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San Francisco Values
![mn_pelosi4_322_mac[1].jpg](http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/mn_pelosi4_322_mac[1].jpg)
I laugh as I hear the punditocracy, particularly the more conservative, bemoan the onslaught of "San Francisco Values" taking over Congress in the form of the new Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi. They talk about how she seems to be running from the right-wing inspired moniker used to describe her: "San Francisco Liberal".
As if San Francisco is so bad.
First of all, let's get down to the basics of what San Francisco truly is versus what some THINK it is.
#1. San Francisco likes children. Evidence the number of programs for families and children. Evidence the passage, by an overwhelming percentage of 75% of the voter turnout, of a half-billion dollar school improvement bond to fix its public schools. About the parents of children in public schools who attend Board of Ed meetings, volunteer hours of their time to their PTAs, or call and bug their local Supervisor to get things done to their local park, library or street.
#2. San Francisco likes a clean environment. Evidence the historic city's Clean Water Program which twenty-years later is still a national model of how a city can manage its wastewater so that its pristine beaches and bay can stay that way. Or the city's own department of environment, which monitors the city's air quality, and mitigates hazardous substances from our public buildings.
#3. San Francisco likes to take a good risk now and then. More artists start here and are nurtured here before they go on to their chosen destiny: Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Irwin, Robin Williams, to name a few. That's because we like cutting edge things. Like venture capitalism to develop start-up internet businesses--of which the strongest survived and are thriving to this day. Like supporting stem-cell research in our THREE major, world-class universities and hospital research labs. Like the biotech industry now 10 miles across the bridge in Emeryville. We like creating jobs for the future. These are risks worth taking for our citizens for the benefit of the world.
#4. San Franciscans learned to thrive through survival. This city was officially gone 100 years ago after the 1906 Earthquake and fire. But since that time, the spirit, commitment and dedication to re-build this place from the ground up has been a theme inspiring leadership in all political circles of this city. That leadership includes the new Speaker of the House.
Finally, think about the passengers of United Flight 93 on September 11. Many of those passengers who fought the hijackers on that plane were on their way home--to San Francisco.
Now I know here at DCP we represent all cities across the country that have a similar sense of commitment, compassion and vision as described above. But since it is my town, and I've lived here and worked for its public sector for a long time, I thought it was important to get this right before something or someone else tries to paint this town as something wrong and untrue. Especially now that there is new leadership at Congress' helm. I happen to know these things about this town because I live here and have been part of it in a very real way.
So before you let the drip drip drip of right-wing propaganda creep in and meme San Francisco as the crazy end of American culture wars, remember, there are longer-lasting values listed above that this city stands tall on and continues to this day. Those are values that are eternal to this town. And I for one, am glad its being brought in spirit to this nation.
Its about time.
I love San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver BC!!! & the values - WOW!!
Down here in Los Angeles, we talk about all the weirdos in San Fran all the time. But let's see...
- Los Angeles destroyed its excellent mass transit to worship the car god.
- Los Angeles gave the tax revolt and the Reagan Revolution to the nation - not to mention Pentecostal fundamentalism.
- Los Angeles, like Miami, is home to some seriously reactionary ethnic communities.
I'll take the San Fran weirdos any day.
I left my heart...
well, in Berkeley anyway!
Ally
LA has plenty of wierdos. LOL
From previous thread:
Bush said just today America needs "one voice."
Posted by: not my president at January 5, 2007 02:08 PM
And he intends that that "one voice" be his dictatorial voice, no regard for the three branches of government, no regard for the voices of WE THE PEOPLE (whom he seems to feel should die as a sacrifice for HIS lies and control of the oil in Iraq, or whereve he thinks he can order troops to invade next in yet another illegal and unconstitutional war crime...).
Dang, but when is karma gonna smack that lying war criminal across the face with a dead fish to knock some sense into the echo chamber between his ears???
Can we start impeachment proceedings tomorrow morning...?
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2007/01/05/notes010507.DTL&nl=fix
Mark Morford
Damn Liberals Cost Us The War!
At the dinner table in a very red state, little room for obvious truths. But can you try?
Conduct Charges Might Help Watada's Defense
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010507K.shtml
Army prosecutors might have unwittingly aided the defense of the Fort Lewis officer they're trying for his refusal to deploy to Iraq. Attorneys for 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, in their effort to win his acquittal, want his jury to hear from experts next month that the war violated US and international law. During a four-hour pre-trial hearing Thursday, one of Watada's attorneys, Eric Seitz, requested that the judge hold an evidentiary hearing about allowing that defense. The judge, Lt. Col. John Head, told prosecutors that he was not inclined to grant the evidentiary hearing, but "they opened the door for him allowing it by prosecuting his statements."
{{{Two articles on one link.}}}
Biden: Bush Pushing War Loss to Next President
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010507L.shtml
Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Delaware), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said yesterday that he believes top officials in the Bush administration have privately concluded they have lost Iraq and are simply trying to postpone disaster so the next president will "be the guy landing helicopters inside the Green Zone, taking people off the roof," in a chaotic withdrawal reminiscent of Vietnam.
Waxman Launches New Committee to Monitor Bush Administration
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010507N.shtml
Representative Henry Waxman (D-California), the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has created a new subcommittee that will tackle decisions made by the Bush administration regarding which government records should be made available to the public.
