The Public Square on this blog is where you bring anything that interests you, any question, all things you want to ‘talk’ about. Those things you want to talk about can be topics of importance or more like visiting over the back fence. 🙂 I’m wondering what each of you wants this blog to be. Are we doing OK? Do you have suggestions?
According to wiki, “a blog is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.” When PPPs was introduced, the intent was everyone who wanted to would introduce topics, make thread headers, and it wouldn’t be maintained by an individual but by our community. That intent hasn’t changed and the invitation is still open; however, no one should feel obligated! If something is on your mind, or there is a subject you would like to see a thread dedicated to, you may start it yourself or request it be posted. Your input is valuable and always appreciated!
There are a bazillion blogs and we all are surfers and seekers. So bring back the info you find interesting, we’ll all learn and grow from the travels of each of our fellow bloggers!
fnord
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
The Votemaster says:
“Rumors that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison would resign from the Senate to spend all her time campaigning for governor of Texas have turned out to be false. Hutchison has now said that she will stay in the Senate until after the March 2nd primary in order to oppose the health-care bill and the climate-change bill. (English translation: Rasmussen says Gov. Perry has an 11-point lead at the moment. If she loses the primary, she may just decide being a senator isn’t such a bad job after all.)”
and:
“The most recent poll in the Dec. 8 Massachusetts Democratic primary to fill the seat of the late Ted Kennedy has state Attorney General Martha Coakley at 44%, more than all of her competitors combined. But 20% of the voters are still undecided. On the Republican side, state senator Scott Brown is leading his nearest competitor 45% to 7%, but it hardly matters who wins since the Democrat is virtually certain of winning the general election in January in very blue Massachusetts. So it looks like come January, there will be another woman in the Senate.”
He also has a succinct explanation of how little reform is in the health-care reform to this point.
You say you want a revolution…
Do you think a peaceful revolution is possible?
I don’t.
I think those who are hoarding guns and ammunition would be quick to use them. I know they say they wouldn’t, last resort…
I hold a different opinion on their ability to control themselves.
Isn’t that why the tea parties are going around the country and comparing themselves to the Founding Fathers?
Some of them. They have several agendas.
No, a peaceful revolution is not possible.
Maybe a civil war?
Unrest is brewing, but I don’t expect it to hit a boil for a while.
I kinda left my last posting hanging – what I meant is that I think these tea parties and other contentious Republicans are itching for the fight.
They just need a reason and, of course, Corporations, lobbyists and the politicians in the pockets of those corporations are just using the anti-Obama hatred to their advantage.
It’s all about the money – the total and untethered access to all that taxpayer money.
Obama wants to use the taxpayer money to help every American and, sad to say, there are others in this country that feel that money belongs to them and only the ‘right’ people.
The cult in this country is greed, but they wrap it in the word “capitalism” which they have equated with patriotism and that gives it the stamp of approval.
I meet low income earners who will tell me that it is only fair that CEOs make all that money; after all, they worked their way up to that position, so they earned it. They are completely delusional.
You’re right – there are several agendas in the tea parties. But I think when push comes to shove, all of their agendas would fall in line at the gun show to get ready for judgment day.
I’ll be MIA again for most of today. I’m about to wrap up things here, hopefully by early afternoon. I know there’s more work coming, but the worst of it will be winging its way via email later. I’ll check back in again later.
Have a good one!
Good to see you….and have a good afternoon..
I look for 2010 to be the deciding factor as to whether revolution will really happen or not.
If Republicans win in 2010, then look for them to use that newly found muscle and try to flex it in the political scene.
If Republicans lose in 2010, then look for them to use anything in their grasp and try to take over the government.
But, if the GOP breaks into two groups – then I don’t know what will happen. Perhaps the civil war of the GOP will have to happen first before they come after the rest of us?
Don’t worry about the Tea Bags.. they intend to fight the Republicans….
“Conservative David Frum wrote on CNN Monday night that Republicans are headed for a “spectacular bloodbath” in 2010.
The Republican fratricide in the Nov. 3 special election in upstate New York may prove just an opening round of an even more spectacular bloodbath in Florida in 2010.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/opinion/13krugman.html?_r=1
Food for thought.
While Krugman might be correct that a “big enough” stimulus package would be all that is needed, the political climate is such that it isn’t going to happen. The German approach certainly looks attractive, but I’m not sure any attempt to adopt that model, even with modifications, could pass Congress now.
My thought: the US will continue to muddle along much as it is, with continued high (historically speaking) unemployment for the next two to three years, at a minimum.
High unemployment is exactly what the Republicans want politically – isn’t it? Then they can waltz right back into power masquerading as ‘change from the status quo’.
Of course, when it comes right down to it – that high unemployment does not really affect most Republican political leaders – now does it?
