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Geese and Democracy Cells
As many of you know, I just returned from a dance education and therapy conference in California. One of the attendees sent this along, and I thought it was something we all needed as we enter into the last two weeks of taking back our government for democracy:
Lessons Learned From Geese
As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the birds that follow.
By flying in a V formation, the flock adds 71% extra flying range.
People who share a sense of community can help each other get where they are going more easily....because they are traveling on the trust of one another.
When a goose falls out of formation, it feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It will quickly move back to take advantage of the lifting power of the birds in front.
If we have as much sense as geese, we stay in formation with others headed in the direction we want to go. We are willing to accept their help and offer our help in return.
When the lead goose tires, it drops back within the formation and another takes the lead position.
It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks.
We should recognize, respect and protect each other's unique arrangement of skills, capabilities, talents, and resources.
The geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
We need to make sure our honking is supportive.
In groups where there is encouragement, production is greatly increased.
Individual empowerment results from quality honking.
When a goose gets sick, two geese drop out of the formation and follow it to help and protect it.
If we have as much sense as geese, we will stand by each other in difficult times, as well as when we are strong.
very nice, Karen. Thanks.
And so it begins... Democratic candidate's name 'cut off' of ballots in Virginia. Lo behold, according to state election officials, it can (but won't) be fixed before the election.
If they can't win, they'll just cheat.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/24/111047/27
If you're in the mood, please check out John Kerry's website/blog for a great story about a great candidate...Dan Seals. And don't forget to leave a comment or two.
http://blog.johnkerry.com/2006/10/dans_the_man_in_chicago_1.html
(Yes, this qualifies as shameless promotion, but all for a good cause.)
Fox News Warns Viewers Of Upcoming Socialist Revolution
Today on Fox News, Neil Cavuto had a segment asking whether Democrats will “crush the economy” if they win November’s elections. One of the guests, Jonathan Hoenig, said they would, because Democrats’ “overriding philosophy is socialism.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/23/fox-socialism/
Posted by: Victoria Ellen at October 24, 2006 12:32 PM
No freaking way!! I am emailing Olbermann.
Lesson learned from flying:
Looks like everything in nature is kind of organized chaos - the mountains look like bigger versions of the duns, which look like bigger versions of the magnified furrows you see in your dry hands in the dessert.
Then what does man do? If you look down - you see alot of GRIDS, roads and spaces that DO NOT go with the flow. Is is any wonder we have global warming?
We have to do what makes sense, what follows a pattern, one that goes with our nature.
As for the Democrats and socialism - that's pretty ridiculous, but it is true that the Democrats will be more likely to lift up the general standard of living, so that the least and poorest member of society is sustained.
There is nothing wrong with medical coops, food coops, daycare coops, social movements, social services. "Entitlements" - the conservatives like to call them, but even Reagan talked about preserving the social "Safety net" (Social Security and Medicare).
The Republicans are more likely to pull up the highest members, and when someone like Bush talks about an "ownership" society - where more people are homeowners, stockholders & holders of savings accounts with their "extra" money - he is dreaming. It may happen for some with pro-growth hypercapitalist policies, but some people will just clean fall through the cracks and perish! & their attitude is "sucks to be them!"
There is authoritarian communism on the very far left and authoritarian fascism on the very far right. It is not a BAD thing to trend more in the DIRECTION of Socialism.
Those people on FOX don't even know anything about economics. There is nothing WRONG with alot of people having healthcare, with unions negotiating a living wage. They would all these things socialism or even Communism. No one should listen to them - the poor and middle class are not benefitting from tax cuts to the rich or from big oil.
Wow! Mademe de Farge has "a heart and a keen sense of direction." Who knew??
and now I will never think of "hey, wouldja goose me please?" the same way ever again,
Otter
Posted by: Otter at October 24, 2006 02:20 PM
Don't make me quote Dick Cheney...
Excerpts from http://www.commentisfree.guardian.co.uk
In the face of overwhelming evidence of failure, the Bush administration has dropped its central election-year message on the war in Iraq.
As reported everywhere , the Bush administration yesterday performed an astounding u-turn.
In the face of overwhelming evidence of failure it dropped its central election-year message on the war in Iraq.
As much as anything this should tell us that the President now expects to lose the midterm elections, and is beginning early a process of changing tack in the middle east which would otherwise have waited until after November 7th. And that is good news.
(snip)
Q Is there a change in the administration "stay the course" policy?
MR. SNOW: No, the policy - because the idea of "stay the course" is you've done one thing, you kick back and wait for it. And this has always been a dynamic policy that is aimed at moving forward at all times on a number of fronts. And that would include the international diplomatic front. After all, the Iraq compact is something we worked out with the Iraqis before visiting the Prime Minister in Baghdad earlier this year.
So what you have is not "stay the course," but, in fact, a study in constant motion by the administration and by the Iraqi government, and, frankly, also by the enemy, because there are constant shifts, and you constantly have to adjust to what the other side is doing.
---There you have it. "Stay the course" is out.
"A study in constant motion" is in.
Does anyone have the faintest idea what "a study in constant motion" might mean?
A brief search for the phrase on Google isn't terribly revealing. A study in constant motion is, apparently, a way to describe an obscure Michelangelo Antonioni movie, a description of a soccer game, and an advert for a rental home in North Carolina's Outer Banks. It is also, intriguingly, a way to describe the oeuvre of Scot's born film Director Norman McLaren, and the "approach to global success" of computer giant Microsoft.
It certainly, however, is not a description of how to succeed in Iraq.
(snip)
First, it is clear that "stay the course" was the administration's previous strategy. (snip) In the recent past when the President, the Vice President, Tony Snow, and the rest have relentlessly pounded the "stay the course" message they clearly did want people to think their strategy was making progress. The fact that they have changed their line is therefore significant. It shows that claims of victory were so obviously contradicted by the reality on the ground (and on voter's TV screens) that they had to be changed.
Second, it gives clear evidence if any were needed that the wheels have come off the GOP's electoral aspirations. It is unclear if the President really did think his Iraq strategy was working, or whether he just wanted to pretend it was for long enough to win the November elections. (snip)
It is an open secret in Washington that the foreign policy community was waiting for the midterm elections before pressing for a new direction on a clearly failing Iraq policy. (snip) Senators like Lindsey Graham previously set electorally convenient timetables for demanding change, arguing that progress had to be made in 60 or 90 days. But today Graham is being more forceful, arguing that Iraq is near chaos "on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working."
(snip)
The administration looks weak for dropping its central slogan. But "stay the course" was an always absurd, geopolitically juvenile policy designed only to poke at perceived Democratic weaknesses.
It was holding back the administration from making much needed changes to their Iraq strategy for fear of looking weak. Now, having had their hand forced, perhaps they can begin to find a better direction. Today, the only thing that is clear, is that "a study in constant motion" is unlikely to be the strategy we need.
--
On another note, I'm unhappy to report that the Seattle Times (our most conservative paper, which endorsed Lieberman for Presdident), has endorsed McGavick against Senator Cantwell.
But Harry Reid is coming to raise money for her, and Barak Obama is coming for Darcy Burner for Congress v Congressman/Sheriff Reichert. Since I plan to vote for Cantwell & Burner this term, I like hearing this.
The newest Republican campaign slogan:
WIN: whip insurgents now.
Democrats New Slogan...
WIN: Whip Ignorance Now
I swear I am caught in some freaky eeerie good luck cycle.
