The Obama Budget | A Progressive's Dream?

Clinton era tax rates on the wealthiest Americans. Health insurance for all(coming?). And there's even some rumours of sanity coming into the "war on drugs(users).
When(and if) I get another job I could appreciate this so much more, and savor the journey of this country to a more fair and benelevent society from the Bush "Ebeneezer Scrooge" years. Here's President Obama:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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President Obama | The Speech To Congress

I thought it was a good speech. Here's a bit of the health care section.



"I've come here tonight not only to address the distinguished men and women in this great chamber, but to speak frankly and directly to the men and women who sent us here."

Also: Rep. Hilda Solis finally confirmed as labor secretary.

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More On Being Laid Off - 5 Steps

More on unemployment news. Parade Magazine(I know, I know) had a pretty good article in the Sunday addition on what to do if you lose your job.

5 Steps To Take If You Lose Your Job

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Mitch McConnell | Olbermann's Worst Person In The World

Wow, that previous post is way heavy on the self therapy but I'll let it stand.
Our very own Mitch "bagman" McConnell made Olbermann's number one WPitW last night for claiming that increasing taxes on people making more than a quarter million a year means increasing taxes on small businesses.


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More About Joining The Unemployed

I haven't been posting to the Blog the way I thought I might since finding out that I'd joined the legions of the nation's unemployed. So much more on my mind, fear for the future can have a crystalizing affect on priorities.
Unless I fall to caveman-like depths of no internet I'll not stop Blogging. The last few days have been hectic, frightening and strange mix. I'll find myself at times in a nearly zen state staring off into space in a varying combination of depression, disbelief and visions of what the future may hold for myself and my whole family.
I worked for this company for nearly 23 years. That's a LONG time for an employee "cushion" to build. Yes, I saw it coming but the reality still seems to have hit me like a ton of bricks. Just like it has thousands before me. The last time I actually "typed" up a resume was on an actual typewriter. That's a LONG time ago and a helluva cushion.
There's bright sides to this(maybe), in some ways. I may find a job closer to home, and not 30 miles round trip away. I may find a job that is interesting, fulfilling and challenging to me personally.
The ONLY enjoyment I had out of my old job in the last years was the coffee, Internet and email. I felt(and was) completely wasted doing what I was doing. I knew it and it made me feel bad every day.
One of the good things, if you want to call it that was, when watching the end results of Bushonomics on my tv news, I could at least think, "well my job may bore me to tears, but at least it pays decent(not good) and I have, barely decent(just barely) health insurance through it". Now is that reason enough to slog through the tedium of dozing off in front of my work computer each day? Well, yes it was, but I don't have that choice anymore.
A new future has been forced on me. It's frightening and terrifying in ways but I may come out of it happier. I can only hope.
Some late evening thoughts aboard the unemployed train.
Note: I've also found that sleep is not very good on that train. Henry David Thoreau said "most men lead lives of quiet desperation". If he were alive today, at my age with no job. He might change the "desperation" to horror.
P.S. I'm not sure what Edward Hopper's painting "Nighthawks" has to do with this but I like it. It has a similar feeling of late night alienation, foreboding and strangeness that I'm feeling at the moment.
Obama send me some stimulus, Now!

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Alan Keyes | How Do You Say Crazy?

I saw this clip on Olbermann last night. Alan Keyes is getting crazier and crazier. Can someone do an intervention for this guy? Although, after watching this clip I think it's way to late.



You know it could be the new definition of crazy, as in: "You know that guy is as crazy as Alan Keyes!" Answer: "No way man! Nobody's THAT crazy!"

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I've Joined The Ranks Of The Unemployed

"It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job, it's a depression when you lose yours."

Add another name to the ranks of the Bush economic legacy. I received my unemployment notice this morning....














Photo: here

Still a bit stunned but other that that okay. I worked for this company for, well let's see, TWENTY TWO years this past November. A loooong time. I've went through a LOT of phases, history and memories during that time.
I'm not sure what to say right now but I am sure this won't be my final post on the subject and on my sudden search for employment. Anyone out there, especially in the Central Ky. area needing a right-hand man or trusted aide, I'm your man. Where does someone my age find a job in this economy that pays what I made at this one. It would probably take two of the jobs in a dubya economy.
I don't think it would do me a lot of good or I'd put up a Paypal link and cravenly solicite funding. I don't think my readership is anywhere near large enough and even loyal enough for that. I actually may go to some "adsense" ads, and I hope people are understanding if I do. I used to find that a bit demeaning, but then I used to have a steady job and regular income.
Hopefully this will be short lived and something decent will come out of this. I tend to be an optimist, can you tell?
I just wanted to make note of my joining the Bush economic destruction. Probably more on it later.

