Prague Plays, Plots, and Prays

Thanks for sharing this Karen. It's beautiful! Makes me wish I were there.

In terms of the Velvet Revolution, we've got elections coming up and polls are looking extra favorable for the people in our country...ie things don't look good for the Republicans.

Nolie on her blog has been hammering the "register and vote" theme.

I'm working an event tomorrow...exciting because it's a women to women event in Chelsea.

The calls aren't going so well. So I think our velvet revolution needs to take a different form.

Bob Ney officially "out".

http://www.yahoo.com/s/412624

Line them up and show them the door!

Karen
A couple of my co-workers just returned from the Ukraine, where they were teaching people things that can be done to help children with disabilities. They were very well received & came back with alot of stories.

Am planning to make it to central Europe in the next year somehow. Thanks for the report!

I did also read that Prague has been on high alert for awhile because of a terrorism plot. Not sure if that would be apparent. Last couple of times I've been in Europe I did see more guards & even military in train stations, more barricades around embassies (that could block vehicles), and metal detectors at museums & such (esp London & Paris).

Here, finishing up the week then will volunteer for two phone banks (MoveOn & a campaign one) & attend an afternoon reception for a group that is going to be starting even more peace groups throughout North Seattle. There is already one in every neighborhood but I think there's a groundswell of fed up people - what with the situations in Afghanistan, Iraq and the potential for trouble in Iran, Syria, North Korea and so many other places, not to mention the bloodshed in Africa.

I'm glad Anjelina Jolie used her celebrity to speak out about how the west (she referred specifically to countries like Australia and US) pretty much ignores the situation of refugees (most are not from countries with oil). Seh talked about how she saw an elegant couple sunning on the beach, completely ignoring a body that had washed up on shore. & glad to hear about Bono's joint project with The Gap -even if it's a huge corporate entity (the "Red" project). Even glad Madonna is adopting an African child - it may increase awareness.

Out of Control Burns threatens Nuclear War last night in his debate with Tester:

"Burns said the U.S. ought to pressure China, North Korea's neighbor to the north, to get the nation to drop its nuclear ambitions. He said America could limit the amount of Chinese-made goods coming into the U.S. if China doesn't do so. But should talks fail, Burns hinted at the idea of nuclear strikes against North Korea."

"We've still got missiles in the ground," he said. "We can still deal with a country with nuclear bombs."

"Tester said the U.S. shouldn't leave important diplomacy to other nations."

ABC The Note

Karen hopefully I can meet your friend Janet sometime after I have read up on dance.

Bubba,
It's OK, she speaks human! Our work is all about bringing people back into their bodies--not as dancers only, but as human beings in communication with others.

Are you in Austin?

Bubba,

I went to the Kafka Museum today and got a sense of the Jewish sector before WW I--it seems that while there was anti-Semitism here, there were also periods where everyone got along pretty well. Kafka saw the dissolution coming though.

Full text of "Will The Levee Break", the Paul Krugman column that monkey mentioned near the end of the previous thread, is available here:

http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/

just gotta love that radical hillbilly chic,
Otter

The Black Angel's Death Song
by Velvet Underground

The myriad choices of his fate
Set themselves out upon a plate
For him to choose
What had he to lose

Not a ghost bloodied country
All covered with sleep
Where the black angel did weep
Not an old city street in the east
Gone to choose

And wandering's brother
Walked on through the night
With his hair in his face
On a long splintered cut from the knife of G.T.

The rally man's patter ran on through the dawn
Until we said so long
To his skull-shrill yell

Shining brightly red-rimmed and
Red-lined with the time
Infused with the choice of the mind
On ice skates scraping chunks
From the bills

Cut mouth bleeding razor's
Forgetting the pain
Antiseptic remains cool goodbye
So you fly
To the cozy brown snow of the east
Gone to choose, choose again

Sacrificials remains make it hard to forget
Where you come from
The stools of your eyes
Serve to realize fame, choose again

And roverman's refrain of the sacrilege recluse
For the loss of a horse
Went the bowels and a tail of a rat
Come again, choose to go

And if Epiphany's terror reduced you to shame
Have your head bobbed and weaved
Choose a side to be on

If the stone glances off
Split didactics in two
Leave the colors of the mouse trails
Don't scream, try between
If you choose, if you choose, try to lose
For the loss of remain come and start

Start the game I che che che che I
Che che che ka tak koh
Choose to choose
Choose to choose, choose to go

Karen:

As your surrogate Catholic mother, I commend your ecumenism for portraying these Catholic saints today on the thread.

And I'm eating my heart out with jealousy that you're there.

