Quote of the Day

"Some people say that maybe I'm being too idealistic, but if we don't try, if we don't reach high, then we won't make any progress." -- President Obama answering his critics on the Right who say his foreign policy, and his desire for a nuclear free world, is fantasy. To the Right having lofty goals is a weakness. It's no wonder we've been going backwards the last eight years.

66

That's the percentage of Americans who approve of their new president. That's up from 64% and represents a new high for this CBS News/New York Times poll. Even 31% of Republicans are willing to join the Obama love fest. The poll was taken April 1-5, so I expect after the dust settles from the first family's very impressive European tour President Obama's numbers will improve even more. The big takeaway from all this is that even as Republicans take shrill to the next level, the American people aren't buying it. They like their new president, even after the new president smell has started to fade.

Quote of the Day

"When he uses the word 'respect,' in the context of a waist-bow to the king of Saudi Arabia, for example, and talks about respectful language, which is code for those who adhere to Sharia that we will submit to Sharia. We will submit to the kind of program..." –- right-wing commentator Frank Gaffney explaining how the President of the United States is using "code" to signal our ultimate surrender to our “Muslim enemies.” The man is batshit, yet he's still on my television.

15.6%

Is the real feel unemployment rate. This number includes "those who want a job but have stopped looking for work and those who want full-time positions but have to settle for part-time employment." Those part-time people represent an increase of 83% within the last year. It's hard to see where the light at the end of the tunnel is when more people keep being added to the rolls. Ugh.

Truth in Comics

If it's Sunday, it's Truth in Comics.

5.1

That's the number of jobs lost in millions since this recession began. March saw another 663,000 jobs added to that number--bringing the unemployment rate up to 8.5% and climbing. Meanwhile, we have Republicans voting to undo any stimulus that could stem this bleeding. I have to assume Republicans do not represent actual people. Because, if they did, it's hard to imagine them giving any less of a shit about their well being.

Investing in tomorrow

Both houses of Congress passed the basics of Obama's budget yesterday. This is good news for those of us who understand that money must be invested today for a stronger America tomorrow. As for Republicans, not only did they all sit on their hands (again), they voted in favor of insane spending freezes in the midst of the worst recession since forever. They are a sorry and misguided bunch.

Quote of the Day

"I think there's a clear to desire to replace the church with a bureaucracy, and to replace people's right to worship together with a government-dominated system." -- Newt Gingrich, scaring up votes from the religious right by claiming Barack Obama want to cancel god.

There was no breach of royal protocol

Whatever the fuck royal protocol is. Enough with the stupid.

72

That's the percentage of people who look favorably upon our first lady, Michelle Obama. That's slightly higher than her husband who stills hold the favor of 69% of the people (despite turning America into a bastion of communist/socialist/fascist thought). With numbers like these it's clear, Rush, Sean, and Glenn need to pick up their game.

Because you can never make too much fun of Glenn Beck

Just Say No To Abstinence Only

So...Sarah "Abstinence Only" Palin's unwed teen pregnant daughter is now an unwed teen single mother. Not surprisingly, things didn't quite work out between the teen lovers. Sad.

Yet another reason to just say no to Abstinence-Only programs, programs which by design mislead teens about sex and prevent the teaching of critical information. You know, along with other reasons.

Like common sense.

Click here to let President Obama know that you believe funding Abstinence-Only programs is a counterproductive waste of money.

After all, teens have hormones, too.

What I learned from cable news today

Protesters are very scary and Michelle Obama has arms.

Quote of the Day

"It's a terrible number. It is almost a loss of three quarters of a million jobs which is possibly the highest we have seen so far over the length of this crisis." -- foreign exchange trader Matt Esteve, reacting to the 742k jobs lost in March. These numbers are numbing.

The GOP budget

Crafted as if we weren't in the depths of the worst recession since forever. These are very unserious people (taken way too seriously, unfortunately).

Credit to Clinton

I know it's a bit early to declare success out of Obama's first overseas trip, but with good Iran news, good Russia news, and good China news I have to say he is off to a strong start. I credit our new Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her State Department for this. They're making their boss look good.