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Hard to believe we Aught to say goodbye.
Author: Raine    Date: 12/31/2009 13:48:11

The last blog of the year, the last blog of the decade. What a decade it has been. For many of these past 10 years, I have had the pleasure of bantering back and forth with many of the members of this blog, and the other blog from which Four Freedoms rose. It's hard to believe that this time has flown the way it has.

This decade has had as many highs as it has had lows. It's fair to say that in 2000, the most formidable event that happened that year in our nation was the election, but also in that year, Elián González, 6 years old then, was reunited with his father. The USS Cole was attacked that year as well. The Yankees and the Mets met in the world series. in 2000, the Human genome was deciphered -- we still have not reaped the scientific bounties from that discovery.

I was going to write a brief summary of each year and a few events that the decade has brought us, but I will leave that to those who are better pontificators that I. I sit in wonderment of this decade. It started out in chaos, that never seemed to end, but we all plugged thru and made it to the other side. Here is a great site for your year-by-year breakdown.

It's hard to believe we didn't have the Google 10 years ago. We didn't have iPhones, iPods, Blackberries, or HDtv. We were infantile in our electronic communications. We didn't have progressive radio and we didn't have the voices that we do now. Perhaps we had that all along, but lacked a way to come together.

All of these things brought us together, here on this blog and other places. I have made lifelong friendships because of the events of this decade, and as bad as many of them were, what I gained far outshines anything the events that the decade tried to take away. Fate brought me to Georgia and now Virginia with a loving partner. Never in a million years would I have dreamed such a thing possible in the beginning of this decade. Our joys and sorrows were met with compassion and humor as we supported each other the very best we could. People have come and gone (such is the mercurial ways of electronic communications) but each person has meant the world to me, and left me a better person.

So as we say good by to this year, and this decade, know that as bad as things were, there were a few bright and sunny spots along the way. It's for those moments that make everything worth going forward. Call me a hope-monger, but I know that even in my darkest moments of this decade, things would get better. It may take as long as possibly the next decade, and I hope that we will still have the pleasure of communicating with one another, in whatever form that may be. Then we can do it all over again!

Goodbye Aught's. Hello Teens!

and
Raine



 
92 comments (Latest Comment: 01/01/2010 05:18:11 by livingonli)

Does this make census?
Author: BobR    Date: 12/30/2009 13:30:47

The recent passage of the Senate health care reform bill has been so much on the minds of political junkies, it seems the passing of the House bill happened a lifetime ago. It was the House bill that created the uproar with the town hall meetings and the litany of lies (such as "death panels") and ultimately only passed by the addition of the Stupak amendment. Despite having a seemingly large majority of the seats there, it is still a thin edge when it comes to getting legislation through.

That edge is likely to get thinner in 2010 for two reasons. First, Obama won't be on the ticket, and the Republican failures of the past decade will be a dim memory for a short-attention-span-I-want-it-now populace. The other reason will be the census.

In a recent column by Chris Cillizza, he analyzes the population estimates from a Census Bureau report. Historically, the report is accurate, so we can use it to make projections. Even though House members have to run for re-election every two years, the census is used to apportion Representatives among the 50 states only every 10 years. After the census, we're stuck with the change until 2020.

How will this change the balance of power? Going strictly on the changes via the census (ignoring voter sentiment, etc.), it seems that Blue states are losing 8 seats and Red states are gaining 8. From a table linked in the same article:

Gaining seats
  • Arizona (+1)*

  • Florida (+1)

  • Nevada (+1)

  • South Carolina (+1)

  • Texas (+4)

  • Utah (+1)

  • Washington (+1)*

Losing seats
  • Illinois (-1)

  • Iowa (-1)*

  • Louisiana (-1)

  • Massachusetts (-1)

  • Michigan (-1)

  • Minnesota (-1)

  • New York (-1)

  • Ohio (-2)

  • Pennsylvania (-1)
*An independent commission draws the congressional lines.

This alone will change the balance of power in the Republicans' favor:

Current:
Dems: 257 59%
Reps: 178 41%

Post-Census:
Dems: 249 57%
Reps: 186 43%

Also note the footnote - the article was focusing on governor's races as well, and who draws the district lines. I'm sure everyone remembers the infamous bruhaha in Texas in 2003 where the state House Dems left the state to prevent a quorum vote on an obviously gerrymandered redistricting pushed through by the state Republicans. The census results will require all of the states gaining or losing a representative to redraw district lines. Depending on state law and which party is in charge, that could lead to even further losses for the Dems - and that's without a single vote being cast by the populace.

This is why it's so important to get out the vote in 2010 and 2012. Despite your disappointment and disillusionment with the Senate health care bill or the President's actions in Afghanistan, it is vitally important that everyone votes, lest we return to Republican rule. The time to fight for more progressive candidates is in the primaries, and then vote for the Dem in the general election, regardless of whether the candidate you supported wins the primary.

If you're not sure you can do it in 2010, just remember 1994 when the Republicans controlled congress (and tried to impeach Bill Clinton). If you're not sure you can do it in 2012, just remember 2000-2006 when the Republicans controlled everything.

