Sep 12 2008
My original plan was to re-post these at their original times, but I can’t quite make that artistic vision happen.
Here instead are links to them-
Sep 12 2008
The topic below was originally posted yesterday on my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal.
Change is passé. Barack Obama squeezed all the juice out of the change orange since announcing his candidacy in February 2007. Personally, I never thought much of the “change you can believe in” slogan but there is no denying Obama went far with it.
However, Sarah Palin’s selection as McCain’s running mate has convinced the public change is coming no matter who wins. Even worse, the very same corporate media that complained Obama only offered “words” compared to Hillary Clinton’s policy specifics during the primary season now argue that McCain’s lack of specifics does not diminish his stature as a maverick. Is that fair? Of course not! But there is no sense whining about it. These are the cards we’ve been dealt.
So how do we change the narrative? The solution is to present the voting public with a stark choice: progress or calamity. Change vs. more of the same is stale and no longer resonates.
Sep 12 2008
Sep 12 2008
Sarah Palin Foreign Policy Expert
The Bush Doctrine: Isn’t That The Brush Cutting Operation In Crawford?
9/11 and Iraq: You Can’t Tell Me Saddam Wasn’t Involved After All 19 Of The Hijackers Were from Saudi Arabia
Rule Changes Would Give FBI Agents Extensive New Powers
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 12, 2008; Page A02
The Justice Department will unveil changes to FBI ground rules today that would put much more power into the hands of line agents pursuing leads on national security, foreign intelligence and even ordinary criminal cases.The overhaul, the most substantial revision to FBI operating instructions in years, also would ease some reporting requirements between agents, their supervisors and federal prosecutors in what authorities call a critical effort to improve information gathering and detect terrorist threats.
Ike is rolling in, Texans are rolling out
Thousands of Gulf Coast residents jam highways. Forecasters say the storm could strengthen to a Category 3 — and possibly a Category 4 — before making landfall early Saturday.
By David Zucchino and P.J. Huffstutter, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
September 12, 2008
FREEPORT, TEXAS — Thousands of residents of Texas’ vulnerable Gulf Coast clogged highways headed inland Thursday, heeding mandatory evacuation orders as Hurricane Ike churned through warm waters and took aim at southeastern Texas.Facing a hurricane that Gov. Rick Perry said could have “extraordinary impact,” authorities ordered the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents of low-lying coastal areas south and east of Houston. Chemical plants and refineries closed, bracing for high winds and damaging floods.”I can’t overemphasize the danger that is facing us,” Perry told reporters in Austin. Ike is “going to do some substantial damage. It’s going to knock out power and it’s going to cause massive flooding.”
Ike was a Category 2 storm late Thursday, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. Forecasters predicted the storm would strengthen to a Category 3, with winds of at least 111 mph — and possibly a Category 4 — before making landfall early Saturday.
USA
Palin Links Iraq to Sept. 11 In Talk to Troops in Alaska
By Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 12, 2008; Page A01
FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska, Sept. 11 — Gov. Sarah Palin linked the war in Iraq with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, telling an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would “defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.”
The idea that the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein helped al-Qaeda plan the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a view once promoted by Bush administration officials, has since been rejected even by the president himself. But it is widely agreed that militants allied with al-Qaeda have taken root in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion.
Sep 12 2008
 Muse in the Morning |
A Transition through Poetry VII
Art Link Tarnished Silverpink
|
Sep 12 2008
Oh, this just keeps getting better and better:
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday expelled the U.S. ambassador from the oil-exporting country in an escalating battle between Washington and Latin America’s left-wing leaders.
“Go to hell, s— yankees, we are a dignified people, go to hell 100 times,” Chavez shouted at a political rally to thousands of roaring supporters.
Chavez, who calls ex-Cuban leader Fidel Castro his mentor, also repeated a threat he has made often to cut off Venezuela’s oil supply to the United States.
Chavez’ latest tantrum comes not from any direct provocation, but out of solidarity with Bolivia, which earlier expelled its own US ambassador whom it accused of supporting guerrilla violence.
Take one guess what the attackers hit in Bolivia:
Sep 12 2008
Thanks to the hard work of many, many people – some of whom are no longer with us – I was able to marry my longtime boyfriend in a small civil service in California last week.