We will find out today if we are getting the house we are trying to buy (looks good).
AND,
I just found out that two Alphonse Mucha lithographs my mother gave me are worth a minumum of $30,000.
I am still stunned.
She paid 15$ for BOTH of them.
Mucha is reffered to as The Father Of Art Nouveau.
Not only that, but the images I have are from the rarest of all his collections. My mother gave them to me when she redecorated.
I have been sitting here this whole time looking at art worth almost enough to buy that house outright.
Amazing.
Posted by: Christy at October 24, 2006 02:47 PM
Instant karma's gonna get you...
Life imitates art.
Wow - not just Harry Reid & Barak Obama - but Al Gore is coming to stomp for Darcy Burner & Maria Cantwell.
Markos Moulitsas is maintaining that campaign visits are less desireable than just handing over money - I disagree. He's done alot to encourage people to get involved with the midterms & to donate, but at times he can be such an armchair quarterback. When candidates come to town, people shell out money. I've seen it.
Markos is a doink.
Markos devoted a great deal of time today to bashing John Kerry, completely ignoring the hard work and cash that JK is pouring into races nationwide...
Frankly, I expect better of him and today's groundless bashfest was really disappointing.
I love the blogosphere, but demanding 100% fealty to the blog-gods and behaving like petulant children when you don't get your way just makes the blogosphere look like idiots.
Not helping. And 2 weeks out from the election, I would have expected a more useful pursuit.
Sounds like 1968 all over again with Bush throwing out the phrase Secret Plan, as was used as a campaign slogan to defeat Humphrey. Nixon didn't bother to mention that his secret plan included bombing Cambodia and 25,000 more lost troops in Vietnam. It worked then for Nixon, hopefully we are prepared and not as gullible for that last minute onslaught.
I agree, Markos was totally out of line with that top-page hate post of his this morning. He seems to have some very deep-seated personal issues with a certain senator from Massachusetts or something.
I flat-slap loved this reply that somebody posted in response to Markos' snarkfest there:
"Wade wasn't talking about you, you moron.
"Or about Chris Bowers, either.
"He was, as should be immediately clear to someone with an ego smaller than his brain when reading the actual query and reply in that article, referring to the anonymous cowards hiding beyond heyjohn.org and not to your overinflated self.
"But naturally, you seem to have glossed right over that part in your endless quest to make everything blue all about you, Markos. Sheesh. You really need to get down off your high horse and quit channeling Louis XIV for a change.
"I don't know if a John Kerry look-alike ran over your puppy when you were a little kid or something, but this endless ad hominem attack campaign you've been waging against the man has gotten to be really pathetic lately.
"It does you no credit, sir. Perhaps you should save your gratuitous snipping and sniping for somone your own size instead."
fortunately we're all above that sort of thing here,
Otter
apparently Markos feels he can influence who we choose in '08. DCP members are fully aware how hard JK has worked for the last 2 years to bring about this victory in 2 weeks and in fact should be given some credit if we are successful. JK started fundraising and campaigning for progressive candidates early in '05 before Markos and other bloggers even considered the importance of November '06. I have heard the number $10 million that JK has raised and contributed so far. If Markos is ticked at anyone why not demand that Hillary volunteer some of her $35 million that she doesn't need for her Senate race. There are 4 Senate seats that are on the verge of going blue.
Bubba & Otter --
I'm with ya all the way...
Yeah, Monkey, on that instant karma.
Right now it is all worth it.
Task Force Warned Pentagon in Early 2002 to Stop Prison Camp Torture
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102406F.shtml
Speaking publicly for the first time, senior US law enforcement investigators say they waged a long but futile battle inside the Pentagon to stop coercive and degrading treatment of detainees by intelligence interrogators first at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and then again at Abu Ghraib.
Rep. John Conyers | George W. Bush v. The US Constitution
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102406B.shtml
Congressman John Conyers writes: "It is unforgivable that Congress has been unwilling to examine these matters or take actions to prevent these circumstances from occurring again. Since the majority party is unwilling to fulfill their oversight responsibilities, it is incumbent on individual members of Congress, as well as the American public, to act to protect our constitutional form of government."
William Rivers Pitt | A Study in Constant Motion
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102406A.shtml
"'We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve,' said George W. Bush during a press conference in December of 2003 ... 'And so we've got tough action in Iraq. But we will stay the course,' Bush said again on April 5th, 2004. On the 13th of that month, he said, 'And my message today to those in Iraq is: We'll stay the course.' Three days later, he said, 'And that's why we're going to stay the course in Iraq. And that's why when we say something in Iraq, we're going to do it.' In August of 2005, he said, 'We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq.' A year later, in Utah, he said, 'We will stay the course.' ... This past Sunday, George Stephanopoulos put the question to Bush in an interview for ABC's "This Week" news show. 'James Baker,' said Stephanopoulos, 'says that he's looking for something between 'cut and run' and 'stay the course.'' Bush's reply? 'Well, hey, listen, we've never been 'stay the course,'" writes William Rivers Pitt.
http://www.americanprogress.org/cartoons
Today's Cartoon: Scary Congress
BushCo Bid for Chicago Tribune, LA Times
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102406O.shtml
BushCo, via the Carlyle Group and Apollo Management LP, are exploring takeover bids for Tribune Co., publisher of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times.
{{{Well, if the propaganda coming from the White House and the Pentagon isn't forceful enough, just have Daddy's corporation buy major newspapers...!}}}
Turmoil in Hastert's Office as Key Staff Testifies
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102406N.shtml
Top aides to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert are expected to testify this week in the House Ethics Committee investigation of the Foley page scandal.
Bush Foes Wield Unlikely Election-Year Weapon: Bush
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102406G.shtml
The campaign ahead of critical November 7 US legislative elections sometimes seems to boil down to one question: Who's scarier, terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, or US President George W. Bush?
Serge Truffaust | The Mess
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102406H.shtml
Between President Bush's contradictory statements, the rumbling discontent of American as well as British generals, the lesson taught by former Secretary of State James Baker about high level administration, and a month of October not yet over that promises to be one of the deadliest yet, the presidency projects the image of a dog trying to bite its own tail.
James Zogby | Elections to Watch
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102406C.shtml
James Zogby writes, "I, like many others, am deeply troubled by the 12 Democrats who supported the shameful administration-endorsed legislation on detainees, but it is inconceivable that such a bill ever would have seen the light of day had the Senate or House Judiciary Committees been under the leadership of the likes of Patrick Leahy, Ted Kennedy, or John Conyers."
Perhaps Markos is perturbed that the people of CT are rejecting Lamont, and apparently ready to return Lieberman to the Senate.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/10/24/what_women_want.php
What Women Want
Democrats are slavering at their prospects on November 7, when, barring Osama coming out of the freezer on November 6 or another attack on American soil—real or imagined—they will take control of the House of Representatives. Voters are more irate than ever with Congress—latest polls give it a 16 percent approval rating—so they may turn out in record numbers for an off-year election. Women comprise a majority of registered voters, so should figure prominently in that turnout. That’s good news for the Democrats, and it could be good news on a number of ballot initiatives around the country that will affect women’s lives more fundamentally and more immediately than which party ekes out a slim majority on Capitol Hill.
