| Greetings! Don't forget to vote Tuesday! Check out all the local Dem meetings and the great sites to help everyone understand the new health care bill.
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Thanks, Nancy Cunningham
Email/Webpage/Facebook/Twitter/Newsletetter archive | | April 13th: Democratic Primary Run-off Election Day | | 
| | No One Is to Blame for Anything by Frank Rich | |  "I was right 70 percent of the time, but I was wrong 30 percent of the time," said Alan Greenspan as he testified last week on Capitol Hill. Greenspan - a k a the Oracle during his 18-year-plus tenure as Fed chairman - could not have more vividly illustrated how and why geniuses of his stature were out to lunch while Wall Street imploded. No doubt he applied his full brain power to that 70-30 calculation. But the big picture eludes him. If the captain of the Titanic followed the Greenspan model, he could claim he was on course at least 70 percent of the time too.
Greenspan was testifying to the commission trying to pry loose the still incomplete story of how the American economy was driven at full speed into its iceberg. He was eager to portray himself as an innocent bystander to forces beyond his control. In his rewriting of history, his clout in Washington was so slight that he was ineffectual at "influencing the Congress." The "roots" of the crisis, he lectured, dated back to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. In other words: Wherever the buck stops, you had better believe it's not within several thousand miles of the Oracle. As he has previously said in defending his inability to spot the colossal bubble, "Everybody missed it - academia, the Federal Reserve, all regulators."
read on
| | Democracy Now | |  Appeals Court Rules FCC Lacks Authority to Enforce Net Neutrality
A federal appeals court has ruled the Federal Communications Commission lacks the authority to prevent internet service providers from blocking and controlling internet traffic. The FCC has long sought to force internet service companies to give web users equal access to all websites, a concept known as network neutrality. But the decision grants the companies further control over internet traffic while threatening the future of internet regulation. We speak with Josh Silver, co-founder of FreePress.net.
Listen/Watch/Read
| | Texas Justice, American Injustice | "When members of Texas' Board of Education recently voted to eliminate 'justice' from the list of terms schoolchildren have to master - in addition to elevating Rush Limbaugh to the pantheon of historic luminaries - they unleashed another salvo in the country's ceaseless culture wars. Yet they also, perhaps inadvertently, brought the curriculum in line with the state's inequitable social order. With its laissez-faire corporate climate and anemic human services (the state leads the nation simultaneously in carbon emissions and children without health insurance), Texas may be 'wide open for business,' but it has always had an uneasy relationship with Lady Justice." Read the Article | | North Texas Progressive Book Suggestion | | 
Curfewed Night: One Kashmiri Journalist's Frontline Account of Life, Love, and War in His Homeland
By Basharat Peer List Price: $25.00
Price: $16.50 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
BUY HERE from Amazon
Product Description Curfewed Night is a brave and unforgettable piece of literary reporting that reveals the personal stories behind one of the most brutal conflicts in modern times. Since 1989, when the separatist movement exploded, more than seventy thousand people have been killed in the battle between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. Born and raised in the war-torn region, Basharat Peer brings this little-known part of the world to life in haunting, vivid detail.
Peer tells stories from his youth and gives gut-wrenching accounts of the many Kashmiris he met years later as a reporter. He chronicles a young man's initiation into a Pakistani training camp, a mother forced to watch her son hold an exploding bomb by Indian troops, a poet finding religion when his entire family is killed. He writes about politicians living in refurbished torture chambers, idyllic villages rigged with land mines, and ancient Sufi shrines decimated in bomb blasts.
Curfewed Night is a tale of a man's love for his land, the pain of leaving home, and the joy of return -- as well as a fierce and moving piece of reportage from an intrepid young journalist.
Thanks Stephen for the suggestion! | | Help keep Texas from becoming a Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal | | Lone S tar Sierra Clubs
This month, the Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission will hear feedback on a proposed rule allowing the importation of so-called low-level radioactive waste into Texas from across the nation. Under the proposed rules Waste Control Specialists would be allowed to import additional radioactive waste from other areas of the country and potentially the world, into Andrews County, Texas.
Click here to take action! Tell the Compact Commission you do not want Texas to become the nation's radioactive waste dumping ground!
Go here | | The Top Ten Works of Journalism of the Decade in the United States | | 
The faculty of New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, together with a group of distinguished outside judges, has selected "The Top Ten Works of Journalism of the Decade in the United States." We began with a list of eighty nominees. Our purpose was to call attention to and honor work of exceptional importance and quality - journalism that brilliantly met the challenges of this difficult decade.
Ten years ago New York University, using some of the same judges, selected "the Top 100 Works of Journalism of the Twentieth Century in the United States." It is our belief that the best journalism of the first decade of the twenty-first century belongs in that company.
