Say It Ain't So, Joe...

Polly,

Just as you are perplexed by Senator Lieberman's position, I am dumbfounded by the stand taken by Rahm Emmanuel as Chairman of the Demcratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Let me explain. Christine Cegelis ran against Henry Hyde in the last election and received 44% of the vote in this very conservative district. Christine is not a Republican Lite type of candidate. She is definitely a Progressive candidate. That is what makes her vote total even more astounding. The 44% vote she received was the largest amount ever against Hyde. Despite her loss she kept her organization together and focused on another run for 2006. She continued to campaign at various rallies, and actually attended one of our cell meetings to deliver her message.

The current Republican candidate, Peter Roskam, is a DeLay hand picked uber right winger with a war chest in the hundreds of millions. Obviously at this point in the process, Cegelis does not have nearly that amount of money in her campaign account.

Never the less, Emmanuel has been maneuvering to squeeze Cegelis out and run a candidate with out any political or government experience. This person is a female Iraqi veteran amputee. Her connection to the district is nebulous at best. If Emmanuel wants to help this district he should help direct funds to Cegelis' campaign and not sabotage it.

It all smack of sleazy politics and deserves condemnation. See the post from Damn Liberals that I have linked to:

http://damnliberals.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_damnliberals_archive.html

Hey, Polly! Thanks for the reminder! I was just reading your post when I remembered that I had left my tinfoil hat down in the van when I came home from dinner. The little voices are telling me that I must go down and fetch it back right away.

vodka in the defiance of extremism is no vice,
Otter

P.S. -- They're also telling me that I should move to Texas and vote the straight Republican ticket every chance I get. Should I be concerned about this, or should I start looking for an affordable apartment to rent in, say, Fort Worth?

As a follow-up to my previous post, I want to share this little tid bit. Duckworth (Emmanuel's candidate) will be on This Week with Stephanopolous next week. Slime blends well with slime doesn't it?

 Bert had this adventure tonight in Minneapolis. Try to do the
same thing in your community if Reverend Billy comes to town!

http://www.revbilly.com/events/index.php

I went to the stop shopping show. Then he, his choir and the audience rode on buses to the Mall of America where we donned choir robes, rode the escalators (up and down) while singing anti-shopping songs. We also jumped onto an empty stage and started giving a show. Crowds formed.

We didn't get kicked out until we all piled into Ambercrombie and Fitch. Reverend Billy had a sermon in the store in front of a moose head mounted on the wall. It was hilarious!

I had a call from Ben Doko, the Indonesian guy who registered so many voters here & wants to be a citizen, volunteers for Senator Cantwell's campaign. He had flown to Boston at his own expense for John Kerry's birthday party. He met up with 2 of my friends - Mary Beth from Cambridge & Marjorie G from Brooklyn. They were calling from PF Chang's in Boston but had met John, Teresa, Cam (brother), Diana (sister), Vanessa (daughter) & took photos of it all. They said John is writing a book on the environment. I was there in spirit but couldn't attend in person (had to go to my boss's party).

Kristof is good today. Here it is, in it's entirety, courtesy of NYTimes Select...

Bush Meets St. Peter
If a meteorite crashed down on the White House today, the conversation at the Pearly Gates might go something like this.

"Oh-h-h. Where am I? St. Peter?"
"Welcome, Mr. President. I just need to see if you belong here."

"Well, St. Peter, you know I'm a born-again Christian. I pray every day. I'm very religious. I brought Bible study classes to the White House."

"That's terrific. And have you helped any lepers lately?"

"Not exactly. But my cuts in the top tax rates will create wealth that will trickle down and help lepers. I'm getting there indirectly, instead of barging through the eye of a needle."

"Hmm."

"And St. Peter, I've been upstanding in defending Christian values. We made sure that we call the tree at the White House a Christmas tree, not a holiday tree. And we sent out 1.4 million White House Christmas cards!"

"Wow! But I don't suppose any Christmas cards went to lepers. Or to prostitutes or beggars."

"I don't send cards to Democrats."

"Mr. President, our checklist doesn't have anything about sending out Christmas cards, or putting up Christmas trees. It's more about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and housing the homeless."

"Well, my administration spent $8,000 for a drapery that was used for years to cover up a breast of a female statue. That was clothing the naked."

"That was so silly that Lady Godiva went on a ride to protest it. We always get irritated with religious blowhards who proclaim that faith is just a matter of covering up, saying grace, looking dour and denouncing others for being lax - the Taliban approach. This latest culture war over Christmas is a perfect example of religion based on denouncing others instead of loving them."

