Dear Polly Sigh: "Healing Advice for the Politically Lame"

Here is an Introduction - never mind that I don't know the guy - it's all good. Also there is a Kerry in 2008 Yahoo group. Good to see this stuff so early.

My name is Jordon Wright, and I'm the owner of
JohnKerryForAmerica.Com Our website is a grassroots operation to get John Kerry to not only run in 2008, but to win as well.

Website:
http://www.johnkerryforamerica.com
Petition: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/kerry08

Posted by: DiAnne at February 5, 2005 11:41 AM

That is a great site! Makes me happy to see the support out there.

Gross criticizes Social Security plan

Manager of biggest bond fund contends individual accounts not the answer, wants deficit reduction.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/04/markets/gross_social_security/index.htm?cnn=yes

Gross, managing director at Pimco, called the argument about the solvency of Social Security "silly" and said it was an example of the president not focusing on more important issues, such as the budget deficit.

Native Texan for Kerry

My financial planner admitted to being a lifelong Republican but I said, "Yeah, but you're a 'normal' Republican." I asked what he thought of Bush's plan for SS & he said, "It's a joke."

I asked him why & he took a calculator & came up with a figure for someone my son's age - they would profit probably $100,000 lifetime - then you take away the $80,000 the govt would give them & they profit $20,000 - that's for their lifetime. That's assuming 3% return over inflation. If it's 1% they lose alot of money.

Then he talked about the 3 trillion startup cost (something like that).

I had fun hitting him about the dollar & also lit into him some when he said in a nice way to "get over it" about the election.

My son says it's hypocritical of me to have a Repug financial planner but it's also hypocritical of me to pay income taxes.

Dear Polly,

You hit on something that has really been bothering me lately - so much so that I've stayed away from the computer for fear of dragging other wonderful, positive people down with me. (I'm in an "it seems hopeless" mode.)

The Republican Party - the party I used to champion - has embraced a socio-political philosophy of "me first, no one else matters." Some would call this "looking out for number one." Certainly BushCo and the ideologues behind the neocon death cult (thanks, Mike) are responsible for the shockingly successful sale of this selfish philosophy to over half of America.

But at this point, I'm through blaming only some Republicans. They've all jumped on the bandwagon of a selfcentered approach to living in the 21st century - the opposite of the approach wisely taken by most other industrialized countries. And certainly a change from the traditions of the Republican Party that I used to know.

Creating institutions that foster cooperation between ALL the people in a community, or a country, from the wealthiest to the weakest, makes for a harmonious existence for everyone. The quality of life for all improves when the focus is on community. Choosing to think "I have plenty, I want to share" instead of "That's mine,I want to keep it" is a choice that pays dividends more valuable than any that might come from privatizing social security (yet another gift to Bush's "base") for example. The benefits are largely longterm and socially rewarding in ways that are well researched, and this is common knowledge among average people in other countries. Unfortunately, the Republicans don't want Americans to think about all that. They want Americans to think about themselves, their own immediate family, and no one else. This is a recipe for disaster in the 21st century. The PNAC will go down in history as the document of doom for America.

Right now, the tension and animosity, the conflict and anger that this administration has created within America and throughout the world, is only the beginning. If this administration and this party continue on this path and maintain their fascist grip on power, America will become a country that will never know peace.

I'm not going to go into the whole thing - I'll get too upset. Suffice to say that it's high time that Dems put this monumental paradigm shift on the record in two or three words and hammered it home. Republicans want an "everyone for himself" country. But the world is shrinking and the population in growing, and it's going to be too crowded to keep this up without constant bloody conflict. If the REpublicans continue in power, I predict a civil war that will make the first one pale in comparison.

The Republican party wants Americans to stop caring about others, to stop co-operating with their whole community of Americans and fellow citizens of the world, to stop pooling resources for the good of all, and to instead "go it alone" in every way, regardless of those in our country who might suffer for this.

It's despicable and very obviously the work of the devil. Who will stop him? Certainly not American "Christians" who are his most lethal weapon in this fight against cooperation and community.

Thank God for Ed.

Dear Polly:

Well, I'm not a person who smokes and I greatly appreciate the non-smoking sections, but usually after age 21 in what USED to be known as America, you COULD IN FACT smoke in your own time.

Maybe soon, they will prevent us from eating Mcdonalds or fire us. Or maybe, they'll monitor our carts at the grocery store. If you buy any chips, crackers, cookies, sugar, meat, potatoes, and canned goods, they'll fire us too. After all, how much of our food is preserved with carcenagins or is bad for our heart.

Maybe they'll follow us to the gym and make sure we exersize 30 min. 3 times a week--just to make sure they're protecting their investment of course!

DiAnne,
This article states that the best your son may do with SS is break even..

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61708-2005Feb3.html

My son says it's hypocritical of me to have a Repug financial planner but it's also hypocritical of me to pay income taxes.

Posted by: DiAnne at February 5, 2005 01:59 PM

Yet again, I agree with your son.

We switched to a "blue" FP. It was hard - our old planner is a woman, and I love her sense of humor. However, I explained to her that we needed a planner who understood our requirements - to use our money for the overall good of our American community. And right now that meant someone who was informed enough to reject the policies of this administration. She said we were not the first to pull our business and told us she was concerned about it - too much political meddling in business. I laughed at that, then told her she should be worrying about the millions of people in America who don't have any health coverage.

Anne Coulter Thinks Canada Sent Troops to Vietnam

http://www.michaelmoore.com/_media/Coulter.mov

LOL

Amy
I think I'll follow suit. This has been bothering me. He has made anti-Cheney comments & I think is not socially conservative but still..after 12 years, maybe it'll make him think.

This looks like a good opportunity to speak up about what we believe in...

Add Your Voice to The Principles Project
5 February 2005

I just received an email from Concerts For Change about an exciting new project called The Principles Project. They have a great line-up of project partners, featured contributors (including Andrei Cherny, the youngest White House Speechwriter in American history and director of speechwriting for the Kerry campaign from 02/03 through 04/04 ), and honorary co-chairs. This is an interactive project that everyone can participate in.

From their website:

Progressives need to tell America what we believe — and why we believe it. This is the goal of the Principles Project.

