Thanks to your help we raised over $10K for Candidates in the 2008 Cycle.
Please help us reach our goal of $30K for 2010
No donation is too small $1 sends a message
Our Candidate List
The moment we have all eagerly been anticipating. Well since the Teen Choice Awards anyways.
Unfortunately polldaddy does not let us publish results to surveys unless we purchase the pro version. Another reason to send us a donation.
The survey sample a little smaller than we had hoped. So consider it a little less than scientific. Some questions were skipped.
Overall I learned that we have less regular readers or at least those that took the survey are less regular.
We are largely Democrats. Most of us read the Daily Kos and The Huffington Post on a regular basis. Other popular sites are The New York TimesMedia Matters, Five Thirty Eight and The Hill. Politico not so much. But a whole bunch of other sites were mentioned under other like Crooks and Liars, Burnt Orange Report and Think Progress.
You mostly learned about the site through a link from another site or you simply cannot recall.
You feel pretty good about Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Alan Grayson and Anthony Weiner. All those Grayson and Weiner seem to have a stronger like as some had no opinion of these. Everyone had an opinion about Pelosi, Obama and Biden.
You really don't like Rush Limbaugh, Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin. Big surprise there right? You don't like Rand Paul either although the dislike is not as intense. Most of you don't have as strong opinions of Jack Conway or Tarryl Clark as I would have hoped. (kind of hard to read this one in form below)
Job creation and financial reform are the most important issues. Although all issues listed seems to be important.
Half of our readers who responded are 55+ or older. 30% of those who responded are 55-65 followed by 19% older than 65% which is impressive. Not as many between the age of 25-35 responded as I expected. And we had no younger than 18 readers respond. Probably not that surprising.
57% of the readers who responded were female. 43% male.
Fairly even geographical distribution although not surprisingly the southeast, southwest and northeast lead the way. And California also had a number of readers respond.
Oh and most of those who responded did so from a PC opposed to my beloved Mac
Alan Grayson penned an article today in the Huffington Post called the story that noone will tell.
The story that everyone wants to tell is that the Democratic Party is disheartened and disintegrating. Teabagger Republicans are juiced up and on top. Or so the media says, over and over again.
But the House candidate who raised the most money in the entire country during the last FEC reporting period -- $860,000 in three months -- is not a teabagger. He is not boosted relentlessly by Fox News. He's not even a Republican. He doesn't think that the Earth was created 6000 years ago, that President Obama was born in Kenya, or that global warming is a hoax.
This House candidate also, remarkably, had the largest number of contributors. Over 15,000 individuals contributed, many of whom have given time after time, whatever they could. The House candidate who raised the most money did so without French-kissing lobbyists, without flattering the idle rich, and without reaching into his own pocket.
Will news services pick up on this story now? There's got to be some way to stop this tidal wave of conventional wisdom that says certain doom for Democrats. This fall Dewey has already defeated Truman according to most of the main stream media. I hope it works out like their picks of Rudy and Hillary a few years back.
Sarah Palin's publishers have been talking up the bus tour that their client has been taking across the United States. There's only one problem with that. See if you can figure it out from this picture inside her bus.
That's right. The Sarah Palin bus tour of America is conducted mostly by her staffers while Sarah jet sets in this Gulfstream II from tour stop to hotel room. She only uses the bus for short delivery to tour stops so that it looks like she's on the great America book tour. But really she's just another elitist jet aficionado fleecing the masses with her faux populist rhetoric.
As Cenk Uygar from the Young Turks would put it, "Ooopsie Doopsie!"
via HuffingtonPost In a little-noticed blog post published on the White House website in September, President Obama's special counsel for ethics and government reform Norm Eisen announced that the administration no longer wanted federally-registered lobbyists appointed to agency advisory boards and commissions...
As has been reported, the President has made a commitment to close the revolving door that has in the past allowed lobbyists and others to move to and from full-time federal government service. In furtherance of this commitment, the President issued Executive Order 13490, which bars anyone appointed by the President who has been a federally-registered lobbyist within the past two years from working on particular matters or in the specific areas in which they lobbied or from serving in agencies they had lobbied. The aspiration we are announcing today builds on this commitment. While the letter of the President's Executive Order on Ethics does not apply to federally-registered lobbyists appointed by agency or department heads, the spirit does and we have conveyed that to the agencies who are responsible for these appointments.
Beck wants the top of the ticket for himself.
