Jason Brzoska

State of the Hussein Union Liveblogging VII

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:52:00 +0000

Drill, baby, drill!

Rahm Emanuel doesn't look happy.

Open markets. More conservative stuff.

OK -- the only anti-poverty solution is world-class education. Liberal rhetoric. Where are we going? Going to revitalize the community colleges? Tell us how! OK. Increased Pell Grants. That's good. Whoa! Debt forgiveness! REEEED meat.

He's talking health care. But I'm a little lost. Didn't get anything out of it.

Here's the government spending freeze. Not OK.

State of the Hussein Union Liveblog VI

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:35:00 +0000

Follow Josh's liveblog. It's better than mine.

State of the Hussein Union Live Blogging V

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:31:00 +0000

WHAAAA!!! Jobs bill??? Let's hear it. But if it's tax cutting, I'm gonna be seriously pissed off...

I'm on the edge of my seat.

Allentown... HOLLA!

OK... tax cuts tax cuts tax cuts. Crap. How about some actual investment?

Looks like that's next... High speed railroad from Tampa to Orlando. Not good enough. But it looks like that's the best he's got.

He's issuing liberal talking points with conservative solutions... that's not good.

State of the Hussein Union Live Blogging IV

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:23:00 +0000

Biden mistimed his clap... pretty funny.

Still no meat. But Obama mentioned the word "union."

Wow. He "hated" the bank bailout. That sounds historic, actually. (Pan to Timmeh Geithner)

Oops. I just yelled at the TV.

OK, I like the fee on the biggest banks. And I'm enjoying Biden where Cheney used to be.

Sorry, I'm not applauding cutting taxes when we need the money.

Let's see him add 1.5 million jobs in 2010 (still nothing)....

State of the Hussein Union Live Blogging III

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:16:00 +0000

It begins...

It took nine minutes from him to enter to the room until he actually started speaking. Not much of a pace, Mr. President!

He's appealing to history... Bull Run, Bloody Sunday... big talk.

I'm hoping he gets away from the milquetoast. (mmm... milk and toast)

Yes, we know he inherited a bad situtation. But we're still in two wars and the economy ain't great.

Callin' out the Heartland... can you hear me, Elkhart?

OK. Why did you reward Wall Street?

Hope. (drinks) Waits for meat...

State of the Hussein Union Live Blogging II

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:08:00 +0000

What are the odds of a Joe Wilson repeat tonight? I think I'm betting on it.

They're clapping now, but...

State of the Hussein Union Liveblogging I

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:01:00 +0000

Computer? Check.

Martini? Check.

Lexi? Check.

TV with captions? Check.

Ready to go.

Liveblogging the State of the Hussein Union -- Preface

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:02:00 +0000

Looks like I'll be liveblogging from Docks tonight. I'm looking forward to my first SoU where only half the things the President says piss me off...

Yup, This is My Shul...

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:13:00 +0000

Not exactly news, but...

The rabbi of Temple Israel, one of the largest Conservative Jewish congregations in the Capital Region, is resigning after 18 months on the job.

Rabbi Daniel Wolpe was hired in September 2008... Wolpe and his wife, Susan, filed for bankruptcy in Albany in September, five months after a Michigan court ordered the Wolpes to pay a $164,585 judgment to another couple

.
.
.

In 2006, Temple Israel fired its longtime cantor, Philip Friedman, who pleaded guilty to molesting an 11-year-old girl. He was supposed to be helping his victim prepare for her bat mitzvah.

From the Mouths of Conservatives -- Don't Feed the Humans?

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:58:00 +0000

Andre Bauer, Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina:

"My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed," Bauer said, according to the Greenville News. "You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better."

Despicable...

Al Gore is God -- Or, a Jewish Take on Environmentalism

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:09:00 +0000

In this episode of MyJewishLearning's ongoing series, The Adventures of Todd & God, God appears before Todd in the form of former Vice President Al Gore to teach Todd the Jewish values of being environmentally conscious.

Enjoy!

(And yes, I know it's a pretty false media-driven caricature of Al, but...)

Quote to End the Year

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:04:00 +0000

Annie Leonard: "You can only compromise to a point before a solution isn't really a solution."

From this video:

Bread...

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 03:38:00 +0000

is so good... I'm happy that the wheat lobby killed Dr. Atkins!

Afghanistan! Gah!

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:16:00 +0000

I haven't had a lot of time for blogging lately, but Richard reminded me yesterday that I really need to say something about how disappointed I am with Obama's approach to Afghanistan and Iraq. I fully agree with what Tristero says here:

If the Democratic party today doesn't have viable candidates who are prepared to oppose this crazy policy, it sure as hell will have them two elections hence. I realize that opposing the election of Democrats at a time when the opposition party has literally gone off the deep end puts this country at serious risk of another extreme rightwing takeover. But I don't think liberals have much choice but to take that risk. We are talking about potentially thousands upon thousands of human deaths for an utterly pointless war. This liberal - and I'm hardly the only one - can neither support nor excuse what is now officially the Obama/Afghan War.

A Long Train Ride...

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:49:00 +0000

Matt Yglesias, who I saw a few times at Netroots Nation, writes that high speed rail could and should be the industry that saves the American economy. At this moment, I couldn't agree more. I'm on my way back from Pittsburgh on Amtrak. I've been on the train for 9 1/2 hours (with a couple of brief pitstops). This ride should not take that long -- it's only a 6-7 hour drive. Long-distance train travel will never be in high demand when it takes longer to take the train than to drive.

