Democratic Underground Latest Threads
Latest
Greatest Threads
Greatest
Lobby
Lobby
Journals
Journals
Search
Search
Options
Options
Help
Help
Login
Login
Google
  155,850 user registrations and 49,058,613 posts since January 2001
Wed 10th Mar 2010, 08:49 PM (USA/Eastern) | First time visitor? Please register
Home Donate to DU
 
Enter Discussion Forums
Click to load video
Top Forums
515,901 posts
7,702,753 posts
213,202 posts
Top Forums
The ten most recently updated DU Groups.
Grayson introduces Public Option Act
Congressman Alan Grayson, (D-Orlando), today introduced a bill (H.R. 4789) which would give the option to buy into Medicare to every citizen of the United States. The “Public Option Act,” also known as the “Medicare You Can Buy Into Act,” would open up the Medicare network to anyone who can pay for it. Congressman Grayson said, “Obviously, America wants and needs more competition in health coverage, and a public option offers that. But it’s just as important that we offer people not just another choice, but another kind of choice. A lot of people don’t want to be at the mercy of greedy insurance companies that will make money by denying them the care that they need to stay healthy, or to stay alive. We deserve to have a real alternative.” The bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish enrollment periods, coverage guidelines, and premiums for the program. Because premiums would be equal to cost, the program would pay for itself. “The govern
Discuss (238 posts) | West Orlando News Outside link
Greatest Threads
More News
Show: Latest | Top rated | Most discussed
Analysis: Greece's crisis could presage America's
5 minutes ago · WASHINGTON – Greece is a financial basket case, begging for international help. Is America heading down that same road? Many of the same risky financial practices that now imperil the Greeks were at the center of the all-too-recent U.S. meltdown. As with Greece, America's national debt has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past decade, to the point where it threatens to swamp overall economic output. And in the U.S., as in Greece, a large portion of that debt is owed to foreign inv
Discuss (0 posts) | AP Outside link
Texas Education Agency lashes out at Fox Network for 'highly inaccurate' reports
54 minutes ago · By TERRENCE STUTZ/ The Dallas Morning News AUSTIN — The Texas Education Agency lashed out Wednesday at the Fox Network for "highly inaccurate" reports about the State Board of Education and its work on social studies curriculum standards. The TEA, in a news release, cited a half dozen errors in a March 10 broadcast of Fox & Friends, such as Texas proposing only to teach U.S. history from 1877 to the present. The TEA said U.S. history "has and always will" be taught from beginning
Discuss (6 posts) | Dallas Morning News Outside link
Fed Court Today Grants Permanent Injunction Enjoining Unconstitutional Defunding of ACORN
1 hour ago · Via Twitter from Glenn Greenwald. New York Federal Court. No link yet. (Prior injunction was preliminary.) Judge Strikes Down Congressional Ban on Funding ACORN March 10, 2010, New York, NY – Today, federal judge, for the second time, granted an injunction against Congress’ unconstitutional de-funding of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) to apply to federal budget provisions signed into law by President Obama in December 2009 and ordered the United State of
Discuss (9 posts) | Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com / Center For Constitutional Rights Outside link
House defeats Kucinich resolution to withdraw from Afghanistan
1 hour ago · The result of Wednesday's House of Representatives debate was never in doubt. Nobody expected Congress would approve Rep. Dennis Kucinich's resolution ordering President Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by year's end. The point was to give members of Congress three hours to officially sound off on U.S. military involvement in the Middle East. "Regardless of your support or opposition, this resolution is about ensuring meaningful and open debate," the Cleveland Democrat told c
Discuss (16 posts) | The Plain Dealer Outside link
Harry Reid Pledges Filibuster Reform
2 hours ago · Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pledged on Wednesday to take a serious look at revising the filibuster rules at the beginning of the next Congress, calling the current level of obstruction in the Senate unacceptable. In a reflection of the party's commitment to changing the parliamentary rules, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) followed the majority leader by saying that his committee would address the topic soon. "The rules committee is going to start holding hearings on how to undo
Discuss (5 posts) | Huffington Post Outside link
(Virginia) Governor issues directive against discrimination
2 hours ago · After a day of legislative maneuvering and protests, Gov. Bob McDonnell issued an unusual executive directive saying workplace discrimination, including bias against gays, is prohibited in Virginia. McDonnell’s pronouncement doesn’t make the anti-bias statement law, but says it must be obeyed in Virginia because such discrimination would be against the state and U.S. Constitutions. The governor’s directive comes as the outcry increased against Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s opinion deli
