Since there's another post claiming that Obama and FDR are pretty different people, I thought I'd provide this fun little exercise.

Don't feel bad if these are almost impossible! Very tough to tell them apart (without a photograph or sound recording, of course).

Which one said which of the following:

1. "the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men...They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers."

2. Referring to the extraordinary compensation of two contemporary bank presidents after they were bailed out by taxpayer money: “I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen... I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free-market system.”

3. “I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.”

4. “There's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America.”

5. “A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward.”

6. “What Washington Needs is Adult Supervision.”

7. “At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized, at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do, it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.”

8. "There is nothing I love as much as a good fight."

Bonus question: both presidents wanted to be known for their efforts on Social Security. What was the subtle difference in what they said hoped to accomplish in this regard?

When it turned out that someone at the IRS thought groups with "Tea Party" in their names might possibly be politically oriented, the new head of the IRS who had nothing to do with it had be fired immediately. We needed action immediately, dammit!

But when Gen. Alexander allows our most sensitive national secrets to be stolen en masse, ... no heads roll. When the computer systems effort to support ACA are a cluster#%^* of a staggering scale... people get overtime.

If I didn't know better, I'd say we were pandering to the Tea Party. And if we were, i'd be pretty irritated.

Reminded of this again today because the new DHS is a Drone Man. Seems to me that if an American is on a secret kill list, if it *really* needs to stay secret than it could go to something like a FISA court for a bench trial in absentia. If there's not enough evidence for the court, then we ought think twice about executing the accused.

Of all the scary things that are going on, the secret kill list takes the prize as the scariest, to my mind. Coupled with secret laws and the Spy on Everyone program... it ain't good.

While I don't care for either Susan Collins or Kelly Ayotte, it is said that these Republicans worked to chill out their testosterone-charged counterparts and get the deal done. They were the least rotten of the apples, and may have staved off disaster.

I am convinced - and have been for years - that women ought to be running the show, and that soon they will. They're more prone to think with their brains, and work for the common good. Even warrior queens like Hillary are a damned sight more level headed then their warloving male counterparts. And in a world where we can blow each other to cinders at the push of a button, levelheaded is particularly appealing.

Even FDR was FDR only, in my opinion, because of Eleanor and Frances Perkins. Without those two he would have been a flinty Conservadem.

Mars has run its course; Venus is ascendent.

Does this make me sexist? I guess. But with the best of intentions, please understand.

Cheers.

Our Democrats did good. May it be the start of something great.

“Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”
― Abraham Lincoln

Things suck. They suck really bad. I'll be the first to admit it.

In fact, I might often be the first to admit it. Not because I love to wallow in poop, I hope, but because I know that the first step in making things better is an honest assessment of the present situation. And the present situation sucks. So I post a lot of negative stuff and it probably doesn't make the place cheery. I even depress myself sometimes.

But there's another thing I know: it doesn't have to keep sucking. We're down, but we're not out - don't write us off yet. We've had awful situations before: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Great Depression/WWII were all much worse than today's shitstorm. But in each of these, Liberal ideals prevailed and Americans went on to bigger and better things.

Until the next shitstorm.

We're moving into another one of those times in history where we'll all have some very important decisions to make. Our job as Liberals is to help our fellow Americans to see the light, to see the good, and to take the right path. No reason why we can't do that.

I'm seeing a lot of nihlism on DU these days. "Put a fork in us - we're done".

Bullshit.

While I share the feeling that we've been hit by a truck then mugged while down, the good news is that now that we collectively realize what's happened, we can grab a shovel and some brass knuckles and get to work on fixing it.

We don't know how this budget garbage will turn out in the next couple of days. We may get through it, but then there'll be something else. And something else. Until something huge goes plop on us. We're just too far into the shit swamp swamp now for our heads to stay above the sludge forever. But let's start thinking about the path back to land, because otherwise our heads stay under for good.

Regards,

First-Way Manny

P.S. sorry about all the poop references. Just seems appropriate in these times.

Today... well, here we are.

At least presidents, candidates, and civil rights leaders aren't getting shot. Yet.

Ugh.

And really, really hates meth. Really. Wouldn't touch the stuff



(I hope there is an afterlife, and that Hunter S. Thompson is enjoying our show.)

This time, the Republicans got the message. They really, really knew that our Democrats could have crushed them like a chicken bone in a nanny dog's non-locking jaws. We just gave them a little something so they can save face.

Now they will finally respect us, and won't pull the exact same stuff in a few months.

Really.

Regards,

Third-Way Manny
Proud Member... etc.