Please send a toast for me from a pub of your choice. It will fend off my current bout of travel envy.

Weeping at my computer,

Sister Mary Fe

Posted by: Bubba at October 13, 2006 12:01 PM
------------------------------------------------
Out of Control Burns threatens Nuclear War last night in his debate with Tester:

"Burns said the U.S. ought to pressure China, North Korea's neighbor to the north, to get the nation to drop its nuclear ambitions. He said America could limit the amount of Chinese-made goods coming into the U.S. if China doesn't do so. But should talks fail, Burns hinted at the idea of nuclear strikes against North Korea."
===============================================
Somebody should point out to the Senator that the U.S. is hardly in a position to demand anything from China, since we are a wholly owned subsidiary of that country... yeah, maybe we can diminish the amount of their imports to the U.S., and then what? They call in our debt?

The big stick is dead, Mr. Burns. If you ever decide to join the segment of the population that lives in reality, please alert the media...

The sad truth is that this country has been so weakened by George Bush's pathetic leadership, that our threats are hollow and meaningless now. A superpower in memory only - Debt ridden, over-stretched military, shoddy homeland protection, truly sad emergency preparedness, growing poverty...

Congratulations to all the stick men out there. You're doin a heckuva job...

Remember when the Chinese premier said it's better to just shut up, be quiet? Well that goes double for Conrad Burns.

Glad to see Ney is gone.

just realized that in one line Burns was urging both a Trade war like the one that started the Great Depression and a Nuclear War. Are others listening to these debates? Tonight its Brown v Dewine, wonder what kind of whacko policies DeWine will urge tonight? All China would then need to do is call in our trillion dollar debt to them, and then watch the world economy collapse.

I will point out that it is stated efforts by the United States to develop "usable" nuclear weapons, coupled to the policy regime change, that is likely driving nations like Iran to develop their own weapons.

North Korea was clearly interested in developing these weapons before the Bush Administration came into power, but nothing that Bush has done can be seen as supporting the argument for non-proliferation. What Kim Jong-Il knows is that while Saddam Hussein is on trial for his life today, likely to be hung, he's still calling the shots at the negotiation table.

The simple message that Bush Administration actions continue to send to bad actors around the planet is this: You better have a nuke.

Interesting story from the Huffington Post.

Did Carville and McCurry Sell Kerry Out?

By Taylor Marsh

Woodward's book lays it out pretty plainly. No one should be surprised.

One important point, however, is that people have started talking about the Carville - Matalin angle, but everyone stops there. If you read a bit further Mike McCurry comes into the picture. It seals the deal.

Here's a story not in the Woodward book. According to one person I talked to today, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Joe Lockhart, in the middle of a heated presidential campaign, started making new business calls out of the Kerry war room giving out confidential campaign information while he was at it. Obviously trying to hedge his bets, he'd call out, give poll data and other info to people, while trying to drum up business for himself. Class act.

Frankly, it reminds me of what McCurry did on the Net Neutrality stuff.

For DC Democrats it's all about keeping your candidates close, but your business associates and their interests closer.

As for what's said in the Woodward book, one Kerry camp insider I talked to today certainly wasn't surprised by the revelations.

"The fact that the Clintonistas did not truly have JK's best interest at heart in 2004 comes as no surprise to anyone deeply involved in the Kerry camp." - Kerry insider, who would not go on the record.
At some point it got out of control.

The DC Dems hired to fight for John Kerry simply sold him out at the first sign of a fight. Except for a loyal group closest to Kerry, many of the people in his employ simply sucked. I can't say it any plainer. Woodward offers more proof on what's been speculated about for a couple of years now.

But did Carville and McCurry really sell Kerry out? Playing stenographer, because this is important, I offer the whole picture, which goes way beyond Carville. It points to the reality that if our presidential candidate is going to win he or she has to extricate themselves from these self-interested traitors inside our own party who are willing to sell out the Democratic Party cause, which must be to fight and win elections, in support of their own interests.

- more -

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/taylor-marsh/did-carville-and-mccurry-_b_31333.html

This is an old story that doesn't deserve repeating. Right McCurry, Carville and Lockhart were all into a conspiracy to assure that Bush was elected in '04; as was Bill Clinton, nonsense!

and as to Clinton not helping Kerry, as I recall Clinton had just undergone tripple bi pass surgery when he went out and campaigned for JK weeks after surgery; was that not enough? Just don't buy slamming these Democratic loyal folks, its a total waste of energy.

"The fact that the Clintonistas did not truly have JK's best interest at heart in 2004 comes as no surprise to anyone deeply involved in the Kerry camp." - Kerry insider, who would not go on the record."

