Blue in the Bluegrass

• "It should be more easy to get out of war than into it."

  The irreplaceable Bill Moyers on how the separation of war powers in the U.S. Constitution was designed to make it more difficult, not easier, for the nation to indulge in war.
  
  Our founders knew too well the habits of European kings who went to war at the drop [...]
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  Posted: December 06, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Saving the Middle Class - Liberally

  I am a Liberal, and I support government building a strong middle-class by creating good jobs and preventing Wall Street from cheating working people.
  
  Elizabeth Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, explains how pro-bank, anti-worker policies over the past 30 years have brought the middle class to [...]
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  Posted: December 06, 2009, 7:37am EST
  

• "To stand up for the embattled middle class"

  President Obama's Weekly Address:
  
  But I didn’t run for President to pass emergency recovery programs, or to bail out banks or to shore up auto companies. I didn’t run for President simply to manage the crisis of the moment, while kicking our most pressing problems down the road. I [...]
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  Posted: December 05, 2009, 2:13pm EST
  

• Kentucky's House Delegation Caves to Israel Lobby. Except Geoff Davis

  In late December 2008, Israel invaded Gaza. It kept all press out of the beseiged strip of land, preventing any independent observation of actions by both the Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas. Unsurprisingly, accusations of war crimes flew on both sides.
  
  The United Nations appointed experts to investigate the [...]
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  Posted: December 05, 2009, 1:00pm EST
  

• Surge 2.0: Not Just Wrong, But Falling Into the Repugs' Trap

  If the Afghanistan escalation is really some kind of 11-dimensional-chess move to escape that clusterfuck while avoiding any political penalty, then President Obama better finish the game before next November. Because the repugs are already three steps ahead of him.
  
  Zandar explains:
  
  Now that Obama has gone [...]
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  Posted: December 05, 2009, 10:43am EST
  

• Why Wall Street Loves High Unemployment

  Because it keeps the toiling masses grateful for the chance to work their asses off for pennies.
  
  Natasha Chart reads the preliminary, third quarter productivity and costs estimates from the Bureau of Labor Standards and concludes we've been robbed.
  
  American workers have been producing more, in' [...]
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  Posted: December 04, 2009, 9:00pm EST
  

• Take This Viral

  Lindsay Robertson at Jezebel.com:
  
  Out of yesterday's NY state gay marriage setback has emerged a new icon: Sen. Diane Savino, whose brilliant, off-the-cuff speech in favor of same-sex marriage has made her an overnight internet star. Just watch this. (Savino for President 2016!)
  
  
  
  [...]
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  Posted: December 04, 2009, 5:48pm EST
  

• The Real Cost of Surge 2.0: Thousands more disabled veterans

  Susie Madrak at Crooks and Liars brings us the bad news from the San Francisco Chronicle:
  
  More than 13,000 new cases of post-traumatic stress disorder. An additional 8,000 or so traumatic brain injuries. More suffering and need coming home in the form of wounded vets than [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 8:30pm EST
  

• Stupak Lives! Help Us Kill It Dead

  Remember how Congressional Democrats assured us that the horrific Stupak amendment would not survive in the final health care reform bill?
  
  Eh, not so much. But Firedoglake is on it, and already has a plan of action:
  
  Ever since Stupak hijacked the health care bill, [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 10:00am EST
  

• "Unemployment is a bigger deal than Afghanistan"

  With one huge difference: There are known, proven, ready-to-go solutions to unemployment ready to hand, if only President Obama and Congressional Democrats will pick them up.
  
  John Nichols in The Nation:
  
  But if unemployment keeps rising -- if it gets to 12-, 13-, 14-percent officially, [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 6:31am EST
  

• Without Liberals, Democrats Are Just Unarmed Republicans

  Yesterday, the Rude Pundit gave us a small sample of the anti-Obama hatred that has flooded Facebook. He concluded:
  
  This is a reminder, as we on the left disagree with Obama and oppose some of his policies, of what we're actually up against, our own extremists and the' [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 6:30am EST
  

• The Road Not Taken - Yet

  At The Nation, Tom Engelhardt writes the Afghanistan speech Obama should have given.
  
