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sheshe2
sheshe2's Journal
sheshe2's Journal
April 7, 2013
Stand by Me is a 1986 American drama film directed by Rob Reiner. Based on the novella The Body by Stephen King, the film takes its title from the Ben E. King song of the same name, which plays over the end credits.
Starring: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell & Kiefer Sutherland.
Great novella by Stephen King. I don't usually like books that are made into movies, however this one was one of the best!
Stand by me.
Stand by Me is a 1986 American drama film directed by Rob Reiner. Based on the novella The Body by Stephen King, the film takes its title from the Ben E. King song of the same name, which plays over the end credits.
Starring: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell & Kiefer Sutherland.
Great novella by Stephen King. I don't usually like books that are made into movies, however this one was one of the best!
April 6, 2013
We Did It!
From my email.
Draw the Line.
http://support.reproductiverights.org/site/R?i=aBQa8V3AFaqhipNBH26nVg
VICTORY! A federal court just issued a landmark decision removing restrictions on a woman’s access to emergency contraception.
Make a gift today and celebrate this HUGE step forward for women.
Dear ...
We did it!
A federal judge just issued a landmark decision in our FDA case—ordering the agency to remove all restrictions that impede and delay a woman’s access to emergency contraception within 30 days.
This is a HUGE victory for women's heatlh. Make a gift now to celebrate legal strategies that change women’s lives.
The impact of today’s ruling is tremendous. It means that when your birth control fails, you can get EC as soon as possible to prevent pregnancy.
Soon, women across the country should no longer need a prescription to get emergency contraception or be subjected to identification checks. The medication can truly be sold over-the-counter—on drugstore shelves and in stores other than pharmacies.
This is a major step forward for reproductive rights, but we can’t become complacent. Make a gift today so we can continue the fight.
Since 2001, the Center has aggressively pushed the U.S. government to acknowledge the overwhelming scientific and medical evidence proving the safety of emergency contraception for women of all ages. Yet time and time again, politics trumped what was best for women's health.
In today’s decision, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman described moves to block increased access to EC as, “politically motivated, scientifically unjustified, and contrary to agency precedent.”
The Center has always believed that women should have access to the full range of safe and effective birth control methods. Today’s momentous decision means that they finally will.
Help us continue to push legal strategies that change women’s lives.
I am so grateful to you and the thousands of activists who have stuck by us on this journey. We know that great change isn’t possible without your support of the Center and to women’s fundamental reproductive rights.
Today, we won a battle—working together, we will win the war.
Thanks, as always, for all you do,
Nancy Northup
President & CEO
PS - The Center has been battling the FDA for more than a decade to make sure all women can access emergency contraception quickly when they need it. We won’t stop fighting for women’s health, but we can’t do it alone. Make a gift to celebrate today’s victory and invest in legal strategies that change women’s lives.
It's a step in the right direction. We need to make more!
April 6, 2013
I Need a Break from GD.
Help, I need somebody
Help, not just anybody
Help, you know I need someone, help
Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won't you please, please help me
A Beatles thread would make me happy!
Help!
I Need a Break from GD.
Help, I need somebody
Help, not just anybody
Help, you know I need someone, help
Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won't you please, please help me
A Beatles thread would make me happy!
April 5, 2013
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/04/liberals-getting-distractedagain.html
Link to earlier post:
Chained-CPI: cue poutrage eruption
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/04/chained-cpi-cue-poutrage-eruption.html
To have a full understanding, the article must be read:
This link that I posted above is important:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/14/read-obamas-pre-k-plan/
Then there is this...
Liberals getting distracted...againhttp://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/04/liberals-getting-distractedagain.html
Remember what happened when Obamacare was being negotiated? Liberals got COMPLETELY distracted into thinking the only important provision was the public option. That's part of the reason so many people to this day don't know what was actually included in the legislation. As far as I see it - the public option was much less important than things like the largest Medicaid expansion in the program's history, or the medical loss ratios, or the exchanges, or the end of denials for pre-existing conditions, etc.
Today I see the exact same thing happening in that the only thing people are talking about when it comes to President Obama's budget is the fact that it contains use of chained-CPI. As I wrote about earlier today, when we actually see the details of the budget, what should become obvious is that there will be built-in measures to eliminate the impact this change has on those that are most vulnerable. With those provisions, a 0.3% annual reduction in the inflationary increase of payments is just not that big of a deal.
