"Station to Station" - David Bowie
(From Bowie's 1978 Heroes Tour which featured Adrian Belew on lead guitar -- I was fortunate enough to see him at the old Boston Garden in May of that year -- terrific show and band.)
We'll dedicate this one to Florida's idiot (and criminal) governor, Rick Scott, whose refusal to take high speed rail money from the federal government is baffling even some members of his own party. I am sure that all of the out of work Floridians understand his principled stand.
And glad to see President Obama sticking up for public employees and their unions. Again, the radical nature of this year's crop of Republican office holders is difficult to overstate. These people want to turn back the clock to those halcyon days of the late 19th century when freedom reigned in this land and children knew the value of work.
Speaking of radical right wingers advancing their social agenda and ignoring voters' concerns about jobs and the economy, today the House will likely vote to completely defund the Title X Family Planning Program for the 2011 fiscal year. This is a modest program that costs approximately $350 million a year, but is extraordinarily cost effective in terms of preventing unwanted pregnancies and providing important front line health services to low income women. The program began in 1970 under the Nixon Administration and enjoyed complete bipartisan support for many years (George H. W. Bush was an enthusiastic backer.) The program survived the continued enmity of the religious right even during the Gingrich revolution days because it still garnered enough support from rational Republicans. Now I am doubtful that it will be able to get more than a handful of Republican votes today and will survive only if Harry Reid and the Obama Administration fight a rearguard action to keep it funded. It's a deeply depressing commentary on where things stand and of the character of one of the country's major parties.
What's on your minds?
