About Us
Mission Statement
Rules of Conduct
 
Name:
Pswd:
Remember Me
Register
 

Common Wisdom
Author: BobR    Date: 08/04/2010 12:41:04

I am sure every one has received them - the angry email spouting something that seems like it could be true. It lists off "facts", and urges you to pass the information along to everyone you know (usually a quick trip to Snopes.com will provide truth and context). It is in fact, a chain letter, something I am old enough to remember getting in the actual mail. The most recent one I got made claims about Congress not paying into Social Security, and getting the same pay for life, even if they only serve on term. Of course, none of that is true.

However, chain letters aren't the only places where bad information is spread, masquerading as truth. It happens all the time in Congress and in the media. Here are some examples of "common wisdom" that aren't:
Continue reading...

41 comments (Latest Comment: 08/05/2010 00:56:27 by livingonli)

Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 08/03/2010 10:22:25

Good Morning.

Today is our 2,694th day in Iraq and our 3,222nd day in Afghanistan. The end may be in sight for Iraq.

We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualty figures from America's ongoing wars, courtesy of antiwar.com:

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 4413
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03): 4274
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 3952
Since Handover (6/29/04): 3554
Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09): 185

Other Coalition Troops - Iraq: 318
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,216
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 766
Contractor Employee Deaths - Iraq: 1,457
Journalists - Iraq: 338
Academics Killed - Iraq: 437

We find this morning's cost of war passing through:

$1, 024, 306, 350, 000 .00



One of the things I rarely focus on in this blog is the business of war. We all know that even as our soldiers fight and suffer and die, somebody is making money off them. I have an infuriating story this morning that comes to us via UNN. This is just the tip of the iceberg, as the story has taken on a life of its own over the past few days. It seems that insurance giant Prudential has figured out how to turn a huge profit from dead soldiers' families.

Continue reading...

52 comments (Latest Comment: 08/03/2010 23:58:37 by BobR)

Beltway Bubbles
Author: Raine    Date: 08/02/2010 12:41:21

This morning let's take a look at willful ignorance. Yesterday on Fox News Sunday, House Minority Leader John Boehner said that he doesn't care about the congressional Budget office numbers. He cares about what the people are saying. He accused the host, Chris Wallace of spending too much time inside the Beltway bubble when pressed on how to fix the economic woes this nation still faces.
Continue reading...

39 comments (Latest Comment: 08/03/2010 02:13:06 by wickedpam)

The New Right
Author: velveeta jones    Date: 08/01/2010 14:02:11

Here's a quick look at some of the people our rightie friends are trying vote in.


Continue reading...

6 comments (Latest Comment: 08/01/2010 21:15:29 by livingonli)

The case for a new WPA
Author: TriSec    Date: 07/31/2010 13:04:59

Good Morning!

We still seem to be stuck in an unemployment ditch that nobody can dig us out of. Generations ago now, the US faced a similar crisis, and the solution was a stroke of genius.

The original Works Progress Administration was created by executive order, but had to wait until April 1935 for funding from Congress. (In a curious twist, Wikipedia notes "the WPA was funded by Congress with passage of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 on April 8, 1935. The legislation had passed in the House of Representatives by a margin of 329 to 78, but was delayed by the Senate." Sound familiar?)

In any case, the WPA did things like build roads, bridges, public buildings, infrastructure, and a number of other things. More importantly than that, it put people back to work. Not just in menial, service jobs, but doing things that would result in knowledge and skill that would serve the country well in the coming decade of war.


Total expenditures on WPA projects through June 1941, totaled approximately $11.4 billion. Over $4 billion was spent on highway, road, and street projects; more than $1 billion on public buildings, including the iconic Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, and the Timberline Lodge on Oregon's Mt. Hood; more than $1 billion on publicly owned or operated utilities; and another $1 billion on welfare projects, including sewing projects for women, the distribution of surplus commodities and school lunch projects. One construction project was the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut, the bridges of which were each designed as architecturally unique.

One project of the WPA was funding state-level library service demonstration projects, which aimed to create new areas of library service to underserved populations and extend rural service.

South Carolina had one of the larger state-wide library service demonstration project. At the end of the project in 1943, South Carolina had twelve publicly funded county libraries, one regional library, and a funded state library agency.


Continue reading...

