Pacific Views

Avedon @ The Sideshow alerted me to this very interesting piece published last Friday by McClatchy which finds the center of the Democratic party (and the country) is moving left. After discussing the number of people believing that government has a role in creating a safety net (an increase that registered across all political persuasions including those who define themselves as Republicans),...

Paul Krugman's column today does a brilliant job of defining the difference between Republicans and Democrats using John Goodman's comment about how no American is uninsured. Last week John Goodman, an influential figure in Republican health care circles, explained that we shouldn?t worry about the growing number of Americans without health insurance, because there?s no such thing as...

Kids: Remember when kids could go out and play by themselves? LGBT: Some people in Idaho think it's offensive to have to see same-sex wedding greeting cards at the Hallmark store. Those are some fragile marriages out there, I guess. Women: Paternalism towards adult women is offensive whether it comes from Republicans or from 'fellows' in the Party tent. (via Paradox @ The Left Coaster)...

... by Walter Brasch Executive management at the Allentown Morning Call recently laid off more than two dozen persons from its newsroom, most of them veteran reporters drawing higher salaries. Management plans to cut 35?40 positions, according to a letter sent by publisher Timothy Johnson. The cuts are about one-fourth of the news staff. The remaining reporters are being told to write more...

I know I've been shredding more paper lately and always assumed that if I put it into the recycle bin, that this was a good thing. That was before I got an email that explained the disadvantages of recycling shredded paper. --- Tips to Reduce Paper Shredding In the age of identity theft, shredding confidential documents has become an important safeguard of privacy. But shredding paper isn't...

Not too long ago, Californians were discussing how to provide healthcare for everyone. But in the throes of the budget woes comes this story [(MP3)] which shows just how close to the edge the entire public healthcare system is in California. From the California Report website: For a decade, California lawmakers looking to balance the budget have turned to Medi-Cal for cuts. This year is no...

Digby has a post about the nature of John McCain which had echoed my thoughts about him after watching this powerful interview of Andrew Bacevich by Bill Moyers. Namely: McCain is even more dangerous than Bush/Cheney. As Digby says: Just what we need. A president whose first reaction is: "show me somebody to hit". I remember writing a long time ago that John McCain is the man George W. Bush...