The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    cmaukonen's picture

    How Wall Street Beat The Rap

    By cmaukonen on Sun, 02/27/2011 - 12:08am |

    This whole situation reads like some 1920s gangster novel except for one thing.  In this case the bad guys win and get the whole city to themselves.

    Barth's picture

    Defending our New Deal

    By Barth on Sat, 02/26/2011 - 2:53pm |

    Few of us were born yet and those who were, octogenarians today, were too young to be listening, but the thunderclap from those words still resounds today. The man speaking was accepting his party's nomination for the presidency, a candidacy that all but meant his election given the dire condition of the country as he spoke. What was needed, he said, was "a new deal for the American people."

    cmaukonen's picture

    Collapse...it's not just for the Soviet Union Any More

    By cmaukonen on Sat, 02/26/2011 - 10:55am |

    I  was given a LINK to a talk by Dmitry Orlov the other day. It was quite long, over an hour, so I just book marked it for viewing at another time. Well I finally got around to watching it and it was well worth the time I spent. I do not say this lightly because I am more of a doer than a watcher, rarely taking time to watch movies or even television these days. I highly recommend it, it is worth the time. Here is the LINK.

    The American Century again?

    By professorb on Sat, 02/26/2011 - 6:31am |

     

    Forging Ahead

    I watched some PBS programming the other night which was all focused on Haiti and the crisis that continues there.  Highlighted were the suffering and anguish of people and those who wanted to see and work towards a new and better reality.  NGO's, concerned nationals,  a commited police chief and UN officials were all present working on the details of that country's future.  All of that comittment yet the challenges before them seemed insurmountable.  My mind wandered and I thought, are the "solutions" being applied workable?  Is the problem very simple or a splintered array that must need time being considered even as more problems spring up because of natural progression?  Is the right approach being concieved of or are we stuck in the 20th century logistics that did not conquer our greatest challenges? 

    On Progressives and Power

    By AmericanDreamer on Fri, 02/25/2011 - 4:33pm |

    As someone who has worked for a legislature I can tell you that the provenance of ideas--who is proposing them, who is for them and against them, and how powerful are those forces--has an enormous amount to do with how, and whether, they are even seriously considered by legislators.

    cmaukonen's picture

    Neighborhoods

    By cmaukonen on Fri, 02/25/2011 - 12:30pm |



    We as humans don't do Big very well and it seems that current and past research bares this out.  This article presents a few of the reasons why this is true.

    cmaukonen's picture

    Middle America - why they no longer vote Democrat much

    By cmaukonen on Thu, 02/24/2011 - 2:18am |

    The progressive establishment keeps wondering why they keep loosing elections.  I find this incredibly strange. Ever since the late 1960s it has been populated by the better educated, higher payed professionals and semi-professionals. And ever since this influx, the Democratic party has continuously lost elections.  There is a reason for this.

    What used to be the Democratic base - the working stiffs.

    Richard Day's picture

    DEAR SPEAKER BOEHNER

    By Richard Day on Thu, 02/24/2011 - 12:38am |
    Genghis Khan
    Khagan of the Mongol Empire
    CVille Dem's picture

    Governor Walker punked by someone posing as Koch!

    By CVille Dem on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 9:46am |
    This must be true, because I found it on the internet: http://www.buffalobeast.com/?p=5045

    The link has been taken down, but a link to the audio is below, provided by flower! Thanks for that, flower!

    Update: my link worked 5 minutes ago, but I think it keeps crashing.

    tmccarthy0's picture

    The Definition of a Democrat

    By tmccarthy0 on Tue, 02/22/2011 - 11:52pm |

    Dateline: Narita International Airport

    cmaukonen's picture

    Wal-Mart sales down for 7th consecutive quarter.

    By cmaukonen on Tue, 02/22/2011 - 11:30pm |

    And if people are not shopping at Wal-Mart (and I know many are not shopping a KMart and Target here), then the economy is doing worse than Washington is saying by a long shot.

    oleeb's picture

    Why No Call For Demonstrations Nationwide In Support Of Wisconsin?

    By oleeb on Tue, 02/22/2011 - 11:37am |

    I watch in amazement as the Republican right seizes more power by the day which is what neo fascists do in preparation for the full blown fascist abuses of power they inevitably will attempt.  With each passing day we watch as our brother and sister workers in Wisconsin fight valiantly to preserve the right to collective bargaining as though this was their fight alone when that clearly is not the case.