-- Mitchell Stephens, Professor of Journalism, NYU Here | | North Texas Democrats : Notes and News | | 
CGS Democrats
Candidate Forum Monday, April 19
Please mark your calendar for 7 pm, Monday, April 19 as we will once again be hosting a forum for municipal and GCISD candidates in the upcoming May 8 elections. So far we have Mayor David Kelly and his challenger Ellen Lopez, as well as Grapevine City Councilman Mike Lease and his opponent Michael Robbins. One GCISD candidate Karen Deakin will be available that date. The location will be at the Stacy Furniture upstairs community room on Main Street in Grapevine, just south of Hwy.114/121, so be on the lookout for additional information to come. I welcome your ideas as to the topics you would like to see addressed by these candidates. Please call Susie Stonecipher at 817-481-6707 to volunteer your help with setup, greeting, refreshments, timekeeping, cleanup, etc.
Midcities Drinking Liberally
Thursday, April 15, 6:30 pm
Rio Mambo Colleyville
5150 Highway 121 (between Hall Johnson and Glade)
Hosted by Kathleen Thompson and Brad Walker
Questions? email midcities@drinkingliberally.org or call KT at 817-798-5242
Tarrant County Young Democrats
The Democratic Professionals Happy Hour. Our inaugural edition will be on Tax Day: Thursday, April 15th.Come celebrate ...or procrastinate... with other Democratic Professionals:
@ The Vault Underground Lounge
525 Taylor Street
Complementary Valet Parking
Thursday April 15th, 4:30pm to 6:30pm
And yes, there are drink specials!
For more information, please email vicepresident@tarrantyoungdemocrats.org, or call 817-601-5331
The Mid-Cities Democrats Monthly Meetup
When Thursday, April 22, 2010 7:00 PM
There's still room for 74 more.
Where Sheet Metal Workers' Union Hall
1020 S Industrial Blvd
Euless TX 76040
Grassroots Democratic Coalition Monthly Meetup
When Thursday, April 22, 2010 7:30 PM
Where Black Eyed Pea Restaurant
7979 Belt LIne Rd at Coit Rd - Next to Shell Service Station
Dallas TX 75287
How Much Price: $2.00 per person
Frisco Democrats Happy Hour at the Irish Rover
When Saturday, April 10, 2010 7:00 PM
Where Irish Rover
8250 Gaylord Pkwy
Frisco TX 75034
(214) 618-6222 | | 200 Examples Of Anti-Obama Merchandise | | 
Political blogger Ethan Persof compiled this graphic showing an extensive collection of merchandise with anti-Obama sentiment from the last two years.
here
| | Online resources for information on health-care reform | | 
The ink was hardly dry on the health-care overhaul law when foundations, industry groups and consumer advocates began putting together guides to the new rules. Here are some Web sites worth keeping an eye on:
-- Kff.org: The Kaiser Family Foundation Web site has a lot of thorough information. To get started, under "New & Noteworthy," click on "summary of the law" for a good synopsis, and on "timeline" to see when various provisions of the law are scheduled to kick in.
-- Familiesusa.org: Families USA is a nonprofit advocacy organization for health-care consumers. Click on the link to "Health Reform Central" to see just about everything you need to know about the new law. To get a recap of the major changes, click on the link that begins "Help is on the way" on the homepage.
-- Healthinsuranceproviders.com: Click on "Health Care Reform" to see a timeline that's less descriptive than Kaiser's, but easier to grasp visually. The site belongs to an online insurance broker; if you're looking for health insurance, be sure to shop around other sites and brokers.
-- Whitehouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections: This is straight from the Obama administration. Keep in mind, it helped write the law. Tune out the superlatives and compare the information with the facts from advocacy groups such as Medicare Rights Center.
-- Consumerreports.org/health: From Consumer Reports, a range of useful information. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on "Health-care reform."
-- Bankrate.com: From a Web site where borrowers hunt for low mortgage rates and savers look for high-interest CDs, there's a summary with a good focus on costs. Type "reform" into the search box, and click on "What's in it for you."
-- Marchofdimes.com: The March of Dimes summarizes key new provisions for women and children. Click on "In the news."
-- Medicarerights.org: The Medicare Rights Center summarizes key new provisions for seniors; click on the big box that says "learn more about health reform and Medicare." | | Progressive Talk Radio News | |  Progressive radio in Boston -Red Sox en Español!
AM 1510 Revolution Boston and Blackstrap Broadcating are excited to announce that AM 1510 will be broadcasting all Red Sox games in Spanish. Starting with this Sunday's opening day game, hear Red Sox games in Spanish right here on AM 1510. As most games are evening games, daytime programming on AM 1510 Revolution Boston will not be affected. For early games, we will preempt programming for the Red Sox, either delaying afternoon programming or making it available online. We look forward to our new partnership with the Red Sox, and urge you to tell any of your friends or colleagues that might be interested in listening to games in Spanish about this exciting addition to AM 1510.
