Politics Too Early In The Morning

Don't Prosletyze, Don't Tell

2010-12-09T06:44:00.001-06:00

Let me ask you this, chaplains who are worried you can't preach against homosexuality: when you wrote the Pentagon and President asking to retain Don't Ask Don't Tell, did you stop to think that you were asking people to keep on breaking the Eighth Commandment?

When you sign up, you're told up front that you're going to be in an ecumenical environment. How is that changing?

Is the problem you won't be able to run amok with your particularly extreme views? That you won't be able to keep Christianizing the military under the radar?

You do remember Matthew 24:45, yes? Good, me too.

So Nancy up, my fellow ordained. Get on your knees, ask for forgiveness, and do your duty.

The world is not going to end tomorrow

2010-11-01T13:09:00.000-05:00

But I will say I have more faith in the energy of the young than the anger of the old.

Burn This Post

2010-09-09T06:53:00.001-05:00

You give a thing power by your actions and beliefs. This is true if you revere or revile something.

Words are immortal, books are not.

Free speech isn't free. The work of not tolerating intolerance starts here, with everyone using their freedom of speech to condemn the Holy Book fetishists of all stripes: those who revere them to the point of madness, and those who revile them to the point of madness.

So burn your Quarans, burn your American flags, burn your tax bills, whatever. Just remember that you are locking your own chains. You are building your own prison. While the rest of us move toward a more perfect union, you're the one who's stuck where you are, angry at an inanimate object that has only harmed you in your imagination.

I suppose there's a 'logic' to it

2010-06-22T06:14:00.001-05:00

If you call "abject fear of the Other" logic.

So the SCOTUS has ruled that peacemaking efforts aid and abet terrorism. This isn't hyperbole.

The US Supreme Court on Monday upheld the constitutionality of a federal law that makes it illegal to teach members of a foreign terrorist group how to use peaceful means to pursue political goals. Source

So that's how we're gong to win the war on (Some) Terror: make it so we have no choice but to be war like, and keep the cycle going.

So. What to do? Imagine the spectacle of peace group members languishing in jail. Can you see former President Carter writing letters from a jail thanks to the "Patriot" Act? He pays the fine and gets out and does it again? Or does he get a pardon? Can he get one in advance?

Or we could, you know, just Nancy up and behave like grown ups. We could try mediation.

It's worked before, in Ireland and South Africa. South Africa doesn't have oil, but it does have gold. I don't know what Ireland has, except proximity to England, a minor global power.

It's a basic tenet of terrorism and anti-terrorism - if someone has nothing left to lose, they are capable of abhorrent acts. If we make sure they have nothing left to lose, we're inviting blowback.

This is not "blame America first". This is logic. This is rational self-interest. This is looking at what is and not what I want to see.

Joe, I am dissapoint

2010-06-03T08:38:00.001-05:00

Yeah, it's a sour meme, but I'm in a sour mood. Biden kicked off our country's support of Israel's killing of people in the middle of the night, and is resisting calls for an independent investigation.

Israel didn't have to sneak up in the middle of the night. It could have acted in its own waters, in daylight, and simply turned them away.

Instead they attacked in international waters, in the dead of night, and started killing people "armed" with pepper spray.

It will be interesting if more boats start coming. What will Israel do? Keep killing? Will we keep supporting it? How many people will have to die before there will be peace with justice?

Bonjour, Y'all!

2010-05-21T06:33:00.000-05:00

Well, now, this is the day we find out if Texas is turning into France - arrogant without a lot of muscle to back it up, going our own way because, doggonit, we know we're in the right, and not giving a flip about what anybody else thinks.

Not that we didn't have these characteristics before. What's new is that our influence is probably going to start going downhill, starting with the Texas influence on the nation's school textbooks.

We vote today on whitewashing, quite literally, Texas and U.S. History. We're also voting on how much to indoctrinate our children in American Exceptionalism, which usually translates that everyone has to follow the major rules of decency, except for Americans.

California, that other hugely populous state, is considering blocking the revisions altogether, though it may not be necessary. They won't be buying any new textbooks until 2013. Who knows, we may have a whole different board or system by then.

So this is where we need to start. We've had elections for some of the board members, now we need to "pack" the rest of the board with, you know, people who aren't so much into starting out with the answers to stuff into childrens' heads.

Our biggest mistake over the last few decades is the growth of the notion that schools must be run like businesses. The product is "educated employees", which has translated to "cogs in the machine", not trained to question, in fact trained not to question. It's translated to ridiculous "zero tolerance" rules that teach fear and that you're not safe unless you fit into this little pigeonhole, conveniently locker-sized. Our universities are changing from places of inquiry to research mills for industry, and very high-priced vocational schools.

There's training, which is critical, and there is education, which is even more critical: you get context, history, depth, and exposure to more than what you've seen before when you get an education. With training, you're taught only what you need to know - actually what someone else has determined that you need to know.

What I see of today's students is a decided lack of willingness to find out, but a tremendous effort to believe - in something, anything, and as long as they're never, ever exposed to things outside their beliefs, that's fine. But that kind of world can only be found in gated communities and desert compounds. "Security" consists of staying there, forever. Or changing the world to suit their needs, to everyone else's detriment.

There was a quote that I thought was inspiring for a number of years: "Most people adapt themselves to the world around them. Occasionally, one person will adapt the world to suit himself. All progress depends on that one man."

I don't buy that anymore, as I see the Regressive Movement trying to take the country back to a past that didn't really exist. The world may need shaping, the world definitely needs leaders, but it doesn't need to be leading the way while blindfolded.

And the Texas Board of Education will vote today on just how tight that blindfold it wants to place on our children.

It Is (To Point) And Laugh: Tornado Of Ideas II

2010-05-12T09:01:00.003-05:00

You might have noticed I'm s Star Trek fan. Mostly TNG, some DS9 and Voyager. Here's a little morality play.

Snooty Dr. Bashir tells the resident expat Garak the tale of the Boy Who Cried Wolf - the obvious moral being that when you lie all the time, nobody believes you even when you eventually tell the truth.

The moral obvious to Garak is "never tell the same lie twice".

My point in relating the tale: You always find what you're looking for.

So, here are the "lesbians"...

If you can't see it, the title of the book is "Lost Liberties".

What else could this picture possibly represent?

Friendship. Family. Sisterhood. Comfort. Commiseration. I'm sure others could come up with more.

As for the always attention-getting word "sodomy", I'm going to let you judge for yourself. Click for the entire pic.

Title of the book: Theives in High Places

I'm going to stand by my initial interpretation.

Wahhh-tention seekers kick up dust over Tornado of Ideas

2010-05-06T05:53:00.000-05:00

This doesn't even rate being called a dust devil of stupid, but media coverage has been decidedly lopsided.

There's a guy who doesn't like the statue called Tornado of Ideas. That little opinion piece came out in 2007. Apparently spending years gathering his resources, he started a Facebook group and a real life petition to get the thing removed a week ago.

The reaction on campus and around town is "huh?" The media reaction is "Tech Conservatives Angered by Statue!" or something similar. Major news outlets, mostly quoting the press release, talk about the group protesting and having a petition out.

Local news had them on TV. Great attention, I'll bet.

Here's what you don't read:

1) There's a counter petition and there were counter protests. Even a couple of counter FaceBook groups.
2) Real life signatures and online membership against the removal outnumber the "angered conservatives" by 10 to 1.

Now to clear some misconceptions about the work:

Attempted sodomy depicted. Since I've actually seen the work, in my opinion it does not depict attempted or actual sodomy. This is a hot button word being used to get people exited. I've always seen it as the rider at the end of a chase, pinning down the quarry. Also, OMG LESBIANS! I'll have to admit I didn't notice this. I'll check it out and amend as needed.

"New" YCT group. It's been pointed out that the YCT has been around a while, so there's nothing suspicous going on. As the work has been here since 2004, and the founder of this movement has only been disturbed by it since 2007, and has waited until 2010 to actually do something, I call shenanigans.

The sculpture is supposed to represent America. I have no idea where this got started. According to Tech,

"Symbolically, the books within the sculpture represent the polarized ideas within the United States that fuel the energy of the tornado, according to the University Public Art Collection."

(see the rest here: http://www.dailytoreador.com/2.13436/controversial-culture-1.1837508)

So there was no nefarious plot to endorse the "liberaly-ness" of anything.

B-but-but TAXPAYER MONEEE! Taxpayer money is used for a lot of things. It's used for a lot of things I don't agree with, too. This particular venture of public art started in 1998. The reason? To attract outsiders and get them to move here. And pay taxes and buy stuff. Business are given tax breaks all the time.

http://today.ttu.edu/2005/06/communities-use-public-art-to-attract-and-retain-residents-and-businesses/

I wouldn't mind seeing more edifying and inspiring art in the world. It's great stuff. I also don't hide from things I don't like. Listen to your enemies - they have information your friends are keeping from you.

The stated mission of the Tornado of Ideas is to depict the energy created by vigorous debate. I say: Mission Accomplished.

Computer, what is the nature of the universe?

2010-04-28T10:56:00.001-05:00

Defeat has a way of turning your thoughts inward. Not getting a promotion or job you thought you deserved, a relationship falling through...

...losing an election.

We've been watching the Right engage in the ritual navelgazing that happens after such a thing. The Democrats did it in 2000, and did it with more vigor in 2004-6. We've got the TeaB*ggers, we've got the Ron Paul crowd, and we have the old Country Club Republicans looking at it all and saying, "what".

Today's ten dollar phrase "epistemic closure". It's working its way all over the echo chamber of the left, and we're all talking about and agreeing that We are better than Them because We allow outside thoughts in and They don't. And They purge whoever isn't Pure enough.

Dr. Crusher: Computer, what is the nature of the universe?
Computer: The universe is a spheroid region, 705 meters in diameter.
-Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Remember Me"

The part of the article that gets the most exposure is the one talking about the Right Wing Bubble and how nothing gets in that doesn't fit the universe.

The part that comes later on, and is expanded later, talks about how the purge really isn't a purge so much as a show put on for the base, or consumers, of the chattering class' product - chatter. Right now the hot product is how YOU are a REAL AMERICAN™ because YOU haven't SOLD OUT.