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=323

DiAnne,

Can we send Ann Coulter to Canada? Naw, that'd be a dirty trick to play on a good neighbor. Besides, she'd never pass the make-sure-you-can-see-the-person's-reflection-in-a-mirror test at the border . . .

I have other places in mind for Ann Coulter... perhaps I'll bow to those on the religious right this one time, and just let the Big Guy handle her eternal travel arrangements.

Break out the scumscreen Ann C-word, it's gonna be a scorcher.

Marc,

Then we'd all have Sympathy for the Devil . . .

Anne Coulter Thinks Canada Sent Troops to Vietnam

I love that little minx!! She so funny!! When it comes to be well-informed, MAnn Coulter is my hero!!

All I can think of is South Park "Blame Canada" and Robin Williams at the Oscars singing Blame Canada.

LOL

Ann Coulter could be added to the joke about lawyers and rats. She does things lawyers and rats wouldn't do.

The Anne Coulter interview has been making the rounds in Canada to ho-hum responses. Unfortunately, she just confirms a stereotype of Americans that is prevalent in Canada. They figure she's typical of American Conservatives.

As for sending her up there, they might let her in, but if they've read any of her books, she'd surely be sent back to the third grade. And even there she might struggle. Ontarians at least start teaching children in first grade how to tell the difference between facts and opinions.

I'd put her in remedial first grade, but pin a note on her: "Warning -- does not play well with others."

Good report on a vol get-together with Kerry on the LightUp blog:

Kerry Volunteers Gather At Boston Westin
5 February 2005
Report and pictures thanks to whometense

Hundreds of Kerry supporters turned out at Boston's Westin Copley yesterday for a final gathering in the long trail of the 2004 campaign. Kerry was his regular self, laughing at the "Don’t Blame Me – I Voted For Kerry" bumper sticker and posing for a picture with an "Americans for Kerry" t-shirt. Throughout these last months, I keep thinking of the words of Bill Clinton, "John Kerry just kept on being John Kerry".

Ted Kennedy was met with typical wild enthusiasm and spoke of his pride in John and the campaign. Whether sanctioned or not, his "The 2008 campaign begins tonight" brought more thunderous roars from the crowd. He introduced Cam and Diana Kerry, who waved gingerly, but did not speak. Then he introduced John and Teresa!

MORE: http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=324

Posted by: Bob Evans at February 5, 2005 05:26 PM

Sure do wish I was there. Great report from Whometense who was 4JKB4IA!

Pamela,

I can think of ANOTHER blue state that would love to see him come for a gathering with vols . . .

A little comedic diversion with poignancy for your weekend pleasure reading from one of my favorite people, Terry Jones of Python fame.

Inside Terry Jones's War on the War on Terror
The former Python takes aim at Bush and Blair -- without losing his sense of humor.

--snip--
MJ.com: In the introduction to your book, you note that the columns are published as they first appeared, "with ignorance of what would happen next." How troubling is it to you that many of your predictions were more prescient than those from the American and British governments?

TJ: (laughs) It's absolutely baffling, isn't it? Because it's really just common sense. I think for the two million people in London who protested Blair taking us into an invasion of Iraq, they knew it was a stupid thing to do and they've been proved right. And yet, you look at Tony Blair and he's still saying exactly the same stuff, "It's the right thing to do. We got rid of Saddam Hussein, that's what we meant to do." But even that, the whole thing about Saddam Hussein being a threat to our nation. Weapons of mass destruction. What would he have done with them? Was he going to bomb England? I mean, if he bombed England or if he'd bombed America, Iraq would've been wiped off the face of the earth. Why should he want to do that?
--snip--
MJ.com: In another piece, you critique George Bush's 2002 State of the Union address through the lens of a Hollywood script reader. What would you say about his inaugural address?

TJ: I did actually start doing one on his latest inaugural address, because what amazes me about it is he's basically just declared war on the rest of the world. But nobody seemed to really notice. He said it in a very nice way, so maybe they missed what he was talking about. Basically, he said that America can take out any government it doesn't like and do whatever it likes. It's stunning. It's people's reaction to it that's been extraordinary to me, that nobody's taken notice of what he's actually saying.

Read the whole article at http://www.motherjones.com/news/qa/2005/02/terry_jones.html .
It's worth it (imho).

I can think of ANOTHER blue state that would love to see him come for a gathering with vols . . .

Posted by: Bob Evans at February 5, 2005 05:42 PM

You blue-staters make me so jealous! lol

Native,

You're welcome here any time. As I recall, you have a move in your future? You may want to think about CA. But be sure to come before we secede.

This is a recent e-mail I got from a friend, another Kerry volunteer:

If you're like me, on Inaugural Day you wore black, didn't spend "One
Damn Dime" and are thoroughly disgusted at the goings-on in Washington
for the Bush 2nd term party. Here's a little "pick-me-up":

Dear President Bush:

Congratulations on your victory over all us non-evangelicals.

Actually, we're a bit ticked off here in California, so we're leaving.
California will now be its own country. And we're taking all the Blue
States with us. In case you are not aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon,
Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and all of the
North East.

We spoke to God, and she agrees that this split will be beneficial to
almost everybody, and especially to us in the new country of California.
In fact, God is so excited about it, she's going to shift the whole
country at 4:30 pm EST this Friday. Therefore, please let everyone know
they need to be back in their states by then.

So you get Texas and all the former slave states. We get the
Governator, stem cell research and the best beaches. We get Elliot
Spitzer. You get Ken Lay. (Okay, we have to keep Martha Stewart, but we
can live with that.)

We get the Statue of Liberty. You get OpryLand. We get Intel and
Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You get Old Miss'. We get
85% of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get all the
technological innovation in Alabama.

We get about two-thirds of the tax revenue, and you get to make the red
states pay their fair share.

Since our divorce rate is 22% lower than the Christian coalition's, we
get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms to
support, and we know how much you like that.

Did I mention we produce about 70% of the nation's veggies? But heck,
the only greens the Bible-thumpers eat are the pickles on their Big
Macs. Oh yeah, another thing, don't plan on serving California wine at
your state dinners. From now on it's imported French wine for you.
(Ouch, bet that hurts!)