"But St. Peter, they're just trying to put Christ back into Christmas. They see how faith is threatened by people saying 'Happy Holidays,' instead of 'Merry Christmas.' Fox News has covered 'Christmas Under Siege,' and one of its anchors has a new book called 'The War on Christmas.' The American Family Association is boycotting Target, and the Catholic League threatened a boycott against Wal-Mart. This hasn't been my issue, but these are my people, St. Peter. They're doing this to glorify Christ."

"Frankly, Mr. President, here in Heaven, I say 'Merry Christmas,' but others prefer 'Happy Holidays.' Gandhi prefers it. And a Jewish rabbi told me that his family felt more comfortable with that as well. ..."

"But St. Peter, that's one rabbi. ..."

"Whose name is Jesus."

"Oops."

"Jesus says Christmas shouldn't be about picking fights and organizing boycotts. All that legalistic nitpicking just reminds him of the Pharisees. Do you really think that if Jesus returns to Earth tomorrow, his priority is going to be organizing a boycott of Target stores? You think he's going to appear on Fox to say, 'Worry about genocide and hunger later - first, let's battle with liberals over what holiday greeting to use'?"

"But St. Peter, I increased aid to Africa hugely. I launched a major program to fight AIDS."

"Yes, your aid programs have been almost divine. And your administration helped lead the way in fighting sex trafficking. On the other hand, Jesus has a particular thing about genocide, and you and Congressional leaders just cut out $50 million that was supposed to go to stop the slaughter in Darfur."

"Sorry, but it's been so hectic this month with 26 Christmas parties at the White House. I've just been too busy to deal with genocide."

"Which Gospel did you say you read each day? Up here, we canceled our Christmas party, and held a vigil for the victims of Darfur."

"St. Peter, you don't mean to say - how do I ask this? Jesus isn't ... isn't a Democrat, is he?"

"No, no. He's nonpartisan. His gripe isn't with conservatives or liberals; it's with blowhards. We're always cheering the National Association of Evangelicals because it spends its time fighting genocide, battling sex trafficking, struggling for religious freedom. And there are so many others, like Senator Sam Brownback, who win respect from everybody because their humanitarian work shows they are trying to live the Gospels, not play charades. They're the conservative Christians who make God look great."

"I guess I was just too busy with Christmas to pay attention to any of this."

"Up here, we just pray that Christmas could be more than cards, trees and greetings. Jesus is so upset that he's talking of suing the blowhards to regain control of Christmas."

Polly,

Best Lieberman I have seen yet! I especially appreciate the Kermit reference...ave thought so often of that resemblance vocally.

And I *still* want my people's yolly yuletide back from those dang blowhards, too. It was ours first, and then they stole it and sold it and coopted it for themselves... the greedy selfish bastids. (Good thing we didn't have any oil too, huh?)

have yourselves a merry little solstice,
Otter

You guys are probably way ahead of me on this, but I just noticed that you can upload political podcasts on iTunes and get a new distribution channel. You can also use to upload Ring of Fire and Randi Rhodes to your iPod or MuVo.

From: April the absent
To: All

Subject: Off topic

Thanks so much for remembering Angie and our family today. Its been a hard year but I have always known you are out there, and Andree brought the header to my attention via email thank you hun and thanks for remembering. Angie's friends arrived enmass last night and helped me do the last hard thing I had to do in order to complete Angie's room the quilt will take up one wall in the room and pics will follow sometime after Christmas.

Karen my prayers are with you family on your wonderful daughters birthday and I think of you often with love and the fact you have made it through this help me think maybe we will to.

We did something in Angie;s memory tonight and that helps we did not want an organized event so we asked her friends to take candles to Angie;s place (as charley calls it) and leave them over a 24 hour period and we lit them at dusk. There were over 40 candles there. We recieved emails from those friends that could not come back for this due to finals asking if they could do this when they come home. A lot of the kids found out when we were gonna be there from some who knew and not only took their candles but showed up.

Indy phoned last week and I have been in touch with Marc on here sometimes over the last few months. We are all hoping things will settle down here soon and I will be able to get more involved again. (by we I mean my family) I have missed you all a lot, but I needed to get my head back semi straight and help my children through some of the stuff that crops up when you lose a vital part of your family.