It starts sounding more crazy because people get tired of the same old thing. So, the "crazies" have to get "crazier". Discard old, more new. It's all about the Benjamins, baby.

Now this might make it easy to discard the whole mess as an early "silly season", which usually takes place in August, just before the new products roll out. (we could say it's due to Global Warming and see how folks respond). People are starting to trim freind lists on FaceBook over that little "joke" of a prayer against the President. Members of the group gripe that it's only a joke and nobody really means it. How is one to tell when there really are people in the group posting pictures of people hanging in effigy?

Separating fantasy from reality could get a little more sticky as the early silly season wears on. The Huttaree clan were nicked because they started acting on a false rumor.

Christian Caryl at Foriegn Policy makes a good case for why we need to start taking conspiracy theories and the "silly" stuff a little more seriously. That's all well and good, but we're really not going to see the crazy stop until enough of the right people get scared, and start backing away from the "crazy" product producers.

When the advertisers see there's no market in nuts, they'll pull the plug.

A new game of chicken

2010-04-27T07:15:00.000-05:00

Our Stunt Governor is afraid to debate his opponent. No surprise.

You can't wink your way out of this one, sir. Hiding behind a disingenuous request for his tax returns isn't fooling anyone.

Looks like the candidates are nearly in a statistical tie.

So, I'd say if Perry continues to refuse to debate, he'll gain another nickname. Nominations are open.

Well, this about sums it up

2010-04-15T10:16:00.000-05:00

I'm sure it's photoshopped. (I'm pretty sure that's a verb now). The original image was taken from an anti-war rally back in the day.

I was in support of those anti-war rallies, and I technically support the TeaB*gger things going on today, because the First Amendment applies to everyone.

Have fun, don't get hurt, try not to do any property damage, and for pete's sake, get someone to spellcheck, eh?

Nice Try, Regressives.

2010-03-23T11:56:00.000-05:00

Government Is A Problem; Government Is A Solution

2010-03-20T21:33:00.001-05:00

Not really. Government simply is. It's a tool that can be used for good or for evil. Nattering on about "the government" is just talking about yourself, because you, me, and several multi-national corporations are the government.

Kiplinger's has a fine essay on the futility of arguing over "Big Government".

In short, we want the government to be there when we need it, whether it’s to rescue the financial system or to plow snow covered streets. But when government is inefficient and wasteful -- or doing something we don’t believe is wise or critical -- then it’s a different story.

*Source: Kiplinger

The elephant in the room is the multinational coporations, which have been given carte blanche to do what they will in terms of spending on elections. Supporters to a man say that a corporation is a person, and can't be denied the right to speak.

Well, that all sounds good in theory. As Dad used to say: "Everything works in theory".

The counter-argument is that it's easier to organize money than it is to organize people. Who's got the money? The corporations. It gets you media buys, billboards, flyers, etc.

People gets you people. They have limited money, limited time, and they aren't usually able to hire out PR agents or bundle ~~bribes~~ contributions to legislators.

Now here's a fun option: Google TV ads could potentially be a leveller. I wonder if we could have flash ads, like we do flash mobs?

But that's all flash and glitter. What the people in the country need is information that's correct, that's put together, and that shines a light on what's really going on. We need to connect the dots.

More on that later.

===========
*Sorry about any rendering or ads, it was required by Kiplinger.

We've been doing this a long, long time

2010-03-19T01:28:00.000-05:00

The first self-executing bill was the U.S. Constitution.

Of all the issues that the Anti-Federalists gave for rejecting the new constitution, the lack of a bill of rights was the most compelling for many people. In the ratifying documents of five states, requests or demands for a bill of rights were included in the text, along with suggested lists (see the ratifying documents of Massachusetts, South Carolina, New Hampshire,Virginia, and New York. Rhode Island also included a list, but they ratified the Constitution after the first Congress approved the Bill of Rights).

Mind the Gap

2010-03-13T09:20:00.000-06:00

I got into another Internet Spat this week, 'cause nothing was on TV. For the most part, we were talking past each other, because the basic reality of the situation was pretty simple. It got a little silly toward the end, but nearly halfway civil as we finally agreed to disagree.

(Normally I cut off "debate" when the person in question starts calling names, but like I said, there was nothing on TV, and there was some halfway decent argument in the fellow's posts)

Anyway, I got this little gem in my email the other day, "When Debating a Liberal, Start With First Principles", by hardworking Big C Conservative Mark Alexander. It's a nice little essay on how to slide your way around talking points without having a real conversation. He's at least honest enough to say that when you're up against another True Beleiver, it's not going to end with agreement, but with a scorched earth, and the only thing that counts is ammunition.

I remember seeing a similar article after the 2006 election. It was titled "How to talk to a Conservative" or similar, but damned if I can find it now. It was taken from texts on how to convert former religious folks and smokers. I found it a smarmy bit of writing and disregareded it.

eHow.com has a surprisingly good article on simply having a discussion. Yes! Magazine, who's new to me, has a whole series on talking past the gap.

I've been watching the Coffee Party, which hasn't decided what it'll be when it grows up, but it shows promise. Guess we'll see.

In other news, Redstate has banned Birthers. Good move, I think. Wonder if my Rep knows?

You can't say you didn't see it coming...

2010-03-04T05:44:00.001-06:00

Here. This is where we passed the "PATRIOT" act. Notice how few people were in the room. Notice how if it weren't for Maxine Waters, working all stinking day long, there wouldn't even be any recorded votes. Don't forget the parts where Congressmen come in and say "hey, this bill is different from the one I agreed to last night". Remember for a few months later, other Congressmen (Republican and Democrat) objecting to bits of the bill that were inserted while they weren't looking, and quietly removed them.

Conrast with the political theater that has been the health care debate. How many people have had their hands in this pie? How many trees killed, how many hard drives thrashed, how many good proposals stripped out and/or ignored?

Opponents have had their chance, gotten in their hits. It's time for the grownups to get to work. You can be part of the problem or part of the solution.

Oh, one more thing: you're welcome.

7+ hours in 1,000 words or less

2010-02-25T19:20:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Fark.

Republicans: The American People want this bill gone because they hate it. Look at the polls.

Obama: Yes, but they love every individual thing in the bill when it isn't spun that there are going to be death panels and other lies you all made up. What they hate is the cost, but the reality is that bills cost money.

Republicans: But you are taking over the entire health care industry.

Obama: Alright, but you say that citing reasons which are actually Republican ideas that we included in the bill.

Republicans: Whatever, we want it all scrapped or we will continue to filibuster, and we don't want you to use reconciliation or anything else we used to ram our ideas down your throats for the first 6 years of Bush. These Senate rules that allow for a simple majority vote are un-American!

Obama: What don't you understand about how being in the minority works? If you want me to phrase it differently, we have a Democratic President and the 2nd largest majority ever, down from the largest majority ever by 1 vote, because the American people you are so fond of quoting voted your asses out after 8 years of you completely farking up our entire system. Know your place.

Republicans: Ok, fine, but the American people hate this bill because it costs too much money. We can't afford it.

Obama: Yeah, but the CBO states it will reduce our deficit in the long run compared to doing nothing. That's otherwise known as "not paying as much." It does cost money, and health care reform will cost a lot of money. It won't cost us more money than would otherwise be spent though.

Republicans: Fine, but we want it all done in small bills rather than a big, comprehensive one. That's how it should be done.

Obama: That's what we've done since you guys killed reform in the 90s. Now look where we are. If you go to fix one thing, you have to enforce it by fixing another thing, which leads to another thing, and not taking care of the side-effects each change has is the reason so many of our small bills in the past like the donut hole are now destroying us.

Republicans: But we want it all scrapped. We have to start over even though we agree on a majority of the things in the bill. We believe that suddenly all these issues will magically change and we will come up with brand new ideas tackling these problems that haven't been thought up in the past year. And we'll play fairly with you this time rather than completely abusing the filibuster process and demanding you do not use similar tactics that the majority gets to enjoy, we promise!

Obama: You already said you wanted it scrapped, I already said no.

Republicans: Ok well then we want the bill to consist mainly of our bill instead of yours. That way we can only cover 1/10th of all the uninsured people and basically do nothing useful to avert the impending disaster we are heading into at our current rate.

Obama: YOU ARE IN THE MINORITY. YOU DON'T GET TO CALL THE SHOTS. WHAT IS SO farkING DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THIS?

Republicans: But this bill costs too much money. We can't afford it and the American people don't want it.

Obama: ... ok now you're just farking with me, right?

Now, to be fair, it wasn't all Obama, all the time. Most of these points were made by Democrats and Obama.

I'm back! Did you miss me?

2010-02-24T06:06:00.000-06:00

Hello, dear reader(s)! Between dead computers and dead internet connections it's been a wild winter.

Since the primary election's but days away I'm not going to bother with transcribing the rest of the debates, except to mention that Govenor Hair is a liar: he knew about the Futile Care Law (passed when he was Lite Guv) and did nothing about it, even after hearing about it in the last election.

Oh, and Hutch gave a thoughtful and nuanced answer to the question of whether she'd work to overturn Roe v. Wade. It made the head hurt, hearing that from a Republican, but I heal quickly.

Medina has since proven that she's in over her head. I've long thought that Libertarians were entertaining as a group but scary as individuals. I don't vote for them unless I know they'll do no harm or they won't get elected.

Teab*ggers, however, are scary as individuals and as a group. It's difficult to watch otherwise sane people be manipulated as easily as this crowd.

On the Democratic side, there are a slew of candidates, but Bill White stands out as sane, so it should be an interesting year.

In a development good for everyone, Kinky Freidman has dropped out of the governors race. I guess it was already too nuts. He's instead running for Ag Commissioner, and he's doing his homework as well. Good luck, sir.

Anyway, I'm back and I'll be seeing you!

Shootout in Texas: Hutch deploys the Teab*gger as human sheild and tactical nuke

2010-01-15T06:50:00.000-06:00

We had our Republican candidate debate last night here in the Lone Star State. (archive vid here) Oh, if only our Presidential debates had been so entertaining.