    Richard Day's picture

    WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

    By Richard Day on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 10:33am |

    File:Strike1902.JPG

    Come all you good workers
    Good news to you I'll tell
    Of how the good old union
    Has come in here to dwell

    Which side are you on boys?
    Which side are you on?

     

    The Wall Street Journal: February 18, 2011

    cmaukonen's picture

    Why don't they get it ?

    By cmaukonen on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 2:22am |

    I have heard over and over on various blogs etc. people on the left - very intelligent people - ask in one way or another "Why don't these people (meaning generally those on the right and some in the middle) Get It ?  How can they be so ignorant ? So naive ? Don't they see what is happening to this country ?

    SleepinJeezus's picture

    Head's Up People! Walker's "Budget Repair Bill" ain't all about busting Unions

    By SleepinJeezus on Sun, 02/20/2011 - 11:58am |

    from the text of Wisconsin Governor Walker's "Budget Repair Bill":

    Page 18; Line 8: "Except with respect to sexual orientation, the contractor further agrees to take affirmative action to ensure equal employment oppotunities." 

    As proposed by Walker and his supporters, this assault on LGBT Rights will be written into Law in this State if this tyranny prevails.

    SleepinJeezus's picture

    Dateline: Madison, Wisconsin, Feb. 19, 2011

    By SleepinJeezus on Sun, 02/20/2011 - 9:33am |

    Just a few impressions of my time spent at the State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday

    IMG_0320

    Beetlejuice's picture

    The Revolution has Already been Documented.

    By Beetlejuice on Sun, 02/20/2011 - 8:33am |

    Back on 4 Fed while everyone was so busy discussing the situation in Egypt, I posted this:

    The Shock Doctrine, redirect the attention of the public to some other trivial issue away from what you're doing so when their attention is back and focused, the changes have already been approved and implemented and there's nothing they can do. I wonder what kind of mischief the GOper's were able to gum up because everyone's attention was distracted?

    Now Ms Naomi chimes in.

    SleepinJeezus's picture

    "This is what democracy looks like!"

    By SleepinJeezus on Sun, 02/20/2011 - 7:05am |

     

    Capitol Rotunda 02-19-11 MegRothstein

    The Capitol Building in Madison, Wisconsin has always been for me an inspiration. It's a stunning work of art fashioned from cold granite, and it makes of this unyielding material a very strong, yet welcoming edifice capable of embracing and even shaping the passions and aspirations of the people of Wisconsin. 

    New way to fight a foreign enemy of the state if you're a royal family

    By artappraiser on Sat, 02/19/2011 - 4:02pm |

    When can a State renege on a commitment?

    By Flavius on Fri, 02/18/2011 - 11:39pm |

    When it negotiates a government employee pension

    Among the media voices who discussed Wisconsin today - on Diane Rehm, on Brian Lehrer, on All-Things-Considered - the consensus was that Wisconsin Governor Walker had no choice but to gut public employee pensions and emasculate the unions because Wisconsin is in a desperate condition.
    Oh?

    NEW YORK -- Fitch Ratings assigns an 'AA' rating to $428.74 million in State of Wisconsin (the state) general obligation (GO) bonds of 2011, series A.

    jollyroger's picture

    Riddle: I do 69% of the work. I earn 10% of the income. I own 1% of the stuff. Who am I?

    By jollyroger on Fri, 02/18/2011 - 2:34pm |

     Oh, come on!   This is easy.  I am a woman.  Well, women, plural.

    Treat yourself to an hour *listening to the very delightful Kavita Ramdas, formerly President and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, now visiting as a scholar at Stanford.

    Hint: When women get free, we all get free.

    By the way, if the calculus in the riddle doesn't raise outrage in your gorge, you are an irredeemable asshole.

     

    cmaukonen's picture

    Taking it to the streets.

    By cmaukonen on Fri, 02/18/2011 - 11:28am |

    This post will undoubtedly piss off a lot of people here. So be it. I hope people do get pissed off but I also hope they direct their anger toward those who are making life miserable.

    cmaukonen's picture

    Government Social Circles - They're what makes things work in Washington.

    By cmaukonen on Thu, 02/17/2011 - 8:25pm |

    I was turned on to this particular analysis from another blog and thought it deserved wider exposure.  One explanation of why congress and the president seem to be ignoring a large part of America.  Matt Yglesias and Kevin Drum seem to think it

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