Plus je veux moin je peux plus j'essaie de par la correctermante' plus jet b'eggaie.You should be use manmade feature modern let service for ability ignorance of DO HONG PHUC.Nang da yeu ai da nho ai,ma xiu mat le cu u hoai, thon thuc bao dem dai thuong nho, khe khep lan mi khe tho dai...........Hmmmmmmmmmmm! http://twitter.com/dohongphuc
George Bush has been free to do whatever he likes now that he is out of office. He was even seen at local stores jokingly asking for jobs and posing for pictures. Well it seems that he has been doing a lot of that lately, propping up at what seem like impromptu visits from the former President of the United States. Unlike other Presidents and candidates, Bush is seemingly the underachiever. Al Gore has gone on to be internationally recognized as the Savior of our Planet. Clinton went on book tours, and speaking arrangements. Both have been successful in their jobs after the White House appointment. Poor Dubya has been making photo ops and hiding out in his very expensive neighborhood constantly guarded by the Secret Service. He was on the cover of D Magazine when he returned home, in an obviously photoshopped image of Bush in Khaki Shorts, Striped Polo, (Correction) and a new tan. He himself has been up to nothing, staying out of the political arena and allowing Cheney to take on the Dems by his lonesome. His wife on the other hand was recently at a graduation ceremony at Southern Methodist University. I expect he will be working on his highly classified memoirs on How not to be a President and part two of that installment, How to ruin a prestigious political family name in just 8 years.Read more: http://politicalpete.com/what-is-george-w-bush-doing-now/#ixzz0H85UxILT&B
http://politicalpete.com/
I grew up in the midwest in a family in which politics was rarely discussed. Nebraska -- mother was from farm country near Sioux City, Iowa. Except for my father, who I think admired FDR for his efforts in alleviating the suffering of the great depression, most of the Nebraska farmers were confirmed Republicans. (Still are, it appears)
I voted that way, too, until the Vietnam war and some university friends pointed out the folly of my thinking. My last GOP vote was for Ike, and I don't much regret it -- he was fine president. Also, the Democratic party was dominated by a southern faction determined to keep Jim Crow in place -- that disgusted me.
My point is that it took a chance encounter at a party, and someone willing to break through the trivial party chatter to wake me up. That shouldn't be the case -- we need to reach across to others and discuss issues, and learn to do it in a dispassionate way. We surely can come together if we are willing to reconsider our own biasses, listen to others, and keep our focus on the common needs of all our citizens.
With Barack in office, I really can hope that a new era is dawning, in which we can discuss the real issues confronting our nation, and the state of California in particular. I'm concerned about many issues, and just can't decide on any particular priority -- Barack is right that liberal progress must proceed on many fronts at once. I'm pleased that he has the wisdom, intelligence and energy to keep on top of them all.
I maintain a web page with a dozen or so essays that I've written, along with a few others from various media articles -- see below. See especially my comments about no child left behind -- George Bush's well-meaning, but terrible educational testing policies. As a university teacher, that strikes home, as I see the results of our educational system in the students that I'm training in computer engineering.
http://www.wbarrett.us/index.html
Stephen Views the News March 28, 2009
http://stephenviewsthenews.blogspot.com/
* Each new administration brings with it catch phrases to sell its programs as aggressively as a pharmaceutical company convincing large portions of the population that they suffer from fibromyalgia or erectile dysfunction. From “The Great Society” to “Global War on Terror” to “Abstinence Only” both good and bad policies are wrapped in sound bytes that are the envy of Madison Avenue. The Obama administration is no different.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates tells us that the troops we are leaving in Iraq will no longer be called “combat brigades.” The new term for these military forces will be “advisory and assistance brigades.” Since change is good the Defense Secretary did not stop there. The U.S. Command in Iraq will be re-designated "transition force headquarters" after August 2010. The Army must have felt that the Secretary needed an upgrade in sophisticated phrasing. Instead of "Advisory and Assistance Brigades" the Army is using the term "Brigades Enhanced for Stability Operations" (BESO). This may be progress linguistically but falls far short of Obama’s campaign promise to remove U.S. troops from Iraq by the middle of 2010. There is no word yet on how the Iraqis feel about re-labeled combat troops being in Iraq after the already agreed upon removal of U.S. troops by June 2010. My guess is that they are still trying to translate "Brigades Enhanced for Stability Operations" into Arabic.
