The Reaction in Review (May1, 2009)

By Carol Gee

A week's Reactions that deserve a second look:

Featured: The Republican Revival -- our bloggers weigh in on The National Council for a New America:
By Mustang Bobby -- "GOP declares bankruptcy," by Carl -- "The death of conservatism," by Creature -- "An attitude adjustment," and by Michael J.W. Stickings -- "A new GOP?"


Friday

By Carol Gee: "Dealing with personnel change" -- A little essay on the prevalence of high profile people in new positions, or leaving positions in Washington.

By Michael J.W. Stickings: "Why Obama kept Gates" -- Michael expands on why it is an OK thing that Robert Gates stayed on, as well as noting Gates' position against bombing Iran.


Thursday

By J.Thomas Duffy: "Klaatu barada nikto" -- Duffy dives into the Joe Biden swine flu major media flap over how to travel safely in these perilous times.

By Michael J.W. Stickings: "Specter deal angers Dems" -- Michael reports that all is not rosy with Harry Reid's agreement to let Senator Specter keep all his accrued seniority intact.

By Creature: "Last night's presidential presser" -- Creature expresses the disappointment many of us share regarding prosecution for torture and predicting, "Eventually the reality of illegality will butt heads with politics."

By Boatboy: "Contractors: Not just for DoD anymore" -- Boatboy reports on a very interesting and probably little known trend, reported on AlterNet regarding how local law enforcement is embracing the contracting trend.


Wednesday

By Creature: "100 daze" -- Creature's genuine little gem of a post explores the "opposition's opposition," which might speak for all of us here.

By Boatboy: "On oil and the recession" -- This is a fascinating essay on some new thinking that could explain the connection between long commutes to work and the current fiscal crisis, as well as, "a clear demand for a new, more conscientious approach to energy policy and urban development."

By Michael J.W. Stickings: "All about Specter" -- Michael links to previous Specter posts by our bloggers and ends with a set of very insightful points about this big news --for both parties.


Tuesday

By Carl: "A God-given right" -- Carl's brilliantly reasoned argument for national health care has an interesting dose of little-known background on the progress to modern medicine from the days of the founding of our nation.

By Carol Gee: "Big news about Congress" -- An examination of the important features and of the political precess associated with the new 2010 budget resolution as it moved through Congress on Tuesday.

By Capt. Fogg: "Bombs or Buicks?" -- To quote: "Of course there's a difference between pouring money into consumer products, the use and maintenance of which creates further jobs and into products that create shock and awe and a lot of debris, but if there's any discussion of that, the noise of the turf wars between the military and private sectors may be drowning it out."


Monday

By Mustang Bobby: " 'Go Lemmings Go!' " -- Bobby provides a brilliant analysis of what's going on with the current crop of rigidly-right-wing grassroots Republicans bent on delegitimizing the current administration.

By J. Thomas Duffy: "They've got to give it HAL's voice!" -- Duffy cleverly reveals the possible next spate of reality TV shows, based on an initial offering featuring Jeopardy contestants vs. a super computer, preferably having HAL's Space Odyssey voice.

By Capt. Fogg: "Navy Seals in the sea of slander" -- Fogg uses his great writing style (this time his edgy voice) to run down a Republican smear machine fiction about the Maersk Alabama Captain's rescue from pirates.

(Cross-posted at Behind the Links).