Part of the money you've given to support OpenLeft will be used to hire on a new technical consultant who will be working for all of us to make the site better.
We have a list of things we think will help improve the site in terms of design and tech, but since you're our readers and you paid for it, we want to ask you what you like, don't like, and want to see fixed, in terms of technical work.
Spacing? Ways to improve Quick Hits? Formatting in different browsers? Anything you've got, leave it in the comments.
Part of the money you've given to support OpenLeft will be used to hire on a new technical consultant who will be working for all of us to make the site better.
We have a list of things we think will help improve the site in terms of design and tech, but since you're our readers and you paid for it, we want to ask you what you like, don't like, and want to see fixed, in terms of technical work.
Spacing? Ways to improve Quick Hits? Formatting in different browsers? Anything you've got, leave it in the comments.
Part of the money you've given to support OpenLeft will be used to hire on a new technical consultant who will be working for all of us to make the site better.
We have a list of things we think will help improve the site in terms of design and tech, but since you're our readers and you paid for it, we want to ask you what you like, don't like, and want to see fixed, in terms of technical work.
Spacing? Ways to improve Quick Hits? Formatting in different browsers? Anything you've got, leave it in the comments.
If you've left a suggestion last night, no need to repeat it, just a new thread
Part of the money you've given to support OpenLeft will be used to hire on a new technical consultant who will be working for all of us to make the site better.
We have a list of things we think will help improve the site in terms of design and tech, but since you're our readers and you paid for it, we want to ask you what you like, don't like, and want to see fixed, in terms of technical work.
Spacing? Ways to improve Quick Hits? Formatting in different browsers? Anything you've got, leave it in the comments.
I have some good news to announce. As Chris wrote, the money we raised from our recent fundraiser goes towards maintaining our website, internet tools, and technical support. Part of the money you've given to support OpenLeft will be used to hire on a new technical consultant who will be working for all of us to make the site better.
We have a list of things we think will help improve the site in terms of design and tech, but since you're our readers and you paid for it, we want to ask you what you like, don't like, and want to see fixed, in terms of technical work.
Spacing? Ways to improve Quick Hits? Formatting in different browsers? Anything you've got, leave it in the comments.
California Democratic Lt. Governor John Garamendi has been declared the winner in the CA-10 special election. Garamendi will be more progressive than Tauscher, who was the chair of the New Dems when she was in Congress.
So that's two nice upgrades in the House (from McHugh to Owens, and from Tauscher to Garamendi).
Democrats now have 258 seats in the House, up from 257. Whenever a party gains seats in congress, the voters simply are not rebuking that party. With the teabagger vanquished and an upgrade from Tauscher, that is a pretty solid night in the House.
Both Owens and Garamendi will be sworn in before the weekend vote in the House on health care reform. The Committee on Rules in the House posted the bill tonight, which paves the way for a vote in as little as 72 hours. No word yet on amendments, but more on that tomorrow.
Corzine is a real loss, given how few progressives are also Governors. However, with the economy in its current state, it is a difficult time to be an incumbent party.
Maine, as Adam describes below, is looking bleak. Enough to make your blood boil. The only bright side I can offer is that, once again, we are getting closer to winning these elections. Also, once again, we probably won them among voters under the age of 65.
If Democrats--whether Progressive, New Dem or Blue Dog--are going to succeed in 2010, then the objective economic conditions people face in their daily lives have to improve. It is only through a positive turnaround in the daily lives of average Americans that Democrats will continue to gain seats next year.
I'm up in my hometown of Tonawanda (in the Buffalo NY suburbs) for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This year it'll be 5770. What it usually means in my family is a gigantic dinner (I'm usually in charge of potato pancakes and, new this year, butternut squash/pear soup), shopping at the farmers' market for ingredients, and lots of sweet things for dinner and dessert. Jews traditionally eat apples with honey, and honey cake, and other sweet things in order to have a sweet new year.
While at the farmer's market, I've started noticing how vastly different prices were at farmers' markets around the country (see below).