  .... During the presidential campaign I called Afghanistan "the right war." Let me say this: with the full information resources of the American presidency at my fingertips, I no longer believe that to [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 6:10am EST
  

• Silence Give Assent; Shout Your Dissent

  You bet I'm disgusted. Infuriated, outraged, sickened. Yes, President Obama is doing exactly what he promised he would do in Afghanistan - which is why it's so wrong.
  
  Nothing that's happened in the last year has influenced him in the slightest. He decided two years ago, as the' [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 9:30pm EST
  

• The Hate Behind the Kettle

  In the true spirit of christianist charity, the Salvation Army is - wait for it - checking IDs on the brown kids to prevent the illegals from getting toys meant for ril murkin children.
  
  Jesus' General has the correct response:
  
  It'd be a real [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 7:57pm EST
  

• Jackie Makes It Even Worse

  Wow. I didn't think it was possible to be more vague, confused and fact-free about Afghanistan than Our Only President was last night, but Jack Conway proves me wrong.
  
  Via MC, Conway's press release on The Surge 2.0:
  
  "I think it is apparent that the President'" [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 7:20pm EST
  

• The Right Argument Against the War Tax

  If we're going to throw another hundred billion, quarter-trillion down the Af-Pak shithole, the least this president and this Congress can do is fund it with a new, heavy tax on the rich who are the only ones benefitting from American imperalism.
  
  Demanding the escalation in Vietnam Afghanistan be' [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 9:00am EST
  

• Buddy, Can You Spare $30 Billion?

  Stephen Walt at Foreign Policy on guns vs. butter:
  
  Americans have come to believe that spending government revenues on U.S. citizens here at home is usually a bad thing and should be viewed wth suspicion, but spending billions on vast social engineering projects overseas is the hallmark [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 6:00am EST
  

• The Liberal Path to Jobs

  David Dayen at Firedoglake offers offers some proven, practical ideas for giving the country what it needs most right now: lots of good jobs in a strong, stable economy.
  
  In a couple days, the President will convene a jobs summit, amidst pervasive calls to deal with the [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 5:43pm EST
  

• Death Wish Politics

  As horrific and demoralizing as the announcement of the Afghanstan escalation is going to be today, don't let it distract you from the White House's continuing effort to ensure health care DEform enriches health insurance giants at the expense of working Americans.
  
  Mike Lux at Open Left:
  [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 7:00am EST
  

• "Declare Victory and Get Out"

  Keith Olbermann's Special Comment last night:
  
  So, much of the change for which you were elected, Sir, has thus far been understandably, if begrudgingly, tabled, delayed, made more open-ended. But patience ebbs, Mr. President. And while the first one thousand key decisions of your presidency were already made [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 5:50am EST
  

• Only Liberals Can Save Obama and the Democrats Now

  Let's review:

  Stuck in a stalemate in Iraq. Escalating the quagmire in Afghanistan. Gutting the little remaining of the fourth amendment. Letting war criminals walk free while trying to re-imprison innocent victims of Rove's framing.Allowing loyal bushies to stay in their jobs and undermine the justice department. [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 7:12pm EST
  

• Give the Gift of Citizenship

  Give the gift of citizenship, not just to thousands of your fellow Kentuckians but to the Commonwealth as a whole, by supporting Rep. Jesse Crenshaw's BR1, to restore voting rights to non-violent felons who have served their sentences.
  
  "The right to vote is so essential, so much a" [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 6:10am EST
  

• The Booby Prize

  Kevin nails it:
  
  On Tuesday Barack Obama will announce a major escalation of the war in Afghanistan. A week later he'll be in Oslo accepting his Nobel Peace Prize. Pretty good timing, no?
  Don't get me wrong; I believe Obama did earn the Nobel Peace Prize.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 1:25pm EST
  

• Death Penalty for Seizures

  In keeping with the "I am a Liberal and I Vote" theme here at Blue in the Bluegrass:
  
  I am a Liberal and I support thorough training for law enforcement in ways to deal non-violently with disturbed but unarmed citizens.
  
  Digby says Don't Have A Seizure' [...]
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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 8:32pm EST
  

• I am Liberal and I Vote

  The latest Democrats Are Doomed poll is out, and it's a doozy.
  
