- Filibuster Changes Would Bring The Public Back In
- [Campaign for America's Future - Dave Johnson]
The public thinks [the talking filibuster] is how it is done. The movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” has cemented this in the minds of everyone. Unfortunately it isn’t how it has been done, and the result is that the public does not even know that the Senate is broken. They only know that “government” doesn’t work for them…
Please visit Fix The Senate Now [link] for more information. And CALL YOUR SENATORS to tell them you support reforming the filibuster!
- DADT – The High Cost of Senseless Discrimination
- [ACLU blog - Ian Thompson]
The GAO report found that 3,664 service members were discharged under DADT between fiscal years 2004-2009. Of those, 1,458 were determined to have held a critical occupation or an important foreign language skill. Additionally, GAO calculated that it cost the Department of Defense about $193.3 million ($52,800 per discharged service member) to both discharge and replace these 3,664 service members.
- "Competitiveness" – NYTimes.com
- Sigh. So it appears that President Obama is going to make “competitiveness” his main economic theme. To be fair, he could (and may well) do worse. But this is hackneyed stuff, and involves a fundamental misconception about the nature of our economic problems.
[Paul Krugman provides linkage. -L]
- Close reading of RedState
- RedState.com decided to commemorate the anniversary [of Roe v Wade] by competing for the first prize in the contest of who could write the most tasteless, ignorant, and offensive post ever in support of forced childbirth. I think you’ll agree that what they came up with is a contender in what is a crowded field. It’s a post that manages to assert that embryos are people, but women are nothing more than “physical locations”… [blockquote]
…they threatened armed revolt if they don’t get their way on this. I guess they figured that Gabrielle Giffords was being moved from the hospital to rehab, so it was okay to loosen the tie a little and get back to business. This was pretty stunning all the same, so I did what I’m accustomed to doing in these situations, which is leaping to Twitter to make fun of these golf pants-wearing nimrods with fantasies of armed revolution in their heads.
[Marcotte goes on at length. TL;DR. -L]
- You’ve Never Seen a State of the Union Address Like This Before
- [White House.gov Blog Feed - Macon Phillips]
We're putting the finishing touches on a new feature for WhiteHouse.gov that will offer an enhanced viewer experience for President Obama's State of the Union address.
As President Obama addresses the Nation, WhiteHouse.gov will offer a companion stream of visual aids, like charts and quick stats to provide context and emphasize key points. Anyone will be able to use this feature by heading to WhiteHouse.gov/sotu and using the "Enhanced" tab.
- Local Intelligence: Gates Co-op Houseboats, Sausalito – The Bay Citizen
- For more than a half-century, low-rent “pirates” have inhabited ramshackle floating homes in Richardson Bay, just north of Sausalito. The last remnants of this independent seaside tribe are the inhabitants of 38 houseboats at Gates Co-op, a community stranded at low tide in the mud at Waldo Point Harbor.
- The Bay Area’s Best Nature Photos? – The Bay Citizen
- To celebrate its 10th Anniversary, Bay Nature put together this slideshow of its best photos through the decade. Enjoy!
- For Vallejo, Bankruptcy Isn’t Exactly a Fresh Start – The Bay Citizen
- Vallejo, which delivered a wake-up call to municipalities around the country when it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2008, outlined in court papers last week how it plans to get back on its feet, financially speaking. For residents, the plan makes for grim reading. And if you’re a public official or taxpayer who’s hoping that bankruptcy might be a way to solve your city’s financial problems, it will surely prompt you to think twice.
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- Can Counties Handle Young Offenders on Their Own? – The Bay Citizen
- Gov. Brown has proposed scrapping the state's criticized juvenile justice agency and shifting responsibility to the local level
- In Letter To Cantor, Schumer, Menendez Demand Answer To Key Repeal Question | TPMDC
- In a letter delivered to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Sunday, Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) demand an answer to a question now at the center of the Republican party's top legislative priority: Will repealing the health care law force seniors to reimburse the government for the $250 check they received in 2010 to help them pay for prescription drugs?…
You can read the entire letter here. [link]
- Below the Radar: factsheet | National Women’s Law Center
- The Study suggests a failure on the part of the hospitals investigated to ensure that patients experiencing pregnancy complications received the standard of care, informed consent, and prompt treatment of emergency medical conditions. Doctors are reluctant to report hospital practices that harm patients or violate the law, especially when they have played a direct role. Patients may never know why their treatment was delayed, why they were transferred, or that additional treatment options were automatically disregarded due to religious restrictions. Patients, unaware that they were denied necessary, let alone legally required care or medical information, are not able to bring violations to the attention of enforcement authorities or pursue other legal claims.
- National Women’s Law Center: Survey – Pledge – Knowledge is Power
- Take our pledge:
* Arm yourself with knowledge about how religious restrictions can affect your medical care.
* Share this important information with your friends and family to ensure everyone you love is armed with this knowledge and the ability to receive the medical care they need.
* Share your story. Have you or someone you know experienced something like this? We want to know.
- Below the Radar: Health Care Providers’ Religious Refusals Can Endanger Women’s Lives and Health | National Women’s Law Center
- This report explores how religious refusals can impact the care women receive when they are suffering serious pregnancy complications. [link to pdf]
[Note the lovely little flip here. Religious freedom = hurting other people who may not share your beliefs = hurting women. Seriously, if you hate women that much, you should stay out of the medical professions. -L]
[In case it needs to be said: I don't agree with every word of everything I link to. Signal boosts are awesome! --L.]
The Of interest (Mon, Jan 24th, 12pm) by Lee Salazar, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Terms and conditions beyond the scope of this license may be available at leesalazar.com.