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    Mid-Week Open Thread: State of the Union Thoughts?

    I’m going to have to split it up, but I’m nearing completion of what appears to be a 2500 word essay on what I thought about President Obama’s State of the Union address… I may just dump the whole thing on you poor souls, then go back and break it up into posts about the major points made. But while you all assuredly can’t wait for that (not), lets hear what you thought about the State of the Union, and anything else going on this week that you feel like talking about. Take it away…

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    Unfulfilled Promises from Obama’s Past State of the Union Speeches

    by Cora Currier - ProPublica President Barack Obama’s previous State of the Union speeches have pushed passage of such hallmark initiatives as the stimulus bill, health-care reform, the drawdown of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays. But some big ideas from previous SOTU addresses have been abandoned. The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler has done a line-by-line analysis of some of the specific promises made in the 2010 and 2011 addresses, and how they’ve held up. Here we track the evolution of a few of Obama’s promises in the SOTU addresses — and why he’s struggled to keep them. Energy and Infrastructure Obama’s speeches have pushed more »

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    Stream of Thought in Response to the President’s State of the Union

    8:13 p.m. CT: The American military is better than the American government. I don’t think you’ll find much disagreement there. 8:14: Education, manufacturing, jobs, technology, investment. Evoking the Greatest Generation. Oh, if only. 8:17: Good delivery tonight. Strong overtone of “there’s nothing wrong with America that can’t be solved by what’s right with America.” 8:21: At least he gets that manufacturing is the most important sector. A bit disconcerting that he measures success by three auto companies. 8:24: Lulz at Boehner’s grudging applause during attacks on outsourcing. Smile, bud. (Although hasn’t Obama been pushing this stuff for four years?) 8:28: Inspections of unfair trade practices and high-tech worker training in conjunction with community colleges. Hell more »

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    Bravo to Senator Grassley for Going After Doctors Getting Rich From Overprescribing Medication to Medicare

    by Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber – ProPublica An influential U.S. senator is grilling officials in nearly three-dozen states, demanding to know how they are cracking down on physicians who prescribe massive amounts of potentially dangerous prescription drugs. Iowa Republican Charles Grassley sent letters to 34 states Monday asking what steps they had taken to investigate doctors whose prescribing of antipsychotics, anti-anxiety drugs and painkillers to Medicaid patients far exceeds that of their peers. The request is a follow-up to a 2010 letter Grassley sent all states that requested statistics on top prescribers of these drugs. “These types of drugs have addictive properties, and the potential for fraud and abuse by prescribers and patients is more »

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    Ron Paul Making His Mark in The GOP Primary Race with Candor and Passionate Following

    In last nights GOP debate, Ron Paul appeared like the lonely messenger standing to the left of Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum.  His message was not to the left, however. Mitt and Newt occupied most of the oxygen while Rick Santorum flailed about trying mightily to distinguish himself from the Mitt and Newt show.  It is anyone’s guess which candidate was the most effective debater last night, but following the debate Ron Paul was clearly the winner in the eyes of his backers. Paul’s message is simple and easy to remember.  Reduce the size of government, keep the government out of our personal affairs, and end our involvements overseas.  Not surprisingly this plays more »

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open-aaron-pruzaniec-wikimedia

Mid-Week Open Thread: State of the Union Thoughts?

I’m going to have to split it up, but I’m nearing completion of what appears to be a 2500 word essay on what I thought about President Obama’s State of the Union address… I may just dump the whole thing on you poor souls, then go back and break it up into posts about the major points made. But while you all assuredly can’t wait for that (not), lets hear what you thought about the State of the Union, and anything else going on this week that you feel like talking about. Take it away…

obama-elizabeth-cromwell-wikimedia

Unfulfilled Promises from Obama’s Past State of the Union Speeches

by Cora Currier - ProPublica President Barack Obama’s previous State of the Union speeches have pushed passage of such hallmark initiatives as the stimulus bill, health-care reform, the drawdown of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays. But some big ideas from previous SOTU addresses have been abandoned. The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler has done a line-by-line analysis of some of the specific promises made in the 2010 and 2011 addresses, and how they’ve held up. Here we track the evolution of a few of Obama’s promises in the SOTU addresses — and why he’s struggled to keep them. Energy and Infrastructure Obama’s speeches have pushed more »

