DCP v. 2.0 -- Forum or Agin' Em?

I'll be happy to continue to add material as I come across stuff. It seemed kind of pointless for a while, since the forum wasn't exactly taking off as a center of organizational activity.

Not sure why, exactly - except to say that DCP seems to me to have become a community of self-selected individuals in the midst of an ocean of mind-bogglingly anonymous blogs, most of which I never, ever frequent.

Why the French election matters to Progressives everywhere
by Jerome a Paris
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/4/21/75452/8947

I'll get on topic soon. Read especially the paragraph about what it could be like if Sarkozy wins.

OT--(sorry)--Read about the AARP and why they're not our friend.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/21/83642/5817

Does anyone remember the AARP's comments on the privatization of social security?

IMO--toss everything but the library.

I have gotten out of the habit of going to the Forum because of slow updating and slow computer.

I would like to see a fairly frequently updated homepage that is graphically enticing and goes directly to the Blog, as new people I refer tell me they can't figure out how to get there even after I simply explained it or even wrote it down. Sad but true.

I have always felt we should have more links at the side and according to categories such as alternative media, environment, civil rights, election reform etc, though I realize they shouldn't be too partisan and it's a hassle to constantly monitor them to see whether they are keeping their noses clean, so to speak, if that's a concern. & who would agree on links?

I think there were/are Democracy Cells, but not as envisioned. In my case, it happened soon after the 2004 election with 3-4 big active "cells" here. I had no reason to start one, just connect up. They all went on to do different things and one group pretty much infiltrated a volunteer office for progressive candidates and redesigned its computer system for the whole state, was given an office and telephone.

On a private level, I much preferred to keep myself balanced between peace activities on the ground, political activities on the ground, blog & website related internet activities, & personal internet use (listserves, friendly group commentaries etc.) - then there is reading and even knocking out tv except for C-span and YouTube type things I am sent or link to, radio and on-line newspapers keep me busy. I have had to become very selective about opening & reading emailings from organizations, candidates, news & blog summaries, for lack of time.

The big picture, you know? Some follow the Gonzales hearings in fine detail - someone who has been doing that (& all Fitzgerald proceedings in the past) and has a good legal head has kept be abreast. & now I'm watching the French elections as though I lived there & updating her (& telling her why I think it all ties together).

I think this website does a great job but I think we should keep the most frequently-used elements, make them more accessible and expand on them.

I don't think it's a problem that the Blog goes off track and people insert news articles etc. We don't have the complicated system of rating comments and writers and all that - we aren't big enough so don't need to. For the model we have been using, I think it works fine and I really love the song lyrics etc. to break things up a little. We really need a left/right brain balance and for that reason, I have REALLY appreciated the graphic with all recent thread headings.

I do sometimes believe that on the glut of the internet, less is more, and being a visual person, I think that alot of information can be coded graphically, especially taking advantage of the internet as a new medium where it's possible to be more nonlinear.

Posted by: not my president at April 21, 2007 12:53 PM

I wish we could insert pictures and coding into the blog comments.

The tabs up top need to change. I think we could simplify things by having a link on the sidebar to the irc, the podcasts, and the library. We don't need the "buy" section or the learn section. Even the crew section could be streamlined.

We need to keep the older podcasts that we have because I know people still come in and listen to them.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070421/ap_on_re_us/power_plant_software

PHOENIX - A former engineer at the nation's largest nuclear power plant has been charged with taking computer access codes and software to Iran and using it to download details of plant control rooms and reactors, authorities said.

The FBI said there's no indication the plant employee training software had any terrorist connections.

Lot more at the link:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003574260

Devastating' Moyers Probe of Press and Iraq Coming

NEW YORK (Commentary) The most powerful indictment of the news media for falling down in its duties in the run-up to the war in Iraq will appear next Wednesday, a 90-minute PBS broadcast called "Buying the War," which marks the return of "Bill Moyers Journal." E&P was sent a preview DVD and a draft transcript for the program this week.

While much of the evidence of the media's role as cheerleaders for the war presented here is not new, it is skillfully assembled, with many fresh quotes from interviews (with the likes of Tim Russert and Walter Pincus) along with numerous embarrassing examples of past statements by journalists and pundits that proved grossly misleading or wrong. Several prominent media figures, prodded by Moyers, admit the media failed miserably, though few take personal responsibility.

The war continues today, now in its fifth year, with the death toll for Americans and Iraqis rising again -- yet Moyers points out, "the press has yet to come to terms with its role in enabling the Bush Administration to go to war on false pretenses."

