Senator Ted Kennedy Diagnosed with Brain Tumor

Ted Kennedy

I really wanted to write about this yesterday as the news came out but didn’t have time. As you probably know Kennedy was taken to the hospital after having seizures on Monday. Obviously a malignant brain tumor was not the news the nation was hoping to hear. We are all pulling for him and his family.

Kudos to Kathleen Sebelius!

I feel kind of embarrassed that I haven’t been covering this as well as I should. I have a project in the works for a local Kansas news site so I apologize. As a Kansan I am incredibly proud of our Governor. She has consistently made the right choices even when they were not the most politically expedient. Since I have dropped the ball on her recent acts here are links to others who are picking up the slack.

Kathleen Sebelius Vetoes Voter ID Law. Read Think Progress and Crooks and Liars. Everything I said about the SCOTUS ruling on the Indiana law applies here. Reading local news and blogs it is apparent that most Kansans are unaware of the true effect of these kinds of laws. Either that or their a bunch of assholes. The jury is still out on that distinction.

All the Rest of the News thats Important

• A federal appeals court has ruled Virginia’s late term abortion ban unconstitutional!
• Openly gay Sam Adams has been elected mayor of Portland making him the first openly homosexual mayor of a major American city. It seems like every day I get to write about another accomplishment in LGBTQ equality.
• On the other hand LGBTQ hate crimes rose by 24% in 2007 over the 2006 rates. This just proves that there is still a long way to go. It also shows how needed hate crime protection is.
• A top aid for McCain has stepped down out of respect for Barack Obama. I haven’t followed politics long but can anyone remember this happing before? More at The Carpetbagger Report.
• Tim Haab has a good piece up at Environmental Economics about what we as consumers can do about $4 gas. Read the comments.
• Bush has issued a formal apology after a soldier apparently shot a Koran. Keep telling yourself that its our freedom that they hate.
• I have found out why American schoolchildren compare so poorly to children from other countries. 16% of biology teachers are young earth creationists. The same survey shows that 48% of the general population believes that “God created human beings pretty much in their at one time within the last 10,000 years or so”.

Video of the Day

Henry Waxman Threatens to Have Rep Issa (R-CA) physically removed from hearing. Awesome.

[youtube width="500" height="394"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr3HuRZFbfk[/youtube]

Thats all for today folks. I’ll try to have something up over my lunch break. Also Summer finally had a chance to comment on a story yesterday. If you havn’t been reading long it may surprise you to know that this is a multi-author blog.

In fact we accept story submissions from anyone with a progressive viewpoint. Writing for us couldn’t be easier. Just sign up for an account then when you log in you will have the ability to write a story. We will then post it assuming that its appropriate for our viewers.

Have a wonderful day

William ~ WWJV4.com

While I wish our problems would be helped by something as simple as a tax holiday, the reality is this will only make the problem worse. So I applaud Senator Obama for having the personal courage to stand by the right decision in the face of public pressure. Like any great leader Obama understands that what is easy and comforting is not always best.

[youtube width="500" height="394"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHtFSi99shk[/youtube]

Thanks to MyDD for pointing me to this great video.

Since I am not an economist, and the few classes I have taken on economics made me never want to be, I am providing a small selection of articles about the gas tax. If you doubt what Obama is saying about the gas tax then please read these.

• Economists Knock Proposed Gas Tax Break
• Expert Support For Gas Tax Holiday Appears Nonexistent
• Dumb as We Wanna Be
• Gas Tax Holiday Splits Clinton And Obama: Who’s Right?
• What to Do About the Oil Crisis
• Gas tax follies
• Candidates’ plans to cut gas prices

William ~ WWJV4.com

If you remember back in January John McCain made a scathing attack on John McCain’s ability to fix our failing economy saying that John McCain “doesn’t really understand economics”. As expected this attack did not go unanswered. John McCain countered in the very next sentence by assuring voters that even though he may not understand economics, his financial adviser Phil Gramm did. In a surprising show of partisan unity John McCain agreed with John McCain that if there is one thing voters can count on John McCain doing, its following his advisers and lobbyists.

Those watching this back and forth expected that to end the fight but then stories started popping up exposing the pivotal role Phil Gramm had in creating our current economic crisis. No word on whether or not John McCain was behind those stores in an underhanded attack to smear his rival John McCain. No matter though the Democrats smelled blood and both Hillary and Barack jumped into the economic massacre.

The beating that John McCain endured would have ended the candidacy of a lesser man, but John McCain fought right back. In a deft move that countered not only his fierce rival John McCain’s earlier statements but both Hillary and Barack, a political triple play if you will. Yesterday John McCain released a statement that he in fact knows more about the economy than the entire Democratic party and that his grandpa invented the economy. He then took reporters on a bus tour of the economy’s childhood, pointing out historic landmarks, sharing candy, and telling really long stories.

This fight between John McCain and John McCain is just starting to heat up so a response is almost guaranteed. What isn’t so clear is if the Democrats can take advantage of the Republican infighting. One thing is certain though, if John McCain and John McCain don’t stop tearing each other down before the General Election the Democrats will surely walk to victory.