The last TDS I saw (not yesterday's, but earlier this week) I think really nailed the left's (of which I'm a proud member) dissatisfaction with Obama. It was about the woman at the town hall meeting; he showed the 'This is what we were promised' clips from the campaign and early days of the administration, and the 'This is what we got' clips from a little later in the administration.

And the worst and most frustrating thing about that to me? All we're going to hear about is that Obama and the Democrats tried to do too much, and not that they weren't doing enough.

Everytime I listen to the news, I hear bitching about health care reform, financial reforms (hell, it's conventional wisdom that Warren can't be confirmed), any move toward a WPA style jobs bill. So everyone tells them to compromise and be bipartisan and we don't get any of those things and then the Repubicans say we tried to do too much or are too big government liberals.

And it's a bunch of shitty lies told by shitty people.

The resolution cites world history books no longer used in Texas schools that it says devoted more lines of text to Islamic beliefs and practices than Christian beliefs and practices.

Oh FFS - I know I'm shouting into the void here, but the point of school is to LEARN THINGS YOU DON'T ALREADY KNOW. So yeah, maybe information about a religion most students DON'T PRACTICE AT HOME and know nothing about deserves a little more space than information about the religion practiced by 80% of the country.

So I saw something pretty strange while picking up lunch. The fire department was in the process of putting out the smoking remains of a car fire of some kind. This vehicle was totally incinerated (tires melted, etc.) and you could smell it blocks before you got to it. I'd almost think a car bomb went off, except I think the police would have been keeping people further away. Very strange.

As I passed nearby, I overheard some guy saying "I almost thought they must be shooting a Bruce Willis movie or something."

Maybe it was just a regular car fire. One time at work, there was a car set on fire in the next door parking lot. It was arson, I think a personal grudge, but I don't remember the details.

A friend of mine had a Lexus park next to the hydrant in front of her house for a week. It got booted, and then one night someone set it on fire.

On Tuesday, I was updating my ballot measures database here at work for what's on the various state ballots in November. One of the ones I added for Oklahoma specifically excludes any judicial system "based on international or Sharia Law." Are you fuckin' kidding me?

One of the ones I added for Oklahoma specifically excludes any judicial system "based on international or Sharia Law." Are you fuckin' kidding me?

Nope. That's a big Tea Party thing, I think. Anyway, it's the latest conservative cause.

Oh hey, Texas isn't the only state that used to be its own republic! [link]

disingenuous bullshit

That pretty much covers what gets me upset about the Republican pledge.

Well, the deal with the healthcare reform stuff was that a bunch of the large insurance companies said that as of today, they would not cover children under a single policy (meaning, just the kid independent of a family policy), because of the whole can't-deny-care-to-kids-with-preexisting-conditions thing.

So the reporter (maybe Robert Siegel? doesn't matter) asked Pelosi what the hell (well, the swearing was implied) could be done to sanction/punish the companies that are doing this. And she chirped out this bullshit reply that, when the "healthcare collectives" start -- IN 2014 -- then *maybe* those insurers would be not allowed to join those collectives. So (she chirped), since *maybe* (though no guarantee) those insurers might be left out for being dickheads, they'll be "punished" 4 years from now for their dickheadedness now, because they'll miss out on those millions of new policies and revenue, PROVING (she chirped) the "bargaining" power of the American public.

Which, frankly, is BULLSHIT. I mean, *seriously*??? A gigantic insurer is going to behave right now, in 2010, because of the potential -- remember, she said *maybe,* not definitely -- that they won't be able to participate in the healthcare collectives FOUR YEARS FROM NOW?!?

Which is basically what the reporter asked, with a definite tone of "You have GOT to be shitting me, Madam Speaker."

And her reply was to parrot (chirp) exactly the same goddamn thing she said the first time. No promise, no guarantee, just that MAYBE in 4 years they won't be allowed to participate.

Somehow I think that "maybe" will be forgotten in 4 years.

But regulation of an industry is bad. Of course. Because we saw how well deregulating the financial juggernaut worked.

And that (in conclusion), is why I'm honked off at the Democrats and, in particular, Madame Disingenuous Bullshit Speaker.

One of the ones I added for Oklahoma specifically excludes any judicial system "based on international or Sharia Law." Are you fuckin' kidding me?

Totally crazy, but I guess it's a good strawman to fire up the base. I wonder how crazy a strawman one could get away with, "We need a law against fucking goats in public, the Democrats have had control of congress for years and have never passed any legislation to prevent public goat fucking. It's about time we stood up for family values and put an end to this."