This is just a quick diary to thank some of the people who helped pave that road to legal protection of same-sex marriage.
And it’s followed by a request…
Sep 12 2008
Crossposted from MY LEFT WING
To call a spade a bloody shovel means more than speaking plainly; rather, it means saying something that is true but unpalatable — or impolitic.
During an otherwise stellar appearance on David Letterman’s show last night, Barack Obama missed an opportunity to deliver a kidney punch to John McCain. In my view, this missed opportunity vividly exemplifies a weakness in the election style Democrats have used over the past three decades.
(I’m not saying Obama’s campaign exemplifies this style; to the contrary, despite a few missteps — and who among us could do better? — I submit that, given the fact that Barack Obama has steamrolled over every obstacle thus far, this man just might know better than anyone how to correct the Democratic Party’s mistakes of the past and finally, FINALLY beat these bastards in this rigged game. But I’m making a point here, so… bear with me.)
Letterman asked, and I’m paraphrasing,
“If you’d been able to pick your Vice-Presidential running mate after McCain picked Palin, would you have chosen differently?”
Obama answered — and again, I’m paraphrasing:
“I chose the person I want in the room with me, giving me wise advice and different points of view…”
Intelligent, cogent and sincere.
But I think he should have phrased it thusly:
“Maybe this is another difference between Senator McCain and me:I didn’t pick my running mate because I thought he would help me WIN; I picked him because I thought he would help me GOVERN.”
Stark, simple and true. Did John McCain pick Sarah Palin because he thought she was the best of all possible candidates for the role of Vice-President in a McCain Administration?
The very suggestion is a joke. Nobody could make that suggestion with a straight face unless he worked for McCain or Fox News. McCain picked Palin to help him win the election.
Just one more in an endless series of proofs that John McCain’s campaign slogan of “Country First” is an empty, shallow and insulting lie.
Sep 12 2008
Cross-posted from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST
Officials have warned that Hurricane Ike, with its expected imminent landfall along the Galveston-Houston, Texas coast, may present the feared worse-case-scenario, which includes the ominous prediction of “certain death” for those who ignore mandatory evacuation.
Residents living in single-family homes in some parts of coastal Texas face “certain death” if they do not heed orders to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Ike’s arrival, the National Weather Service said Thursday night.
The unusually strong wording came in a weather advisory regarding storm surge along the shoreline of Galveston Bay, which could see maximum water levels of 15 to 22 feet, the agency said.
“All neighborhoods … and possibly entire coastal communities … will be inundated during the period of peak storm tide,” the advisory said. “Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single-family one- or two-story homes will face certain death.”
There are concerns about people ignoring the mandatory evacuation order due to “hurricane fatigue.” This 700 mile-wide storm may not be the event upon which to take that chance.
Here are some facts:
More below the fold…
Sep 12 2008
Today was a special day for me as I picked up my granddaughters for ice cream.
After work, they were hiding behind the door in the entry, & scared me half to death (ya, right) when they jumped out in halloween masks.
We went down into Malibu, for ice cream, & stopped at the memorial to the people who perished on 911.
They had a great time & the memorial was really beautiful.
I was actually surprised at the number of people who`d stopped & parked on the side of the road to enjoy the view over the ocean & sit down to rest, talk, remember etc.
Here is how it felt.
Have a nice day.
You all know I`ve been extremely busy, but I`ll be taking a break, within the next month, & you`ll be seeing more of my images.
Whether that`s a good or bad thing is not up to me to say.
Please click on the main image to see many more images of this day which I will not soon forget.
My girls were a laugh a minute. Their innocence is what keeps me sane, in a real crazy sort of way.
I love them.
http://frenchpirate.blogspot.com/
Sep 12 2008
FT: “Democratic jitters about the US presidential race have spread to Capitol Hill, where some members of Congress are worried that Barack Obama’s faltering campaign could hurt their chances of re-election. Party leaders have been hoping to strengthen Democratic control of the House and Senate in November, but John McCain’s jump in the polls has stoked fears of a Republican resurgence. A Democratic fundraiser for Congressional candidates said some planned to distance themselves from Mr Obama and not attack Mr McCain.”