Much Love and warm thoughts to you all April

P.S. Lieberman is NOT a Democrat. I have no clue just what the heck he but he is definatly not a Dem. Paraphrasing here " The War Is going great the people of Iraq are wonderfully happy the sunshine is out rah rah rah so what if out Military is stretched so thin we have troops rotating back in for the 4th time rah rah rah our people are still dying over there so what, rah rah rah. We are paying newspapers to run propaganda stories but hey so what Rah rah rah." Joe Lieberman.

I could go on but I am depressed enough already. Just sticking my foot back into the politcal waters. That was for Angie by the way she would be screaming right now and probably is.

April,

HHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

April,

Angie and Bethany are BOTH screaming, and I bet they are letting US know they send support for the hard work we still have to do!!

Lots more to come too...

But we have shining lights with us at all times. Loud, maybe, but shining!

You have to see this hilarious slide show!

Bert went to see Reverend Billy's Stop Shopping tour and then took the bus to Mall of America. Here he has it all documented, including an uninvited show & concert they did & getting kicked out of Abercrombie and Fitch after their sermon there.

http://imageevent.com/kayakbiker/reverendbilly
I made MP3 recordings as well.

April,

I know that Andree from France was on here last night asking about you & I think she has probably contacted you by now.

Wonderful to have you on here!

Hi April,

Sure sounds like you, Marc, and Indy used to have some fun in the IRC. I would have loved to have seen that!

We all miss you, and know that, in time we will all be hanging together again, as time permits.

We're still here!!

Love to you and yours,

Polly, thanks for the great column again this week.

I've thought of Joe Lieberman (when I make myself), and I think the reason he's been acting so strange is because of reason E mentioned in your column. He must be a senator pod. A dyslexic senator pod.

That explains it all.

Karen and April,

I have no words.

Bethany and Angie were super-terrific kids and you both were and are still great moms.

They were blessed and you were blessed, and you both carry their light admirably.

I love you both.

God Bless.

Thanks, sparrow. Everyone--contact local offices of your representatives to set up town meetings January 7. Today.

Check the AfterDowningStreet website (http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/event/)to see if someone or some group is already ahead of you on this: if so, join them. If not, get one going. Please.

We have very little time to stand up, and aleady the fog machine is in full force.

Somewhere In Time
by Los Lobos (with Dave Alvin)

I hear a voice, singing somewhere in time
A song I knew so long ago
It takes me back to places somewhere in time
To everyone I used to know

I see a face, I remember somewhere in time
Someone I love who's gone away
Gone away somewhere in time
Gone away somewhere in time

Another night, on a highway somewhere in time
Darkness plays those tricks on me
Far down the road in the shadows somewhere in time
Am I the man I'm supposed to be?

I see a light, shining somewhere in time
A lonely light to lead me on
To lead me on somewhere in time
To lead me on somewhere in time

Wake from a dream, a dream from somewhere in time
I rub my eyes so I can see
You're standing there before me, somewhere in time
Standing there waiting for me

And I'll take your hand, someday somewhere in time
Forever I'll be here with you
I'll be with you somewhere in time
I'll be with you somewhere in time
I'm here with you somewhere in time

Bush to compare Iraqis to America's founders

Monday, December 12, 2005; Posted: 8:18 a.m. EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush is using a visit to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, birthplace of the U.S. Constitution, as a reminder before the Iraqi elections that the path to American democracy was not always easy either.

Pennsylvania also is the home state of a leading Iraq war critic, Democratic Rep. John Murtha, who planned to speak on Bush's heels and repeat his call to bring the troops home from a fight he says has become too violent and out of control.

Murtha, a hawkish former Marine, has galvanized war critics and been an outspoken counterpoint to Bush's portrayal of success in Iraq. Since Murtha first called for troop withdrawal last month, the president has talked more openly about difficulties in Iraq in a series of speeches leading up to Thursday's election.

Iraqis are preparing to vote under tight security to elect a 275-member parliament that will run the country for the next four years. The election will be the first under the new constitution ratified in an October 15 referendum and will complete the steps toward democratization following the ouster of Saddam Hussein's government.

Monday's Iraq speech is Bush's third, part of a campaign to win support for the mission, with most Americans saying in polls that they disapprove of his handling of the war. The speech is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. ET.

The final address in the series is planned for Wednesday in Washington.

Murtha's aides said he committed weeks ago to be in Philadelphia on Monday for a reception with the Chamber of Commerce. But after Bush scheduled the speech in his home state, Murtha added another event -- a news conference to respond to the president.

"I've finally come to the conclusion that we've become the enemy, and that there's no alternative" to pulling troops out, Murtha said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." "Every day we're there, we inadvertently kill people. ... That makes enemies."

