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  <title>vastleft's blog</title>
  <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/blogs/vastleft"/>
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  <id>http://www.correntewire.com/blog/81/atom/feed</id>
  <updated>2009-06-12T13:53:58-04:00</updated>
  <entry>
    <title>Atheist&#039;s Lullaby Redux</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/atheists_lullaby_redux" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/atheists_lullaby_redux</id>
    <published>2009-06-30T19:32:21-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-30T19:32:21-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<object width="464" height="272"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/96r-4cakjZk&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/96r-4cakjZk&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="464" height="272"></embed></object><br><br>
Wow, some days you just have to love the Internets.<br><br>
Someone called "Dark of the Stars" just posted this lovely expansion to my "<a href="http://www.correntewire.com/atheists_lullaby">Atheist's Lullaby</a>."    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Interview with &quot;Bloggers on the Bus&quot; author Eric Boehlert</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/interview_bloggers_bus_author_eric_boehlert" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/interview_bloggers_bus_author_eric_boehlert</id>
    <published>2009-06-22T09:43:28-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-23T19:02:54-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <category term="Eric Boehlert" />
    <category term="PB2.0" />
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p>[Cross-posted at <a href="http://www.vastleft.com">vastleft.com</a>]</p>
<p>Eric,</p>
<p>Thank you very much for taking the time to answer some questions about your new book, <i><a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/9781416560104">Bloggers on the Bus</a></i>.</p>
<p>As one of those "eclectic outcasts" you referred to in your book — those who had concerns about Barack Obama's candidacy and/or positive things to say about Hillary Clinton's — Chapters 8 and 9 on the "Blog War of 2008" were, of course, of special interest to me.</p>
<p>That thought-provoking material, and the vivid portraits of several different bloggers throughout the book, made for what I consider a must-read for progressive bloggers and their readers. Congratulations on a terrific follow-up to <i><a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/Lapdogs/Eric-Boehlert/9780743299169">Lapdogs</a></i>!</p>
    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Forwarding address</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/forwarding_address" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/forwarding_address</id>
    <published>2009-06-18T12:29:09-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-18T12:43:32-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p>I've resumed posting at my old site, accessed  via either "<a href="http://vastleft.blogspot.com">http://vastleft.blogspot.com</a>" or "<a href="http://www.vastleft.com">http://www.vastleft.com</a>."</p>
<p>I hope to see you over there. Please add me to your RSS feeds, blogrolls, etc., if you're into such things.</p>
<p>I have one more post planned for Correntewire in the near future. Stay tuned....</p>
<p>P.S., Suggestions for a new tagline are welcome. "Something to read until Bush gets us all killed" probably needs a little updating... to reflect our new, hopeful, transcendently transcendent age.</p>
    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Financial bubbles explained</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/financial_bubbles_explained" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/financial_bubbles_explained</id>
    <published>2009-06-16T10:27:22-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-16T10:59:19-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <category term="Department of Now It All Makes Sense" />
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.openleft.com/diary/13780/the-powers-of-the-big-banks">Mike Lux</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Bong traders have a huge amount to say about whether interest rates are lowered and raised. </p></blockquote>
<p>UPDATE: Dang, someone fixed a great typo... or an inadvertently revealed truth!</p>
<p>A screen shot for posterity:</p>
    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>What&#039;s the damage?</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/whats_damage" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/whats_damage</id>
    <published>2009-06-15T18:54:02-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-15T19:28:08-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p>As a prelude to a future post about Eric Boehlert's <i>Bloggers on the Bus</i>, here's a summary of what I view as the major sins of The Blog War of 2008: </p>
<blockquote><p>a) Truthiness. The truth-telling alternatives to the lying media lost their compasses, as even sophisticated observers heralded resolutely post-partisan Obama as "<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/what-counts-as-an-issue_b_84177.html">deeply progressive</a>" and, seriously, a modern-day <a href="http://obamamessiah.blogspot.com/">Messiah</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Obama to single-payer advocates: &quot;go fuck yourselves&quot;</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/obama_single_payer_advocates_go_fuck_yourselves" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/obama_single_payer_advocates_go_fuck_yourselves</id>
    <published>2009-06-15T17:42:01-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-15T17:44:41-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Naturally, he wasn't talking directly to us "<a href="http://www.correntewire.com/ive_got_goosebumps_obama_mentioned_me">liberal bleeding hearts</a>." Instead, he <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/15/obama-takes-up-public-hea_n_215736.html">delivered the message to the AMA</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>"What are not legitimate concerns are those being put forward claiming a public option is somehow a Trojan horse for a single-payer system," he said. I'll be honest. There are countries where a single-payer system may be working. But I believe -- and I've even taken some flak from members of my own party for this belief -- that it is important for us to build on our traditions here in the United States.</p></blockquote>
    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Samuelson discovers the key to good health care</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/samuelson_discovers_key_good_health_care" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/samuelson_discovers_key_good_health_care</id>
    <published>2009-06-15T13:09:38-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-15T13:11:38-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <category term="health care" />
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Claim we're <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/202015/page/1">getting too much of it</a>, especially the old and disabled people.</p>
<p>That must be why our health outcomes are lagging behind most other industrialized nations. Too much of a good thing!</p>
    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>When George Lakoff jumped the shark</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/when_george_lakoff_jumped_shark" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/when_george_lakoff_jumped_shark</id>
