The Stonecipher Report

SENATE MOVES ALONG HEALTHCARE REFORM BILL!

Successful Vote Bypasses Opposition Filibuster; Means Final Bill Likely to Pass by Christmas!

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

Dec. 21, 2009

Ah, a brimming cup of good cheer for ALL of us Americans – especially the Democrats, Liberals, and Progressives…and, frankly, even some shut-up-and-swallow-this-cuz-it’s-good-for-you-too medicine for the opposition Republicans: After midnight Sunday (technically, early into Monday), the US Senate voted to advance the healthcare reform bill, effectively avoiding a bill-busting filibuster! Yes, you may exhale now…even though, no, the process is not completely over yet (but we’re close! – read on)…So, let’s go back a bit, as I walk you through some of the background and then a moment-by-moment recounting of the vote process; note that the timings and tense used below were accurate as they occurred, so…let’s rewind me a bit to just before midnight (my time) and 1 AM Eastern time…

My Complete, Utter Lieberman-Induced Breakdown

Posted by: Tyler Rippeteau

Dec. 17, 2009

Among friends and many of my foul-mouthed family members, I freely and openly drop f-bombs, use non-radio-friendly terms to describe feces, and even occasionally construct entire sentences with a subject, noun, and verb all being variations of the f-bomb. 

Over the course of the past year-and-a-half, however, the 330,000+ people who have visited this site have rarely, if ever, seen any expletives appear on these pages (at least in the posts I have written).  [Quick editorial note from Michael S.:  Uh, there is perhaps NOT as much restrained vocabulary delicacy in many of MY posts...]  I work hard to not sound like a ranting, raving lunatic and I hope (and believe) that I don't come across that way.  Even when a reader completely disagrees with me, I hope they can at least come away with the sense that they have heard the other side's intelligent argument.

With all that in mind, in regards to Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman and his recent shenanigans, I no longer have the ability to take this approach, and if you continue reading this post, you will witness the complete, utter breakdown in civility that I am about to have.  You will also read a lot of the words that I politely described above.  So, readers who may be offended by foul language, children, and my wonderful grandmother are all strongly discouraged from reading below this point (sorry Gran!).  (Plus, for previous coverage about Lieberman on The Stonecipher Report, check out our section of posts related to him, available here...)

The Stonecipher Report Radio Show, On the Air Today – Monday, 12-14

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

Dec. 14, 2009

The Stonecipher Report radio show will be back in our usual timeslot of 3:00 - 4:00 PM Central (Chicago) time this (Monday, 12-14) afternoon.

As usual, we will be coming at you over the air as well as via the Internet live today on WHPK-FM. You can tune us in locally in Chicago at 88.5 FM…or, of course, you can also hear the show online at WHPK.org, streaming live, by just clicking the "Listen" tab or the "We are STREAMING" window on the station's website.

Tyler and I hope you can tune us in – either by radio or via that whole "World Wide Web" thing…!

A Year After the Arrest of Rod Blagojevich

Ah, Blago Memories Light the Corners of My Mind…

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

Dec. 11, 2009

Not being a parent, I guess I don’t have as much direct, running-around-under-my-nose-everyday evidence of how quickly (and seemingly unnoticed) an entire year can pass by (frankly, there’s not much difference between the then-6-year-old and now-7-year-old kitty siblings – Gracie and Pumpkin – at our house).

So…I suppose I was a bit startled to learn that we had (already?) hit the first anniversary of the early-morning, unexpected FBI arrest of then-IL Governor (and now universal punchline) Rod Blagojevich. Aw, look at how BIG our cute, extremely funny political scandal has gotten! Why, any day now it’ll be walking around by itself, talking non-stop, going to school, moving out on its own, and trying to get Judge Zagel to let it go make a few desperately-needed dimes on a crappy reality-television show off in the jungles of Costa Rica! (Just gotta pinch its rosy, cute lil’ cheeks and ruffle up its beautiful hair!) [Important Note: DO NOT touch The Hair…]

In case you need to get fully up to speed – AND share our sense of utter surprise (and more than a few semi-cheap laughs) – I heartily direct any interested readers to some of The Stonecipher Report’s deep coverage and analysis of the whole trying-to-sell-the-Obama-Senate-seat, trying-to-bribe-the-Chicago-Tribune-off-his-back, trying-to-cut-deals-and-make-some-dough, [effing] golden scandal that sucked our youngish, overly-ambitious (AND oft-delusional) Governor down the crapper and spit him out as a should-be-ashamed (yet apparently ain’t) pariah…

Loser and Winner of the Week…

A Big Thumbs-Down For Idiot TN Mayor Wiseman...and Another Thumbs-Up For FL Rep. Grayson

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

Dec. 10, 2009

Just a quick post to mention – and link to more details about – a definite Loser and Winner of the Week (not that we’ll be doing so EVERY week – just when it suits us and fits nicely outside of any other regular pieces)…

As we covered on Monday’s radio show (with a nice background bed of Beck’s classic first hit song), The Stonecipher Report "Loser of the Week" is Arlington, Tennessee Mayor Russell (inappropriate last name) Wiseman…who embarrassed himself and showed off his idiocy a few days back by decrying President Obama (excuse me, our "muslim president," as he called him) on his Facebook page over the scheduling of the important Afghanistan troop surge speech pre-empting the about 8 millionth televised showing of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on network TV…

Peace? Well, if Not “Now!,” Then Certainly in the Foreseeable Future – Or Else…

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

Dec. 3, 2009

I was heading towards downtown Chicago Wednesday evening, around 7 PM, when, in a perfect bit of timing – to observe, yet also not be made late for the appointment I was on my way to – my southbound bus was halted on North Michigan Avenue as the police stopped traffic to allow an anti-war demonstration that had been marching north along the busy shopping "Magnificent Mile" to make a (forced) left turn and head west on Oak Street.

