The Republic of T.

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for August 30th from 01:00 to 18:31:

• Off to College, Then What? –
• The Return of the Know-Nothings –
• Andy Ostroy: Racist Maniac Stabs Muslim Cabbie — Is Republican Hate-Mongering Working? –
• Waiting patiently for the 'Ground Zero Church' outrage –
• This Side of Democracy –
• Trey Ellis: Mr. President, We're So Ready to Believe Again –
• No, Glenn, you white conservatives really WEREN’T the civil rights movement—with numbers –
• An I for an I –
• Op-Ed Columnist: It’s Witch-Hunt Season –

I’ve written once or twice about my interest in crime stories and earlier research into serial killers for a writing project. I’ve seen the first season of Dexter, but have yet to catch up with the rest on Netflix. And, I’ll admit that I was intrigued and found Dexter more than a little sexy. (Michael C. Hall’s good looks and portrayal of the character go a long way towards towards turning a murderous psychopath into a sympathetic character. It doesn’t hurt that Dexter’s deadly impulses are directed at other killers.)

That said, I actually agree with this guy. A Dexter "action figure" is just a bit much for my tastes.

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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for August 27th through August 29th:

• Warning: Why Cheaper Money Won’t Mean More Jobs –
• Robert Kuttner: Simpson's 'Tits' Are the Least of It –
• Glenn Beck outs himself as evil –
• Michael Hirsh: How Wall Street Rolled Obama –
• Bigots torch religious site in Tennessee –
• Despite “All Clear,” Mississippi Sound Tests Positive for Oil –
• Op-Ed Columnist: The Billionaires Bankrolling the Tea Party –
• Op-Ed Contributor: Why We Need a Second Stimulus –
• Civil rights’ new ‘owner’: Glenn Beck –
• Public Backs Ending Tax Cuts for Rich, and More –

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for August 26th from 13:11 to 14:33:

• Michigan’s Republican Secretary of State Candidates Won’t Let Trans Driver Licenses Come Between Them –
• Sally Kohn: Bucking Beck, Episode 1: Fascism vs Communism vs What? –
• Waiting for Equality –
• Loving Gays SO MUCH You Want to Send Them to Hell –
• Frank Rich: Pentagon reality show has ‘a snuff movie quality’ –

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for August 25th from 11:02 to 14:15:

• 9/11 families split over NYC mosque –
• Don C. Reed: Overturn Dickey-Wicker Abomination, or Forget Stem Cell Cures for a Generation –
• Muslim Cab Driver STABBED In New York City, Michael Enright Arrested On Hate Crime Charge –
• The Oil Industry’s Corporate Welfare –
• Bryan Gobin: Republicans Abandon Freedom Over Mosque –
• Why aren’t you listening? We are not anti-Islam, I tell you! –
• A Mob at Work –
• Taxi driver stabbed after being asked ‘Are you a Muslim?’ –
• Cenk Uygur: Ban Glenn Beck from Ground Zero –
• Obama and Gay Marriage –

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for August 19th through August 25th:

• Egg Recall: U.S. Chose Not To Require Vaccine For Salmonella Egg Threat –
• The anatomy of intolerance –
• It’s the Poverty, Stupid –
• The Facts Of Third World America –
• Glenn Beck's Racism Is an Affront to MLK's "I Have a Dream" Vision –
• How Liberal Mosque Defenders Are Playing into the Hands of the Islamophobes –
• Sensitivity –
• Maybe someone should do something –
• E-Coli conservativism continues –
• Auto Industry Rebounding, Believe It or Not. –

Farewell, “Dr.” Laura. Alas, we knew you far too well.

Actually, there is just one thing before you go…

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I’d started thinking that I was too hard on our power company last week, when I agreed with Gov. O’Malley that their service was less reliable than power in some Third World countries. I was starting to think maybe that was a bit hyperbolic.

That is until I read the Post this morning. Apparently, Pepco is proud of its pitiful performance. (more…)

To be more specific, what’s Rand Paul smoking these days?

His musings that America was a better, freer place when African Americans had no civil rights protection, and no one was looking out for the safety of American workers (at least no one who didn’t have one eye on the bottom line), were both amusing and disturbing. But his latest riff on unemployment — that helping the unemployed would increase drug use — is a shocker, even from him.

