deadissue.com

Krugman looks at what led to the shooting in Arizona, I think this part explains it well:

As Clarence Dupnik, the sheriff responsible for dealing with the Arizona shootings, put it, it’s “the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business.” The vast majority of those who listen to that toxic rhetoric stop short of actual violence, but some, inevitably, cross that line

The problem with the hate filled rhetoric of Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh, or Glenn Beck, or perhaps Sharon Angle (wow, this list could get pretty long) is that even though most their followers are not going to commit mass murder, all it takes is one unhinged individual and you have a massacre like the one in Arizona.

A democratic congresswomen was assinated today in AZ.. First they came for the abortion doctors and now the immigration reformers.

Update: some outlets are reporting that she is alive:

Giffords is expected to live, according to Tucson’s deputy city manager, MSNBC reported

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Much of the stuff flowing out of wikileaks was already known but still got everyone all riled up, Matthew Ygesias explains why:

…thanks to WikiLeaks it crossed the line from being something “everyone says” to something people in the media can straight-up report. And Washington, as a company town, is filled to the brim with these kind of things that “everyone knows” but few people really know for sure and nobody wants to publish.

Hollywood is also like that. For all the celebrity gossip that’s published, there’s a remarkable quantity of stuff that “everyone knows” and is nonetheless held back because it’s not really verified or verifiable.

I always wondered why the right went after Joe Wilson so hard and in such a strange way, I think this might be at least part of the answer.

Most of this sounds like a pretty good idea. Right now one of the biggest problems facing the U.S is the number of people behind bars, anything that can reduce the number of people in prison, and at the same time create productive citizens, is a good thing.

I don’t think we would be seeing this if Obama was not the president, he seems to understand that while it is easy to pick on the lowest rung of society it is not right.

I doubt this is what the tea-party crowd thinks of when they talk of ending government programs, but maybe they can be shamed into ending subsidies for rich white guys.

If President Obama wants to set us on a path to a sustainable energy future—and a green one, too—he should propose a very simple solution to the current mess: eliminate all energy subsidies. Yes, eliminate them all—for oil, coal, gas, nuclear, ethanol, even for wind and solar. It will be better for national security, the balance of payments, the budget deficit, and even, believe it or not, the environment. Indeed, because wind, solar, and other green energy sources get only the tiniest sliver of the overall subsidy pie, they’ll have a competitive advantage in the long term if all subsidies, including the huge ones for fossil fuels, are eliminated. And with anti-pork Tea Partiers loose in Washington and deficit cutting in the air, it’s not as politically inconceivable as you might think.

For some reason I don’t think the republicans will vote for this, but one can hope.

At this point it seems pretty obvious that New Jersey governor Chris Christie screwed up when he left the state so he wouldn’t have to deal with a large snowstorm headed towards their way, but his excuse that he did it for the children is a bit over the top.

Asked about the timing of his trip, the governor added, “My first and most important responsibility, in my view, is as a husband and a father.”

At face value, that sounds fine, but the circumstances don’t exactly help his case. The storm was serious enough for the acting governor to declare a state of emergency, coordinate with state and local agencies, and activate the National Guard. While this was going on, Christie’s “first and most important responsibility” was to hang out at the Magic Kingdom?

Christies’s level of self absorption is pretty amazing, and at this point leaves me speechless

When I hear gas prices are getting higher I think it will lead to more efficient cars, but instead it just leads to calls for more drilling, but it usually just leads to more people demanding we drill more holes.

Oh well, I hope everybody has a good new year.

Looks like other people are discussing Vick.. I still think the shooting at his birthday party was very suspicious and somebody paid off some witnesses. With that said, the message that convicted felons deserve a second chance is a good one; i’m just not sure Vick is the best example of a rehabilitated felon out there.

Really just a bigger fear center

A study at University College London in the UK has found that conservatives’ brains have larger amygdalas than the brains of liberals. Amygdalas are responsible for fear and other “primitive” emotions. At the same time, conservatives’ brains were also found to have a smaller anterior cingulate — the part of the brain responsible for courage and optimism

I think that Obama’s biggest blunder as president has been the way Wikileaks has been handled, and it looks like others agree.. Yeah the leaks make our state department look like a bunch of clueless buffoons but maybe it is better to know stuff like that.

I think this story is going to have more legs than people expect.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and his lieutenant governor were told Sunday about the blizzard barreling down on the Garden State. Soon after, they left town at the same time, with Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno (R) and her family flying to Mexico, and Christie and his family going to Disney World in Florida.

This has that “let them eat cake” feel to it that republicans seem to walk into every time they get a position of repsponsibility. Plus, why would any adult want to go to Disney World?

Looks like Colorado and Utah are two of the healthiest states in the union, especially when it comes to weight and diabetes. Apparently Utahans smoke less though.

Obama makes a good point about Micheal Vick. I hope other businesses consider giving less famous felons a chance as well.

The venom directed at Michelle Obama for her let’s get moving initiative is pretty striking, in fact if you know any right wingers or hard core Hillary supporters some of the things they say about Michelle Obama are pretty shocking.