An Associated Press-Ipsos poll taken this month indicates Bush's public relations campaign might be working. He improved his job approval rating from 37 percent in November to 42 percent. While still relatively low, that is his highest figure since summer.

"Speeches by the president have been helpful," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, a critic of the administration's handling of Iraq policy, said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "They have been long overdue."

In his first two speeches, Bush claimed new strength for both Iraq's troops and economy, while acknowledging difficulties caused by continuing violence. His speech Monday will focus on the political progress and his determination to help Iraqis build institutions for a lasting democracy, aides said.

The president would argue that, like the Americans who gathered in Philadelphia for the constitutional convention in 1787, Iraqis are showing their resolve to govern themselves.

Voter turnout will be an important benchmark for success in Iraq, particularly among the disaffected minority Sunni Arabs who have been the foundation of the insurgency. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, predicted Sunday that Sunnis would turn out in large numbers, win 40 to 55 seats in the assembly and become more involved in government.

"Politics will become more important, and our hope and expectation is that violence and use of the military means will become less important," Khalilzad told ABC's "This Week." "Although I do not anticipate that that change will take place very quickly. In the best of circumstances, it will take time and will change incrementally."

Ma!

Shut up Marc...I'm talkin'...

April,

May the blessings of the season be with you and your family and friends. Though this time of joy is tempered with mourning for the loss of Angie, please know you are thought of fondly and often...and loved more than you could ever possibly know or imagine.

Your fire will never be extinguished and your voice is as strong and true as ever, so please do not be hesitant to post your perspectives here...or to call anytime you need a shoulder to lean on.

Because I know you respect and adore Martin Luther King, Jr....and have faith that we, as a community, as a people and as a Nation shall bring about the necessary change to our Country...for you April:

"I still believe that we shall overcome."

"This faith can give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom. When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born."

We are living in such a time...and know the hardships are merely the contrast to the bright future that will be ours.

Peace, Love and Compassion,

Indy =]

Posted by: Indy at December 12, 2005 09:33 AM

YOU shut up!

;-)

(((Hugs))) to you April and all your family.

April...lots of hugs...you (and Angie) are always with us in our hearts...

The love that once was born can not die
For it has become part of us, of our life,
Woven into the very texture of our being.
Each of us would wish to leave some part of ourselves,
So here and now we bear witness to the one we knew in life,
Who now in death bequeaths a subtle part, precious and beloved,
Which will be with us in truth and beauty,
In dignity and courage and love
To the end of our days.

Oncall, this one is for you in particular. There is an good diary on the Cegelis / Rahm issue with a clear explanation and some embedded links that you may want to track...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/12/9552/2957

For April, and for Karen too:

This ritual can be done when a loved one passes. It celebrates rebirth and passing from one phase of life to the next.

Materials: juniper, bay, yew, alyssum, parsley, basil, rose, rosemary

Cast your circle using rose petals and rosemary sprigs to define it. Say before the altar:

The wheel of life turns,
The cycle of rebirth continues.
Those beyond life,
You are remembered today.

Gifts of love and hope
Are offered whole-heartedly
To those we remember,
to those we do not,
to all of those we have lost.

Dear Lady and Dear Lord,
In your gentle embrace
Our dead you have taken.

All thread of life are cut,
All threads are woven anew.
May the wheel turn,
And begin the cycle again.

We give freely:
Juniper for love
Yew for rebirth
Bay for strength
parsley for cleansing
Alyssum for happiness
Basil for peace.

May our blessings be received.
You are remembered.

blessed be,
Otter

WE NEED THE STRONGEST POSSIBLE OPPOSITION RIGHT NOW

One issue that unites activists of many persuasions is their distrust of the Patriot Act, the provisions of which megalomaniacs inside our government were pushing for years before America was attacked, and for whom those attacks were nothing more than the excuse they'd been waiting for. The fact is these unlimited powers are ALREADY being abused, and they have not made us safer. With all the emphasis on airline security the best they can do is murder confused passengers in cold blood as we saw this week. Please contact your members of Congress now and tell them to vote AGAINST the conference report.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.millionphonemarch.com

.....another way to do it.....or do both.....

URGENT: Potential Filibuster on Patriot Act This Week - Make Your Voice Heard

A group of lawmakers, including Senate Judicatory Chairman Arlen Specter, have caved in to White House pressure and signed the conference committee report that fails to fix the most fundamental flaw in that law. No bill is perfect but this legislation is severely flawed because it rejects a common sense reform to require that there be some connection, any link at all, between private records about ordinary Americans and a suspected foreign terrorist before such records are secretly gathered by the FBI.

