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Thank You, Veterans

by AmericanDreamer 11/11/2011 - 10:32 am

I don't have anything eloquent or profound to say on this.  You don't make the war and peace decisions.  I don't romanticize what is often an array of considerations why you enlisted any more than I do for other public servants I also feel a large sense of gratitude towards, day in and day out--including teachers and other school employees, firefighters, emergency workers, and, yes,  the police, disfavored by some here not just now in the wake of Occupy events but generally.  None of us, in public service or not, is perfect or are saints.   [Read more]

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Hunting the rich?

by AmericanDreamer 10/1/2011 - 12:40 pm

The Economist's September 24 print edition has a cover story called "Hunting the Rich": http://www.economist.com/node/21530104

Awhile back I made a cultural comment about victim envy--how everyone, no matter how relatively well off, seems in our day to want to portray themselves as a victim for political advocacy purposes. [Read more]

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The American Dream Movement

by AmericanDreamer 8/4/2011 - 12:13 pm

I mentioned this the other day, as a possible constructive outlet for disapproval of decisions being made in Washington.

Have any here made contact with this group?  Participated in any of its activities?  Have insights or additional information about it to share?  

Here are a few links:

Here's their website: http://www.rebuildthedream.com/

Here's more on Van Jones: http://vanjones.net/index.php?p=bio, and some other info on him here: http://vanjones.net/ [Read more]

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Presidential Politics in the Wake of the Debt Ceiling Fiasco

by AmericanDreamer 8/4/2011 - 10:32 am

The most reasonable conclusion I and many others can reach in the wake of the debt ceiling fiasco, and more generally the events since last November, is that our President wants and means to pursue an austerity economic policy at this time.

 

He obtained Speaker Boehner's support for a grand bargain that would have been more contractionary, very possibly leading to more job loss and weaker economic growth, than the agreement that Congress passed.  As we know Boehner could not get his caucus to agree to the grand bargain outline because it contained new reve

 [Read more]

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Mad Men

by AmericanDreamer 6/27/2011 - 10:40 am

I've gotten the impression a number of folks at dag like this show a lot.  My wife and I got into it a few months ago and are getting caught up. 

If you have a favorite scene, an "aha" moment the show has triggered for you, or just some observations you'd like to share about the show, it's success, and what that says if anything about part of our culture, please feel free to share.  Also if you don't like the show or know people who don't like it, I would find it interesting to hear why.

I'll share a few observations/reactions.  Two are reactions to characters.  The other is to the show.

Betty Draper, the January Jones character who is Don's ex, personifies in the early episodes what I understand Betty Friedan was getting at in  [Read more]

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On a Potential Sanders Primary Challenge

by AmericanDreamer 3/15/2011 - 9:56 am

Having made an offhand remark in another thread (indicating that if the Virginia primary were held today and it was Obama and Sanders on the Democratic side, I'd vote for Sanders--still true as of today, BTW) I want to elaborate a bit, partly so as to do what I can to avoid being misunderstood. 

Two thought experiments. 

1. [Read more]

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Scott Walker, the Koch Brothers, and the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page as Bull Connor

by AmericanDreamer 3/11/2011 - 11:12 am

There are others here who could write this post a lot better than I could.  If I had the elementary technical skills to do so I'd paste in one of the iconic photographs of African American citizens being "pacified" or whatever Bull Connor thought he was doing with those fire hoses and police dogs.  If I were a cartoonist I'd figure out a way to substitute in for the folks on the receiving end of those assaults on their dignity and humanity any of the many subgroups of middle-class, or once middle-class, and poor fellow citizens who are getting hammered--impersonally, usually, but no less mercilessly or cruelly on that account--in our day. [Read more]

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On Progressives and Power

by AmericanDreamer 2/25/2011 - 5:33 pm

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.

The reason why public policy decisions are being conducted in many areas using one bastardized, oversimplified and inaccurate version of "free market" theory is because legislators believe they stand both to gain by doing what the vociferous advocates and groups on the Right are demanding, and to lose by not doing what those organized groups want. 

OTOH, I think it's a fair statement that Democratic legislators sometimes feel as though they don't get rewarded by groups they tho [Read more]

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Emanuel, Finger Back on the Ballot

by AmericanDreamer 1/28/2011 - 2:17 pm

From The Tearjerker:

Emanuel Back on the Ballot

An eleted Rahm Emanuel celebrated today's Illinois Supreme Court reversal of a lower-court ruling that might have prematurely derailed his Chicago mayoral campaign.

"Today's decision is a victory not only for this campaign, but for all Chicagoans and for middle fingers everywhere," he said.

Meanwhile, the Tearjerker has learned that the lower court judge whose opinion was reversed has removed his three children from area private schools and has hired three full-time bodyguards.

"I wouldn't say the guy is f***ing retarded.  But he is f****ing vengeful. [Read more]

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Another Reason to Love Tina Fey (Are Any More Necessary?)

by AmericanDreamer 11/16/2010 - 1:34 pm

In a part of her speech accepting the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor last Tuesday night, she said the rise of conservative women in politics like Sarah Palin is good for all women,

unless you don't want to pay for your own rape kit...unless you're a lesbian who wants to get married to your partner of 20 years...[or] unless you believe in evolution.

Those remarks were not included in the PBS-televised version of her speech on Sunday night.  Included in the televised version were the following parts of her speech: [Read more]

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