  Josh Marshall:
  
  They asked voters, basically, how are sure are you you're going to vote next year. The first number is certain or likely to vote; the second is unlikely or certain not to' [...]
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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 1:00pm EST
  

• Baby Jeebus Loses the Majority in Kentucky

  Yep, real xians are down to a bare 25 percent of the population. I would have put it at 40, 45 percent, but I don't have actual, official, evangelical statistics.
  
  According to a Kentucky Baptist Convention official, 2,587,995 Kentuckians “are lost without Christ.”
  
  Ross Bauscher, Evangelism Growth' [...]
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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 8:37am EST
  

• Gifts For a Recession

  If you're avoiding the Black Friday crowds by starting your Christmas shopping online, remember that more overpriced stuff people don't need is even more ludicrously inappropriate than usual in these hard economic times.
  
  Even if you can afford to keep giving everyone on your list the latest hyped gadget, [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 11:41am EST
  

• President Obama

  "And it is my fervent hope – and my heartfelt expectation – that next Thanksgiving we will be able to celebrate the fact that many of those who have lost their jobs are back at work, and that as a nation we will have come through these difficult storms stronger" [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 9:56am EST
  

• A Better Thanksgiving "Prayer"

  Today, before you dig into that turkey and stuffing, instead of the usual futile plea to an invisible sky wizard, bless your family and your meal by reading this story aloud:
  
  
  Sleeping in an Army tent near the Pakistani border, Maj. Kenny Harryman awoke [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 7:04am EST
  

• Is a pale imitation of health care reform worth saving?

  I was all set to write a fire-and-brimstone post condemning everyone involved in the Great Betrayal on health care reform and calling for liberal Democrats in the Senate to kill the piece of shit masquerading as a bill.
  
  We have finally reached the point at which what we [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 4:00pm EST
  

• Public Defenders to Jack Conway: Fuck You

  So Jack "an invisible sky wizard does too run the Department of Homeland Security!" Conway, sucking wind in the U.S Senate primary, runs up to the podium waving his arms and yelling "oooh, oooh, I've got it - let's kill these guys!"
  
  About a minute and a half' [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 7:47pm EST
  

• GAO: Kentucky Nursing Homes Among Worst in Nation

  And the worst of the worst? For-profit, chain-affiliated homes.
  
  Ten nursing homes in Kentucky, including one in Lexington, are among the most poorly performing in the United States, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
  
  And, according to the GAO, which provides oversight of [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 6:21am EST
  

• Abdicating Personal Responsibility

  Don't let the celebrity bullshit and the can-she-be-any-stupider shadenfreude hide the most frightening, yet neglected, revelation in the latest political "biography."
  
  "My life is in His hands. I encourage readers to do what I did many years ago, invite Him in to take over.”
  
  This is'" [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 7:26pm EST
  

• To Stop the Secret Bailouts

  From Crooks and Liars:
  
  MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan talks to Rep. Alan Grayson about the amendment passed by the House Financial Services Committee to allow an independent audit of the Federal Reserve. If Alan Greenspan is not happy about it, I take that as a good sign they did [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 10:00am EST
  

• Dominionists Out of the Closet

  The Dominionists are out to show the teabaggers who's really calling the shots in the republican party.
  
  Tristero at Hullabaloo reads the Christianist Manifesto so you don't have to.
  
  Led by an admitted felon,* a bunch of extreme, but influential, christianists have released a rambling statement' [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 7:00am EST
  

• "Ordinary Injustice"

  While wingnuts froth at the mouth at the prospect of murderers of Americans getting tried in American courtrooms, a new book documents the many small but devastating injustices perpetrated by the system throughout the country every day.
  
  In Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court (Metropolitan; $27), legal [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 8:00pm EST
  

• The Failure of Post-Partisanship

  As we get closer to the short strokes on health care reform, Digby points to a sharp analysis of the conservative opposition and President Obama's ability to beat it.
  
  If you want to understand Palin and the teabaggers etc, you have to understand the conservative movement. Nobody [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 5:00pm EST
  

• Because Together We Are Stronger

  If you're not unemployed, or underemployed, or likely to become unemployed soon, you know somebody who is. Probably several somebodies.
  
  So don't just sit there - Help yourself, your friends, your neighbors and your community by forming a common security club.
  
