I know many of you are worried about Susie after she went into the hospital the other day and I wanted to give you a quick update on her. She called me from the hospital a little while ago and sounded pretty good, but tired. She needs another test to hopefully rule out anything to do with her heart and may have to stay over for another night.
She wants to thank all those that have shown her nothing but kindness and so do I.
I expect some pretty hefty hospital bills coming out of this along with a clean bill of health and if you want to make a donation to her PayPal account, you can do it via here.
She's on the east coast and as usual was worried about her Internet connection because of the approaching Hurricane. Typical blogger mentality.
Last night, John Amato and Dave Neiwert (two of my favorite people) were my guests on Virtually Speaking Susie, my Tuesday night Blogtalk Radio show. You can listen here:
Good for Keith Olbermann for taking on Newt Gingrich's ugly characterization of people on unemployment as slackers for refusing to take jobs that would actually put them deeper in the hole. Susie Madrak wrote about the Wall Street Journal article referred to in this segment on Countdown last night where employers were complaining that they have jobs, but people aren't taking them.
Newt Gingrich then piled on to the deadbeat drumbeat of the Republicans with this little salvo:
For instance, the extension of unemployment benefits has given people a perverse incentive to stay on unemployment rather than accept a job. The part-owner of a machine parts company, Mechanical Devices, is looking for as many as 40 new engineers, but is quoted in the article as saying many applicants at job fairs were “just going through the motions so they could collect their unemployment checks.” The article also quotes an engineer who admits he turned down more than a dozen offers because the salary would have been less than he made on welfare.
This story encapsulates the problem of the long-term unemployed. The depth and length of this recession is at risk of creating a permanent pool of unemployed Americans, who get so used to being unproductive that they are willing to accept welfare indefinitely instead of taking a job.
I would just like to say this to Newt directly: Screw you, idiot. The nerve of this man to point his finger at me and people like me is just infuriating. Because if anyone represents a welfare queen, it's Newt Gingrich.
Newt Gingrich lives on the donations of wealthy patrons, similar to a courtesan. He flies on private jets with those donations, rents his limos with those donations, eats at exclusive restaurants with those donations, and spews crap at people who paid for over 30 years into unemployment insurance and calls them welfare queens.
Who's the welfare queen? The guy who uses the safety net he paid for, or the guy who takes millions of dollars from oil companies, insurance companies, and other corporate interests to live high on the hog while doing nothing other than pointing his fingers at others?
Screw that. And screw him.
Full transcript of the Olbermann segment, where the man referred to in the WSJ article says basically the same thing in nicer words follows.
David Neiwert and Susie Madrak will be there also so we can have a little C&L powwow. Progressive politics is the life blood of our country and I'm down for participating in the process and trying to get together with the people that feel the same way. CFAF has some of the most talented people in politics and I couldn't be more excited to be part of it.
I'll be on a cool panel with some very progressives minds at the AFN:
Tuesday, 9:30AM Ends 10:40AM Tea Parties, Beck, Bachman and Blarney
I've had a short video made to illustrate how right wing extremism has found its way from talk radio, radical religious figures and paranoid militia groups into the halls of Congress.
After the panel David and I will be doing a book signing which should be very different. David has done this a few times, but for me it's a first so...
Congratulations to the Phillies for giving it a great try as defending champs and to my Philly blogger friends like Chris Bowers, d-day, Will Bunch and C&L's own Susie Madrak who were good sports with me as we all watched the World Series.
Jeter, Posada and Pettitte were on David Letterman Thursday night to celebrate #27. Matsui, who made all of Japan proud by winning the MVP came on, holding the trophy. The only one missing from the Core Four was Mariano Rivera, the greatest reliever of all time. He'll be 40 this month and no one has ever done it better. These guys play the game the right way and do not act like fools doing it as so many pro athletes do these days.
Since winning the 1958 World Series when Republican Dwight Eisenhower was president, all nine of the Yankees’ titles have come under Democratic administrations — 1961, 1962, 1977, 1978, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009. This bodes well for the Yankees for at least the next three seasons.
You may have wondered why I stopped posting about the series after my first one. Well, I'm kind of a superstitious sports fan (OK, I'm just a little bit obsessed) and when the Yanks lost Game One after I live-blogged it, I immediately gave that up.
This was a really productive discussion, and I'd like your thoughts. I talked to Joe Sestak (PA-7) backstage after the panel, and he told me he would start a netroots caucus in the House - and one in the Senate if he wins!
It might be the answer we're looking for; I believe it could increase our clout. (As someone commented to me today, politicians just don't care about one $20 contributor. But a few thousand $20 contributors can inspire a little respect.)
If Joe makes this happen, it means that caucus members will keep us informed on developments regarding our issues, and it means that caucus members who respond to our issues will be able to use us as attack dogs more effectively. This seems like a win/win.
Rep. Pat Murphy (PA-8), an early netroots favorite who joined the Blue Dogs after his election, approached me in the convention center lobby and quite enthusiastically told me if there was a netroots caucus, he would "absolutely" join. (This was after I first called him a few rude names over his FISA vote. But we kissed and made up, and he told me to call him any time I had a question. The fact is, he is with us on most of the issues. Not all, but most.)
It's a little weird to be posting a video that features me as a guest on Washington Journal (not the least of which is that it feels really creepy to be writing headlines about myself), but here goes: On the whole, I'm happy with my segment. (Except for the part where I missed it that a caller said he was reading the Drudge Report to find out what was going on. Arggh. I missed a real opportunity to educate him.) You can see Parts 2 and 3 here. (Thanks, Heather!)
My favorite part is when I call Glenn Beck "a nut, we all know he's a nut".
We've lost some very important voices in the liberal blogosphere in the last year. One common denominator those bloggers shared with others of us still on this mortal coil is the lack of infrastructure that supports us and our basic necessities, like health care.
Suburban Guerrilla's Susie Madrak has some ideas and we'd like to see your feedback.
Paperwight: On one issue (guess which one), Bush 43 has finally followed Bush 41's example - even though, as Beggars Can Be Choosers reminds us, the quality of mercy is not Bushian. (And, from Avedon Carol: When does the President NOT have the right to pardon?)We had dismissed the candidacy of Mike Gravel, but a quote unearthed by Susie Madrak may compel us, in light of recent events, to take a second look.
Boing Boing: Google appears to have disowned a corporate blog post offering to help the healthcare industry "promote its message" with ads that would appear alongside search results for "Michael Moore" or "Sicko."
Instaputz: Perhaps Glenn Reynolds should have asked Question #34.
Prose Before Hos: Fight terror. Go shopping for "pure silver recovered from Ground Zero"!
Whirledview: "This administration can't even issue passports - so how can it possibly do public diplomacy?"
Guest blogger Simbaud hoists a glass in memory of the late, great blogger Jim Capozzola (1962-2007). Send your links to Simbaud AT gmail DOT com.
Atrios printed some really great suggestions on "how to contribute to bloggers and the blogoshere." Susie Madrak from Suburban Guerrilla, emailed this similar take to help me when I first started blogging. I was emailing everyone almost every story I posted because I thought that is what you do. (I email still, but not as often) It's very difficult to get started and I had no idea how to proceed. After I followed Susie's suggestions, C&L started to attract a bigger audience.
That's one of the reason I started " Mike's Blog Round Up." So new or less visited voices can be read. Do people like the almost-daily round up?