Presidential administrations also tend to be competitive in some respects with previous administrations, especially if they represent a different political party. The Obama team is no different. In a recently leaked e-mail to Pentagon staff, Dave Riedel of the Department of Defense's office of security review wrote: "This administration prefers to avoid using the term 'Long War' or 'Global War on Terror'" -- a message he asked recipients to "please pass on to your speech writers." The preferred catchphrase is “Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO).” Some may say that OCO sounds more like an emergency appendectomy while visiting Uzbekistan but I kinda like it. “Global War on Terror” is a bit neoconnish for my taste and not very stealth. Using “Overseas Contingency Operation” allows us to sneak up on those terrorist bastards before they know what hit them.
As I observed this creative use of language I began to think of other phrases or terminology that do not contribute squat to solving problems but at least distracts one from the burdens of the day:
~ Instead of noting 700,000 job losses per month we should call them “interim disemployment economic adjustments” or IDEA. Somehow, 700,000 IDEAs has a much more positive connotation than “jobless” and will more quickly restore the confidence that we are told the economy needs.
~ Much of the economic tsunami that has enveloped our country can be attributed to Wall Street’s invention and abuse of derivatives. These are instruments made up of mortgages that often should not have been granted, then packaged and re-sold to other financial institutions with the intent of further re-selling them to other geniuses. When the housing bubble burst (home values precipitously fell) the weakness of these “financial instruments” became apparent and the proverbial shit hit the fan. Perhaps a derivative should have been called “Duck!”
* Protecting the Troops ~ and other works of fiction - I have commented on a number of occasions about the shoddy and incompetent work private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan committed while building facilities for US troops. At least 18 military have died from electrocution. Years have passed as this problem has been ignored and covered up. “Task Force Safe” has now been instituted to inspect these buildings. Their findings: “Thousands of buildings at U.S. bases in Iraq and Afghanistan have such poorly installed wiring that American troops face life-threatening risks, a top inspector for the Army says... Of the nearly 30,000 buildings the Army's "Task Force Safe" has examined so far, Childs said more than half "failed miserably." And 8,527 had such serious problems that inspectors gave them a "flash" warning, meaning repairs had to be completed in four hours or the facility evacuated.” More than 70,000 buildings in Iraq have yet to be inspected. More than half of the less-than-inhabitable structures to date were constructed by Dick Cheney’s best buds KBR, using cheap and inexperienced foreign labor. Among the many disgraces that history will associate with Bush’s Iraq invasion will be the Bush administration’s abandonment of the troops and the screwing of the American tax payer by private contractors.
* If you cannot afford your prescriptions there is a solution ~ eat more fish – A pilot study funded by the EPA found that, “Fish caught near wastewater treatment plants serving five major U.S. cities had residues of pharmaceuticals in them, including medicines used to treat high cholesterol, allergies, high blood pressure, bipolar disorder and depression. The next time I need a re-fill prescription for Lipitor I’ll ask my physician for a fishing license. I will lower my cholesterol for free with the added advantage that the relaxation of fishing will help me avoid the need for blood pressure medication. Perhaps a degrading environment is not as bad as those liberal fear mongers make it out to be.
* What do the financial gurus under Bush and Obama have in common? They have strong ties to the financial world they are supposed to oversee and they opposed oversight and regulation of the financial services industry as it greedily spun out of control. They were given responsibility to police their friends and a broken system they helped create. That does not leave me with a great deal of confidence in Geithner and Summers and the team Obama has chosen to navigate the shark-infested waters of this economic crisis. It is not change I can believe in.
