Listen to "No Days Off" Radio Today

MEOW! (4.00 / 1)

You go, Mooncat!

I'm not short.  I'm fun size!!

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by: countrycat @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 14:36:45 PM CDT

what's the station number? AM/FM? n/t (0.00 / 0)

When in doubt tell the truth. It will confound your enemies and astound your friends.---Mark Twain

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by: julie @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 15:14:28 PM CDT

It's online (0.00 / 0)

Follow the link above

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 15:21:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You have to click the little arrow thingy (4.00 / 1)

In the blue box in the middle of the page

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 15:24:20 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

That was fun (4.00 / 2)

Susan and Allison didn't seem to think the Florida education lottery had done much for education there. It would be worthwhile to dig into this, but I understood that they had cut school funding in proportion to the amount of the lottery proceeds -- and gutted the education trust account for prisons!? Gawd!

Ron Sparks needs to be studying how Florida did their lottery with an eye toward avoiding those mistakes in Alabama.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 16:13:34 PM CDT

are you wanting an interview (4.00 / 2)

with ron sparks?

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by: AB @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 16:49:46 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yes (4.00 / 1)

Countrycat and I have both asked to interview Sparks, more than once. I did follow-up requests for a while, but it went nowhere. For a guy who couldn't get enough of the netroots in 2007, he has not been blogger-friendly this time around.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 17:04:28 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Maybe Sparks saw (4.00 / 2)

the infamous "Lemon Lyman" episode from West Wing. You don't blog in a muumuu, do you?

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by: yellowdog @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 19:52:33 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

No muumuu here (4.00 / 1)

And I never watched West Wing*. Can you clue me in, please?

* Nothing against the show, I just don't watch much TV

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 20:24:40 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

A reminder for fans of the show (4.00 / 1)

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by: yellowdog @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 20:48:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

That's good! (0.00 / 0)

But really, we aren't a bunch of crazies, we're constitiuents ... and well-informed constituents at that. And blogs are able to push a candidate's unfiltered message out to a larger audience.  

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 21:08:20 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Some candidates need filters. (4.00 / 3)

Your interview on blog-radio reveals you to truly be as fair and even-handed a person as your moderation of this website indicates. I did not hear a single false note in anything you said, and that is impressive. Thank you for being here.

Along with the many other women who moderate, contribute, drive the discussion, and bring us the indisputable truth.

It's true! Girls rule, boys drool! It's what my wife and daughter tell me all the time.

But they do try to stay the hell out of Walmart, just for me.

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by: yellowdog @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 21:51:14 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

i love the gender diversity here (4.00 / 1)

I just wrote a post on how we need more of it at The Progressive Electorate .

racial diversity in the blogosphere is a whole nother issue.  

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by: gradyw @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 22:13:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Racial diversity (0.00 / 0)

We need more of that here! Please encourage your friends of all colors and creeds to blog with us -- diversity makes the conversation more interesting and more meaningful.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Sat Sep 05, 2009 at 12:32:23 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thanks for the kind words (0.00 / 0)

And I'm not trying to downplay the contributions of the guys at LiA -- where would we be without Piggiheart, BG, hoc, bluebearcat, YD and all the rest? -- but I'm extremely pleased that so many women  feel comfortable expressing their opinions here.  Of course, there are a lot of women blogging, perhaps more than we thought, but it still seems as though the "A list" political blogs are more male than not. Ditto every blogger get together I've attended. So, no offense to the guys and I certainly love your contributions, but I'm truly thrilled to hear from so many women at LiA.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Sat Sep 05, 2009 at 13:03:35 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I did a nice phone interview with him (4.00 / 1)

in June.  It was about rural broadband and the public service commission.

But after that, nothing.

We'd really love a 30 minute or so sit down we could video.  It's not a big deal; Davis has given us multiple interviews.

I've tried for months to give Sparks good coverage on the blog, but I'm getting more than a little fed up with the lack of outreach.

