Take A Stand Already

Well, here we are again with the Dem's showing exactly why I get so frustrated with them.  Given a pretty cut and dry winning position on extending the below $250,000 Bush Tax cuts while letting the millionaires return to paying something slightly closer to their fair share, Obama and the Dem's are getting ready to give it all away.

Ezra Klein has a clear eyed piece on how this happened and why it's such a familiar process at this point, you should read it...


And you should watch this new add running on DC cable and in Iowa:



(video via PL)

Read This Now - Google Strikes Back

So the guy who was scamming for links and a good google ranking by screwing over his customers probably wishes he hadn't given that interview to the NYT.

Google has a post up explaining the options they considered and how they ended up tweaking their algorithm to get smarter and stop rewarding negative links. 

We can say with reasonable confidence that being bad to customers is bad for business on Google. And we will continue to work hard towards a better search.

Nice to see them jump on the problem and embrace it as an opportunity to get better.

Finding Your Way

It can be a big scary world out there and sometimes you just don't have time to fold your map up neatly and tuck it away somewhere safe to keep it from getting bent out of shape.

Thanks to Emanuele Pizzolorusso you can just cram your map in your bag or a pocket and be on your marry way.  Check out Design Boom for more shots...

If you're headed to NYC, London, Berlin, Rome, or Paris you can buy one for the trip.

The Only Good Republican

Is apparently a lame duck Republican.  Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) lost to a tea party backed extremist this past round of elections and since then he's been calling things pretty clearly.  Yesterday he went after his climate change denying colleagues...



Think Progress has more on Inglis and his straight shooting of late.

And yes the Holiday Inn Express line makes it all worthwhile.  Not a firebrand talk but a good one.

John McCain's Legacy

Take it away Mr. Stewart and friends...

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www.thedailyshow.com
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Knock on wood that the Daily Show has their act together with embed codes and we can start showing them to you again from time to time...

Read This Now - Andy Harris Makes Me Sick

Steve Benen has the story of a newly elected Republican Congressman who is outraged that he doesn't get his taxpayer subsidized health care until February and wants to know why he can't purchase coverage from the government to cover the gap (that would be a public option).  What makes it even more worthwhile is that Harris spent the entire campaign promising to repeal the Affordable Care Care (that's health care reform if you aren't into the details).

Make sure to read the whole thing, the zinger is worth it.

(via DE)

No Time To Read

Grad School is keeping me busy of late and I have no time for pleasure reading, or all the other stay up to date reading that blurs that line so well.  Suffice it to say that the New Yorkers are stacking up.

So it was really nice this weekend to get to hear a great little piece of writing on the radio.  The winner of NPR's most recent round of three minute fiction had just been announced and they read the piece, which was really outstanding, and did a nice interview with the winner and the judge, author Michael Cunningham.

If you're not familiar with three minute fiction, NPR's judge gives a prompt, the first and last lines of the story this time, and you write one that can be read in three minutes (about 600 words).

To read Roosts, by Zach Brockhouse click here.  It's so worth the three minutes...