What I find baffling (and terribly disappointing) is that so little attention is being paid to the fact that President Obama's budget will also include implementation of his proposal for universal pre-K. To quote Vice President Biden..."this is a big fucking deal!"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/14/read-obamas-pre-k-plan/
I'm struggling a bit to understand why the silence on this one. Perhaps it has to do with some liberal's addiction to howling about the negative rather than pushing for the positive. In my darker moments, I wonder whether or not they actually give a shit about children.
Today I see the exact same thing happening in that the only thing people are talking about when it comes to President Obama's budget is the fact that it contains use of chained-CPI. As I wrote about earlier today, when we actually see the details of the budget, what should become obvious is that there will be built-in measures to eliminate the impact this change has on those that are most vulnerable. With those provisions, a 0.3% annual reduction in the inflationary increase of payments is just not that big of a deal.
What I find baffling (and terribly disappointing) is that so little attention is being paid to the fact that President Obama's budget will also include implementation of his proposal for universal pre-K. To quote Vice President Biden..."this is a big fucking deal!"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/14/read-obamas-pre-k-plan/
I'm struggling a bit to understand why the silence on this one. Perhaps it has to do with some liberal's addiction to howling about the negative rather than pushing for the positive. In my darker moments, I wonder whether or not they actually give a shit about children.
Link to earlier post:
Chained-CPI: cue poutrage eruption
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/04/chained-cpi-cue-poutrage-eruption.html
President Obama is set to release his budget on Wednesday and there are currently some leaks about what it will include. So of course the poutragers are out in full swing because it will apparently include using chained-CPI as the method to adjust both taxes and benefits to inflation.
But lets calm down a bit and take a look at a few specifics that we know about and then talk strategy for a moment.
First of all, I'd suggest that whenever you read a poutrager going ballistic about chained-CPI, look to see if they are including what President Obama's proposal does to mitigate the effect it will have on the most vulnerable. I can guarantee you that they won't because no one has seen the details yet.
But anyone on the left (including President Obama and Nancy Pelosi) who has been willing to negotiate about implementing chained-CPI has stressed the importance of including such measures.
There are two major changes necessary. First, add a bump in benefits to the very old, who are more likely to have high healthcare bills and to have exhausted their savings that supplemented their Social Security income. Second, exempt Supplemental Security Income, which serves the poorest, disabled and blind but still often leaves people below the poverty line.
One easy way to tell if people are including these mitigating measures in their calculations is that CBO has estimated that switching to chained-CPI will save $220 billion over 10 years. If these protections for the most vulnerable are included, that figure is reduced to $100-150 billion.
But lets calm down a bit and take a look at a few specifics that we know about and then talk strategy for a moment.
First of all, I'd suggest that whenever you read a poutrager going ballistic about chained-CPI, look to see if they are including what President Obama's proposal does to mitigate the effect it will have on the most vulnerable. I can guarantee you that they won't because no one has seen the details yet.
But anyone on the left (including President Obama and Nancy Pelosi) who has been willing to negotiate about implementing chained-CPI has stressed the importance of including such measures.
There are two major changes necessary. First, add a bump in benefits to the very old, who are more likely to have high healthcare bills and to have exhausted their savings that supplemented their Social Security income. Second, exempt Supplemental Security Income, which serves the poorest, disabled and blind but still often leaves people below the poverty line.
One easy way to tell if people are including these mitigating measures in their calculations is that CBO has estimated that switching to chained-CPI will save $220 billion over 10 years. If these protections for the most vulnerable are included, that figure is reduced to $100-150 billion.
To have a full understanding, the article must be read:
This link that I posted above is important:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/14/read-obamas-pre-k-plan/
April 4, 2013
The rest:
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/04/he-freed-lot-of-people.html
He freed a lot of people
I know that we can get caught up in fear/anger/frustration at the dark forces that are at work today. But really...are they comparable to the struggle that was underway 45 years ago?
Think about that for a moment and then read the words that Robert F. Kennedy spoke on that fateful day.
My favorite poem, my -- my favorite poet was Aeschylus. And he once wrote:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.
What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.
So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King -- yeah, it's true -- but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love -- a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.
We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past, but we -- and we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.
Think about that for a moment and then read the words that Robert F. Kennedy spoke on that fateful day.
My favorite poem, my -- my favorite poet was Aeschylus. And he once wrote:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.
What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.
