March 2008 archive

Mar 02 2008

Lets See Now, ‘Supporting The Troops’

What do those three words really mean in this ever so Rich, Powerful, and Patriotic Country of Ours, not to mention Supposedly Christian as well?

Is it just the mouthing of?

If a politician, which some call a profession, is it the wearing of a Flag Lapel Pin?

I have one I wear on my Veterans For Peace ballcap Turned Upside Down!!!

Is it little cheap Magnetic Yellow Ribbons that have those words printed on them, and seem to have rapidly disappeared?

We once had a conflict, we have ‘The Wall’ of remembrance of 58,000 lives lost in that conflict.

The one we, as a Nation, stated we should never forget the lessons of, and Quickly Forgot The Lessons Of!

Mar 02 2008

Book Review – Sandrine’s Letter to Tomorrow

I met Dedra Johnson at a book signing just before Christmas.  Earl Higgins, Dedra, and I were signing our books at the Loyola University's bookstore.  I'd been hearing about Sandrine's Letter to Tomorrow from friends, bloggers, and others for a coiuple of months.  It's not the type of novel I usually read, but Dedra's a local author writing about New Orleans, good enough for me.

Sandrine may not be the type of character I usually get into, but I got into the novel nonetheless.  It is a well-written story with lots of local color and a cast of characters who are very easy to love and/or hate, just like family members.

I'm going to offer some more thoughts below the fold.  SPOILER WARNING – don't go there if you haven't read the book.

Mar 02 2008

Reclaiming Awe

One of the many cesspools we’ll have to clean up post-Bushco is our language. There are words I find myself avoiding because they have been so tainted with lies and evil that their original meaning has been mutilated. A project like that doesn’t rate as high on the priority list as things like ending the war in Iraq, stopping the use of torture, addressing climate change, fixing the economy, and joining with the people of the gulf coast to restore their home. But it is something I hope we can do along the way.

For me, a word that is seriously in need of restoration is “awe.” I just hate the fact that every time I hear that word these days, I think of the destruction and death “shock and awe” caused in Iraq. Its such a beautiful word and it was used in the most vile way imaginable. So, my hope is that we will not only end our perpetuation of violence in that country and at least TRY to find a way to make amends for what we have done, but that we will also recognize that our leaders took a concept that should inspire peace and bastardized it as a tool for war.

Mar 02 2008

Kucinich – Forsaking Foreclosures – NY Times

Dennis has an op-ed in the NY Times today!

Mar 02 2008

You Will Vote for Clinton and Like It

Hi, I am Hilary Clinton. You will vote for me and you will like it. Why can’t you people just do what you are told? As if we haven’t gone to enough trouble without you crazy lefties voting for Obama. Get a grip, you wild-eyed suckers. Who do you think is going to be running Congress if, as in your wildest dreams, Obama wins the general? Heh heh heh. I’ll be the Senate Majority Leader, and Rahm Emanuel will be House Majority Leader. We will keep Pantsuit Nancy around for photo-ops, but Rahm and I will be calling the shots. And we’ll make sure none of this lunatic Obama agenda of Change and Hope blather does any damage to what really matters in this great Country:

Me. Bill. Our Legacy. Our storm-tossed Love Story. And a smoothly functioning Empire, secret police, and military-industrial-petroleum complex. After all, they pay my bills, sweethearts. Got to dance to their tune, now don’t we? The problem with Obama is he doesn’t owe anybody anything. And that makes the Powers That Be nervous. They don’t have a handle on the guy. He can do whatever he wants, without paying homage to any special interest.

And we can’t have that.

(Cross-posted at the Orange Vortex of Venomous Diatribe and Scathing Insult)

Mar 02 2008

Pony Party: Sunday music retrospective

R. Carlos Nakai



Amazing Grace

Mar 02 2008

Congressional races round 2: Indiana, Iowa, Kansas

Here’s part seven of the second round of congressional races.  Earlier parts are   here

Indiana has 9 representatives: 5 Democrats and 4 Republicans

Filing deadline was Feb 22, primary is May 6

Iowa has 5 representatives: 3 Democrats and 2 Republicans

Filing deadline is March 14, primary is June 3

Kansas has 4 representatives: 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans

Filing deadline is June 10, primary is August 5

Mar 02 2008

Docudharma Times Sunday March 2

This is an Open Thread:

Hey there mighty brontosaurus

Don’t you have a message for us.

You thought your rule would always last

There were no lessons in your past.

