A West Wing Reunion!
Every single thing about this makes me happy. The only time I wish I lived in Michigan. I would so vote for her.
This is kind of amazing (but also really silly?), but definitely sad that I finally changed my voter registration to be in Connecticut instead of Michigan.
scottfriday:nefariousnewt:sandandglass:
The Paul K fan club.
In fact, almost everyone following the situation now realizes that Germany’s austerity obsession has brought Europe to the edge of catastrophe — almost everyone, that is, except the Germans themselves and, it turns out, the Romney economic team.
Needless to say, this bodes ill if Mr. Romney wins in November. For all indications are that his idea of smart policy is to double down on the very spending cuts that have hobbled recovery here and sent Europe into an economic and political tailspin.
"— Paul Krugman, We Don’t Need No Education (via lorim)
(via apsies)
This just brings up so many great points (and important footnotes!). Please read!
Traditionally, the Democrats have sought to preserve civil liberties and reduce military adventurism. Running the country means that princpled stances sometimes run into other principled stances and compromises are made. Compromise means controversy. Civil libertarians have reason to be frustrated.1 So do those who categorically oppose military intervention.2 No politician is entitled to your support—and nobody should blame you for looking around.
Many of those looking for somebody with a more hardline stance on civil liberties and against military action found Ron Paul.3 Ron Paul, a Republican, has emphasized that he cares about “liberty,” by which he means a combination of protecting civil liberties and an extreme hands-off approach toward economics, even when that comes at the expense of a lot of people without a lot of money or influence. And if you joined Ron Paul for his civil liberties stances, maybe you’ll adopt—or at least tolerate—some of his economic stances as well.
So what happens when Paul loses the race and Romney gets the nomination? Romney’s stances on civil liberties and military action is far worse than Obama’s. He wants to “double Guantanamo” and stick with the Afghanistan war indefinitely. Apparently he’s against allowing same-sex couples to adopt now too. But, like Paul, he’s a Republican. And he’s going to make a hard sell that he’s going to protect the same kind of “economic liberties” that Paul did.[^4] And a lot of Paul supporters are going to come around—even though Romney is dramatically worse than Obama on the issues the primarily claim to care about.
Really interesting review of Rachel Maddow’s book, Drift, about contemporary warfare. It makes such a good point about how we’ve somehow been at war for ten years and counting, but these wars don’t have an impact on every single citizen’s everyday life to the extent that the world wars did and that needs to change.
The CIA and JSOC have become largely unaccountable branches of the military. Drone warfare has lowered the cost of war even further. And the reserves are no longer really reserves. They’re practically full-time soldiers.
And the worst part is that all of this is virtually invisible to most of us. The vast bulk of the civilian population, especially among the college-educated elites who run the country, doesn’t serve in the military and never has. In a lot of cases, we barely even know people who have. When we go to war, there’s no WWII-style rationing to worry about, there’s no draft, and there aren’t even any taxes to pay. It’s all free! Is it any wonder that we fight so many wars?
(via motherjones)
Are Michigan Republicans Violating the State’s Constitution?
Rachel Maddow explains how Michigan Republicans are putting radical laws into immediate effect under emergency provisions for 546 of the 566 bills passed since 2011, rather than going into effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session. But the emergency provision states you need a 2/3 majority to do so, which…they didn’t have, yet stated they did anyway.
This is outrageous. The courts must fix this immediately.
Unfortunately, this does not surprise me in the least. The fact this has been able to go on for so long is a bit shocking, and I can only hope these illegal actions are rectified immediately, and the people in charge held accountable by the people in Michigan.
(Source: seaofuncertaintea)
I’m biased, to be sure, but the tide does seem to be turning of late:
Overcoming a major hurdle, death penalty repeal in Connecticut has passed in the state Senate by a vote of 20-16. The bill, with the endorsement of 179 murder victim family members, would remove the death penalty as an option for all future crimes. It now goes to the House and, if it passes there, to Governor Dannel P. Malloy, who has said he will sign it.
Connecticut would become the 17th state to abolish the death penalty, meaning that more than one-third of U.S. states would no longer have capital punishment. Connecticut would also be the 5th state in 5 years to get rid of the death penalty.
LTMC: justice is on the march.
—
I love being an asshole. I love it so much. (via megwhat)
This is an excerpt from Meg’s email to Rep. Debbie Lesko, the Republican from Arizona who is sponsoring a bill that would allow employers to fire their employees if they find out that they’re using contraceptives to prevent pregnancy.
This is also why Meg is my hero.
(via fullcredit)
(via fullcredit)
oh em gee I love this woman so much
“I’m just as serious as the men policymakers across the nation who introduced bills to regulate a woman’s reproductive health. For far too long elected officials, especially women, we have abdicated our responsibility to show men much love in the reproductive health arena as they have shown us over the years. We must do something about this. My bill, Senate Bill 307 is all about the love and making sure we look out for men’s sexual health.”
—Ohio State Senator Nina Turner killing it on MSNBC.
Lucille Bluth quoting Mitt Romney is pretty delightful
(Source: lucilleandmitt)
We don’t really have any reason to go anywhere near the stuff, yet it seems to be almost entirely dudes having lady-sex that seem to be so incredibly clueless as to why women would need birth control.
not to be confused w/ “not a single straight guy understands birth control” because I’m fully aware there are lots of cool dudes out there as well and the internet has a reputation for being terrible about these kinds of things.
I realize the internet’s probably getting tired of people ranting about this issue by now, but seriously? Seriously?!? It’s just a lot safer for me to get this stuff out here rather than respond to people directly on facebook where they post the most infuriating garbage.
You’re bad at this, Rush Limbaugh. You don’t even understand how babies are made, let alone how people can have sex without making a baby, and you would like the government to take over decision-making on these issues on your say-so. And you don’t get it. You biologically don’t get it. You just don’t understand it. You were absent that day. - Rachel Maddow
I love this response.
Rachel Maddow also always wins
Oh hai! i'm brandon. these are the descriptions, ramblings, musings, and clippings from a left-handed half-italian/half-polish environmentally-conscious cat-loving ice cream-obsessed antique book-collecting impassioned queer traveler [who has the misfortune of being from the detroit-area, and maybe even more unfortunately currently lives in Connecticut] whose soul is regenerated by the powers of beauty found in music and mountains. I hope that you will find yourself wanting to comment, follow and/or stalk. this is a rather eclectic collection of things i find interesting usually best served with a comfy cushion and some delicious tea.
(via)
To reach puberty and find oneself falling in love with members of one’s own sex is to experience a mixture of self-discovery and self-disgust that...
”today in theater someone asked my friend if he was pro gay and he was like “im not pro gay but im not amateur gay either”
Friedrich Kunath, Untitled, 2009
oh my god john darnielle oh my god
From Michael Marten’s series, Sea Change, which explores rising sea levels from regular tides and also climate change. His statement:
‘Sea...