So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King -- yeah, it's true -- but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love -- a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.
We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past, but we -- and we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.
The rest:
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2013/04/he-freed-lot-of-people.html
April 4, 2013
Roger Ebert (June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013)
A must read: Ebert's brief, important, touching oped on Aurora http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/opinion/weve-seen-this-movie-before.html?hp&_r=0 …
7:58 PM - 04 Apr 13
As he preached, cherish the children:
More:
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/04/04/rest-in-peace-roger-ebert/
rest in peace, roger ebert
Roger Ebert (June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013)
A must read: Ebert's brief, important, touching oped on Aurora http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/opinion/weve-seen-this-movie-before.html?hp&_r=0 …
7:58 PM - 04 Apr 13
As he preached, cherish the children:
More:
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/04/04/rest-in-peace-roger-ebert/
April 4, 2013
Seriously?
Partying like it’s 1899
The year is 2013, right? Last time I checked, it was. Unfortunately, Wilcox County High School in Georgia hasn’t gotten the memo. The school itself is integrated, of course, but it has segregated proms and homecoming dances, as it has had since its inception. A biracial kid showed up to the white prom last year and was escorted away by the police.
You might be asking yourself as I was, “How the fuck is this legal?” The answer is that the dances aren’t on school property and therefore are private events – private events can discriminate all they goddamn want. So, this segregation is legal, but it’s still fucking outrageous, and the community needs to be shamed into stopping this bullshit. These kids go to school together, hang out together all the time, but they’re not allowed to dance together? The fuck?
SNIP:
Homecoming consists of two separate dances as well. In the past, there were two Homecoming courts, and this is the first year there’s been only one. But, there were still two dances. Quanesha was the queen, but wasn’t allowed to attend the white Homecoming. As the king was white, the two had to take separate pictures for the yearbook. Take a moment and let that sink in so you can fully appreciate how appalling this is. The kids voted these two as king and queen of their Homecoming, and yet, they couldn’t attend the same dance. This is one thing that drove Quanesha to be part of the planning for the integrated prom. She said:
I felt like there had to be a change because for me to be a black person and the king to be a white person, I felt like, you know why can’t we come together.
http://angryblackladychronicles.com/2013/04/03/a-school-in-macon-area-georgia-still-has-segregated-proms/
The year is 2013, right? Last time I checked, it was. Unfortunately, Wilcox County High School in Georgia hasn’t gotten the memo. The school itself is integrated, of course, but it has segregated proms and homecoming dances, as it has had since its inception. A biracial kid showed up to the white prom last year and was escorted away by the police.
You might be asking yourself as I was, “How the fuck is this legal?” The answer is that the dances aren’t on school property and therefore are private events – private events can discriminate all they goddamn want. So, this segregation is legal, but it’s still fucking outrageous, and the community needs to be shamed into stopping this bullshit. These kids go to school together, hang out together all the time, but they’re not allowed to dance together? The fuck?
SNIP:
Homecoming consists of two separate dances as well. In the past, there were two Homecoming courts, and this is the first year there’s been only one. But, there were still two dances. Quanesha was the queen, but wasn’t allowed to attend the white Homecoming. As the king was white, the two had to take separate pictures for the yearbook. Take a moment and let that sink in so you can fully appreciate how appalling this is. The kids voted these two as king and queen of their Homecoming, and yet, they couldn’t attend the same dance. This is one thing that drove Quanesha to be part of the planning for the integrated prom. She said:
I felt like there had to be a change because for me to be a black person and the king to be a white person, I felt like, you know why can’t we come together.
http://angryblackladychronicles.com/2013/04/03/a-school-in-macon-area-georgia-still-has-segregated-proms/
April 4, 2013
President Barack Obama embraces siblings Sue Connors and Jane Dougherty following a forum at the Denver Police Academy. Their sister, Mary Sherlach, was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary
President Obama greets Terry and Tom Sullivan whose son Alex was killed in the Aurora theater shooting
It's time people, it's past time.
This is the first time I have been here. I am a relative newbie, still finding the groups.
Freshwest suggested I cross post this. I hope it will make a difference. I hope something makes a difference.
This is a cross post from the BOG....
President Barack Obama embraces siblings Sue Connors and Jane Dougherty following a forum at the Denver Police Academy. Their sister, Mary Sherlach, was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary
President Obama greets Terry and Tom Sullivan whose son Alex was killed in the Aurora theater shooting
It's time people, it's past time.