RealClearPolitics reports McCain beats his opponent in the polls, on favorables, and on Intrade. But that’s not the most worrying news facing Dems: the generic congressional gap has closed to 3 points, as even the popularity of George W. Bush continues to inch upwards, although Dubya is still loathed at a rate of roughly 2:1.
Dem internals are probably far worse. This week saw the candidate of hope scrambling to spin an ‘innocent’ version of his ‘stinks like old fish’ remark, lining up one of his celebrity buddies to find a place for him. Letterman clearly didn’t get the job done cause a second appearance on Saturday Night Live follows this weekend. That may have been the plan all along.
Or the candidacy may be cratering. Smooth to slick to creepy is not the transformation the campaign had in mind, but Obama’s famous smile seems increasingly forces and there’s a tension in his strut that suggests the writing on the wall is coming into sharper focus. Obama has been pandering to the Republican base. Young people are famously fickle. Time to shuffle the deck.
Goofing for the camera; and abasing himself for a few cheap laughs may add some temporary lustre to a campaign clearly gone stale and cold. What comes after that? Another temple? More insults? Obama has nothing new to say, although it seems clear a large number of Americans are still waiting for a message. Therein lies the tension. Obama has nothing new to say other than ‘I’m cool’. So what?
With no meaningful response to offer, other than ‘we’re cool, together’, enthusiasm for the Obama campaign wanes. The ‘what ifs’ are endless. Had the press decided not to protect John Edwards a different candidate might have won the Dem primary. But the real blame can be placed on the shoulders of the candidate himself, who continues to alienate voters with his arrogance, his elitism, his breezy condescension and his volatile impatience with any who question his honesty and integrity.
Dems are paying attention and are genuinely fearful of finding themselves on the wrong side of a President America trusts and admires.
Domestic and foreign policy concerns meet on the questions of energy and Iraq. Jobs, government expenditures, national security and the environment are all affected.
An American victory in Iraq is necessary and achievable. Victory means political stability, with bases for US troops who will remain the ME fulfilling the mission of the Carter doctrine. Complete support for US troops and their families is the cornerstone of McCain’s policy. Service merits nothing less. A ticker-tape parade or two is likely in the offing as well.
Nuclear energy is America’s only option if Americans are serious about reducing dependence on foreign sources of carbon fuels. McCain will build 45 new nuclear plants, creating energy and jobs. McCain’s pro-nuclear position and clear specifics stands in stark contrast to that of the Dems.
President John McCain and Vice-President Sarah Palin, along with a reformed and genuinely chastened Republican party are ready to lead America into the reality of the 21st century. The alternative is a dream.
Sep 12 2008
What a long strange trip it’s been.
Well, anniversaries are supposed to be times of introspection and remembrance. If I concentrate a little on my own feelings and less on those of others it’s because I value everyone’s contribution so much that I don’t trust myself not to forget one or two.
I’ve spoken before about this being a team blog, indeed tomorrow at 8 am I’ll repost my opening day essays and the first Pony Party to start the celebration. We publish a good amount of content, most of which is excellent.
I like to feature the essays of others on the Front Page, but it’s a mixed blessing. You only last about a day unless you’re picked up on the Rec List which is a dKos and a half (12 to the uninitiate). It ages in 3 days which is just about long enough to keep it filled through Thanksgiving and eksmas.
I’m not likely to feature personal stories because I’m not sure how much you really want to share although I can think of occasional exceptions.
I have my Recent Essays set to 50 and essays age in about 3 days there too. In terms of volume of original content I’d compare our collective output to some pretty active sites though I have no statistics at all to support that.
I look at DocuDharma pretty much as a interactive Daily Newspaper, Literary Magazine, and Gossip Column, so those are the kind of stories I tend to promote, but there are other editorial voices and I’m very responsive to recommendations.
I expect the future will pretty much resemble the past. I think that after the election it’s going to be quite a problem to enact a progressive agenda. but I am sure what the results will be if we don’t at least try.
My hopes for DocuDharma are rather modest, that it remain a place where people are not afraid to express themselves creatively or politically and that through discussion we can generate some activity and awareness that percolates up.