Just so we're clear, the country of California will be pro-choice and
anti-war. Speaking of war, we're going to want all Blue States'
citizens back from Iraq. If you need people to fight, just ask your
evangelicals.

They have tons of kids they're willing to send to their deaths for
absolutely no purpose. And they don't care if you don't show pictures
of their kids' caskets coming home.

Anyway, we wish you all the best in the next four years and we hope,
really hope, you find those missing weapons of mass destruction.
Seriously. Soon.

Sincerely,
California

lol Bob. Very kind of you =) My dad grew up in Los Angeles so I used to visit all the time when I was little. I haven't been back in a long time, but I would really like to. But yes, in a bit than two years I will be moving to Massachusetts and I cannot WAIT for the culture shock. ;-)

...and that's a great letter lol

Bob, did you write that letter?
Any idea of the origin?

Thanks M. Defarge for posting the link to the Terry Jones interview.

Would you fellow bloggers be so kind as to vote for the Democracy Cell Project podcast? More votes means more exposure for our cause.

Just go to:

http://podcastalley.com/search.php?searchterm=democracy

At 40 votes we crack the top 50! :-D

More podcasts coming soon...

Spin,

The letter was sent to me from a friend in Ohio without attribution. I'll check back and see if she knows the origin.

Honey, Polly, Sweetie, the BushInc can tell you what to do after dark. They can tell you what you can do in your bedroom. And Polly, if you don't listen to them, you're not an American.

I tell you this for your own good. Listen to Pappa. Pappa is Poppy's son and Dick and Rummies too. Even Condi's. So listen to them, Polly.

You'll be a better American if you do. Now turn on Faux News and relax. That's right, just relax. Let Uncle Sean tell you what's up. It's all good.

Signed,
Pod Person

Posted by: Bob Evans at February 5, 2005 06:36 PM

On behalf of the great state of Illinois, we're proud to become part of California. (We have to bring Mayor Daley with us...but he's always good for a laugh or two. And it'd be fun to watch Da Mayor and Da Terminator try to get along...)

Madame,

LOL! Actually, I was born in Chicago, and my grandparents lived just around the block from the original Mayor Daley in the Bridgeport neighborhood (my grandfather was head usher at Daley's church there for 50 years).

The Great State of Illinois will be more than welcome in our new Democratic Union!

Dramatic cuts part of Bush budget

President to send $2.5 trillion plan to Congress on Monday

Defense Department documents obtained Friday show the Pentagon's budget would grow by 4.8 percent to $419.3 billion --
http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/05/bush.budget.ap/index.html

From the headline, I thought at first that this WaPo story was the same as the others on the Pentagon "withdrawing" troops added recently in Iraq to beef up election security:

U.S. to Pull 15,000 Troops Out of Iraq
Fri Feb 4, 7:34 AM ET
By Bradley Graham, Washington Post Staff Writer

But the story has some interesting additional details on testimony of defense officials at Thursday's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, especially on the status of Iraqi security forces and the Pentagon's inability to figure out the size of the insurgency.

A few snippets from the story:

As a sign this effort continues to lag, Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reported at yesterday's hearing that less than one-third of the troops and police that the Pentagon says have been trained and equipped are adequately prepared to handle most threats.

And . . .

The Pentagon officials displayed a chart showing a total of 136,065 Iraqi forces "trained and equipped" or "operational" as of Monday, including 56,284 army troops and 57,290 police. Myers also reported a surge in recruits over the past two days of 2,500 a day.

But under questioning, Myers said only about 40,000 troops were deployable, meaning they "can go anywhere and do anything." He said he had more confidence about the Iraqi army figures than the police ones. Wolfowitz, in turn, acknowledged high absentee rates in many units, reaching about 40 percent in the Iraqi army.

And . . .

The general also fumbled for estimates on the size of the insurgency under questioning first by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), the committee's ranking minority member. Levin noted that U.S. estimates have proved grossly inaccurate in the past. He cited a statement last week by Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the senior U.S. commander in Iraq, that 15,000 suspected insurgents had been killed or captured in the past year, after U.S. military authorities had said only 6,000 to 9,000 hard-core fighters existed.

For the full story:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&ncid=1802&e=5&u=/washpost/20050204/ts_washpost/a61910_2005feb3

Posted by: Bob Evans at February 5, 2005 07:57 PM

Bob

I love the irony... Ted Kennedy calls for 12,000 troops to leave Iraq after the Iraq election and he is traitor or something as vile in the neocons eyes.

But now it's their idea and they decide to pull out more!

They are constantly taking ideas from the Dems and calling us the evil ones!

And pseaking of them being the evil ones... more on the budget cuts...

The Big Boot of Government - More on Bush’s Appalling Budget Cuts
5 February 2005

Is there no end to the take from poor mentality of the Bush administration? Evidently not.

So far it appears that almost every cut some how affects the low-income citizens of this country. And they say that they have more “values” than we do! I find these budget cuts to be appalling, absolutely appalling.

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=326

Excerpt from NY Times article, “Bush, on Road, Pushes Warning on Retirement Benefits Plan” by Richard W. Stevenson

USA Next, an organization that was instrumental in supporting Mr. Bush's Medicare plan, is planning full-scale combat with AARP. "We are going head to head to defeat AARP on this," said Charles W. Jarvis, the group's chairman.
 
Who is USA Next?  From the info on its web site, the organization is just another right-wing, mouth-piece for Bush and the Republicans.
 
Link to web site for USA Next:  http://usanext.org/
 
We need to wreck this privatization-of-Social-Security ‘train’ before it leaves the station.  The battle over Social Security privatization is developing into the battle of the century.
 

Bob Evans
Sent Anne Coulter to Hague Tribunal for treason.

DiAnne,

Sending The Hag to The Hague is too good for her!

Have you made your church signs?

http://www.churchsigngenerator.com/index_1.php

Go here, and make your very own!

You can even pay $5 and they will make it into a fridge magnet for ya!

I thought the middle east was supposed to be copying Iraq with the March to Freedom!

