Debt Ceiling

It's just amazing what the Republicans are prepared to do to this country to make sure millionaires and billionaires don't have to share the pain.

A Guilty Pleasure

I feel I can now come out of the closet about this Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush video of a song called "Don't Give Up." The video is too hokey by half, but ... well, that's Kate Bush there. And what man wouldn't want Kate Bush telling you not to give up?

There was a time when I needed this song, and it helped.



The reason I can come out of the closet is because none other than Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman posted another version of it on his blog yesterday. Only he called it, Music for the Lesser Depression.

Looks like we're going to be needing this video for a few years.

But don't give up.

Blinding You with Science

Here's another video that will give you something fun to think about, courtesy of Andrew Tobias:

Four Pernicious Ideas

My kid brother Chip tipped me off to this op-ed piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, named "Four Pernicious Ideas in Budget Debates." Well worth the read.

Good-bye Incandescent Bulbs?

Have you been hoarding incandescent light bulbs in preparation for their disappearance from store shelves next year? I've been hearing about the ban for years.

Even Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal has an article today which authoritatively states:

The light bulb ban was part of the 2007 energy bill. It will outlaw the sale of traditional 100 watt bulbs starting in 2012. Many Americans dislike the new fluorescent bulbs, which give off less heat and are more energy efficient, because they don't like the quality of the lighting.

You've probably heard about the ban on incandescent bulbs, too. God knows, the Tea Party crowd has their undies in a bundle about it.

Only problem for them is: it's not true. Quelle surprise! Imagine a Tea Partier getting hysterical over something that isn't true!

Kevin Drum has the story.

Carmageddon

As I've said repeatedly, this is a high-class blog. So I don't like to use words that are not kid-friendly. But this was so funny, I had to share it:

Barking Mad

Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly:

For the country’s sake, I’d ... be absolutely delighted to learn that Republicans are just aggressive poker players, but when push comes to shove, they’ll be able to tell the difference between fantasy and reason, and they’ll put the nation’s interests first.

But here we are, 20 days until a brutal deadline, and Republicans give every appearance of being downright certifiable. We know this from their own rhetoric, and we know this from every published description of Republican deliberations in this process. According to the party’s own Speaker, at least a quarter of the House GOP caucus actually wants to see the United States default. The actual number is probably much higher.

As one leading economist put it yesterday, observers around the world are saying of Republicans, “There’s no way they could possibly be this stupid.”

It’s time people start coming to grips with the fact they very well might be precisely this stupid.