The weight loss initiative strikes another cord as well as she is taking on the healthy at any weight crowd. it is amazing to me that something as simple as eat better and exercise more would create such controversy, and it doesn’t bode well for the health of our country.

After getting to watch quite few religious types try to work their Magic on Christmas, I am starting to realize they really don’t get what Christmas is supposed to be about. Originally Christmas festivities would have been about curing the winter blahs, and perhaps helping out a neighbor that was struggling.

During the winter you can easily see why that would be a good idea, of course once Christians got a hold of it all the goodwill was lost and it became more of a bargained for exchange, where if you agree to pretend you believe in myths, like Jesus and Santa clause, maybe someone will help you out. At some point the intrinsic value of helping people went away, it became all about earning your way into heaven.

So anyway merry Xmas to everyone

This seems to explain a lot
The only thing I disagree with in that statement is whether or not it is too late to reverse course, I have a feeling we passed the tipping point a long time ago.

Just a note for my one or two readers, I may not be posting until after Christmas, I am on my way to Winter Park and hopefully I will be too busy to mess around on the internets. Have a great Holiday!!!!

This was said a long time ago, but may still apply to the south, and especially South Carolina:

Not all South Carolinians supported secession. About 57 percent of the state’s 703,000 residents in 1860 were slaves. A few white opponents spoke out, including lawyer and politician James Petigru, whose famous quote still echoes through his home state today: “South Carolina is too small to be a Republic, and too large to be an insane asylum.”

It is sad that in 150 years since the civil war much of the south has refused to move on from it.

Sometimes you have to wonder what is wrong with our christian population

Unless something goes very wrong in the next couple days don’t ask don’t tell will be repealed.. This is real progress, it would have been nice to see the Dream act also get past a filibuster but the repeal of don’t don’t tell is a step in the right direction. Slowly butt surely the U.S is moving away from the bigoted ways that have held us back for most of the last thirty years.

I really am starting to wonder why conservitives are so against rail projects

Florida would need 23,000 people to build the rail line, and to find as many as 1,000 workers to operate it. The train would stimulate businesses along the line and help turn Orlando and Tampa into a single market that attracts entrepreneurs eager to reap the benefits of the nation’s most advanced transit system.

Why would Rick Scott oppose such a system? Because President Obama’s stimulus program, which he savages, underwrites so much of it? Because it has become a badge of honor among conservative governors to reject federally funded rail projects? Because, even though it would better connect Floridians and deliver all those jobs, Mr. Scott thinks opposition would somehow help him among his conservative constituency?

Sometimes I think that conservitives just want to punish people who that don’t have cars or choose not to drive them. other than that I cannot think of a reason why they would kill so may jobs.

Looks like Polar bears are starting to mix with grizzly bears as a result of climate change. I am not sure what to say about this but is kind of interesting.

I hope this is right. Steve Benen seems to be arguing that Voters may not have known what they were getting with republicans and Obama may start to look good in comparison, my guess is that he is probably right. I don’t think voters were planning on all social issues all the time but really that is about all the republicans have.

This is great for some state:

Talgo Inc. will shut down its Milwaukee train manufacturing operations in 2012, leaving only a maintenance base, because plans for a high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison have been abandoned, the company announced Friday

It is getting pretty obvious that conservatives really don’t understand economics
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I was reading this post about paternalism and subsidies for the poor and it is really hard to tell which way the subsidies are going. This part stood out for me:

Looks like the tax compromise negotiated by the president and the republicans will probably pass, even though a lot a Democrats are claiming to be upset about it. My guess is that deep down congressional Democrats know they couldn’t have done any better, this is a congress that even with big majorities in both houses couldn’t deliver on repealing don’t ask don’t tell, and couldn’t manage to get a public option passed. I doubt they would have been able to get unemployment benefits extended or any kind of tax breaks for low-income people, so maybe they should just shut up.

With that said I still think the best thing that could happen would be to let the budget busting Bush tax cuts come to an end, but in the current climate my guess is the tac cuts are here to stay and Democrats may as well get something worthwhile for them.

When I was at the University of Colorado I went to a talk with the new president of the med school, I can’t remember his name name, but what I do remember was that he was enamored with China, and talked about how the U.S should be more like that country when it came to the economy. At the time remember thinking I would not want to live like a typical Chinese worker and most the stuff produced there is not very good. Looks like I was right.

What is strange to me is how many powerful supposedly serious people see China as a success story when the standard of living is still low there, while places like Sweden with a high standard of living are not even on the radar.

I am starting to think the tax cut compromise may have been better than I thought, I guess I will enjoy my extra money without guilt.

Looks like a compromise has been reached on extending the Bush deficit building act, errrr I mean the Bush tax cuts, and it looks like I am going to take home about thirty-five-hundred more dollars next year, so I should ecstatic, right?

But, I am really sad for the U.S. The idea that the country would rather see the deficit explode even more, rather than pay a little bit more in taxes now, does not bode well for the country.

Looks like the courts are trying to impose religious beliefs on people. It will be interesting to see if the tea-baggers come out against activist judges trying to impose christianity on people. I doubt it because tea-baggers are hypocrites.

More on the creeping police state. I wonder where all the people who claim to care about freedom are when our civil liberties are being trampled.