“My thought: the US will continue to muddle along much as it is, with continued high (historically speaking) unemployment for the next two to three years, at a minimum.”
Unfortunately for the millions who are suffering, I have to agree. There is a lack of political will to do what is right. Historically speaking, there is precedent for this as well. Part of the reason that it took so long to get out of the great depression is because of the lack of bold steps at the beginning. A lack of boldness will cause this recession to drag on unnecessarily.
It is both maddening and depressing.
Of course, there are those who argue that the New Deal programs unnecessarily prolonged the Great Depression as the rationale for opposing bold steps.
The worst part is that if the party currently out of the majority regains the majority they too will worry more about reelection than what would really help Americans.
And I’m sure you all heard about the physical scuffle between two anti-immigration folks at a rally when someone unfurled an Adolf Hitler flag.
And then there is this fight Tea Parties folks barged into the pro-immigration demonstrator area to pick a fight:
I recommend you each go to YouTube to read the info on this video.
Will we ever again be able to compromise? Will we ever get back to respecting that two differing ideas can each have strengths and combining the best of both will get us a superior result?
The idea of compromise went out the window in 1994 with the wave of Social Conservative Republicans. I remember Newt and his cohorts all saying that compromise was a dirty word.
Besides, as we all were told back then and still to this day, these are the ‘real’ Americans with the ‘real’ God. God has put them into their position of power and God will smite the rest of us to eternal Hell and damnation.
Trouble is with this logic – have these Social Conservatives looked around lately? Not many people are wanting to follow them.
At the last polling, the GOP had only 20% of people even willing to claim being a Republican. And take away the RINO’s in that group, I am guessing the Social Conservative Republicans are lucky to muster up 10%??
I was not dismissive of the idea that G.W. Bush would not simply declare his power as a “War time President” and suspend the election until the end of the War on Terrorism.
I can not be convinced that they were the cause of 9-11 but short of that my personal opinion of the Neo-Conservative I do not see them as seeing any limited of power.
Revolution is a result of a toss of the coin and the issue that brings it about also is a toss of a coin. I at one time seen a armed Revolution coming on the issue of abortion.
The passion level is equal and the cause is seen as just by both sides.
There is a deciding point coming for the GOP, it will boil down to how many Republicans are left. But I agree that it is not a matter of the Democrats against the Tea party. The tea party is also seeing fault with the “Conservatives” too.
I can’t predict what will happen, but it appears that the extremists are trying to take over the GOP. They will have financial backing to do so if the corporate interests believe that they have any sort of numbers behind them. As long as they can continue to draw tea baggers out to rallies, they are going to look at least semi-legitimate and will be able to draw financial backing.
If the extremists are able to successfully take over the GOP, they will have armed minions, a strong group of sympathetic minds in the military and support from the churches (who are just as powerful and may be more financially powerful than the corporate interests). It IS possible that there could be an armed coup in this country.
And if the coup has the support of corporate interests and churches, it could be successful.
I believe that this is the game plan.
Ahh I have a cold today, felt it coming on the last couple of days.
Of course it is happening during the time my remodel job is at its most labor intense.
The Kitchen ceiling is several layers of different color paint and looks like the surface of the moon. I have to take off the layers to the bare ceiling, I found the best tool is a scraper razor blade. And chipping away the paint to the bare surface, a lot of standing there chipping.
I need to find a job again so I can take it easy! LOL
Maybe just hanging new drywall over the old would be easier and produce a better result??
I tend to agree with David B here, although if the ceiling is low, any additional lowering, regardless of the amount, will only serve to increase the level of discomfort of the regular occupants of the room. Not to mention the potential need to lower the cabinets, if the same ‘go to the ceiling’ now.
(It would have been easier and safer (health-wise) to laminate the ceiling with sheetrock.)
You must be restoring because you are doing it the hard way! Good luck!!!
History can repeat itself, with dire political consequences to the ‘party in power’ if the lessons of history are ignored:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/11/17/zelizer.deficit.jobs/index.html
It is indeed unfortunate to view action, necessary imo, through the prism of politics, but it is what it is. I recognize the conundrum faced by this administration created by the high unemployment rate along with the size of the deficit.
Good article, thanks 6176!
President Obama is damned if he does and if he doesn’t. We’ve all talked about the intricacies of what would be helpful and what would be ‘allowed.’ Our highly-charged partisan ‘state’ may make it impossible to do what’s right (as in helpful) for America and limit Republican victories in midterm elections.
This scenario has also played out in other countries. It is another thing that Krugman (and others) have discussed in the past.