obama-winning-marc-nozell-wikimedia

Stream of Thought in Response to the President’s State of the Union

8:13 p.m. CT: The American military is better than the American government. I don’t think you’ll find much disagreement there. 8:14: Education, manufacturing, jobs, technology, investment. Evoking the Greatest Generation. Oh, if only. 8:17: Good delivery tonight. Strong overtone of “there’s nothing wrong with America that can’t be solved by what’s right with America.” 8:21: At least he gets that manufacturing is the most important sector. A bit disconcerting that he measures success by three auto companies. 8:24: Lulz at Boehner’s grudging applause during attacks on outsourcing. Smile, bud. (Although hasn’t Obama been pushing this stuff for four years?) 8:28: Inspections of unfair trade practices and high-tech worker training in conjunction with community colleges. Hell more »

pills-tom-varco-wikimedia

Bravo to Senator Grassley for Going After Doctors Getting Rich From Overprescribing Medication to Medicare

by Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber – ProPublica An influential U.S. senator is grilling officials in nearly three-dozen states, demanding to know how they are cracking down on physicians who prescribe massive amounts of potentially dangerous prescription drugs. Iowa Republican Charles Grassley sent letters to 34 states Monday asking what steps they had taken to investigate doctors whose prescribing of antipsychotics, anti-anxiety drugs and painkillers to Medicaid patients far exceeds that of their peers. The request is a follow-up to a 2010 letter Grassley sent all states that requested statistics on top prescribers of these drugs. “These types of drugs have addictive properties, and the potential for fraud and abuse by prescribers and patients is more »

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Ron Paul Making His Mark in The GOP Primary Race with Candor and Passionate Following

In last nights GOP debate, Ron Paul appeared like the lonely messenger standing to the left of Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum.  His message was not to the left, however. Mitt and Newt occupied most of the oxygen while Rick Santorum flailed about trying mightily to distinguish himself from the Mitt and Newt show.  It is anyone’s guess which candidate was the most effective debater last night, but following the debate Ron Paul was clearly the winner in the eyes of his backers. Paul’s message is simple and easy to remember.  Reduce the size of government, keep the government out of our personal affairs, and end our involvements overseas.  Not surprisingly this plays more »

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Charting and Blazing a Pathway to Building a Centrist Third Party Opposition to the Two Major Parties

Though the Republican primaries and the presidential race now dominate the news, the disgust over governmental dysfunction and disdain for the two current parties remains. Polls have shown approval of the Republicans and Democrats at their lowest levels ever, along with ratings for Congress in the single digits. There is also a lack of enthusiasm for the presidential candidates of both parties. Americans may be ready for another political option – a centrist third party. In fact, a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that two thirds of respondents would consider voting for a third party candidate with whom they agreed on most issues. And about half said they thought there was a need for more »

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Obama Has Shown He’s Just as Corrupt as Any Other Politician and Undeserving of the Presidency

It didn’t do a very good job of promoting itself, but there used to be a site out there called Centrist Movement, that essentially was an automatic aggregator of centrist and moderate (ish) blog content. The guy behind that, Stephen Erickson, started a political organization called Americans United to Rebuild Democracy, which focuses on pushing “Congressional Term Limits, Clean Elections, and an End to Gerrymandering”. I’d recommend checking them out, and while they don’t put out too much blog content, what they do put out is pretty good stuff. One from earlier this month, that I saved a link to and forgot to post a few weeks back, talks about “the Good, the Bad and more »

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Moderate Republican Senator from Illinois Mark Kirk Had a Stroke and is in Recovery From Surgery

Horrible news from the Chicago Tribune, about one of the few moderate Republicans left in Washington: U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk underwent surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital to relieve pressure on his brain after suffering a stroke, and doctors say they are hopeful about his recovery. “On Saturday, Senator Kirk checked himself into Lake Forest Hospital, where doctors discovered a carotid artery dissection in the right side of his neck,” his office said in a statement. “He was transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where further tests revealed that he had suffered an ischemic stroke,” it said. “Early this morning, the senator underwent surgery to relieve swelling around his brain stemming from the stroke. The more »

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What Bare Minimum Qualities Should We Look for in a Presidential Candidate?

