Big Blog Roundup, Cowgirls and Cowboys

I'm trying to get back to work today, so am sending you off into the blogosphere to check out some interesting stories I've come across.

From Crooks and Liars:

Paycheck to Paycheck in Bush's America:

The AP has a dispiriting story about the economic pressures facing American families who live paycheck to paycheck. (thanks to reader R.K.)

The calculus of living paycheck to paycheck in America is getting harder. What used to last four days might last half that long now. Pay the gas bill, but skip breakfast. Eat less for lunch so the kids can have a healthy dinner.

From Americablog, Iraq war veteran John Bruhns writes

The National Guard is overextended and broken along with the rest of our Army. We are in the midst of a total national security nightmare- courtesy of George W. Bush.

This president has not once called upon Americans to serve their country. He just tells us to go shopping while he touts the all volunteer Army.

Instead of breaking our military Bush should go to each college campus and rally the “Young Republicans” to join the fight. Then Bush should go on national television and call on all the true believers of his war in Iraq to put their blood and money in the game. Finally, just for shiggles, Bush should call his goofy pal Bill Kristol and ask him to encourage Matthew Continetti to join the Army or Marine Corps. I would love to see him get a taste of the war he so ardently supports.

Read more here.

From ThinkProgress:

Conservatives boo the American public
During a GOP presidential debate last night, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) said, “I think the American people — if we as a party realize this and understand it — seventy-some percent of the people in America want the war over with. They’re sick and tired of it. And they want our troops to come home.” Paul was immediately drowned out by a chorus of boos from the audience.

Watch the video here.


ThinkProgress also has this, which I hope will not be viewed by climate change-doubters in the audience as more false information being spouted by "socialists," in this case the National Weather Service:

Climate change dulls fall foliage

Forested hillsides in New England are usually “riotous with reds, oranges and yellows” at this time of the season. But many trees are now “going straight from the dull green of late summer to the rust-brown of late fall with barely a stop at a brighter hue.” According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in Burlington, VT, have “run above the 30-year averages in every September and October for the past four years, save for October 2004, when they were 0.2 degrees below average.”