and I missed it..

Anyway, I would like to share this from my Profile.. and I got it from another DU'er who posted it last year I think.. I think it really speaks to all of us coming from all our divergent points of view.. but in the end, hopefully, having the same goals:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated don't give way to hating...

From Rudyard Kipling "If"

If you are reading this.. and you voted major ticket Republican you are a BUTTHEAD

If you are a Woman and voted major ticket Republican you are a BUTTHEAD

If you are a Man and voted major ticket Republican you are a BUTTHEAD

If you are Straight and voted major ticket Republican you are a BUTTHEAD

If you are Gay and voted major ticket Republican you are a BUTTHEAD

If you are Young and voted major ticket Republican you are a BUTTHEAD

If you are Old and voted major ticket Republican you are a BUTTHEAD

If you are every Age in-between and voted major ticket Republican you are a BUTTHEAD


Republicans and TeaParty people are all BUTTHEADS, They are going to try and turn back everything to not just the Bush 2 ERA.. but Great Society Era and New Deal and wipe it out.

And if you supported them in their efforts that makes you a BUTTHEAD

Iowa moved from a blue state to a red state last night in the house and governorship, we kept the senate (just like the nationals).

And what happened here, can happen anywhere.

We are one of the lowest states in unemployment.. We have a budget surplus. We have a growing manufacturing base. All of this you would think would have kept our Democrats in office in State level.

When the turnouts were looking so much above normal earlier in the morning and our GOTV early voting had been working.. I was very hopeful. By the end of the day I had had six calls for rides to the polls

But we had been targeted by money and the tea party. Do not for a second believe that the tea party is fiscal only. Rachael is 100% right on that. The outside T people joined hands with Vanderplatts and the values people.

Our three judges that gave us legal marriage for all.. were targeted and recalled.

This is just the first step, to overturning legal marriage for everyone.

EDIT TO ADD: we also have one of the lowest foreclosure rates in the country. This battle with shadow money that the Supreme Court okayed.. is the biggest game changer ever. And they are just starting to gear up.. can you imagine what 2012 will be like. We are either going to be crushed again or we are going to have to learn to play in that pigpen.

Why this happened will be debated till the cows come home. But when patriotic sounding groups with all the money in the world come after you.. It can be pretty tough.

If you know who the money people are.. like those who self finance.. you can expose them.. but we are in a brand new reality..

There will be highs and lows when the election rolls around on Tuesday. We will not get everyone we have worked for in.. Likewise.. we will have surprises on seats we do take.

But what really gives me hope for the future.. even when you deal with a third party run at it like the Tea Party is.

The Hispanic base is growing.... Reid will retain his seat (the cell phone scenario is going to finally come home to roost with these pollsters)

Sarah Palin is about to be handed a dose of reality check in Alaska.. She is not the king maker she thinks she is. (Alaskans of all persuasions do not like Palin because she is a quitter.. she just up and left them high and dry)

Bringing in outsiders to turn a state on its side is going to backfire. Recruitment through the internet for a national election is wonderful..but likewise, you cannot recruit Montanans(as an example) to influence the Iowa vote.. People are getting rather po'd . ( Heard a fascinating discussion on MSNBC this morning on that very subject.. about the number to tweets etc that the tea party has over other parties.. They did not stop for a second and consider what that meant, that out-staters were trying to influence instate voters.. those bus tours only get so much mileage before resentments start to set in)

But most of all:

Money can't always buy and election... Brown will be Governor.

When we hear others say thing such as "there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats", or "I will not waste my vote..." just do not let people talk you out of how important the 2010 elections are.

2011 will be a 10 year redistricting of congressional seats that could stymie anything and everything that Democrats, Liberal, Progressives, Moderates, have worked for in the past 70 years.. yes 70 years.. all the way back to the New Deal.

I have oped this before, but maybe this example will really bring it home.

I live in the 5th district of Iowa. Our voter breakdown looks like this:

http://www.carrollspaper.com/main.asp?Sect...

Iowa’s 5th Congressional District overwhelmingly favors a Republican. As of Aug. 1, voter registration stood as follows: 149,000 Republicans, 95,000 Democrats and 123,000 independents. In some sections of the district, the GOP margin is crushing, such as in Sioux County where there are 14,300 registered active Republicans compared to 1,700 Democrats.

Steve King is so assured of his ability to keep his seat that he will not even debate his opponents. This is not the first time. He has NEVER debated an opponent.. and you are seeing more and more of that from republicans now. They just refuse to debate.