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Kepler | The Search For Earth Like Planets

Kepler Mission to Hunt for Earth-like Planets

Are there other worlds like ours? Are we alone?















The mission will spend three and a half years surveying more than 100,000 sun-like stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region of our Milky Way galaxy. It is expected to find hundreds of planets the size of Earth and larger orbiting at various distances from their stars. If Earth-size planets are common in the habitable zone (where conditions favor liquid water), Kepler could find dozens of worlds like ours. On the other hand, if those planets are rare, Kepler might find none.

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Wednesday Video Pick | Darker My Love

The band is Darker My Love, the song is "Two Ways Out":



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Ashley Judd Speaking At The I Love Mountains Rally

At the "I Love Mountains" Rally in Frankfort Kentucky yesterday.



Today's article by Tom Eblin in the Lexington Herald.

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The Future of Newspapers

A discussion on the future of newspapers with Charlie Rose, Walter Isaacson of “Time,” Robert Thomson of “Wall Street Journal” and Mort Zuckerman of “The New York Daily News”



The Big Picture.
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SNL Does Republicans On The Stimulus Bill

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Greetings From Redridge Inn | I'm Around But Life Calls

Checking up on some news quickly. Before early bedtime, it's early to work on the morrow. Other than that I'm in World of Warcraft. You may find me in Duskwood and Redridge. It's not as though I'm missed. Night Mates...

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The Stimulus | What's In It

The Stimulus Plan: A Detailed List of Spending

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Joe The Plumber Tries To Wrap His Mind Around Something

Funniest thing(so far) I've seen today.

When Joe tells me he can't wrap his mind around something, I believe him.

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Wingnuts And Delicious Madness

You'll LOVE this.
The exquisite madness of wingnuts:

From Sadly, No!

Oh, sweet baby Jesus, they’re at it again over at the hilariously mis-monikered American Thinker blog. Joyce Capron, who claims to be a “writer,” can’t even play a simple game of tennis without having that vile Negro in the White House assaulting her delicate sensibilities:

Today at tennis, after I made a hard point, my partner offered the Obama fist bump.

“I don’t do that,” I said, and I gave her a stern look. It’s not the first time I’ve run into Obamabots on the courts. … I didn’t stop and lecture the O’Bot, because Wasting Indoor Court Time is a Sin. I just high-fived her with my racquet, and went on playing.

Read; And read the comments...Just delectable

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Associated Press | File Under Sheep

Or file under: Things we knew were coming after 1/20/09.

Associated Press CEO Tom Curley says the Bush administration turned the U.S. military into a global propaganda machine while imposing tough restrictions on journalists. The news industry must immediately negotiate a new set of rules for covering war because "we are the only force out there to keep the government in check and to hold it accountable."

This from the guys who cheerleaded Bushco war crimes and failed miserably to bring other important stories to light in the last eight years:

Thanks Majikthise.
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Giordano | The Drug War Wall Begins to Fall

I hope he's right. It's about time.

The Drug War Wall Begins to Fall
From Washington, Vienna, Rio de Janeiro, Seattle and South Carolina, a Convergence into a Mighty River of Reform


"..The media, then as now, day in, day out, reinforced the false narratives of the drug war as it blamed the problems prohibition creates – crime, corruption, illness and violent chaos everywhere – on the drugs and their users. And for most of these years, you could count the number of political leaders willing to question it on one, maybe two, hands: US Rep. Barney Frank, then-mayor of Baltimore Kurt Schmoke, then-attorney general of Colombia Gustavo de Greiff… profiles in courage, all.."

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Thursday Video | "Rainy Monday"

From Shiny Toy Guns;


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Interview With Tom Geoghegan Candidate For Rahm Emanuel's House* Seat

I like Tom Geoghegan's ideas on credit card interest rates.
Listen:


The Interview Show: Tom Geoghegan from Ben Chandler on Vimeo.
*Corrected: Oops, that is Rahm Emanuel's Illinois House seat, not Senate, my bad. Thanks Osi Onyekwuluje.

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Dianne Feinstein Trying to Get Internet Censorship Into Stimulus Bill

Sounds perfect:
"As baseball season is getting close, I would like to propose a trade. We give the Republicans Dianne Feinstein and a PTBNL and they give us Olympia Snowe. This is a solid trade for us."
-John Cole

Hat tip C&L.