Can't agree with you. I always felt that guys like Jamie Rubin and Richard Holbrook were out selling their agenda instead of John's agenda - and I know that I'm not the only member of the Kerry online campaign who felt that way.

P.S. -- Did I happen to mention that Tucker Carlson is a doink?

him too brutus,
Otter

And in other news...

---------------

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Republican Rep. Christopher Shays, who is in a tough re-election fight, said Friday the Abu Ghraib prison abuses were more about pornography than torture.

The veteran Connecticut congressman said a National Guard unit was primarily responsible for the abuses although it was actually the 372nd Military Police Company from Cresaptown, Md., an Army Reserve unit.

"It was a National Guard unit run amok," Shays said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It was torture because sex abuse is torture. It was gross and despicable ... This is more about pornography than torture."

Shays sought to defuse controversy over his previous comments suggesting the Abu Ghraib abuses weren't torture but instead involved a sex ring of troops.

"Now I've seen what happened in Abu Ghraib, and Abu Ghraib was not torture," Shays said at a debate Wednesday.

"It was outrageous, outrageous involvement of National Guard troops from (Maryland) who were involved in a sex ring and they took pictures of soldiers who were naked," added Shays. "And they did other things that were just outrageous. But it wasn't torture."

The lawmaker's comments were in a transcript of the debate provided by his opponent, Diane Farrell. Shays' campaign, contacted Friday, did not dispute the comments.

[snip]

----------------

it's official: the lunatics have taken over the asylum,
Otter

if some of us want to beat up on Hillary that is OK but to blame Bill or Carville is ridiculous and not something that JK would ascribe to as a reason for his loss.

Question: We are now 24 days before a resounding victory for Progressives. Republicans are in disarary and many of us here are busting our butts, making phone calls, organizing campaign activities and like otter creating an antiwar message for change on election day. Why in the world, 24 days before an election when we should all be busy defeating conservative candidates, would we choose tonight as the time to start eating our youngins? Could someone please splain.

Ah, yes... WWJKD -- What Would John Kerry Do?

Bubba, that piece was posted on the Huffington Post a few days ago, and is apparently based on reporting in Woodward's new book - including the bit that the author claims implicates Carville. I just saw it as a diary item on the Edwards blog moments before I posted it here.

Well, see? There's your problem right there. Everybody knows it ain't kosher to go mixing red meat and diary like that.

did I mention that Shrub is a doink yet?,
Otter

Matthew: Bob Woodward also published a book last year praising Bush,so let's not presume everyting he says is the gospil. James Carville has done more for Progressives than any other political activist. Personally I will stand by James Carville any day of the week over Bob Woodward.

Bubba
I don't trust either one of them very far - not given that Bush is still in office.

Hi folks.

Dead thread? We feel an urge to beat up on each other?

Good. I want to join the fray.

Rivals University of Michigan and Pennsylvania State attack each other tomorrow. This rivalry is sure to have some fireworks.

My bet is on the wolverines to pulvarize the nifty nittany lions.

Hey sparrow,

I'm a nittany lion by birth, so I have to put my money on them. I think that furry otter guy might be with me!

roar, lions, roar!

Karen,

There's a diary over at dkos regarding Riverbend and whether she is still alive. There is slight mention of Fear Up. I said I'd send you over there if you had any info.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/13/195452/88

Bubba, not to give Bush another term, but to allow Hillary and Bill their chance.

It was JK's chance in 04 and Hill in 08, as was understood inside the Beltway back then.

Too many nearer the campaign found questionable policy pushes, or damning with faint praise or no praise.

Many others worrying more about their own in 08, like Richardson, than allowing a recount of NM.

Meanwhile the lack of loyalty, Bubba, is something that isn't new to the professional consultant class. Clinton started those people.

Kerry should have stuck with his inner circle.

The real loss was vote and voter disenfranchisement, the machines, and the GOP usual tricks. Millions in regulations we couldn't control.

Well, now, as we used to say at the university with the blue & white uniforms and the ferocious feline mascot... GO CATS!!

Of course, that was at the *other* university, the one down in Lexington with the big U and the big K for initials. And the Wildcats still effin' *rule* when it comes to march-madness basketball booyah.

Fortunately for easily-confoozled otters such as I, however, the place where I got my undergrad degree also uses blue and white uniforms and has a ferocious feline mascot too.

That was at the university over in Centre County, the one with the big P and the S and the U for initials. And the Nittany Lions still effin' *rule* when it comes to fall-football gridiron geronimo.

