Saturday Stuff

I’m not sure what words I can provide to do justice to this anniversary, so instead I’ll just show this clip…

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...and I give you a “don’t know much about geography” Teahadist and “Calgary” Cruz supporter here…



…and boy, is it good to see a Repug being attacked over an anti-environmental policy as Mike Coffman is here (“this is a recording, this is a recording”)…

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…and I was really sorry to hear about this concerning Linda Ronstadt; she sang many types of music, but of course she’ll probably be regarded eventually as the pre-eminent “California rock” (whatever that is exactly, I’ll admit) female vocalist (or vocalist overall) of all time…in the documentary about the rock group The Eagles on Showtime, Glenn Frey and Don Henley recalled how she helped them by adding them to her touring band (along with Bernie Leadon also, I think), and when they decided to go on their own, Ronstadt was very classy and supportive of them, even taking their more-or-less throwaway song “Desperado” from their ill-fated second album and turning it into a gigantic hit…all the best to her (I don’t know anyone who sang “cover” songs better, including this one).

Friday Stuff

For someone who supposedly has such dead-on political instincts, I’m a bit surprised to see Governor Bully attach himself to the cast-iron political anchor known as Steve Lonegan (as in “anchor that is bound to sink straight to the bottom as quickly as possible”)…



Update: HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

…and it continues to defy my understanding as to why anyone thinks U.S. Senator Tom Coburn is actually sane (to say nothing of “Calgary” Cruz…I have to admit that I was mystified by about the first minute of this with the comments of this Goldie Taylor person – have to have “balance,” I guess)…

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…and here is more proof that you would be better off watching nothing at all as opposed to watching a single minute of Fix Noise…

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…and happy belated 50th birthday to Tori Amos.

Tuesday Stuff

Say hello to Al Jazeera America (Time Warner Cable leapt into action immediately and dropped it – nice)…



…and speaking of courageous journalism, Rachel had better be careful with this, or the next thing you know, President Hopey Changey will sit silent while she endures the same treatment at airports as Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald...

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…and even though I’m pissed off at Number 44 over the secrecy BS, I still have to give him credit for the ACA – the initial question from the constituent here is great, but there are so many lies in Joe Heck’s response that I don’t think I can answer them all…

“Nobody had a chance to read it.”

Um, the original legislation was released just about four years ago, as noted here, so there was, in fact, plenty of opportunity…

“It was passed in the middle of the night.”

No – actually, it was passed in broad daylight in the Senate and House on March 21, 2010 and signed into law by President Obama two days later, as noted here.

“There was no opportunity for competing plans to be debated.”

Charles P. Pierce responds here.

“No such thing as a free, preventive health care service…”

That’s a straw man that nobody is arguing about (Heck is having a rhetorical conversation with himself on this as far as I’m concerned). Yes, the ACA provides greater coverage, but so far, that hasn’t led to greater out-of-pocket expenses (see California and New York). And the individual mandate will provide a much larger pool of plan participants than the insurance companies will benefit from because of the ACA (and my God, is it tiresome to have to keep making these arguments over and over!).

And as I’ve also said, I’m tired of this argument that businesses that have more than the “magic number” of 50 employees will get it in the neck. The ACA was signed into law three years ago, and businesses have had that long to meet its requirements. If you need another worker but can’t hire an FTE, hire a contractor!...



…and here another nice, up-tempo number.

Monday Stuff

Posting is going to be really up in the air for a little while for personal reasons – here is John Fugelsang’s goodbye to Current (classy)…



…and here’s a special request – Neil was always one of her favorites.