Those would have been $2.50, $3 and $3 in DC. I'm not sure if it's the travel difference (most of the farmers' at our market up here come from Niagara County, about a 30-40 minute drive, while many in DC come from West Virginia and Pennsylvania), or perhaps farmers thinking people in DC who go to the market all have higher incomes. For me, it's become rather like a thing I feel I should do every once in awhile- like giving blood or adding more money at kiva.org- in order to support the farmers directly. For some produce, it's more expensive than Safeway and occasionally Whole Foods. Does anyone else see this at your market- vastly different prices than in certain other places?
This year, it's a three-fer to be home, as it's my sister's birthday, and my niece (her daughter) is turning 2. I got her a "Stop cutting down MY trees!" shirt and another t-shirt from weaddup.com, a website with some pretty cool shirts promoting eco-consciousness and giving some of their profits towards that cause. They had a cool booth at Netroots Nation and I couldn't resist. But of course, you have to wear the birthday shirt when you've got it.
We'll be live-blogging the speech starting at 8 PM EST. Feel free to use this thread to make predictions, commentary, and estimating the likelihood the Republicans will have an army of grandmas spinning the press afterwards. Virginia Foxx, it's your time to shine.
Pre-speech update: Via Quick Hits, Mark Matson points to a list of folks who will be featured in Michelle Obama's box. It's an interesting list- one small business owner who can't afford to provide insurance, several people struggling to pay tens of thousands of dollars in bills, several that hit on the insurance companies paying so little in coverage or increased premiums 500% or have a lifetime cap. At the end of nearly every story there is a "under health insurance reform, there will be no recissions" or something similar. Nothing specifically on the public option, although a lot on how insurance will be more affordable in the exchange.
Pre-speech update 2: Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) will be delivering the response. Excerpts: a lot of the usual "we agree reform is needed", how much Dems will cut Medicare, increase the size of gov't, etc. The DNC's pre-buttal on him is here.
Pre-speech update 3: Random thought on Michelle's box- every single person in that box looks completely healthy and dressed in their Sunday best. Perhaps a better idea to have better visuals of those who are sick and struggling?
Pre-speech update 4: I have a weird feeling the Republicans will stand up en masse and wave their birth certificates at Obama.
Speech update: President Obama starts by discussing the economic recovery. "I will not let up until those who seek jobs can find them"- nice line, but probably smacked around by the Republicans the next several years.
Speech update 2: "There are now more than thirty million American citizens who cannot get coverage."- how does this reconcile to the 46 million number we usually hear?
Speech update 3: "On the right, there are those who argue that we should end the employer-based system and leave individuals to buy health insurance on their own." This is not the best attack on conservatives' plan.
Speech update 4: "First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have." Why does this promise leave out people with individual coverage?
Speech update 5: He starts laying out "what this will do for you", which I think is the real key. There's been too much "don't worry, that's not in my bill!" lately. Points.
Speech update 6: "This exchange will take effect in four years, which will give us time to do it right. In the meantime, for those Americans who can't get insurance today because they have pre-existing medical conditions, we will immediately offer low-cost coverage that will protect you against financial ruin if you become seriously ill." Who is the we here?
Speech update 7: "And unless everybody does their part, many of the insurance reforms we seek - especially requiring insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions - just can't be achieved." I understand the economic rationale, but it seems weird to make that promise earlier in the speech and then tell people they have to buy insurance first.
Speech upate 8: Shocking! He uses the word "lie" to refer to death panels. Not often heard.
Speech update 9: CNN reports it was Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) who shouted "liar" at Obama when he said the reform would not cover illegal immigrants. Woah.
Speech update 10: Pretty good language re motives of insurance companies. Reminds me of Anthony Weiner's diatribe.
Speech update 11: Re public option, a lot of hey, don't worry, it won't affect you, and CBO says only 5% of people will sign up. No reason to be scared of it. Good analogy re public vs. private universities that peacefully coexist.
Speech update 12: "To my progressive friends, I would remind you that for decades, the driving idea behind reform has been to end insurance company abuses and make coverage affordable for those without it. The public option is only a means to that end - and we should remain open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal."
Speech update 13: Says he is open to exploring co-ops. Awesome. Why are we still playing this game?
Speech update 14: I find it weird there's a dozen people with health care stories in Michelle's box, but he doesn't do the usual gesture and explain thing. And he only mentions two stories in the entire speech.