Among the few heroes of this devastating film are reporters with the Knight Ridder/McClatchy bureau in D.C. Tragically late, Walter Isaacson, who headed CNN, observes, "The people at Knight Ridder were calling the colonels and the lieutenants and the people in the CIA and finding out, you know, that the intelligence is not very good. We should've all been doing that."

At the close, Moyers mentions some of the chief proponents of the war who refused to speak to him for this program, including Thomas Friedman, Bill Kristol, Roger Ailes, Charles Krauthammer, Judith Miller, and William Safire.

But Dan Rather, the former CBS anchor, admits, "I don't think there is any excuse for, you know, my performance and the performance of the press in general in the roll up to the war…We didn't dig enough. And we shouldn't have been fooled in this way." Bob Simon, who had strong doubts about evidence for war, was asked by Moyers if he pushed any of the top brass at CBS to "dig deeper," and he replies, "No, in all honesty, with a thousand mea culpas….nope, I don't think we followed up on this."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070421/ap_on_re_us/power_plant_software
PHOENIX - A former engineer at the nation's largest nuclear power plant has been charged with taking computer access codes and software to Iran and using it to download details of plant control rooms and reactors, authorities said.
Posted by: sparrow at April 21, 2007 01:14 PM

....violating a trade embargo that prohibits Americans from exporting goods and services to Iran.
Quote from the link.

That being the case, why haven't Halliburton honchos and employees been charged with anything? They've been trading with Iran all along, in spite of the "trade embargo".... I anticipate this will all be "legalized" now that Halliburton's HQ is in Dubai.

Good for Moyers.

The end of that story is especially ugly:

"The program closes on a sad note, with Moyers pointing out that "so many of the advocates and apologists for the war are still flourishing in the media." He then runs a pre-war clip of President Bush declaring, "We cannot wait for the final proof: the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." Then he explains: "The man who came up with it was Michael Gerson, President Bush's top speechwriter."

"He has left the White House and has been hired by the Washington Post as a columnist."

*****

It gauls me to no end that those of us who were right from the beginning, right on principle and right on strategy, continue to be utterly ignored, while the guilty continue to be handsomely paid and celebrated.

We've gone from being a nation conceived by the brightest group to perhaps ever assemble in one place, to a nation that rewards failure, and excuses gross incompetence.

Morning!
Read Richard's thoughts about yesterday's event here:

http://postcarbon.org/walking_in_rachael_carons_footsteps

On the forum issue, it was always meant to be a static place; a repository really. In that sense the library was the core idea and the other categories developed out of the thought that people needed to be able to see the whole in order to access the resources.

But it needs upkeep it hasn't gotten.

So let's see what everyone else thinks as well.

Posted by: not my president at April 21, 2007 01:36 PM

I sent the info about the Bill Moyers Journal on to my list of people interested. I already checked the local listings and in this particular PBS market the show will air on Apr 25 at 8 p.m. local time (I think the 9 p.m. time is Eastern and Western). I also got an email from Moyers' staff notifying me of the upcoming show, and put a sticky note on my TV to remind me about it.

I hope this counters the Frontline series I've caught excerpts of for the last week off and on. I only caught bits and pieces, but every time I saw something it was a reich-winger (John Yoo was one of them last night on the last show). Too much reich-wingnuttia stuff has crossed the PBS screen of late and it's been repulsive (to me). A night or two ago Charlie Rose interviewed Tom DeLay who is hawking his new book, and I thought that was just over the top (DeLay needs to go back under the rock from which he crawled and stay there, IMHO; I don't know why he isn't in jail). I just. can. not. stand. to watch the vague statements that amount to propaganda sound bytes any longer, and I don't care which network it's on! If I wanted more of the same, I'd program Faux Snooze back on my remote, or even tune in to Lamestream Media evening snooze. Six years of that crap is more than enough!

I can usually count on Moyers to be analytical in his presentations, he often asks common sense questions. I don't always necessarily agree with what he says or with what his guests say, but that's okay. I'm not looking for infotainment questions and answers or Lamestream Media sensationalism presented with full drama-voices by anchors; I'm looking for thoughtful, common-sense questions, and I'm curious about responses. I did, however, totally agree with Moyers' objection to the media bill that was passed a few years ago and the editorial comments he had when he hosted NOW about it. He was absolutely correct in what he said about the dangers of media consolidation.

I hope for the Bill Moyers Journal show on Wed. night that you will lift your TV ban for an hour and a half.... ;-)

I don't know if I can get 'real tv'. I wonder if there is a way to see it somewhere else.

In the meantime, David Sarota has put up a diary on Edward's populist message.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/21/134041/965

I have a comment in support of keeping the Forum section. For many people who are just surfing net (and not blogging) and don't want to - and/or don't have the time to - dig into a long and complicated blog to find information, the Forum is a good place to find current information quickly.