Savetheinternet.com

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Tuesday's VIdeo For A Rainy Night | Brook Benton

It's a rainy night here to....
Brook Benton's "Rainy Night in Georgia"


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Astronomy Pic of the Day | Belt of Orion

Pic here.

Alnitak,Alnilam,Mintaka,Orion Belt,Teardrop nebula

Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka, are the bright bluish stars from east to west (left to right) along the diagonal in this gorgeous cosmic vista. Otherwise known as the Belt of Orion, these three blue supergiant stars are hotter and much more massive than the Sun. They lie about 1,500 light-years away...
-APotD

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Michael Phelps Vs. The Evil Weed

Dang it Michael you can't be young and human! Otherwise people would think the war on drugs isn't actually working.




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President Obama On The Stimulus Bill

President Obama addresses the nation and makes an appeal for the passage of an economic stimulus bill.



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Krugman on Morning Joe

Paul Krugman explains stimulus and economics to Joe Scarborough:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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The Onion | Sony Releases New SPSTDFW

From The Onion:
Probably NSFW. Sony releases new stupid piece of shit that doesn't f*cking work:


Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work

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The Massive $550 Billion Electronic Run On US Banks

Things Matt Lauer hasn't told me:


Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, the Capital Markets Subcommittee Chair Tells C-Span how the world economy nearly collapsed in a matter of hours.

"The Treasury opened its window to help. They pumped a hundred and five billion dollars into the system and quickly realized that they could not stem the tide. We were having an electronic run on the banks. They decided to close the operation, close down the money accounts, and announce a guarantee of $250,000 per account so there wouldn't be further panic and there. And that's what actually happened. If they had not done that their estimation was that by two o'clock that afternoon, five-and-a-half trillion dollars would have been drawn out of the money market system of the United States, would have collapsed the entire economy of the United States, and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed."

"It would have been the end of our political system and our economic systems as we know it."

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Caught on Tape | World's Dumbest Politicians

Dang these newfangled recording devices! They're ruining it for Republican talking points.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - Economic Recovery Plan

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Funny Political News
Joke of the Day

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New RNC Chairman Steele Under Investigation

This is terrible news:
"Michael S. Steele, the newly elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, arranged for his 2006 Senate campaign to pay a defunct company run by his sister for services that were never performed.."



"..In one of his allegations, Fabian points to a February 2007 payment by Steele's Senate campaign of more than $37,000 to Brown Sugar Unlimited, the company run by Steele's sister, Monica Turner. Campaign finance records list the expense as having been for "catering/web services." Turner filed papers to dissolve the company 11 months before the payment was received.."

Isn't it? Well, maybe not.

HAHA!

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President Obama | The Stimulus

Most of this sounds good and I hope it works. I'm just afraid some economists(Krugman, etc) are right though and that it may not be enough.


Americablog

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Our Neanderthol "News", Michael Phelps and Media Whores

Heard that the corporate "Infotainment" Today Show's having both Michael Phelps on, and the crazy bitch that had eight kids(to go with six others).
Let me see now, this is easy, they're going to handle her with kid gloves, asking her, in that classic emotive, plaintive, stroking "reporter" voice how she's holding up, about the kids, stroking her and make her into a heroine.
Michael Phelps, he of the evil killer weed. Him they'll treat like a child molester, or like he'd been seen exposing himself.
He'll be forced to apologize and grovel(Yep), because... well, because that's what Matt(Lauer's) corporate bosses want, it's what the DEA wants, and what big pharma wants.
Did I watch? Hell no! That stuff is for people who vote Republican.

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Sen. Jack Reed Fights Republican Talking Points on Stimulus Bill

Sen. Jack Reed on the Morning Joe show tries to balance out the corporate media/ Republican talking points regarding the stimulus bill with some facts and does a pretty good job:


Thanks FDL.

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Thursday Video | "Ball and Chain" Social Distortion

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Green Comet Approaches Earth

Comet Lulin, named after the observatory in Taiwan where the discovery-photo was taken, is now approaching Earth. "It is a green beauty that could become visible to the naked eye any day now".



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Ashley Judd's Plea For Alaskan Wolves

Here's that video of Kentucky native Ashley Judd asking for people to stop the Sarah "Blood" Palin's aerial slaughter of Alaskan wolves.