Rhodes: People Listen to Rush Because 'He's on Every R adio Station -- They Have No Choice'
On a panel on HLN's April 5 "The Joy Behar Show." This meeting of the minds, consisting of Behar, GQ's Ana Marie Cox and liberal talk show host Randi Rhodes, accused conservative talker Rush Limbaugh of playing victim in responding to an interview President Barack Obama conducted with CBS News in which the president mentioned Limbaugh and Glenn Beck by name - calling them "troublesome."
Rachel Maddow - People Magazine
Rachel Maddow and Her Girlfriend Give Up TV on Weekends
Rachel M addow doesn't bring her work home with her.
The MSNBC host, 37, and her artist girlfriend Susan Mikula spend each weekend at their quaint home three hours north of New York in Western Massachusetts, and it doesn't have cable - or even a television.
"We realized that the two of us have the TV Disease," explains Mikula, 52. "Rachel can't have one because she'd watch it all the time!" Instead, they enjoy the solitude and home-cooked meals Mikula prepares.
read on
| | Kathleen Turner as'Kick-Ass' Molly Ivins | | PHILADELPHIA --Kathleen Turner leans back in an old-fashioned wooden swivel chair and props her feet -- shod in bright red cowboy boots -- smack on top of a desk.
For the next 75 minutes, the voluptuous, whiskey-voiced Turner is up and down as she channelsMolly Ivins, the high-born Texas populist; profane, hilarious and astute chronicler of dumb-as-dirt, racist, sexist and plain ol' thieving politicians; and an absolutely ferocious, itinerant First Amendment junkyard dog.
"Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins" had its world premiere Wednesday night at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. On a sparse stage set that feels like a newspaper boneyard, Turner traverses the complex life of an American original
read on | | | | | A Voice of Reason | | 
| | The Republican Party is not simply the "just-say-no" party. It's also a shameless advocate of the free lunch. Ronald Reagan famously told us he could jack up defense spending, cut taxes and balance the federal budget all at the same time.
George W. Bush put two big wars on a credit card. And now we have the perennially clownish Newt Gingrich, in an embarrassing rant against President Obama, assuring the deluded G.O.P. faithful that, yes, the party can indeed bring down the federal deficit while cutting taxes.
The Great Recession and the debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan have not been savage enough to reintroduce the G.O.P. to reality.
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| | Neil Durrance for Congress | | 
Return Government to the People
26the Congressional District of Texas
-Keep American jobs in America
-Make health care affordable for all U.S. citizens
-Increase Pell Grants and decrease tuition
940.239.0380
www.durranceforcongress.com
| | Making the Most of Social Media: 7 Lessons from Successful Citie | | 
Making the Most of Social Media: 7 Lessons from Successful Cities
"Making the Most of Social Media is written for local governments-cities, counties, townships and their affiliates-that are beginning to experiment with social media and would like to get more out of them. Its emphasis is on the use of specific applications, such as Facebook and Twitter, by government managers and communications directors. More than two dozen "early adopters" were interviewed for this report. Their experiences offer some lessons to local governments about what sorts of tools social media offer, how to integrate them into a busy office, and how to use them creatively to be more effective...Social media command a large and fast-increasing audience. Half of American adults have used at least one of these services, up from just 8% four years ago. Social media users still tend to be young but are growing more representative of the general population each year, and the majority of all adult users are now over the age of 35. These users are creating and sharing a tremendous amount of information: 500 million pieces of content on Facebook every day and 200,000 new blog posts on the Wordpress platform alone. In sum, a broad cross-section of Americans have moved to social media sites in the past half decade and this trend is still accelerating. Social media applications are now main stream."
read here
| | The Errington Thompson Show | | 
Do you want to hear a great Progressive Talk Radio show ?
Listen to Dallas native Dr. Errington Thompson on Revolution 880 from Asheville, NC live Saturdays 3-4pm cst
Read blog & listen to free podcasts
| | Working People Are Right to Be Mad | | 
Richard L. Trumka | Working People Are Right to Be Mad
Richard L. Trumka, President, AFL-CIO
Richard Trumka belts out a fire and brimstone evocation of the American labor movement's traditional themes.
READ MORE
Enough Tea Party-Style Whining -- It's Time to Take Back Our Jobs and Businesses
Imagine what would happen if we stopped blaming and started living democracy. Imagine what could change if we realized our power to remove big money from its dominance. READ MORE
Frances Moore Lappé / AlterNet
| | Rockwall County Democrats | | 
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