Nipped *that* in the bud, I hope

Caught our son listening to The Beatles tonight, I saw her standing there

It was bad.

She was just 17
You know what I mean?
And the way she looked
Was way beyond compare
So how could I dance with another?
"Woooh!"
I saw her standing there

Selecting a dance partner on the basis of looks? 17? And that "woooh" was pretty menacing.

Shut that down, right quick.

Told him to stick to instrumentals until we can sort through our music to see what's more reasonable for him. We gave him some polkas and chamber music to tide him over.

As the boy started listening to the new music we gave him, he began to weep uncontrollably, tears dripping down onto his loose-fitting unisex pantsuit. Tears of joy, I think, in recognition of our growing maturity as a civilization.

Sexual union should be made illegal

We don't need it anymore; thanks to scientific advances, we can now reproduce without such animalistic thrashing.

And it causes so much trouble. Courtship is a harrowing experience, filled with buffoonery and emotions. Amazing what people will do to initiate the mating ritual: even flowers and "romantic" evenings.

One phrase I never want to hear again: vive la différence.

Nasty stuff, sex. Let's relegate it to the trash heap of history.

Russia Awards Rick Santorum Honorary Gold Medal

I want to thank our President. Doubly.

President Obama signed an executive order yesterday which raises the minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.10. While that's still not a living wage, it's an important start.

Thank you, Mr. President.

The other wonderful thing is that this minimum wage for contractors also covers Americans with disabilities. Until now, Americans with disabilities could be paid a lower wage than typically-abled Americans. But people with disabilities need to live, too. In fact, they often have extra expenses due to their disabilities.

Nobody in our country, nor on our planet, should be locked into poverty because of where they're born or how nature created or altered them. Bad stuff happens. Human progress is all about our getting better at remediating that stuff. The President's move takes a step in the right direction.

So thank you again, Mr. President.

Now: let's take back our country!

Regards,

First-Way Manny

Do you have any idea of how much DU's changed in the past year?

March 2013: Quick 2016 Poll: Hillary or Elizabeth?

December, 2013: Hillary or Elizabeth?

My belief is that DU is simply the Democratic Party's vanguard: what happens here happens en masse in the party a year or two later. Witness, for example: Did you hear Crystal Ball's rant on the Cycle asking Hillary not to run?

The Third Way est morte. FDR Democrats, the future is ours: if we grab it, fast and tight.

Yay, ObamaRomneyCare! 23% rate increase!

What happens when you mix:

- laissez-fair health care financing, and
- a doctor's union that sets the cost of each procedure, the rules on which procedures must be used when (mostly based on profit, not evidence), and which sets strict limits on the number of doctors that may practice?
- a law forcing people to buy insurance?

You get huge rate increases in state with the already-most-expensive health care, in the country with the already-most-expensive health care. my friend's small Mass. company just got notice that their health insurance (BCBS) is going up 23% for the same coverage. And we've had RomenyCare for a number of years already.

23%!

Yay, team!

Oh, when Obama fought mightily for the public option RomeyHeritageCare, did anyone mention that the land of Romneycare has the most expensive health insurance in the US? And that it was about to leap even more in cost?

This. Is. Bullshit.

We. Are. Stupid.

Do we give them the satisfaction of stealing it?

A lot of discussion over the past couple of days on the wisdom or idiocy of serving food like fried chicken, watermelon, corn bread and collard greens to celebrate black heritage. Celebrating soul food? Or feeding a stereotype?

I took a slightly-risky swipe at the situation with a post last night celebrating Ashkenazi Jewish foods. Please know that was having fun with the situation, the back-and-forth between opposing points of view, rather than attacking either point of view. The fact is, I'm not sure where I stand on this.

While I'm not sure who's correct, I will say that my inclination is to not allow the bad guys to steal from us. A number of years ago, Republicans demonized the word "Liberal" so many Liberals started calling themselves "Progressives". I think that's a bad idea. We win by fighting, not by letting others claim whats ours.

In the case of my joking about Jewish foods, it struck me today that I was inadvertently being a little stupid (first time ever, right?), since my post could have been construed as "See black folks? I can have fun with foods that *my* people eat: why can't you?" But there's a reason that it's easier for me than for black folks: the Jewish experience in America has been unbelievably different than the Black experience. Jews have had some issues (e.g., the Italian Catholic kids used to beat on the Jewish kids when I grew up in Queens), but basically we've been as accepted into our nation about as smoothly as any other minority - perhaps even more smoothly than any other. Blacks, on the other hand, started off here with SLAVERY. @#$%ing SLAVERY. And for a century-and-a-half since that was over, they've suffered so many other depradations and degradations, terrible, terrible stuff. In their case, perhaps the pain is so great that it's best avoided rather than launching it back at the savages.

So, I apologize for my post. I should have been a bit more thoughtful.

That being said... can I ask that we generally try to NOT GIVE THE BAD GUYS AN INCH? When they claim our words, our ideas, or our other "intellectual property", we become small every time the words are used; we give them power over us. I suggest that we claim what is ours with pride, gusto, and the number "one" displayed on our digitus medius.

This is probably not always appropriate. But I suspect that it usually is. Your thoughts welcome.

Mostly, let's be friends with each other, and let's win. We need to pull together the largest group that we can, as soon as we can, to grab a rope and pull the 99% from the quicksand the 1%'s poured on us while we weren't paying attention.

Best regards,

First-Way Manny

Any Goyim making untoward remarks about gefilte fish

will be in big trouble.

Right in the kishkes, you'll get it!

Regards,

Yiddishe Manny

Additional info: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024478358

Russia to House Prison Inmates in Sochi Hotels

Because Glenn Greenwald is who he is, NSA spying is fine

It's as simple as that. So obvious.

I think it also makes Keystone XL OK, but I'm waiting for more details.

Regards,

Third-Way Manny