I'm not short.  I'm fun size!!

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by: countrycat @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 17:25:20 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

the National Report (4.00 / 2)

I linked in the previous gambling post addresses this. It has almost always been the case that when states get lotteries, they subtract the profits from the school budget and reallocate those funds, meaning that schools don't get any more money than previously. Instead, money that used to go to schools goes to work elsewhere.

However, Sparks has never said that the money would go to K-12, and I think that's why. He probably read the same report.

When in doubt tell the truth. It will confound your enemies and astound your friends.---Mark Twain

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by: julie @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 17:47:23 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

That's an excellent point (4.00 / 1)

But some of the casino tax money would go to K-12 and something would need to be in place to make sure they don't just subtract an equal amount and use it to -- oh, maybe build more prisons. Because if you don't give these kids an education so they can make a living wage, a lot of them may just end up in jail.

Sparks actually has a good line about that, possibly one of his best:

"Without education, these kids are going from the schoolhouse to the courthouse to the jailhouse."

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 18:23:21 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Gambling will be a winning issue in 2010 (4.00 / 1)

Simply put, the game changed when they gave the Indians their casino in Atmore. There now is casino gaming in the state. The only question is, will it be a racial monopoly limited to reservations or will all be welcome to participate.

The BCA wants it legal because they can already see the profits from turning the Baldwin beaches into casino meccas. Most state line residents want it legal because they take their money out of state to gamble. Hell, even the private club law pretty much allows gambling (hence how the Masons, the KoC, and churches get to have gaming events) already.

Despite what Byrne is saying to appease Baptist voters if he is elected he would sign a bill allowing a vote and probably wouldn't campaign for the no side. Byrne is the favored candidate of Mobile area business and Mobile area business wants casino gambing. It's why every directly elected mayor of Mobile since the Zoghby law passed has been a public advocate for casino gamling as have been many of the people who actually were Republicans before the 90s. I actually think one area where James or Moore could get traction on him is if they accuse him of being a "RINO" or if they utilize attacks designed to remind everyone that he is from Mobile and why they hate Mobile.

Wind Creek changed the game because this being Alabama, the idea that a racial minority is allowed to open a casino while people who do not belong to that minority will not sit well in a state that still has a lot of racists in it and especially not when the state has massive budget cuts.

Plus, to be honest. Many desperate people will vote for a lottery if just because, that ticket represents a hope even if fleeting that they might have a way out. The best time to get gaming legalized is when the economy is bad. It went that way in New Jersey and the same can be said for Mississippi.

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by: jacool @ Tue Sep 08, 2009 at 02:41:41 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I listened (4.00 / 3)

and you were great!

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by: fdeaton @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 19:35:52 PM CDT

Thank you (4.00 / 1)

It was a fun conversation. Every time I do a Blog Talk Radio show I think it would be nice if we had one for Alabama politics. But of course, we would need someone willing to host it for one hour a week -- the SAME HOUR every week. It would be fun, but I'm not sure I could wrap my erratic schedule around that. Any volunteers?

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 20:29:03 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

i would be willing to participate (4.00 / 2)

but i'm not sure I would be able to host every week. maybe we could do once a month starting off.

i'm listening now to the podcast - doing a great job - very interesting about how we have more female bloggers here - that's a great point - especially in the south -

awesome exposure

i liked hearing about how Atrios linked to the site - we got linked on Fivethirtyeight .  I'm still getting a lot of hits on that link.

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by: gradyw @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 21:27:38 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Policy Speak Disaster for Health Care (4.00 / 1)

This is the health care language/framing piece (by George Lakoff) that Susan (I think it was Susan?) mentioned near the end of the show.

I believe that what went wrong is (a) the choice of PolicySpeak and (b) the decision to depend on the campaign apparatus (blogs, Town Hall meetings, presidential appearances, grassroots support) instead of setting up an adequate communications system.

Communication, it's important!

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 20:34:43 PM CDT