I must say that the blog - as an organizing tool - is not that good (and is clumsy, really). We don't collect emails, we don't have a membership list, we don't know how many members we have, we don't even know where people live etc... Unfortunately the blog is like people chatting at a party or a bar etc.. and is often forgotten the next day. In this respect, something like a Yahoo Group would be a better mechanism for organizing and mobilizing etc..

I guess it depends on the function of the DCP - do you want it to try to organize people or use it just as a discussion site?

NonnyO
I might consider Moyers - he comes highly recommended by people I trust, including you.

Sad about FrontLine. I watched that just as the war started in 2003 and they had a big retroactive about how the lst Gulf War started and what had gone over since leading up to the new Assault (flyovers, sanctions etc). It was excellent and alot of "meat" compressed into a short episode.

I watched a few 60 Minutes when they had authors I was reading, like Clarke, Woodward, O'Neill - I hoped they'd be whistleblowers in some sense.

I watched Meet the Press a few times to see people like Kerry and I watched him concede.

I like the odd Jon Stewart clip on the computer, or if someone gives 'em hell on C-span.

So yes I might lift the ban for Moyers.

On topic... ;-)

My one little vote: forums, no. [You don't know it, but I have a LONG list of web sites that require passwords for me to enter them, mostly related to my genie research, and over the last two years I've become averse to having to remember so many passwords and/or having to look them up, even though I fully realize they are totally necessary.] I think the last time I visited the forum here was the day I set up my own account (which promptly got deleted with cookies in my computer housecleaning not long after that).

My one little vote: library, yes. True, one can Google for links to important documents, but it's nice to know others appreciate our dear ol' Constitution and Bill of Rights and Geneva Conventions and the Nuremberg judgment and US laws and Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary Practice - etc. Vital things that affect us or people we know or care about to one degree or another (all written by people who are vastly more intelligent than the current crop of criminal "leaders" in this nation).

Manual of Parliamentary Practice by Thomas Jefferson
http://www.constitution.org/tj/tj-mpp.htm

http://assembler.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00002441----000-.html
http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/ (Home page of above)
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.table.html#amendments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conventions
http://lp.findlaw.com/
http://thomas.loc.gov/
http://www.un.org/english/
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/judcont.htm
Links Suggestion: Direct links to Senate and House web sites so newbies can click on the links to find the web sites for their senators or reps and write to them directly via the email sections on their web sites. [I assume the regulars already have the web sites for their senators and reps marked in their favorites files.] Those web sites additionally have links to pages where we can read the wording of bills up for votes, and for past bills that have been voted on and the votes of each senator or rep is recorded. Those links are handy when pontificating politicians start in on how they're for or against whatever in the most vague terms; their voting record speaks louder. (The Congress.org site seems to be privately owned...? I'm talking about the official governnment web sites where one can look up one's own senators and reps and mark their official web sites; their individual web sites set up by their campaigns are separate from the government web sites again.)

http://www.senate.gov/
http://www.house.gov/

I am signed up for newsletters from various places. Truthout.org, ICH, AlterNet, Common Dreams, BBC, Independent... etc. I think most of the regulars on this list get the same newsletters. I prefer a couple of them because I get the stories without a lot of ads and fluff, and they provide links to the original stories. Any newbies or lurkers might be interested in links to their home pages in case they want to sign up for their (free) newsletters.

I'm sure others can be added to those lists, but these are a few things I use from time to time and/or regularly, especially if I need to use exact quotes and not paraphrase what I know certain documents say.

I like the odd Jon Stewart clip on the computer, or if someone gives 'em hell on C-span.
So yes I might lift the ban for Moyers.
Posted by: not my president at April 21, 2007 03:15 PM

I'm hoping Moyers continues his usual quality with this upcoming show. He railed against media consolidation and conglomerations, so I am anticipating more of the same via audio/visual examples from the last seven years.

Ah... I forgot mention of another link: Crooks and Liars. I get their newsletter daily, but I often check out their web site before I ever get the newsletter. That's where I find Stewart and Olbermann clips. I haven't discovered the fine art of navigating the MSNBC web site to get to the Countdown shows I'd like to view online, but Olbermann's and Stewart's clips often make it to the C&L front page.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/21/bill-moyers-rips-msm-complicity-on-real-time/
Bill Moyers Rips MSM Complicity on “Real Time”

Speaking of which.... Excellent interview.....

I haven't been able to post for quite some time, and the last comment that I put up actually was the last one of the thread, so I doubt many people knew I was still alive. I for one am quite happy to see the DCP making a serious effort to re invent itself.
The site is stale, however the commentary on this site is not. I have my browser set so that I automatically go directly to the blog. That should tell you how much I visit the other parts of the site.

