You’ll be SORRY…

Lookie what I found in my spam filter (links removed to protect the ignorant):

 
Today we’re launching a campaign to end the filibuster. Join this campaign by clicking the link below and signing the petition that appears:

Ending the filibuster starts here!

Here’s how signing the petition makes a difference.

We’ll deliver the petition to every Democratic nominee for Senate and every returning Democratic Senator. When we do, we’ll get them on record about whether they agree that the rules of the Senate can, and should, be changed with a simple majority vote on the first day of Congress next year.

Once 51 returning and potential Senators have come out in support, we’ll have proven that changing Senate rules is possible with a simple majority vote.

Sign the petition, prove change is possible!

Entrenched power players like Joe Lieberman, Max Baucus, Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu have all depended on the filibuster to enable Republican obstructionism and water down progressive legislation. Corporate interests have used it to protect themselves by purchasing a few small state Senators on the cheap.

There’s no bigger decision Senate Democrats will make next year. The Senate is where good legislation goes to die. Democrats can either change a system that allows a tiny unaccountable minority to thwart the will of the country, or they can continue being part of the problem.

Sign the petition, join the campaign!

Let’s get started,

Markos Moulitsas

Founder, Daily Kos

Wow. Amazing how Markos thinks that the filibuster has only ever been used by evil Republicans and corporations to thwart progressive legislation. Amazing how any discussion of tampering with the filibuster was referred to as the “nuclear option” when the GOP was in charge. Amazing also how “screw ’em” Markos seems to believe that the Democrats will never again find themselves in the minority, trying to use the filibuster themselves to “thwart the will of the country” (because I can read polls better than he can) when the GOP is in charge again and it’s time to rollback and repeal the Obamanations of 2009 and 2010. Weapons-grade stupidity at work, people.

Not a Dry Eye in the House

My wife was directed to this video a few days ago from someone on FaceBook (OK, so, I guess that place isn’t ALL evil). She doesn’t see how anyone can watch it with dry eyes.

Today’s Entertainment

Remember this?

The first episode is subtitled and online.

No Apology for Hiroshima

Those millions of lives we saved by ending the war quickly – with two atom bombs rather than by a grueling invasion that Japan was already preparing to defend against to the death – include Japanese civilians as well as US servicemen. Harry S Truman didn’t just reduce our casualties with those bombs, he also reduced theirs. A lot of people in Japan today are only alive because their parents weren’t killed in the invasion that liberals still think would have been preferable. So don’t say “I’m sorry.” Say “You’re welcome.”

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

According to The Jerusalem Post (H/T: Killian Bundy) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad survived an attempt on his life:

A conservative Iranian website said a handmade grenade exploded Wednesday near President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s convoy in an apparent assassination attempt, but Tehran state TV denied the report. The website, khabaronline.ir, said the grenade detonated near Ahmadinejad’s convoy as he was on his way to address a crowd in the western Iranian town of Hamedan but did not harm him. The president later gave his speech as planned, and it was broadcast live on state television. He made no mention of the attack in his remarks. One person was arrested in connection with the attack, the website report said, adding that Ahmadinejad’s car was about 100 yards (meters) from the blast. It also said there was no information whether anyone was injured. … Iran’s state-run Press TV, the government’s main English-language broadcast arm, said an informed source in Ahmadinejad’s office vehemently denied the allegation, insisting “no such attack had happened.”

One has to wonder how anybody can be arrested for an attack that didn’t take place. Looking through khabaronline.ir with Google translate, we can see that the government later released the story that the explosion which previously didn’t exist is now being described as “a firecracker” that was set off by supporters of the President. The JPost, however, reminds us that it is supporters of Ahmadinejad which are less likely to exist:

Ahmadinejad, whose popularity at home is waning amid a faltering economy and tightened UN and Western sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program, regularly tours the countryside to deliver speeches to grassroot supporters in cities and town across Iran. Other media reported an explosion in the area but gave conflicting accounts about the cause. The semiofficial Fars news agency said a handmade grenade was thrown at the path where the president and his entourage had been but only after they had left the site. Fars said the explosion disturbed people at the site. Hamedan, 200 miles (340 kilometers) west of Tehran, is not known as a restive area, but it is close to Kurdish area of Iran that has witnessed occasional clashes between Kurdish rebels and security forces over the past years. Ahmadinejad also said Monday during a speech that Israel had sent agents to assassinate him, but he gave no details.

That’s a lot of different official and semi-official stories. However, given how many American soldiers and Iraqi civilians have been murdered by IEDs made in Iran, it seems fitting that Ahmadinejad should be facing his own improvised explosive devices. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving diminutive despot.

The Party of Tolerance!

“I lost more friends becoming a Republican than I did becoming a woman,” said Susan Kimberly, former Democratic man from Minnesota.

Muslims in Space

Muslims in Space: NASA’s highest priority under the Obama administration.

“Shocking” News About the Volt

There have been several articles written recently about the new Chevy Volt electric car brought to you by billions of dollars of wasteful government bailouts. Doctor Zero’s The Value of a Volt is but one which crunches the numbers and shows how much the car actually costs, above and beyond the $41,000 sticker price (which is already far too expensive for most in the Obama economy). Edward Niedermeyer of The New York Times points out that

…it looks suspiciously similar to a Toyota Prius. It also requires premium gasoline, seats only four people (the battery runs down the center of the car, preventing a rear bench) and has less head and leg room than the $17,000 Chevrolet Cruze, which is more or less the non-electric version of the Volt.

What we have here is a brand-new “Cash for Clunkers” program. Only this time, we’re expected to put up the cash and the government is providing the clunkers.