  Chuck Collins, co-founder of United [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  

• Kentucky Home for the Holidays

  UPDATED, Tuesday, Nov. 24, UPDATE, Tuesday, Dec. 1
  
  The leaves are off the trees, which means Kentucky's fall festivals make room for great winter events.
  
  Big Bone Lick State Park is home to 14 bison, commonly called buffalo. What is the difference? Can you out run a' [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 12:30pm EST
  

• Timing is Everything

  The U.S. Senate is beginning its debate of the health care reform bill today.
  
  One of the many "compromise" provisions that are making liberals swallow hard but that still won't satisfy Mitch McConnell's repugs and their Blue Dog fellators is the one delaying the best parts of the' [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 11:00am EST
  

• Thanksgiving Rescue Script

  From Digby, Turkey Day Talking Points for liberals breaking bread with wingnut freakazoid relatives:
  
  Campaign For America's Future does yeoman's work on many important issues, most recently their campaign to bring back America's manufacturing base. They are committed progressives who put their time and effort into making [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 7:17am EST
  

• How to Save the Economy and Wrap Up 2010 Elections, in One Easy Step

  As Digby has repeatedly shown, people blame Obama for the financial crisis, even though he didn't cause it or approve the initial Wall Street bailout. This is accurate and fair for two overwhelming reasons: Tim Geithner and Larry Summers.
  
  Hiring those two Wall Street shills to oversee the' [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 9:00pm EST
  

• "Torture for Tantrums"

  Juvenile program officials can lose millions in federal funding by failing to use carefully-taught passive restraints on children. But cops can tase them with impunity.
  
  The 10-year-old girl throwing a temper tantrum her mother was too lazy to deal with didn't actually die from the tasering, but that's [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 7:00pm EST
  

• Showing the Jihadis What We're Made Of

  Glenn Greenwald finds definitive proof for the torturing-people-hurts-our-cause argument he's been making for five years now.
  
  The British journalist Johann Hari has written an absolutely vital article for The Independent, examining a growing movement of former hardened Islamic militants who are now devoted to teaching a [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 4:29pm EST
  

• Just Bury the Fucking Lines Already

  Three times in six years, not-that-unusual storms shut the entire state down.
  
  Not for hours, not for days, but for weeks.
  
  Hundreds of thousands of people - a fifth of the entire state - without heat, without electricity, without even water in the depths of winter. Trapped in [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 6:00am EST
  

• Repugs Block Dem Effort to Freeze Credit Card Interest Rates

  Just when you think repugs can't possibly find another way to fuck over working Americans, or get any more shamelessly blatant about it, they do.
  
  Digby gets to the heart of it:
  
  If Democrats can't make something out of this they deserve to lose their [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 9:00pm EST
  

• Cat is Out of the Bag: ACORN is SMERSH

  We have to admit it now, my dusky, urban comrades in evil. 52 percent of republicans have figured out that ACORN stole the election for Obama last year.
  
  Yes, 9,500,000 votes for McCain/Palin were ripped from the trusting hands of loyal Americans and given to a muslin socialist [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 7:00pm EST
  

• Worse Than We Hoped; Better Than We Expected

  The public option survived - that's good. But so did opt-out - that's bad. The bill saves so much money it shuts down the fiscal opposition - that's good. But to get there it had to postpone implementation to 2014 - that's bad. It raises taxes on the rich - [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 5:28pm EST
  

• Study: Kentucky's Poor Pay Highest Taxes

  Print out this story, stick it in your wallet, and the next time some tax-break-sucking, McMansion-dwelling, SUV-driving repug starts whining about entitlements, pull it out and whip her to death with it.
  
  Linda Blackford at the Herald:
  
  Low and middle-income Kentuckians pay a larger share of their [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 6:01am EST
  

• We Knew Henry Clay: Henry Clay Was a Senator of Ours, and You, Mitch McConnell, Are No Henry Clay

  Via Jake, a long-lost painting of the great U.S. Senator and Speaker of the House from Kentucky Henry Clay has been restored and hung in a place of honor in the U.S. Capitol.
  
  Unfortunately, the usually impeccable Smithsonian Magazine falls victim to Villager cowardice and allows Mitch [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 6:09am EST