flotsam and jetsam
sci-fi and other fannish geekery
striking photos
occasional music
and random quotations that catch my eye
This is how Republicans blocked a vote to confirm the new EPA chief. Not a single one showed up.
Remember this as you get ready to vote in the 2014 midterm elections: it’s not just that Republicans are wrong on virtually every policy position. It’s not just that Republicans are more interested in their personal hatred of President Obama than dealing with the nation’s problems. It’s not even just that Republicans wish to do harm to the economy (see all the debt ceiling messes and the sequester) than do anything that might be perceived as helping the President.
At the end of the day, it all boils down to one simple fact: the Republicans in Congress are not even working. They’re not even bothering to act like they’re doing their jobs.
What would happen to you or me if we tried this? That’s right, we’d get fired. So come 2014, here’s our chance to fire the Republicans.
(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
Representative Carrie Meek’s shirt reads: “A women’s place is in the House and the Senate.”
Carrie Meek (b. April 29, 1926) wore this prophetic T-shirt in the Florida House chamber in 1980, where she served from 1978 to 1983. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman elected to the Florida Senate. Meek later served in the United States Congress (1992-2001). Prior to her career in politics, she taught at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach and Florida A&M University in Tallahassee.
Meek’s son, Kendrick Meek (b. September 6, 1966), was the U.S. Representative for Florida’s 17th congressional district from 2003 to 2011. He was the Democratic nominee in the 2010 Senate election for the seat of Mel Martinez, but he and Independent Charlie Crist lost in a three-way race to Republican Marco Rubio.
(via rob-anybody)
In the mainstream political press, the standard practices of neutrality and balance carry with them an implicit assumption: that Democrats and Republicans are separate but equal in their ideological biases, with each group just as inclined to support its own team and attack the other side. The trouble is, data from psychologists and political scientists suggest that this might be a naive approach. At worst, it may fundamentally misunderstand the nature of American politics.
The latest evidence on this head comes from pollster and political scientist Dan Cassino of Fairleigh Dickinson University. In a national survey, Cassino examined belief in political conspiracy theories on both the left and also the right. He did so by asking Americans about two “liberal” conspiracy beliefs—the 9/11 “Truther” conspiracy, and the idea that George W. Bush stole the 2004 election—and two conservative ones: the “Birther” theory that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, and the claim that he stole the 2012 vote.
The results were hardly symmetrical. First, 75 percent of Republicans, but only 56 percent of Democrats, believed in at least one political conspiracy theory. But even more intriguing was the relationship between one’s level of political knowledge and one’s conspiratorial political beliefs. Among Democrats and independents, having a higher level of political knowledge was correlated with decreased belief in conspiracies. But precisely the opposite was the case for Republicans, where knowledge actually made the problem worse. For each political knowledge question that they answered correctly, Republicans’ belief in at least one conspiracy theory tended to increase by 2 percentage points.
What’s up with this? Cassino views these data as just one more indicator of an “asymmetry” in how Democrats and Republicans, or liberals and conservatives, respond to politics—with Republicans tending to be more partisan and tribal (and in this particular case, more willing to believe conspiracies about their political opponents), and Democrats less so. And while Cassino admits that his latest study wouldn’t, in and of itself, constitute definitive proof of ideological asymmetry, he thinks it fits into a bigger body of evidence.
- Chris Mooney, Mother Jones
This Is The Definition Of Compromise According To Congress
Oh dammit.
And this is why it would’ve been better to just go over the cliff.
(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
(Source: questionall, via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
reagan-was-a-horrible-president:
It has come to light that House Administration Committee Chairman Dan Lungren (R-CA) secretly approved a $500,000 increase to a contract with a private law firm to defend the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court. While the increase was approved in September, neither the public nor the Democratic House minority was informed until this week, Roll Call reports.
The contract now authorizes Bancroft PLLC and former Solicitor General Paul Clement (R) to spend up to $2 million in to defend DOMA — the second increase to what was originally a $1 million cap. The U.S. Department of Justice stopped defending the 1996 law in February 2011 after determining the law to be in conflict with the U.S. Constitution.
…..
Though Lungren lost re-election in November, the Republicans maintained control of the House — and its operating budget.
At a Thursday press conference — ironically focusing on his view that “Washington has a spending problem” — House Speaker John Boehner was asked about the expenditures. The Ohio Republican angrily responded that if the Department of Justice won’t defend the law of the land, Congress will.
(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
A Politician Loses It On The State House Floor, Says What All Of Us Are Thinking
NEW BFF OMG
(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