From ThinkProgress
Transcript from Huffington Post BECK: I don't think things are hoots. I don't. I don't think it's a hoot. I would never use the word hoot, and I respectfully ask that every time my name is brought up she would stop using the word 'hoot.' [...]
No, no I'm just saying -- Beck-Palin, I'll consider. But Palin-Beck -- can you imagine, can you imagine what an administration with the two of us would be like? What? Come on! She'd be yapping or something, and I'd say, "I'm sorry, why am I hearing your voice? I'm not in the kitchen."
First off, if your reading this over at ProgressiveElectorate.com, thanks for bringing me in and letting me do my thing here as well. Not sure if I ever introduced myself, but I am Jeff, sometimes better known as Fish. I don't write, I rant and usually, in some way shape or form, I try to make my thoughts funny if it all possible, which sometimes is incredibly hard to do, but luckily for me, the Republicans and Conservative movement make it easier then it needs to be. I don't really proofread or check for typo's, so if you see any of those, as I tell everyone else, KEEP THAT SHIT TO YOURSELF, lol. I'm here to get a few chuckles, not win a Pulitzer. I am pretty simple, hardworking dude from Missouri that has recently got into politics (maybe a little to much), I bleed blue, I try to work as hard as I can for the causes I believe it, and I stand firm against the ones I do not believe in. I am an America loving individual who wants every person to have a fair crack at the American Dream. I partied out of college where I majored in Journalism, and to this day, I have no fucking idea what the hell I was doing in college or studying Journalism to begin with. I may not always have my facts 100% accurate, but I speak from the heart, and that's the important thing. So, with that, I will begin ranting and I hope you enjoy.
He would be disappointed that his unprecedented efforts to renew the constitutional separation of church and state - in a country, as he said, in which "no Catholic prelate" would tell an elected official how to decide what was in the best interest of all Americans - had still not dissuaded the current Roman Catholic hierarchy from trying to punish a good Catholic congressman like JFK's nephew Patrick for voting his conscience on the question of free reproductive choice for American women...
He would be disappointed, even astounded, that, despite his assassination and the crushing blows that followed - the assassinations of his brother Robert and his friend Dr. King, as well as the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan - this country is still awash in handguns easily available to terrorists, the criminally inclined, and the mentally impaired.
Jeremy Scahill The Nation
At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help run a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.
War is a racket, now more than ever. When did it become OK to get filthy rich off of war?
Tonights MNF games is the Tennessee Titans against the Houston Texans. I've got Steve Slaton on my fantasy team and the guy I'm playing has Andre Johnson, both are on the Texans. I need Slaton to get 9.5 pts more than Johnson to win my matchup. How's your fantasy matchup doing? Any thoughts on tonight's game?
BRUSSELS - For 23 torturous years, Rom Houben says he lay trapped in his paralyzed body, aware of what was going on around him but unable to tell anyone or even cry out.
The car-crash victim had been diagnosed as being in a vegetative state but appears to have been conscious the whole time. An expert using a specialized type of brain scan that was not available in the 1980s finally realized it, and unlocked Houben's mind again.
The 46-year-old Houben is now communicating with one finger and a special touchscreen on his wheelchair.
"Powerlessness. Utter powerlessness. At first I was angry, then I learned to live with it," he said
2. Huffington Post Lifesize Lincoln. This piece looks at Lincoln's face in some rare photographs, comparing the left to the right.
Homer called it "liquid gold." Olive oil has been more than mere food to us Mediterraneans: it's our way of life. The olive tree, symbol of abundance, glory and peace, gave its leafy branches to crown the victorious in both friendly games and bloody war. Olive crowns and olive branches, ancient emblems of benediction and purifiation, were ritually offered to deities and powerful figures but it is only in recent times that modern scientific research has proven over and over what the peasant wisdom knew a long time ago: its wonderful taste and health properties.
#252% of people are wildly misinformed about who would win a fight between an army of bears and an army of gorillas. This made me LOL so hard the other night
From Greg Sargent at the Plum Line
Officials in a small Michigan town featured in a new video about Guantanamo by Liz Cheney's national security group want her to know that they're not falling for her "fearmongering" - and tell us they want Gitmo detainees in their town.
#1 There's a CafePress boycott going on. It's too bad because I really like their stuff, but not the nasty psalm that's calling for Barack Obama's early death. I'm in on this until they change their ways.
#2 My buddy J.T. Kohut is half way through the second stage of Q-School. He's T-20 at 3 under par. 19 people plus ties advance. He plays tomorrow and then Saturday. If he advances he's guaranteed a spot on either the PGA Tour or the PGA Nationwide Tour. Go get em bro!!