This is the first time I have been here. I am a relative newbie, still finding the groups.
Freshwest suggested I cross post this. I hope it will make a difference. I hope something makes a difference.
April 4, 2013
President Barack Obama embraces siblings Sue Connors and Jane Dougherty following a forum at the Denver Police Academy. Their sister, Mary Sherlach, was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary
President Obama greets Terry and Tom Sullivan whose son Alex was killed in the Aurora theater shooting
It's time people, it's past time.
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/04/03/this-time-it-must-be-different/
“this time it must be different”
President Barack Obama embraces siblings Sue Connors and Jane Dougherty following a forum at the Denver Police Academy. Their sister, Mary Sherlach, was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary
President Obama greets Terry and Tom Sullivan whose son Alex was killed in the Aurora theater shooting
It's time people, it's past time.
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/04/03/this-time-it-must-be-different/
April 3, 2013
SNIP:
MORE:
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/04/03/the-unworthy-poor/
The unworthy poor
According to Think Progress, the state of Tennessee is prepared to pass a law that ties welfare benefits to the academic achievement of recipients’ children. As the article states:
The bill is sponsored by Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, and Rep. Vance Dennis, R-Savannah. It calls for a 30 percent reduction in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits to parents whose children are not making satisfactory progress in school.
The bill is sponsored by Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, and Rep. Vance Dennis, R-Savannah. It calls for a 30 percent reduction in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits to parents whose children are not making satisfactory progress in school.
SNIP:
The real purpose of these laws is to serve the only tactic which the Right uses: divide and conquer. It’s a means to attain and maintain political power, setting what’s left of the hard-pressed middle class against the poor. And make no mistake: although all this legislation is aimed at “welfare cheats”, the real targets are the American poor, made so by decades of de-industrialization which sent well-paying, blue collar jobs off to low-wage countries; jobs which have been replaced by far lower earning service sector occupations.
The Right has to keep juggling these distractions; if the remaining middle class and the poor ever joined together to aim their ire at the true cause of their problems, the Right and its backers among the 1% would be swept away in a tidal wave of anger. We are starting to see this in the indebted countries of Europe, where citizens protest daily against the austerity measures imposed from Brussels and Berlin. China is starting to experience labor unrest at a level which might threaten the one-party state. The Right in this country has to create a target at which the middle class can direct its anger, fighting over crumbs rather than realizing that there is an entire pie held out of view in very few hands.
The sheer lack of empathy built up by the Right and its enablers in the media since the days of Ronald Reagan has been one of its greatest successes. When homelessness exploded in the 1980?s, it wasn’t long before there were news reports of “compassion fatigue”, where a middle class beginning to feel the effects of conservative economics just couldn’t care about those falling through the gaping holes in the safety net. The steady drumbeat castigating the unworthy poor built up and reached a crescendo in the welfare “reforms” of the 1990?s. Its maintained that plateau, as the middle class shrinks and is made more resentful of the undeserving. This resentment, stoked by the Right, is one of the few things still allowing it to hold onto the power it has. If that ever dissipates, its end will come all the quicker.
The Right has to keep juggling these distractions; if the remaining middle class and the poor ever joined together to aim their ire at the true cause of their problems, the Right and its backers among the 1% would be swept away in a tidal wave of anger. We are starting to see this in the indebted countries of Europe, where citizens protest daily against the austerity measures imposed from Brussels and Berlin. China is starting to experience labor unrest at a level which might threaten the one-party state. The Right in this country has to create a target at which the middle class can direct its anger, fighting over crumbs rather than realizing that there is an entire pie held out of view in very few hands.
The sheer lack of empathy built up by the Right and its enablers in the media since the days of Ronald Reagan has been one of its greatest successes. When homelessness exploded in the 1980?s, it wasn’t long before there were news reports of “compassion fatigue”, where a middle class beginning to feel the effects of conservative economics just couldn’t care about those falling through the gaping holes in the safety net. The steady drumbeat castigating the unworthy poor built up and reached a crescendo in the welfare “reforms” of the 1990?s. Its maintained that plateau, as the middle class shrinks and is made more resentful of the undeserving. This resentment, stoked by the Right, is one of the few things still allowing it to hold onto the power it has. If that ever dissipates, its end will come all the quicker.
MORE:
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/04/03/the-unworthy-poor/
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