{{{And he's also proposing subcommittess of that committee....}}}
Ray McGovern and W. Patrick Lang | CIA Immune System Still Working
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010507M.shtml
"Lies have consequences. All those who helped President George W. Bush launch a war of aggression — termed by Nuremberg 'the supreme international crime' — have blood on their hands and must be held accountable. This includes corrupt intelligence officials. Otherwise, look for them to perform the same service in facilitating war on Iran," write Ray McGovern and W. Patrick Lang.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070105/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/security_grants
U.S. worried about homegrown terrorists
{{{Here we go again. Things get sticky for Georgie, out comes the 'ter-raist' card. I wondered how long it would take before the 'ter-ra' card would be played once opposition to his escalation plans became known.... Should we take bets on where the next false 'ter-ra' alert is going to take place, only to find out a week or two later, after Georgie gets his money to escalate his war are given to him, after the Congress Critters are duped by the psychopath yet once again...??? Anyone else find this predictable pattern as tedious as me?}}}
Posted by: NonnyO at January 5, 2007 06:38 PM
Er... "that's once again find out it's another false 'ter-ra' alert...."
Nonny:
Of all the links you sent, the one that's most disturbing is where Biden says Bush is pushing the Iraq war off on to the next President.
On one side, it could be McCain, on the other side, Edwards or Hillary. But when is the buck going to stop for this creep? Doesn't he know after you've walked into a store and broken all the china that he's "bought it"?
Dang, but when is karma gonna smack that lying war criminal across the face with a dead fish to knock some sense into the echo chamber between his ears???
Posted by: NonnyO at January 5, 2007 06:30 PM
All we need for that is a chat room and someone running a copy of mIRC. The built-in trout in that program should do the trick. :)
LA has plenty of wierdos. LOL
Posted by: DiAnne at January 5, 2007 06:05 PM
Well, the Pentecostals, the reactionary ethnic communities, the not-so-liberal Hollywood/media, and the aerospace industry all qualify as weirdos in their own ways. :)
Ally:
Though the north is more liberal than the south, I think the case can be made that CA DOES run center, if looked at as a whole.
There ARE conservative Republicans in Berkeley, after all.
There ARE conservative Republicans in Berkeley, after all.
Posted by: Fe at January 5, 2007 07:17 PM
Yes, John Yoo for one. The torture czar now teaches at UC Berkeley Law School.
I left my heart...
well, in Berkeley anyway!
Posted by: karen at January 5, 2007 06:05 PM
Me too - just last week.
Several years ago, I thought this would never happen, when I got fed up with the aftermath of the dot-com bust (and hightailed it out to Arizona). Now that things are becoming sane again in NorCal, things have changed for me too.
Karen:
You and Dick need a stint in San Francisco. I would wait until spring, however. Its pretty darn cold here right now.
Think...Sunshine. Chinatown. The Bay. Great Indian food hole in the wall restaurants. The International Art Festival in May that Rhodessa is curating.
I could go on and on...
More good news from the Bay Area:
Boxer to head Senate Ethics panel while Sen. Tim Johnson recovers
Friday, January 5, 2007
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., will chair the Senate Ethics Committee during Sen. Tim Johnson's recovery from brain surgery.
Johnson, D-S.D., has been hospitalized in critical condition since Dec. 13 when he suffered a brain hemorrhage. His doctor said Wednesday his recovery is expected to take several months. Nonetheless, Senate Democrats on Thursday gave him the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on military construction and veterans affairs.
Under Senate rules, the Ethics Committee is unique in being split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.
"Sen. Johnson is recovering, and we all look forward to the day he can rejoin us in the Senate," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "Until he does, however, it is critical to have Sen. Boxer's leadership on the Senate Ethics Committee."
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., will act as chairman of the appropriations subcommittee until Johnson returns, Democrats said.
Boxer already chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee.
Bush to Name Zalmay Khalilzad to Replace Bolton
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010507G.shtml
Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq, is due to be nominated by President George W. Bush to become the US envoy to the United Nations, a senior administration official said Thursday. Khalilzad would replace John Bolton, whose appointment to the UN job expired recently.
Excerpt:
A White House favorite whom Bush calls by his nickname, Zal, Khalilzad has worked in two other Republican administrations, those of President Ronald Reagan and Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush.
The highest-ranked Muslim to serve in the Bush administration, Khalilzad headed the Bush-Cheney transition team for the Defense Department in 2000 and served as a counselor to former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
{{{Curious, isn't it, how so many current administration appointees used to be in Reagan's or Bu$h 41's administrations. Plus, someone should ask Goode how he feels about such a high-ranking Muslim at Bush 43's beck and call, since he went ballistic over MN Rep. Ellison.... Things that make one go hmmm.....}}}
Of all the links you sent, the one that's most disturbing is where Biden says Bush is pushing the Iraq war off on to the next President.
Posted by: Fe at January 5, 2007 06:51 PM
Biden spoke true on that one, I believe.
DimWit almost never utters truthful statements, but when he does, Lamestream Media ignores it.