(Now, my most recent university has a pine tree for a mascot but calls all its sports teams 'the Cardinal', as in color not as in bird. Go figure, huh? Still, without the place with the big S and the big U for initials we wouldn't have us any of these here fancy internets to be typing away in... but I digress.)

Anyway, apparently it's all about the blue and white over here these days. So sorry, sparrow, but I guess I'll have to chime in with Carol on this one... GO LIONS!!

the irony here is that I am *so* not a sports geek either way or the other,
Otter

marjorie et al, I believe in the doctrine of personal responsibility. I was a part of the Denver campaign, worked tirelessly for JK, and I am prepared to do so again in '08. Perhaps we could have worked harder and smarter and we blew it in Colorado but I won't lame Bill Clinton or James Carville fo our shortcomings, that would be fruitless. We kicked butt in Denver but overlooked critical Hispanic voters in Pueblo and lost Colorado by a razor thin margin so I can say we blew in strategy. "We" made mistakes starting with Bob Schrum and once again consultants telling the candidate how to respond rather than vise versa. Losing campaigns always make mistakes and wish they could have done things differently; '04 is no different; lets just make '06 a success. The point is that we had this very same discussion here the first week the dcp started up. its amazing we are back almost 2 years later ruminating on what could have should have happened.
We are so paranoid about losing that we want to find scapegoats for our losses even using our friends like Bill Clinton and James Carville. For that matter I am probably alone in saying I am not even 100% sure that Hillary will run, and this discussion is about Hillary. But again we have 25 days left to work our butts off and I plan on getting a good night's rest in and go to work tomorrow on my Va project. I reached my 500th call tonight into Va with a target of 1000 calls in the next 3 weeks. I implore each of you to work in whatever campaign your heart drives you to, but work like the troops and your country is counting on you to make a difference, but please don't look for scapegoats.

and did I mention Hooke 'Em Horns. Doesn't Michigan play Ohio State sparrow or is that just wishful thinking?

Hey, Bubba, could be worse. In another one of my online communities, I always had to chip in and cheer on the Katy Tigers. :0)

houston we have a ballgame,
Otter

Posted by: Bubba at October 13, 2006 10:25 PM

OSU is usually the last game.

Hail to the victors vailant!

I'd say, "Let's go BLUE" but you lions would get confused.

Lions and Tigers and 'Cats, oh my!

Hmm.

---------------

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon's Inspector General ordered an investigation into alleged abuse at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay that holds suspected Taliban and al Qaeda members, a spokesman said on Friday.

The order followed a statement last week from a U.S. Marine saying Guantanamo guards described physically and mentally abusing detainees, including slamming one inmate's head into a cell door and denying others privileges just to anger them.

The Marine's sworn statement was released by lawyers for detainees last week. The inspector general's office, which serves as the Pentagon's internal watchdog agency, received the Marine's affidavit and letter by e-mail on Tuesday, the spokesman said.

The case was referred to Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, which is responsible for the prison at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. No deadline has been set for the investigation's conclusion, the spokesman said.

[snip]

----------------

they only hate us for our freedoms,
Otter

Bubba, just mentioning mixed loyalties as a given, with more than enough reason, blame and lessons to go around to all of us.

When we lose millions of overseas votes to GOP technicalities, and manual buttons on touchscreen that let you vote numerous times (with unexplained exit polling and more votes than people?), there are many areas we need to play it better.

Considering what we were up against, we did better than most Dems would like to admit.

Tonight's Real Time is very entertaining. Lou Dobbs keeps saying things can only help our chances in '06 and '08.

And oddly enough, when people like Jimmy Carter go to monitor elections in third-world countries and such, they usually take wide discrepancies between votes counted and exit polls, large numbers of mis-marked ballots, time-and-date chicanery with ballots cast, and so forth to be clear evidence of massive election fraud.

lucky for us we're not a third-world country huh?,
Otter

Bubba, I posted what I thought was a provocative piece. I'm not looking to kill Carville, but many of us did have seriously problems with people like Rubin and Holbrook. I was laser-focused on Iraq during that election cycle, and I sincerely believe that people like Mark Barrett, Ron Chusid, and myself did a much better job selling Kerry's position (even if we didn't initially agree with it) than the professionals from the Clinton Administration. I have to conclude that these individuals are not stupid, but simply more interested in scoring points, and defending their own legacies, than representing the candidate in the best possible light.