Speech update 15: Interesting to mention the Intermountain Healthcare in Utah and Geisinger Health System in PA. Usually it's Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic. And there's someone sitting in Michelle's box who works for a model clinic in DC.
Speech update 16: Re malpractice reform, it seems he's directing Sebelius to establish a "blue ribbon commission" sort of idea.
Speech update 17: Touting that the costs of this are less than the cost of Iraq and the cost of tax cuts for the rich strikes me as weird. It's like buying an $80,000 car and saying at least you didn't spend as much as your brother who spent $90,000. There isn't a better analogy?
Speech update 18: I've decided it's my goal to have the Administration mention the word "blog" "blogging" or "blogger" to a joint session of Congress in a positive context before the end of this term. First ever?
Speech update 19: As we near the end, what overall letter grade would you give the speech, and why?
Speech update 20: Apparently the Republicans were holding up copies of their own bills to demonstrate they have plans. Not exactly the most effective prop.
Speech update 21: Yes We Can chant FTW?
Speech update 22: And he's done. The White House just e-mailed out "The Obama Plan" on their website. What are the talking heads on teevee saying?
Some final thoughts: I would give the style an A, the substance a B+. The language re public option was fairly weak. He seems to always want to minimize it- reassuring people it's an option, no one has to take it, would not impact you if you already have insurance, and CBO says less than 5% of Americans would sign up. Perhaps it's a 42-dimensional chess game to try and draw the public's attention away from it. Perhaps it's to win over members like Snowe. Not sure. Not thrilled, though.
Needed to have more stories, esp stories on people's costs. There wasn't a single mention on people's costs going out of control. There were only 2 horror stories, despite lots of stories to train the cameras on in Michelle's box. Would have liked to have it more focused on the public in that regard.
Updates #3,4, 6 and 7 above were not strong language, in fact somewhat confusing. Language on co-ops is ridiculous- that crap needed to be shut down once and for all. Language attacking the insurance companies was good. Language re Medicare/seniors was good, as was going after critics, saying "lie", discussing how this can't wait.
- "Turning over the country to Max Baucus and Charles Grassley is undemocratic and unmanageable and it's not going to hold."
- NOAA is now measuring the highest ever ocean temperatures. (Go here for a small, handy map of global temperature anomalies in July, 2009.) This isn't just bad as a sign of climate destabilization, it means that ocean water will hold less dissolved oxygen and will therefore begin to impact regional distribution of marine life as the warmest waters come to support fewer fish and more jellyfish.
- Maybe the White House would take this great health care discussion advice if only being clear about why we need to reform the health system in this country didn't involve saying so many unpleasantly true things about insurance companies.
- The wild success of the prematurely closing cash for clunkers program was a brilliant demonstration of how it's possible to benefit the environment and the economy at the very same time.
- USGS has found mercury in every fish, in every watershed that they tested, courtesy in large part of our friendly, neighborhood coal plants. Jeremy Piven has totally sworn off the stuff after getting severe mercury poisoning from his sushi habit. I wonder when they'll start checking for plastic breakdown products in ocean fish, too, love that bisphenol A!
- Iran may be getting as many as three female cabinet ministers and may ban the stoning of adultresses. That last sentence is sort of painful, looking at it there.
- The Afghan elections seem to be proceeding both violently and fraudulently.
- A team of researchers have taken an important step in efforts to create synthetic cells.
There's a poll attached to this diary, even though I can't see it from the front page. I haven't done a poll in eons, so I don't recall if that's normal or not. But you really should join in.
And tell us what's on your mind after you've voted.
(To celebrate the one-week anniversary of a great victory. This is an open thread. - promoted by Adam Bink)
Update: There is now the list of questions and video documenting the glorious win for the OpenLeft community.
With an incredible 25-point final round (consisting of having to name the home states of celebrities and the current member of Congress representing them), Team OpenLeft is the new defending champion at Netroots Nation pub trivia!
... Although people often bemoan political apathy as if it were a grave social ill, it seems to me that this is just as it should be. Why should essentially powerless people want to engage in a humiliating farce designed to demonstrate the legitimacy of those who wield the power? In Soviet-era Russian, intelligent people did their best to ignore the Communists: paying attention to them, whether through criticism or praise, would only serve to give them comfort and encouragement, making them feel as if they mattered. ... - Dmitry Orlov
- Remember how the bailout money for financial institutions' gambling debts got to the people who needed it with a mighty quickness? The process hasn't been so speedy for troubled homeowners. And here's the punchline: the lenders complaining that they're understaffed to handle the mortgage alterations has successfully convinced Congress that the power to alter loan terms should not be handed over to bankruptcy judges. Who knew they were so opposed to outsourcing? Ba-dum-bump.