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• Islamophobia: Targeting An American Community « SpeakEasy http://bit.ly/ddl5Qi #

• Islamophobia: Targeting An American Community « SpeakEasy http://bit.ly/ddl5Qi #

Last week, I wrote this:

The fundamental differences between the left and the right — between conservatives and progressives — comes down to how we answer three simple questions: “Can we?,” “Should we?” and  “What do we mean, ‘We’?”

Apply them to any challenge we face as a country — Can we make health care available to all? Can we reign in Wall Street? Can we build an economy that works for the other 99% of us? Can we keep teachers, police officers, and fire fighters working in our communities? Can we reduce our contribution to climate change? — and our answers reveal who we are and where we’re headed.

This week, an exchange between two political leaders illustrates that point, and then some.

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Imagine, if you will, Rand Paul, Michelle Bachman, and Sharron Angle — with Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck on speakerphone — sitting down together with a copy of the constitution, and a red pen. For edits, of course.

Now, open your eyes. And, if you’re a progressive, stop screaming. That was just an exercise in imagination. Nothing to be alarmed about. Except for conservatism’s current schzoid "reverence" for and simultaneous hostility toward the constitution.

Of course, it’s nothing new. It’s just crept from the fringes of American conservative to pretty near the mainstream.

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• New York City’s Trash-Sucking Island | Gadget Lab | Wired.com
  (tags: newyork garbage environment)

I don’t have much to add to this (yet), but I agree with Paul That it’s too good not to share.

I wasn’t able to follow this story much yesterday, and probably won’t today. (This post was hastily written yesterday, before I went back to my power-less home.) Apparently, the "Flint Serial Killer" has been caught.

A suspect in the killings of five people and the stabbings of 15 others in three states was arrested at the airport here as he tried to board a plane to Israel, the authorities said Thursday morning.

The suspect was identified as Elias Abuelazam, 33, and investigators said they believed he was responsible for a spree of attacks in Michigan, Ohio and Virginia that began in May. Mr. Abuelazam was arrested on Wednesday night and was being held on unrelated charges, the police in Leesburg, Va., said in a statement.

“While this is a key step in the investigation, there are still many issues that need to be addressed before we identify this individual as the person responsible for this horrific crime spree,” the police said.

Nearly all of the victims were black men, and the crimes may have been racial motivated, authorities said.

Arrested in Georgia? On his way to Israel?

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It’s something we’ve been muttering to ourselves on a weekly basis, this month, because that’s about how often we lose power. Now, even Gov. O’Malley is asking: Did we go to bed and wake up in a Third World country?

Gov. Martin O’Malley compared the reliability of Pepco’s electricity service to that of a developing nation in his most recent attack of the mammoth power supplier.

“This situation is totally unacceptable,” O’Malley wrote in his second letter to the Maryland Public Service Commission asking for an investigation into Pepco’s response time to power outages. “Power stays on more consistently in many developing nations than it does now in the communities surrounding our nation’s capital.”

O’Malley’s letter came following a Thursday morning storm that knocked out power to about 93,000 Pepco customers, as well as 150 traffic lights in Montgomery County. Two Metro stations — Cleveland Park and Forest Glen — were closed due to the storm. Forest Glen reopened after power was restored.

Thursday? That’s right. It was just last week that we lost power. As of right now, 77,057,  79,055, 79,429. (The number on Pepco’s website literally went up before I could finish writing this. Pepco customers are without power.

Pepco is now saying outages could last for several days.

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• Once more. I f*****g hate #pepco #

Well, this has been quite a morning. I haven’t been able to keep up with the news, because we got hit with another storm this morning. The latest in a series.

Of course, we lost power again.

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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for August 10th from 09:27 to 21:16:

• Newt Gingrich’s wholesome values –
• 10 indicators of a human fingerprint on climate change –
• President Obama Should Give Katherine Miller a Call. –
• Kate Kelly: The Lesson We Can Learn from BP –
• Confessions Of A Class Worrier –
• Democrats’ Gay-Marriage Problem. –
• Mike Lux: A Modern Progressive Populist Platform –
• Empathy and Our Nation’s Future –
• Tomgram: Stephan Salisbury, Extremism at Ground Zero (Again) –