I don’t believe that Obama will be able to convince the general public not to worry about the deficit yet. And I am not convinced that he would want to; I haven’t seen any evidence that the economic advisors that he is listening to have the right ideas. They are mostly free-marketeers (or supposedly reformed ones) and have not changed their philosophy in reaction to the disaster that that philosophy created.
We need Bill Clinton, again, or maybe Hillary. He was the last president to make progress on reducing the deficit.
He handed bushco a projected surplus. Projected being the operative word. Bushco proceeded to spend the surplus that want even yet real.
Yet the repukes think THEY are the deficit hawks?
heheheh. HEHEHE. HAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!
Damn, they’re always good for a big laugh!
http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/11/17/zelizer.deficit.jobs/index.html
See the most recent two items,
You lost me, 6176. You posted the same link twice.
Sorry, fnord; operator error. Will be back w/correct link (I hope).
(Trying again)…..
http://robertreich.blogspot.com/
Most recent two items.
What do you all think about the lastest complaint Fox Republicans are floating about Obama? The bowing to the Japanese Emperor and Emperoress?
They are trying to say that no American president has ever bowed to royalty before.
Besides having pictures of past presidents (even Republican presidents) bowing we also have George W. Bush kissing that Saudi King and then taking that stroll holding hands with the King of the Muslims!
But, I guess, that picture/video does not suit their need to spread that Obama hatred – does it?
My guess is that with more and more of these ridiculous complaints and claims by these ‘real’ Republicans being shot down by photographic evidence, then these Obama haters will be seen as the boy that cried wolf. At some point, nobody will believe them.
They will complain. They will find something. Usually I find it very petty. You know, there are enough legit issues to complain about there really is little need to go looking for the outrageous.
Heh.
At least he wasnt holding hands with an Arab guy that was wearing a dress.
Ya know, like that bush guy…
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/
See photo and caption, left column, and ask “[w]hy cannot this be done here?”.
It’s done in backyards all over town! You must mean on a bigger scale. Not much encouragement for any kind of recycling going on around these parts, is there!? Sad.
Yes, a bigger scale; city-wide, perhaps.
One way to encourage recycling of yard waste is to prohibit the same from going to the landfill. I know this was tried earlier, but IIRC, was either ‘delayed’ or repealed. Couple said prohibition w/ a municipal composting program, together with stiff additional fees for excess ‘trash’ (discount on basic rate for service if customer recycles) and a franchised hauler, there might be a way to encourage behavior modification in this area.
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2009/11/23/091123ta_talk_surowiecki
I just skimmed this, so I don’t know whether the author addressed how tax deductibility of interest (business and home mortgage) also serves to increase interest rates paid, and in the home mortgage area, the cost of residential real estate over the ‘nominal’ value of each.
Well, well, well, Will is back and all is well – or something like that.
It has been a few busy and difficult weeks. I spent DAYS repairing/replacing the plumbing in my kid’s house, then spent a lifetime repainting my grandson’s room.
We have had two birthdays recently – Hailey is one and Eli is three – exactly one week apart.
(We are praying that his third birthday marks the end of Eli’s terrible twos.)
Interesting stuff going on here. (I have been lurking both Pop and We Blogs.) I am happy to see that the Poppers have risen above the WE (are always RIGHT) Cons.
Sorry about the direct response to the Dodger, but I saw a glove being thrown down. Y’all know me – leave no glove unchallenged.
Anyway, for the next few days – except tomorrow – my blogger schedule is clear, so I’m back.
For the lurking WEBlog Cons – I am William Stephenson Clark – commonly known as WSClark – and I find you folks to be disgusting.
That aside, lurk all you want – you might learn something.
You were missed, sounds like you’ve been busy! Glad you’ll be around more.
Grandkids. I don’t have enough glowing words, even at two they’re wonderful! I had good kids but the grandkids are improvements even on those good originals. 🙂
Later, I will tell my (sob) story about all the horrible work I had (sniff) to do, but now……. I need a shower.
And a shave.
And a beard trim.
And a smoke.
Later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh please… let’s not bring that here…
First thing, Dave, we need to update your nic – my suggestion is “David the Giant Killer.”
David B just does not serve you justice. You need a nic that has “cajones.”
(Not that you don’t have cajones, David, but a more direct nic would suit your style.
How about “David the Destroyer.”
or………………………
David the “David the Defender of Duh Libs.”
Hey, whatever works for me.
This is good (and very sad)!
A complete description of the unfolding health care process in the Senate
Regarding revolution —
I wrote this (at least something like this) when I had a column in Kansas City’s “Ingram’s” magazine.
Revolutions are high jumps, not broad jumps. You soar to heights even you never imagined but when you land you’re not all that far from where you took off.”
It was a column about the 60s.
And tooting my own horn isn’t entirely comfortable for me. But I’m still proud of that paragraph.