Political Blog Weekly: 18 September 2009

ACORN

ACORN, the community organizing group that has been the focus of criticism for over a year, faced a severe blow this week when the House and Senate both voted to cut off funding for the organization.  A series of undercover videos were released showing how ACORN employees were advising actors pretending to be a prostitute and her pimp on how to use government funds to setup an adult business.  Some view this sting as a payback for their efforts in helping President Obama
to win the election last year.  Others feel that it proves that the organization is corrupt.

The BoBo Files – "BoBo’s Predicition – Obama administration most corrupt in history"
Len Penzo – "Black Coffee: My Favorite Blogs, Money News & Opinions #13"
Cato @ Liberty – "Funding ACORN"
Open Congress – "House Passes a Major Student Loan Overhaul (and Votes to Defund ACORN)"
The New Clarion – "Whack-an-Altruist"
D-Day – "Senate Bashes ACORN"
Chicagoray’s Views and News – "Census Bureau KILLS ALL ties with ACORN in 2010 count (Video)" 

Racism

One of my largest pet-peeves is racism.  I have written about it in the past, each time with hesitation since the concept makes me angry.  What makes me even more angry, however, are those who cry wolf and accuse someone of being racist.  A perfect example of that was Representative Hank Johnson who claimed that Representative Joe Wilson’s "You lie" outburst was racist.  Racism is nothing to take lightly, and those that pass the term around really need
to step back and examine their words carefully.  It doesn’t matter if you a sitting Congressman, former President, or political blogger.  The more you claim to see racism where none exists, the more likely people are going to ignore it when it really does happen.

Just Politics..? – "Joe Wilson and the Son of Confederate Veterans"
Taxes, Stupidity, and Death – "Maybe The Reparations Are Being Allowed To Show Your Extraordinary Stupidity While You Make Ridiculous Charges of Racism"
Political Castaway Blog – "Calling Critics of Obama Racist is Patronizing to Obama"
Connecting.the.Dots – "Uncovering the Race Card-Reluctantly"
Divided We Stand – United We Fall – "Racism increases 67% since January"
QandO – "Imagining Racism At Every Turn" 

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• U.S. Common Sense
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• Phuck Politics
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DC Protests

On Saturday, we witnessed the largest single protest to date during the Obama administration.  Thousands of people who were upset at the record-level of spending over the past year, upset with the Health Care Reform proposals coming out of Congress, as well as those who just do not like the President filled the National Mall for hours calling on the government to change directions.  Though there were a few individuals carry hateful signs, the crowd remained peaceful
and civil.  I thought about taking a trip into DC to blog the event with one of our fellow bloggers, but things didn’t quite work out.  Maybe the next protest.

Political Lore – "9-12 Protest: Can You Hear Us Now?"
Political Castaway Blog – "Tea Party 9/12"
QandO – "Whistling Past The Graveyard"
The New Clarion – "The Start of Something Big"
Liberal Values – "Right Wing Craziness: Something Old or Something New?"
A Soldier’s Perspective – "Tea Party Post Show"
Right Wing Nut House – "Debate Over Tea Party Protest Numbers Masks the Real History Made"
Disillusioned Words – "Conservatives Make Me Smile"
Chicagoray’s Views and News – "Calling all Politico’s – Thousands Rally in Capital to Protest Big Government"

Health Care

Health Care Reform seems to be the theme of the Summer.  With the release of the Baucus Plan, Congressmen on both sides of the aisle (some who were hoping that this plan would bring both parties together) came out against the long-awaited bill.  This failure to gain bipartisanship support for reform has pushed those in favor of reform at any cost to tell the Democrats to proceed on their own.  This debate, in my opinion, has left the realm of logical to emotional, and
as such, it will not end nicely.  IF a bill is passed and signed this year, I will be surprised.  

First Door on the Left – "Single payer health care"
D-Day – "Rockefeller And Wyden: Senate Finance Holdouts"
Liberal Values – "Right Wing Uses Video Out Of Context To Attack Obama on Health Care Reform"
Open Congress – "Another Immigration Roadblock for Health Care Reform"
Talking With Americans – "Immigration and Health Care Collide"
A Disgruntled Republican – "Was Joe Wilson Right? Will illegal Immigrants be covered under Obamacare?"