The premise of this site was grand, but too unwieldy. As this site evolved into a live site, I was all over it, like a flea on a dog (kudos to Dan Rather). Yet, few of the areas served my purposes in the way I had hoped they would. However the blog was always helpful.

My thoughts about sight redesign may seem naive, but here we go:

Dump the forum except the library and put a link to it on each page (hopefully not too many pages). Don't make somebody go to the home page to get to the library.

Make the blog as easy as possible to log into. I believe it should be the home page to the site with a column of links to other parts of the site (of which there should be only a few). But , still make a log on required. If the sight does happen to take off the way you expect, then people more mischievous and electronically sophisticated than I am will dump tons of crap. I saw this happen on Huffingtonn Post soon after it went live and it literallly killed several threads.

Add video capability. No further comment.

Keep a link to congress and other govermantal organizations.

Any and all links should require no more than two clicks to get the information being sought.

Address book for those who want to participate

Posters can use tags at the end of their postings

If the blog is to survive, any and all efforts to keep a thread on topic should be employed.

If somebody wants to go off topic have them start their own thread (i.e diary in KOS). The diary can be just as simple as a subject heading, such as "Bush mangles English", and whatever people want to put in, they can. Whomoever wants to stay on that subject can add a comment at any time. In some ways that is like a forum, but if a topic does not have posting for at least 48 hours it is gone - forever. If seventy two hours later the same topic gets reposted, it stays for the minimum 48 hours. No posts should be eliminated due to lack of hits in the beginning of its existence. Giving them some time to live should be considered. IF this site becomes overwhelmed with posts of this type, then survival statistics and rules can be reconsidered and reconfigured.

Another thought along this line is having the home page split vertically between the blog and any news items which people might want to post (along with their comments to which others can add). The blog would be the main component and the news would require at least one click to get to a comment section about the topic. Like most participants on this site, I do find most of the articles posted very infomative and am grateful for the effort that others make to keep us informed.

Podcasts is a great idea, but they don't get updated enough. Time to go for that part of the site. Same for book room. I loved that part of the site but it has breathed its last breath.

I don't want to see this site bastardized by advertisements about suggesting how liberal it is. I prefer not to to see links to comercial sites selling their wares. (my $.02). I understand that this site and those who work diligently to keep it up and running can not survive on good intentions alone. Therefore Contribution request will have to have a more conspicuous presence on each page as well. The small button asking for contributions blends in too easily, and I bet most peope don't see it. There is nothing wrong about asking for a donation especially when one notes that there is no advertising.

These are some random thoughts not meant to offend, but add what I hope are constructive ideas.

I am excited to see DCP evolve.

Posted by: oncall at April 21, 2007 04:16 PM

Only problem with requiring a logon is that it makes it difficult to post "anonymously" - i.e. you put your name and such when you post but you aren't otherwise logged in with "cookies" that could be tracked. If you get where I'm going.

Well there's always lurking :)

My favorite part of the site, even more than the blog, used to be the IRC...live-chatting during presidential speeches or debates or decompressing in real-time during, say, Katrina really built a sense of fellowship/friendship that static blogging reinforces but doesn't initiate. But if I peek in there these days, I'm more likely than not to find an empty room. Maybe we're all just busier...so maybe we could schedule certain days/times to "gather" and trade notes and barbs.

Posted by: V at April 21, 2007 04:31 PM

I have the same thoughts and experiences about the irc and would like go there when I am seeking "progressive conversation", or just a simple get together. I notice that the irc is busiest when a vote has occurred. I suspect that as we get closer to elections, the irc will pick up. It has in the past.

I understand your points about logging on. However, if one is to post an anonymous hit and run comment, then I think making them register (even the simplest registration should be more than enough) will make for a more productive stream of ideas and commentary. As inconvenient as it may be, one can always delete and/or disable cookies if there is concern about tracking. Therefore the site should consider that people register even with cookies disabled (that is a point that doesn't have to be promoted). Maybe, I don't know what I am talking about. Correct me if I am wrong.

I would also like to see the forum section about letters to the editor make it past the final cut.

personally--I don't like 'login'. (Sorry Oncall)

V and Oncall, I'm in the irc right now if you can chat.

I would like video like oncall said. But I guess I have a hard time eliminating podcasts altogether. The ones that are there belong in the library. I call them oral histories and as such they are important.

V--I have to admit, I like the irc too. But for the longest time, I couldn't get into it because the school had a lockdown on that port. Now, the problem is reversed so sometimes I actually get in.

For now, I also agree with Oncall that the forum part of the book club is 'dead' but I do disagree with ending the book club completely. I'd like to see the book club resume with a once a week chat in the irc.