The Cretin once said that as long as he's president we'll be in Iraq and he'll leave it to the next president to deal with Iraq. I've seen those sound bytes. For once, his words and his body language matched and he was telling the truth (at least the truth from his perspective).
As badly as I want our troops home and OUT of Iraq, I fear that unless Congress stages a revolt and refuses to fund Georgie's war, backed by WE THE PEOPLE, our military will never leave Iraq before Jan. 20, 2009. DimWit absolutely will leave his mess for the next president to clean up (IF he doesn't cancel elections and make himself the official dictator).
In fact, I look for him to expand his current illegal and unconstitutional war and illegally and unconstitutionally invade Iran next. He just doesn't have a good pretext for invading Iran - yet.
Starting impeachment proceedings would slow down the relentless pursuit of war considerably....
French President Chirac Slams Iraq War as Boost to Terrorism
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010507C.shtml
French President Jacques Chirac has unleashed a torrent of criticism against the US-led war in Iraq, saying the conflict, which he fiercely opposed, had boosted the spread of terrorism.
Senator Tim Johnson to Lead Spending Subcommittee
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010507S.shtml
Senator Tim Johnson won a coveted chairmanship of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee Thursday, even though he is still in critical condition after emergency brain surgery last month.
New UN Chief Calls for Resignations of 30 UN Officials
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010507T.shtml
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday asked more than 30 top officials to offer their resignations so he can move quickly to take control of the world body's bureaucracy.
Pelosi Delivers "Toughest Congressional Ethics Reform in History"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010507B.shtml
Newly-elected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi racked up her first legislative victory of the 110th Congress on Thursday, passing ethics reforms that will ban gifts and meals paid for by lobbyists and strictly limit funding of travel for lawmakers by outside groups.
Pelosi's Ascent Breakthrough for Women
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/010507WB.shtml
It shouldn't be surprising that it took more than 200 years for Congress to select a female speaker of the House. The United States isn't exactly at the forefront when it comes to women in politics.
Kelpie Wilson | 2006 Top Green Tech Ideas
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010507A.shtml
Kelpie Wilson writes: "In 2005, Americans woke up to the reality of peak oil, the predicament first described by geologist M.K. Hubbert in which world oil production would reach a peak, followed by an inevitable decline. In 2006, we started seeing more attention to the two paths that can lead us forward: energy efficiency and renewable energy. As Democrats take over Congress in 2007, promising action on energy and climate change, it is important to look critically at the available options."
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20070105/cx_crwiz_uc/crwiz20070105
The Wizard of Id
Of all the links you sent, the one that's most disturbing is where Biden says Bush is pushing the Iraq war off on to the next President.
Posted by: Fe at January 5, 2007 06:51 PM
Biden spoke true on that one, I believe.
....
Starting impeachment proceedings would slow down the relentless pursuit of war considerably....
Posted by: NonnyO at January 5, 2007 08:26 PM
When I saw this on Olbermann, my immediate reaction was that if Biden really thinks Bush is just stalling and biding his time so the failed war will be on the next president, then Biden better start asking for impeachment. Because that is a clear statement that Bush is sacrificing lives for pure politics. Many people will die because of this cowardly attitude.
Biden better get on this.
Yes we have Republicans on the east side (Bill Gates & Craig McCaw land) - Bush & Cheney only go over there, not to the city proper. They tend to be moderate Republicans, ie don't care about the war or the poor, only tax breaks. This time alot of them voted Dem but they're not really trust worthy.
As Sacha Baron Cohen said on "Fresh Air" last night, the Holocaust was largely due to people's indifference, not radical hatred per se. So those moderates who ignore the war and the poor definitely qualify as indifferent, and that's a really bad thing.
Biden favors partitioning. It's probably inevitable. Again, I recommend the comment that was written by Meffert, age 25 on Saddam. He made alot of sense. Biden used to be one of his heroes, and kind of fell off his pedestal when he took the party line on some things re Iraq.
Well, as Ally will be more than happy to corroborate...
I firmly believe that Alta California should secede from the rest of the state and leave Baja California to wallow in its own waste and excess.
We get everything from Santa Barbara north, they get the desert and the smog and the traffic and the border problems. We get San Francisco Bay, they get the Salton Sea. We get the Golden Gate, they get the Los Angeles River. We get the Santa Cruz mountains, they get San Bernadino. We get Marin and Mt. Tam, they get Palm Springs.
Oh, yeah... and they have to give us all our fresh water back, too.
plus we get to keep all the sourdough bread,
Otter
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/04/AR2007010400140.html
Sedative Withdrawal Made Rehnquist Delusional in '81
Files Detail Drug Addiction And FBI's Role in Hearings
{{{By the time you read to page two, you'll see that the usual list of crooks was involved in this....}}}
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/04/AR2007010401702.html
Bush Warned About Mail-Opening Authority
Recent 'Signing Statement' Seen as Stretching Law
{{{Ya think?!?}}}
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/04/AR2007010401356.html
After the 100 Hours, a War Awaits
Excerpts (click on link for more):
That's not to belittle the Democratic agenda, as far as it goes. But it tiptoes around the big, ugly monster of an issue sitting in the middle of the room -- the war in Iraq. The new Congress is going to have to stop temporizing and stand up to George W. Bush on the war.