{See link for more...}
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/10/24/this_television_will_not_be_revolutionized.php
This Television Will Not be Revolutionized
When “our side” is represented by apologetic, retreating liberals, viewers get the mistaken impression that American progressives are weak, evasive and lacking in values and firm principles (especially in foreign policy). When “our side” is represented by corporate Democrats who feel the need to establish their Beltway credentials by deriding MoveOn or liberal bloggers or unions, it reinforces the notion that we—and not Team Bush—are extremists.
Progressives are mobilizing like never before—through the Internet, small-dollar fundraising and independent media—to change the faces of those who represent us on Capitol Hill and in government throughout the land. Isn’t it time we mobilized to change the faces of those who represent us in big media forums? We have a right to speak for ourselves to the American people day after day on what is still our country’s dominant medium, television—just like the O’Reillys, Hannitys, Falwells and Coulters.
If this election shakes up the corrupt, conservative political system, that should be our signal to take on the media system that has enabled the corruption to flourish.
{More on link...}
those of you watching the Tennessee campaign will have seen Ford Swiftboated. Its pure Rovian. The RNC creates a dispicable racist commercial, make a small media buy then distributes it to Matthews the newtworks looking fo outrage. Then Mehlman goes on the Today show and says the commercial is perfectly legitimate while Corker plays good cop and says oh my gosh this commercial is dispicable, chuckle, chuckle. Its exactly how Rove played '04 against Kerry. I can still see Bush saying how dispicable the Swiftboat commercials were while the RNC spread the message and the commercials kept running and the candidate stood on the side acting like he was above it all. Let's see if Ford can make Rove and Corker eat this outrage.
MSNBC's been playing the heck out of that scurrilous anti-Ford ad in the course of their all-day Election 2006 coverage today. It's gotten the ad way more airtime than the RNC ever paid for it to have. However... it's such a blatantly vicious & distorted smear ad that every time they run it and comment upon its sleaze factor, the blowback hits the rethug's talking chimps right back in the on-air face.
and I say that like it's a good thing,
Otter
Well Kerry says it's down to 4 states so the Republicans will be especially nervy & desperate & dirty. & Tennessee is one of those states.
Got to get to those undecided voters & get out the vote for those who see the light.
Perhaps Markos is perturbed that the people of CT are rejecting Lamont, and apparently ready to return Lieberman to the Senate.
Posted by: Cyrano at October 24, 2006 06:27 PM
Maybe he's (Kos) realizing the blogosphere is not the be-all and end-all during campaign season - it takes much much more.
He keeps having candidates pull out of the race (Warner) or be defeated (Dean, before). I have appreciated the efforts to activate the grassroots & also the idea of a 50 state campaign but advocating for such is a far cry from actually calling the shots.
Getting alot of media coverage at a blogger's convention does not make one necessarily an opinion leader outside of a certain sphere.
NonnyO
Appreciated the Tom Paine thing on media - I think it's very true.
Interesting comments on said topic of Kos & his opinions.
http://thepremise.com/archives/10/24/2006/470
Oh gee, look at the headline on CNN.com! What timing! (Note: He was allegedly snuffed in April)
Top terror suspect confirmed killed
An al Qaeda operative wanted in connection with two simultaneous U.S. Embassy bombings was killed in Pakistan, U.S. officials have confirmed. DNA tests confirmed Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah died in an airstrike by Pakistani forces near the border with Afghanistan in April, the officials said. The embassy attacks in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killed 224 people.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/10/24/alqaeda.operative/index.html
Karen,
Thanks for this thread. I had been sitting on my hands a bit, and it was Bubbas urging yesterday and Oncall's response that finally got me calling.
Thanks to all of you for guiding the flock.
Honk, honk, honk.
Wondferful link to The Premise's take on this morning's tempest in a k-cup, DiAnne. Thanks!
rovii non carborundum,
Otter
Posted by: DiAnne at October 24, 2006 08:00 PM
That's Mark from Iowa!
Cyrano
How can you tell?! LOL
Posted by: Bubba at October 24, 2006 06:52 PM
Tennessee ad ignites internal GOP squabbling
Corker calls for own party to pull spot some Republicans denounce as racist
With their majority in the Senate potentially hanging in the balance, Republicans were bickering among themselves over an advertisement in the particularly nasty campaign in Tennessee that even some Republicans have denounced as racist.
The dispute pitted former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker, the GOP candidate for the seat held by Senate Republican leader Bill Frist, against his own party leadership Tuesday after it rebuffed his call to pull the ad, which lampoons Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr.’s reputation as a man about town.
In the ad, a young white actress playing the stereotype of a “dumb blonde” talks about meeting Ford, a 36-year-old bachelor who is black, “at the Playboy party.” At the end of the ad, she winks and says to the camera, “Harold — call me.”
The ad brought immediate criticism from the Ford campaign and the NAACP, whose Washington office called it “a powerful innuendo that plays to pre-existing prejudices about African-American men and white women.”
Ford told MSNBC-TV: “I know that they are a little desperate and doing the things that you do when you get desperate in a campaign.”
Corker himself called the ad “distasteful” Tuesday, telling MSNBC-TV, “I think it ought to come down.” Meanwhile, Bill Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine, criticized it in an interview on CNN as “a very serious appeal to a racist sentiment.”
Mehlman: Ad’s fine, and it’s not our fault
But Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said Tuesday that he saw nothing wrong with the ad.
“After the comments by Mr. Corker and former Sen. Cohen, I looked at the ad, and I don’t agree with that characterization of it,” Mehlman told NBC’s Washington bureau chief, Tim Russert, in an interview as part of MSNBC-TV’s daylong Battleground America report.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15403071/
FOX's Gibson warns if Dems win, insurgents win
RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday October 24, 2006
The increase in violence in Iraq is an effort by insurgents to defeat Republicans and put Democrats in control of Congress, warns John Gibson of FOX News.
Gibson says, "If Democrats who hate Bush and who hate the war in Iraq win, the insurgents win. I'm sorry but it's true. America will set a date to get out and Jihad will have carried the day."
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Video_FOXs_Gibson_warns_if_Dems_1024.html
It's getting close to jihad time for Faux... no lie.
Santorum issues GOP call to arms
By BRAD RHEN
Staff Writer
Lebanon Daily News
MYERSTOWN — Likening the times to the late 1930s as Nazi Germany was rising to power, Sen. Rick Santorum said last night that if he loses his re-election bid, it could set the stage for terrorism to become more of a threat than the Nazis ever were.
“If we are not successful here and things don’t go right in the election, there’s a good chance that the course of our country could change,” he said. “We are in the equivalent of the late 1930s, and this election will decide whether we are going to continue to appease or whether we will stand and fight while we have a chance to win without devastating consequences.
http://tinyurl.com/yy9tss
Fargin icehole.
Dan Seals has won the nation-wide Twenty-First Century Democrats People's Choice Challenge -- and their endorsement and contribution -- $5000 and a fundraising letter to their list!!!
Merci bien to all who voted for him.
http://www.21stcenturydems.org/candidates/profile/seals_dan
This will make you smile (if you don't mind the f-word):
volume needed.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/10/24/listen-to-the-techno-vers_n_32403.html
Posted by: Bubba at October 24, 2006 05:15 PM
You said it bubba.
Hey oncall someone must have called Jon Elliot, and he has researched the 300 he is bringing it up on his show now on Air America.
Posted by Otter at the end of the last thread:
Never mind another country heard from -- how about *this* one?