Backers of the reauthorization bill claim that they have made major improvements to the Patriot Act. Don't be fooled. Adding four-year sunsets on three provisions of the act while making the rest of the powers permanent and making the National Security Letter (NSL) powers of the FBI worse certainly does not protect our civil liberties.

A bipartisan group of Senators,-- the „civil liberties six,‰ John Sununu (R-NH), Larry Craig (R-ID), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Ken Salazar (D-CO) -- has said they will filibuster any reauthorization bill unless it contains real reforms to protect civil liberties.

Senate leaders are expected to invoke the cloture rule, which would prohibit a filibuster on the vote. We need you to call your Senators right now and tell them to vote against cloture, support the filibuster and oppose any Patriot Act reauthorization bill that does not include real reforms.

Take Action Now! Click here to look up your Senators and call Congress!

And the cat killer is out of the bag as Frist stated today that if there was a possible filibuster against Sam Alito their trigger fingers would go right back to the nuclear option. The cowardly capitulations of the past have gained us precisely nothing, just as we argued at the time. This is all the more reason to reject not only Alito, but any hardcore, biased, right wing agenda driven nominee they might put up in his wake. We must tell our Senate that NO conservative is acceptable as a replacement for Sandra Day O'Connor. Otherwise there will be nobody left to protect us when the outrageous dictatorial new powers being seized by the President are challenged in court, as they surely must be. Please speak out now while we have the chance.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.nocrony.com

Marjorie Cohn: The Death Penalty Is Not Pro-Life
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121205Z.shtml
The fate of Stanley Tookie Williams now rests in the hands of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't spare Williams's life. On the one hand, Schwarzenegger is under pressure from right-wing Republicans to refuse clemency. But there's also high-profile pressure on him in California to grant clemency and prove his campaign claims that he really is a moderate.

Chuck in Doha for Oncall/Dwahzon:

Well, I confess complete ignorance when it comes to the local politics of Illinois Congressional Districts, but I do have a strong suspicion that unless the Democratic Party has subpoena power on one or the other houses of Congress after out 2006 elections, the chances of bringing any of the great issues of the day to account are pretty darn close to zero. That slender reed is all we have, I think. I’d like to believe otherwise, but I don’t.

Chuck in Doha

Also, IMHO, we are giving Joseph Lieberman (US Senate, D, CT), far more airplay than is warranted by the circumstances. I've never heard him say a thing that I agree with wholeheartedly. I think he is irrelevant. I'd have sooner voted for Kucinich than him (sorry, DiAnne, I hope you don't take that personal -- Kucinich is a great Representative and I think is a serious person and Lieberman, as a Senator, shows me no moral fiber whatsoever, but I would wonder how Kucinich would cope with POTUS).

God Bless and GOTV 2006!

Chuck in Doha

CNN QuickVote

Do you believe Iraq will be a birthplace of democracy in the Middle East?

Yes 23% 6842 votes

No 77% 22491 votes
Total: 29333 votes

Chuck
I would vote for Dennis.
I had concerns about Gore running with Lieberman in 2000. I did vote for them.

Chuck
My son pointed out that in Washington state we got two 2 Democratic state legislators. One is in Mercer Island (rich) and the other is near Vancouver WA (poorer). He thought it was encouraging.

What state races have to do is keep cheating out that emanates from the national level. Every time Cheney sneaks into this state I cringe. He does literally have to sneak. Bush never comes into Seattle - he heads for the suburbs. Even people in kayaks are protesting as his limo crosses the Lake Washington Bridge.

Marc:

If I had to answer a question like that, I don't know that I could. Is democracy something that is born? I mean, I like allegories, but what does that mean? And what exactly is the Middle East?

Chuck in Doha (as pedantic as ever)

Chuck... did you see that wild salmon posted? I ran across him/her on another blog and mentioned that people had mentioned his/her name.

See

Posted by: wild salmon at December 11, 2005 12:51 AM

on this thread:
http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/2005/12/full_circle_1.html

Marc Trager

re CNN quickvote

my friend Bert said, "Remember Rosemary's Baby?
This is Rumsfeld's Baby."

Chuck
I believe democracy springs up from the grassroots and cannot be imposed externally.& I don't consider a Shiite government very democratic, especially towards women. Bush may say that a certain number of women are mandated to be in government (it's higher than in US). Well that's tokenism - the Iraqi constitution has a loophole where women still have to follow the dictates of their husbands, brothers and fathers. & the way things are going, it'll be that way here too. If anything, we are following their example and becoming more state-religious. The new Iraqi government may have some things in common with the Puritans. That could be.