Discuss (4 posts) | Richmond Times-Dispatch Outside link
Once-revered SC lawmaker (Juanita Goggins) freezes to death alone
2 hours ago · When Juanita Goggins became the first black woman elected to the South Carolina Legislature in 1974, she was hailed as a trailblazer and twice visited the president at the White House. Three decades later, she froze to death at age 75, a solitary figure living in a rented house four miles from the gleaming Statehouse dome. Goggins, whose achievements included key legislation on school funding, kindergarten and class size, had become increasingly reclusive. She spent her final years turning
Discuss (14 posts) | Associated Press Outside link
Silicon Valley employers' seasonal cuts push jobless rate to 12.4%
2 hours ago · Silicon Valley's unemployment rate spiked almost a full percentage point in January, but much of that reflects a typical post-holiday drop in retail employment and school hiring, labor specialists said. The combined unemployment rate for Santa Clara and San Benito counties was 12.4 percent in January, up from a revised 11.5 percent in December, the state Employment Development Department said today. The valley shed 11,900 jobs as retail and clothing stores and schools recessing for winter bre
Discuss (1 post) | San Jose Mercury News Outside link
House Democrats Ban Earmarks to Corporations
2 hours ago · House Democrats Ban Earmarks to Corporations By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: March 10, 2010 WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democratic leaders announced Wednesday that they will ban the much-criticized practice of using annual spending bills to direct pet projects to companies that often return the favor with campaign contributions. Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the Appropriations panel, told reporters that he hopes the step will mean 1,000 fewer earmarks and break the linkage between
Discuss (2 posts) | New York Times Outside link
Panel Releases Proposal to Set U.S. Education Standards
3 hours ago · Culminating a year’s work, a panel of educators convened by the nation’s governors and state school superintendents released a set of proposed common academic standards on Wednesday. The standards, posted on the panel’s web site,(/) lay out the panel’s vision of what American public school students should learn in math and English, year by year, from kindergarten to high school graduation. Forty-eight states cooperated in producing the proposed standards, which amount to a new road map for Am
Discuss (9 posts) | NYTimes Outside link
Archives
2003   J F M A M J J A S O N D
2004   J F M A M J J A S O N D
2005   J F M A M J J A S O N D
2006   J F M A M J J A S O N D
2007   J F M A M J J A S O N D
2008   J F M A M J J A S O N D
2009   J F M A M J J A S
Topic Forums
33,753 posts
76,347 posts
234,238 posts
297,312 posts
135,036 posts
63,566 posts
8,535 posts
506,686 posts
154,807 posts
38,459 posts
35,305 posts
139,805 posts
States & Countries
Advertise Liberally! The Liberal Blog Advertising Network
Advertise on more than 70 progressive blogs!
Blogroll
The Liberal Blog Advertising Network
More Blogs & Websites
DU Journals
Mar 10 · Over the past couple of months, in an effort to combat a recent rise in incivility on DU, we made a series of substantial changes to our moderating system. Our plan was to increase the speed with which moderators could deal with alerts, and get rule violations off the board before they could turn into long, drawn-out flamewars. I can state with certainty that we have not solved the problem of incivility - and we never will - but the plain fact is that alerts are now being dealt with at a much
Discuss (24 posts) | Journal
Mar 10 · Sixty-five congress members, including 60 Democrats and 5 Republicans, voted to end the occupation of Afghanistan on Wednesday. But 356 congress members, including 189 Democrats and 167 Republicans voted to keep the war going. The vote followed three hours of debate created by Congressman Dennis Kucinich's introduction of a privileged resolution. The debate featured three leaders from three groups of congress members: the war opponents (almost all Democrats), the pro-war Democrats, and the
Discuss (3 posts) | Journal
Mar 10 · When I heard about the firings in RI and then President Obama's praise of that action, I had an instant reaction. It was as if my most sensitive nerve had been hit. This was a visceral reaction, and not one tied to breaking the unions or the unfairness of it. I wondered what exactly it was. I believe that the spot that was hit is one that every teacher with an ounce of compassion has developed. It is what I call the 'possible' point. Did I do everything possible to help? It could be in relati
Discuss (30 posts) | Journal
