Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog.

This really makes me happy. It’s about time too. After six years as a hostage of the FARC, Ingrid Betancourt is finally free.

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Hat tip to shawnod at the Great Orange Satan. Webb kept his promise. Legislation he introduced on his first day in the Senate was signed into law today:

The following is a statement from Senator Webb: “This is a great day for our veterans. This bill properly provides a modern and fair educational benefit to address the needs of those who answered the call of duty to our country—those who moved toward the sound of the guns—often at great sacrifice.  Read more 

The U.S. Conference of Mayors has passed a resolution endorsing H.R. 676. Good work, Healthcare-Now!

Press release here.

The resolution that was adopted “overwhelmingly”:

RESOLVED that the U.S. Conference of Mayors expresses its support for The US National Health Insurance Act (HR 676), and calls upon federal legislators to work towards its immediate enactment and further urges the adoption of a process to insure that healthcare providers justify any increase in health care costs.

I’m jumping on this announcement by candidate Obama, because I hope to subvert the impulses of some of my fellow Fellows and some of our readers to make of this moment a chance to accuse Barack Obama of being a liar, breaking a promise, not really being about reform, undermining efforts to reform our increasingly broken system of elections, and other ways not to like Obama that I’m not clever enough to even think of.

You don’t need to go there; the VRWC is way ahead of you. As Roy notes, there is high comedy to be had in the deep disappointment of the McCain campaign, the Republican Party, and their right-winger supporters, most of whom have bellowed long and hard against any sort of limitations on the financing of political campaigns. Of course that was when they were the ones rolling in money.

Yes, I know, McCain has been an advocate, of sorts, and a sponsor, of sorts, of campaign finance reform, but when Obama states, as he does in the video message in which he announced his decision, that the entire system, including the so-called reforms of it, by which we finance our elections is “broken,” he’s right.

Here is as much of what Obama says on the video that I could get off the story as it appears in the NYTimes and Reuters:  Read more 

Court rejects Exxon appeal in human rights case

Exxon Mobil Corp. has failed to convince the Supreme Court to halt a human rights lawsuit against it.

The justices, without comment, on Monday rejected the energy company’s appeal of a ruling on a 2001 lawsuit filed by International Rights Advocates on behalf of 11 villagers in Indonesia’s Aceh province.  Read more 

And if you can’t afford a gift, let me suggest sending him this link. I’m sure with a little research the remainder of the originals (cause of course they were all scrubbed as soon as Grandpa’s Crack Intertube Team slept off the cow manure hangover) can be found as well, but the choice ones are up at JC’s place.

I’m so glad he’s on our side now. /princess hair toss/ Try to remember that I was one of the first people here to link to him, despite his membership with the jammymedia crew. He’s not the first conservative to see the Light, nor will he be the last.

Our good friend Bruce D was teasing me about being such a flower-oriented poster, so I’m very happy to finally include some of the early performing veggies in today’s garden post. Lots of pics, slow for dial up, and damn! Just try to make me slide into a bad mood today, nah. gunna. happen. Not with this much blooming and sunshine.

Today’s Mystery Bloom! I’m so sorry I can’t seem to do it photojustice. Seriously, it’s so delicate and lovely, and after waiting all last year with no results, it’s esp satisfying to see it turn on now.  Read more 

Swing State Project has a MS-01: Results Thread. So far it looks very good. WillBardwell is live blogging the results. Oxford has had a very high turnout. Cotton Mouth is also following returns. It looks like a terrific night for Missippi Democrats.

[Welcome Sideshow readers!]

I live in Lubbock. Last year was the wettest spring and summer since the NWS had kept records here. Then in October the rain quit. Until this week, when over a three-day span beginning Tuesday we had four inches fall.

But it’s May in West Texas, and there’s nothing gentle about the weather. This is not snow on the side of the road. It’s hail.

and lunchtime that day looked like this, downtown:

I tell you all this because tomorrow is the anniversary of the worst storm ever to strike my hometown. It was the Lubbock tornado, May 11, 1970.
And yet, this is how we greet rain in Lubbock,  Read more 

Susan Faludi thinks men are warming to Hillary because she’s mean and nasty.