DiAnne:

I should think that *especially* people in kayaks would be protesting as his limo crosses the Lake Washington Bridge, ahem...

otters don't need no steenkin' kayaks,
Otter

Dwahzon
Thanks for working magic on the internet! I think it's a female Wild Salmon, from the wilds of southern Oregon.

Acc. to a Kossack friend, DailyKos has an article this morning about CIA formation of the Iraqi National Congress, the group of exiles who yearned for democracy. I learned that the CIA named the group and recruited them. Grass-roots democracy? Hardly. Instead, they were formed by the CIA AND they offered Bush Administration the phony intel they needed to build a case for war. Just a bit circular and nothing like the US revolution, which really wasn't a revolution. It was just a change in the aristocracy that ran things.

Hey all, just to let you know (Pc doc?) sometimes I post and it doesn't refresh for the longest time. DiAnne: Dennis is way OK in my book! I voted for Gore too, and got audited by the Oregon IRS as a result (just try and tell me otherwise -- I voted from overseas and I've never been audited before and I've paid every doll-garn cent in tax I ever knew I owed).

Chuck in Doha

Yes I did see Wild_Salmon post here and Wild_Salmon is connected with my beloved Oregon and seeing her post here again did my heart good. She got me started on this whole thing (she wouldn't know that) in the sense of stepping out from the lurking shadows into actually posting. Wild_Salmon, if you see this, I still need to get to the top of Mary's Peak and I still say the Alsea River rocks!

Chuck in Doha (came up in SE Portland, OR, Hosford GS, Cleveland HS)

Okay Marc and Indy I see you all still havent learned how to nicely tell each other to be quiet. shame shame shame.

It seems that Chavez has decided he needs to help his poorer neighbors to the north and its now going beyond Mass. I am wondering when we are going to invade since the coupe the Bush Administration sponsored a few years ago was a bust( of course Bush and company wont admit they are behind it) any thoughts all? I mean with it hurting the profits of the Bush pioneers and other assorted cronies its just a matter of time right?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10415456/site/newsweek/

DFA petitioning Joe Lieberman to stop trying to stifle debate on the Iraq war...

Can sign at this link:

http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/petition/telljoe/

Posted by: April at December 12, 2005 01:01 PM

He started it!

xoxoxoxo

For those in PA, there's a post on DU about the Voting Verification Bill that's up for consideration TOMORROW (Tuesday) titled:

"Pennsylvania ALERT - our good VVPR bill on agenda with BAD bill Tuesday!"

there's more info about just what's up and where to go to get more information in this post...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x404479

DiAnne:

For the record, if Dennis Kucinich was the nominee of the Democratic Party, I would work for his election heart and soul. I would also have some questions about how such a government would work itself out. Lord knows, I believe that would be an infinitely superior set of choices as compared to what we have now.

Chuck in Doha

Dwahzon:

Done.

thanx for the timely heads-up,
Otter

April:

I don't know that you would recognize me -- I used to post on the old Kerry Blog as Chuck in Baku -- I sure am glad to see you here too! Season's greetings and all the best to you and yours!

Chuck in Doha

Prisoners Subjected to 'Severe Torture' at 2nd Iraqi Prison
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121205I.shtml
An Iraqi government search of a detention center in Baghdad operated by Interior Ministry special commandos found 13 prisoners who had suffered abuse.

Israel Readies Forces for Strike on Nuclear Iran
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121205J.shtml
Israel's armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.

Hunt Continues for 1,300 Children Lost during Katrina
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121205K.shtml
Three months after Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast, the fate of more than 1,300 children remains unknown.

Chris Thompson | Rise of the New Black Leaders
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121205L.shtml
Chris Thompson writes that as the Republican leadership mortgages the country's future on debt, cronyism and religious divisiveness, Barack Obama may well become America's first truly national black politician.

Behzad Yaghmaian | Suspected and Feared: Muslim Migrants after 9/11
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121205M.shtml
Behzad Yaghamaian writes: "On my way into my building, I was stopped by a harmless, mentally-impaired man, a street regular in our neighborhood. With a frantic look, he stuttered out, 'Did you hear? The Arabs have attacked!' Then he said it again. 'The Arabs' was what I heard as I headed for my apartment, hoping he was wrong. What could he know?" I thought, only half-convinced.

