Must Read of the Week

James Fallows at The Atlantic dissects the Obama Administration so far... in the context of what all presidents can (and cannot) do, and how prepared--or not--they are when they take office.

Some Comparisons...

LGBTQIAA... Progress

Step back and take a good look: LGBTQIA folks made historic gains in 2011. Now, let's build on that momentum and accomplish even more. If we do the work, we'll reap the rewards.

Key Question of 2012

Will the kids who showed up last time (and helped make the difference) show up again this time? Andrew Sullivan offers some links to folks with some thoughts.

Message To The Frustrati

A must-read to anyone who considers him- or herself a "progressive," as we get ready for the War of 2012.

SMDH

Lt. Dan Choi is banging the drum yet again for Ice-Cube's-Chance-in-Hell, Gary Johnson.

It's not the first time. Or the second.

(Are you on the Steve Nelson's speed-dial, or what, Dan?)

Perhaps you should read this, Dan.

You've probably been hearing/reading a lot of scuttlebutt about the controversial Ron Paul Newsletters. TNR offers a helpful breakdown of the controversial bits.

If you want to see actual scans, check here.

Will Ron Paul win? Place? Spoil? The reliable Nate Silver considers...

RON PAUL--BEWARE!

GAY TOILETS! 

AAAARRRGH!

Race Problems

Some end-of-year (visual) perspective on the boomlets of the ABRs--while the Mittless Protection Program just keeps consolidating GOP-Establishment support... and keeps taking in the campaign contributions.

Bible Verse of the Week

"Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good."

Jeremiah 10:1-5 (KJV)

(via The Slog)

Quote of the Decade (1980s, that is)

Reminds Mother Jones magazine: "We must expect the Soviet system to survive in its present brutish form for a very long time. There will be Soviet labor camps and Soviet torture chambers well into our great grandchildren's lives: great centers of political and economic power have enormous staying power; Czarist Russia lasted through 3 1/2 years of the most agonizing kind of war; the Nazi state did not collapse even when battlefield defeats reduced its control to only a tiny sliver of Germany. We must therefore assume the Soviet Union will survive as a dangerous totalitarian state." --Newt Gingrich, in his book, "Window of Opportunity" (1984)


The U.S.S.R. collapsed seven years later.

Quote of the Week

“Bill Clinton, who's beloved by the Democratic Party, at this point -- and I consider to be an extraordinarily successful president -- you look at his old press clippings, he was getting beat up with some of the same stuff I was getting beat up with. Harry Truman, now lionized, you know? ‘Give ’em hell, Harry.’ At the time, everybody was calling him a complete and utter disaster. F.D.R., people, for the first couple of years of his presidency, were saying, ‘What he's doing's not working.’ You know? He was being called a radical by the business community. He was being called a sellout by the left. So this all comes with the territory, but this isn't about me. This isn't about me.”  ~President Obama

Some Savage Love

Dan Savage (pleasantly) surprises me with some political pragmatism about marriage equality and the 2012 election.

He also seems to be back on board with Obama.

Or at least he's stopped yelling "F*ck You!" at the White House.

Context

The cliche goes "every picture tells a story." In reality, one picture can tell many stories, depending on the context, or the viewer, or the subject.

Audio Wednesday

I listen to several different podcasts every week, and my job allows me to "multi-task and listen to them while I work.

Studio360 is one of my favorites, and this week's show about Computers Being Creative is one of the better of examples why I enjoy it so much.

Zombie PUMAs Return from the Dead?

Someone out there is robocalling to suggest drafting Hillary in 2012...

Why the GOP wants to deal with Ron Paul now rather than later...

Can you say "Perot-Redux"?