Right in front of my bus they turned, giving me a full, close-up view of this end of the demonstration. "What do we want? Peace!" they chanted. "When do we want it? Now!"

Special EXPANDED Edition of The Stonecipher Report Radio Show, On the Air Today – Monday, 11-30

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

Nov. 30, 2009

We’re baaa-ack! And better – and longer! – than ever. The Stonecipher Report radio show will be broadcasting today in the expanded timeslot of 3:00 - 5:00 PM Central (Chicago) time.

As usual, we will be coming at you over the air as well as via the Internet live today on WHPK-FM. You can tune us in locally in Chicago at 88.5 FM…and, of course, you can also hear the show online at WHPK.org, streaming live, by just clicking the "Listen" tab or the "We are STREAMING" window on the station's website.

Tyler and I will each be directing an hour of the show today, taking turns sitting in the studio's "Captain’s Chair" and selecting some conversation topics and music (and, of course, we will both be there together for the entire 2-hour program). We’ll also have our latest update on the nutty local perennial candidate, Andy Martin, and probably a little more on our expanded "Blue vs. Red" debate (which I wrote about below…and we also covered on our show last week). We hope you can join us!

“Red” vs. “Blue” – How Did the US Get to This Point (and Where Do We Go From Here)?

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

Nov. 23, 2009

Tyler and I discussed this topic pretty deeply and long on today’s radio show…inspired (at least in part) by the "And, in the News…" e-mail issue I sent out to my subscribers earlier today. (The twice-weekly newsletter is completely FREE…AND your e-mail address is NEVER revealed or used for any other purpose; contact me at m_l_sweeney@hotmail.com to begin receiving these issues – hey, I’m already up to issue #199!)

…So – why is the "Blue" state vs. "Red" state divide so deep (and particularly thorny) in the US right now? And where will all of this schismatic separation likely lead us? I think it’s a very complicated, multiple-variable division…and it looks fairly hard to bind or solve anytime in the near future. After our on-air conversation on this subject today, I realize that Tyler has also thought about this subject…and that he has identified one of the contributing factors I chose as his believed primary cause of this current condition afflicting our country. I strongly hope that he expands upon this and explains his theory of the ever-widening "Blue" / "Red" philosophical gulf in a subsequent post out here – or perhaps even in a reply comment to this piece (which would be posted below)…

Sarah Palin WROTE a Book? We Doubt That She Actually Even READ It…

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

Nov. 17, 2009

With the Sarah Palin book hitting bookstores today, I thought I’d share my subscription-e-mail column – from the free "And, in the News…" updates I send out twice a week – on the topic from Monday. So, it is included below…and, FYI, another couple of good, appropriate, and variously analytical pieces on the media blur of Miss Wasilla and her pretend-authored book are one by Max Blumenthal on The Nation Magazine’s website and The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan (the gay neo-con who experienced an Obama awakening – and was quite the Palin critic – in ’08) live-blogging his reactions, rebuttals, and disputing of basic truths during Palin’s appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Some good stuff... 

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And, in the News...#197

November 16, 2009

Political Soap Box: First, "My Pet Goat," Now "Going Rogue" -- Uh, Republicans Don't Seem to Have Much Luck With Books, Do They?

Even though the piece-of-crap, rewriting-history, quickie book Sarah Palin agreed to claim she wrote -- the idiotically-titled "Going Rogue" (I mean, what does she think she is, some sort of freakin' conservative pirate?) -- has not officially hit bookstore shelves yet (it is due out widely [today]), plenty of political insiders have grabbed their early copies of it and are lashing out at its contents AND the alleged author, the former Miss Wasilla and early-quitting previous Governor of the so-so State of Alaska...

The Stonecipher Report Radio Program, On the Air Today – Monday, 11-16

It’s time once again for The Stonecipher Report to take its Liberal-Progressive opinions to the airwaves…as Tyler and I will be doing out radio show this afternoon, Monday, November 16. We will be broadcasting over the air as well as via the Internet live today from 3:00 to 4:00 PM Chicago time on WHPK-FM. You can tune us in locally in Chicago at 88.5 FM…and, of course, you can also hear the show online at WHPK.org, streaming live by just clicking the "Listen" tab or the "We are STREAMING" window on the station's website.

We’ll be taking a look at some of the latest things in the news (such as idiot beauty queen Carrie Prejean [see her embarrassing herself on Larry King’s show in the attached video below], Sarah Palin’s (perhaps-fictional) book, and the possibility of terrorist prisoners coming to an otherwise empty new prison in Western Illinois), as well as our continuing looks ahead to the 2010 elections. Here’s hoping you get a chance to tune us in!