Overton Window

A more informed person than I am just helped me better understand: the assets we'll be buying in TARP 2 are toxic, where the ones we've already bought are merely "worthless." That is, the bank "assets" we purchased in round one had no value, but the next round will be in fact a negative on the government budget sheet. This will becoming an important point in upcoming discussions about various types of "stimulus" and "liquidity." Read below the fold...

A friend of mine likes to joke that "all Republicans are socialists," meaning that when it comes to the government handing out free money to bankers, large off-shore HQ'd corporations, or Red Staters sucking the Federal tit, they just can't say "No." We've spent a lot of time mocking them for the hypocrisy in this, as it comes from those people who are at the same time, the most loudly against "welfare" and other entitlements and funding for the rest of us. Read below the fold...

Waiters use nodding trick to boost restaurant tabs (bBoing)

Beejebus, if this thing works over the phone, can we make it work over the internets???

Studies have concluded that 60–70% of the time, a Sullivan nod will result in the customer choosing the 'recommended' item.

Read below the fold...

Sorry, that's a metameta meme I've seen spreading around the intertubes. Does it come from a TV show or something? I wouldn't know. Ahem. Seriously: "Some periods in history don't allow the moral luxury of standing aside. This is one of them." Read the comments too, they are fascinating. Overton window shifting is so fun, forgive this very lazy linkage pretending to be a post. But if you get to my comment, you'll know the spirit I was in writing it and this post. Read below the fold...

The Overton Window.

Nice work, Shystee!

NOTE The Tom Tomorrow comic is pretty good, too! Read below the fold...

(And Blue Gal, who found this, is a total hottie. I love a girl who can link to a good chart.)

Here is our current predicament:

Bingo! Read below the fold...

Definition and discussion of the concept is below. The main points I want to convey with this image:

- There is, or there should be, a constant tug-of-war on the edges of the Overton Window on any issue.

- There is a place for everyone and anyone along the Left side of the rope, as long as we're all pulling in the same general direction. Read below the fold...

On NPR the other day, I heard about the town of Fairmont, MN where the City Council passed a resolution advocating a department of peace.

And after hearing the vitriol, the fear, and the hate in the voices of the wingers who got the proposal unpassed toot sweet, I'm beginning to think it might be a good idea. (Yeah, Kucinich, who advocates it, is marginalized. But change begins at the margins.)

Here's the wingers were saying about it: Read below the fold...

Here's why: Read below the fold...

Not a dime's worth.

Tony Smith writes on WaPo's editorial page:

Read below the fold...

From the mighty Avedon Carol (in comments), a dead-eyed dissection of Joe Klein's bashing of his fellow (ha, ha, ha) liberals: Read below the fold...

Greg has an easy time spanking our favorite newbie to the blogosphere, Joke Line. Riffing off that, I'd like to say that I am a proud ideological extremist. Proud. Read below the fold...

NPR is teh suck, really. They too have followed Pony Blow and migrated to using "extremists" to describe whoever the Fuck Bush sent to troops to fight in Iraq. There are some big problems with this:

1. "Extremists" is an Orwellian use of language to conceal rather than express thought. Bush and the Beltway YAAP s have never been able to define the enemy in Iraq--Bitter enders? Al Qaeda? Some combination of Sunnis and Shiites? Islamists? Iran? Enemies of freedom? Evildoers? All of the above? Read below the fold...

Re: Don Young's remark--that wet fart from the Republic Party's sorry, chickenhawk ass--that Democrats who oppose the war should be "arrested and hanged", what Chris said. The money quote's in bold, but the buildup is pretty good too: Read below the fold...

I took the Pew Center's poll, and that was the result. Some interesting true facts:

Liberals represent 17 percent of the American public, and 19 percent of registered voters.

This group has nearly doubled in proportion since 1999, Liberals now comprise the largest share of Democrats and is the single largest of the nine Typology groups.

Read below the fold...