First, our Stunt Governor, who, predictably, turned down education funding for Texas, saying we're doing just fine, thanks.

Next up, Hutch, our Senior Senator, who for some reason, wants to come back to Texas to stay.

Last up, a surprise visitor, a token TeaB*gger. I have no idea how these things are decided, but sure, the more the merrier. I'm not sure of her qualifications, but she's elligible, so hey.

First we have commercials from Lockheed(with Rocket Day!) and AARP(you can trust us to represnt you, really!).

Oh, the audio isn't synced up, that's distracting. Hope they fix that in the archive. Anyway, introductions all around, and we start off with the first question: Just how crazy are you? Would you really secede, and if there's something the feds do that you like, how would you replicate it here?

Perry likes the military. He'd take care of our veterans and men and women in uniform. Then an attempt to be funny, saying the feds should deliver mail, protect the country and the borders, and one out of three isn't bad. Leaving us to guess which one he meant I guess. But the moderator had already moved on...

Well, governor, what would you nullify? There's a lot of people talking about it, got an answer for them?

Perry: uh...well, we need to stop healthcare, and our Senator over there needs to get back to Washington and stop it. We gotta stop...

moderator: would you nullify it?

Perry runs out the clock and the moderator turns to stimulus funds. Perry wouldn't take it if we didn't send so much to washington in the first place. More running out the clock.

Now Hutch. She, predictably, lists her favorite federal program as the military, except she can back her claim with her membership and leadership in various military and veterans' committees. Claims to be fighting against healthcare now, and says that Texas now gets 92 cents back for every dollar it sends to D.C., not 76 cents, as Perry claims. What she wants to do is eliminate the Highway Trust Fund. We've got the roads built, so why keep collecting taxes? Well, that sounds good, but one would think a Senator would be more effective in working on that. Also, it's not just for highways anymore.

Mod: so what would you nullify? Funding for ACORN. They're scary.

(That was a cheap shot, Hutch, you ignorant mutt. -nbv)

So now on to Medina, who gleefully informs us that the feds have let the veterans down, and she can't really say that the government does anything well.

Mod: answer the question, already. You've said you think the government should only enforce treaties.

Medina: Yes. We must nullify Healthcare and get the EPA out of engergy and bidness and all will be well.

Audience question from FaceBook. OOh, aren't we modern? A woman is worried about losing her unemployment benefits. (thanks, welfare deform -nbv). What are you going to do?

Medina: non-answer, basic TeaB*gger boilerplate, less government, more bidness.

Perry, after it's noted by a mod that unemployment has double in his tenure: non answer, "Texas is the greatest state." Anecdote about a guy who would rather be unemployed in Texas than anywhere else. We're great because we don't have frivolous lawsuits, and we rejected stimulus funds (f**cker)

Mod: we've lost more jobs than we've gained...

Perry: Nuh uh!

Everybody else: You're talking about '07and '08! Recession started in '09, and this is '10.

Perry: Texas! Greatest! My opponents are tearing Texas down! I love Texas!

Time's up.

What were we talking about again? Oh, yes, unemployment.

Hutch: lower taxes on business, get rid of the mismanagement on the unemployment fund. Make the educational system better (well, better hurry) so kids can get good jobs (and this helps the asker how?)

Sideswipe on Perry: We did lose 300,000 jobs in Texas.

Time's up.

Medina takes the bait: Jobs were lost in the private sector, but the public sector jobs did go up.

Perry: wait wait wait. 1,000 people move here a day. They wouldn't if we didn't have low taxes and fair taxes.

Hutch: the business margin tax was yours.

crosstalk, Perry sputtering and Hutch saying property taxes went up because evaluations went up. Cant' hear Medina.

Moderator: SHADDUP

Part II coming soon.

Matthew 25:44

2009-12-03T15:44:00.001-06:00

I had the bright idea that someone could photoshop some dollar bills talking about this story and drop those in the anti-immigrant/anti-gay Salvation Army kettles, but this works too. They look like checks.

I got these via Jesus' General

YOU LIE!

2009-11-10T06:28:00.002-06:00

Thanks to Facebook and C-SPAN, I have a use for this meme.

My Congressman expressed his sadness over the shootings at Fort Hood. Some of his friends took the time to express their belief that MUSLIM = BAD. I took them to task for this, as did others. The ensuing discussion didn't get Internet Ugly, but it wasn't nice.

So, near the end, when one person stated that Obama and his advisors were racist, I asked for proof, and was sent to this gem of a YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chSH-cu20Oc&feature=PlayList&p=C19499E2161F8F85&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=36

Which is a shortened and interestingly edited bit of a committee hearing about the economy and a number of other things held on 1/7/09:

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/283157-1&showFullAbstract=1

I don't blame you if you don't want to watch the whole of either video. The first is less than four minutes, but about 30 seconds in, the video shows Robert Reich saying "I am concerned as I'm sure many of you are that these jobs not simply go to high skilled people who are already professionals, or to white male construction workers." There is a text overlay that helpfully tells you what the audio is saying. And then cuts off, going into hysterics about how racist it all is.

In the C-SPAN video, Reich doesn't speak until about 22 minutes in. Dry stuff, let me tell you. At around 29:00, he says

"I am concerned as I'm sure many of you are that these jobs not simply go to high skilled people who are already professionals, or to white male construction workers - I have nothing against white male construction workers - I'm just saying there are a lot of other people who have needs as well."

He goes on to say that in his written remarks submitted to the committee he has outlined some criteria that may be used to be sure that federal stimulus money is spread evenly, and especially to people hit hardest - the long term unemployed, women, and others who aren't already at the top of the heap*.

The entirety of his testimony is about how everyone can get some help through these times. The speaker before him, Mark Zandi, spoke about the difference between stimulus and tax cuts. Studies have shown that stimulus money produces more GDP than tax cuts. I don't have notes on the stuff after Reich, because I gave up around then.

But yes, context matters. Sources matter. Thinking matters. We always find what we're looking for, and if we're looking for some Other to be Evil, then by golly we'll find it.

Even if we've got to edit the video to "prove it".

*Reich also said at around 28 minutes in "get over this partisan 'I don't trust that governer from the Other Party.' Get over it, and get money to the local and state governments!"

Okay, C-SPAN, I forgive you

2009-11-10T05:58:00.001-06:00

I've shelled out the money for bandwidth, and so the streaming is somewhat better. Also, you can find it all now!

The new video library is searchable by date, person, and event. I've been wanting this for years. I don't know when it started, but boy I like it!

There's my guy!

2009-10-24T09:52:00.001-05:00

Oh, finally an issue of substance! Here I was afraid I'd have to talk about Faust News - Your Voice For Evil© and their War Against the White House Lies About Us - Yes, It's All About US!

No, on the slightly less important stage of world events, we have the Battle of the Vice Presidents, specifically Mr*. Cheney and my man, VP Joe.

Mr. Cheney's apparently upset that the bloodshed hasn't been more bloody - President Obama is apparently "emboldening our enemies" by thinking before he acts.

The Vice President's response? "Who cares?" My thoughts exactly.

Now stopping right there, I think that's all that need be said. Cheney and daughter(s) can argue all day long that this think tank and that group and these "observers" agree with everything they have to say - but that doesn't make it true. Cheney spent a whole lot of time setting up the "Team B" charade. Remember we have to know the message and the messenger(s).

But, Joe being Joe, he didn't stop there:

Asked what he thought about criticisms former Vice President Cheney had made about the Obama administration, Vice President Joe Biden told reporters “Who cares what – ” and then stopped himself.

“Yeah, yeah, I can see the headline now,” Mr. Biden said. “I’m getting better, guys. I’m getting a little better, you know what I mean?”

Hee! So now the news isn't about Joe opening his mouth, but closing it. The rest of the conversation is worth a read, too. Upshot: The President asked me to go to Afghanistan and come back and tell him what I thought. I did. He may take my advice, he may not. That's ok. He's the President.

Then further down, my Joe is back, talking about a little dust up over the change in missile defense last month: “Could it have been done better? Yeah. Obviously it could have been done better.”

Translation: the story is what's changed for the better, now how you feel about it now, press corps.

============
*I understand, but don't follow, the convention of addressing or referencing former office holders by their last title. Mr. Cheney is Mr. Cheney. Mr. Clinton is Mr. Clinton. Well, I do make an exception for General Reno, but that's just because I like saying it.

Putting Money Where My Mouth Is...

2009-10-18T15:38:00.001-05:00

I finally signed up with ActBlue. There are Republican alternatives, most notably RedSlate. Looking at RedSlate's list, it's not likely I'll be sending money that way, but you never know.

Right now all I've got is a recurring $10/month donation to an as yet unnamed Democratic candidate against Randy Neugebauer.

Not much, but it's a start.

Lemme get out my violin...

2009-10-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

"There is fury...Absolute fury."

This is in regards to Executive Order #13490* (up from 13476), which an order that "bars anyone appointed by the President who has been a federally-registered lobbyist within the past two years from working on particular matters or in the specific areas in which they lobbied or from serving in agencies they had lobbied."

Pity poor K street, which for the last 8 years, had been pretty much given free rein over all aspects of the legislative and executive processes.

I'm not shedding any tears. The less lobbyists have to do with government, the better.

Now the big problem is this. The CQ article mentioned that small businesses and groups wouldn't be able to afford to staff the lobbying firms and the panels. So the panels aren't going away, and big business will have the same if not more access to lawmakers.

My answer is to ban lobbyists alltogether, but that may be a little too much fire applied to the forrest.

*signed waaay back in January.

My Hero

2009-09-15T15:42:00.000-05:00

I first caught Eddie Izzard on late night HBO. They were showing "Dress to Kill" and I just about died laughing. Now I have almost all of his DVDs and some audio from his earlier days.

Recently I saw a headling on Fark regarding him running for political office. I thought, "but what can he do here? We've already got the Governator".

Turns out he was on a listening gig in his home district to try to become a Member of Parliament - the EU, to be precise.