Cindy Sheehan | Comfort Zones
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121205N.shtml
Cindy Sheehan asks, "Why do we as Americans sit complacently by and watch our government use chemical weapons in Iraq? George Bush says that Saddam Hussein is 'a bad man' because he used chemical weapons against his own people. What does that make George Bush and the leader of the War Department? I think that makes them bad men. Why do we allow it to continue?"

Socialist Bachelet Leads in Chile Elections
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121205O.shtml
If elected, Bachelet, a separated mother of three who was tortured and exiled during Chile's 17-year dictatorship, will become Chile's first woman president.

The Death Penalty Is Not Pro-Life
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121205Z.shtml
The fate of Stanley Tookie Williams now rests in the hands of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't spare Williams's life. On the one hand, Schwarzenegger is under pressure from right-wing Republicans to refuse clemency. But there's also high-profile pressure on him in California to grant clemency and prove his campaign claims that he really is a moderate.

Red State Road Trip: A 60-Minute Documentary
http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm
How could America have given George W. Bush a second term? Filmmaker Chris Hume decided to find out by embarking on a 6,000-mile, cross-country journey in search of America's soul. The result: a fascinating, hilarious, and often disturbing road-trip adventure.

December 11, 2005

Editorial

Death of an American City

We are about to lose New Orleans. Whether it is a conscious plan to let the city rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die, leaving nothing but a few shells for tourists to visit like a museum.

We said this wouldn't happen. President Bush said it wouldn't happen. He stood in Jackson Square and said, "There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans." But it has been over three months since Hurricane Katrina struck and the city is in complete shambles.

There are many unanswered questions that will take years to work out, but one is make-or-break and needs to be dealt with immediately. It all boils down to the levee system. People will clear garbage, live in tents, work their fingers to the bone to reclaim homes and lives, but not if they don't believe they will be protected by more than patches to the same old system that failed during the deadly storm. Homeowners, businesses and insurance companies all need a commitment before they will stake their futures on the city.

At this moment the reconstruction is a rudderless ship. There is no effective leadership that we can identify. How many people could even name the president's liaison for the reconstruction effort, Donald Powell? Lawmakers need to understand that for New Orleans the words "pending in Congress" are a death warrant requiring no signature.

The rumbling from Washington that the proposed cost of better levees is too much has grown louder. Pretending we are going to do the necessary work eventually, while stalling until the next hurricane season is upon us, is dishonest and cowardly. Unless some clear, quick commitments are made, the displaced will have no choice but to sink roots in the alien communities where they landed.

The price tag for protection against a Category 5 hurricane, which would involve not just stronger and higher levees but also new drainage canals and environmental restoration, would very likely run to well over $32 billion. That is a lot of money. But that starting point represents just 1.2 percent of this year's estimated $2.6 trillion in federal spending, which actually overstates the case, since the cost would be spread over many years. And it is barely one-third the cost of the $95 billion in tax cuts passed just last week by the House of Representatives.

Total allocations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terror have topped $300 billion. All that money has been appropriated as the cost of protecting the nation from terrorist attacks. But what was the worst possible case we fought to prevent?

Losing a major American city.

"We'll not just rebuild, we'll build higher and better," President Bush said that night in September. Our feeling, strongly, is that he was right and should keep to his word. We in New York remember well what it was like for the country to rally around our city in a desperate hour. New York survived and has flourished. New Orleans can too.

Of course, New Orleans's local and state officials must do their part as well, and demonstrate the political and practical will to rebuild the city efficiently and responsibly. They must, as quickly as possible, produce a comprehensive plan for putting New Orleans back together. Which schools will be rebuilt and which will be absorbed? Which neighborhoods will be shored up? Where will the roads go? What about electricity and water lines? So far, local and state officials have been derelict at producing anything that comes close to a coherent plan. That is unacceptable.

The city must rise to the occasion. But it will not have that opportunity without the levees, and only the office of the president is strong enough to goad Congress to take swift action. Only his voice is loud enough to call people home and convince them that commitments will be met.

Maybe America does not want to rebuild New Orleans. Maybe we have decided that the deficits are too large and the money too scarce, and that it is better just to look the other way until the city withers and disappears. If that is truly the case, then it is incumbent on President Bush and Congress to admit it, and organize a real plan to help the dislocated residents resettle into new homes. The communities that opened their hearts to the Katrina refugees need to know that their short-term act of charity has turned into a permanent commitment.

If the rest of the nation has decided it is too expensive to give the people of New Orleans a chance at renewal, we have to tell them so. We must tell them we spent our rainy-day fund on a costly stalemate in Iraq, that we gave it away in tax cuts for wealthy families and shareholders. We must tell them America is too broke and too weak to rebuild one of its great cities.