The census alone will shift a minimum of 8 votes across the aisle - pragmatism is a requirement for us to ensure it is only 8.

 
49 comments (Latest Comment: 12/31/2009 01:56:11 by clintster)

Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 12/29/2009 12:04:05

Good Morning.

Today is our 2,477th day in Iraq and our 3,005th day in Afghanistan.

We'll start this morning as we always do, with the latest casualty figures from Iraq and Afghanistan, courtesy of Antiwar.com:

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 4371
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03): 4232
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 3908
Since Handover (6/29/04): 3512
Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09): 143

Other Coalition Troops - Iraq: 325
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 939
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 643
Contractor Employee Deaths - Iraq: 1,395
Journalists - Iraq: 335
Academics Killed - Iraq: 431

We'll break down this morning's full cost of war.

Iraq: $ 713, 005, 900, 000 .00
Afghanistan: $ 235, 064, 550, 000.00

And the grand total is passing through:

$ 948, 070, 600, 000 .00


Continue reading...

21 comments (Latest Comment: 12/29/2009 21:38:01 by livingonli)


Holy War, again.
Author: velveeta jones    Date: 12/27/2009 15:23:37

Breaking News and you're reading it here first. Velveeta has a second cousin that is dating a woman who is friends with a man who has a brother that is one of the interrogators of the Christmas Eve Terrorist. (Isn't that a great name for our hopless little failed terrorist. It's to subtly remind us that this is a battle of Gods. Our God will win. Good vs. Evil. Etc.).

So anyway, I have the info and you'll be delighted to know that............. the U.S. has obtained his "permanent record" Seems the old school threat of "this will be on your permanent record" is TRUE! And none of us believed it. Silly us.
Continue reading...

5 comments (Latest Comment: 12/28/2009 02:43:13 by AuntAzalea)

Boxing Day
Author: TriSec    Date: 12/26/2009 13:53:35

Good Morning!

I trust everyone had a fine and dandy Christmas Day?

We're on to the next phase of the holiday; return season! Starting today across America, everyone who *didn't* get what they wanted is going to be standing in line with their unwanted chaff, trying to find that elusive thing that couldn't be purchased before the holiday.

Good luck with that.

Meanwhile, in what's left of the British Commonwealth, they'll be engaging in a peculiar holiday called "Boxing day".

Continue reading...

3 comments (Latest Comment: 12/27/2009 05:00:23 by velveeta jones)

Merry Christmas
Author: BobR    Date: 12/25/2009 13:38:36

From the management here at FourFreedomsBlog.com LLC (Liberally Laughing Co-horts), we wish you a very merry Christmas, however you choose to celebrate it (even if you don't). The greatest gifts are the gifts that keep on giving, and that's what this blog is for me.

Thanks to all our members who make this little corner of the internets special. Enjoy today's respite from politics as usual, and we'll meet back here again at the usual time...
 
4 comments (Latest Comment: 12/25/2009 17:08:14 by Will in Chicago)

This is my wish too.
Author: Raine    Date: 12/24/2009 13:43:41

SANTA'S SECRET WISH
On Christmas Eve,
a young boy with light in his eyes,
Looked deep into Santa's, to Santa's surprise,
And said as he nestled on Santa's broad knee,
"I want your secret, tell it to me."

He leaned up & whispered in Santa's good ear,
"How do you do it, year after year?"
"I want to know how, as you travel about,
Giving gifts here & there, you never run out.
Continue reading...

31 comments (Latest Comment: 12/24/2009 22:19:10 by livingonli)

It Takes a Planet
Author: BobR    Date: 12/23/2009 12:19:07

In her book "It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Our Children Teach Us", Hillary Clinton wrote that people outside of our nuclear family have a role in - as well as an impact on - our children. The reality of course, is that this is true for all of us. No man is an island, the saying goes, and for good reason. We are all humans and we all interact and create impacts in various ways on those around us.
Continue reading...

26 comments (Latest Comment: 12/24/2009 00:25:43 by Mondobubba)

Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 12/22/2009 11:29:42

Good Morning.

We'll skip the statistics this morning. Instead, on this Christmas Week, I leave you with the incredible story of two aging WWII vets.


NATICK {MA} - It was a 68-year-old photo on a nursing home bulletin board salute to Veterans Day that caught John Kelley’s eye as he maneuvered his wheelchair through the reception area of his nursing home.

In the upper right-hand corner of the poster was a black-and-white portrait taken in 1941 of Army Captain Robert Fulton.

Kelley, himself a World War II vet, took a closer look.

Then, nearly shaking in disbelief, the 87-year-old called over a staffer to share his incredible news: The man in the photo had been his commanding officer for more than a year in the South Pacific.

“I thought, ‘He’s alive!’ I really thought I was the only one left,’’ recalled Kelley, who was a Cambridge boy from a family of a dozen children sent to fight in New Caledonia, a key Allied base in the battle against the Japanese in the wake of their attack on Pearl Harbor.

“They said, ‘Yes. He’s upstairs.’’’

Continue reading...

38 comments (Latest Comment: 12/22/2009 23:11:40 by Mondobubba)

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