money
A year ago, my ex-husband and I sat down to negotiate the end of our marriage. Using standard forms downloaded from the state website, we planned the termination of a twelve year marriage- including custody of two young children, distribution of assets, and division of debts. No one was happy with the agreement, but truthfully, it has worked fairly well so far. The secret of the successful compromise is we understood there would be pain and sacrifice for everyone, but ultimately if we worked together we could find a way to make it tolerable.
Everyday people have to make life-altering decisions all the time- my ex and I did. It’s time for our government to figure out how to communicate at least as well as a divorcing couple.
Congress and President Obama find themselves in need of similar skills of negotiation this week, as they work to end a budget dispute that has dogged the country for years. To avoid falling off a fiscal cliff, our government must work within itself, like a family, to find a way for everyone to get what they really need, and be willing to give up that which they don’t for the greater good. Read more
With the White House, the Senate, and the House of Reps. all in play heading into Tuesday’s elections, now is the time to get your voting plans in order and to connect with your networks to make sure that everyone else is planning to vote.
Our friends at Fight for the Future (a.k.a. the group behind the SOPA blackout in January) have built a fantastic app that makes it easy for you to set up your own DIY get-out-the-vote operation. It’s called “Vote With Friends,” and it uses the best recent social research into what gets people to vote to help you apply exactly the right kind of friendly nudge to your on-the-fence friends.
Get yourself set up here. Read more
An American Aristocrat; Mitt’s Ancestor Perhaps? Or A Bush Maybe?
We don’t know but he looks like a jolly good fellow to me.
Greetings to all you real Americans out there.
I’m Thomas Kennsington St. Washingtonsonson Jefferson-Smythe and I am a real American.
By real American; I mean I am; like you; a stand alone American.
An American who never asks for a handout.
Never gives one either.
Personal Responsibility; that’s the ticket for a great America.
Law of the Jungle. Read more
When we don't remember it was organized labor
that brought us weekends, wages & work safety,
it becomes easier to vote for a Governor
who stands against unions' interests & our own.
When we forget to check whose money
bankrolls his bottomless campaign coffers,
unfettered, unaccountable infusions
can overwhelm voters & buy out democracy.
When our recollection fails, we overlook
unprecedented power grabs & divisive laws,
and a Tea Party hero holds his office.
Conservative cons convinced & connived,
and Wisconsin - and America - lost on Tuesday.
When we don't remember, we don't Recall.
Time to fix our memory & our democracy. Read more
We all occasionally want to change something in your life. The first thing that comes to mind - is to change something, where we spend most of life - at home. Over time, the surroundings bored and want to change. But which ones? You can hang a picture, change the curtains or do a little rearrangement. But whether from this convenient?
We all want to have a roomier apartment to things that over the years, becoming more and more, do not interfere with movement and not an eyesore. However, not everyone can dare to take the plunge: repairs and alterations. Read more
three o'clock in the morning. Wake up on the growing roar of turbines - so I have a signal the arrival of SMSes. "Mom, I got! Immediately went to number 900 rubles ... ". Lazily yawning, I turn to the side and fall asleep better at first wrapped his only year-old son.
I hate these people who despise there ... you can answer, but it does not matter. It is important that as long as the light, they will always be among us. So our challenge - to do an interview with them as much as possible for the sad past. We can not know all the rules of detention and execution of contracts, paperwork, transactions, winnings, but we must always remember that these rules exist. Read more
Every Memorial Day, we remember our war dead, we pray to end wars & promise to lessen such loss -- while we leave a force in Afghanistan, threaten Iran and accept the the casualties caused by drone strikes.
More Dems, & even GOP, come out for marriage equality, criticizing those who don't stand for civil liberties -- except both parties accept "security" over liberty via surveillance & tactics criminalizing our population.
Candidates all blast money in politics & negative ads -- spreading that critique through expensive campaigns, elaborate fundraising & the help of their Super PACs.
They oppose wars, invasions of privacy & political money except when it's their wars, invasions & money.
It's hip to be critical, but they wind up hypocritical, and it ends up being a lot more hype than hope.
If campaigns get you down, let us raise your spirits as we raise ideas and raise a few pints at your local progressive social club.
DRINKING LIBERALLY Find - or start - a chapter near you.
I was tremendously disappointed and frustrated by this book.
This is largely my own fault, because I went into it expecting it to be something it's not. Had I read the description more carefully, I might not have had such a strong negative reaction (which was exacerbated by some outside stress when I first started reading it, so I put it aside for a few weeks, until I was less mad in general, and more likely to give it a fair reading). I'm actually somewhat hesitant to write this up at all, for a number of reasons, but after thinking it over a bit, I think I have sensible reasons for being disappointed in the book, and it's probably worth airing them. Read more
A week or so ago, lots of people were linking to this New York Review of Books article by Steven Weinberg on "The Crisis of Big Science," looking back over the last few decades of, well, big science. It's somewhat dejected survey of whopping huge experiments, and the increasing difficulty of getting them funded, including a good deal of bitterness over the cancellation of the Superconducting Supercollider almost twenty years ago. This isn't particularly new for Weinberg-- back at the APS's Centennial Meeting in Atlanta in 1999, he gave a big lecture where he spent a bunch of time fulminating about what idiots politicians were for cancelling the project. Read more
Jury selection has begun for the trial against former Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards. Edwards is accused of mismanaging money during his 2008 presidential campaign, using some of the money that may have come from campaign donations to support his mistress and baby momma, Rielle Hunter.
After the first day of jury selection, defense attorneys expressed some concern over the fact that not one potential juror has been found that finds Edwards even remotely likeable. “Quite frankly,” said Edwards' attorney Bill Smith, “the problem here is John Edwards. His words, actions, thoughts, suspected thoughts, font preferences, favorite color, and everything else associated with him. Perhaps if we gave him an alias....?” Read more
You may have heard about Planned Parenthood turning down Tucker Max's 500k charitable donation on the grounds his misogynistic past marred the gift.
Now PETA is asking for the donation. Read more
Is it a progressive idea to see that when people work they become consumers? Is it also a liberal idea that when workers make more money, they spend more money? The answer is; not really. Or at least it shouldn’t be. What it should be called is logical, not liberal. Read more
I Still Wiggle When They Kick Me So……..
I must be OK!
Greetings Readers.
It has been a few weeks since I last wrote anything.
I have been fighting the Federal Government over the question of whether a man who is unable to sit; stand; use his hands or walk for extended periods and whose chest in in two pieces is able to work for a living.
I say No.
The Government?……………………………………… Read more
If it wasn’t for Big Government – we would be driving on dirt roads and it would probably take us months to drive from the East Coast to the West Coast or vice versa. And, if we did decide to make a trip across the country, we had better bring a boat because we’ll need it to cross the many rivers that our country has. Read more
In the final scheduled GOP debate,
the rivals looked out of steam & out of sorts,
running out of time (and out of money)
to get out their word & break out of the pack.
Railing against the pill and marriage equality,
the candidates were out of the mainstream,
& as they focused on hard-right wedge issues,
they just seemed increasingly out of touch.
When Mitt & Rick dueled about Arlen Specter,
we knew they'd run out of worthwhile topics.
Newt was practically sitting out-of-sight
…while they're all a little out-of-mind.
Out of time, out of topics, out of touch --
you'd say they're "out," but that'd be an insult
to the gay and lesbian community everywhere. Read more