How about just agreeing that Cahill and Schrum were not the sharpest tacticians known to man. And I have no objection to Bill Clinton defending his legacy; isn't he entitled to do that? Its not his job to win elections for Progressives but just to be another voice for Progressive candidates and ideas. When I was in Cleveland a few weeks ago it was Bill Clinton's auroa that brought 1200 contributers and $600,000 to our campaigns that would not have happened that afternoon without him. heck he had just flown in from Austin hours before from having to say good by to one of his dearest friends. My gosh what else do we want from him. Was it then his job to not only turn out an enormous crowd and raise a large sum for our candidadtes to be personally responsible to go out and win elections for Ohio candidates, I don't think so. Sorry I am just not into this blame game and think that Bob Rubin served this nation well as Treasury Secy.,whether or not you agreed with his economic policies or political views. My views may not mesh with yours' either but the idea that these folks did not want JK to win, in my mind is totally illogical. But again other than the Huffington Post and Woodward incidental comments, why are we blowing this up as some major conflict? There are different wings to the Democratic /Progressive Party and as long as there is party loyalty(which is not the case with Lieberman) then what is the problem here, or are we back to insisting on ideological purity which I just don't buy into.

Bubba, I have consistently referred to Jamie Rubin, not Bob Rubin.

Lettterman too funny tonight when dissing Hastert,taking him out with a crane.
"REPUBLICANS GO LEAN IN 07'"

http://www.startribune.com/784/story/741960.html
Minnesota Poll: Deadlocked no more: Hatch leads Pawlenty
DFL candidate leads 46 to 37 percent, apparently benefitting from GOP's woes.
{In the past, the Star-Trib's polls have been more accurate than any others regarding MN politics. The only year all the polls got it wrong was when that moronic wrestler got elected.}

http://www.startribune.com/484/story/739848.html
Girl questioned after threatening Bush on MySpace

Democrats Challenge Pesticide Testing on Pregnant Women, Infants
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/101306EA.shtml
Three Democrats in Congress have added their names to a lawsuit seeking to end any pesticide testing on children by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Frist's Charity Under Scrutiny: (AP)
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's AIDS charity paid nearly a half-million dollars in consulting fees to members of his political inner circle, according to tax returns providing the first financial accounting of the presidential hopeful's nonprofit.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/17/politics/main1134721.shtml

Senate Report: Abramoff, Norquist "Perpetrated a Fraud" on Taxpayers
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101306Z.shtml
Five conservative nonprofit organizations, including one run by prominent Republican Grover Norquist, "appear to have perpetrated a fraud" on taxpayers by selling their clout to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Senate investigators said in a report issued yesterday. The report includes previously unreleased e-mails between the now-disgraced lobbyist and officers of the nonprofit groups, showing that Abramoff funneled money from his clients to the groups. In exchange, the groups, among other things, produced ostensibly independent newspaper op-ed columns or news releases that favored the clients' positions.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061014/ts_nm/korea_north_dc_99
U.N. sanctions on N.Korea expected Saturday

Bush’s Willing Legislators
By Paul Craig Roberts
The Case for Impeachment And Why It Won’t Happen.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15294.htm
{{{I fervently hope the Dem legislators don't let us down *when* they become a majority in the House and the Senate and Roberts will be proven wrong.... If he's wrong, I think he'll gladly eat humble pie and say so.}}}

hey otter -- you around? Meet me in IRC if you are

It's another football Saturday and in light of previous comments by Sparrow and Bubba , I feel compelled to say Go Bucks! It's Michigan State today, but our last game will be with that team up north. We hope to turn both Michigan teams scarlet and gray, but on Nov. 7th, I'm certain you will all join me in saying to Ohio, "Let's go blue!"

What interesting comments!
As in some arguments, I agree with elements of both sides!
I am going to be pragmatic and go join a phone bank, then
a peace group (short-term goal, long-term goal). I even
have them mapped out geographically with the shortest
route!

Considering what we were up against, we did better than most Dems would like to admit.
Posted by: Marjorie G at October 13, 2006 11:21 PM

Bubba and others--
I agree that mistakes were made in the 2004 campaign, BUT-- this is so important-- Kerry and others have clearly learned from those mistakes. And , I also agree with Marjorie G that, considering everything that was going on, it's time to admit that we did quite well. I also would add the specific thought that , in 2004 our country was still in the thrall of the conservative mindset that has hobbled us since 1980: this to me was the biggest barrier to victory of all, and, again, considering the anesthetizing,paralyzing effect of this mindset on our country, it's actually amazing that our side did as well as it did in 2004. Now that our country has been brought to its knees. our citizenry seems finally to be snapping out of its collective coma. For that reason, both the 2006 and 2008 elections are bound to be very different than 2004.