(It's where I always felt the book club belonged anyways!)

Posted by: V at April 21, 2007 04:31 PM
Posted by: oncall at April 21, 2007 04:48 PM

Agreed wholeheartedly with both of you. The chat needs to be emphasized more, and while we may be busy, we could set aside certain times of the day when we can agree to gather in the chatroom.

oncall - just to let you know, I will be in Chicago for the Memorial Day weekend. Looking forward to running into you again!

Why the French election matters to Progressives everywhere
by Jerome a Paris
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/4/21/75452/8947

Posted by: not my president at April 21, 2007 11:25 AM

Just as important will be how many votes Le Pen and the National Front will be able to gather, especially from conservative Muslims.

In any case, this election will have major ramifications.

Otter, sparrow, and I are discussing the future of DCP in the IRC...

Ally
It's not just LePen - if Sarkozy takes it that means "reformers" start to prevail - Blair, Merkel, etc. - that means they copy us.
Smaller state, smaller benefits, tax cuts for the rich, smaller subsidies, smaller entitlements, smaller pensions, smaller healthcare system, leaner government a la Norquist, free trade & globalization, guest workers, maintenance of Empire via control of oil flow (invade Iran) etc.

& I forgot .. that leaves more money for .. bigger military, bigger CEO salaries, building neocon infrastructure of military industrial complex, and either balancing the US or working with the US to maintain the status quo as top dogs and top environmental users and polluters.

NMP, the weakness of Royal does worry me too.

And it's not just France. As I said before, elections in South Korea and Taiwan will turn out in favor of pro-Republican right wing parties, because their leftists are so weak and in disarray too.

I'm already concerned, as the South Koreans now have a free trade agreement with the US, one that the US media NEVER reported (despite being the largest since NAFTA).

I would also like to see the forum section about letters to the editor make it past the final cut.

Posted by: oncall at April 21, 2007 04:57 PM

@@@@

I agree and would add that I found the "Action Alerts" and "Coming Events" section very useful tools. I didn't want to post an announcement of an event to have it buried, irretrievably, in the blog. I also like the hits/counter-function in the forums telling you whether people are interested in a particular post or are ignoring it..

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto-20061222-000001&page=1
The Ideological Animal

Excerpt:

Abstract Art vs. Talk Radio: The Political Personality Standoff
Most people are surprised to learn that there are real, stable differences in personality between conservatives and liberals—not just different views or values, but underlying differences in temperament. Psychologists John Jost of New York University, Dana Carney of Harvard, and Sam Gosling of the University of Texas have demonstrated that conservatives and liberals boast markedly different home and office decor. Liberals are messier than conservatives, their rooms have more clutter and more color, and they tend to have more travel documents, maps of other countries, and flags from around the world. Conservatives are neater, and their rooms are cleaner, better organized, more brightly lit, and more conventional. Liberals have more books, and their books cover a greater variety of topics. And that's just a start. Multiple studies find that liberals are more optimistic. Conservatives are more likely to be religious. Liberals are more likely to like classical music and jazz, conservatives, country music. Liberals are more likely to enjoy abstract art. Conservative men are more likely than liberal men to prefer conventional forms of entertainment like TV and talk radio. Liberal men like romantic comedies more than conservative men. Liberal women are more likely than conservative women to enjoy books, poetry, writing in a diary, acting, and playing musical instruments.

"All people are born alike—except Republicans and Democrats," quipped Groucho Marx, and in fact it turns out that personality differences between liberals and conservatives are evident in early childhood. In 1969, Berkeley professors Jack and Jeanne Block embarked on a study of childhood personality, asking nursery school teachers to rate children's temperaments. They weren't even thinking about political orientation.

Twenty years later, they decided to compare the subjects' childhood personalities with their political preferences as adults. They found arresting patterns. As kids, liberals had developed close relationships with peers and were rated by their teachers as self-reliant, energetic, impulsive, and resilient. People who were conservative at age 23 had been described by their teachers as easily victimized, easily offended, indecisive, fearful, rigid, inhibited, and vulnerable at age 3. The reason for the difference, the Blocks hypothesized, was that insecure kids most needed the reassurance of tradition and authority, and they found it in conservative politics.

The most comprehensive review of personality and political orientation to date is a 2003 meta-analysis of 88 prior studies involving 22,000 participants. The researchers—John Jost of NYU, Arie Kruglanski of the University of Maryland, and Jack Glaser and Frank Sulloway of Berkeley—found that conservatives have a greater desire to reach a decision quickly and stick to it, and are higher on conscientiousness, which includes neatness, orderliness, duty, and rule-following. Liberals are higher on openness, which includes intellectual curiosity, excitement-seeking, novelty, creativity for its own sake, and a craving for stimulation like travel, color, art, music, and literature.
~~~~~
For liberals, conservatives, and independents alike, thinking about death actually makes people more conservative—at least temporarily.

Fear and Voting In America
Campaign strategists in both parties have never hesitated to use scare tactics. In 1964, a Lyndon Johnson commercial called "Daisy" juxtaposed footage of a little girl plucking a flower with footage of an atomic blast. In 1984, Ronald Reagan ran a spot that played on Cold War panic, in which the Soviet threat was symbolized by a grizzly lumbering across a stark landscape as a human heart pounds faster and faster and an off-screen voice warns, "There is a bear in the woods!" In 2004, Bush sparked furor for running a fear-mongering ad that used wolves gathering in the woods as symbols for terrorists plotting against America. And last fall, Congressional Republicans drew fire with an ad that featured bin Laden and other terrorists threatening Americans; over the sound of a ticking clock, a voice warned, "These are the stakes."

"At least some of the President's support is the result of constant and relentless reminders of death, some of which is just what's happening in the world, but much of which is carefully cultivated and calculated as an electoral strategy," says Solomon. "In politics these days, there's a dose of reason, and there's a dose of irrationality driven by psychological terror that may very well be swinging elections."

Solomon demonstrated that thinking about 9/11 made people go from preferring Kerry to preferring Bush. "Very subtle manipulations of psychological conditions profoundly affect political preferences," Solomon concludes. "In difficult moments, people don't want complex, nuanced, John Kerry-like waffling or sophisticated cogitation. They want somebody charismatic to step up and say, 'I know where our problem is and God has given me the clout to kick those people's asses.'"

Into The Blue
Studies show that people who study abroad become more liberal than those who stay home.

People who venture from the strictures of their limited social class are less likely to stereotype and more likely to embrace other cultures. Education goes hand-in-hand with tolerance, and often, the more the better:

Professors at major universities are more liberal than their counterparts at less acclaimed institutions. What travel and education have in common is that they make the differences between people seem less threatening. "You become less bothered by the idea that there is uncertainty in the world," explains Jost.

That's why the more educated people are, the more liberal they become—but only to a point. Once people begin pursuing certain types of graduate degrees, the curve flattens. Business students, for instance, become more conservative in their views toward minorities. As they become more established, doctors and lawyers tend to protect their economic interests by moving to the right. The findings demonstrate that conservative conversions are fueled not only by fear, but by other factors as well. And if the November election was any indicator, the pendulum that swung so forcefully to the right after 9/11 may be swinging back.
~~~~~
If we are so suggestible that thoughts of death make us uncomfortable defaming the American flag and cause us to sit farther away from foreigners, is there any way we can overcome our easily manipulated fears and become the informed and rational thinkers democracy demands?

To test this, Solomon and his colleagues prompted two groups to think about death and then give opinions about a pro-American author and an anti-American one. As expected, the group that thought about death was more pro-American than the other. But the second time, one group was asked to make gut-level decisions about the two authors, while the other group was asked to consider carefully and be as rational as possible. The results were astonishing. In the rational group, the effects of mortality salience were entirely eliminated. Asking people to be rational was enough to neutralize the effects of reminders of death. Preliminary research shows that reminding people that as human beings, the things we have in common eclipse our differences—what psychologists call a "common humanity prime"—has the same effect.

"People have two modes of thought," concludes Solomon. "There's the intuitive gut-level mode, which is what most of us are in most of the time. And then there's a rational analytic mode, which takes effort and attention."

The solution, then, is remarkably simple. The effects of psychological terror on political decision making can be eliminated just by asking people to think rationally. Simply reminding us to use our heads, it turns out, can be enough to make us do it.

Polls closed in France - overseas ballots crucial but looks like Sarko is in the lead, which means a shift to the right. In the next round, progressives could vote tactically for Bayrou, to keep out Sarko.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/sarkozy-just-ahead-in-vote/2007/04/21/1176697158081.html

Why must we all be bent under the wheel of this constant class struggle?!

Between 1,000 and 2,000 people protested Bush's visit to Grand Rapids on Friday according to the Associated Press:

James Prichard
Associated Press

EAST GRAND RAPIDS - A trip to western Michigan by President Bush to deliver a Friday speech about the war in Iraq, worldwide anti-terrorism efforts and U.S. foreign policy brought out hundreds of protesters, most expressing their opposition to the war.

As Bush spoke and answered audience questions for nearly 90 minutes inside East Grand Rapids High School in suburban Grand Rapids, protesters outside shouted anti-war chants and held signs bearing such phrases as "No blood for oil," "End imperialism now" and "Sieg heil Bush."