He's always been a fan of countries and peoples getting together. I'm sure it's from his background: born in Yemen, lived in Wales, Ireland, and five or six other places. He's learned other languages in order to do his gig in the native language of whatever country he's in.

He's also got strong opinions on poverty:

I believe in a level playing field for humanity. If I could tell the politicians one thing, it would be: drop the debt. Nigeria borrowed £5bn, it's paid back £16bn, and it still owes £32bn. That's not debt, that's loan sharking.

So here's to Eddie Izzard. May all your dreams come true.

Eddie's marathon site

News about the marathon:
start
finish

Checking out that Tea B*gger thing...

2009-09-12T13:43:00.003-05:00

Man, c-span, you used to be cool. What is it with this awful internet feed?

I loves me some Ray Charles

Looking at the signs: "Less Taxes! More Freedom!" Well, that might as well read: "Less Services! More Chaos!"

Ha! "Should you trust the government? Ask an Indian!"

"End the Federal Reserve" and then what?

Wow, already? "Impeach Obama?" He just got here! Give him some time to really screw up!

Don't know who's speaking now, (James Anderer, Linderhust New York) talking about bankruptcy and oh - his chrysler dealerships being 'stolen' and given to another. Corporate politics and a compliant government. "I am an angry american"

Invoking the Founding Fathren, and call & response.

Obama wants to pass all these changes before we wake up and understand what he's done.

Amens and shouts from the crowd.

Oh no! Our taxes are so high, it's destroying our way of life! Reps represent special interest groups who give them money! NO! REALLY? You've been too busy making a living and raising your kids to pay attention to this? I call bullshit. My parents made aliving and paid attention. I'm doing the same. Screw you.

Yeah, totalitarianism is only good if your guy's doing it, right. Please.

Hey, you wanna organize, you wanna vote them out, I'm with you. Just vote for folks who're gonna acutally do campaign finance reform.

"Vote them out! vote them out!"

Wait, what about the terrorits? What?

Wow! Actual facts about the mortgage/derivative disaster! And unelected ppl generating the rules. Well, hey. Whaddya know?

Dog wistle! 10th amendment! Drink! Oh, damn, no alcohol.

Um, this crowd looks kind of sparse.

Professional video by the American TaxPayers Union. Introducing Andrew Moylan

Ok, I'm seeing titles of "Government Affairs Director" and "Federal State Head" and stuff like this. There's a lot more money than people involved in this. Must look these orgs up later. "FreedomWorks" indeed.

Oh, NOW you're worried about the deficit. Right. Welcome to the party.

Huh. "Take your your cellphone right now and call your congressman" "Na Na Na Hey Hay Hay, Goodbye" cute. Straight from the Obama playbook. Nicely done.

Are they singing on their phones? To congresscritters? I can't tell. Stupid c-span feed.

Tea party Patriots - more dog whistle!

Another national coordinator Jenny Beth Martin

Kellen Giuda Park bench Blog Founder
Talking about New York Tea Parties. I'm not understanding. Oh. Tea Bagging is not a Fox news thing because punk rockers are talking about tea parties. Mkay. They may not be running the engine but they sure provided kindling. And gasoline now, from what I can tell.

Modern pop culture - we're taking it on! Rolling Stone Magazine! They're the establishment! we have our own counter culture now!
We need a pop culture base? Who knew?

Pop culture is dissing you! Join the pop culture counter revolution!

Oh! lost kid! Good on y'all. Hope he's ok.

More professional video.

High Caliber? The only conservative hip hop artist? Ok. Oh, sorry, misspelled: Hi-Caliber

Vince Venom

Are there any right wing extremists in the house today?

Rap shout out to Rick Perry. Well, who saw that coming!

Well, that was cute.

Oh, there's more. My speakers can't make the words intelligible. I'll have to check it out later.

Oh, please. "where's the birth certificate"

Huh, so it's not that the crowd is sparse, but the area directly in front of the stage is kept pretty clear.

Great, parading the troops as human sheilds so you can stand behind them to critize the president. Everyone supports the damned troops. What most of us DON'T support is stupid wars.

Dog whistle "blood and treasure"

Hey, I can get behind that "vote out all incumbents" sign

A sign quoting St. Reagan about "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" Except Reagan increased the government, dear.

Checking out trafficland. I'm not seeing people. Well ok, people but not crowds.

Deneen Borelli National Center for Public Policy Research, Project 21 Fellow

Oh, again about freedoms being looted by elected officials. We could have used you eight years ago, dear.

Opposing Obamacare because of principal, not race! What's the drill? "Pay your taxes? Is Rangel not doing that? Whoops, guess not. Bad boy

Conyers. "read the bill". That's your job! Heh, can't argue with that.

Diane Boxer admires CASTRO!

Waters - nationalize oil companies!

Something about raising the cost of energy so we use less. CAP & TAX = BALL & CHAIN. Nice meme. I don't buy it, but I can recognize a good tactic.

Bruce Webster.
Seldom is liberty lost all at once
Lincoln: america is the last best hope of earth.

Yes, well, again, we could have used you 8 years ago.

Deploying those human sheilds again.

i've got family and had family in the thick of this too. I don't parade them around. Screw you.

"last full measure of devotion" finally remembering you're the party of Lincoln?

Government by the congress? Fool, it's government of the corporate donors. Man, I'm gonna be looking up your opensecrets page. Whoops, you're not a pol. Dude, you're a geek? Eh, I'll check out your Systems Design stuff, but man, where were you during the Bush years?

On the system design - really? You're just now finding out how laws are written? I cut my teeth on the "Patriot" Act. You kind of redeem yourself in part 2. If you have solutions in Part 3, I'll listen.

ABC news says 1.5 million people are here. Hey, you made it*.

ROFLMAO! TEXT FREEDOM TO ME! This is going to get you an accurate count?

Well, I've had enough. Like the peace marches at the conventions, this is mostly harmless.

I'll pointout: no shock troops, no "freedom areas", no SWAT teams.

Laterz

===========================
*turns out they didn't

Well, now, the game's afoot.

2009-09-11T23:06:00.000-05:00

Governer Hair(R-eally, Texas) is sending the Rangers to the border to get "boots on the ground" to deal with the increasing violence.

Well, on the surface that sounds good. El Paso/Juarez, especially, has been getting more violent, though other Texas are running close seconds. But now that the drug trade is emperilling 'legitimate' bizniz, well, we gotta Do Sumpin'.

And here we find that our beloved governor is very good at laying traps. First, he requests 'MOAR PLZ' from National Security - the very government he'd like to secede from. Then, for some reason, it all gets hung up on who's payin' fer it? Really, sir? This is a difficult question? So now he gets to blame Warshington for the delays. Except that, maybe, all this ain't needed, and might even be harmful.

But wait! Let's not analyze this situation with actual facts! We have the Challenger! In this corner, Kay Bailey Hutchison (hereafter to be called "Hutch" because I liked Starsky and Hutch as a wee lass). She's the fightin' Texas Lady, here to save us all from Do Nuthin' Perry.

Well, she too fell into the trap. "she's been in Warshington 16 years and she thinks she's done enough for you?!" was the gist of the response. Oh, dear me. After all she's done for veterans, too.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Gov. Hair has announced this on a national day of "oh, $deity, it's that day again." People are distracted by mourning, remembering, raging, and other such. For reasons that are good, bad, and awful, people are reminded of The Other, and are afraid. So someone finally standing up and appearing to Do Something about Something that Makes Us Afraid is going to score points.

But look at what's happening. Gov. Perry has a very good reason to use the Rangers instead of the National Guard. The Guard could be nationalized and used against him. The Rangers cannot. However expensive, however harmful, whoever dies because of this, it will all be his doing, under his control. He's using the Rangers' well deserved reputation to bolster his own stature: gilt by association.

Not everything that glitters is gold, Governor. We'll be watching

Joe Wilson's War

2009-09-10T22:19:00.000-05:00

You don't win a war by dying for your country. You win a war by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his.
-Gen. Patton

You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to secure peace. But you cannot have peace and a division of our country.
Gen. Sherman

We really can't keep this up. Joe Wilson has been sacrificed at the altar of partisanship - thrown to the wolves as red meat to distract the masses. He's a sideshow, no more important to the real work of governing the nation than the color of a newscaster's tie.

Let's get back to work, shall we?

How many policiticans does it take to drive a joke off a bridge?

2009-08-31T00:20:00.001-05:00

Oh, I have to weep at the sheer number of electrons and pixels that died in the making of this outrage. And by "this outrage" I mean "this fake outrage that the butt of our jokes actually might have laughed at them, now that we know about it".

Go ahead, google "chappaquidick jokes". After the site corrects your spelling, you get multiple tens of thousands of hits of people shocked, yes SHOCKED that he would seek out jokes and maybe even laugh at them. It was if a billion voices cried out the same damn five lines of text and then wouldn't shut up about it.

Now I had a number of feelings and thoughts when I first read about this. The first one was "Well, that's a dumb thing to be coming out now.", then "Jackass move". Then it was, "how do you joke about this thing that is so serious?" I found out quickly enough - after, of course - limiting my searches to articles written before the now infamous Diane Rheme Show*.

http://www.outbursts.org/2006/05/05/kennedy-jokes/

http://web.archive.org/web/20060625220635/http://www.outbursts.org/archive/2005/09/08/chappaquiddick-jokes-never-get-old/

http://garywolff.com/subdir/humor.htm

http://www.thehumorarchives.com/joke/The_Top_15_Rejected_Christmas_Movies

So they're not unheard of, they're definitely not in good taste, but they do exist.

I don't get the impression that this was an every day thing for him. We heard more about his sailings habit the last few days than anything else. His biographer would be in a position to know what he did and didn't think or do with the jokes. I expect a column/apologia from him any day. It probably will just provide more grist for the mill.

And the mill is the story here. This is just what the mad dogs were looking for - something, anything, to counter the near cannonization going on. No matter how many people he helped, no matter how much goodwill he cultivated over the decades, he is to be ignored, demonized, and deemed worthless because, well, simply because.

Other people have done worse. I can think of one president responsible for far more death and dismemberment than Ted Kennedy - Barack Obama. How many soldiers have died since he took office? And he didn't even start it. It was that one.