Go here, watch the trailer, then see the movie when it comes out next month:
http://www.myspace.com/shutupandsing
the speech is free but the freedom is priceless,
Otter
Posted by: Otter at October 24, 2006 12:34 PM
WOW. thanks for that, Otter. I can't wait! That whole thing was just so sickening. Redemption will be theirs.
Posted by: Kangaroo at October 24, 2006 10:15 PM
If that story gets traction, it is sayonara to the Republicans.
Well Kerry says it's down to 4 states so the Republicans will be especially nervy & desperate & dirty. & Tennessee is one of those states.
Got to get to those undecided voters & get out the vote for those who see the light.
John Kerry is absolutely right we need to carry Virginia and anyone interested in helping me get out the vote in Va can still help me.
Interesting listening to Ed Schultz and Stehpanie Miller tonight on Larry King how they jumped on Ms. Miller for raising the spector of Springtime for Hitler, a Mel Brooks movie parody and spoof, saying there they go again talking about Hitler said the righty talking heads tonight on Larry King.
Oops, there go the righties wanting to talk about Hitler:
Santorum
"Likening the times to the late 1930s as Nazi Germany was rising to power, Sen. Rick Santorum said last night that if he loses his re-election bid,
but this time its not in reference to a light hearted Mel Brooks movie.
I heard the author of the most interesting book coming out on Cheney (on Fresh Air, NPR) - it's simply called "Vice."
It alleges, among other things, that Cheney met with members of his Energy Task Force (CEOs of oil companies) & they had maps of the oil fields in middle east companies & prepared to divide up the oilfields of iraq once "regime change" was effected.
In addition, the claim is made that once we (the US) had gone into Afghanistan after 9/11 and then finally into Iraq & made the bold march into Bagdad, the Iranians were scared - so scared in fact, that they contacted the Swiss Embassy in order to negotiate with us. They then supposedly offered to not develop nukes & to make any other concessions. Ahmadinejad had not even been elected yet. The Swiss embassy, according to this book, got their hand slapped for interfering. The rest is history.
When Cheney was a simple Congressman from Wyoming, he once upon a time was part of a delegation to the Soviet Union. Once again, offers were made for negotiations & he said No Dice - we don't negotiate with our enemies. He has consistently taken a neocon posture of "coercive diplomacy" (threatening).
The book ends with 25 questions - for Cheney. One of them has to do with North Korea. Once again, there was a time when the nuclear standoff could have been cooled off some. Cheney was there to make sure it didn't.
For those who condemn Pelosi for not championing impeachment if Dems control Congress once again, they need to consider (as many have said) that our REAL President would still be in power. Why not have history record that bad, bad things happened on the Lame Duck's watch? Why not work toward the full history of Darth Cheney coming out?
For starters, let's hope he turns over his visitor log with those late night visits by people like Abramhoff & who knows else - of course, if he has his way, they're "classified."
Speaking of Santorum, I had no idea he was polling so badly. It's quite shocking.
For starters, let's hope he turns over his visitor log ...
Posted by: DiAnne at October 24, 2006 11:59 PM
For starters, I've been hoping for a massive coronary for that bastard, but hoping hasnt gotten me anywhere. It's time to take these scumbags down, one way or another, at least that's my current hope.
Hope on a rope.
The right wingers seem to have no problem when they use the Hitler analogies - as they do, endlessly, especially in regard to the President of Iran.
As for Pelosi and Impeachment, I think that if Democrats regain both Houses, it will be their time to demonstrate that they can successfully govern - while simultaneously providing the required check and balance against an unhinged, failed executive branch. This doesn't necessarily involve the removal of Bush from office - but it does involve Congress taking back its appropriate share of authority.
Limbaugh mocks Michael J. Fox political ad
Conservative talk show host accuses actor of faking Parkinson's disease
Updated: 3 minutes ago
Possibly worse than making fun of someone's disability is saying that it's imaginary. That is not to mock someone's body, but to challenge a person's guts, integrity, sanity.
To Rush Limbaugh on Monday, Michael J. Fox looked like a faker. The actor, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, has done a series of political ads supporting candidates who favor stem cell research, including Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin, who is running against Republican Michael Steele for the Senate seat being vacated by Paul Sarbanes.
"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease," Limbaugh told listeners. "He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. . . . This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting."
-snip-
Later Monday, still on the air, Limbaugh would apologize, but reaction to his statements from Parkinson's experts and Fox's supporters was swift and angry.
-snip-
After his apology, Limbaugh shifted his ground and renewed his attack on Fox.
"Now people are telling me they have seen Michael J. Fox in interviews and he does appear the same way in the interviews as he does in this commercial," Limbaugh said, according to a transcript on his Web site. "All right then, I stand corrected. . . . So I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong, and I will apologize to Michael J. Fox, if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act."
Then Limbaugh pivoted to a different critique: "Michael J. Fox is allowing his illness to be exploited and in the process is shilling for a Democratic politician."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15408508/
Limbaugh IS a disease, and it's terminal.
President Bush to hold news conference at 10:30 a.m. ET today in the East Room of the Whore House.
(Get out your Dickshunerrys)
Posted by: monkey at October 25, 2006 08:33 AM
As usual, the retraction doesn't get the same kind of coverage as the accusation.
Posted by: Matthew Carnicelli at October 25, 2006 08:27 AM
Joe Scarborough said last night that the American people are being held captive by the extremists in both parties. The Democrats have an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate to people like Joe Scarborough that the Democrats can govern. I suspect that the Republicans, soon after the next Congress convenes, will accuse the Democrats of being on witch hunts and shirking their responsibilites as a majority party. Nancy Pelosi's firs 100 hours proposals will go a long way to stop those types of accusations dead in their tracks.
As much as I would like to see Bushco held accountable and punished for their misdeeds, I am more concerned that we get our government working for the good of the American people. The Dems don't have to impeach if they want to put an end to Bushco policies, they just have to fight for what they believe in. As I posted several threads ago, I have my concerns that the Dems will disintigrate into disarray and be unable to maintain a cohesive opposition to Bushco. We will have to see.
That's amazing about Limbaugh - my dad had Parkinson's - you can't fake it! It's more like you can't stop - you shudder or you freeze, depending on time of day. That impotent drug addict should not be on the air & should be sued for libel.
Also found out what the brouhaha was about the Harold Ford ad. That would play well to those whose descendents were into cross burnings & lynchings & who would probaby do the same thing themselves, if they could.
Someone sent me a local Montana paper about a young Democrtic operative (field supervisor) who has mysteriously disappeared. We were wondering about foul play, though we have nothing to go on. I've lived in those parts too & the south has nothing on the Plains for bad guys. (Next door in Wyoming, think Cheney. Remember Michael Shephard).
There are alot of people who need to be impeached (or equivalent) besides Bush. He is just the tip of the iceberg.
Ed Schultz has been back talking about impeachment which at least for the next 2 weeks is the dumbest thing I have heard going into an election. Voters don't want to see a repeat of the Clinton fiasco and besides Bush is a lame duck who is on his way out. Pelosi's 100 hour agenda as long as she moderates spending calling for revisiting negotiated drug prices,Medicare Part D and restoring Pell Grants will show voters that we are for something positive makes more sense. Just need to figure out how to do it and rein in the deficit. Hearings into fraud by military contractors and sweetheart deals with KBR, Big Pharma and Energy companies should be their first order of business. We impeach Bush at the ballot box in 2 weeks, its called an election.
