We succeeded in impeaching Nixon, that's what got the modern Repuke party's panties in a twist.

And while I agree with O'Donnell that liberals were responsible for the list he's outlined here, to say Republicans objected to extending voting rights, ending segregation, passing civil rights, etc., is disingenuous. There were plenty of Southern Democrats who opposed these measures. It would be more appropriate to say that these measures were opposed by conservatives because parties morph over time. Lincoln - a Republican - ended slavery, after all.

There are parables that suggest the poor are, indeed, entitled to a better lot.

Jesus consistently sided with the poor, they are the chosen ones illustrating his parables. Consider Luke 18:2-8, the parable of the unjust judge who hears the pleas of the widow to help her against one who is persecuting her.

There's Matthew 20:1-16 which advocates fair wages for laborers.

Most damning to your argument is Matthew 25:31-46 in which he admonishes those who did not feed the hungry, house the homeless, or clothe those who needed clothes - for free, since he does not mention the poor needing to pay for these services.

As for Jesus being celibate, we don't know that, particularly if looking at the extant gnostic gospels. Mary was not only Jesus' especially close confidant, some of the other disciples were jealous of their closeness. In particular, the Gospel of Philip refers to Mary Magdalene as the koinônos (Greek variously translated as companion, partner, confidant) of Jesus, going so far as to note that Jesus used to kiss her often on the lips. (See http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gop.html, about half way down the page.)

Reading Franklin's autobiography now.

He would hardly have considered himself a self-made man. He spends a lot of time crediting other people with giving him opportunities to excel in his endeavors, including lending him money and doing him favors.

Douglass had help escaping from slavery from other free blacks and white abolitionists who lent him money, provided free transportation, and harbored him.

Clay got his early start in law - for which he never went to school - through job arranged for him by a prominent Virginia lawyer who took a shine to him.

None of these examples are self-made men.

Looking for a graphic someone posted yesterday as a response in a thread about ACA.

It was set up like a flow chart. Had something about exemptions for low income people. Anyone have any idea what graphic I'm thinking of? I tried to recall its salient points to my boyfriend but got tangled up in details half-remembered.

Thanks in advance!

My response to my fundie cousin's fb petition to repeal ACA:

How much are you paying for gas?

I just drove from Colorado to Michigan to Massachusetts and back again. Gas prices ranged from $3.21 (Missouri) to $3.89 (Colorado). Both Mass and Michigan averaged around $3.60. I'm paying $3.60 in my corner of Colorado, but that's at an independent station with lower than average local prices most of the time.

So just as a point of interest - what are you paying, and where?

I agree the dispatcher should have been more precise in her wording.

However, having lived in the Deep South, I know that people habitually talk in a much more nuanced manner. "You don't need to do that" is a pleasant way of saying "Don't do that." I believe that was the dispatcher's meaning within the context of their conversation.

Still, I think this dispatcher needs some training in ethnocentric power structures and learn ways to overcome her linguistic culture in the course of her work.

Humanities are useless.

Art and philosophy are useless. Music is useless.



My god, what a dull, colorless one-dimensional world you must live in. The emphasis on science and math is exactly what conservatives drone and what has decimated our public education system. There aren't jobs in the humanities because there's been a concentrated effort by conservatives to erase such curriculum from our schools. There's a reason why intellectuals and artists are among the first people targeted for eradication by oppressive regimes. We are the first to question authority, and we encourage others to do so, too.

Uh, Denver is aggressively building a public transit system.

Since 2004 our FasTracks program has built four light rail and commuter tracks and have another four to be built by 2020, plus they're instituting a Bus Rapid Transit system from Boulder. The I-70 expansion is at the behest of the State of Colorado's highway system mostly because that stretch of I-70 is crumbling and only expected to last another 10-15 years. (As someone who drives this every day on my commute, I can bear witness to the huge gaping potholes - I can see girders driving on some overpasses.) The neighborhoods to be impacted are largely industrial - the huge and smelly Purina Dog Food plant would have to be relocated, for example. Part of proposed expansion area is the mousetrap where I-25 and I-70 intersect. I am not disputing the veracity of the author's claims about how our love of highways is/has been short-sighted, but until that commuter rail comes up north to my neck of the woods, I have to err on the side of public safety and agree to the I-70 construction.

My favorite quote from this interview: