A lot of big things happened yesterday... important things - things that make a difference. We were given insight once again to the difference between liberal and conservative, Democrat and Republican, those that try to ensure all have access to the "general welfare" promised by the Constitution, and those that only care about their rich friends. The contrasts couldn't be more stark. And yet...

One of the most important developments for the unemployed was that the Democrats were finally able to break a Republican filibuster to extend unemployment benefits. Having been unemployed for most of 2009, I can personally attest to the necessity of those benefits. They are not enough to live on (despite hateful selfish voices to the contrary); they are just enough to keep the wolves at bay while your savings slowly slip away. Rep Alan Grayson (D-FL) says it better than anyone:



For anyone that has ever been unemployed and relied on these payments, or knows someone who has, this legislation should've been a no-brainer. Opposing this (especially in this economic climate) should be political suicide...

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) isn't letting them slide on this - he calls out the Republicans for trying to make Obama fail by doing it "on the backs of [the working class]":

Another big win for the Democrats was getting Elena Kagan's nomination out of committee. Once again - she seems like a shoe-in: former dean of Harvard Law School, respected, intelligent, and a real person. A smart person would pick their battles, and put up a fight on the one's that are winnable. The Republicans fight everything, including her nomination. This should make them look like the obstructionists they are, once again what should be political suicide in an election year when change seems necessary. (Note: Obligatory kudos to Sen Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for breaking with his party and giving her a nod.)

Part of the problem is the propaganda wing of the Republican party - FOX News (and I use the word "News" only because I have to). In one of the most blatant displays of deliberate misrepresentation of the truth, they railroaded a black woman working for the Obama administration by selectively editing video clips of a talk she gave many years ago at a NAACP function. Several times during the day on Monday, they played clips of video seeming to show her admitting that she deliberately under-served a white farmer needing her help. She was subsequently asked to resign. The truth came out yesterday that the video was heavily edited. The full video shows her having a "come to Jesus moment", where she realized that she was wrong for doing so, and - in fact - actually helped the farmer save his farm. The white farmer himself attests to that as well.

So - either FAUX News deliberately misrepresented the video to make the NAACP look bad, or they were (once again) duped by deceptively edited video. Either way, they look very bad (not that it matters to them).

And yet - people watch them and believe them. Take for instance the California Freeway shooter. He admitted targeting the ACLU (an organization that defends the rights of individuals regardless of political persuasion - eg: Rush Limbaugh):

So - he was unemployed, and the Democrats are fighting to extend his unemployment benefits, and he's upset about left-wing agenda items? This shows just how insidious this propaganda is, how well FOX Noise is doing their job of making people angry at those that are helping them.

It's apparently working on the rest of the country as well. Despite all the "wins", confidence in President Obama is waning:

One would think Wall St. Reform, extending unemployment benefits, and the recent capping of the oil well would change these views, but they don't. The reason is that the rest of the press always seems to follow the lead of the propaganda-meisters. This administration needs to work a lot harder at getting the truth and another viewpoint on the facts out there, or they will drown in a sea of words spewing from a ruptured pipe at the bottom of a barrel of lies.