This is a great example of how you can district voters into getting really shady characters in office and staying there.

Michelle Bachmann is another case.

Look what has happened in the south.

This is probably one of the most important elections we have had in 25 years. Because if they get not only the offices (the republicans and tea party people) they will have the opportunity to redistrict themselves into a permanent 10 year reign and they will finally get to do what they have been pushing to do for the last 70 years..Unwind the New Deal

This is what they have been working for, for the last three decades, getting a right wing media in place to lie to the low information voter. This is the time they have been waiting for. Now even the supreme court has given them free license to let groups like the Koch brothers influence elections.

It is to unwind the New Deal.

This is good right?


Putting all dissension aside.. we all want the same thing, this and the numbers yesterday of people applying for unemployment (starting to get to the break even point) is good news.

While the number of unemployed increased, actual job offerings also increased in the private sector.. because more people are coming back into the job market.

Unfortunately just the way the numbers come in and are reported, we may not get the credit deserved before the November election..But with the media starting to show the uptick in actual jobs. and people starting to feel better about the economy in general.. it may help. I HOPE so.






http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Unemployment...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Private employers hired more workers over the past three month than first thought, lifting hopes for the weak economy. But the unemployment rate rose in August for the first time in four months as more people entered the market looking for work.

Companies added a net total of 67,000 new jobs last month and both July and June's private-sector job figures were upwardly revised, the Labor Department said Friday.

Stock futures surged after the report was released. Wall Street analysts expected a smaller gain, according to Thomson Reuters.

If the break even point in unemployment claims is 425,000 ... this is good news.. we are starting to pull up there.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100902/ap_on_...

WASHINGTON – A weak economy got a little lift Thursday with new data suggesting companies aren't pursuing mass layoffs and stores are a little busier.

New applications for unemployment benefits declined for a second straight week after rising in the previous three. Retailers reported surprisingly strong sales in August. And more people signed contracts to buy homes.

Economists were mildly encouraged by the news, which followed several downbeat reports on housing and weaker economic growth last week. But few saw signs that the economy is gaining momentum.

"It's encouraging that we're not seeing further deterioration as we have in recent months," said Julia Coronado, U.S. economist at BNP Paribas. "But we're not turning around and moving in the direction of stronger growth."

New claims for unemployment aid fell last week by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 472,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure, fell by 2,500 to 485,500, its first decrease after four straight increases.

Serious asshat... if you think having someone more conservative..and you admit it.. more hawkish.. and you admitted it would give you a different result than what you are carping about with Obama..then you and Ratigan need a brain transplant.

That makes as much sense as voting for a republican to teach the Democrats a lesson. As if we did not have enough to deal with out there.

And trust me, there is no sarcasm in this rant.

(Just finished listening to his nibs yammer away on said same subject)

Exporting goods instead of exporting jobs..now that is something we can all give a thumbs up to!



http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_usa_obama_tr...

"The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimates rising U.S. exports have added more than 1 percentage point to U.S. growth in the last nine months, making a more significant contribution to the recovery than domestic spending.

The administration says it has run 18 trade missions to lift U.S. sales overseas, doubled loans to support exports and fought for fair trade at the World Trade Organization.

"As a result of these policies, and a global economic rebound, exports in the first four months of 2010 grew almost 17 percent from the same period last year," the White House said in its progress report on Obama's export push.

"This puts the U.S. on track to reach the president's goal of doubling exports and supporting several million new jobs over five years." Obama announced the target in his State of the Union address in January."

My 22 year old son, and all his fellow Millennial's.. are being handed quite the task..

Literally.... Save the Earth.

Every generation has a task handed to it, and it has to accomplish to move us all forward.

The good news is, they usually do it.

The bad news is, there is always a new task for the next generation.

But looking a BP, oil usage, the gulf spill, energy needs..and a burgeoning third world economy (which is good) but along with it comes greater energy needs (which is bad)... how to balance that, and bring us into some kind of harmony with the planet.


The rest of us are in this mix also, we all have the same responsibility. but you will be the ones who implement the solutions.

You may be the next "greatest generation" in the global scope of what needs to be accomplished.

I was researching something else and came across this.. I thought maybe this is something we need to share more with each other.. this is quite exciting.. the fewer cars, the less oil, the less drilling.. solar expansion etc.. they all start to add up


http://cleantechnica.com/2010/04/17/street... /

Thanks to a small transformation in federal transportation policy since Obama took office, cities around the nation are looking at the real possibility of creating new streetcar lines within the next year or two.

