Today's edition of quick hits:
* Can President Obama improved a flawed system in which for-profit college rip off U.S. military veterans? A new White House executive order tackles the issue.
* Remarkably, Chen Guangcheng, "the blind, self-taught lawyer known for his outspoken opposition to China's forced abortion and sterilization policies, has escaped from house arrest."
* Any chance we'll see recess appointments while Congress is out next week? Apparently not.
* Mitt Romney condemned the Recovery Act to students at Otterbein College today, a school that benefited from stimulus money. Oops.
* Also, Romney is still complaining about the president "slow jamming" the news with Jimmy Fallon. I don't know why.
* The Republican-led House approved CISPA last night, 248 to 168. If it manages to pass the Senate, it will be vetoed.
* Presidential Medal of Freedom honorees have been announced, and the list includes Madeleine Albright, Bob Dylan, John Glenn, Toni Morrison, and Pat Summitt.
* And the 50th anniversary of "To Kill A Mockingbird" is well worth celebrating. It's one of my favorite films, based on one of my favorite books.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Leave a Comment:
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Wow!! You missed the most important comments Romney made today at Otterbein College! Perhaps you are just going to let Ed cover it? His comments made me so angry, I almost threw my coffee cup at the TV!!
I have seven children, all of them had to take out student loans to finish their educations because they had the misfortune of being born to parents who didn't inherit money. All of them got scholarships, we helped as much as we could but it still wasn't enough because college tuitions have gone up dramatically. All of them are doing extremely well right now - and that wouldn't have been possible if Romney had HIS way!!
One of my children just received his PhD in Mathematics and I have NO DOUBT that he will win the Fields Medal but he wasnt "deserving" of an education because all his parents and friends were "middle class"????
SHAME ON YOU ROMNEY!!!
Thomas Mann (Brookings) and Norman Ornstein (AEI) are shrill at the Washington Post:
(via Balloon Juice)
Oh come now. Republicans learned everything from the Democrats. Considering Democrats had the Presidency and both houses of Congress, they can hardly complain about Republicans using procedures Democrats decided to leave in place. You can't have your cake....
Shooter, selective memory and false equivalence don't even work inside the beltway any longer, and we know how stupid those folks are. The least you can do is open your eyes and realize that procedure has nothing to do with it, did you read the quote? "The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition." Where in this quote is there one word about procedures, the quote is about intent, behavior and actions. I realize that it is hard to admit the truth, and no one wants to believe that they are part of an evil organization, but get used to it.....your party has been captured by the worst of the worst.
Actually I read the entire article the quote came from. The reality is that Democrats couldn't care less about what Republicans think, just that they can gum up the works.
As for Republicans being evil... that's " dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition."
I was very happy to see President Obama sign the "Know Before You Owe" order concerning GI Bill benefits and financial aid forms for college attendance by our returning veterans. This was a one-two punch, after yesterday's college address about averting the doubling of interest on student financial aid loans. The President is doing all he can to protect college students from predatory for-profit universities (which are very expensive and often unaccredited), as well as predatory loan provisions.
If someone breaks the law, shouldn't they have to abide by the same laws as all citizens?
From giving out food on election day (where that is prohibited), to voter fraud, there's Romney.
Then there's Bush and Cheney who tortured and knew it was wrong.
Then there's the treason of putting a pledge above the people.
Then there's the treason of closed door meetings to agree to sink the American people to make one President look bad.
Then there's stealing golf courses and radio stations under an undemocratic (small d) law that seems awfully unconstitutional to me.
Just wondering.
I guess if you're rich you're above the law.
I'd take it one step further JD. Now that 'corporations are people" shouldn't corporations (all the employees) go to jail if they commit a crime (like Walmart's bribery) or kill someone (like BP)?
Shouldn't corporations go to jail for treason or torture (i.e., sweatshops)?
Shouldn't corporations go to jail for perjury?
Shouldn't corporations die after a 70-90 year life just like people do?
Well, as one of Colbert's brilliant SuperPAC ads pointed out, if corporations are people then Mitt Romney is a murderer.
You can't send corp. to jail, but how about--
a law that while a Corp. is serving a sentence it continues to opperate but all the profits are donated to charity.
Also a list a approved charities. And regs. to keep them from cooking the books to eliminate all profits. Or, invest in new plant to avoid all profits.
Can you imagine being one of Chen Guangcheng's guards? Here you probably thought this was the easiest gig around, but then the blind guy escapes.
"Also, Romney is still complaining about the president "slow jamming" the news with Jimmy Fallon. I don't know why."
Jealousy
Rachel, that middle school that won the chess championship is being targeted for budget cuts. That is what I read this morning. Did you know this?? This is the crap that has to stop. The kids are successful and the pols want to take it from them for fiscal purposes.
Please, please stop the prison re-runs, I'd rather watch re-runs of your regular line up.... Everyone hates- 'Lock Up' is?!
Ah, yes, To Kill a Mbird. Great Hollywood movie about the terrorizing and beating (off camera, thank g*d) of a little girl. The stuff of cinematic brilliance. With mainstream movies like that, it's no wonder the porn industry settled there. Snark!
Let me guess -- you watched the movie but didn't read the book. The 50-year anniversary is of the book, NOT the movie. (The "cinematic brilliance" remark gave you away. Double snark on you!)
To Kill A Mockingbird is a rich story about the darker side of 1950s Southern small-town culture -- lynching, prejudice, injustice, unkindness -- and how in one situation, through the curiosity and actions of a child, things are made right again. It's about taking care of the people we care about, respecting people who are not like us, and sticking up for what's right (regardless of social custom). It is about justice for all, not just white males who own property. It is a cautionary tale with regard to racial attitudes and closed-minded injustice, which is just as relevant today as it was when it was first published.
Although the heroine is a little girl, To Kill a Mockingbird is not a story for children (contrary to comments made by jealous peers of the author at the time of publishing). I'm not sure where you got the idea that the story has anything to do with porn, but you're way off base.
Perhaps you should actually read the book (and not just snooze through the movie) before you criticize it.
Sounds like someone needs to learn to read. Check the original post, and you'll read that it references the film (movie). The video clip references the movie, not the book. In the first line I specify I'm criticizing the movie, as is the original post, so your comments about the book are irrelevant to the original post and my comments about the movie. I stand by my comments about the movie.
Reading: it's not just for winners any more!
angeleno,
Maybe YOU should have stayed awake during the movie. It was not about the beating (actually Robinson was accused of rape) of a little girl (unless you consider a teenager who lies a little girl), it was as HyperTyper stated.
It was a GREAT movie and I can can't even fathom where your comment about porn movies came from!
Mea culpa regarding movie vs. book (sleep deprivation bites). But I still stand by my contention that the only "snark" with regard to its 50th anniversary is someone trying to associate it with child porn. Ugh!
TCaM is just one in a (sadly too) long line of mainstream movies that began to insinuate unnecessary porno-violence into their story lines after the neutering of the Hays Office. Young girls (be they child or young adolescent is irrelevant to the argument) being subject to beating and, by your description, rape, is a pretty sick activity for you to be defending! The good that is in the movie is undermined by this unnecessary, abusive treatment of the girl, which you admit is there. Time for a check of everyone's moral compass.
Atticus Finch, my hero.
Hey, Boo.