- You know, there are other countries where they just give you healthcare because you're a citizen.
It's been a wild couple of weeks--well, make that nine years, maybe. Anyway, I really haven't seen that much sign of teaching in the "teachable moment" that Obama talked about, so this weekend we're going to see if maybe Open Left can take up some of the slack.
I'll be doing a three-diary series on color blind racism, including an overview/referesher on what colorblind racism is, and how it fits into a larger threoretical framework, a look at GOP/conservative racism as it has manifested itself recently, and a look back at a discussion thread here at Open Left last weekend, to tease out the more subtle workings of racial blindspots and denial. I'm also contemplating a number of shorter, perhaps even downright snarky diaries on the subject.
On Sundary, I'm posting a dynamite diary by Robert Fuller--with some introductory commentary by me--which I think perfectly illustrates how the "rankism" frame could do a far better job of teaching us all something valuable in the "teachable moment" aftermath of the Gates arrest.
Also, I'm expecting a diary from Valatan presenting a more fleshed out explanation of the undemocratic pitfalls that lurk in a parliamentary system--a topic that flared up in comments last weekend that I thought deserved a deeper, more studied focus from all of us.
And somewhere in the mix, I'll be sharing the story I wrote for Random Lengths about the California Budget pseudo-resolution.
So that's some of what's in store this weekend. Now to what really matters.... What's on your mind at the end of this week?
"... Every time Obama tries to take on a progressive cause, there's a major political party standing in his way: the Democrats.
... We don't have a left and a right party in this country anymore, we have a center-right party and a crazy party.
... [Republicans] actually worry that Obama is a socialist. Socialist? He's not even a liberal.
... Bottom line: Democrats are the new Republicans. ..."
I don't know though, maybe we should try being nicer to them and then they'll give us what they campaigned on telling us they wanted. Perhaps we should pretend like we can't see that they just want power for its own sake. Thoughts?
I still haven't found my copy of Buckminster Fuller's Critical Path in the packing, but some helpful soul put the thing online. And while the little ditty I'm about to share with you contains a lot that I find socially problematic, this New Deal era folk tune conveys a widely appreciable sentiment. I've included Fuller's preface for context:
... There were a number of individual bankers who went far beyond unwise banking practices and who, as individuals, took personal advantage of the information they had of individual depositors' affairs and of their privilege as top bank officers to do truly inimical things to enrich their own positions. Few today remember that a half-century ago a number of New York and Chicago's top bankers were sentenced into penitentiaries-the New Yorkers into Sing Sing-the senior partner of J. P. Morgan and Company, the president of the National City Bank, the president of Chase Bank. Every one of them had been found to be doing reprehensible financial tricks. They were selling their own friends short. They were opening their friends' mail and manipulating the stock market. They were manipulating everybody. They were way overstepping the moral limits of the privileges ethically existent for officers in the banking game, so a great housecleaning was done by the New Deal.
The banking story is best told by a poem that was, at that time, allegedly composed by Ogden Nash but was never to my knowledge formally published and copyrighted. It was, however, memorized and widely recited from copies often typewritten by those who remembered it:
We're going to be revamping some of the design here at OpenLeft, adding some functionality on Quick Hits, moving a few pieces around, adding some new elements to the page. We'd like to hear what you, our readers, think about the site- likes, dislikes, wish list for functionality or design, or even if you like things exactly the way they are.
Consider this an open thread for your thoughts. And thanks for being part of our community.
According to February Gallup polls, it turns out that Communist, melamine exporting, beating-us-in-the-Olympics China is now more popular than Congressional Republicans:
"Next, I'd like your overall opinion of some foreign countries. Is your overall opinion of [see below] very favorable, mostly favorable, mostly unfavorable, or very unfavorable?"
China: Favorable 41%--51% Unfavorable
This is another edition of stuff that is more popular than Republicans.
