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Showing posts from August, 2009

Remembering Teddy

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Cross-posted from AlterNet Photo Credit: Jocelyn Augustino I remember thinking, he seems so much smaller in person. The year was 2003, and I stood directly behind Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on a makeshift stage constructed in front of the Department of Labor, at a rally for International Human Rights Day convened by the AFL-CIO. I was on staff at the American Federation of Government Employees at the time, and was a member of the team that had put together the rally. Those were dark days indeed for union workers. The Bush administration was in full throttle in its bid to take down the unions, and it had a special vendetta in its dark heart for unions representing government workers. "We want this administration to stop being the most anti-worker, anti-labor administration that we have seen," Kennedy said. Kennedy had just introduced the Employee Free Choice Act , a piece of legislation, yet to see the light of day, that continues to rankle the right. He dressed humbly, in a wind

Washington Post columnists say Hillary Clinton deserves a bottle of Mad Bitch beer

Cross-posted from The Huffington Post . By now, you're likely familiar with the parade of racists, sexists, conspiracy theorists and hatemongers on the payrolls of mainstream media: CNN's Lou Dobbs advances the claims of unhinged birthers; FOX's Glenn Beck calls the president a racist ; MSNBC pays as an analyst Pat Buchanan, who says slavery was good for black folks . Not to be left behind, ABC welcomed to its This Week roundtable right-winger Michelle Malkin, who has referred to the first lady as President Obama's " cron[y] of color ," and is advancing the conspiracy theory that Democratic health-care reform is designed to euthanize old people . Bottom line: hate sells. Eager to bring eyeballs to its Web site, the Washington Post this week got in on the act , producing a video featuring two star columnists, Chris Cillizza (reportedly a nice guy) and Dana Milbank ( reportedly not ), that suggests at a future White House beer summit, Hillary Clinton be ser