Did you know that the word “presidentiality” isn’t actually considered a word in any reputable dictionaries? Fools. But at least now I can get credit for it. Anyway, watching this year’s candidates for the 2012 Republican nomination, I’m finding that a fair number of people are taken with former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) because he “looks” and “sounds” presidential. Well, duh. But what does it take to be presidential? I’ll give you my list, but spoiler alert: Romney exhibits few to none of these qualities. Know about stuff. And it has to be the right stuff. You want a president who is uniquely qualified to meet national challenges of the time; in this year’s case, more »

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Any Organization or Corporation is Only as Good as the Board Running It

There is a saying that love makes the world go round.  While there may be truth in that, it is actually money that drives things.  Organizations recognize that and try to use the “accelerator and brake” method to keep their respective bus on the road while they load it up with lots of money.  Sometimes their efforts don’t succeed. Organizations try to hire and retain the best people.  They establish levels of authority so that each persons knows what they can do on their own and what matters must have the approval of higher levels.  At the top of each organization is a board of directors whose job is provide overall governance.  Their consent is more »

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Research Shows Facebook Not as Much of an Echo Chamber as People Think

Some people fear that social media creates an echo chamber in which we only hear opinions from like-minded friends which confirm our own. Eytan Bakshy, a researcher at Facebook, conducted a fine, huge experiment. Facebook normally shows you links that your friends have posted. Using a modest sample of 253 million users, Bakshy suppressed some of that sharing, to create an experimental and a control group. He wanted to see how much people shared links, whether they shared links that were kept from them but that they found some other way, and whether they shared more from their strong-tie or weak-tie friends. If Facebook were an echo chamber, we would mostly be sharing links from more »

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Swing Voters Don’t Fit into Cookie Cutter Pictures They’re Lumped into and Aren’t Just Moderates

Conventional wisdom tells us that should President Obama be defeated in 2012, it will happen via a candidacy that appeals to the middle 20%. The part that’s left over after the Right and Left grasp their own voters, their expected and reliable 40% apiece. It’s the swing vote segment that Obama enjoyed in 2008. Should it shift, so will victory. So what is this swing segment feeling four years on? More importantly, how will they – and will they – vote in 2012? We never know until they actually do. Notoriously late deciders, some are still weighing their choice with a friend, family member, Rosary or pint before the visit to the voting booth, seeking more »

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Super PACs and Discord in the GOP Big Tent Define the Early 2012 Cycle

When the history of the 2012 Presidential Election is written, two potential themes are already presenting themselves for inclusion. One is the impact of Super-PAC advertisements on voters. The second is how damaging the revelations of the discord within the Republican Party were to voters in the general election. While that history is now being developed, there is a new development in the discordant themes. The new development is the challenge by Republicans Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry of the business record of Mitt Romney.  The pair says

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Newt Gingrich The Political Salesman Telling People What They Want to Hear to Win

The message most salesmen learn early and practice often is to “tell them what they want to hear”.  Newt Gingrich proved that point yesterday in the South Carolina GOP Presidential primary.  He won convincingly over Mitt Romney. Appealing to 40% of the voters successfully, Gingrich overcame all sorts of personal baggage and negative campaign charges against him.  He seems to have done this by playing into the wheel house of disenchanted Republican voters.  He told them he would fix the Port of Charleston and begin drilling for oil off the shores of South Carolina.  All this to create jobs immediately in a State with 10% unemployment. He rebuked the media for even asking the question more »

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Gingrich Resurgence Welcome News to Liberal Pundit James Carville and Anyone Not a Republican

James Carville is an unabashed partisan who seldom offers much in the way of insight. But his new column laughing at the GOP’s primary race is pretty effing funny: Memo to Republican Establishment: I would send this memo to each of you individually, but I’m not sure exactly who you are. I’ve been told that you exist and…I am assuming you are out there and I assume there are more than three of you…you’ve got a first-class disaster on your hands…. I know you boys thought this thing would work out… Not going too good, is it fellows?… …At any rate, let’s talk a minute about Mitt. He was your guy — he was methodical, more »

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Rick Santorum’s Retroactive Caucus Win in Iowa Means… a Whole Lotta Nothin’

