Donal's picture

    A Good Clunker is Hard to Find

    By Donal on Sat, 09/18/2010 - 2:04pm |

    Automobile sales are slow. Around here, local car dealers are offering 1% financing, 0% financing, leases, and even their own version of Cash for Clunkers. $4,500 off, supposedly. Heh.

    Last year, I thought Cash for Clunkers was a fair stimulus plan but not much of an environmental benefit. From what I read, many customers traded in their clunkers for what I considered slightly newer clunkers, SUVs and trucks, with only slightly better mileage. Supporters argued that even a small improvement in mileage was significant, but I had a more aggressive agenda.

    cmaukonen's picture

    Follow the money

    By cmaukonen on Sat, 09/18/2010 - 12:27am |

    We are all aware of the current situation concerning China's valuation of the Yan. Being accused of keeping the value low withe respect to the dollar and euro. But they are not the only players in this currency dispute by a long shot. Japan, which has been hit hard by the economic down turn, is also trying to devalue it's currency so as to increase exports.

    acanuck's picture

    Right-Wing Rag Redeems Itself

    By acanuck on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 8:55pm |

    I'm not normally a fan of Canada's National Post, but I give the conservative daily full props for the headline on today's front-page photo.

    Richard Day's picture

    MICHAEL STEELE STARRING AS FAUSTUS!

    By Richard Day on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 3:32pm |

     

    File:Page 004 (Faust, 1925).png

     

    Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it

     

    I found this gem at Huffpo today:

    Richard Day's picture

    BARBARIANS AT THE GATE

    By Richard Day on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 6:26pm |

    File:Germaniae antiquae libri tres, Plate 17, Clüver.jpg

                    TWO TEABAGGERS REACHING THE U.S. SENATE

     

    Pentagon Central Command Wants to Open New GWOT Front in Yemen with $1.2 Billion Ante

    By NCD on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 4:32pm |

    The New York Times reports that the Pentagon is seeking $1,200,000,000 ($1.2 billion dollars) over 6 years to fight about 500 'hardcore' al Qaeda in the deserts of Yemen. Most of the money would go to US arms manufacturers to buy the usual tools of killing people, helicopters, guns, communication gear, bombs etc., and US 'trainers'. It works out to about $2.4 million per bad guy but who's counting? Certainly not General Petraeus who approved the request.

    trkingmomoe's picture

    Obama Will Get Financial Products Consumer Protection Agency Underway With Elisabeth Warren

    By trkingmomoe on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 11:16pm |

    Jake Tapper of ABC News reports that Obama will appoint Elisabeth Warren as Assistant to the President & Special Adviser to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This is going to bypass the a Senate confirmation process which could drag on for months. Warren has been the moving force and advocate for a consumer financial products protection agency. She has been working closely with the president as Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel of the Troubled Assets Relief Program.

    Joe Wood's picture

    I Fear’d The Drumbeats Marching

    By Joe Wood on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 9:17pm |

    I see

    A stupid dog

    I almost feel

    An angry hand

    I listen to music I cannot stand

    Then

    I make excuses

    For

    What is the use of watching

    Reflections

    Die in the sand

    I hear the sparrow humming

    I hear the drumbeat

    Coming

    I fear the likelihood of it repeating

    I look to the sky

    For an unseen hand

    While I’m eating

    Eating

    Eating

    Just to halt the movement

    To frighten the land

    Though I’m a believer

    I know the Earth’s round

    Donal's picture

    Meta Post: Designing the News Experience

    By Donal on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 7:36pm |

    Khoi Vinh on design and the news

    I thought this talk, by a former design director for the NY Times, might be interesting to dag management, and indeed to authors of the other small blogs that have sprung up since the tumult at the Cafe. Vinh even mentions TPM, among other blogs.

    Most interesting to me was when Vinh stumblingly compared the decline of print journalism with the decline of the Romans or Mayans. I had the feeling that the blogger he was trying to quote had read some of Joseph Tainter's Collapse of Complex Societies, but that Vinh had not.

    Richard Day's picture

    A TEA PARTY

    By Richard Day on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 6:33pm |

                                             THE NEW NATIONAL REPUB PARTY

    Let the jury consider their verdict," the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.

    Shouldn't All Republicans Be OUTRAGED That A Prominent GOP'er Is Shielding His Illegal Immigrant Partner?