Police said between 1,000 and 2,000 protesters gathered along the route of the president's motorcade and at nearby Collins Park. Dozens were chanting outside the high school shortly after Bush finished his speech.
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Adam Estner, 29, of East Grand Rapids, called the war wrong and Bush's administration corrupt. "I'm upset that Bush is here looking for more money for his war," he said. "We've all been lied to as Americans and it's time for a change."

Bush said he continues to believe that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is committed to peace and reconciliation. At the same time, he said the U.S. military commitment in Iraq is not open-ended.

The president urged Americans not to be swayed by the violence inflicted by suicide bombers. He said Wednesday's carnage, in which bombs exploded in Baghdad and killed 230 people, had the "hallmarks of an al-Qaida attack."

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a teleconference that the Bush administration has failed to adequately pressure the Iraqis to settle their differences.

After leaving the school, Bush's motorcade stopped at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, where he stood silently after placing white roses at Ford's burial site.

About 500 people heard the president speak inside the high school auditorium during the event hosted by the World Affairs Council of Western Michigan, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes understanding of global affairs.

Of the 50 tickets for the school, 44 were used by students and six by teachers. More than half of the students were members of the school's state champion "We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution" team. The goal is to enhance understanding of democracy.

Michael Blauw, a 16-year-old on the team, said after Bush's appearance that he had more faith in the president's vision for Iraq than he had before the speech.

"It gave me a more positive attitude on the war in Iraq," he said.

While negative campaigning is frowned on in the highly regulated world of French TV and radio, passions and prejudices are given free rein in the blogosphere - Europe's biggest - with the two main rightwing candidates coming in for particular punishment.

The ageing far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen's Second Life site has already been thrashed by net "terrorists" while many anti-Bush videos from the last US presidential campaign have been adapted to lampoon the frontrunner, Nicolas Sarkozy.

But the Sarkozy camp have cleverly countered with humorous sites dedicated to their man, like Disco Sarko in which he boogies down to disco classics, and others which urge a huge "Sarkoming out" on Sunday. While the Socialist candidate, Segolene Royal, has a much bigger net presence, her sites - rather like her - tend to be serious and po-faced.

more at http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2007/04/20/french_campaigns_get_nasty_on_the_net.html

Infant deaths are rising in the south due to cuts in Medicaid. Those who voted for Bush got their man!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/health/22infant.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Posted by: not my president at April 22, 2007 01:00 AM

NMP,

I am not sure that those who voted for Bush got their man! Given the 'traditional' way the Republicans have eliminated blacks from casting their vote, I'm more inclined to believe that the poor blacks and the poor whites who likely were democratic ended us suffering from the results of two illegal elections.

This is the key quote:

"Most striking, here and throughout the country, is the large racial disparity. In Mississippi, infant deaths among blacks rose to 17 per thousand births in 2005 from 14.2 per thousand in 2004, while those among whites rose to 6.6 per thousand from 6.1. (The national average in 2003 was 5.7 for whites and 14.0 for blacks.)

The overall jump in Mississippi meant that 65 more babies died in 2005 than in the previous year, for a total of 481."

Later on in that same article, they inserted another phoney Republican talking point. You know the one. It's the one where you blame the victim and call them lazy instead of blaming the policy.

Here's that talking point though at least they gave the other side:

"Dr. Marley said, is that some women arrive in labor having had little or no prenatal care. “I don’t think there’s a lack of providers or facilities,” he said. “Some women just don’t have the get up and go.”

But social workers say that the motivation of poor women is not so simply described, and it can be affected by cuts in social programs and a dearth of transportation as well as low self esteem.

“If you didn’t have a car and had to go 60 miles to see a doctor, would you go very often?” said Ramona Beardain, director of Delta Health Partners. The group runs a federally financed program, Healthy Start, that sends social workers and nurses to counsel pregnant teenagers and new mothers in seven counties of the Delta. “If they’re in school they miss the day; if they’re working they don’t get paid,” Ms. Berdain said."

If Republicans truly wanted to be 'the culture of life' then the infant mortality rate wouldn't be increasing. And these are mothers who have 'chosen life' but instead their babies are dying young. If the anti-abortionists put as much effort into suporting life, then the infant mortality rate would drastically decrease and this precentage would be absolutely unacceptable to them.

This statistic seems to give more credence to the idea that they love the fetus but not the living breathing babies.