This is about who owns history, and therefore the future. Anything, anything that can discredit Kennedy or any other target is fair game. Anything that makes someone not be associated with the target will be pulled out, magnified, dissected and made into fat pies for those hungry to see whatever it is they want to see.

We have to know the messenger. We have to know the message. Everyone who has brought messages of hope and progress has been flawed in some way or another. Martin Luther King, Jr. is believed to have been an adulterer. Does that make the struggle for civil rights any less right? M. Scott Peck had a messy private life, but brought millions peace and insights they'd never had, including me. His message isn't any less right because he couldn't always live up to it.

There are more, far more examples. There always will be. The point is to know what you're following, who you're following, and why. Letting spitballs get in the way of a battleship is always a loser.

Let's keep our eyes on the prize.

=================

* I will forever be amused at the right-minded blogosphere taking "liberal" NPR's broadcasting as gospel. "I read that she heard it from someone who accidentally had NPR on!"

Real-time thoughts on the funeral

2009-08-29T12:33:00.000-05:00

finally I get a stream. I never did get video, I'm listening on NPR.

Liturgy:

I was hungry and thirsty and sick and in prison or a stranger - and you comforted me.

I say to you whatever you do to the least of this, you did to me.

Depart from me, you accursed.

What did you did not do for these least ones, you did not do for me.

All powerful stuff.

Gospel of Matthew.

Oh for gods sake, I don't care who's there. Just let the thing play. I know it's radio. I know they're there. Shut the hell up, NPR. I'm only listening to you because CSPAN was unavailable.

Explanation of Christian Burial Mass

I wonder how the liberals ≠ christians are handling this. All that talk of God.

ooooh, the test to enter the kingdom. Ok, justifires, have at it.

The leader of the family, supported at the end.

Cue family values overreaction. didn't he take care of his brothers' kids? How many? 14?

Principles of perfectionism. Keep trying, no matter how you might fail.

Quoting him at his brother's funeral

Tying his service to the old testament prophets. Fantastic.

Luke - gospel of the poor. It was a few other things, must look up later.

God is preparing a world of justice. We don't know the time of the consumation of the earth. Oh, let the post-trib folks get at this.

NO, STOP WITH THE COMMENTARY. DO IT LATER. STOP THIS NONSENSE. YES, IT WAS A GREAT SERMON. SHUSH.

Prayers of the faithful, done by the kids. This one sounds young. Very clear voice. Is this a relative or what? Introducing being done by who?

Wow, powerful intercessions. Any "call to arms" eulogy by Obama would be superfulous.

OH, SHUT UP, COMMENTATOR.

I'm smiling, imagining W praying for universal healthcare as a right. Lord, hear our prayers.

Oh, man. Older one, who knows what's going on. before

Kim Smith: peace

Anthony Shriver: keep on going

Rory Kennedy praying for a welcome home and a family united

Teddy M Kennedy II the works begins anew, the dream lives on.

SHUT UP, I WARNED YOU.

Liturgy of the Eucharist I can hear the howls

Explanation of the offeratory. Introducing Yo Yo Ma. Is there an offeratory going on? Baskets and all? I can only imagine.

It always sounds like there are two of him playing. Beautiful.

I haven't heard the offering referred to as a sacrifice...

Sign of peace? Guess not, skipping right to the hossana.

Coming up to the transubstantiation. Will there be bells? YES, BELLS!

BELLS AGAIN!

We gots us the magic bread n' wine, now.

How many preists does it take to do this? 7, according to the program.

Communion. Commentator, you may now speak.

That was short. Grant us peace, indeed.

Oh, they haven't done it yet. No wonder they had 7 priests.

More music.

Beautiful music

Player cut out, wtf?

Oh great, here's the commercial again.

Ave Maria. One of my favorites.

Junior:

"I don't mind being president; I just mind someone else is?" ok

"Family vacations left us all injured and exhausted." That sounds about right.

Redemption. Never surrendered.

"I know you can do it. There is nothing that you can't do. We're going to climb that hill together, even if it takes us all day." Damn.

It is what we do with loss...transforming the event, is what we must do.

Missed the rest, small kid needed attention.

Oh, the santa story.

Again with the boats. Ways around the rules? A politician? Never! Aw, refused to leave him behind.

This guy's a good story teller.

And now the president.

Grand fromage!

"individual faults and frailties are no excuses to give in." Foo, strong stuff.

Happy warrior. Interesting.

The accomplishments outside the family. Pundits will be reeling with this one. It's a great eulogy, but it's full of juice for critics. I wish it weren't so. I think people are going to focus on this last part most of all.

Very good. His disagreements were never personal.

He's from a time when adversaries considered each other patriots. So there.

Envelopes of cigars. That's cute.

Heh. "luck of the irish". Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

"What did Webster do?" cute.

Mentioned taking care of his brothers' children. Brothers' keeper.

The note from Jackie. wow.

Finish with his own quote.

Dayum. He called all the Mass. 9/11 families. And kept in touch. And kept helping.

That was really good.

Ask not what your country can do for you...

2009-08-26T10:30:00.000-05:00

[He]need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.

Edward Kennedy, speaking at Robert Kennedy's funeral in 1968.

In lieu of flowers, pass meaningful healthcare reform.

Oh, look, it's 2010 already

2009-08-18T05:10:00.000-05:00

And NewsMax is ready to rumble.

1. Poll: Majority Leader Reid Vulnerable in 2010
2. Gingrich: GOP Could Take House in 2010
3. Congressional Junkets 'Rival Club Med'
4. Hugo Chavez Targets 'Bourgeois' Golf
5. Club for Growth: Democrats 'Fail Miserably' on Pork
6. Imus in Talks With Fox Business Network

I disagree with what you say, Jackass.

2009-08-09T07:35:00.000-05:00

But I'll defend your right to say it, asshole.

If 'socialism' and LOL-OBAMA-JOKER is the best you can come up with as a rebuttal, fool, then you really are a tool of the rich and so-called 'right'.

It's mean-spirited, yeah, but I'm not wimpy enough to think it's dangerous. I suppose if enough idiots are convinced that HEALTHCARE=BAD by that poster, then yeah, I guess I am in danger going bankrupt if hit by a medical disaster. I guess more people will become and stay uninsurable because 'anti-tax' fools think that magic fairy dust is going to keep them safe while someone else's (read: rich people - not tea-partiers - talk about useful idiots) taxes are lowered. I suppose the country is in danger of suffering through a major epidemic because someone or a lot of some ones don't get to a doctor earlier rather than later because they need to buy food.

I'll be back later with more links. I'm just disgusted that people are this despearate and acting without thinking. 'Bush derangement syndrome' is turning out to mean that yeah, Bush was deranged. It seems so derivative to call this 'Obama derangement syndrome', so I'll just call it stupid, juvenille, petty, ignorant, lazy, unthinking, dull, assinine, dim, weak, cloddish, dopey, and just generally childish.

THE SUMMER SMASH!

2009-07-12T01:59:00.000-05:00

HEAR how the insurance industry THREATENED helpless Democrats and FORCED them to ACQUIESE to their evil plans!

SEE how Republicans SPOKE AS ONE from a single memo authored by an insurance lobbyist!

WONDER at the easy way former government employees become lobbyists and go right back into the fray as paid shills.

EXPERIENCE the HORROR of executive compensation being directly tied to denying health insurance coverage!

WATCH as a former insurance executive EXPOSES the ugly truth behind the "naked" consumer!

Or just watch the video or read the transcript of a Bill Moyers interview with Wendell Potter.

Ugly stuff.

Health reform starts with campaign finance reform. Money. Is. Not. Speech.

Welcome! And Thanks!

2009-07-05T15:53:00.001-05:00

This was the scene in Iraq, where Vice President Joe Biden swore in new citizens who have been serving in the military.

Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me, I'm Gonna Go On Tour

2009-07-05T10:59:00.000-05:00

It's all about the benjamins, really. Soon to be ex-governor Palin is bored with obtaining actual executive experience, and is "going broke" defending herself against evil...somethings. Oh, yes. All those nasty bloggers questioning her questionable doings.

I seem to recall that the Clintons were in a similar bind after Mr. Clinton's term finished (no quitters, they). They set up a fund that had its fits and starts, they wrote books and eventually pulled it off. As I recall, they were millions of dollars down, no exaggeration.

I heard (or thought I heard) that Sarah Palin's defense fund garnered an overnight haul of big bucks the day after she announced her coming resignation. There are bunches of people raising oodles of money for her to be "defended" or run for president in 2012.

So, absent any "actual responsibilities", she's going to tour the "lower 48". She'll be a hit down south, and maybe some in the west. If she can avoid losing, she might be able to pull off a nomination. Not a win, but a nomination.

There's lots to ignore in Palin herself, but not in her following. Americanism is strong in the South and West, where incomes are low and faith is high. Howard Dean said it, John Edwards said it, but nobody listened (well, voters did, media didn't). They talked about the poverty, but the faith, not so much. People can endure physical poverty as long as they feel spiritually enriched. This has nothing to do with church or a particular faith, really, but with a feeling of community - shared values, shared experiences, whether real or imagined.

This is why the local optometrist is pulling in cash hand over fist selling glasses "as worn by Sarah Palin". This is why people still have on their McCain/Palin stickers on after pulling off the W ovals (you can see the spots). These are the people that Beck and Bachman are trying to woo, and the ones everyone else is trying to ignore, perhaps with good reason.

Hopefully, as the economy improves, the rising tide really will lift all boats, and soon to be ex-governor Palin will be more of an entertaining ~~reality~~sideshow - you'll watch, but you won't vote.

Zombie Molly Ivins: Sorry to Dissappoint, Children

2009-05-29T00:17:00.000-05:00

Well, this young lady got all excited when she saw the "molly_ivins" rss feed suddenly start popping up headlines in her Journal thingamabob. (I'm sorry, I can type, but all these screen things and little islands of lingo just irritate me. I don't like clubs that try to be exclusive)

But it turned out to be a false alarm. Alternet decided to push out their main feed to all the "dead" lists. I can't say I blame them. I'm not using it, and it could attract some new blood.