    <published>2009-06-14T20:24:56-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-14T20:24:56-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p>[<a href="http://openleft.com/showComment.do?commentId=170842">Cross-posted</a> in comments at <a href="http://openleft.com/diary/13766/lakoff-vs-luntzdems-just-dont-get-it">Open Left</a>, where Paul Rosenberg wishes the Dems would take the counsel of the one-time authority on political framing.]</p>
<p>For the sake of argument, let's accept the Creative-Class consensus that Hillary Clinton is an egocentric, party-destroying, racist she-monster that needed to be stopped at all costs.</p>
<p>Still, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/what-counts-as-an-issue_b_84177.html">Lakoff's fawning assessment of Obama</a> and his <a href="http://www.correntewire.com/triangulation_the_next_generation">nouveau-triangulation</a> remains one of the most idiotic posts written in the course of the campaign.</p>
<p>I'm surprised he stopped short of pointing out that there are two "I's" in "Hillary Clinton," and none in "Barack Obama."</p>
    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Would you rather have a plan that covers everyone... and doesn&#039;t screw them out of services, while saving money?</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/would_you_rather_have_plan_covers_everyone_doesnt_screw_them_out_services_and_saves_money" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/would_you_rather_have_plan_covers_everyone_doesnt_screw_them_out_services_and_saves_money</id>
    <published>2009-06-14T11:08:17-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-14T11:18:38-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <category term="single payer" />
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/13/AR2009061301044_pf.html">Hell, no</a>!</p>
<blockquote><p>President Obama yesterday outlined measures to trim spending on federal health programs for the elderly and the poor by an additional $313 billion over the next decade, bringing his total proposed savings close to the amount necessary to cover the cost of his signature health-care plan, a top adviser said.... The cuts Obama proposed yesterday would bring the total savings he has identified to pay for health-care reform to $950 billion, an amount that may still not be enough to cover the full cost of reform. Some outside analysts have said that Congress may have to spend $1.5 trillion or more over the next decade to extend coverage to all Americans. </p></blockquote>
    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Say what?</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/say_what" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/say_what</id>
    <published>2009-06-13T23:24:34-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-13T23:26:40-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <category term="Barack Obama" />
    <category term="John Rawls" />
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p>An <a href="http://openleft.com/diary/13752/obama-john-rawls-and-a-defense-of-the-unreasonable">interesting-enough post</a>. But WTF, dude? Seriously, WTF?</p>
<blockquote><p>John Rawls was a great thinker, and Barack Obama is a great man.</p></blockquote>
<p>To quote <a href="http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~ebarnes/python/cheese-shop.htm">John Cleese</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please.</p></blockquote>
    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Simple answers to &quot;he-said / she-said&quot; problems</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/simple_answers_he_said_she_said_problems" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/simple_answers_he_said_she_said_problems</id>
    <published>2009-06-13T02:13:26-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-13T10:27:11-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Don't believe what <u>she</u> said. How's <i>that</i> for a novel soution!</p>
<p><a href="http://openleft.com/diary/13749/a-new-path-to-progressive-power">Chris Bowers</a>:</p>
    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>The difference being...?</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/difference_being" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/difference_being</id>
    <published>2009-06-12T20:03:12-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-12T20:03:12-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux/the-measure-of-obamas-pre_b_215034.html">Mike Lux</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Will the Democrats in the House and Senate that are closely allied with big corporate interests back their corporate friends or Obama?</p></blockquote>
    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>No one could have anticipated -- DOMA edition</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/no_one_could_have_anticipated_doma_edition" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/no_one_could_have_anticipated_doma_edition</id>
    <published>2009-06-12T18:23:34-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-12T18:23:34-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <category term="Barack Obama" />
    <category term="gay marriage" />
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p>A phrase you won't hear me say often: <a href="http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/obama-justice-department-defends-doma.html">a must-read at AMERICAblog</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>It's <strike>pretty</strike> despicable, and gratuitously homophobic. It reads as if it were written by one of George Bush's top political appointees. I cannot state strongly enough how damaging this brief is to us. Obama didn't just argue a technicality about the case, he argued that DOMA is reasonable. That DOMA is constitutional. That DOMA wasn't motivated by any anti-gay animus. He argued why our Supreme Court victories in Roemer and Lawrence shouldn't be interpreted to give us rights in any other area (which hurts us in countless other cases and battles).</p></blockquote>
    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>Why haven&#039;t I been reading Mr. Fish?</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/why_havent_i_been_reading_mr_fish" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/why_havent_i_been_reading_mr_fish</id>
    <published>2009-06-12T18:05:31-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-12T18:05:31-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <category term="Barack Obama" />
    <category term="Cartoons" />
    <category term="gay marriage" />
    <category term="Harpers" />
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://harpers.org/subjects/MrFishCartoons">Enjoy</a>!</p>
    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
  <entry>
    <title>With tribe on our side</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.correntewire.com/tribe_our_side" />
    <id>http://www.correntewire.com/tribe_our_side</id>
    <published>2009-06-12T13:53:58-04:00</published>
    <updated>2009-06-12T13:53:58-04:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>vastleft</name>
    </author>
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2009/06/tribal-politics-principles-liberty-and.html">Arthur</a> continues his series on tribalism:</p>
<blockquote><p>In the Age of Obama, the breathtakingly rapid abandonment of ideas that liberals (and assorted others) had once proclaimed to be central to their existence is as odious as it was predictable. It also replicates almost perfectly the similar abandonment of principles by many conservatives and alleged libertarians during the late, unlamented Age of Bush the Younger.</p></blockquote>
<p>Should he really be saying such things with the mid-terms just 17-months away?</p>
    ]]></summary>
  </entry>
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