~~~~~
So far, we've heard promises that the new Congress will exercise vigorous oversight -- which Congress should have been doing all along. I can understand that Pelosi and her counterpart on the Senate side, Majority Leader Harry Reid, wouldn't want to start by making the ultimate threat: using the power of the purse to cut off funding for the war. But sooner or later, there's going to have to be a confrontation.
Not once has Bush given the slightest indication that he intends any significant change of course in Iraq. Quite the contrary: The expectation in Washington is that soon he will announce an escalation of the war -- increasing troop levels but calling the increase a "surge" and giving the impression that it's a short-term measure. Don't be fooled by the focus-group word "surge," because a two- or three-month increase in troop levels makes no military sense. If and when the president sends more troops to Iraq, they will not soon come home.
Given that the Democratic Party's fortunes keep rising as Bush sinks deeper into the Iraq quagmire, political expediency might tempt the new leadership in Congress to let the president have his way and reap the rewards in 2008. But that would be wrong. Democrats can't give speeches saying that sending more troops to Iraq without a viable mission is nothing more than a futile sacrifice of young American lives -- and then limit their dispute with Bush to whether he gets to send 3,000 more troops or 30,000.
Very soon, perhaps inconveniently soon, Democrats are going to have to take a stand.
Fe:
I'm with you 100% -- of all the cities I have spent some time in, my two favorites are San Francisco and Boston. (Except for parking in both cases, but also in both cases you can use the subway and walk a bit.) Pelosi, of course, is from Baltimore, which I have never been to but which I have a sentimental attachment to (my mom was born there). From the Chesapeake Bay to the San Francisco Bay -- this land was made for you and me.
Chuck in Houston
NonnyO
If you go to the American Heritage Institute website and read the McCain/Lieberman ideas about Iraq, I'll bet Bush's proposal will be almost identical. I think McCain/Lieberman will run together in 2008 and are the de facto team right now, since W is a lame duck. McCain/Lieberman went to Iraq as a team. Lieberman is insanely popular at NewsMax magazine, far right.
I also found out Wolfowitz, Cheney and Rumsfeld practised their hardliner skills in the Ford administration. Wolfowitz formed "Plan B" - an independent intelligence group that came up with false data about the Soviet Union's plans & capabilities, because the CIA's didn't support as offensive a posture. That is the "book end" for what he & the neocons did with the Office of Special Plans, in the run-up to invasion of Iraq.
Ford was manipulated by neocons because he had codependent tendencies after trying to be peacemaker between his abused mother and his jailbird deadbeat alcoholic dad (& then had an alcoholic wife). He could be manipulated into pardoning Nixon to try to be peacemaker between the polarized nation, after Nixon resigned - by the neocons.
Nixon and Kissinger were actually more moderate than the antiCommunist hardliners such as the young Cheney and young Rumsfeld. Kissinger favored "detente," which the hardliners saw as wimping out as far as the Russians. They wanted to block out Vietnam as though we hadn't lost, keep us the main superpower and would probably have loved to actually come into suicidal nuclear conflict with the Soviets.
Therefore, they put tremendous pressure on Ford, especially after he did pardon Nixon and his popularity plummeted from the 70s to the 40s (which is still higher than W). The neocons have pressured every president, including Democrats like Clinton, to become militaristic, remain a superpower against all odds, even if it takes perpetual global conflict with us using pre-emptive strikes.
source: biography about Ford's lst 30 days, NPR Fresh Air
additional evidence: letter to Clinton at New American Century site
The other creepy thing - the new "Rock Star" head of military in Iraq, Potreas or whatever his name is, aka "King David," called the most competitive, intense person on the planet by some who worked under him. He lucked out because he had some success in ridding an area of "insurgents" (Sunnis) in north Iraq, with low casualties. He was in neither Bagdad or the more violent Anbar province where 1/3 of US casualities have occurred.
& the Navy guy - what can that mean but preparedness for war by sea, perhaps triggered by something similar to what just happened in Lebanon and I'm going now to read Rick's thread header about that.
I don't see the Lebanon piece. Chances are it'll be up later when this one has more replies.
Hey! Congressman "Bagdad Jim" McDermott was standing next to Pelosi, and those two are the most liberal of all. On top of that, McDermott's arch-enemy who is suing him, Boehner, had to had over the symbols of power to Ms. Pelosi.
It's about the best thing that's happened in 10 years, given the last two botched elections.
San Francisco
I love City Lights books and all of Columbus Avenue - Italian food, chocolate, the old architecture with cool neon (Carol Doda, Larry Flynt etc), then Chinatown (absolutely the biggest & best), Union Square, the bus to the Haight (& the Red Victorian), the Castro, Golden Gate Park and on & on. Love it! Love the Love Fest, Folsom St Fair, Haight St Fair - how they can have about 10 celebrations going on at once so there is no way to bring a car into the city - which is great! They should do it every weekend. The place doesn't really sleep. Great food too!! Best dim sum in the universe!!
I do love Seattle though.
If the Democrats hadn't won in 2006, I had been all set to make job inquiries in British Columbia, even had made the phone contacts. We would have put our house on the market.