In a series of momentous moves, the Obama Administration has made it easier for cities to start or expand streetcar lines. The crux of the changes come from the understanding that streetcars are not just about saving people time, they are also highly useful in building an attractive urban landscape, stimulating and channeling investment and growth into the urban core and into other specifically targeted areas of the city, and attracting non-transit riders to efficient mass transit.

After all the Drill Baby Drill chants.. the mocking of all things environmental.. the worst thing happens and a well erupts.

Ten minutes later the same said republicans are on national TV tearing their clothing and gnashing their teeth about the Federal response and what they would do.

National Guards have been available to them, that they could have used to set up booms from coast to coast..all the things that they could have gotten into place.

Well my fellow Democrats, Liberals, Greens.. the truth has leaked out just like that oil

All I can say is.. GET EM!

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/06/03/oil.s... /


Washington (CNN) -- While local officials are calling for more federal government -- specifically military -- help with the oil cleanup, only a fraction of thousands of authorized, federally funded National Guard troops have been put into service.

Last month, the Pentagon approved the use of up to 17,500 National Guard members to help in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill relief efforts, at the request of governors in four states. But only about 1,400 have been actively engaged.

In Louisiana, 1,100 of the 6,000 authorized National Guard have been deployed.

Alabama is using just 280 troops out of an authorized 3,000. Mississippi has called 70 Guard members into active duty out of an available 6,000, and Florida has only seven National Guard troops on oil-spill duty out of an authorized 2,500.

What did they do to recover from that. It washed up in Texas, we need those people who have had the experience of this to come forward.



http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64N5...

I have worked as that late night clean up person in a large office building..

It never ceased to amaze me when I cleaned the restrooms, how filthy people were.. wizzing all over the toilets.. putting unwrapped tampons etc in the disposal box. It was hard work, but it helped get us through college, and we made a decent living at it.

But if you ever left half a roll of toilet paper instead of a whole roll, or missed that spot they left on the floor.. it was all hell broke loose, and people got fired.

I always wanted to leave a note, "think about the people who are coming in here tonight, before you fail to clean up behind yourself."

I never did, I probably should have.

So I am leaving that note now. I am a proud Democrat, and Democrats are having to clean up the mess left by the Republicans.

NOW you have Palin screaming about the borders, when for all the years they were in power they chose to ignore the situation, not address a guest worker program..etc.

SO now it's "clean up my mess they cry, its all your fault"

The deficits were never on their radar, In fact it was "good" to run huge deficits according to them.. now when the economy collapsed and we had to us a stimulus to get things going..they are gnashing at the bit about the deficits

"clean up my mess they cry,... its all your fault"

I could go on and on.. from the wars to the gulf spill..

I am a proud Liberal Democrat.. and this is the job I signed on for.. and clean it up, and that is what we are doing..

But for the love of Mike.. Don't stand in front of me and wizz all over the floor and cry "

"clean up my mess they cry,... its all your fault"

Because that is EXACTLY what the right is doing.

I have only officially been a part of this site for a couple of years.. I do not have the long history many have here.

I was part of another political site for almost 13 years.. since 1997 actually.. and the site morphed so much because those of us who were there at the very beginning, had a hard time with people who came in later.

Part of the problem was just time itself. Issues morph and change and what is front and center changes with time.

People who came in later were more keyed into the issues front page of the days they joined the site.

They wanted to talk about things that were impacting them in the here and now, and those of us who had been there longer, and had fought a different fight at a different time, were feeling as if we were being pushed aside by this aggressive group of people.

They of course formed their own core, as we had ours.. and then given time..a couple of years, and and election cycle found new people coming on board..and the second group was feeling the loss of community that the old group felt initially.

All I know for sure is, that the three different groups were much more alike than unalike, but there is a sense of loss as these kinds of movements seem to change the discussion.

Of course we were a MUCH MUCH smaller community than DU.. and it affected us harder because there were no other venues to wait out a new group folding in and becoming part of the older group.

That is the genius of a place like this.. its big, and time brings us together.

Here is the really funny part.. when the third big wave of new people joined the group..the second wave joined hands with the old farts from the first group.

It was almost like "here come the newbiesinto our group" close ranks. It really was kind of funny when you step back and view it.

I may have only been here officially two years, and certainly am not part of the core who have been here forever.. but I am finding my home here. I hope that I can be accepted for who I am in the long run.. not as an intruder

Likewise, I hope that I have the sensitivity to see that I am a late comer to an established online community, because it was a hard battle fought for them in establishing this arena..