Blog Archives
What is the potential of the youth vote in the election?
It’s a pretty substantial 20%… the question is will they show up? Here’s the demographics:
Here in the Shepherd University area where we see an awful lot of the youth category daily, we are curious as to how involved students are getting in the campaigns. From what I see it is minimal at best.
How is it where you are? Does it look like we will surpass the 2008 election or fall below it’s total of young voters? We’ll have to wait and see.
Related articles
- Loreto urges youths to register to vote (leytesamardaily.net)
- UPA ‘cheating’ youths: Modi (thehindu.com)
- ‘Discussion on Voter Turnout at the Economic Club (jonathanjuteau.wordpress.com)
- Reaching First Generation College Students (insidehighered.com)
- New ID Laws May Shoot Down College-Student Voters (huffingtonpost.com)
Cartoon(s) of the Week – Romney’s Problems
Clay Bennett in the Chattanooga Times Free Press:
Romney has a popularity problem…
– and –
Kevin Siers in the Charlotte Observer:
… and a focus problem…
– and –
Tony Auth (formerly) in the Philadelphia Inquirer:
…and an image problem…
– and –
Jeff Koterba in the Omaha World Herald:
…and a communication problem…
– and –
Mike Luckovitch in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
… but now, without real Republican competition, he is finding himself.
Cartoon(s) of the Week – The State of Our World Changes
Robert Ariail in the Spartanburg Herald-Journal:
A whole party that can’t find the main issue…
– and –
Pat Oliphant, Universal Press Syndicate:
A state that has found a neat use for guns…
Clay Bennett in the Chattanooga Times Free Press:
A government that could take control of women’s reproductive health…
– and –
Mike Luckovich in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
An enemy that responds to our media…
I’m starting to get form letters back from my representatives in the Senate and Congress…
… all glad to see my concern and all saying they’ll keep me in mind as legislation comes up.
However, not one of them, whether Democrat or Republican, got elected without financial support from the coal companies that are destroying West Virginia with mountain top removal to get coal. If you think that means they are going to regulate the coal companies who are destroying our state… ruining homes, water supplies and the tourist industry… then you have got to be kidding yourself.
Here’s a piece by Michael Jonathon:
So… of you’re anywhere in the states that have Appalachian coal mining, keep this in mind next Fall when the politicians are campaigning in your neck of the woods.
Related articles
- Jeff Biggers: Dear Soledad: Appalachian Leaders Respond to CNN’s Blair Mountain Special on Mountaintop Removal (huffingtonpost.com)
- Removing mountaintops yields coal, controversy (cnn.com)
- Lethal Fallout from Mining Spurs a Mountaintop Removal Moratorium Campaign to End to the Humanitarian Crisis in Appalachia (alternet.org)
- Extra 60,000 Cancer Cases from Mountaintop Removal (gcvconservation.wordpress.com)
- Sen. Manchin Maintains Lucrative Ties to Family-Owned Coal Company (nytimes.com)
- Poll: Majority oppose controversial coal mining practice (cnn.com)
- The new battle for Blair Mountain (cnn.com)
- WATCH: Soledad O’Brien Takes On Hugely Controversial Environmental Issue (huffingtonpost.com)
Celebrating New York State’s Legalizing Gay Marriage…
I was going to right something about the overwhelming vote in the New York State Legislature which has legalized Gay Marriage… but then I heard Jonathan Mann‘s Song-A-Day for today, and that about sums it up:
Nuff Said.
Related articles
- Gay Marriage Finally Legal In NYC! (since1910.com)
- ‘Gay Marriage,’ Libertarians, and Civil Rights (nationalreview.com)
- What’s Next For The Gay Marriage Movement? [Rites And Rights] (jezebel.com)
- New York makes gay marriage legal. Excelsior! (blogs.discovermagazine.com)
- NY becomes 6th US state to legalize gay marriage (morningtology.wordpress.com)
- New Yorkers Take to the Streets to Celebrate Gay Marriage Vote [Photos] (gawker.com)
- Gay Marriage is Now Legal in New York State (shoppingblog.com)
Quote of the Day (perhaps the Quote of the Month) from a Congressional Idiot:
“Is there some thought being given to subsidizing the clearing of rain forests in order for some countries to eliminate that production of greenhouse gases? Or would people be supportive of cutting down older trees in order to plant younger trees as a means to prevent this disaster from happening?”
– Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R – California
Rohrabacher was questioning Todd Stern, the Obama administration’s climate change envoy, on whether the nation’s climate policy should focus on reducing the more than 80 percent of carbon emissions produced by the natural world in the form of decaying plant matter.
And was he serious about this question… it seems like he was. So let’s cut down the rainforests and turn the world into an oxygen-depleted desert. Perhaps he doesn’t realize that forests soak up more than 1/3 of the world’s carbon emissions… and maybe we would do better to not cut down any more forests…ever.
Responding to a NY Times article on Rohrabacher’s statement, a Dallas, TX, reader commented:
Rep. Rohrabacher may not be that far out of the GOP thinking on the environment. It was his fellow Californian Ronald Reagan who claimed in 1981 that: “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do.”
Is the lack of thinking problem endemic to California? Or to Republicans? Or just to Congressmen in general? As Mark Twain said:
“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”
Related articles
- Republican’s Climate Solution: Clear-Cut the Rain Forest (green.blogs.nytimes.com)
- Lawmaker Explores Climate Solution in Clearing Rain Forests (dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com)
- GOP Rep. Rohrabacher Doesn’t Believe in Climate Change, But Wants to Clear the Rainforests Anyway (littlegreenfootballs.com)
- Do trees cause global warming? (politico.com)
- Republican Blames Trees for Global Warming [Science] (gawker.com)
Clips from the web
A little bit of this, a little bit of that… more than I can get around to. Click on the authors’ links to read their whole posts
Rhode Island House Republican Leader Robert Watson is the latest living example of the Republican difficulty with practicing what they preach. Watson is fervently anti-Marijuana, but last Friday night he was pulled over and arrested for DUI and marijuana possession.
According to The Providence-Journal, “After handcuffing Watson and placing him under arrest, the arresting police officer said he found “a small plastic sandwich bag containing a green leafy plant-like substance and a small wooden marijuana smoking pipe” in Watson’s right pants pocket.”
– from Politicus USA
– and –
Speaker Boehner says the Ryan plan “transforms Medicare into a plan that’s very similar to the President’s own healthcare bill.”
Only older people are sicker and more expensive to cover and Ryan doesn’t provide the funds for seniors to buy care. Beside that they’re identical.
– and –
The wage squeeze is putting most households in a double bind. Before the recession, they’d been able to pay the bills because they had two paychecks. Now, they’re likely to have one-and-a half, or just one, and it’s shrinking.
Will The Republicans Listen To Bernanke?
The Federal Reserve Chairman made his presentation to Congress today and was not thrilled with the House Republicans’ proposed budget cuts.
What are the odds that these turkeys ignore him?
Here’s a clip from a longer McClatchy article:
|
Related Articles
- Fed’s Bernanke testifies to Senate Banking panel (reuters.com)
- Bernanke Warns on Debt-Limit ‘Chaos’ (blogs.wsj.com)
- Bernanke Says Economy Still Gaining Momentum – NYTimes.com (opsudwinger.wordpress.com)
OK… DADT is now history… the Senate has voted it out and the bill is on its way to Obama.
So the score so far today is Democrats 1 (Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is voted out), Republicans 1 (Dream act voted down…
actually, it didn’t get passed the 61 vote filibuster requirement). Tomorrow they will be debating and maybe voting on the START treaty… whoever wins on that one will break the score.
I hope Harry Reid can keep everyone there until the work is done.
Related Articles
- DADT Breaks Filibuster (talkingpointsmemo.com)
- Cloture Vote on DADT Repeal Passes 63-33 (themoderatevoice.com)
- So Is DADT History? (talkingpointsmemo.com)
- Six GOP-ers push DADT over the top (politico.com)
- Fate of DADT and DREAM Act decided today (dailykos.com)
Speaking of Pennsylvania, Sestak just pulled 1 point ahead of Toomey…
…in this morning’s PPM Poll.