Sunday’s Headlines: Clinton battles Obama’s momentum: British island ‘used by US for rendition’ :Iran leader in landmark Iraq trip: Scores killed in raids on Gaza: Medvedev steps out from Putin’s shadow as Russia goes to polls: Planeloads of cash prop up Mugabe: Ghosts of apartheid haunt South Africa: Emperor’s son rebuked over princess visits: China’s subversive art of Manhua comes to Britain: Colombian rebel leader killed in battle

In Search for Peace, a Shrinking White House Role

When Palestinians broke through the barrier dividing the Gaza Strip and Egypt in January and streamed across the border by the tens of thousands, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak faced a moment of crisis. His phone soon rang, but the world leader offering help on the other end was not President Bush — it was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mubarak took the call, resulting in the first such contact between leaders of the two nations since relations were severed nearly three decades ago.

The conversation signaled a growing rapprochement between Egypt, which receives nearly $2 billion in annual aid from Washington, and Iran, a country that the Bush administration has tried to isolate as a possible threat to U.S. interests in the region.

The Myth of Objectivity

Is the mainstream press unbiased? No, but we aren’t ideological. What we really thrive on is conflict.

She tried to make a joke of it. At the debate in Cleveland last week, Hillary Clinton brought up a “Saturday Night Live” skit about journalists fawning over Barack Obama at a mock debate. “Maybe we should ask Barack if he’s comfortable and needs another pillow,” said Clinton. Humor is often a substitute for anger, and if Clinton wasn’t all that funny, maybe it is because she is sore at the press for seeming to go easier on her opponent. She has a point, but the truth about the media and the campaign cannot be caricatured simply as the deification of Obama and the hounding of Clinton.

The pols and the people invest the press with great power. Conspiracies abound. Right-wing talk-show hosts love to go on about the liberal media establishment. Lefty commentators accuse the press of rolling over for George W. Bush before the invasion of Iraq.

Mar 02 2008

Pure Strategery: bush’s Plan to Save America

Back at the end of 2006, after the republicans lost control of Congress, bush was asked about his “legacy.” You may recall his response:

And you’re talking about legacy. Here, I – I know – look, everybody’s trying to write the history of this administration even before it’s over. I’m reading about George Washington still.

My attitude is if they’re still analyzing number one, 43 ought not to worry about it, and just do what he think is right, and make the tough choices necessary.

In a most peculiar way, he may be right to question a quick assessment of the years he “ruled.” To find out what I mean, hop in a barrel and follow me over the fa-a-a-a-alls…

Mar 02 2008

The Weapon of Young Gods #15: Circle Of Envy

Peter and I both woke up too late to make it to our 10 a.m. classes the next day- his sole obligation and, after I decided to ditch my only lecture of the day, mine too- and blearily needled each other over our behavior the previous night. I mostly played along to humor him, because I’d decided to act on an impulse I’d suppressed all week. My roommate had just started in about my hapless exchange with Francesca (who’d just passed by with an eye-roll for me) when I cut him off.

Previous Episode

Mar 02 2008

Iglesia ……………………………………… Episode 37

(Iglesia is a serialized novel, published on Tuesdays and Saturdays at midnight ET, you can read all of the episodes by clicking on the tag.)

Previous episode

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The corridor is quiet. None of them make much sound as they walk. They are alert. Rogers demeanor obviously indicates danger and they are all trained professionals. Attempts at questions or conversation are met by Rogers hands upraised in a shushing motion and it is apparent that he is stretching his senses down the corridor….listening for something? Abe could swear that Rogers’s ears have changed shape again, he is listening so hard. What’s worse is that he realizes that HE is now straining to change the shape of his ears, to try to listen harder….and what is even worse than that….is it feels like it is working!

He is about to reach up and check when Rogers raises his hand again.

Iglesia’s mind starts to wander, as it always does…while they are walking down the corridor. Her surface thoughts are on Paul, and her home. But the rest of her being is paying rapt attention to Rogers and every sound she can hear coming down the corridor. Which is exactly ….none. Then Rogers raises his hand again.

Mar 02 2008

Midnight Thought on the Coalition Change Strategy

From Burning the Midnight Oil for the Coalition Change Strategy, keeping the fire lit at the Big Orange

The core of the progressive populist coalition change strategy is the Blue-Green coalition. That must be the core, for many reasons, some of which I’ve mentioned, and some of which, good lord willing and the creek don’t rise, I’ll get to.

However, while that is a necessary part of the coalition change strategy, it is by no means sufficient. A coalition change strategy must be broad based. Working in the interest of the coalition must be a dominant political strategy, with the extra time and trouble of working out differences with coalition partners clearly worth the trouble.

And that means that everyone in the coalition must see the benefits of being part of the group … and that means that the coalition is far more robust if it has more than two main members.

And now I run into a tremendous problem, which is that the radical right reactionaries that captured the Republican Party have so soiled and muddled the public discourse that I have no name I can come up with for the third member of the progressive populist coalition strategy for change.

However, lacking a name that names the member of the coalition, we make do, and have been since before I wandered along and noticed what was happening.

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