Pundits have been quick to attribute the erosion in Barack Obama’s white male support to a newfound racism. What they have failed to consider is the degree to which white male voters witnessing Senator Clinton’s metamorphosis are being forced to rethink precepts they’ve long held about women in American politics.  Read more 

Donna Edwards on Healthcare

Businesses, particularly small businesses, want their employees to have access to health care – but it must be affordable. Through a universal, Canadian-styled, health care system, all Americans would have access to quality, affordable health care. A new system would provide stability and predictability for employers and enable employees to obtain health care coverage no matter their employer or pre-existing conditions. Under this system all Americans would be able to choose their doctor without the uncertainty of rising deductibles and co-payments. There must be shared responsibility from employers and employees to keep our workforce healthy.  Read more 

[L-e-a-h! More like these, please!]

[Show Leah some love! We want her to start posting!]

L-e-a-h!

[Imagine me, please, doing my best Jerry Lewis imitation of “Hey, lady!”]  Read more 

Just dipping into the popcorn, munching out, watching the punches fly,

Obama has begun a “Truth Police” in Indiana,

The Clinton campaign calls the group’s creation “strange.”

The “Truth Squad” includes former U.S. Rep. Tim Roemer, who represented South Bend from 1991 to 2003; state Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary; state House Majority Leader Russ Stilwell, D-Boonville; and former aides to former Gov. Joe Kernan, former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson and three attorneys general.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbc…

Their first act is to um….lambast the independent commercial that maintains that BO does not have a plan BD talks about it :  Read more 

(h/t: MABlue at the Confluence) FOX “News” video (audio not great):

Obama told reporters this week that he’s ruled out another debate before the next round of primaries, moderators or no moderators — saying “Rather than being in a studio, I want to make sure that we’re reaching out to folks where they live.”

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From Shakespeare’s Sister:

Donate, everyone. Please. Whatever you can manage. And tell others.

John Edwards *nails* what it’s going to take to get my vote (except for the jet ski — make mine a BD-10, please.)

For Sarah, I don’t know who that asshole DJ was, but maybe this will cheer you up:

Because I secretly believe that there isn’t a soul alive that Dolly Parton can’t cheer up.

Unfortunately, I could not find a decent You Tube video of Dolly herself singing this. Travesty.

He Who Is Known As The Shrill One links* to the lexicon at DFH. I was there! I got the T-Shirt!

But you know, it’s funny…  Read more 

The daughter of an Eastern Kentucky coal miner, making the Bluegrass state proud:

According to the 2000 Census, the per capita income for Harlan County, Kentucky, was $11,585 and 32.50% of the population lived below the poverty line. A list of people who have died working in the Harlan coal mines can be found here.  Read more 

Today, Jackie Speier was sworn in as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. And what does she immediately do? Gives an anti-war speech and gets booed by Republicans.

For a few feel-good moments on the floor of the U.S. House today, Jackie Speier basked in bipartisan applause as she was sworn in as its newest member. Her family, supporters and kids cheered as she embraced her new colleagues.  Read more 

Democrats will have a new congress-person tomorrow, as Jackie Speier is sworn in to succeed Tom Lantos.  Read more 

[Repeating an earlier post eaten by Vista.]

Well, I did win a pony at the EschaCon08 auction, which Atrios autographed (“Wheee!”), so when Lord Eschaton becomes chair of the Fed, I can sell it on E-Bay, in its original packaging, as a collectible! Finally, a retirement plan!

Despite the patchouli, I did go to a massive dinner for thirty organized by Susie at a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown, with doodlebean and teresa.  Read more 

It’s an exciting race to see which will be the first to salute the return of the Sun. Very much so for me; I put in ~150 new bulbs last fall and I’m just dying to see how they turn out.

This is likely one of the Hyacinths. I swear, it’s putting up 1-3mm a day, all week so far.  Read more 

Via Phoenix Woman, comes this happy news from Harvard:

The Harvard University study involved 100 Boston-area college students playing the same game over and over — a punishment-heavy version of the classic one-on-one brinksmanship game of prisoner’s dilemma. The research appears in Thursday’s edition of the journal Nature.

Common game theory has held that punishment makes two equals cooperate. But when people compete in repeated games, punishment fails to deliver, said study author Martin Nowak. He is director of the evolutionary dynamics lab at Harvard where the study was conducted.

“On the individual level, we find that those who use punishments are the losers,” Nowak said his experiments found.  Read more 

These are the Cymbidiums of Consensus. They come to life on my back deck….

Every Spring.

Res Ipsa Loquitor