But yes, the top post was about legalizing marijuana, which would be a tiny stretch for me to write about, especially with the Ledge in session,* and the our only Governor talking about seceden' from that pesky union. But when the next link down was about starting a compost pile, the jig was up.

So, yes. Sorry to disappoint. It's not a rehash of the Best Of. It's your turn now to be writing and doing.

I must be off. Love to all.

_____________________________
*I mean - they can stop time just by unplugging a clock! Is that all? Between that and Intelligent Design, this place could really show the world what science is all about. Oh yes. College students can now shoot each other on campus now, not just the streets. Now you don't have to ditch the weapon if you manage to stray on campus while on a spree.

Let Joe be Joe!

2009-05-25T23:34:00.000-05:00

I have to admit to a soft spot for Joe Biden. I didn't know beans about him until he was the vee-pee-nominee, but I liked what I read for the most part. Smart guy, thinks about stuff, votes in the main the way I like.

But I love, love, love the gaffes. I really do. It's the absolutely necessary chaos factor in an otherwise perfectly orderly administration.

How could you not love this?

Biden tried to reassure gun owners that Obama had no plans to institute new laws that would restrict their access to firearms by telling them, “I guarantee you Barack Obama ain’t taking my shotguns, so don’t buy that malarkey.” He added, “If he tries to fool with my Beretta, he’s got a problem.”

link

Beautiful! He's saying what a bunch of people in the country think. So what if aides have to scramble to clarify? They shouldn't be clarifying his remarks, they should be clarifying the administration's policies.

Oh and so what about the undisclosed location? Do you really think the Secret Service and all the might of the country can't keep him safe? He's traveling to the Balkans and Lebanon, for pete's sake.

I say, let Joe be Joe. Say it like it is, man.

Hey, Keith...Keith, you may want to think about this....

2009-04-30T23:05:00.001-05:00

No, really. You want Hannity to admit that waterboarding is torture,

while being waterboarded.

To prove that torture doesn't produce any useful information or true facts.

To prove that it's just used to get someone to say what you want them to say.

I don't think you've thought your cunning plan through. Unless your secret agenda is to torture the guy. That's understandable.

She wouldn't last one season on ST:TNG

2009-03-29T11:32:00.000-05:00

We're still talking about Michelle Obama's arms? Seriously? I had to double check the date on the latest tome on the subject from the L.A. Times. A fitness expert is quoted as saying:

...strong legs and a flat belly are often interpreted as sexy features on a woman, bulging biceps . . . not so much. "It crosses the boundary from having sexy, toned arms to having arms that display, 'Hey, I'm working on being strong.' " Banet-Weiser says. "The evidence of that work . . . is quite threatening."

Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em...

Q: How do you tell the First Lady from her security detail?
A: She's the intimidating one.

..and I'm done. This is pretty silly.

You just lost the game

2009-03-21T15:19:00.000-05:00

That's actually a username on some site I go to. I love that name. It's what came to mind when I was reading about Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (Docket No. 08-205). (Background in non-legalese here and here.)

The producers of "Hillary, the Movie" wanted to show their, uh, documentary on television instead of movie theaters. "Well, ok", said the FEC. "But it's not a documentary, it's a hit piece, so you'll have to disclose the people who financed and contributed money to this."

"Aw hell no!" And so the fighting started. And more than a year later, here we are.

See, there was nothing standing in the way of showing this piece, except having to disclose who funded it, and not being able to show it within 30 days of an election, and a few other rules from our almost-got-it-right campaign finance reform McCain Feingold laws.

But the producers wanted to be counted as "news" and "documentary" people, and not have to embarass whoever was really behind them. That's a hell of a tell.

Yes, yes, anonymity is the last defense against tyrrany. There was nothing stopping the producers from running the film in more theaters. Word of mouth, echo-chamber mailing lists and blogs would have gotten a sufficient audience for it...but that was the problem. How to get it to the eyeballs of people who *gasp* didn't agree with them?

Well, since the idea of simply sending a CD to every house in a city hadn't been thought of yet, I guess this was the route to go: claim you've made a documentary and try to show it as news, and then complain about "bias" and "freeeeedom!" when you're told "no". Even the classic R bugaboo Michael Moore doesn't try this nonsense.

Any publicity is good publicity, but I'm not buying it, even if it is listed by Amazon as a documentary.

@SenJohnMcCain - potshots are fun, but what are you going to DO?

2009-03-11T06:39:00.000-05:00

Well, first I started following Dave Snowden, then my BFF got in the picture. Then I heard from Fark that Senator McCain has gotten on Twitter. Now I don't know that he's actually typing updates into his Blackberry, but somebody's doing it with his permission.

It's all about the ~~benjamins~~ earmarks, if you're just following the updates. What you don't get, and what I hate about Twitter generally, is context. Should I be against all pork? Just all the pork in this bill?

It turns out that there are few to no earmarks for Arizona in this particular bill. Here's a searchable database if you care to look. I found it myself. It was not in Sen. McCain's 'tweets'. (I refuse to learn the vocabulary,but it's fining its way into my brain anyway).

The stimulus bill that passed the other day is another matter. None, or at least most, of the states' governers are stupid enough to reject all the money, just the money they can keep from relatively defenseless people - non donors: the unemployed, the poor, the children.

McCain voted against that, too, so he's at least consistent.

What I want to know is - what's your alternative? What are you offering instead? Are you going to keep knocking people for wanting money to get help:

$190,000 to build a Living Science Museum in New Orleans, LA
$95,000 for the state of New Mexico to find a dental school location
$380,000 for a recreation and fairground area in Kotzebue, AK

...and my favorite...

$50,000 for the City of Charlotte for gang prevention

See how easy that is? I'm just knocking you around, because these sound good. Maybe they're real, maybe they're not. I can snark all day long, but I can probably find out in a few minutes whether or not they can be worthy projects.

You, sir, have staff at your disposal who can contact the people repsonsible for these earmarks and just ask. This is not rocket science, this is sausage making. And like it or not, you're a sausage maker.

PRAYER FOR A HAPPY DEATH # 2

2009-02-11T19:00:00.000-06:00

As promised, I've done a little more digging on that whole indulgence thing. Turns out the new, improved indulgences turned 40 last year, and, understandably, are wanting to get out more. Pope ~~Palpatine~~ Benedict has been throwing them out like candy to kids at a parade for the last year or so.

Why do indulgences exist? Well, if you can get in to trouble, naturally you'll want a way out. Since Catholics have many, many ways of getting in trouble, there are many, many ways of getting out.

Now, that's my take. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have a more fun and concise explanation here. Catholic.org takes all the fun out of it, explaining that indulgences are not a get out of hell free card - there's work involved.

Well, ok, then. There's a recession on, and not much to do, so hey, why not indulge?

What's that? The title? Where does it come from? Here.

Imagine a 50 year old woman teaching 10 year old you about Ejaculations

2009-02-11T06:48:00.000-06:00

Indulgences are back, say they were never really gone.

Man, this brings back memories. One of my Catholic educations was four years at ye olde catholic school, where Vatican II was obeyed but looked at with jaundiced eyes. So we had our Catechisms from the 1950's, which depicted a sleeveless dress as "not covering enough". And Headless Jesus, appearing in an aura of light to scold wrongdoers.

My favorite? Ejaculations! Saying "My Jesus Mercy" whenever you'd hear an ambulance pass was supposed to get you three years off your time in Purgatory in what I eventually called the Catholic Calculus.

I'll have to look up more on the different equations later.

David Duke Calls Black a Kettle

2009-02-04T06:40:00.000-06:00

Well, if President Obama isn't bad enough, that scumbag socialist who freely associates with terrorists, now we have the new RNC chairman, one Michael Steele, a RADICAL RACIST, doncha know. Oh, wait. David Duke is from Louisiana. He's a da-yum RAAAAAAD-I-CAAAAL ray-cist, y'all!.

Now Fark got it right, I think: "With no ulterior motives whatsoever, RNC elects Michael Steele as chairman"

Just as we had Gov. Palin, now we have Mr. Steele. "Anything you can do, I can do better, anything you can do I'd better do." Imitation isn't flattery, it's "oh hell, that didn't work, let's see what they're doing."

Which is nothing new. Going back to 2004, the Democrats were ripping each other up over whether or not they were Republican enough to get elected. In 1992, we had the Republican "Big Tent" which was supposed to welcome just everyone, except that it didn't. No surprise.

Then this past year we had the PUMAs, which made more news than impact.

And it's all a distraction, a side show. There's very little of substance in what Mr. Duke has to say. His tirade is analagous to the ambulance-chasing lawyer passing out his cards at the scene of an accident.

What is substantive is the "purity" battle going on now in the Republican party. How pure and what kind of pure is going to distract for a while, but it will be back, and if responsible people aren't paying attention, the hucksters again will get up just enough support to make a comeback.

We're here

2009-01-20T11:05:00.000-06:00

This is what my low bandwidth streaming showed most of the time. But it happened, it's official.

Now the real work begins.

Bush has no sole...

2008-12-15T00:08:00.000-06:00

But I hear he gives a great barbecue!

Why, yes, I do like to caption. Why do you ask?

2008-11-13T18:19:00.000-06:00

Sometimes ignorance is strength

2008-11-07T05:54:00.000-06:00

Now that election addicts have nothing to talk about but each other, I can come out of the closet as a Low Information Voter.

This thing started two years ago, mostly as a sideshow. There were no less than 20 people running for president. Some of them were Serious, some of them were laughable. Tancredo alternately pissed me off and made me laugh with his chutzpa. Ideal job? President! Hey, that's why I'm here!

I actually laughed when Obama said he'd meet with Iran's president (no, I don't feel like looking up the spelling - low information, remember?). I thought at the time it was a great way to get attention. There were still so many people running at the time that it made him stand out, if only at the bottom of a dogpile. Bad publicity is good publicity.

So, I missed a lot of stuff. Stuff that didn't even matter in the end.

"Low-inf", though, doesn't necessarily translate to "not paying attention". Not voting is considered a dereliction of duty in my family. Voting without having your facts straight is just as bad a sin.

