The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

Blog Posts

My Adopted Progressive

By AmericanDreamer on Mon, 10/04/2010 - 10:15am |

We are entreated to adopt a progressive. 

I'm giving to the DCCC.  That doesn't mean it's going to progressive candidates in all cases, obviously.  But they have as good a sense as anyone which races are winnable with a little extra money and which aren't.  Priority #1 is to keep the House Democratic.  If that doesn't happen, progressives in the House will have close to zero influence.

The individual progressive I'm adopting is Jeff Barnett, candidate for Congress in the Virginia 10th (northern Virginia/DC burbs), where we live.

In Partial Defense of Bob Woodward

By AmericanDreamer on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 9:25am |

Woodward is coming out with a book, parts of which are being run in The Washington Post, called Obama's Wars.  As is the case with Woodward's numerous other books, it's an attempt to lay out some of what has gone on behind-the-scenes insofar as decisions about AfPak and Iraq are concerned.

Nissan's Polar Bear TV Ad

By AmericanDreamer on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 11:53am |

Has anyone else seen it?

I can't speak for anyone else, but, knowing full well I was being manipulated, it touched me in a way few ads do.

Nissan knows what is common knowledge--that the polar bears are facing a dire threat to their very existence, and that this bothers many people.  And they just took that and put it right there on the screen, in the viewer's face.  Not in an accusatory way but in a way that left the viewer able easily to imagine something she can do to help.

Reflecting on the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 20 Years and a Day Later

By AmericanDreamer on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 12:45pm |
July 26 brings back fond memories of watching, with my parents in attendance, Bush I sign the ADA into law on the White House lawn.  I worked as a Congressional committee staffer behind the scenes in strong support of that law. ...

Fast Forward: September 6, 2010

By AmericanDreamer on Sat, 07/24/2010 - 1:26am |
(from the first draft of President Obama's address to the nation, following September 6, 2010 Senate passage of $150 billion jobs bill earlier passed by the House, and asking the public to pressure their elected officials to support, as he...

Happy Fathers' Day to All the Cafe Dads Out There

By AmericanDreamer on Sun, 06/20/2010 - 2:27pm |
As anxious, terrified, distraught, outraged, pick-your-adjective as so many of us are about what is going on in our world...I hope the dads out there will find a way today to reflect a little on, and hopefully cherish, the gifts and opportunities that go...

On Creating 2010 Mojo

By AmericanDreamer on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 1:38pm |
The cafe's <a href="http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/09/election_sneak_preview/">Jon Taplin</a> is one of the few pundits sympathetic to the Democrats who hasn't already thrown in the towel for November--and I say good on him.  The defeatism makes me crazy. Jon writes: (come the fall): "...it will be clear...

What Might More Helpfully Be Done About Jobs This Year

By AmericanDreamer on Wed, 02/24/2010 - 1:17pm |
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), an excellent DC-based, pro-middle and working-class advocacy group, has developed an American Jobs Plan proposal it estimates would create or preserve at least 4.6 million jobs in its first year.  The cost would be about $400 billion.  Under...

On Moving the Center Leftward (or, in the direction of the "old" center, if you prefer...)

By AmericanDreamer on Wed, 02/03/2010 - 4:01pm |
What becomes the "center" changes over time.  We all know that because we've seen it move rightward for decades now.  While many denizens consider "centrist" as inherently an epithet, successful social movements help redefine what the "center" is.  So long...

Defeat Harry Reid Ad Here at the Cafe?

By AmericanDreamer on Fri, 01/29/2010 - 7:40pm |
Does anyone else besides me find it...um...interesting...that a Republican seeking to unseat Harry Reid, Danny Tarkanian, is advertising here at the cafe?  His tag line is "Help Finish Reagan's Last Campaign". I'm not sure what to conclude from that.  Does this...

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