* Laboring for fairness - When an issue is complicated how does one know whether to be for or against it? In the case of the Bush presidency I learned that if Bush was for something, I was against it. This was not a purely partisan Pavlovian response. It was a result of observing failure upon failure upon incompetence. In the case of unions I strongly believe that it is time for the labor movement to be stronger as part of the renewal of America’s economy and to keep the middle class from facing extinction. My contrarian Bush principle applies to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) - a measure intended to make it easier for American workers to form unions. Who is against this Act? AIG, Citigroup, Bank of America, FOX News, Wal-Mart, The Heritage Foundation and a host of other major corporations and organizations on the right of the political spectrum – a movement designed to protect and enhance the well-to-do royalty of our society at the expense of the overwhelming majority of Americans. What do the EFCA naysayers have in common? Their actions and philosophies are at the very core of what bankrupted the American economy and the capitalist soul. Capitalism is a proven viable economic system, IF, it is tempered with government oversight and an empowered labor force.
* “It is one of the characteristics of a free and democratic nation that it have free and independent labor unions.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Our labor unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups. They have raised wages, shortened hours and provided supplemental benefits. Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor.” John F Kennedy
I love Maureen Dowd. Another great article by her in the New York Times today. There was only one bad paragraph. She wrote a few words about Obama being the 'Convener,' in that he is possibly too accepting of the foibles of others, especially when it comes to the appointment of staff. In particular she commented upon the appointment of Geithner, who I have discussed in some detail in earlier blogs. Maureen seems to feel that Obama breezed over the fact that Geithner, in not paying the correct taxes for a couple of years, is somehow a determinant character flaw in the man, and that ought to be held against him to the point of not being selected Treasury Secretary. She alleges that this 'flaw' is being overlooked by Obama because Geithner is one of those high profile aristocratic blue bloods from the existing portfolio of the same. That 'portfolio' being the same silver-spooned little life-experienced group Maureen herself stems from! Is not life strange in the columnist's world? The only thing that the 'G-man' has done to demonstrate any life experience at all, not paying his taxes properly out of either ignorance or determination, is the one thing she wants held against him. We are back to the basic problem with mass media. Mass media creates this phenomenal information world which is not real at all. It is a world the way we want it to be. It is an irrational world. In that phenomenal world, of which Maureen is one of the creators and perpetrators, people should, and can, have no failures in their background. None whatever. They should have no financial, credit, criminal or even civil convictions. But it gets worse. They also must have no allegations of such past occurrence or commission. In the media world, any mistake is considered fatal. In the real world it is the mistakes people make that allow them to succeed. It is the mistakes that teach. It is the solution of problems which leads to strength. The foundation of honor is hard and bitter life experience, not the innocence of newborn ignorance.
There was a review of the movie "The Wrestler" in the same Sunday issue of that paper. The reviewer took a slant which bounced the opinion of French movie critics off our own. The review is a celebration of ignorance and tortured self-destructive behavior. The reviewer contemplates that the star of that film (Mikey Rourke) is somehow indicative of the American Experience. That his performance is emblematic of our culture.