Bush admits U.S. dissatisfaction with Iraq
Adds U.S. will not put more pressure on Iraqi government than it can bear
Updated: 3 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a somber, pre-election review of a long and brutal war, President Bush conceded Wednesday that the United States is taking heavy casualties and said, "I know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation in Iraq."
"I'm not satisfied either," he said at a speech and question and answer session at the White House 13 days before midterm elections.
The president reminded those at the news conference that an independent panel of Republicans and Democrats, led by former Secretary of State Jim Baker and former Congressman Lee Hamilton, is “taking a fresh look at the situation in Iraq and will make recommendations to help achieve our goals.” The president added, “I welcome all these efforts,” and, “My administration will carefully consider any proposal that will help us achieve victory.”
That panel is expected to make its recommendations after the November 7th midterm elections.
Despite conceding painful losses, Bush said victory was essential in Iraq as part of the broader war on terror.
"We're winning and we will win, unless we leave before the job is done," he said.
No strategic staying the course
Bush said that as those fighting American and Iraqi forces change their strategies, the United States is also adjusting its military tactics.
"Americans have no intention of taking sides in a sectarian struggle or standing in the crossfire between rival factions," he said.
Several Democratic critics have said that is precisely what the administration is risking with an open-ended commitment of American forces, at a time that a year-old Iraqi government gropes for a compromise that can satisfy Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish political interests.
He also sought to delineate a middle ground in terms of pressing the Iraqis to accept more of the responsibility for their own fate.
"We are making it clear that America's patience is not unlimited," he said. "We will not put more pressure on the Iraqi government than it can bear."
moreon...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15411631/
New DNC web ad mocks 'stay the course' in Iraq strategy
RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday October 25, 2006
A new Web advertisement produced by the Democratic National Committee mocks the Bush Administration's "stay the course" strategy in Iraq, RAW STORY has learned.
The ad was released "in anticipation of President Bush's news conference this morning," according to a DNC press release.
"For some time, Republicans in Washington have clung desperately to the President’s failed rhetoric," the press release states. "Now, two weeks before Election Day, the Bush Administration has attempted to change their tune, but still refuses to come up with a new plan for success."
The advertisment shows President Bush, Vice President Cheney and White House Spokesman Tony Snow repeating the "stay the course" mantra, interspersed with newspaper headlines about the number of US troop casualties in Iraq and the NIE report which stated that in many ways Iraq is less safe since the occupation.
"The American people are ready for a new strategy in Iraq, not just a new set of talking points that continues to sell President Bush’s failed policies on Iraq," said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Stacie Paxton. "Democrats are offering the American people a new direction with a strategy for victory in Iraq that includes a phased redeployment of our troops to better fight the war on terror."
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/New_DNC_web_ad_mocks_stay_1025.html
"Why I Don't Vote"
I've always loved to vote. I remember campaigning fervently for candidates years before I was old enough to vote, and probably the most exciting part of turning 18 was mailing in my voter registration paperwork.
I've voted in every election I could: special elections, presidential elections, chief dog-catcher - they were all equally and vitally important to me. I voted when I was overseas and got my ballot just a couple days before I had to mail it back, paying extra postage to ensure it got to the ballot box in time. I voted when I was days from shipping out with the military. I've voted via absentee from many of the states across the country.
I always eagerly hunt down my hometown newspaper (and the "alternative" rag) to read endorsements and arguments on local measures. I search out the elections website to read full-text measures and candidate biographies. Nothing is more satisfying to me than sealing that privacy envelope-inside-an-envelope and mailing off my vote-that-counts.
A lot of people my age don't feel that way.
We usually direct our "get-out-the-vote" efforts to what I call mechanical reasons why people don't vote - they aren't registered or don't know how, they can't get to their polling places, they can't get a ballot, they need to change registration, they need time off work or away from home responsibilities to vote, etc.
That isn't why people my age don't vote.
They don't vote for what I'll call "ideological" reasons, although that probably imputes a bit too much thought to the process. I've heard a lot of the excuses. I have my own answers, but I'm curious...what would you say?
Here is the "non-voter excuse of the day" (more to come, I promise!)...
(from a military member): I have to follow whatever the commander in chief says. I don't think it's a good idea to get wrapped up in politics because then I might not want to follow the orders of whoever is elected president.
Latino and black voters reassessing ties to GOP
Clergy and other leaders say promises haven't been kept.
(links to LA Times) http://tinyurl.com/y54yqr
Today is the 4th Anniversary of the loss of our beloved Paul Wellstone, his wife, daughter and 3 of members of his campaign staff.I ask that each of us take a moment of their day today to remember and recognize what Paul Wellstone meant to our country, his beloved Minnesota and the Progressive cause and what his loss has meant to each of us. I can almost hear his voice and passion today, 2 weeks before an important election and debacle in Iraq and can imagine what he would be telling us and asking of us in the next 2 weeks.
We really should have a tribute to his memory today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wellstone
always remember paul wellstone,
Otter
Posted by: monkey at October 25, 2006 11:36 AM
What a great ad.
I hope this one shows far and wide all over the coountry until election day.
Here's the link again. Watch it!
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/New_DNC_web_ad_mocks_stay_1025.html
Bush vows to “taking a fresh look at the situation in Iraq"...
As with every crisis this man has faced since being in office, (most of them have been self-induced thru horrible judgement & illogical decision making), taking a "fresh look" always comes WAAAAAAAAAY after things have gotten WAAAAAAY outta hand, and almost always resemble the arguments from those who disagree with his highness.
Heckuva job, Johnny Dumb Lately
Thanks Bubba for the reminder, his example of TRUE humanity is exactly the light we need to follow through these dark and dismal times.
Rest In Peace Paul Wellstone, family, and friends.
Iraqi leader blasts military raid in Shiite area
Al-Maliki says he wasn't told of plans to go after Al-Sadr militiaman
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. and Iraqi forces raided the stronghold of a Shiite militia led by a radical anti-American cleric in search of a death squad leader, but the deadly operation was quickly disavowed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Al-Maliki, who relies on political support from the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said the strike against a figure in al-Sadr’s Mahdi militia in Sadr City “will not be repeated.”
The defiant al-Maliki also slammed the top U.S. military and diplomatic representatives in Iraq for their Tuesday news conference at which they said his government needed to set a timetable to curb violence ravaging the country. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said al-Maliki had agreed.
“I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it,” al-Maliki told reporters.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15409870/
V
Those who don't vote have no grounds on which to complain about anything - taxes, jobs, healthcare etc.
Re Bush
Read about his press conference & speech.
Heard on BBC World this AM that Al-Maliki hadn't even been told about some of the military operations. He knows talk about timetables is just US election talk.
Heard Juan Williams of NPR interview Cheney, during that Radio Circus on the White House Lawn yesterday. Cheney is smarter & quicker than I thought, & no less of a neocon. It's clear that he's running the country, ie the actual head of the government. As to his motivation - he has been a profiteer all along.
Good summary here:
Kerry: Administration Has No Iraq Plan
“The President is working overtime to change his rhetoric on Iraq when we need him to change his policy. Our heroes are paying the price for the President’s pride and stubbornness.
Today’s performance was another attempt two weeks before an election to convince the American people he has a plan for Iraq. But the President can’t sell what he doesn’t have. One day President Bush invites comparisons to Vietnam, the next day Vice President Cheney says Iraq is going remarkably well, and every day the civil war intensifies and young Americans continue to die.