Given that the Dems won and Seattle is over 84% Dem, my Congressman is McDermott (my hero), & the weather really isn't so bad (no blizzards and rumors of constant rain keep housing prices from going through the roof as they did during the dot com era). We have a good music scene, arthouse theaters, emerging art districts in warehouse areas (as yuppies fill the condos - happening in most cities) & always lots going on politically. The environmental consciousness is great too. It never ceases to amaze me.
I love Portland, maybe even more than Seattle. I love Minneapolis but it gets so damn cold. My blog is jointly with a Minneapolis photographer/professor/activist who used to live here. Love New Orleans but nervous about going back - afraid it has changed too much. Only been to Boston once and loved it - kind of reminded me of this place. Went back to NYC twice after quite a few years - loved that. Haven't been to DC in a long time - want to go there.
This country really has some good places, but there are too many neocons, fanatics and extremists. I really don't think this country does well in the world as a right wing place.
1 in 5 here are uninsured, I just read, and there has also been a crime wave all over the country this year. The Public Health service is in charge of getting rid of meth lab messes, of rat control! Who pays for all that?!
DiAnne:
Don't get me wrong -- the Northwest will always be where I am from and I love it. As great cities though, Seattle always seemed to have a very rough edge to me (not to mention Tacoma) -- hardness I guess (visualize Norwegian fishermen on the Bering Sea). And Portland, always my town, nonetheless can be so frustratingly small-minded (like a liberal version of the Church Lady). San Francisco and Boston have all that too but somehow they have a little bit of old-world charm as well. Plus they are topographically and architecutally centered. I always thought Chicago was the friendliest town I've ever been in -- very open and inviting. But it's flat as a pancake, except the buildings. And of course there are so many places I'll never know. But anyway, in my life, San Francisco will always represent one of the great cities of the world, and the Bay Area one of the great metropolises of the world (the little neighborhoods in Berkeley and Oakland always remind me of Portland).
Chuck in Houston
PS: Houston is a lot more interesting than it generally gets credit for in some circles, but man it's flat as a pancake too.
Posted by: DiAnne at January 5, 2007 10:49 PM
In what little I've seen of Lamestream Media recently, the #1 reason for my current boycott (except to catch the weather forecast) is that I am sick to death of the mentions of McCain and Hillary, and recently Obama. I'm sick to death of having spinmeisters shove them down our throats as the only "seemingly" viable candidates for '08, even in "local" news broadcasts (since those particular people seemed to get an inordinate amount of attention and quoting the last time I watched any newscast all the way through).
The best thing that could happen to this nation is to have two other (so far un-named and not declared) prez candidates get the nomination in '08... not the old war dogs that Lamestream Media is forcing on us. Whoever those un-named and undeclared candidates are, they're going to have to be totally anti-war (which also means closing Gitmo and stopping torture), and that will have to go for whatever neoCon candidate is chosen, too.
But first... we have to work with the Congress Critters we have. If we prod them with enough anti-war messages (and messages to stop torture and close Gitmo, repeal MCA '06, the Patriot Acts, and to stop invading our privacy, etc.) they're gonna have to get the idea soon enough that we don't like the loss of life in a war based on lies, and we don't like the waste of money for that war. Domestic agendas are nice, but those things aren't taking the majority of the money that's putting us in so much debt. That stupid war is what's costing us in lives and money, and it would be ever so much more beneficial for this nation to stop the war, repeal the bad legislation that's taken away so many of our rights and privileges, work on the monstrous debt, and then free up some money to benefit WE THE PEOPLE.
The sooner investigations and impeachment proceedings start, the sooner Lamestream Media will have to start talking about the endless lies that got us into this illegal war. When Lamestream Media and people start talking about those things, the sooner the war will end....
And that's all going to have to start happening SOON....
Oh, yeah... and they have to give us all our fresh water back, too.
Posted by: Otter at January 5, 2007 10:06 PM
That will solve SoCal's overpopulation problem. Either that, or the McMansion lawns won't get watered.
The real cancer is Orange County, and to a lesser degree, north San Diego County, though even "blue" Los Angeles County has plenty of red pockets. Sure, you got me in the bleeding red Diamond Bar - but I stand out here, just as much as torture czar John Yoo stands out in Berkeley.
BTW, a fundamentalist Korean church moved into my neighborhood, and it's using the elementary school next to my place as its sanctuary. Dangerous mix of church, state, and foreign politics.
Posted by: DiAnne at January 5, 2007 10:54 PM
Agreed with you. SF is a class act.
If only the dumbheads at BART figured out a way to sell weekly/monthly passes instead of a meager 6% discount on high-value farecards, that would make the Bay Area very hard to beat.
I spent $200 on BART fares every month to commute to a job that only paid $2,000.
Of course, people could've told me to move to SF proper and live off of a $45 Muni Pass, but there was no way I could move into the City with a $2,000 income.
Posted by: DiAnne at January 5, 2007 11:00 PM
Loved Seattle too. And thanks again for being a gracious host when I visited last July.
New York and DC are also high on my list, even though New York under Giuliani was open season on transgenders, and DC feels like an occupied city these days.
Vegas is okay for one night, but after that gets frustrating - and expensive - fast.
Austin, Texas was surprisingly good. Heck, if we can turn Texas around and make it blue again, I'd love it there!