Jealous of the obligatory attention placed on South Carolina, Iowa has stampeded the headlines once again by naming the homophobiest of the Republicans the actual winner of the Iowa Caucus. The Washington Post is reporting that Ragin’ Rick Santorum evidently won by 34 votes. So what does this mean for the race toward Republican Presidential glory? Absolutely nothing. Although Santorum apparently won, they can’t (or won’t) bump Romney from his pedestal as the winner. All Rick gets is a mention from the Romney campaign, reiterating that they’ve acknowledged Santorum’s strong performance in the state. And by “strong” they of course mean “better than us.” It’s kind of like a basketball team who won with six guys on more »

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Your PAC, my PAC, Everyone’s Got a Super PAC

By voting for anyone other than former Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-UT), you would be voting against the candidate who is legitimately most qualified to be president. Just vote for him. But enough of that for now. Over the past couple of months, you’ve probably heard a lot about “super PACs” and what they can do for political campaigns. With the first primary drawing to a close, it’s time to ask: Are they really worth anything? They certainly are to campaigns themselves. Super PACs can raised unlimited amounts of money from individuals, corporations and labor unions. They typically use it to buy TV ad space, the most expensive item in a politician’s media toolbox, to pump up more »

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Jon Huntsman’s Campaign that Could Have Been

John Huntsman withdrew from the 2012 GOP Presidential Primary race… I was `hopeful because Huntsman presented a saner and more trustable face to the Republican Party.  The GOP loss is also a loss to the Country. To be sure there is no evidence that Abraham Lincoln is withdrawing from the race.  Jon Huntsman has had a successful career in the sense that no scandal or huge mistake can be assigned to his watch.  No one really knows how he would act if he actually were the President.  There are no easy calls in the Oval office. If Huntsman had won the nomination, he would have inherited the luke warm support of the Republican base.  Even more »

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A Republic, If WE Can Keep It – It’s Up to US to Rise up and Represent Ourselves

Guest post by Marcello Rollando – from The Reasonable Voice Believe it or not, there’s “gold in them thar hills” for those whose goal it is to keep us entertained. Otherwise, why would giant Health Insurance, Banking, Pharmaceutical, Fast Food, Cigarette Corporations and their Political PAC hacks invest millions to maintain the security of the 1% on the populace foundation pillars of “Fat, Lazy and Stupid?” With budgeted foresight, corporatism sets aside a comparatively small percentage of the haul, as ever replenishing expense money specifically earmarked to keep Americans distracted by repetitive regurgitation of pretend news supporting the projection of the sins of the 1% onto the backs of “We the 99%.” We need to more »

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What SOPA Really Stands for: Such an Outlandishly Preposterous Act

We’ve all spent a lot of time this week talking about the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate’s Protect IP Act (PIPA). Here’s another one: the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998, which does what SOPA and PIPA aim to do by punishing those who circumvent controls on copyrighted content. Perhaps proponents of SOPA (which we will refer to singularly because it’s the more recognizable of the two) think it’s not being enforced severely enough. Well, that’s not the Internet’s problem. The websites who blacked themselves out in protest of SOPA may have been the most effective in holding it off. A number of its early sponsors have backed off under pressure, more »

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Romney’s Private Equity Burden from His Time at Bain Capital is not Just About Jobs

Mitt Romney’s ascendancy in the Republican presidential sweepstakes has put his career at Bain Capital, a private equity firm, under the microscope, the result of attacks against him from other GOP candidates. Romney’s apparent strength, his business experience, has instead become a possible liability. It would appear to be counter-intuitive to have Republicans assailing private equity firms, a part of the free-market system. But in the heat of political battle, adversaries strike at the perceived weak spots of a front runner, particularly when the polls are unkind to those in the back of the pack. Newt Gingrich’s broadsides may partially be payback for the hatchet job Romney’s Super PAC has done on Gingrich. Given the electorate’s more »

Crony Capitalism Chronicles, Chapter 2: A Tiny Subtle Corrosive Example – Media as Government Mouthpiece

Call this one a petty rant if you want to . . . so I’m watching the news and there’s a report that the state lottery is increasing the cost of a lottery ticket (Powerball I think) from $1 to $2. With a straight face, the anchor reports that this is happening in order to: • increase your chances of winning • increase the size of jackpots God forbid that the media would do any critical thinking on silly government spin. That might involve using (shudder) math and even (triple dog shudder) rudimentary probability. It might involve irritating someone in government that the channel “has a good working relationship with.” Where’s the crony capitalism in more »

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