5 comments (Latest Comment: 07/31/2010 23:23:47 by Will in Chicago)

Response & Responsibility
Author: BobR    Date: 2010-07-30 12:44:34

When our government was created, the founding fathers put in a 3-pronged system (not unlike the hats they wore). A 3-legged table will always stand solid. Two legs and it falls over; 4 legs or more and it may wobble on uneven ground. The three branches ensure a system of checks & balances. Humankind being what it is, however, each branch needs it's own check to balance against corruption and misbehavior by its members. Thus, the ethics committee.
Continue reading...

55 comments (Latest Comment: 07/31/2010 02:51:53 by BobR)

GOP to 9/11 Responders: Tough Luck.
Author: Raine    Date: 07/29/2010 13:34:05

Sometimes I really just don't understand how the GOP mind works. Today it's recommending that its members vote against assisting 9/11 victims, particularly the emergency responders to the disaster on that day.

Politico is reporting this morning:
House Republican leadership is advising its members to vote against a bipartisan bill that would, among other things, bolster medical support to Sept. 11 victims.

The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009, sponsored by New York City Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D), provides medical monitoring to those exposed to toxins at Ground Zero, bolsters treatment at specialized centers for those afflicted by toxins on 9/11 and reopens a compensation fund to provide economic loss to New Yorkers.

And it’s all paid for by closing a tax loophole on foreign companies with U.S. subsidiaries, Democrats say.

Continue reading...

34 comments (Latest Comment: 07/30/2010 03:47:33 by Al from WV)

It's the End of the World
Author: BobR    Date: 07/28/2010 11:53:56


Six O'Clock - TV hour,
Don't get caught in foreign towers,
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn...

-- It's the End of the World As We Know It, REM


Some days, writing this blog is easy, fun, and empowering. The passion and inspiration flow out my fingertips so quickly I can hardly type it all. Then there are days there is so much messed up shit going on I don't know where to begin, and fall into a malaise. This might be one of those days. I see news headlines and think: "It's the end of the world as we know it...". But I don't feel fine.
Continue reading...

34 comments (Latest Comment: 07/28/2010 20:42:20 by Scoopster)

Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 07/27/2010 10:01:09

Good Morning.

Today is our 2,687th day in Iraq and our 3,215th day in Afghanistan.

We'll start this morning as we always do, with the latest casualty figures from our ongoing wars, courtesy of Antiwar.com:

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 4413
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03): 4274
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 3952
Since Handover (6/29/04): 3554
Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09): 185

Other Coalition Troops - Iraq: 318
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,206
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 760
Contractor Employee Deaths - Iraq: 1,457
Journalists - Iraq: 338
Academics Killed - Iraq: 437

We find this morning's cost of war passing through:

$ 1, 021, 675, 900, 000 .00



As you're probably aware, the media in this country always focuses on the "body count", whether it's the 'enemy' or our own soldiers, those that gave the last full measure of their devotion always seem to garner the most headlines. In any war, the wounded always outnumber the dead, and these are the soldiers that are often overlooked. Over the years, we've tried to stay on top of the goings on at Walter Reed, the diagnosis and treatment of TBI and PTSD, and what the government has been doing to make sure these soldiers have a chance to get back into society.

Here is one of those stories.


Continue reading...

65 comments (Latest Comment: 07/28/2010 03:24:39 by velveeta jones)

MSM has a chance, will they take it?
Author: Raine    Date: 07/26/2010 12:32:35

By now, I am sure that everyone has heard of the Afghanistan War Logs Released by Wikileaks. It's a huge story. There are over 90,000 classified field reports. These reports were sent to three publications months ago for review with the promise that they would wait to publish stories until after Wikileaks 'leaked' it.

These documents are raw field data. I also suspect that there really is very little new news to most of us that have been paying attention to the occupation in Afghanistan. For me the larger story is something that Jay Rosen said "In media history up to now, the press is free to report on what the powerful wish to keep secret because the laws of a given nation protect it. But Wikileaks is able to report on what the powerful wish to keep secret because the logic of the Internet permits it. This is new." He goes on to say that no one seems to know what to do with this new way of presenting information. (the entire post is truly worth the read, btw).
Continue reading...

29 comments (Latest Comment: 07/27/2010 01:46:12 by livingonli)

<<  505  506  507  508  509  510  >>
Order by most recent comment   Complete Blog Entry List