demonstrate and strike. Again, dunno what the catalyst will be but when people have had enough, they’ll boil over.

You should know….

UP with Chris Hayes conversation on working women today is excellent! Worth looking up if you didn’t see it in real time. Turns out the “godfather of Obamacare” is among a parade of Republican affluent white male godfathers on working women, too. Well, except for Lovey, of course.

And Chris’ “You Should Know” about fundraiser and dog griller Fred Malek is LMAO. You go, Chris, and sicc ‘em, Gail Collins.

Wiki:

In 1959, at age 22, Malek was arrested along with five other men in Vicary’s Park near Peoria, Illinois, after police found their car spattered with blood, and a dog that had been skinned, gutted and spitted over a barbecue pit in the park. Malek and the other men were charged with cruelty to animals, but the charges against Malek were dropped after one of the others confessed to killing the dog and said he acted alone. Malek has claimed that he did not participate in the incident

Three words:
Toddlers in Tiaras.
I’ve never seen it but it sounds absolutely abominable and msnbc frequently posts screen shots from it. That loathsome pos passes for entertainment in this country.

Pearl Clutching alert!

I’m trying to imagine a scenerio that would wake everyone up.
When I was talking to the check out gal at the thrift store about the plight of the homeless, she said she didn’t understand why they don’t all go out and get jobs. Completely fucking clueless. I don’t bother trying to talk to her anymore. I just smile and give her my money.

and who apologized for Darth shooting him in the fact? rrriiigggghhhhttttt

Edit; Wiki can be amended by me or you, and it included; ‘ their car spattered with blood’

Hayes is speaking Up! oh nooeeeessss

Phoenix Woman posted a diary about Fred Malek, I’m pretty sure.
The truth is out there.

Yep demi. THAT is the kind of person who will have to become uncomfortable enough to wake up out of their stupor for change to happen. And talking never gets through to them. It has to be some kind of outside stimuli.

That’s sad. Working with people desperate for jobs, and blaming them for being in that fix. Kind of like having a teacher who doesn’t like kids to enjoy real facts, or like to read.

Thanks for the link Margaret.

(crashed my browser trying to find it)

Hayes’ panel was talking about the fact that so many of us were in the working world when jobs were easy to get, and just don’t know what’s going on now.

Oh, and you can imagine me trying to talk to people about the Prop 8, back when. Trying to explain that No, Jesus Did Not talk about homosexuality.
The event will have to be somthing that affects everyone. Knocks people on the head that we are all in the same boat. We are all In it together, as Melissa just said.

You should also know… Fred Malek also was Nixon’s Jew counter.

One just has to look around to see how many more people are On The Street.
Who would be on the street if they had anywhere else to go? There’s a guy, Bob, who hangs out at the same corner, near the do it yourself carwash and the gas station. I talk to him a couple of times a week. Take him food, blanket, etc. He got into a fight last week and spent 5 days in the hospital. He said he’s got a prescription that needs filled, so on Monday, I’m going to drive him to the clinic early, because he told me when he went before there were hundreds of people in line.

Thanks. Us crazed left wing media keep telling the facts, and that makes us really bad for the trickle down revival.

We’ll stop sharing the truth when they stop telling lies.

Now that may be one of the few things I disagree with you on. Not gonna happen.

We’ll continue to share the truth? They will continue to lie?
You’re correct.
Something is happening, but you don’t know what it is. Do you, Mr. Jones?

Sorry, ducked out to shower and get my “stage” makeup on. One reason that chick on “UP” yesterday was so infuriating. She just kept bringing up her talking points, and even the guest journalist who joined via satellite finally just kept repeating, “What’s your point? What’s your point?” because she kept wandering off the subject and into an unrelated talking point.

This is S.O.P. on the right, ever watched McAyn on the talking head shows? My favorite is that originally he insisted that torture was counter-productive, then he got pulled back into line and went to the opposite side, saying it was necessary to fight the wars.

So, what’s your point?
Kidding. Have a blast today. I’d love to see you in your stage make-up.
Nice sharing this morning. I’m off to go buy some bagels.
Laterz.

Nope, don’t watch the talking head shows at all. I didn’t even when I had cable, and I’m surely not going to bother to get them online.

I may try to watch 60 Minutes tonight or get it online, because I really liked Mike Wallace. It must have pained him greatly to see how his son turned out.

Just imagine how Mika’s dad feels? Yep, it’s not great for news production, but I do like to see what the talking points being fed to the people I interact with are.

Ruth I just went to look at your Garlic Clams recipe and I think the G in the title is a Q. You might want to fix that if I’m correct. It looks like “linquini” and not “linguini.”

I’ve heard that Zbig has actually called her out on the air for some of her views. Never watched that show, either…

oh, thanks. I could go winger on you and say you just aren’t familiar with more elegant Linquine… Nah.

I don’t watch the show unless I’m not there to turn to something else when they come on, but do see the ads when I am on msnbc, even Up! – makes me cringe.

One reason I like watching online. I use Firefox with AdBlock Plus installed and not only does it block web page ads, it also blocks commercials on the online shows like Up.

I didn’t realize it until I watched Rachel on my iPad which only has Safari and no AdBlock and realized there are little commercials between each show segment, often the exact same commercial between each, which gets REALLY tedious.

LOL. Would fit with the conversation today, wouldn’t it?

Way late, but, me too! The BP commercial with that woman who was born there and is still there, working for BP makes me want to…stomp my feet, yell, throw sumting, or all three.
I even say out loud, is it worth it? To watch the show and then be shaken with disdain on the ad? Obviously, the answer is yes. It’s worth it.
I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who gets the heeby jeebies on that one.
You betcha. If only I was cute and could play the flute. :)