What the….?

Preznit Bush:
(CNN) — Reflecting on his eight-year presidency, President Bush said above all he would like to be remembered as a commander-in-chief who remained faithful to his values and “did not sell his soul in order to accommodate the political process.”
In an interview with his younger sister, Doro Bush Koch, the president said he was [...]

Snap!

Greenwald catches Joe Klein rewriting history.  Click the link for the example, but this is the point Greenwald wants to make:
Truly learning from one’s mistakes — as opposed to wet-finger-in-the-air abandoment of  previously revered leaders when they are revealed as failures and lose their power — requires, at the very least, an acknowledgment of one’s [...]

Chris Hayes at The Nation:
Not a single, solitary, actual dyed-in-the-wool progressive has, as far as I can tell, even been mentioned for a position in the new administration. Not one. Remember this is the movement that was right about Iraq, right about wage stagnation and inequality, right about financial deregulation, right about global warming and [...]

“Boards gone wild”

I stole the title of the post from Dean Dad, but you should really check out the Inside Higher Ed story on this one:
Last week, faculty members and students — the latter with tape over their mouths to symbolize what they say the trustees are doing to their freedoms — flocked to a board meeting [...]

Kevin Drum explains part of the reason I don’t have a lot of respect for the modern Republican Party

Do note that while I think there are occasionally differences between the Republican party and the conservative movement, there isn’t much of a difference right now.  The conservative wing has a pretty solid hammerlock on the party leadership.  Anyway, Drum:
Right. The world has changed in the past 20 years but conservatism doesn’t really seem willing [...]

I hate pissing contests

If Barack Obama has to demonstrate his bipartisanship by appointing Republicans to cabinet-level and other positions, wouldn’t the same apply to GWB?
Tell me – how many liberal Democrats did Bush appoint?  Anyone?  As far as I can tell, the answer is zero.
Why am I posting this?  Because the whole “if Obama doesn’t appoint a bunch [...]

What digby said

There’s nothing surprising about this – the reason endangered politicians of both parties start airing populist progressive themes around election time is because they know those themes are popular among rank-and-file voters – they know, in other words, that this is a decidedly center-left country, and when they have to answer to that country come [...]

Star Wars trivia becomes reality (probably not for the first time)

From this:

To this:
It works by drawing air through filters to remove dust and particles, then cooling it to just below the temperature at which dew forms. The condensed water is passed through a self-sterilising chamber that uses microbe-busting UV light to eradicate any possibility of Legionnaires’ disease or other infections. Finally, it is filtered and [...]

US Wealth Inequality

Via Sociological Images, this chart:

If you don’t think this is a problem, I’d be a little surprised.
Plenty more over at SI.

Sometimes this is what I think Koda would sound like if she could talk. Other times, not so much.

The Written Word

From Libba Bray’s The Sweet Far Thing (which I must admit I liked a lot more than I thought I would):
We create the illusions we need to go on.  And one day, when they no longer dazzle or comfort, we tear them down, brick by glittering brick, until we are left with nothing but the [...]

Card Check

Via Digby, Thomas Frank has a good op/ed in the WSJ about card check.  This bit is kind of important:
During the campaign, you will recall, the debate over card check was supposed to be about principle, about democracy, about the sacredness of the secret ballot. However, as I pointed out a few months ago, union-certification [...]

I wonder if he’s heard the Grey Album?

Ezra Klein on the 60 Minutes interview the Obamas gave:
There’s probably a lot to say about the 60 Minutes interview with Obama, but I’m pretty hung up on his decision to bring up Harold’s Chicken Shack. So add this to his Mac-using, his comic book reading, his pick-up basketball skills, his Jay-Z references. Obama is [...]

Guns! (cue trolls)

The DH is alive with trolls these days, mostly in regards to the recent news about the proposed change in whether or not concealed weapons permits are public information.  There are lots and lost of people throwing a really big hissy fit over this fact.  For example:
Likewise, it could be argued that if lists of [...]

The QC

I think I can relate more than a bit to this.