Tribal militants blow up Pakistan rail line to Iran
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL232811.htm

QUETTA, Pakistan, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Suspected tribal militants blew up a railway track that links Pakistan with Iran in Pakistan's troubled southwest on Saturday, for the second time in a week, but caused no casualties.
The attack near the town of Noshki was the latest in a series of such assaults on state infrastructure by militants fighting for more autonomy in the southwestern province of Baluchistan. Noshki lies around 100 km (60 miles) southwest of the provincial capital Quetta. snip]

In a separate attack on Saturday, a natural gas pipeline was blown up in the Dera Ghazi Khan district in the central Punjab province, close to Baluchistan, disrupting supplies to many areas. snip

Analysts have warned the unrest could explode into a full-scale insurgency if not handled carefully.

Oil Execs - note the last sentence, then consider the rhetoric Condi's been throwing out to Putin & to Turkey. Hide your draft age kids!!

Two Fugitives From Russia at Bush Event
By ERIN E. ARVEDLUND

OSCOW, Feb. 5 - Two Russian businessmen wanted by Russia's government were among the thousands of guests attending a high-profile prayer breakfast with President Bush on Thursday.

Despite international arrest warrants issued by Russia, the United States granted the two long-term visas, giving them freedom to travel in the United States.

"There are no charges against either of these men in the U.S. legal system," Alexander Vershbow, the American ambassador to Russia, told the news agency Interfax on Friday, "so there is no basis for arresting them."

The attendance of the two, Mikhail Brudno and Vladimir Dubov, was reported by local Russian news media on Friday and by The Washington Post on Saturday.

As part of a broad attack on the Russian oil giant Yukos and its founder, the billionaire businessman Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, the Russian authorities last year began investigating and arresting some of his closest business associates. Mr. Khodorkovsky was arrested in October 2003 and remains in jail and on trial.

Mr. Brudno and Mr. Dubov were investors in his investment company, Group Menatep. Russia's general prosecutor charged Mr. Brudno last year with misappropriation of property and Mr. Dubov with fraud, and placed them both on an Interpol wanted list. It is unclear how binding the list is among member countries.

The two fled to Israel last year and obtained Israeli citizenship.

They arrived in the United States last week legally and attended the breakfast with President Bush, said a spokesman for the businessmen, Charles Krause. Later, the men met with Rep. Tom Lantos, a California Democrat who has been critical of Russia's handling of Mr. Khodorkovsky's case.

Both lawmakers are members of the Russia Caucus, an informal group following human rights and the investment climate in Russia.

Mr. Brudno and Mr. Dubov have since returned to Israel, Mr. Krause said. Mr. Khodorkovsky and his partners claim that the arrest warrants against them are politically motivated, part of a wider crackdown on the country's wealthy business elite and a renationalization of some of the country's oil and gas assets sold off in the 1990's privatization auctions. The United States has also viewed the attack on Mr. Khodorkovsky as largely political.

Mr. Krause said the invitation to the prayer breakfast and the granting of visas to the two men was a deliberate signal from the United States government to Russia.

Edwards Pledges to Help Fight Poverty:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4780948,00.html

I firmly believe that when the question is one of equality and fairness, most Americans learn to trust those whom they believe are most dedicated to those principles. We have an obligation to those Americans who have been fooled by Bushco Propaganda to show them the truth. Our obligation goes beyond just showing them the truth, but also showing them the lies that have been told to them. This will take manpower, money and dedication.

Posted by: oncall at February 5, 2005 01:54 AM

Oncall,

I just read your post from the previous thread that you posted at almost 2:00 AM this morning.

Your post contained some of the most powerful words I have read or heard concerning our responsibility toward others in our nation and world.

Our local rally to defend Social Security Thursday might have been small, but I stood there representing every citizen in danger of being cheated out of their deserved future benefits. I stood there on behalf of every man and woman who shed blood so I could have the right to stand there, and for the ones who have shed blood dancing to the tune of the lies.

I thought that night how blessed I am to have found each and every one of you in my search for truth beyond the lies told in the media spin. I thought how blessed we are to have the DCP, and the opportunity it provides us to learn, and to research, and to share. I thought how blessed we are to have each other. This is not a social club, any one of us could spend our time doing many other things socially. This group has a soul, and it is rare and precious.

This group has a heartbeat. It is calling out for truth, and righteousness, and honesty, and integrity, and fairness, and protection of the opportunities and freedoms our forefathers fought for and died to provide.

I commend you all.

(I also thought of John Kerry and Teresa, and John Edwards and Elizabeth, and of the lonely nights of sheer exhaustion they must have experienced on the campaign trail after sharing with small crowds day after day before the numbers grew to 80,000 at Madison, Wisconsin. I thought of the determination and commitment that took. I thought of the light I still see shining in John Kerry's eyes, and of his words to us November 3rd when he spoke of his sense of responsibility.)

Well it's semi-official, Dean will be DNC chair. Needless to say the Deaniacs on DK are giddy with excitement. I wish Dean much success and hope his followers remember that he will be the chair of the entire party and not just his fan club. I've seen some postings recently that he should run out the DLCers which is silly because we can't afford to start tossing folk out, even Lieberman.

Of course from now on we will hear the endless over exaggeration of Dean bringing backbone to the party. As well as the one about him being able to connect with regular folk with ease. He definitely connected with the hardcore anti-war Dems, but I don't think he connected well at all with other Dems. But I understand that broad brush strokes are easier to use when painting a personality because there is never time to really relay the complexities that tell the real story of a person. And if Dean is successful in his position and we regain some congressional seats in the next two elections, he will then deserve alot of the credit - made up and real alike. Heck, I would consider becoming a Deaniac myself if he pulled that off.

Anyway, as I have said from the very beginning of this process, I thought Rosenberg would be okay, but really I didn't have a huge preference one way or the other about who got the spot. I just want to win. I will fully support Chairman Dean and the entire DNC in the struggle to take our country back. Good luck Dr. Dean!

Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at February 5, 2005 10:39 PM

Truth,

I always enjoy seeing your good thoughts here. The thoughts you evoke are too long to post, but your mention of the Edwards family prompts me to post, for those who may not have seen JE's recent e-mail, good news about Elizabeth. From JE's message:

"Most importantly, Elizabeth is doing incredibly well. She is almost finished with her chemotherapy treatment, and her doctors are extremely encouraged by how well it is going. Throughout this entire process, she has been as strong as she was the day I first met her, and there is no doubt in my mind that she will beat this cancer. You must know that we draw tremendous strength and courage from all the support you have given us during this trying time, and we thank you for it. We are so fortunate to have friends like you and we will never forget all that you have done to help us through this."

Thanks to Ron Chusid, who posted the complete message at:

http://kerryblog.blogspot.com/2005/02/edwards-takes-university-post.html

Truth Shall Prevail

What a nice post! Sorry I put up such downer things sometimes but I guess I want the truth out there - that our admin is lousy at foreign policy & tries to cover it up w/ "official" media spin.

I just was at the mall & in the magazine rack Time magazine had a giant cross & a cover story of "The Ten Most Influential Evangelicals" - something like that. Then a magazine I'd not seen before called "TransAtlantic" had a cover story entitled "America's Fascist Leaning Government" or something like that - so depressing.

But I had something really good happen today - I attended a travel conference with Rick Steves, of "Europe Through the Back Roads" - he started as a teen backpacker but is now a millionaire & we filled a theater, a conference center & his large headquarters. The place was packed with "blue" voters planning to travel & be goodwill ambassadors despite the weak dollar. There were guides who had flown over just for the event. Every talk was full, standing room only.

One speaker said something about .. 'no matter who our president is' .. & someone yelled "NOT MY PRESIDENT!" When I talked to one of the French guides, I told him our area voted over 80% for Kerry. He said, "We know that" and talked about red/blue areas.

Rick Steves himself kept his headquarters open at night as a phone banking station for the Democrats & wrote pro-travel, pro-diplomacy, pro-intelligent government editorials for the Seattle P I in the run up to the election. I got to meet Rick, got his autograph and was able to thank him personally for all of the above. I also took photos of all the lines, crowded rooms & enthusiastic people, for Andree.

Then as I was driving home (with my 8 or 9 Kerry/Edwards stickers on my car), someone in a car with no bumper stickers pulled up next to me at an intersection and gave me a thumbs up.

Things like this give me hope!!

Here is a little on Rick Steves - his TV Series has been on PBS & I did get a free DVD of some episodes & now want to go to Prague. Anyway, this shows a little of his philosophy.

As I always quoted (JK) during the election: "We need to start making some friends on this planet." (That's the quotation that made me decide "This is it" re. John Kerry). Also, I never went out of North American til I was 40 & I'm 52.

Rick Steves addresses travel, consumption and poverty

(I wish I'd seen this talk)

After spending a hundred days a year in Europe for the last 25 years, Steves—author of 30 European travel guidebooks—will talk about his belief that thoughtful travel is a powerful way for Americans to broaden their perspectives. Steves describes thoughtful travel as “challenging truths we were raised to think were self-evident and God-given."

Steves took his first trip to Europe in 1969, visiting piano factories with his father, a piano importer. He later began traveling on his own, funding his trips by teaching piano lessons. In 1976, he started a business called Europe Through the Back Door (ETBD), which has since grown from a one-man operation to a company with a well-traveled staff of 60 full-time employees. Rick lives and works in his hometown of Edmonds, Washington.

I thought he was on the Board of Directors of NARAL but I looked closer & it's actually NORML. LOL

I thought he was on the Board of Directors of NARAL but I looked closer & it's actually NORML. LOL

Posted by: DiAnne at February 5, 2005 11:57 PM

DiAnne,

Your problem sounds similar to the recent Left Coast outbreak of Acronymus Dyslexius. Get well soon.

BTW, I don't know where you get it, but you seem to have the energy of five people. You're an inspiration to us all. All I can say is, "I'll have what she's having."

Check out this progressive org!

http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org

Looks like they are into reframing the message & a bunch of other cool stuff.

Bob Evans
I have alot of energy & I didn't indulge - I do have alot of energy!! Someone called me "An Army of One" but I love being part of a "Cell" too - I guess I'm a mitochondria.

A little more on Rick Steves (by Joel Connelly, Seattle P-I reporter who supported John Kerry before Iowa:

In the Northwest: In Europe's eyes, Bush's U.S. is a world-class villain

EDMONDS -- During more than 30 years of traveling, writing and filming TV shows in Europe, Rick Steves has never found feelings toward an American government so hostile as today's attitudes about the Bush administration.

The Puget Sound-based travel entrepreneur cites a gag in which mug shots of President Bush are being plastered on "Beware of Dog" signs across Western Europe.

Still, there is good news to go with the bad. As yet, "the hostility has not rubbed off on the American people," according to Steves, who is headed off to update his "The Best of Europe" and "Europe Through the Back Door" guidebooks.

"A disconnect between the people and their government is nothing unusual," Steves added. "Europeans know that. It's why they're cutting Americans a lot of slack."

Steves' travel company took 800 people to France last year, Americans daring to defy the boycott calls from right-wing TV and talk radio yakkers. They did follow-up queries at the end of the trip. Nobody complained of being treated rudely.

"On our wine tour, in the south of France, a woman volunteered her gratitude at our role in freeing her country from the Nazis," Steves said.

I had a similar experience last summer at an American military cemetery in France, midway between Chateau Thierry and Sedan, that is the burial place for 10,000 American soldiers killed in World War I.

A Parisian family, on holiday in Alsace, walked up the stairs to the gates of the chapel. The family matriarch struck up a conversation with my travel buddy. She was resolutely anti-war. She abhorred what the United States had done in Iraq. Yet, her father had urged the family to visit -- as a gesture of thanks for France's liberation.

Relations between the Old World and New have undergone a roller-coaster ride in the past 31 months. As one who travels 100 days a year in Europe, Steves has found the experience dizzying -- and distressing.

"We had the world with us after 9/11: Everybody was an American," he said yesterday, paraphrasing a famous headline from Le Monde. Stranded in Europe after the terrorist attack, many Americans were on the receiving end of passionate declarations of friendship. Hotel bills were even torn up.

"In two years, however, America has become a rogue nation," Steves said. "It has been an astounding descent."