Places that I need to spend more time in are Chicago and Boston. And there are places like Minneapolis that I have not even visited yet.
I just watched the CSPAN video of the opening of Congress and it seemed to me like the Speaker is in the House. I think Speaker Pelosi is up to the job. I hope she can get some campaign finance issues on the floor. Somehow, going back to the first days of the DCP, we have to figure out a way to keep big money from excessively influencing the elective process. I don't have any iodea how to do that but I am hoping the speaker does and wants to.
Chuck in Houston
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070105/ap_on_re_eu/poland_archbishop
Poland archbishop tied to secret police
Ally:
Thanks for mentioning Texas. Texas is a lot more than people outside Texas think (and a bit less than people inside Texas think).
Chuck in Houston
PS: Disregard what I said above as all generalizations are wrong.
I like Austin, San Antonio & parts of Houston.
Ally
Vegas is good for one night LOL
What happens in Vegas should stay in Vegas.
I did have a good time there esp seeing Beatles "Love" twice!
Nawlins don't suck neither, even after Katrina.
NonnyO
Congrats on MSM boycott! My one concession is NPR and BBC since I can pick those up in my car. I like to hear Democracy Now but only hear Air America if in my husband's car. I feel like kind of a throwback depending on radio, but internet kind of balances it out. Newspapers are ok but the nice thing about the internet is that people have already read and dissected all the stories before they even hit the newspapers. Newsmagazines are even more delayed & Newsweek is the only one I can even open any more. Financial Times and The Economist seem more revealing, possibly because they deal with the financial bottom line so don't bother with so much commentary. Wall Street Journal seems like about the most rightwing business thing around, ideology aside. Washington Times, the "moonie" paper, predicted the Dem Congress wouldn't be able to do anything. I was really upset til I saw it was them & then hoped it was sour grapes. I like The Guardian and The Independent and am glad to Woz posts The Age frequently because I forget about that.
I've been raving about the article that dissected Condi and have someone nagging me via email, wanting to read it. I have to go find it. Isn't the internets wonderful?!
Monkey
Then I'm goin' back to N'awlins. I've been there twice. This time I'm going to go to all the parts they told me not to go to. Hope I make it back!!
Ally
I heard Ahnold used "My Way" as a theme song.
Monkey:
Miami is kind of cool in an art deco way too! Capital of the Caribbean in a lot of ways.
Chuck in Houston
And PS to Ally: I Love LA! (actually kind of prefer Santa Monica).
All in all, it's a great country. I'm off to seek a citation from my favorite Republican Congressman.
Chuck in Houston
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler. The text above is from the so-called "Bliss Copy," one of several versions which Lincoln wrote, and believed to be the final version.
Well I'm going back (going back)
To the Blue Ridge Mountains (Blue Ridge Mountains)
Going back,
Gonna leave today.
Well I'm going back (going back)
To the Blue Ridge Mountains (Blue Ridge Mountains)
Honey child, I'm going away
Well, it came out of the sky
Landed just a little shy of Moline.
Jody jumped out of his tractor;
Didn't know what he'd seen.
He laid down on the ground
And shook, fearing for his life.
Then he ran all the way to town,
Yelling "it came out of the sky."
More on Chirac's comments on Iraq invasion destabilizing the middle east, his proposal for a peace conference. Will miss him as a world leader - tough act to follow and little potential for the weak contenders running to do so.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/05/AR2007010502194.html
One of my favorite songs about California:
Dilated Peoples:
"worst come to worst my people come first"
I got worldwide family all over the earth
And I worry ’bout ’em all for whatever it’s worth
From the birth to the hearse, the streets, the guns burst
Words I disperse are here to free minds
And if mine are needy I need to feed mine
"when worst come to worst..."
I’m a glutton for the truth, even though truth hurts
I’ve studied with my peoples on streets and in church
We make it hard when we go on first
Long road, honor of the samurai code
These california streets ain’t paved with gold
Worst comes to worst
DiAnne:
I wonder how helpful Chirac really was on Lebanon and Haiti. Maybe they just helped pour gasoline on a fire (sure wouldn't be the first time -- plus they are the same ones that got us into Vietnam). I like the looks of the lady running for his post -- what's her name anyway? And what ever happened to Andree?
Chuck in Houston
DiAnne:
Also, further to the above, Paris is way up high on my list of cities too, but, like, they have a different word for everything! For instance, it's not a hat, it's a chapeux, or something like that. What is that all about?
Chuck in Houston
For NonnyO
Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy:
Television, the Drug of the nation
Hypocrisy is the greatest luxury
one nation
under God
has turned into
one nation under the influence
of one drug
Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V., it
satellite links
our United States of Unconsciousness
Apathetic therapeutic and extremely addictive
The methadone metronome pumping out
150 channels 24 hours a day
you can flip through all of them
and still there's nothing worth watching
T.V. is the reason why less than 10 per cent of our
Nation reads books daily
Why most people think Central Amerika
means Kansas
Socialism means unamerican
and Apartheid is a new headache remedy
absorbed in it's world it's so hard to find us
It shapes our mind the most
maybe the mother of our Nation
should remind us
that we're sitting too close to...
Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V. is
the stomping ground for political candidates
Where bears in the woods
are chased by Grecian Formula'd
bald eagles
T.V. is mechanized politic's
remote control over the masses
co-sponsored by environmentally safe gases
watch for the PBS special
It's the perpetuation of the two party system
where image takes precedence over wisdom
Where sound bite politics are served to
the fastfood culture
Where straight teeth in your mouth
are more important than the words
that come out of it
Race baiting is the way to get selected
Willie Horton or
Will he not get elected on...
Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V., is it the reflector or the director?
Does it imitate us
or do we imitate it
because a child watches 1500 murders before he's
twelve years old and we wonder why we've created
a Jason generation that learns to laugh
rather than to abhor the horror
T.V. is the place where
armchair generals and quarterbacks can
experience first hand
the excitement of warfare
as the theme song is sung in the background
Sugar sweet sitcoms
that leave us with a bad actor taste while
pop stars metamorphosize into soda pop stars
You saw the video
You heard the soundtrack
Well now go buy the soft drink
Well, the onla cola that I support
would be a union C.O.L.A.(Cost Of Living Allowance)
On television
Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
Back again, "New and improved"
We return to our irregularly programmed schedule
hidden cleverly between heavy breasted
beer and car commercials
CNNESPNABCTNT but mostly B.S.
Where oxymoronic language like
"virtually spotless", "fresh frozen"
"light yet filling" and "military intelligence"
have become standard
T.V. is the place where phrases are redefined
like "recession" to "necessary downturn"
"Crude oil" on a beach to "mousse"
"Civilian death" to "collateral damages"
and being killed by your own Army
is now called "friendly fire"
T.V. is the place where the pursuit
of happiness has become the pursuit of
trivia
Where toothpaste and cars have become
sex objects
Where imagination is sucked out of children
by a cathode ray nipple
T.V. is the only wet nurse
that would create a cripple
Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
--no tv 1991 to the present
Curl up baby
Curl up tight
Curl up baby
Keep it all out of sight
Undercover of the night
In this life
In this life
In this life
In this oh sweet life
We're coming in from the cold.
It's you
It's you
It's you I'm talking to now
Why do you look so sad
And forsaken?
Don't you know that when one door is closed
The other is open?
And there ain't no use
No one can stop them now.
Brother Bob could be contradictory at times.
Oh, smokestack lightning
Shining just like gold
Well don't you hear me crying?
Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
Posted by: DiAnne at January 6, 2007 01:12 AM
Good!!! :-)
I guess mostly I abhor the evening snooze for the simple reason it's repetitive infotainment meant to brainwash the masses with propaganda... and I have an extraordinarily low threshhold of boredom. I just can't take the repetition!
I still have to have my CSI fix though! ;-)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070104/us_nm/usa_media_dc
Project launched to monitor U.S. news media output
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A research group said on Thursday it is monitoring the output of nearly 50 U.S. news organizations to produce a weekly index of the topics receiving the most attention from TV, newspapers, Internet and radio.
The Project for Excellence in Journalism, part of the Pew Research Center, said it would publish its News Coverage Index online at (http://www.journalism.org) each Tuesday beginning next week.
~~~~~
And people who read news online seemed to get "a wider variety and a bigger balance of international news than anybody who pays attention to any other segment," he added.
{{{Er... and they need to monitor TV to find this out?!? Huh? Click on link for more.}}}
One thing about San Francisco is that it's a pedestrian paradise -- and it has to be, because finding a place to park in the city can be downright impossible.
San Franciscans Hurl Their Rage at Parking Patrol
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/us/06parking.html
lovely rita meter maid,
Otter
Fresh attempt to tame Baghdad
January 6, 2007 - 3:51PM
Iraqi forces backed by US troops will begin a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood assault on militants in the capital this weekend as a first step in the new White House strategy to contain Sunni insurgents and Shi'ite death squads, key advisers to the prime minister said.
The first details of the new plan - a fresh bid to pacify the capital - emerged today, a day after US President George W Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki spoke for nearly two hours by video conference.
Both leaders were expected to detail their vision of a new strategy in the coming days.
The al-Maliki aides would not address the scope of the planned new assaults nor where specifically they were planned.
The Iraqis did, however, signal continuing disagreement on key issues, including al-Maliki's unease over the introduction of more US troops.
The Iraqi leader has repeatedly refused US demands to crush the militia of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, one of the prime minister's most powerful backers.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/fresh-attempt-to-tame-baghdad/2007/01/06/1167777317283.html
January 6, 2007
Images of Hanging Make Hussein a Martyr to Many
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 5 — In the week since Saddam Hussein was hanged in an execution steeped in sectarian overtones, his public image in the Arab world, formerly that of a convicted dictator, has undergone a resurgence of admiration and awe.
On the streets, in newspapers and over the Internet, Mr. Hussein has emerged as a Sunni Arab hero who stood calm and composed as his Shiite executioners tormented and abused him.
“No one will ever forget the way in which Saddam was executed,” President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt remarked in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot published Friday and distributed by the official Egyptian news agency. “They turned him into a martyr.”
In Libya, which canceled celebrations of the feast of Id al-Adha after the execution, a government statement said a statue depicting Mr. Hussein in the gallows would be erected, along with a monument to Omar al-Mukhtar, who resisted the Italian invasion of Libya and was hanged by the Italians in 1931.
