Damn liberals are never satisfied . . . Encouraged but not satisfied by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s announcement yesterday of the inclusion of an opt-out version of a public option in the Senate health reform bill that he will bring to a vote, we sent the...
Year: 2009
Majority Leader Reid Says Public Option Is In
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE8EpzSYdvI Just announced this afternoon. Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announces the merging of bills from the Senate Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will include an...
What Is New Orleans?
Resilient, a Moveable Feast, and Growing, Slowly
Loyola panel discussion well attended, thought-provoking, encouraging The moderator and panelists presented some very thoughtful and deeply felt responses to the question “What Is New Orleans” at Loyola’s Nunemaker Auditorium Wednesday night. In his introduction, the...
What Is New Orleans? Come Find Out.
How Do You Define a City? Anybody who is within driving, walking, or biking distance of Loyola University in New Orleans on Wednesday night should think positively about coming to the discussion titled “What Is New Orleans” to hear the thoughts of panelists Richard...
Obama Welcomed, and Challenged, in New Orleans
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL7aldiQLS0 Maybe he wished he’d planned to stay longer, though there may have been a point when he began to wish he hadn’t come at all. President Obama’s visit was criticized days in advance even by supporters for being too short. The...
Obama Visits New Orleans (Too Briefly)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od2bOkQ4Kf0 President Obama visits New Orleans for about four hours today. He will visit the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School in the Lower Ninth Ward from about noon till 1:00 p.m., and then will hold a town hall meeting at UNO...
Pajama Party
“Those bloggers need to take off their pajamas, get dressed and realize that governing a closely divided country is complicated and difficult.” —Anonymous Obama adviser to NBC White House correspondent John Harwood Wait—we have to get dressed? Drag! Our best pieces...
The Nobel Peace Prize 2009
Warm congratulations to President Barack Obama for being selected to receive the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” It is a proud and happy occasion for the President and for...
Are “Conservatives” Conservative?
Are They Even American?
“. . . although they believe themselves to be conservatives and usually employ the rhetoric of conservatism, [pseudo-conservatives] show signs of a serious and restless dissatisfaction with American life, traditions, and institutions. . . . Their political reactions...
Rep. Grayson, Tough Kid from Bronx, Rips GOP
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8rSX8V9Bl8 We like to look on the bright side when it’s at all realistic to do so, and so in a week that saw the very disappointing performance (despicable, really) of several Democratic members of the Senate Finance...
A Word About Our Focus on Health Care Reform
Levee-lovin’, tree-huggin’ as ever As our regular readers will have noticed, we’ve lately been focusing most of our energies on helping the campaign for health care reform. This is part of our mission: since Katrina we’ve been pushing Congress and the White House for...
Scenes from a Health Reform Phone Bank
The setting: The living room of a volunteer’s apartment in Manhattan. The action: A night of phoning voters, mostly Obama supporters, in Florida, Indiana, and Virginia. Many wrong or disconnected numbers, or no one home (so we leave messages). “Hello, my name is —....
“No Way” Rockefeller Will Support Baucus Plan
Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) announced this afternoon that “there is no way” he could support the health care reform plan drafted by Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and his “(Bipartisan) Gang of Six” to be presented tomorrow, Weds. Sept. 16. Senator...
Robert Reich on the Public Option
And How to Make It Happen
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBi8A_HutII “Unless you make a helluva racket” the status quo is going to win this thing. Former labor secretary Robert Reich explains the basic idea of the public option and urges everyone to pitch in to make it happen—Yes We...
Viva Burlesque!
Will you pardon us while we take a break from being all-serious all the time? This weekend, Sept. 11-13, The City That Care Forgot hosts the first annual New Orleans Burlesque Festival, which we hope will be the first of many to come. Featuring Foxy Flambeaux, Praline...
Senator Kennedy’s Letter to President Obama
Below is the text of the letter from Senator Edward M. Kennedy referenced by the President in tonight’s address to a Joint Session of Congress. May 12, 2009 Dear Mr. President, I wanted to write a few final words to you to express my gratitude for your repeated...
Warming Up for Obama
Senators: Support Public Option, Kennedy’s HELP Committee Plan Tonight President Obama gives a rather important speech to a joint session of Congress. To say we wish him well would be an understatement. We spent most of the day warming up his audience by faxing and...
Does Believing in Social Contract Make Us Socialists? Then So Be It.
Learning What We’re Up Against, and How to Carry On If we’re learning anything from the messy struggles for health care reform and the passage of the stimulus bill back in February (how long ago that feels!)—and it’s far from clear whether anyone is learning...
Senator Kennedy’s Gulf Coast Rebuilding Plan
“For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.” While others have gone quickly online with some very affectionate and stirring tributes to Senator Kennedy, we wanted to take a...
Feingold Asks Obama for Timetable on Withdrawal from Afghanistan
Think Progress calls attention to a report by ABC News that Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) is calling on President Obama for a timetable for when the U.S. will withdraw forces from Afghanistan. The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 after the attacks of September...