Why the change? Part of it, in Steves' view, is the vast unpopularity in most of Europe of the Iraq invasion. One exception he cites is Poland, whose experience with Nazi Germany produced sympathy for a pre-emptive strike against Saddam Hussein.

Also, Europe has an attitude problem with Bush II, summed up by a famous presidential pronouncement. "I don't think people like being told, 'You're with us or against us,' " Steves said.

The discord has become fodder for demagogues on both sides of the ocean.

It is even the stuff of petty attack in America's 2004 presidential campaign. The Republican National Committee is producing regular news releases about John Kerry's relatives in France.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a Bush pal from Midland, Texas, days, recently called Kerry a "fellow of a different political stripe who looks French." House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, starts speeches by saying, "Good afternoon or, as John Kerry would say, 'Bonjour.' "

The evidence behind such suspicions: Kerry does speak the language, quite fluently. He did spend part of his youth in Europe. He can recall in detail -- and movingly -- childhood visits to the Omaha Beach Cemetery. He has walked the shell-scarred bluffs of Point de Hoc, where U.S. Army Rangers scaled vertical cliffs on D-Day as German soldiers rolled grenades down upon them.

What's wrong with all that?

America might be better off having a president who understands the bloody unpredictability of war -- no Wehrmacht artillery was found atop Point de Hoc -- and gets along with leaders of what Don Rumsfeld dismisses as "the Old Europe."

Steves finds, as he travels Europe, evidence of America's role as liberator -- but also the heavy hand of today's superpower.

"The hypocrisy of American foreign policy is easier for Americans to overlook than for the victims of that foreign policy to overlook," he observed.

One case in point: Last year, Western Europe sweltered through a record heat wave. Lots of people in the Old World live in tiny apartments without air conditioning. Thousands of elderly people in France died.

"In Europe, they're disgusted that this country has stopped progress on a global approach to global warming," Steves said. "We are the world's one superpower, and we are the one country dragging the process down."

Again, it is the U.S. government -- and not Americans -- that is actively disliked.

"They don't want to curse Americans," he added. "I have never been cursed for being an American. They want to like Americans."

Out of the power of the United States, however, Steves sees a chilling threat to this country's future security.

"We are so dominant militarily that we are unfightable, in conventional terms," he said. "The only way to fight us is with terrorism."

Hence, in the view of our state's best-known world traveler, the United States has reached a fork in the road. Our government can take a multilateral approach to world problems. It can speak for "solid American values, not corporate interests." It can forgive Third World debt so poor countries do not sink into permanent destitution. It can take the lead on global issues from climate change to providing affordable medicines.

Or, the United States can opt for unilateralism and domination -- and pay a price in future attacks on Americans.

"The cost in the long term is going to be more terrorism," said Steves.

Power players in the other Washington -- Dick Cheney, Rummy and Paul Wolfowitz -- take note!

Remembering Auschwitz, by Rick Steves

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/RickSteves/story?id=442238

Rick Steves, the Edmonds resident best known for travel books starting with Europe Through the Back Door and seven seasons of public-television programs, is everywhere. This month, he's launching a national call-in talk show on National Public Radio, Travel With Rick Steves, which will air on KUOW-FM (94.9) on Saturdays at 2 p.m. In December, he guest hosted the Seattle Post- Intelligencer's weekly "Burning Question" feature, asking "Can We Fight Terrorism Constructively?" Steves wondered if terrorism could be countered more effectively by understanding what motivates it and addressing the source of the anger. While most responses were positive, not everyone approved. Steves regularly receives requests to "just shut up and write your guidebooks," but he says he can't. "Three decades of people-filled travel have given me a passion for helping Americans fit better into our ever-smaller planet—to not be afraid of diversity but to celebrate it," Steves says. He likes to quote Mark Twain: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."

I think this man has been working for world peace in his own way for more than three decades.

http://www.ricksteves.com

DiAnne,

Mitochondria, schmitochondria! Sounds like a force of nature, to me.

Shiites move to block Allawi from PM's post
By Paul McGeough, Chief Herald Correspondent in Baghdad
February 4, 2005

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With each party's share of Sunday's national vote uncertain, Iraq's religious Shiite parties have mobilised to challenge attempts by supporters of the interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, to slide him into the post-election leadership as a "consensus" candidate.

List 169, the religious coalition blessed by the spiritual leader of all Shiites, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, on Wednesday claimed a "sweeping victory". One of its most likely challengers to Dr Allawi for the top job branded the Allawi interim government the most corrupt in Iraq's history.

The Shiite effort to counter a post-election performance in which Dr Allawi has not publicly addressed the possibility that he could be ousted by the new National Assembly came as a group that claims to represent more than 3000 Sunni mosques in Iraq imperilled proposals for national reconciliation by pronouncing the poll "illegitimate".

Husain Shahristani, a nuclear scientist whom Saddam Hussein jailed for 10 years, is one of four List 169 contenders for the prime ministership. Dr Shahristani, a Sistani confidant, said it was well known "corruption is very widespread from the police to the judicial systems. Iraq has never known the level of corruption prevailing now. A lot of public funds have gone missing under the Coalition Provisional Authority."

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/02/03/1107409989668.html

Kangaroo

Hi, Rossi!

How ya goin' mate? Good to see you back on the blog. We certainly need our allies, now. What time is it there, now? (so I can reset my Aussi clock).

Dear Polly Sigh,

I have a question for you. In his SOTU, President Bush said, "And we will make it easier for Americans to afford a college education, by increasing the size of Pell Grants."

Some news stories suggest the President is boosting education. But the ones that report actual figures for his plans show that he will cut Perkins loans, AND will cut subsidies for student loans to an extent exceeding the increases for Pell Grants.

No matter how I do the math, it's a net loss for education. As a student, should I buy a lottery ticket and hope for the best, or should I just get it over with and blow my brains out now?

Posted by: Bob Evans at February 6, 2005 03:58 AM

Hey Bob it is now 19 42 see you at the chat

Kangaroo

DiAnne,

I don't consider your posts to be negative. Truth doesn't always come in a pretty package.
It is essential we get the facts, unlovely as they be many times. You contribute alot to the DCP, from your valuable information and URL's for our benefit, to your quick wit and humor, to the encouragement you provide when you relay your experiences about your cell group and other interesting groups you are part of and activities you attend like the travel conference with Rick Steves. I love your stories about your bug and your 8 or 9 bumper stickers, and can picture you and your energy leaving a streak everywhere you go.