Iraq is in the middle of a civil war because there has been too little pressure on Iraqi politicians, not too much. Today, the President expressed confidence in the Prime Minister, even as Maliki rejected the toothless timelines the Administration was selling yesterday. All the President’s guarantees that he’ll ‘stay as long as it takes’ have given Iraqi politicians permission to take as long as they want. President Bush needs to change course and tell the Iraqis that no American soldier will be sacrificed because Iraqis refuse to settle their political differences. President Bush now acknowledges we need a political solution in Iraq even as he prepares to continue the failed course of trapping more troops in a civil war.
The President who has had a stand still and lose policy in Iraq and a cut and run policy in Afghanistan has no credibility raising the specter of Iraq becoming a terrorist haven when it’s the war in Iraq that our own intelligence agencies say has weakened us in the fight against terror.
“We have to get tough on Iraq with deadlines to get Iraq and its neighbors to do the diplomacy necessary to achieve a political solution. And we need to make clear that American troops will be leaving within a year to force Iraqis to make the tough compromises. Only then do we have a chance to make Iraqis stand up for Iraq and bring our heroes home.”
(press release)
Posted by: DiAnne at October 25, 2006 01:42 PM
DiAnne, my point was to generate some discussion...i.e. how do we get young people to vote? Obviously if you don't vote you have no basis to complain and often times they don't, they just go on serving their country, paying taxes, raising kids, working jobs, etc.
I hate to have to ask, should these people vote if they don't want to? Or should we find out how to encourage them to vote? And if so, how do we counter their arguments? How do we encourage them to vote?
Maybe I am in the minority in thinking that every eligible voter in this country should want to vote. And should vote.
(And please....I don't want to hear that these people are "too lazy" to vote.)
New Jersey Supreme Court to rule on Gay Marriage at 3pm. Too bad somebody couldn't get this decision delayed two weeks - until after the mid-terms. A pro same-sex marriage ruling here could well re-energize the Fundamentalist and Evangelical base.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Gay-Marriage.html
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The first federal bonuses to reward teachers who raise student test scores have gone to four of Ohio's biggest, poorest and most academically challenged districts -- where teacher pay is already well above the state average.
The bonuses, totaling $20 million over five years, were announced Monday, just two weeks before the challenging election for Republicans. They were the first of 16 state grants that the Bush administration is doling out this year, which will total $42 million. South Carolina also is to receive grants but the other states that will benefit haven't been announced.
The government hopes the money will help counter what Education Secretary Margaret Spellings called a "dirty little secret" in American education, that the most experienced teachers often teach in the least challenging classrooms.
The money is a reward for teachers "when you put yourself on the line every day and teach in some of the nation's most challenging schools and get great results," Spellings said Monday.
Spellings said the approaching election had no bearing on the timing of the initial grants.
more ...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/10/24/teacher.pay.ap/index.html
Stem-cell research foes get own ad
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Days after actor Michael J. Fox appeared in a TV ad urging Missouri voters to support stem cell research, opponents will unveil their own commercial during the World Series Wednesday night.
The Cardinals' starting pitcher for Game 4, Jeff Suppan, is among several celebrities who appear in the minute-long ad. Others include Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, Kansas City Royals player Mike Sweeney and two actors --Patricia Heaton of TV's "Everybody Loves Raymond" and Jim Caviezel, who portrayed Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ."
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/10/25/D8KVP1NO0.html
I have never been a Cardinals fan or Raymond, now I know why.Go tigers.
But, V... in my experience talking to those of their ilk, in a lot of cases they really *are* too lazy to vote.
"Oh, I don't vote, it's just way too much of a hassle and I'm busy with school (job, family, whatever) to have time for that."
boy I'll tell ya these kids today,
Otter
Progress or Not
Michael J. Fox’s political ads supporting stem-cell research are not only in good taste, they’re vital to the public discourse.
By Jonathan Alter
Newsweek
Updated: 1 hour, 37 minutes ago
Oct. 25, 2006 - "The ad was in extremely poor taste,” said a spokesman for Michael Steele, Republican candidate for the Senate in Maryland, referring to a TV spot made for his opponent, Rep. Ben Cardin.
That will be the line of Republicans under assault from what could become one of the most powerful political advertisements ever made. The new ad features an ailing Michael J. Fox talking about politicians who oppose embryonic stem-cell research. This is not just another celebrity ad, like those cut by the late Christopher Reeve. It’s a celebrity shot to the solar plexus of the GOP. Whatever happens in the campaign, the ad is already a classic and will be mentioned in the same breath as LBJ's famous 1964 "Daisy" ad and other unforgettable political moments on television.
Rush Limbaugh helped cement the ad's place in history with his astonishingly insensitive remark that Fox "was either off his medication or was acting." Limbaugh quickly apologized but the damage to his own reputation was already done.
Fox, star of megahit TV shows and movies like “Family Ties” and “Back to the Future,” was for years one of the most popular actors in the United States. He still works, but is clearly debilitated by Parkinson’s. Throughout the ad, he sways back and forth, showing signs of advanced disease.
In the version cut for Democrat Claire McCaskill, who is running against Sen. Jim Talent in Missouri, the actor, wearing a blue blazer and open-collared shirt, says, “Senator Talent even wanted to criminalize the science that gives us a chance for hope.” This is in apparent reference to Talent’s early support for Sen. Sam Brownback's view that embryonic stem-cell research should be illegal. Then comes the clincher: “They say all politics is local, but it’s not always the case. What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans—Americans like me.”
The problem with the “poor taste” defense is that for anyone who has suffered from diseases that could some day be cured by such research—the ones you might expect to be appalled—the ad is not in the slightest bit offensive. It’s dead-on. Literally. It’s the “pro-cure” spot those of us suffering from serious diseases have been waiting for—the one that might hasten the political change that could give us more life. (In 2004, I received an adult stem-cell transplant for lymphoma and achieved remission , but in the long term, adult stem-cell treatments are not generally considered curative).
The political punch of this commercial and others like it (full disclosure: my sister has been involved in other stem-cell ads) could prove decisive in close contests. After all, people suffering from diseases like Parkinson’s, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and spinal-cord injuries have lots of friends and relatives. Many are on the fence in the election—they’re Republicans or independents. This could well tip them into the Democratic column in those races where the Republican stands in opposition to medical advancement.
In Missouri, former Sen. John Danforth, a well-respected Republican and former minister, told the Chicago Tribune that he was not supporting either his fellow Republican Talent nor McCaskill. The reason was their difference on stem cells.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15413680/site/newsweek/
Go Tigers, indeed.
Don't get out the champagne...yet! If you're wondering why these races in Tenn,Vir,Missou,etc are now in a dead heat Thom Hartman just had an investigative report on about how the bushies have convinced those with BIG bucks to donate to those losing candidates and they have BIG time. Like the pharmaceutacals and oil corporate sponsors. While Pelosi has said :"it will only take five minutes to reverse the drug plan", Santorum has just upped the anti with a half million bucks thrown in by pharm ceos., as has Dewine. Just follow the money and it's enough to keep an optimist like me in a very pessimistic mood today.
If you watched the prez this am (with digust) you know these guys are masters of deceit; "troops on the ground" as per bush speak,means follow the money and it's a comin'.
WE NEED to NEVER GIVE UP and just keep working,phone bank and door to door. GOTV tonight tomorrow and don't stop until it's over.
The goal of the GOP is to make us look weak,have our tail between our legs at the end of this campaign so we look like the dumb bunnies of the past.