Our nation would then look like a feeble giant indeed. But whether we admit it or not, this is our choice to make. We decide whether New Orleans lives or dies.

Sorry...previous editorial from the New York Times

Interesting comments here (hat tip to Andrew Sullivan at Daily Dish)...

Washington Post Chairman Says Newspapers’ Future Is Not in Paper

Washington Post chairman Don Graham said publicly for the first time this week that the future of news is on the Internet, not in print newspapers like the Washington Post.

“The Web site simply has to come through, ours and that of other newspapers, for us to be successful,” Graham told investment analysts Wednesday in New York.

read the rest here...
http://www.washingtonian.com/inwashington/buzz/2005/1209.html

This goes out to all us Northwesterners out there:

Well I stand up next to a mountain,
Chop it down with the edge of my hand.
Well I pick up all the pieces and make an island,
Might even raise up in the sand.

Voodoo Child

Jimi Hendrix, Garfield HS, Seattle, WA

Chuck in Doha, Cleveland HS, Portland, OR

Dwahzon:

Well, maybe a friendly tip to WaPo would be to start reporting news instead of hanging out at cool after-hours parties and reporting that BS as if it were news. Regardless of how they get it to market.

Chuck, steamed at the mess out nation's capitol has become, in doha

Gregory Djerejian has a long, very nuanced post in the Belgravia Dispatch titled "Cease The False Declarations of Victory! (We Implore You)", that is worth reading; near the end, he changes focus slightly to comment on (poke a little fun at) some of the right-wing bloggers and their comments.

He mentions this email he received which many here may appreciate:

"When your ideology is a function of theology, reality matters not a whit. You create reality with language. We're seeing the consequences of faith-based warmaking".

read it all here...
http://www.belgraviadispatch.com/archives/004912.html

Posted by: marc trager at December 12, 2005 01:07 PM

April where's that spoon? Gotta get these boys in line :)

***********
Posted by: chuck at December 12, 2005 12:48 PM

Mary's Peak...beautiful hike in the snow too.

Chuck...

the article itself is from the Washingtonian Online magazine which is a bit of a gossip rag reporting what the WaPo chairman said at "the keynote address for UBS Bank’s annual Global Media Conference".

I just thought that it was interesting how it demonstrated that some MSM eyes may be opening up though they haven't yet figured out what to do with it.

He does mention a resource that I had already located that is useful. He describes it thus:

"...An editor named Fred Barbash . . . has started what I suppose you would call a blog called the ‘Campaign for the Supreme Court’ on washingtonpost.com, and Fred incorporates all of [the print edition’s] stories about Alito, but he also makes available all the opinions Alito has written, all those documents that he wrote back in the Reagan-era Justice Department."

“So if you want to know everything about Alito . . . you can literally learn everything that is on the public record. That is something a printed newspaper cannot do. Even though some people like to say we write at great length in the Washington Post, we don’t write at that great length.”

And here's the link to it:

http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/campaignforthecourt/?nav=hptile

Posted by: Veritas at December 12, 2005 02:48 PM

Tattletail.

Dwahzon:

I probably read in haste - apologies. I guess I was looking at a larger point, which involves, for instance, that we (i.e., ordinary folks) can't all be expected to track down every single issue of interest that pops up on the net and therefore we have relied in the past on investigative reporters to find the stories and provide the context; investigative reporters that worked for companies like WaPo. Now the sense I get from those folks is that they'll tell us what we need to know as they see it -- Andrea Mitchell and Bob Woodward know what is classified in the CIA and what is not (God knows how they qualify for that priviledge) and what is critical to our national security and what is not and Richard Cohen knows when we should know dish and when not and we should all just be thankful for all of that and not ask stupid questions. Well, I suppose I would be thankful for that sevice if I had an ounce of confidence that they knew sick 'em, but from everything I've seen they don't know it from "come here." And my surmise as to the reason why they don't know from squat is they just stick to their little parties and already have the messy world divided up into little categories of knowns and as a matter of fact, if that ever mattered to a journalist, the only facts they know are from their cocktail circuits. When it comes to the life of everyone else, they are clueless. Sorry for the rant. And I could very well be wrong.

Chuck in Doha

Chuck, I think that Brooke Gladstone of On the Media and Maureen Dowd in her column, "Woman of Mass Destruction" both nailed the 'access journalism' approach.

Here's the transcript for Brook (see the very last one)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102205A.shtml

Here's Mo...
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102205A.shtml