OKAY, HERE IS SOME VERY ENCOURAGING NEWS:

OUR DEMOCRATIC LEADERS ARE LEARNING THE ART OF
FRAMING, AND USING IT SUPERBLY.

I have been quite encouraged myself this past week, seeing a shift in the framing of the Democratic message. I briefly saw a bit of a senate hearing on benefits for survivors of the Iraq war on C-Span yesterday, and doggone if I didn't think the Democratic senator who was speaking had just gotten out of church! He was articulately framing the fairness of taking care of people who have sacrificed so much for our country, stating that the bible speaks alot about taking care of widows and orphans, and providing for those who have less than we do. He went on to repeat how it is only fair that we as a nation do that, and take care of those survivors from the war. I almost fell on my knees, thumped my chest, and screamed HALLELUJAH! Sorry I didn't note the Senator's name, I was scurrying by and caught that bit by chance. It is worth a review for all of us if it is replayed on C-Span.

Well, maybe he was a cousin of Billy Graham, but I don't think so. LOL.

Why Bush is wrong
by Mort Zuckerman, Publisher, NY Daily News

His Social Security reforms are neither 'social' nor 'secure'

Social Security is the cornerstone of life for nearly 48 million people - retirees, dependents, survivors of deceased workers, and the disabled - all of whom receive a check like clockwork every month. Millions more will come to rely on those checks in the years ahead.

Many don't think much about that fact, and few realize just how much of a nest egg they're going to need. An American reaching the retirement age of 65 today has an average life expectancy of 18 more years, which means that roughly half of those who reach 65 can expect to live longer than 18 years. Four out of 10 have no nonwork-related retirement savings. Six out of 10 haven't even tried to estimate what they'll need. They rely vaguely on Social Security, but how far will it carry them? How serious is the "crisis" they hear about? What are the implications of "reform?"

Social Security pensions were indexed to the rate of inflation in the 1960s and 1970s, dramatically diminishing poverty among the elderly. Now only 10% of those over 65 live in poverty - 2 points lower than the national poverty rate. Roughly two thirds of people age 65 and over depend on Social Security for at least half their income, and roughly 20% rely on it for their entire income.
Currently, the payroll tax brings in more dollars than it pays out in benefits. The surplus, roughly $180 billion a year, is invested in treasury securities and deposited into a trust fund, which holds more than $1.5 trillion of these notes. As baby boomers begin to retire, the system will go into deficit around 2018, requiring drawing down on the fund. By that time the fund will exceed $3 trillion, so it will be in the black until around 2042, using the Social Security Administration's conservative economic and demographic assumptions, or 2052, using the assumptions of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Even if the system exhausts its reserves, payroll taxes will roll in, enabling at least 73% of scheduled benefits to be paid out.

In other words, there is no current financial crisis. So, what's with all the hand-wringing? Well, if you make pessimistic predictions about economic growth, immigration and wage inflation, projected revenues may not be enough to pay benefits. Social Security actuaries, for instance, project that growth will average only 1.6% after 2010, about half the rate we have enjoyed in the past century. But if the economy grows at anywhere near the levels that Bush's own budget experts project, the surplus, in effect, would never run out.

Most important, to the extent that there is a deficit, it could be covered by a variety of modest combinations of tax hikes and benefit cuts - each of them quite manageable.

A careful study by AARP estimates that 43% of the Social Security deficit projection would be met by raising the cap on taxable wages from $90,000 to $140,000; 38% would be covered until 2083 by raising to 70 the retirement age for full benefits; a quarter-percentage-point increase in the payroll tax for employees and employers would cover 24%; requiring state and local government workers to join would cover 9%. Yet another approach implicit in the President's program is to decelerate increases in benefits by raising them in line with prices, not wages.

This readjustment would eliminate the 75-year projected deficit of Social Security, but it would have a major impact on low-wage earners who depend almost entirely on Social Security, and it would reduce benefits for middle-income workers by as much as 25% over 30 years. It would thus preclude many seniors from enjoying the benefits of rising standards of living.

A solution here is to protect workers at the lower end of the income spectrum by retaining benefits according to wage rises for them but lowering benefits to price indexing for the higher levels. Or some mix of the two.

President Bush has a different answer to all of the above. In pursuit of his "ownership society," he wants to move Social Security toward "greater individual opportunity, risk and reward" by allowing individuals to carve themselves private investment accounts out of Social Security payroll taxes, much like a 401(k) plan. This raises a whole host of problems.

It discriminates against poorer workers because the lower your income, the less you have to invest and the smaller your return will be. The Bush plan offers nothing close to the financial security of the existing program. Then there's this: Are individual investors sophisticated enough to match the higher returns now being forecast? At least 10 studies analyzed by the Securities and Exchange Commission indicate a disturbing level of financial illiteracy. Only 12% of the investors studied could distinguish between a load and a no-load mutual fund; only 14% understood the difference between a growth stock and an income stock; only 38% knew that when interest rates rise, bond prices fall; almost half somehow believed that diversification guarantees that their portfolio would not suffer if the market dropped, and 40% thought that the trust fund's operating costs would not be deducted from their investment return.

Experience with 401(k) plans shows that many people fail to invest and to diversify sufficiently to maximize returns. Many make mistakes, not because they are stupid but because they live busy, complicated lives, focusing on work and family, and lack the time to become financial experts. Those 50% or more who are not in the stock market presumably have even less knowledge and experience.

Furthermore, historical stock-market returns are not a guide for future performance. If someone retires after the market dives, he or she could lose a good chunk of retirement savings. The market, after all, fell by 45% in real terms between 1968 and 1978 -- never mind the bust between 2000 and 2002. If millions of retirees suffered dramatic losses, there would be enormous pressure to come to their rescue. We would very likely end up privatizing gains and socializing losses.

The macroeconomic consequences of privatization are equally significant. Privatization fails to address the long-term gap in the program's financial resources. It would make things worse because the government would have to borrow the money that otherwise would be paid into the system.