It has poor widdle Sarah, and from what I saw this morning, her supporters at NBC "News" up in arms:

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Michael Phelps Another "War on Drugs" Casualty

Even conservative columnist Kathleen Parker sees the insanity of our government's war on marijuana(users):

Phelps Takes a Hit

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Sen. Jim Bunning | Dumber Than A Box of Rocks?

Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning, as crooked as he is dumb?:
Guess who's been harping on Tom Daschle and other Obama appointees for not paying their taxes? Sen. Jim Bunning, the baseball hall of famer who set up a tax-exempt charity through which he funnels his autograph income. Bunning's foundation has paid $180,000 to Bunning, on which he's had to pay no taxes and which is $43,000 more than it's given to charity. What's that about people who live in glass houses?
Burgoo

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McClatchy News | Things You Already Know

Things that make me say "Who Gives A F*ck"!

"Entertainment Tonight" wants to know..Oh no...wait, McClatchy "News" wants to know:

What's Sarah Palin have to say about the stimulus package?

Surprise(NOT)! She's agin it, by golly gee whillikers! When she's not strafing wildlife from low flying planes that is.

Like I said..Who gives a F*CK! This braying woman is a media zombie, they will not. Let. Her. GO AWAY!
Along with that Blagovitch guy she's a media darling.

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Note To Prez. Obama | Republicans Don't Do "Bipartisan"

What Digby says:

"I think the administration thought they could be mediators between the two parties rather than leaders of the Democratic party."

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RIP | Holly, Valens and Big Bopper

Today's the anniversary of the plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper. Their small plane crashed into a frozen cornfield near Clear Lake Iowa fifty years ago today.
Oh Boy:


Also there were four people on that plane, pilot Roger Peterson memorial:
"There were four men killed, not one, two or three," said Jerry Dwyer, who owned the plane that was destroyed in the crash. "He was one fine young man."

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Petraeus Our Hero?

He who's name shall not be impuned, just ask Moveon.org, or any Republican or Democratic war lover infront of a camera.



















What the Heretic and Ike said.

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The Winter Continues | This Modern World

Snowing hard here(again) this morning! Most of the past week's had finally melted off. I may have to leave work by noon.
Why must this winter continue(shakes fist at sky), to be, ah..winter...
From my office door:


Meanwhile here's Tom Tomorrow with the continuing problems of those rascally Republicans:


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Monday Video | Vienna Teng "City Hall"

Vienna Teng at The Living Room in New York.


Crank it up....

Thanks Atrios.

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Winning Hearts and Minds | Afghanistan

Trying to kill flies with sledgehammers.












Photo-Associated Press, Jason Straziuso

"..Afghan officials say an overnight raid Jan. 7 in the village of Masmoot in Laghman killed 19 civilians. A raid in Kapisa on Jan. 19 killed 15 people, mostly civilians. And a second Laghman raid Jan. 23, in Guloch village, killed 16, they say.."

Firedoglake

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President Obama | Same Failed "War on Drugs" Policy?

"I inhaled frequently; that was the point"
-Barack Obama


Marijuana Reform Is Part of the Progressive Agenda, So Why Are Obama's Drug Cops Already Making Pot Raids?

"..A majority of the American public is ready and willing to engage in a serious and objective political debate regarding the merits of legalizing the use of cannabis by adults, even if their elected officials are not. One only has to log on to the thousands of public comments, both for and against, marijuana legalization on the message board of Change.gov and Change.org to see that Americans are pining for, if nothing else, an honest review of our nation's so-called war on drugs.."

AlterNet

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Tom Daschle And Wife | Feeding at the Beltway Trough

My opinion of Tom Daschle continues to erode.

From Glenn Greenwald:
The Daschles: feeding at the Beltway trough

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Thawing Out | The Big 2009 Freeze

It's been horrific weatherwise here for almost a week. About an inch of freezing rain coating EVERYTHING outside. And then about 3-4 inches of wet snow on top of that. Here at the Dean house we been extremely lucky. I thought at any time we'de lose power, cable and everything. Thousands of people still without power all over.
Here's a few pics of the deep freeze.

I'll call this one "evening sun, Ice storm"

Frozen circle, Nicholasville, near home


My office, Thursday morning


Out our back patio door Wednesday

We're having a thaw today. It's supposed to get about 50deg. The middle of the week they're saying we're going back down to the mid teens and below for lows.

Numa, Numa, What the Hell

Catchy, and you can dance to it. From those "Numa Numa" guys. Almost 25-1/2 million viewers. Wow...



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