Know what you want, and how they match up. So I took this little test:

From here:

Here's how it works, if you want to know. If you agree with a candidate, he gets point(s). If you disagree, take point(s) away. Unkown/other results in no points. The number of points given or taken depends on the weight you set. "Meh" is worth 1 point, "important" 2, and "key" is worth 5. The items you disagree about will be listed directly underneath each candidate (if they score greater than zero).

And the results:

Kucinich 71 No Child Left Behind, Border Fence
Gravel 68 (you have no disagreements with this candidate)
Obama 46 Patriot Act, Border Fence, Iran Sanctions, Same-Sex Marriage
Edwards 42 Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Iran Sanctions, Iran - Military Action, Same-Sex Marriage
Clinton 39 Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Border Fence, Iran Sanctions, Iran - Military Action, Same-Sex Marriage
Richardson 38 Death Penalty, Assault Weapons Ban, Patriot Act, Iran Sanctions, Iran - Military Action, Same-Sex Marriage
Biden 38 Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Border Fence, Iran Sanctions, Same-Sex Marriage
Dodd 37 Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Border Fence, Iran Sanctions, Iran - Military Action

Paul 19 Abortion Rights, Embryonic Stem Cells, ANWR Drilling, Kyoto, Assault Weapons Ban, Guns - Background Checks, Citizenship Path for Illegals, Border Fence, Net Neutrality, Minimum Wage Increase, Same-Sex Marriage, Universal Healthcare
Cox -15
McCain -29
Thompson -30
Giuliani -37
Brownback -41
Huckabee -54
Tancredo -64
Romney -69
Hunter -82

So I definitely knew who I wouldn't be voting for.

Picking out who I would vote for was harder. In my "gut" I was mostly stuck between Edwards and Richardson early on. Clinton had lost me a long time ago with her triangulation and deeply entrenched position in the "Strategic Class" - too close to the money. I had the same beef with her that I had with Mr. Clinton - "Stand for something!" was my usual complaint. Kucinich is an easy vote in the primaries, because hey, Texas isn't a swing state, so let's bump up the issues for a change, eh?

Edwards had spent the last four years talking up the "Two Americas" as part of the 50-state plan (all hail Howard Dean, y'all). Richardson had actually been (hell, still is) an executive. He'd also had real, actual foreign policy experience.

Gravel I knew nothing about, and for me was "meh". No disagreements doesn't mean agreement. He didn't capture my attention at all. Same with Biden.

Obama? Roll eyes, hard. I think the exact quote I used at the time was "pretty boy". If I objected to Clinton on the "what has she done in the Senate, really?" then all of that applied twice as hard to him.

So, on to the races. People dropped out quickly and faster than anyone had anticipated. I wasn't sorry to see Giuliani (9/11!) Or Fred Thompson (he was awful on Law & Order, too. I stopped watching) go. I was sorry to see Kucinich drop out early. I was intrigued by the Obama endorsement, but still thought he was too new.

Edwards dropped out. Then Richardson. Well, so much for that. This is how we get the best of the best?

Then it was primary time in Texas. '04 was the first time I'd ever voted in a primary. Well, I wasn't holding my nose but I was crossing my fingers for luck. Obama. More against Clinton, really.

We flipped a coin and my husband got to try to caucus, but couldn't get there before the doors closed. It was chaos central according to one person who was there but had to leave early.

Sooooo, horse race horse race. Lawyers doin' stuff, deals being made. Hey, endorsements from Edwards and Richardson. Oooh, Michigan and Florida. You know they're going to be let in. Like wayward children out past curfew, they'll be grounded for a while but let back in the house.

And on this side we have McCain? How the heck did that happen? Well, whatever. Even if I don't like Clinton, I'm sure not voting for this guy. He was admirable in 2000, and McCain Feingold was really something, but not now, man. You sold your soul. And Palin? Hell, no.

So, onto the real race, the debates, and whatnot. I'm starting to like this Obama guy, and start reading up on him. Well, shit. Can't hurt, might help. And here we are.

The one time I got emotional was when I saw Jesse Jackson in tears at Grant Park. I remember his '88 run, and I was finally old enough to vote. I spent the summer talking politics with my dad, like a real grownup, and we were both disappointed that he didn't make the ticket. He forged the path, and there's nowhere to go but up.

An open letter to Barack Obama

2008-11-04T20:45:00.000-06:00

President-elect Obama:

I'm glad to be one of many, many people who congratulate your historic win. I was not one of your original supporters, but I have been impressed with the way you conducted yourself, your campaign, and with the way your empowerment philosophy has trickled all the way down to the volunteers on the street. Truly, you have been a uniter.

The office you will be holding has changed dramatically since its inception, and greatly even in my own memory. George Bush has changed it almost beyond recognition. I think that one of the reasons that people have become so divided over politics and the presidency is because the position has become so powerful, and so people are desperate to get "their guy" in.

Most of this power has come from the abuse of the Executive Order. John Quincy Adams issued a grand total of two Executive Orders, one lamenting the passing of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, and the other lamenting the passing of Major-General Jacob Brown.

The last numbered EO (as of October 9th) is 13476.

I first became aware of the extent of this power in 2001, as President Bush started unraveling the good things that President Clinton had done when he was in the White House. What astonished me was not the unraveling, but the fact that this good had been accomplished by Executive Order and not by working with the Congress.

This cannot continue. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The Executive Order can be used to good ends, but when it becomes a way to bypass Congress routinely, and to cut the people's representatives out of the governing process, it becomes a trap, a drug, a temptation to increase itself for the sake of gathering more and more power to the executive.

I understand that on Day One, there are many wrongs that could be put right, just by reversing Bush's reversals of Clinton's reversals of Bush and Reagan. Then what? It may be politically difficult, but perhaps the best move in this game is simply not to play. Work it the way you're supposed to, with the Congress.

Even more odious are the Signing Statements, and the way they have been transformed and deformed by President Bush. He refused to play by the Constitutional rules and veto bills he didn't like, opting instead to simply ignore the law of the land. You know as well as I that that is not the Rule of Law, it is the Law of Rule.

In his book "A World Waiting to be Born", M. Scott Peck observed that the only legitimate reason to gather power is to give it away, to share, to empower. This is what I watched you do with your people over the last two years. Please continue this work.

Respectfully yours.

An open letter to John McCain

2008-11-04T20:20:00.000-06:00

Hon. Senator McCain:

I want to thank you for your decades of service to our country. You have been a dedicated public servant, and when you have taken principled stands, you've been eloquent in word and deed.

I was glad that you took the high road in regards to campaign finance, even in this presidential election. I know that the Obama campaign's ability to outspend your campaign was one of the factors contributing to your defeat.

I do not consider Obama's victory a defeat for campaign finance reform. I see this as pointing out the desperate need for more reform. If the two of you had been working on a level playing field, then the election process would truly have been more of one decided on the basis of ideas, of character, and philosophy.

Instead it was a contest of who could go lower, and when. And that was you, sir.

To "counter the spending", your campaign took the low road, something that you had refused to do in the 2000 campaign. Your campaign and the people surrounding you resorted to some of the lowest, uncommon denominators: name calling, misdirection, and lies.

Those actions made me angry. It's not principled to refuse to condemn those actions, it's bullheaded stubbornness. It's not principled to pick a running mate for her perceived electability while ignoring her capacity for governance, it's blatant pandering. It also indicates contempt for me and my fellow citizens.

We're not stupid, we know that the political process has been subverted by organized money, by ideolouges, by lobbyists. We see it's effects every day. We saw it take you down in a terrible, terrible way.

I'm not writing you to gloat. I'm not writing you to put salt in your wounds. I'm writing to you as a citizen, petitioning a senior member of the Senate to put right the wrongs that face us today.

You pledged to bring honor and integrity to the White House. You pledged that you would bring change. The White House isn't the only place that change is needed. Honor and integrity also belong in the House and Senate. They're needed in the judiciary. They're needed in all aspects of our government, so that it returns to being government by the people, of the people and for the people.

You have two years to go in your Senate term. I hope that you stay and fight. I want you to tell the story of your campaign, and what money and lack of it did to your run for the White House. I want you to highlight the ways that your own bill has been subverted and perverted by money and special interests.

McCain-Feingold was what made me respect you back in the day. Your honesty and integrity in the 2000 campaign made me hopeful that the Republican party could be loyal opposition if out of power, and responsible governors when in power. You know how you were taken down then. Your campaign tried some of the same tricks this time around, and it didn't work. It doesn't have to be this way, and you are in a position to make sure it doesn't happen again.

You said once that you wanted to be president in the best way. You went about it this time in the worst way. It cost you the election, and the country a fair chance at evalutating you and Mr. Obama on your respective merits.

Please sir, do not give up on the United States. We still need you.

Respectfully yours.

Click the image to get the whole effect

2008-11-04T16:56:00.000-06:00

2008-11-04T14:12:00.000-06:00

VOTE.

That is all.

Maybe I'm just grumpy

2008-10-25T10:25:00.000-05:00

A comment left at HuffPo talking about dissecting McCain's marriage:

Good Lord. This matters why? Did Roosevelt have a great marriage? Did JFK, the womanizer? And let's not forget LBJ, who claimed to have more women by accident than JFK did on purpose.

I'm not saying a lyin' whorin' bastard is preferable to an honest man, but I am saying that dissecting someone's marriage as indicating his/her fitness for office is a waste of time and brainpower.

The article redeemed itself somewhat talking about Nixon, and stretching McCain's involvement in the Keating scandal. Sure it would be great if Regan had stood up and talked honestly about AIDS and Iran-Contra. Did he have a good marriage? Irrelevant. The Bushes Plural lie when telling the truth would serve them better. Have we dissected their marriages?

Consciousness is a good thing to have and foster. If a side effect of consciousness is a happy looking marriage, great. I'd rather have an effective bastard in office than a faithful twit.

I couldn't help it....

2008-10-23T16:22:00.000-05:00

Madness

2008-09-29T08:32:00.000-05:00

Folks on the Right have been hinting for years that the 'feminization' of the Democratic party (read: there are more than a few pro-woman feminists here) has made them a team of wussies.