Republicans in a desperate attempt to hold on to power proclaim that they are responsible for a booming economy. Not so fast say Federal Reserve members today:
"For the third consecutive meeting, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker voted against a pause and instead wanted a quarter-point rate hike. The remaining 10 members of the Fed's policy making committee voted to leave rates unchanged.
The Fed did, however, appear to indicate that it may be more worried about a slowdown. In its statement, the Fed said "economic growth has slowed over the course of the year, partly reflecting a cooling of the housing market."
That differs slightly from the Fed's characterization of the economy in September when it said that "moderation in economic growth appears to be continuing."
Bush confident GOP will win
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush said Wednesday "I see a lot of enthusiasm among grass-roots" Republican activists and predicted "we're gonna win" the mid-term elections.
"Now, I understand here in Washington, people have already determined the outcome of the election -- like it's over even before the people actually start voting," Bush said, referring to predictions that the Democrats could take the House, Senate or both in November.
"We've got some people dancing in the end zone here in Washington, D.C., measuring their drapes, going over to the Capitol and saying, my new office looks beautiful. I think I'm going to have this size drape here this color."
http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/2006/10/bush-confident-gop-will-win.html
I smell civil unrest on the horizon...
(...and is anyone else sick of hearing the Moron-in-Chief start sentences with "there's people... we got people... some people"???)
Some people... sheesh.
Wouldn't it be ironic if we hear Republicans squealing like pigs on November 8 after they are trounced complaining about voter fraud and defective voter machines.
This is from a Seattle area peace umbrella organization. Then there is a demonstration at the Fed Building Sat. by "usual suspects." There was also some speculation in a Kos diary about potential for war with Iran. Let's hope it's no more than an exercise, but these expensive "show of force" things happen at our financial & social expense. They have had them in the Pacific too. Meanwhile, lots of opportunities for canvassing, phone banking, attending events, donating & writing LTEs. I heard of quite a few people who quit the Seattle Times & also the Portland Oregonian for endorsing conservative candidates, including someone with a 15 year subscription. Money talks.
from SNOW:
And now for Iran. The Bush Administration appears to be actively planning a military strike against Iran – the beginning of a war which could dwarf even the Iraq war in its grim potential for devastating global conflict. You may have heard the warnings of Seymour Hirsh and Daniel Ellsberg or read in The Nation that a strike force, led by the nuclear aircraft carrier U.S.S. Eisenhower, has been deployed to the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iran. Some experts claim that this is a normal deployment, but others believe that it is an intentional “show of force,” if not an active provocation or an attempt to create a pretext for war, like the Tonkin Gulf incident in Vietnam. We have now learned that U.S. minesweepers have been ordered to follow the U.S.S. Eisenhower. This is an even more ominous signal of preparation for military action, since such ships would not normally accompany a strike force on routine deployments.
Here's how you can help: You can sign the "No War with Iran!" petition, created by Peace Action, that rejects any U.S. military action against Iran and demands direct negotiations: http://www.peace-action.org/Iranpetition.html This petition is directed to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and copies will go to Chairs of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Committee on International Relations
Posted by: Patti F at October 25, 2006 03:05 PM
I'm off to PA this weekend to campaign for Casey.
How about other readers? What are other people doing to stop the Republican machine?
Posted by: Patti F at October 25, 2006 03:05 PM
I'm off to PA this weekend to campaign for Casey.
How about other readers? What are other people doing to stop the Republican machine?
Patti I have been virtual calling into Virginia, looking for a place in Arlington to stay for voter protection and GOTV if I have any luck will be there by Sunday.
Bubba
The Republicans did exactly that after our last WA election - when Gregoire narrowly won governorship. They complained of foul play.
Re the economy, if it's so booming, I wonder why CountryWide mortgage company, the largest, is doing big layoffs?!
Patti F
I sure do agree about follow the money - there have been great events here with Obama, Reid, Gore - but can't get away from work to go. Sure hoping for Darcy Burner, who originally would have been considered a dark horse. Her district has never had a Dem.
V
I understand your point about young people not voting was to stimulate discussion. It's hard to believe they wouldn't want to participate in government, to be represented. Maybe they don't really understand that their vote is somehow tied to their representation - that they work to pay their representatives & that what they get in return depends on the quality of that representation. I know alot feel powerless - I sometimes do - but that is self-perpetuating.
I would so like to participate with other families of victims of Parkinsons in a class action libel suit against Rush Limbaugh.
Last night two major television networks (CBS AND NBC) stated that the President has decided to change his tactics in Iraq, and that in a year to a year and a half we will be ready to pull our troops out of Iraq.
What is this, a Hail Mary pass?
Encourage military to check this site:
http://www.appealforredress.org/
I will distribute it all I can.
Honk, honnnkk...
Limbaugh did apologize however at the end he said:"It's still an act over the top", as reported on the Today show this am.
The racist ads in Tenn. as reported by "tweetie" this am "will activate white men to protect their women as they watch returns from a bar."SHEESH!! They will stop at nothing to win. Are we that prepared to fight this to the finish or have the stomach and fortitude to do so? GET GOING already !!
Wouldn't it be ironic if we hear Republicans squealing like pigs on November 8 after they are trounced complaining about voter fraud and defective voter machines.
Posted by: Bubba at October 25, 2006 03:26 PM
IF that happens, I confess it might just make me ROTFLMAO in hysterics and have to get someone to call first responders to revive me... How would neoCon pubs know if an election were rigged or not... unless they know how to rig an election...?
Takes one to know one, & all that rot; pot - kettle - black.... ;-)
Posted by: monkey at October 25, 2006 03:20 PM
Between his phrases that involve the word "folks" and "those people," I'm ready to bitch slap him with a dead fish.
BTW, does anyone else have a strange out-of-body experience, like being on the far end of a barrel with an echo chamber, trying to listen to Herr Dumbya's speeches? Today I actually tried to watch part of the speech and a few minutes of the Q&A afterward, and for the life of me, I just couldn't understand anything he said...! What the journalists asked, I understood, but his answers must be newly-invented Bu$hSpeak words and phrases that haven't been interpreted and re-interpreted and translated by SnowJob and spinmeisters who yap about what they think he said but might not have said. I got the 'stay the course' part when he talked about a year to 18 months more in Iraq (he's said the same before, or even shorter timelines, none of which have materialized), but the rest of it... I just didn't understand.
Media Challenges Ohio Exit Poll Rules
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102406T.shtml
Ohio's new guidelines on conducting exit polls on Election Day, written after a judge threw out the old rules, are vague and confusing and should be rejected, a coalition of national news organizations argues in a lawsuit.
{{{Other states mentioned besides OH.}}}
Humans Living Far Beyond Planet's Means, WWF Says
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/102406EA.shtml
The growing human population will need two planets' worth of natural resources every year by 2050 on current trends, the WWF conservation group said. Numbers of many species, from fish to mammals, fell by about a third from 1970 to 2003 largely because of human threats such as pollution, clearing of forests and over-fishing.
Rory Cox | Why Should We Bring LNG to Our Shores?
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/102406EB.shtml
Rory Cox asks why California is being committed to costly, polluting liquefied natural gas (LNG) that undermines California's clean energy laws: "Clean energy laws are meaningless without the political will to see them through. And while Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signs sweeping bills to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he is also quietly supporting LNG."