#3 Three more heroes have been lost too soon in our wars abroad. Honor these fallen heroes with a comment Rest in Peace Spc. Christopher J. Coffland
Lance Cpl. Shawn P. Hefner
Staff Sgt. Stephen L. Murphy
#4 Jon Stewart annihilates the Rogue Warrior Sarah Palin's book tour.
#5 Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-Crazy) claimed that the GOP passed civil rights without help from the Democrats. LOL. Not true at all.
The two House Democrats shepherding derivatives reform proposals through Congress will close an existing $50 trillion loophole for foreign currency contracts, the Huffington Post has learned.
Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank and Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson will insist that foreign exchange derivatives be subject to the same transparency and accountability rules as other derivatives. The legislation as proposed by the Obama administration had exempted them.
#7 Afghan Official takes $20 Million bribe
WASHINGTON - A senior Afghan official allegedly took a $20 million bribe to steer a copper mining project to a Chinese company, a glaring example of the claims of corruption clouding the Obama administration's deliberations over expanding the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan.
In Washington, two U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports said that Afghanistan's minister of mines, Muhammad Ibrahim Adel, allegedly accepted the money soon after the $3 billion contract was awarded in late 2007 to China Metallurgical Group Corp.
Greg Schannep, an aide to U.S. Rep. John Carter, told Statesman.com he was on the Army post to attend a graduation service. He said that as he neared the entrance of a building where the service was being held, a soldier with blood on his uniform ran past him and said a man was shooting.
Schannep said the shootings appeared to have occurred in a complex near a theater where the service was scheduled. He was with the injured soldier, who he said appeared to have been struck in the shoulder but did not have life-threatening injuries.
Mable Randon is suffering from the late stages of cancer. She's bound by a wheel chair and only breathing with the help of an electrically-powered oxygen machine. Rucks Russell of KHOU in Houston reports that the local power company sent her a disconnection notice because of late bills. She applied to the Critical Customer Program, a payment plan seemingly tailor-made for people in Randon's condition who depend on electric life support -- but she was denied.
There's talk lately of using a trigger for a public insurance option. This would mean that we'd wait and see if insurance companies made reforms before creating a public insurance option. We can't afford to wait.
The public insurance option would be just like Medicare except that policyholders would buy in. It would offer affordable health insurance for the simple reason that they wouldn't have billions of dollars from their insurance pool going to Wall Street and executive bonuses and salaries. It would create competition for policies where in many areas there are monopolies. It's a shame that this has become a partisan issue, because cost control should be universal.
Sessions, in a casual tone, said "Mr. Henderson, It's good to work with you. Senator Leahy and I are talking during these hearings, we're going to do that crack cocaine thing that you and I have talked about before."
After an awkward pause, Henderson laughed to himself and said, "Thank you, Senator, I appreciate that."
It turns out it was a harmless mistake
While the Senate gallery laughed, and witnesses including NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former FBI director Louis Freeh snickered, Sessions sputtered, "Let me correct the record."
Sessions explained: "I misspoke. We're going to reduce the burden of penalties in some of the crack cocaine cases and make them fair."
Now that's something I can agree with. See more on the real issue of federal drug sentencing equity by Senator Leahy below the fold.
"There are moral absolutes, God's law is indeed there to protect you from yourself. There are consequences if you breach that. This press conference is a consequence."
At first it was not clear what Sanford was referencing.
"I've been unfaithful to my wife and I've developed a relationship with what stared as a dear, dear friend from Argentina," he finally said. The affair has been going on for a year, he later explained.
This shouldn't be a national story. Yet it is, because Republicans have made it that way. The majority wanted to impeach Bill Clinton for his affair and for hiding it from the public. So where are the calls for Sanford to resign his governorship? He did resign his leadership position at the RGA.
How will this be treated in the media? It has a lot of interesting pieces to the story, first that the staff lied and said he was on the Appalachian trail. But really he was in Argentina. Late night comedians are gonna do a lot with this one!
"I spent the past five days of my life crying in Argentina," he said, "so I could come back and cry here."
We are Progressive Democrats that discuss national, local and regional politics, politicians and issues. We support candidates that share our passion for improving government, ensuring equal rights and opportunity, social and economic justice and civil liberties. We strive to improve the economy, environment and the health of all Americans. We're also big sports fans. Please register and join us with your own posts and comments. If you can please donate to help us continue this service.
