Another Smorgasbord because I’m too lazy to make individual posts when I think about it. Huzzah for laziness!
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy comes out today. Kelly forbid me from bringing a towel to the movie…
Fascist. 
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So Medicaid is growing too fast for us to afford it and some tough decisions need to be made in the budget. So let’s cut medicaid and throw in another tax cut. Survey Says… ARGHGHHHHHLLLMBLRGH!
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Bush’s new SS plan : Cut Social Security benefits for the better off. Okay what’s the catch? The plan his plan is based on defines “better off” as making more than $20,000. A year.
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A double whammy from Angry Bear: Advance estimates for Q1 GDP growth are lower than expected and deeper explanation of inventory growth vs. GDP grown. Damn I love that blog.
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I’m headed to the Pacers game tonight, Round 1 Game 3, with middle deck tickets. Pacers tied the series 1-1 in the first two games in Boston. Let’s hope the beaten up and battered Pacers can win another one tonight.
Check out the photo sets by Flickr user jlacpo that include pictures taken in the 70’s and 80’s of bands including The B52’s, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Kiss, Jethro Tull, The Kinks and tons more. Very, very cool stuff. Via the Flickr Blog.
When I collect more than a few links and want to share them all I create a post called….Smorgasboard. (Original, eh?)
The Indiana Democratic Club met last night. Check out the notes on the meeting here.
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Ahhh so this is compassion?
From today’s [Tuesday] Social Security event in Galveston, Texas:
MR. BENTLEY: And we’re operating in central Iraq. I’ll be back there next week.
[Snip]
THE PRESIDENT: How many children you got?
MR. BENTLEY: We have two children. We have a four-year-old son named Patrick, and a three-month-old daughter named Elaine that I just got to meet for the first time.
THE PRESIDENT: Really?
MR. BENTLEY: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: No wonder you’re emotional. (Laughter.) That’s awesome.
MRS. BENTLEY: She was born two days after he deployed.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, great.
Yes. Great indeed. :\
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We’re winning the *da da dum duuummmmm* War On Terror! Ummmmm or not.
The U.S. count of major world terrorist attacks more than tripled in 2004, a rise that may revive debate on whether the Bush administration is winning the war on terrorism, congressional aides said on Tuesday.
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Somehow my level of surprise is quite low.
Wrapping up his investigation into Saddam Hussein’s purported arsenal, the CIA’s top weapons hunter in Iraq said his search for weapons of mass destruction “has been exhausted” without finding any.
Nor did Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, find any evidence that such weapons were shipped officially from Iraq to Syria to be hidden before the U.S. invasion, but he couldn’t rule out some unofficial transfer of limited WMD-related materials. [editor’s note: the report doesn’t have any evidence this did happen either. basically just said, as RUmmy might say, there are unknown unknowns.]
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The Bush administration justified its 2003 invasion of Iraq as necessary to eliminate Hussein’s purported stockpile of WMD.
(Source: Weapons Inspector Ends WMD Search in Iraq By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer. Emphasis added.)
(via Atrios)
update: Some interesting poll numbers…
Half of all Americans, exactly 50%, now say the Bush administration deliberately misled Americans about whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the Gallup Organization reported this morning.
(source: Gallup: 50% of Americans Now Say Bush Deliberately Misled Them on WMDs by Editor and Publisher staff)
(Also via Atrios)
I used Brainy Quote’s nifty Quote of the Day feature and combined it with some cool CSS transparency effects to make a nice quote of the day box in the lower right of the page’s masthead. If you’re using a modern browser (Get Firefox. Now! although it should work on newer IE versions) the quote box should show up semi-transparent and the masthead image should show through a bit.
A frivolous, but cool, effect.
update: Decided to include the code/how-to for the semi-transparency. Got it from a comment on the WordPress support forums (sadly, I’ve misplaced the link).
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To anyone reading this who has thought about or has gone to Drinking Liberalyl: Indianapolis, this week’s is cancelled due to the Pacers Playoff game (and my subsequent absence due to said playoff game).
Next week is also up in the air because if the Pacers go to six games against Boston, game six will be next Thursday as will the May meeting of the Indiana Young Democrats.
Stay tuned to the Indianapolis Drinking Liberally mailign list and message board for more.
[update: edited to fix embarassing typo.]
A press release from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV, Asskicker):
As a matter of comity, the Minority in the Senate traditionally defers to the Majority in the setting of the agenda. If Bill Frist pulls the nuclear trigger, Democrats will show deference no longer.
Invoking a little-known Senate procedure called Rule XIV, last week Democrats put nine bills on the Senate calendar that seek to help America fulfill its promise.
If Republican’s break the rules Democrats will use the rule to bring to the Senate floor an agenda that meets the needs of average Americans, such as lowering gas prices, reducing the cost of health care and helping veterans.
“Across the country, people are worried about things that matter to their families - the health of their loved ones, their child’s performance in schools, and those sky high gas prices,” said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. “But what is the number one priority for Senate Republicans? Doing away with the last check on one-party rule in Washington to allow President Bush, Senator Frist and Tom Delay to stack the courts with radical judges. If Republicans proceed to pull the trigger on the nuclear option, Democrats will respond by employing existing Senate rules to push forward our agenda for America.”
Democrats have introduced bills that address America’s real challenges. (Details attached)
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Check out the rest of the release for the details of some of the bills the Senate Democrats are pushing onto the floor. For too long the GOP has used strong arm tactics to keep nearly every proposed Democratic bill off the floor of the Senate, barring any votes on important issues.
If the GOP is going to try to change the rules, the Democrats in the Senate should be prepared to use any and every rulea t their disposal to slow or stop the GOP power grab.
Makes me wonder if there is a similar rule in the Indiana Senate…..
“A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.”
-President Franklin D. Roosevelt
(via Briany Quote, via dad, even though he wouldn’t approve of this chosen quote )