Mar 10 · (Image: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: HeyThereSpaceman., unforth, D Sharon Pruitt) I Am Angry By John Cory t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed Tuesday 09 March 2010 I am angry. I'm tired of pundits and know-nothing, media gasbags. I'm tired of snarky "inside politics" programming. I am sick of the bigotry and hatred of "birthers" and faux patriotic cranks and their GOP puppet masters. And I'm really pissed at the Democratic Party that confuses having a plate of limp noodles w
Discuss (14 posts) | Journal
Mar 10 · The latest was Markos Moulitsas, whom I usually like, claiming that Dennis Kucinich deserves a primary challenge. He went so far as to say, “I’m going to hold people like Dennis Kucinich responsible for the forty-thousand Americans that die each year.” Inexcusable hyperbole. It is very reminiscent of the pro war arguments of 2002 and 2003. If not in substance, at least in form. People like Kucinich have been coming up with cogent arguments against the mandate, and reasons why we need actual hea
Discuss (58 posts) | Journal
Mar 10 · The Real Targets of the ACORN Smear Campaigns: Verifiable Truth, American Democracy The truth behind the hoax was 'hiding' in plain sight, if only the media and Congress had bothered to seek it out... -- Guest blogged by Ernest A. Canning In a society increasingly dominated by dictatorial and corrupt corporate wealth and power, a collection of community organizations, The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), steps forward to become the voice of the most vulnera
Discuss (4 posts) | Journal
Mar 09 · FARMERVILLE, La. (AP) - A state judge in Baton Rouge has ruled that the board of Elementary and Secondary Education can take money from local school boards to pay for charter schools in the district. Union Parish Superintendent Steve Dozier says he'd like a more detailed explanation of Monday's ruling by District Judge Todd Hernandez. The judge's ruling rejected a request for a preliminary order to stop local money from going to D'Arbonne Woods Charter School. Hernandez ruled that it i
Discuss (33 posts) | Journal
Mar 09 · The UK spends far less per person than the US Medicare system. Overall UK expenditure on health care is 1/3 less as a percentage spend of the GDP than the US and the UK has a higher life expectancy. Preventative health care is provided. Weight management clinics - check chiropractic clinics - check podiatry clinics (chiropodists)- check smoking cessation (most definitely) free flu jabs for the elderly - check Choice in hospitals. Check. A GP able to visit you in your home. Che
Discuss (110 posts) | Journal
Mar 10 · If the Democrats don't get the youth vote, they're toast. That happened in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, where young Obama voters stayed home in droves. It's an ugly conceivable future portended by a new Harvard poll that shows forty-one percent of young Republicans planning on voting in November, compared to 35 percent of young Democrats and 13 percent of independents. A recent Pew poll showed a similarly disturbing pattern: Young voters still prefer the Democrats, but their marg
Discuss (12 posts) | Journal
Mar 08 · That means public money in Florida is going to a private company in Virginia called Imagine Schools. That is taxpayer money profiting an Educational Management Company instead of funding public schools. Two popular Imagine charter schools in Manatee County incurred debts of nearly $900,000 and have been declared in a state of “financial emergency” by the school district. An audit of Imagine School at Lakewood Ranch revealed debts of about $600,000 at the end of its first year. Mo
Discuss (36 posts) | Journal
Mar 09 · l Bernard Weiner l I despise the implicit pro-Iraq War politics of "The Hurt Locker": There is no examination or even mention in the film of why the U.S. might be fighting there, no look at the neo-conservative ideology that sent our troops there, no questioning of the aggressive tactics aimed at Iraqi civilians, no overt politics at all, for that matter. But I cannot deny the movie's aesthetic power. It is a great film, one of the few war movies that really got into my gut. It well deserve
Discuss (37 posts) | Journal
Mar 08 · I don’t want to single out just one anti-science teacher, but Ray Shelton signed his name to a letter that proudly proclaimed his ignorance. So I’ll focus on him. Fortunately, the vast majority of teachers are well above the national average when it comes to intelligence, good demeanor and critical thinking. My mother taught English for twenty years at the high school level and now teaches at a college. And most of the teachers I know socially, the majority of my children’s teachers and most of
Discuss (76 posts) | Journal
Usual Suspects
The Top 10 Conservative Idiots The Top 10 Conservative Idiots
Jan 18 · The Top 10 Conservative Idiots is on hiatus
More DU Journals
Last Updated Journals
Newest Journals
Most Viewed Journals: This Week
Random Journal
Random Journal
DU Store
The DU Store
 
Home Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals  |  Campaigns  |  Links  |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2010 Democratic Underground, LLC