• Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics

    How to contact Illinois state lawmakers

    Thanks to @DailyHerald, here’s a useful resource for contacting Illinois legislators. Some use their personal email addresses, and there’s no single state IL email domain? Good government FAIL. Daily Herald | How to contact your lawmakers Leaders Rep. Michael Madigan House speaker, 22nd District Springfield office: 217 782-5350 Chicago office: 773 581-8000 E-mail: mmadigan@hds.ilga.gov Fax preferred: 773 581-9414 Sen. John Cullerton Senate president, 6th District Springfield office: 782-2728 Chicago office: 773 883-0770 E-mail: john@senatorcullerton.com Rep. Tom Cross House GOP leader, 84th District Springfield office: 217 782-1331 Plainfield office: 815 254-0000 E-mail: tom@tomcross.com Sen. Christine Radogno Senate GOP leader, 41st District…

  • Dear Mom - Hot Off The Presses - Notty Problems: Even Leaving Doesn't Solve Them - Only in Utah... - Politics, Schmolitics

    When Your Mom Gets Baptized Into Some Weird Church After She Dies

    It would piss you off, right? I know it would really make me angry if that happened to my mom, but I can’t check because the information is hidden behind a registration wall AND a “member in good standing/temple recommend number” wall. Because when she was alive, she was really horrified by the idea that everyone in her family had been baptized against their will, after they died, and that someday she would, too. Well, it’s apparently happened to President Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham. I think it’s a terrible breach of spiritual protocol, the church’s own supposedly “hard and…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Childfreedom - Politics, Schmolitics

    Crooks and Liars | Stay Classy, Oregon GOP

    I ran across this earlier at Crooks and Liars and was thinking over some of the head-‘splody statements in it, wondering why it is that the Right, or the people that write their copy, are so open to using such transparently obvious crap in order to get ‘er done. For one thing, there’s either an egregious lie buried in it, or a really dumb mistake. Factcheck much? Here’s the first one called ” Thank You” OPEN ON A YOUNG MULATTO FEMALE DOCTOR. Thank you for ending slavery. A WOMAN EXECUTIVE STANDING IN FRONT OF HER DESK. Thank you for giving…

  • Politics, Schmolitics - Radio

    Hmm…

    does WXRT know who funds the Foundation for a Better Life? Just heard a PSA about Abraham Lincoln, sounds like a burnish job for the Grumpy Old Party. Just so you know, Philip Anschutz‘s family values are not my family values. I just happened to hear it on WXRT’s webstream featuring the perseverance and admirable qualities of Abraham Lincoln, and was curious, because it reminded me of Crooks and Liars’ post about the Oregon GOP being linked to some very classy proposed public service announcements.

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Good and Joyful Things - Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics - Twitter

    The Ongoing Struggle to Save NOM! Teabagging, also!

    LOLcats, fight for your right to NOM NOM NOM! Also, teabagging FAIL! @nomtweets can suck it #savenom My mom-in-law and sister will be wondering what this is about if she happens to read this post. Where to start? It’s just this Internets thing, you know? Maybe I’d better put the rest of this behind a “MORE” link. See you after the jump, as the cool kids say…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Politics, Schmolitics

    Why Melissa Bean Trashed TARP

    As I suspected when I Twittered about it at the time , she’s a creature of the insurance and banking lobbyists. I am SO DISAPPOINTED in her. She replaced the worse do-nothing doddering Republican Congressman then in the House, and for this? Ugh. I hope some good people gear up to give her a primary challenge. And she still doesn’t have a Twitter account or a decent email system.  Her canned responses via email take forever. Jane Hamsher: Melissa Bean Helps Banks Gut Bill to Limit TARP Bonuses It looked like it was going to be smooth sailing for Grayson’s…

  • Politics, Schmolitics - Traveling Along, We're Adventurers

    Jindal: Scientists Need To Study Volcanoes, Sir

    Yesterday, the day after Bobby Jindal’s woefully inadequate “response to the Presidential Address,” we decided to go visit a volcano to see how our tax dollars are being spent in research. This is one of the things Jindal derided in his prepared remarks. HVO Kilauea Status Page Activity Summary for past 24 hours: The ongoing DI event began the inflation phase yesterday, which continues this morning. Sulfur dioxide emission rates remain elevated from the Halema`uma`u vent. Sulfur dioxide emissions continue to be elevated from the Pu`u `O`o vent. Lava from east rift zone vents appears to have resumed flow through…

  • Books - Geek Out! - Parish: Holy Moly (ECUSA) - Politics, Schmolitics

    Reviews: The Language Of God, Inherit The Wind, Frost/Nixon

    I started reading this book, but set it aside a while back. Now I need to get back into it, because we’re starting to get to some meaty stuff in the Adult Forum group I’m in at church. We’re discussing Evolution, Creationism Intelligent Design, and whether science and religion are as incompatible as some say. It’s a pretty free-ranging discussion group, as one member studied philosophy, another is a scholarly Jewish guy who runs the program, and the rest of us bring our own take to the party. For instance, I have a background or interest in evolution, paleontology, anthropology,…