Well, I'm right proud that we seem to have rubbed off on the Republicans, as all they can talk about nowadays are make up and jewlery.

Come on now, you have to admit, it does feel good sometimes to drop all the serious talk and chatter about unimportant things.

Now that we're done with that, I'd like to ask: who in his right mind gas-bombs women and children in a mosque? For that matter, who tosses any kind of bomb at any house of worship?Give yourself a gold star if you said "terrorist".

Many of these people were here after escaping the disaster that is Iraq - the disaster we created.

Here's the part I love - according to officials, "So far there is no indication that the incident was the result of a hate crime."

I would sure love to know what Dayton officials would consider a hate crime, but I'll certainly call this a hateful, shameful thing.

Some of those paying attention to this have blamed the incident directly on the distribution of the hateful movie "Obsession", a movie that's about as truthful and useful as "The Turner Diaries" or "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion". It's not meant to be informative, but to spread fear and hate and dissention. I'm not ready to go that far, but the Clarion Fund, the originator and distributor of this "film" is on record as supporting John McCain, a clear violation of their non-profit standing.

This is not what America stands for. Religious freedom is religious freedom. The founding fathers set it up that way and we need it to continue that way. Some of them were Christians, some of them were Atheists, some were Deist, but they all agreed that the establishment of one religion over another would be a huge step on the way to tyranny.

These thugs need to be brought to justice. Now.

At times like this I wonder what Molly Ivins would do

2008-09-12T00:44:00.000-05:00

Lipstick.

Well, I'll give the R's points for consistency: an issue is an issue, no matter how small.

I say, "Thanks, but no thanks." You go on and play. The grownups are talking now.

Folks, it's the same rotten fish wrapped in fresh newspaper. We've seen it before, and we'll see it again. Obama isn't worried, or, if he is, he didn't show it in his great appearance on David Letterman the other night. He called it the "silly season", and that's all that needs to be said.

Let's focus now. It's less than 60 days to the election, and we still need to be busy. Both campaigns are making their last chess moves, pulling money here, making buys there. People are understandably nervous.

We can expect shrillness from both sides. We can expect overreactions from everyone. We can sure expect some fools in the media to eat up all the controversy they can, or to make it up when they can't find any. You know who you are.

I wasn't going to vote for Hillary Clinton, but I'll be the first to say she's been a trooper. She has been pulling out the stops, and the word is that Bill is going to hit the trail, too. Those of you who remember his inspiring speeches on behalf of his wife ought to be thrilled that he'll be doing the same for Obama. He understands how grown ups behave, and he knows how to get the crowds rolling.

Biden has been doing his part, too. He's fired up people on the trail, but since he's not calling anyone names, it hasn't made the news.

This is a team effort. Howard Dean started this ball rolling four years ago with his 50 state plan. It paid off in 2006 and is fixing to pay off in 2008.

But enough of that. It's time for some serious talking.

We are the deciders. We are the ones who run the country. We are the government. What the government does every day affects you, whether you want to think so or not. It controls the water quality, the air quality, the food quality. The current mess we call the Bush White House has been dismantling that infrastructure, and we've seen the results: worse air, worse water, more and more children left behind.

That's not even counting our standing in the world now. Russia has no fear of us, China has no fear. I wouldn't mind so much except that we don't even have their respect. Even our allies take a while to return our calls. And if you think that what a bunch of foreigners thinks of us doesn't matter, I'll remind you that we import most of our oil (and even Palin knows ANWR will only buy us a month's worth of oil 15 years from now). We're in massive debt to China, and the sinking value of the dollar is what's keeping gas prices up, with a little help from OPEC.

You don't have to beleive that Obama spits rainbows. You don't have to beleive that Barry and Joe are going to ride in on white horses and clean up this old town. The same old rules are going to apply, and the Republicans will not have any reason to cooperate, in fact quite the opposite. What will be different is the attitude in the White House, and that in itself can have a tremendous impact all over. You've already seen it play out in how all of our candidates react to each other and the world around them. Actions speak louder than words, boys and girls.

You don't even have to vote for Obama or McCain - if you know how it's going to go in your state, it might be worth voting for the Greens or Libs, just to give it that much more impact.

There's no reason to "give in" to anyone else's ideas of who we are. We are the deciders. We are the government. We are the people. God Bless America.

Absolutely Fascinating

2008-08-01T07:14:00.000-05:00

Or should I say Fabulous?

Anyway, Obama shouldn't say a word. Don't answer the attack. Just let everyone else do it. McCain's "he's just a celebrity" ad isn't a bad take, and doesn't say anything anybody else hasn't said (including me) about Obama. McCain's charge about playing the race card, well, if you stop lying about him, maybe he'll stop telling the truth about you.

But when even other Republicans are raking him over the coals over it, you know something special is happening.They've both promised to run a "different" campaign. We hear that every time. Except now they're both being held to that by the media and maybe even the voters. That's what I find fascinating.

And fabulous.

Don't go in there! It's a trap!

2007-12-05T07:20:00.000-06:00

Dec. 5th, 2007 05:20 am
No, really, it's a trap.

I spent the night wondering just what the angle was here, and it's sure not to help you, or Democrats, or dare I say, it America.

Now that Mr. Bush's time is winding down, and Mr. Rove can't pull any rabbits out his hat, here he is, purporting to tell you how to get elected.

No. He's a hatchet man for the right, and this article doesn't change that.He's introducing memes and concepts that can only hurt you and the Democrats. Hillarycare? Seriously? The big stink around that time was that her meetings were seeeekrit, and benefitted the healthcare industry.

Sound like anybody else in high office holding secret meetings that benefited a huge industry?

This is not about Hillarycare, a lot of the proposals weren't that bad, and some of them were implemented anyway (organizations getting together to form bargaining blocs, unless of course prevented by law - Medicare part D, anyone?) This is about promoting infighting that's distracting and worthless. He's the pig, and he loves it. You don't need it. America doesn't need it.

Then three paragraphs of "negative sells". It may sell but it doesn't govern. I remember watching Mr. Rove or one of his Imperial Army clones on C-SPAN after the 2000 elections. Someone hosted a seminar on "how we won the election" and the message was "we sold a better product. We showed Americans how our guy could help them." Then he compared and contrasted two cellphone commercials. One was the mom with three kids who begged her not to go into work today because all they'd do is watch TV with the babysitter. That she had a critical meeting at work, which fed those kids was apparently not something she could just tell them, so they all went to the beach and she had her meeting by cellphone. Nice happy ending.

To "compare and contrast" he put up the "can you hear me now?" guy. Irritating as hell, and the point was that selling positively wins elections.

Two things - the "mom" commercial wasn't about positive anything, it was about making mom guilty and wrong no matter what she did, and the message was "give in to what you want, don't think about consequences".

Also, they don't show that commercial anymore. "Can you hear me now?" guy still has a job. Their message was about stability, reliability, consistency, and more recently, faithfulness.

So Mrs. Clinton campaigned against welfare deform. Good for her. It was a bad idea, still is a bad idea, and it shows that she can think her own thoughts and wasn't being used as a pawn to get people to do what the hubby wanted, no matter how wrong. Unlike some other First Ladies. She stood by her man on personal matters*, but was independent otherwise.

What's next? Oh, yes "gently belittle". No, don't "attack" the poor woman, "gently belittle". Get over it, she's a big girl, attack. She'll attack you back. You're a big boy. Handle it. Good Lord.

And besides that, the blogosphere's doing that for you anyway. Why bother?

Now I quote: "Hillary comes across as cold, distant and conspiracy-minded, more like Richard Nixon than her sunny, charming husband."

I have nothing to say about Mr. Rove's woman issues. Calling Mr. Clinton charming isn't lying, it's just good policy not to piss off Mr. Bush Sr, and more importantly, Mrs. Bush, Sr. who reportedly loves Mr. C. like a son.

See what I mean, there are enough attacks already. Don't fall into the trap. Take the good stuff (be positive, clear about what you believe, explain the change you represent) and leave the rest behind as so much chaff. Just because he calls you "weak" if you don't win in Iowa doesn't mean he's giving you good advice.

It's not sound advice, and it's not even advice that sounds good.

DISCLAIMER: I've got nothing against Obama or Clinton personally, but I don't endorse either for the Job. I'm for Richardson/Edwards. I just can't let this go by.

--------------------------------
*and before you start on that, I don't give a good goddamn what you think, it was their business.

That's not a personality test, THIS is a personality test

2007-07-22T11:06:00.000-05:00

From here:
Here's how it works, if you want to know. If you agree with a candidate, he gets point(s). If you disagree, take point(s) away. Unkown/other results in no points. The number of points given or taken depends on the weight you set. "Meh" is worth 1 point, "important" 2, and "key" is worth 5. The items you disagree about will be listed directly underneath each candidate (if they score greater than zero).

Kucinich 71 No Child Left Behind, Border Fence

Gravel 68 (you have no disagreements with this candidate)

Obama 46 Patriot Act, Border Fence, Iran Sanctions, Same-Sex Marriage

Edwards 42 Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Iran Sanctions, Iran - Military Action, Same-Sex Marriage

Clinton 39 Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Border Fence, Iran Sanctions, Iran - Military Action, Same-Sex Marriage

Richardson 38 Death Penalty, Assault Weapons Ban, Patriot Act, Iran Sanctions, Iran - Military Action, Same-Sex Marriage

Biden 38 Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Border Fence, Iran Sanctions, Same-Sex Marriage

Dodd 37 Death Penalty, No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Border Fence, Iran Sanctions, Iran - Military Action

Paul 19 Abortion Rights, Embryonic Stem Cells, ANWR Drilling, Kyoto, Assault Weapons Ban, Guns - Background Checks, Citizenship Path for Illegals, Border Fence, Net Neutrality, Minimum Wage Increase, Same-Sex Marriage, Universal Healthcare

Cox -15
McCain -29
Thompson -30
Giuliani -37
Brownback -41
Huckabee -54
Tancredo -64
Romney -69
Hunter -82