    By azpaull on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 5:46pm |
    WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE?  that popular mantra (just Google it) certainly seems to fit in this case. I just received a Tweet that led to an article in Monday's Washington Post about the possible effects an immigration overhaul (is one suddenly in the works?)...
    Michael Maiello's picture

    Bodybuilding Buffalo Bilkers

    By Michael Maiello on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 11:51am |

    Ever wonder how "welfare queen" stories get started?  Over at Time's Swampland, I think we saw one get born.  Joe Klein, on the road searching for the soul of America or something, decided to uncritically and unskeptically relay a tale told to him by Mark Kirkwood, a resident of the Detroit area.

    Kirkwood had a classic welfare queen story to tell:

    oleeb's picture

    What Makes Right Wing Authoritarians Tick?

    By oleeb on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 5:52am |
    The right wing authoritarian Republican Nominee for US Senate in Delaware shown above. Over the past 40-50 years we have seen American right wing extremism and authoritarianism grow from a tiny, isolated, and reviled but committed faction to a...

    The right wing authoritarian Republican Nominee for US Senate in Delaware shown above.

    Donal's picture

    I'm OK, You're Meat

    By Donal on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 9:12pm |

    Meat Bikini

    I have come to regard nutritional advice as a giant pendulum. It swings one way and you are supposed to drink eight to ten glasses of water a day; a few years go by, the pendulum swings back, and - no one can remember who was giving us that advice.

    Richard Day's picture

    LIFE IN A BOX

    By Richard Day on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 4:14pm |

    File:Crimeandpunishmentcover.png

     

    The problem with life is that there are no clear directions on the box it comes in!!!

    Oh we receive hints from time to time.

    stillidealistic's picture

    The Gift of Fear

    By stillidealistic on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 3:48pm |
    Fear, a gift? Think about it. If we listen to our fear, it can keep us from doing some incredibly stupid things.In 1997, Gavin de Becker wrote a self-help book called "The Gift of Fear." In it he discusses fear...
    oleeb's picture

    The Party Of Stupid Rallies Ignorant Authoritarian Followers While Democrats Still Have No Strategy

    By oleeb on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 3:12pm |
    Teabaggers of 2010 above. Teabaggers of the past below.  And no, this is not exaggerating the case at all.  Make no mistake, today's Teabaggers are the direct descendants of the right wing, racist whites of the past.  The only...
    Donal's picture

    Sex Sin Soil

    By Donal on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 2:45pm |


    Barth's picture

    Monday morning quickie

    By Barth on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 2:07pm |
    Don Draper may have decided against a quickie last night, astounding the Mad Men voyeurs, but here is a little post for a Monday morning.  It is based on this and a similar entry on the New Republic site which...
    stillidealistic's picture

    The Gift of Fear

    By stillidealistic on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 12:54pm |

    Fear, a gift? Think about it. If we listen to our fear, it can keep us from doing some incredibly stupid things.

    In 1997, Gavin de Becker wrote a self-help book called "The Gift of Fear." In it he discusses fear and it's role in keeping us safe in the face of violence in a number of circumstances, dating, the workplace, home...

    He doesn't mention politics or voting, but I can see the application. Think of it in terms of fight or flight.

    Barth's picture

    My third "new home"

    By Barth on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 11:45am |

    Today's adventure in posting to TPM Cafe resulted in success, but it was not easy and we still assume that out last post there may be on the horizon.  I have been directed to three replacement venues and today signed up here, after also joining TPMaholics and Once Upon a TPM

    Jamie Friedland's picture

    A Guide to Natural Gas Fracking

    By Jamie Friedland on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 11:43am |

    Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is a drilling technique that has earned a lot of media coverage lately - especially in regard to natural gas.  In the last couple of years, it has been credited with dramatically increasing U.S.

    Jamie Friedland's picture

    Hi dagblog!

    By Jamie Friedland on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 11:38am |

    Hi folks.  I'm Jamie and another TPM refugee.  I write mostly about politics and the environment.  My posts aren't normally as long as my first real post (which will immediately follow this one), but occasionally I write a longer post with background information about an environmental issue that is in the news.  Thanks for welcoming us here.  I look forward to getting to know you and becoming a dagblogger!

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