January 29, 2013

20,000 is a lot of posts.

You type in the box 7 or so times per day and it adds up after 7+ years. And here I am.

Let's take back our party - FDR Democrats again, no more Third-Way crypto-Republicans.

Go Elizabeth Warren!

I love you all, even my meanest critics.

Peace.

January 26, 2013

I feel a little lost tonight. Empty inside.

For the first time in many years, Timmy Geithner is no longer protecting us at Treasury or the Fed.

Who can we turn to?

I'm a little scared.

Sincerely yours,

America's Bankers

January 26, 2013

Gushing NY Times Op-Ed on Timmy Geithner (with AWESOME reader comments)

From the op-ed:

The first comment:



Many more like this: Timothy Geithners Legacy

January 25, 2013

No Shit. Of COURSE Filibuster Reform Failed. But There's Hope On The Horizon.

Filibuster reform cratered today, as any thoughtful observer knew it would: elected Democrats have made "we tried but we just can't stop the mean/crazy Republicans! They're so mean and crazy! Really, really mean and crazy!" their standard tactic for about a decade. And it's working great for them - they get to keep their seats because the mean/crazy Republicans look even worse than the "powerless" Democrats, and the 1% get to stay awash in vast torrents of 99% cash sent to them continuing horrific legislation.

So of course any reform that threatened their racket wasn't going to pass. Duh!

God forbid, if the filibuster had returned to being a nontrivial undertaking, elected Democrats would have to actually do stuff. Scary! Risky! Wall Street might be cross with them!

So, for the 99%, a guarantee of at least two more years of continued decline and austerity. Sucks to be us!

We'll get to watch amusing sideshows of Republicans doing staggeringly stupid stuff, and we laugh at them and are happy to not suck as bad as they do, while our country crumbles around us. The ranks of the homeless, the hungry, and the barely-hanging-on swell while we laugh our asses off at Ron Johnson, Rand Paul, and the rest of the crazies. Bread and circuses. But less bread - you know, we all need to sacrifice.

But the news isn't all bad. For the first time in a long time, we finally seem to have a small but coherent group of Democratic senators who really want to do the right thing. Merkley, Udall, Harkin, and Warren tried to help us. And Kerry's likely elected replacement, Ed Markey, can probably be counted on as well.

It's a start!

Moving forward, it's critical that we rank-and-file Democrats work to build upon this small group of FDR Democrats, to expand it until we have a Senate that once again works for working Americans.

I hope that all of DU commits to rebuilding our party back to being the protectors of "the rest of us". No more DLCThirdWay shapeshifting crypto-Republicanism. Enough!

We have a start. We can do this.

Onward!

Regards,

First-Way Manny

January 24, 2013

Face it: Hillary is inevitable.

We'll have a fierce fight on our hands in 2016, seeing which party can move further to the right.

So let's all fall in line now and start preparing for a tough general election.

Hillary is 45. Deal with it.

Regards,

Third-way Manny

January 22, 2013

OxyRush. Up to his old oxytricks?

I was driving midday and hit upon oxyRush while channel surfing. He sounded different than usual, like he was on something really strong. Although I haven't heard him in months and am no oxyRush expert to begin with, so I may be imagining things.

Maybe Obama's inauguration, coupled with the continuing drop in his listeners is becoming too much to bear.

He's still on now, at least in Boston, in case anyone wants to wade into his show and see if I'm nuts? (Well, nuts about this specific subject.)

January 22, 2013

Anyone know the total cash paid in by corporate sponsors of the inaugural soirees?

Is there a list of the purchasers?

January 20, 2013

If Mitt Romney had been sworn in today...

He'd have the power to imprison or execute anyone, citizen or not, purely because he wanted to. Without any oversight from the Judiciary or anyone else.

Solely thanks to laws passed and/or strengthened under Bush and Obama.

You may think it's OK for Obama to have this power, but think what happens if we get a Romney or similar in office.

I think it's time to change these fabulous new laws.

January 17, 2013

I Love Massachusetts. Love it.

In an age where all Republicans and most elected "Democrats" are yammering about the need to tighten our belts and austerity the !@#$ out of working Americans - which is the exact opposite of what we need to end our four-year depression - our Governor has proposed raising taxes to invest in improving our Commonwealth, AND proposed making our state taxes less regressive. And it looks like there's a lot of agreement in the Legislature that this will happen in some way, shape or form.

This is the way it ought to be. Great stuff!

And Sen. Elizabeth Warren. And Sen. Barney Frank, likely followed by Sen. Ed Markey (the fix is in on that, I think). Best public schools in the country, and pretty close to the best in the world. Lowest rate of gun deaths. And all sorts of other superlatives I won't bore you with.

Of course, our three most recent Speakers of the House were convicted of felonies. I guess we still have some work to do.

Anyway, I love my adopted state. I don't quite understand why, but there seems to be a basic sense of fairness and love of fellow human here. I've come to expect people, by-and-large, to be reasonable and nice to each other.

Peace to all.

First-Way Manny

January 16, 2013

Gun company stocks: executive orders have big effect.

Smith & Wesson up 5.7% today
Sturm, Ruger & Company up 5% today

The gun companies... they are saved...