Having said that, for me at least, it's been a much more pleasant experience than flying and I'm happy I took the train.

Netroots Nation -- California Crisis Panel

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:52:00 +0000

I'm sitting right now in a great panel discussion on the disaster which has the state of California hurtling towards a cliff with apparently no brakes.

I find it really rather silly that I'm starstruck by bloggers than 99.9% of the general population have never read.

I met Markos Moulitsas himself (actually a bit of a jerk, as brilliant as he is and as thankful as I am for what he's given this important movement), and have been around Matt Yglesias, Spencer Ackerman, Digby, John Amato, D-Day and lots of others. Very, very exciting.

D-Day's leading the panel; he really is my favorite blogger who posts daily (the title of my favorite blogger overall goes to the unfortunately irregular Phil Nugent), and he's one of the foremost experts in the blogosphere on California and its politics.

It's really horrifying to hear such knowledgeable people in such despair about California's situation. They've all more or less moved on from thinking that California can be saved, and onto what lessons the rest of the country can learn from Calfornia's failure. I'm no expert on the situation, but for the latest, greatest commentary on the topic, visit Calitics.

Netroots Nation '09 -- Don Siegelman

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 18:40:00 +0000

I'm at the 2009 Netroots Nation conference (formerly Yearly Kos) this weekend, a conference of (mostly) liberal bloggers and politicans. Today's the last day, and I haven't written anything yet (Blogger's been kind of bloggered), but it really is great to be at a conference where it's not considered rude to sit in a session while on a laptop.

I've seen some great things while I've been here in Pittsburgh, including Bill Clinton speaking:

I think the highlight of the convention so far for me was getting the chance to meet Don Siegelman, the former governor of Alabama who was railroaded all the way to federal prison by Karl Rove, and spent a year there. Though he's no liberal Dem, the netroots have coalesced around his cause due to the level of serious injustice involved. He's an incredibly nice guy. I spoke to him for a few minutes at last night's J Street party and also just listened to him in a panel discussion on the DOJ going awry.

Me and Don Siegelman

More later. Really.

The Adventures of Todd & God, Episode 3: How To Hang a Mezuzah

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:41:00 +0000

From us at MyJewishLearning.com and our friend William Levin at Jewish Robot:

Why????

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:05:00 +0000

(Pops head out of Hole of Non-Bloggerness)

Why is Liz Cheney on cable news for about the zillionth time in the last month?

(Disappears)

Tea Party a Washout

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:57:00 +0000

I haven't taken the time yet to post anything I saw at the tea party at City Hall Park yet; heck, I haven't even looked at my photos and videos yet. The whole "protest" turned out to be so boring, uneventful, and unfocused, that I left after about half an hour. There was really nothing to see there!

Perhaps 2000 people showed up, many of whom just appeared to be curious onlookers. The loudest contingent were the "Audit the Fed" people who were handing out leaflets. I heard one talk radio host speak to the crowd in vague terms for about five minutes.

I may post a few photos later, but here's the best taste of the teabagging I've seen (h/t D-Day):

We're Having a Tea Party Across This Land

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:19:00 +0000

A bunch of what's left of the Republican Party is going to be gathering in places around the country to protest, well, something. I'm going to see 2012 Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich speak at City Hall Park tonight. I'll post video later. For now, the Tea Party theme song:

It's the right's idea of a "grassroots" movement. Of course, it's being paid for by right-wing lobbying organizations and being pushed by right-wing media such as Fox News and the Wall Street Journal.

And for a little more crazy:

The guy who's making $10 million a year from his radio show alone is so concerned for the "common man?" Yeah.

Can you believe that the rhetoric has fallen so far this fast?

Miami, FL -- Heckuva Job, Timmy

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:47:00 +0000

I rarely watch TV news in real time, but I happened to catch a bit of Obama's impromptu AIG press conference. He was doing excellently, but then when he praised Geithner, he practically compared the bankster moron to Alexander Hamilton.

Get Geithner out of there.

Tallahassee -- Lunchin' with the Legislators

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:48:00 +0000

Got caught in one of Florida's famous 15 minute downpours, so I headed into Andrew's, which appears to be the bar where all of the people from the state house hang out.

Neat menu:

Governor Crist's Sandwich Board

Lots going on in my mind that I want to write about, but I'm off to check out the Capitol. I'll be writing more from St. Petersburg later.

Sumter, SC -- Who's Surrounding Who?

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:47:00 +0000

As I pass through the area where Fort Sumter is, it's just worth a mention that Glenn Beck and Chuck Norris's (!) new secessionist movement, We Surround Them, is holding a public live web conference at 5 PM today. Should be awesome.

If they want to leave, they're free to go...

Lynchburg, SC -- One Hell of a State you Got There, Sanford

noreply@blogger.com (jbrzoska) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:42:00 +0000

I'm driving down through South Carolina now and noting just how terrible the roads are in the backwards state run by new conservative "up and comer" Mark Sanford, whose state has the second-highest unemployment rate but turned down Obama's offer of help in the stimulus plan with not-so-veiled racist language:

"What you're doing is buying into the notion that if we just print some more money that we don't have and send it to different states, we'll create jobs," he said. "If that's the case, why isn't Zimbabwe a rich place?"

I've been hearing conservatives compare Obama to Robert Mugabe a lot lately, despite the fact that Obama has been calling for strong action against the man. Unbelieveable.

And I hope that Sanford runs for President in 2012.