Why We Fight, Part XXXI:
---------------
(AP) An embattled Indiana congressman has launched a new campaign ad that warns a vote for his Democratic opponent could trigger a shift in House leadership and advance a "homosexual agenda."
In the one-minute radio ad paid for by Friends of Rep. John Hostettler, an announcer impersonating Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" character says a vote for challenger Brad Ellsworth would be a vote for California Democrat Nancy Pelosi as House speaker.
"Pelosi will then put in motion her radical plan to advance the homosexual agenda, led by Barney Frank, reprimanded by the House after paying for sex with a man who ran a gay brothel out of Congressman Frank's home," the narrator says.
[snip]
The ad, which debuted Saturday across southwestern Indiana, also accuses Ellsworth of wanting to "give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens with Detroit liberal John Conyers, and raise taxes with New York liberal Charlie Rangel."
"I know what you're thinking," the narrator says. "Is this true? Well, do you feel lucky? Go ahead, vote for Brad Ellsworth. Make Nancy Pelosi's day."
[snip]
Democrats need just 15 seats to regain control of the House, and Hostettler, a Christian fundamentalist, has been labeled one of the most vulnerable GOP incumbents in the nation.
Hostettler has never received more than 53 percent of the vote in six elections, and the district's voters are notoriously fickle. In four successive elections in the 1970s, they elected four different congressmen.
[snip]
Hostettler has frequently taken unpopular stances on immigration, gun control and abortion. In 2004, he drafted the Marriage Protection Act, designed to prevent federal courts from ordering states to recognize same-sex marriages permitted in other states.
---------------
donkeys get yer indiana jones on,
Otter
When Limbaugh made his shameless attack against Michael J. Fox commercial I was outraged, but now realize that his attacks have brought tremendous attention to the commercial and the stem cell debate that would not have happened without that attack. Who will voters believe, druggie Limbaugh or Michael J. Fox?
As for using sports figures to make political points, everyone I have ever worked with in politics have instructed me to keep political signs and activities from sports venues.
Reason: people take their sports seriously and don't want to hear about politics when enjoying their favorite pastime. Kirk Warner and Jeff Suppan may make the stem cell opposition backfire in Missouri by their commercial during the world series.
Bush is very clever at mixing up words and confusing "those people",x-aclty where he wants the electorate this season. We laugh at his ineptitude and "they" smile all the way to the bank!
Almost have finished Frank Rich's book on "The Greatest Story Ever Sold".... X-actly how the WAR was sold. He's quite hard on JK and the campaign,the truth hurts,and he minces no words on how Bush uses this speak to get votes and believers..something we need to grasp b4 too late.
America & the Dollar Illusion
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,440054,00.html
World Enters the Dangerous Era of American Impotence
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102506H.shtml
(original from Le Figaro at site)
Creating global awareness of our true economic condition
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102506H.shtml
These are all related - we've been sold to the highest bidder, much as Iraq has to Halliburton. Same players, same profiteers, same victim cycle. We have far more in common with the Iraqi people than we probably realize.
Sorry - this is the 3rd reference - apology for duplication
http://www.economyincrisis.org/
We also have more in common with the victims of Skilling & Enron than I ever thought.
Tonight hubby and I canvas while carrying signage "quit killing our kids and innocent Iraqi civilians." Last night some guy told us to leave the country. We responded:"why aren't you in Iraq?"
October 25, 2006
New Jersey Court Backs Rights for Same-Sex Unions
By LAURA MANSNERUS
The State Supreme Court in New Jersey said today that same-sex couples are entitled to “the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the civil marriage statutes.”
But the court, in its 4-3 ruling, said that whether that status should be called marriage, or something else, “is a matter left to the democratic process.”
The court’s eagerly awaited decision found that an arrangement akin to that in Vermont, which authorizes civil unions between same-sex couples but does not call them marriages, would satisfy the New Jersey constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.
The court gave the legislature a six-month deadline to enact the necessary legislation to provide for same-sex unions with rights equal to those of married couples.
The decision leaves Massachusetts as the only state to authorize same-sex marriages as such. Since the Massachusetts Supreme Court held in 2003 that that full marriage rights were required for all couples under that state’s constitution, gay-rights advocates have suffered a string of defeats in other states. The Court of Appeals of New York rejected a similar argument in July.
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/25/nyregion/26marriagecnd.html
Posted by: Otter at October 25, 2006 02:52 PM
So we let it go at that? It's all about priorities. Why is participatory democracy not a priority?
Posted by: V at October 25, 2006 07:01 PM
Because it requires participation, and I'm not tryin' to be cute when I type that.
I agree with the premise in a huge way, the indifference to knowledge frustrates me to no end, but the pitfalls of the kind of freedoms that this country possessed 'til recently has led to an "oh well" mentality of the turd kind out there in the wasteland.
This country needs one helluva movement.
Forrest Dump
I didn't say we let it go at that, V., I'm merely reporting what a certain segment of the population clearly believes. I'm with monkey, actually.
and he's so totally with it I could plotz,
Otter
SOOOOOO....
What do we DO to get young(er) people interested in participatory democracy?
Hint: taking away their freedoms, nullifying the Constitution, eviscerating the Bill of Rights, and killing their buddies in illegal wars hasn't helped any.
Make it possible for them to vote using their iPods.
They hate us for our free downloads.
Jason Leopold: The Failure of Jeff Skilling's Deregulation
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102506Z.shtml
Jason Leopold reports that, "And now Skilling, for all his hubris, is headed to a federal penitentiary where he will spend the next 24 years sorting out his life after being found guilty of conspiracy, fraud, and a laundry list of other charges related to the financial machinations that brought down Enron Corporation five years ago. But the carnage that deregulation has wrought across the country has cost consumers tens of billions of dollars in additional costs over the years. Even worse, the deregulated market that Skilling insisted would be a boon to consumers in the long run is still ripe for manipulation."
Jason Leopold | 9/11 Widows Want Rice/Tenet Documents Released
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102506A.shtml
9/11 widows have started an online petition in hopes of gathering the public's support to force the White House to declassify documents related to a July 10, 2001, meeting between Condoleezza Rice and former CIA director George Tenet, in which the two discussed a pending attack on US soil by al-Qaeda.
Robert Scheer | Enron's Enablers Go Unpunished
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102506G.shtml
"How convenient to close the book without considering the ties between the Enron perps and those in two Bush presidencies whose actions enabled these hustlers. The Enron crooks would never have been more than petty thieves were it not for the political support they received from their fellow Texas oil buddies. They knew that, and they paid for it: Over the years, Lay and Enron gave the Bush family politicians $3 million in contributions, as well as lending the campaigning George W. a jet on at least eight occasions," writes Robert Scheer.
Phillis D. Engelbert and Lily Jarman-Reisch | Under New Law, Americans Must Guard Against Abuse of Power
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102506D.shtml
"The aspect of the Military Commissions Act most troubling to legal scholars is its denial of habeas corpus - the right of a prisoner to challenge his or her detention as unlawful - to non-citizens designated 'enemy combatants.' Habeas corpus is a cornerstone of our Constitution (its suspension is allowed only in cases of invasion or insurrection - of which we have neither) and is an important recourse for those who have been wrongly imprisoned," write Phillis D. Engelbert and Lily Jarman-Reisch.
{{{Two articles on this link - the second opens with a paragraph that says other countries are now following the US lead about torture policies.... So much for 'setting a good example.'}}}
Troops Petition Congress for Pullout From Iraq