From HuffPo:
A new poll and high-profile prognostication have heightened the electoral prospects of Pennsylvania Senate Democratic candidate Joe Sestak and spurred talk of another dramatic campaign comeback.
On Tuesday the Democratic-leaning polling firm PPP released findings showing Sestak leading his Republican challenger, former Club for Growth President Pat Toomey, for the first time this cycle: 46 percent to 45 percent. Sestak’s campaign did not pay for the poll, which was done with recorded voice interviews and with respondents sampled from actual voter lists. A day prior, the odds-makers at ABC News had moved the race from “lean Republican” to “toss up.”
The dual pieces of news added a jolt of hope to Democratic Party infrastructure, which had been waiting for weeks for some upward movement from the Sestak campaign. It also jarred loose a sense of déjà vu for those who watched the congressman close the gap against Senator Arlen Specter (D-Penn.) during the closing days of the Senate primary.
“This is his shtick,” said one high-ranking operative.
Last week when Sestak came out with this ad, people said things would start turning around:
Toomey has now blown a ten point lead from two weeks ago. This is one worth watching!
Related Articles
- New Public Policy Polling survey confirms internal polls that show Sestak and Toomey in dead heat (pennlive.com)
- Sestak Catches Toomey in Pennsylvania (politicalwire.com)
- Sestak Making a Race of It? (talkingpointsmemo.com)
Things are changing in Colorado…
|
Related Articles
- Bennet And The Gay Issue (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
- Election 2010 Monday Polls: Voter Enthusiasm, Nevada, Colorado (politics.usnews.com)
- Colorado’s Senate Candidates Bennet, Buck Spar Over Rape Case (businessweek.com)
- Republicans Bucked by Colorado Candidate Buck? (lezgetreal.com)
Here’s a great piece from “I Tried Being Tasteful…”
You can go to her site for links: http://youcallthatart.wordpress.com
|
Related Articles
- Pence preaches social issues in Iowa (politico.com)
- Fetuses trumpt finances…. (tagg-lines.com)
- Planned Parenthood director turned pro-life champion receives award for courage :: EWTN News (deaconforlife.blogspot.com)
- Planned Parenthood Advocacy Project Los Angeles County Honors ‘Champions of Choice’ at Politics, Sex & Cocktails (prnewswire.com)
Things are changing in Connecticut…
It looked last week like Linda McMahon (who I once worked for when she and her husband, Vince, owned the Cape Cod Coliseum) and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal were a virtual toss-up for Senate in my old home state of Connecticut. Then McMahon revealed her lack of knowledge of what the minimum wage was as she campaigned to revise it and all of a suddenthings have shifted.
As I understand it, McMahon has just released a TV commercial (prior to this evenings debate) bringing up Blumenthal’s misstatement on his overseas military experience… but it doesn’t look like this is really helping Mrs. Wrestling.
From Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire:
Blumenthal Leads by Double-Digits
With their first debate scheduled for tonight, a new Public Policy Polling survey in Connecticut shows Richard Blumenthal (D) leading Linda McMahon (R) in the U.S. Senate race by 12 points, 53% to 41%.
Blumenthal’s favorability rating is 53/39, while McMahon’s is the opposite, 39/59.
The only Republican Senate candidates with worse favorability numbers than McMahon were Joe Miller, Sharron Angle, and Christine O’Donnell.
Related Articles
- Linda McMahon Bodyslams Blumenthal With Ad About Vietnam War Comments (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
- How Old Is Linda McMahon? (politicsdaily.com)
- National Dems bash McMahon in Conn. Senate race ad (sfgate.com)
Passing on an important message from Howard Dean:
Governor Dean’s organization is trying to keep the best progressive Congressfolk in place as they are challenged by very dangerous people from the right. I pass on this message I received from him this morning:
Related Articles
- ‘Cheddarbomb’ for Russ Feingold (americablog.com)
- Sen. Feingold Faces Tight Race In Wisconsin (npr.org)
- Cheeseheads wouldn’t do this, would they? (washingtonmonthly.com)