"

Ok..so I know Frank Rich is singing to the choir when he writes, but as far as I'm concerned, he's got his facts right!

~~~

What’s being lost in the Beltway uproar is the extent to which the lying, cronyism and arrogance showcased by the current scandals are of a piece with the lying, cronyism and arrogance that led to all the military funerals that Mr. Bush dares not attend. Having slept through the fraudulent selling of the war, Washington is still having trouble confronting the big picture of the Bush White House. Its dense web of deceit is the deliberate product of its amoral culture, not a haphazard potpourri of individual blunders.

(snip)

Mr. Gonzales’s politicizing of the Justice Department is a mere bagatelle next to his role as White House counsel in 2002, when he helped shape the administration’s legal argument to justify torture. That paved the way for Abu Ghraib, the episode that destroyed America’s image and gave terrorists a moral victory. But his efforts to sabotage national security didn’t end there. In a front-page exposé lost in the Imus avalanche two Sundays ago, The Washington Post uncovered Mr. Gonzales’s reckless role in vetting the nomination of Bernard Kerik as secretary of homeland security in December 2004.

Mr. Kerik, you may recall, withdrew from consideration for that cabinet post after a week of embarrassing headlines. Back then, the White House ducked any culpability for the mess by attributing it to a single legal issue, a supposedly undocumented nanny, and by pinning it on a single, nonadministration scapegoat, Mr. Kerik’s longtime patron, Rudy Giuliani.

(snip)

Had Iraqi reconstruction, like the training of Iraqi police, not been betrayed by politics and cronyism, the Iraq story might have a different ending. But maybe not all that different. The cancer on the Bush White House connects and contaminates all its organs. It’s no surprise that one United States attorney fired without plausible cause by the Gonzales Justice Department, Carol Lam, was in hot pursuit of defense contractors with administration connections. Or that another crony brought by Mr. Wolfowitz to the World Bank was caught asking the Air Force secretary to secure a job for her brother at a defense contractor while she was overseeing aspects of the Air Force budget at the White House. A government with values this sleazy couldn’t possibly win a war... As the cover-up unravels and Congress steps up its confrontation over the war’s endgame, our desperate president is reverting to his old fear-mongering habit of invoking 9/11 incessantly in every speech. The more we learn, the more it’s clear that he’s the one with reason to be afraid.

from select NYT
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/opinion/22rich.html?hp

I got the excerpts from:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/22/35911/6208

A Jigsaw of School Shootings

15 April, 2007
(This is long and was published prior to the VT masacre.)

http://groups.google.com/group/a-jigsaw-of-school-shootings/web/jigsaw

Friends of Al Gore have secretly started assembling a campaign team in preparation for the former American vice-president to make a fresh bid for the White House. Two members of Mr Gore's staff from his unsuccessful attempt in 2000 say they have been approached to see if they would be available to work with him again. Mr Gore, President Bill Clinton's deputy, has said he wants to concentrate on publicising the need to combat climate change, a case made in his film, An Inconvenient Truth, which won him an Oscar this year. But, aware ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/22/wgore22.xml

Friends of Al Gore have secretly started assembling a campaign team in preparation for the former American vice-president to make a fresh bid for the White House. Two members of Mr Gore's staff from his unsuccessful attempt in 2000 say they have been approached to see if they would be av

@@@@@@@

The Michigan Democratic party has already anointed John Edwards as the Dem. presidential candidate. How and why, you ask. Well, John Edwards spoke at the critical, pivotal Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Lansing yesterday. I learned about the critical Jeff-Jack dinner phenomenon in 2004 when working for a losing presidential campaign. I asked some Mich Dems why they were supporting (I believe it was) Gephardt at the time. They told me, without hesitation, Gephardt spoke at the Jeff-Jack dinner!!! Could there be a better reason for supporting a candidate? Of course not!!!

Gephart also was pro-labor so that plays well to union workers.

Sparrow
I think some of the "culture of life" would not be too disturbed if most of the survivors were white.

Click on my name to see drawings & commentary re the French election. Round 1 may be completed (?) but Round 2 occurs next weekend! Can you imagine if we had our primaries and general election a week apart? I like the idea of Instant Runoff.

Key Part of Bush's "No Child" Law Under Federal Probe

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042207Y.shtml
The Justice Department is conducting a probe of a $6 billion reading initiative at the center of President Bush's No Child Left Behind law,another blow to a program besieged by allegations of financial conflicts of interest and cronyism, people familiar with the matter said Friday.

Have they done ANYTHING the legal way?!

For NMP and anyone else following the French election:

It's a runoff between Sarko, with 30% of the vote, and Royal, with 24%.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6582007.stm

Have they done [the Bush administration] ANYTHING the legal way?!

Posted by: not my president at April 22, 2007 01:07 PM

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

Apparently not.

Which is why not just the laws but the ethics and even the morals of the situation require we-the-sheeple to impeach these friggin bastids, not just wait them out.

because 01/20/09 is way too far away,
Otter