In Morocco and the Palestinian territories, demonstrators held aloft photographs of Mr. Hussein and condemned the United States.
Here in Beirut, hundreds of members of the Lebanese Baath Party and Palestinian activists marched Friday in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood behind a symbolic coffin representing that of Mr. Hussein and later offered a funeral prayer. Photographs of Mr. Hussein standing up in court, against a backdrop of the Dome of the Rock shrine in Jerusalem, were pasted on city walls near Palestinian refugee camps, praising “Saddam the martyr.”
“God damn America and its spies,” a banner across one major Beirut thoroughfare read. “Our condolences to the nation for the assassination of Saddam, and victory to the Iraqi resistance.”
By standing up to the United States and its client government in Baghdad and dying with seeming dignity, Mr. Hussein appears to have been virtually cleansed of his past.
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/world/middleeast/06arabs.html
Chuck
Yes I know what you mean about Seattle ruggedness - I have been to Alaska and that took the beauty and survival a step further! It can also be a little Scandinavean PC here. Like we have 4 strip clubs and Portland has about 50. It seems clean because of the rain & I love that most people are readers and film watchers as well as outdoorsy. Politically, it's reassuring know that there is sustained outrage at alot that goes on & that many try to do something about it. I value that alot and don't take it for granted. I like Portland because it's more inland and woodsy, whereas Seattle is more Maritime. I also like the casualness. "Grunge" came from Seattle and people think nothing of wearing parkas and tennis shoes downtown vs a sea of business suits.
Door-to-door searches for Sunnis makes me think of door-to-door searches for Jews by the Nazis. We should not participate in ethnic cleansing.
Think...Sunshine. Chinatown. The Bay. Great Indian food hole in the wall restaurants. The International Art Festival in May that Rhodessa is curating.
I could go on and on...
Posted by: Fe at January 5, 2007 07:44 PM
Fe,
DB is heading to Vancouver BC this week and then to Greece! BUT come spring, SF may indeed be a destination.
Everyone:
The next few weeks are shaping up to be a major battle for the soul of this country--which we lost but have found (at least potentially) again this past few months. We need to work harder. Bush et al mean to take us back into the darkness.
Iran, civil war, more troops. Yesterday a friend told me her 17 year old son came home from school with recruitment papers. They are promising him the moon.
Don't stop. We need everyone fighting back.
Bush Talks Peace, Democrats War
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2007/01/posted_by_mark__2.html
Orwellian title - actually, it's the twin radio addresses of the two parties.
And them, of course, you have your same old BushCo Washingtoon values...
WHITE HOUSE BLOCKS ACCESS TO VISITOR LOGS
Secret Service Records Made Off-Limits After Watchdog Review Of Lobbyist Meetings
"'It appears the White House is actually manufacturing evidence to further its own agenda,' Anne Weismann, a Justice Department lawyer for 19 years and now chief counsel to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Friday."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/05/politics/printable2334341.shtml
don't shush the messenger,
Otter
The Power of Nightmares
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3004915
Incredible documentary previously not available in the US - never shown on US media. (British) People have raved about this to me and I'm going to watch it this weekend. Has to do with propaganda we are fed.
Speaking of White House visitor logs, why did Harriet Miers quit?
I suppose that particularly Cheney's office would be squeamish about making available evidence of late-night Abramoff visits etc.
otter:
The pix shows tow trucks in the Embarcadero--easily the most ridiculously congested area of the city, and the most expensive. I think there's a bit of schaudenfreude in the Times article of begin with.
The city is in a quandry about whether its downtown should be an auto-free area like Boston, or continue in the same manner as it always has been. Which is a mixture of new development next to old, business conducted on streets where double parked trucks loading produce compete with stretch limos unloading babes in six inch stilettos. That's in the afternoon.
Then there's MUNI. Another blog tile altogether.
Most cities with legacy infrastructure (old with new) is going to have bad parking problems. Its annoying, at times shockingly violent, but mostly withstandable. I only wish the same could be said about how expensive it is to live here, and why we need more families here, not fewer. The atmosphere in which to make that happen sits squarely on the laps of the Mayor and Board of Supes, and the struggle between the old iconoclasts and the young entrepreneurs. That is the kind of dynamic that builds these paradoxical places to live. Like San Francisco.
I am still trying to figure out how people can actually drive and figure out where they are while in Washington, D.C.
Molly Ivins knows.
(And, apparently, knows Ira.)
"The president of the United States does not have the sense God gave a duck -- so it's up to us. You and me, Bubba. "
http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/1/2007/1482
ducking and running,
Otter
Ally, we are building our dream home for retirement on Lake Travis in Austin. Austin gave us not only Molly Ivens but Ann Richards and Hightower,and Lyndon Johnson and yes Lloyd Dogett. We are not just about the Bush family and our motto is Keep Austin weird.
Texas will rise up again from the ashes and it will start in Austin. I just hope I live long enough to see it in my lifetime.
* new thread *
Door-to-door searches for Sunnis makes me think of door-to-door searches for Jews by the Nazis. We should not participate in ethnic cleansing.
Posted by: DiAnne at January 6, 2007 10:00 AM
And it would never happen again?