Of course, the idea of Bush's "ownership society" is to change the relationship of Americans to government so they look less to Washington than to themselves (and, just maybe, vote more Republican). No doubt some Americans could build savings and more wealth and have a nest egg for retirement. No doubt there is value in savings and self-reliance, planning ahead and increasing distance from the government. But there are other values in the very title of the program - Social Security. "Social" surely implies a contract to help manage poverty among the old and to know that our society provides a minimum income for all in the retirement years. And "security" means buffering the harshness and cruelty of the markets so the well-being of the elderly is not dependent on shrewd stock picks and hot mutual funds.

Privatization thus gets things upside down. Social Security was not meant to re-create the free market; it was intended to insure against the vagaries and cruelties of the market and to permit Americans to count on the promise that the next generation will take care of them in their old age.

Truth,

LOL! Love your post, and your appreciation of DiAnne. I believe we are getting better at "framing," or what I like to call "truth-telling."

On the issue of taking care of those who are making the sacrifice, I'll be doing some writing about that for the LightUp blog (Pamela has been harassing me so much, I finally had to give in).

Upthread, Amy posted about being discouraged. It was disappointing to see that, after her post a few threads back about all the positive things we (the loyal opposition) have going for us. I understand how we (myself included) can have our ups and downs. But we wouldn't be here if we didn't "have a dream."

Amy was right in all the positive things she pointed out. I would only add to that the proposition that the President's budget, due to Congress Monday, adds MORE positives.

So many interest groups will be hit by funding cuts that the criticisms will surface even through the media filters. Practically everybody will be screaming about the Administration (many won't want to cite Bush by name) trying to cut the deficit "on the backs of [insert name of interest group here]".

Perhaps the biggest challenge for dems will be to get across the fact that the poor President who is forced to take such draconian budget actions is forced to do so only because he has so bankrupted the country with his tax cuts and phony war. And that dropping those tax cuts, for one thing, would fund tons of those programs he's cutting.

For anyone who's tempted to be discouraged, I'd only suggest they take another look. My mood right now is (Marc, this one's for you) "Singin' in the Rain."

Dear Polly,

I can't tell you how much I look forward to your column. You have so much common sense and really tell it like it is. And you are so in tune with the direction America is going in that I know you see it like our government leaders and administration see it. It is every man for himself.

I am glad you told S.I.N. the facts straight up. What is a little thing like giving up cigarettes to keep your job?

Why, four years ago when the economy slowed to a crawl after the first Bush innauguration, the company I was an employee with didn't fire the less than perfect people. They "laid them off", and started with the oldest people (their health insurance premiums were three times higher than us younger, finer specimens.) I could have cared less, as long as I got my insurance and kept my job, I figured those old used up folks could go home and use up their savings and assets to provide for their immediate needs, then work some menial job for a couple of years until old enough to receive the money we have to pay them in social security benefits.

After they let all the old guys go, they started letting the younger people go who had family medical histories. Like the one guy who had a wife who was in the middle of cancer treatments - what a drag that was on our corporate insurance premium. I don't know what happened to them after he left, and don't care. I still have my job and it's all about me.

America is getting smarter and smarter. Getting rid of the older folks after they are used up was the right thing to do. Getting them out of our workplace so us up and coming 22-48 year old's can make alot more money and spend alot more money was a sweet move on the part of corporate America. Now if they can just keep the old fogies unable to buy affordable health care and necessary prescription drugs, and take away their Social Security benefits, they might be outa our hair before they can cramp our style. And if I don't have to pay into the old has-been's Social Security benefits, I win and corporate America wins. More money for me, and more money for them!

America is valuing it's more perfect specimens, and I am happy to be one of them. I don't S.I.N, don't have to worry there, and I am young and in perfect health. I can just work my heart out knowing that when I get old I will have my own stock portfolio to carry me into my golden years.

And yes, I think it is okay for the government to regulate whether or not we smoke, eat bacon, count fat grams, and exercise. People who S.I.N. and don't conform don't need jobs or rights. We should all look alike and think alike and act alike.

Some people should make a career out of telling people who S.I.N. that if they would strive to be more like us they would have more rights in this country. We should reward all those who understand the value of looking out for number one, are very careful to not S.I.N., look and think the right way, and go to the right churches.

HALLELUJAH, I can see a perfect race coming on!

Well, after all the internet buzz on blogs like DU, it looks like the big blockbuster of the identification of "Deep Throat" is, like Geraldo Rivera's prime-time penetration of Al Capone's vault, nothing more than a fizzle.

After blog hints that the answer would come out Sunday in the L.A. times, John Dean writes, in an LAT Op-Ed:

"I have little doubt that one of my former Nixon White House colleagues is history's best-known anonymous source — Deep Throat. But I'll be damned if I can figure out exactly which one."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-sources6feb06,0,1365197.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

Throat's identity became a quest for Dean, but even after all his research, he still hasn't foud the answer. When I heard him speak in L.A. recently, he seemed to have narrowed it down to one of Nixon's speechwriters. Given Bob Woodward's assertion that Deep Throat is male, it would seem to boil down to either Bill Safire or Pat Buchanan, if Dean is right.

If it means anything, my money's on Safire. But, who knows? And why should we care, anyway?

A lot of us who lived through that era do care, and do want to know. Maybe it's the mystique of that turbulent era, or curiosity about why a Nixon devotee would cough up incriminating information about his boss and cohorts. If not a whodunnit, it's sort of a tantalizing psychological whydunnit.

Is it a distraction from our current political work? Of course it is. Still, inquiring minds want to know. When will we know? Bob Woodward will be free to reveal Throat's identity after Throat dies -- and considering how old he has to be, that can't be too long, now, especially since he has been reported to be in poor health.

But don't look for anyone to spill the beans before then, whether in the L.A. times, the New York Times, theWashington Post, or elsewhere. When the story breaks, it breaks. Until then, inquiring minds will just have to wait.

You guys are sweet!

I'll think of you when I skip the Superbowl & head to the Mall for my new spring Burkha!

As far as I know, kite flying hasn't been outlawed yet.