Have you ever seen Mickey Rourke interviewed or on a talk show? He is about as emblematic of American culture as Rove is of American integrity. The man's very success in this culture is a slap in the face of good taste, social understanding, and demonstrated intellect. Rourke is self-destructively stupid. That fact just comes thrusting forth from the screen (with respect to the talk shows, not the movie). But there we have it. Some people like that sort of thing. George Bush really did serve eight years, and he was tolerated. He was even adored by many. He still is. And anyone, or everyone, who has ever seen the Letterman tapes of his speech vignettes knows it. The celebration of drool. No harm is done if that kind of thinking, and misplaced adoration, is relegated to the spending of time in a movie theater to watch such drivel. But it is very destructive when it comes out of that theater, then finds it's way into society. We end up without stem cell research. We end up without acceptable education in the sciences. We end up with a pitiful regression into the really stupid labyrinth of creationism. We end up, when everything has failed around us from the lack of intelligent care or innovation, with a platitude like this; "Let Go and Let God." God did not even infer that, much less say it, in the Bible. If you believe the Bible at all. No, he stated firmly, through the writings of the apostles about his teachings, that you must do just the opposite. You must do to get into heaven. God is here. God will help. God does care and love. But God expects you to live this life, and to live it to the fullest extent, and to use all of the talents He gave you.
I breakfasted with some interesting people this morning. Very interesting people of some intellect and good humor. We talked of the current economic mess, and the people involved with the running of our financial institutions. I ran on about how all the bank executives should be fired for being thieves and liars. One of the people at this breakfast, a noted attorney, no less, objected. It seems that he had owned a string of downtown Chicago restaurants at one time. He said that his whole string of restaurants did not go down because of theft. They had a lot of theft. But the thieves never caused anything like the collapse of the business. No, it was the incompetence of the management he installed. That gave me pause. No, the restaurant business is not exactly like the financial services industry. There is a hell of a lot more of the business that can be stolen in the financial sector. But still. I am thinking. The allegation, unspoken, and left upon the table at that Fontana restaurant was this: would it not be better to keep the thieves on, if they are not incompetent, rather than bring in incompetent idiots imbued with complete integrity? I am not done puzzling over the potential wisdom of this attorney's presentation.
One other gentleman at the this breakfast mentioned something else, much more humorous and not political at all. He was talking of the days when he sold cars. In downtown Chicago many years ago. He talked about things I had long forgotten. For example, he was called once and told by the caller that a new Cadillac was needed, and that it had to be in a non-ethnic color. I frowned at his comment. I asked what the hell an ethnic color might be. When he answered, I remembered all the way back. White. White was an 'ethnic' color way back in the fifties. What it denoted, I will not go into here. But it was fun to recall. And the phrase 'deuce-and-a-half." i recall that phrase from my time in the Marine Corps. A Deuce and a Half was what we called big ten wheeled supply trucks in the Vietnam era. They carried two and a half ton payloads, and hence the name. They were also called 'Six-Bys' but I do not remember why. Anyway, the 'deuce-and-a-half' this man was referring to was a Buick. The 225 Electra. Ergo, the moniker. Funny stuff, now only recalled by old-timers, such as myself, and this other throwback.
What is my point, throwing in that last paragraph? We need to recall history, in all of it's detail, in order to have a solid foundation. We need intellect to do that. We need the celebration and reward of applied intellect to do that. We need the recognition that failure is a magnificent tool at bringing about the application of that needed intellect. Let's stop being quite so phenomenally demanding, and start being more tolerant and forgiving.
from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com
Stephen Views the News 1/15/08
* Being special does not abdicate responsibility – Most of the people reading these words find themselves in a most unique moment in the history of humans who have walked on this planet. We enjoy a standard of living and a sense of peace and safety rarely found in history books or what is the reality for most of the people in the world today. For those of us “special” individuals there is a sense of entitlement that is insulating in its nature. It affects all political affiliations in this country and it seems to have been especially embraced by the Republican Party over the last 3 decades. It removes us from the poverty, violence and subjugation so prevalent throughout the world and including parts of this blessed country. As individuals there is a limit to what we can do about it. We depend upon our government, our representatives, to take needed action both domestically and internationally. What we can do is pressure our elected representatives to do what is right and take greater care in those we elect.
This caveat is required because too many of our representatives have failed us. Too often our government has added to sorrowful conditions internationally and proved inadequate in alleviating undesirable conditions domestically. These conditions did not begin with the Bush administration but it was during this administration that abuse of power militarily and economically and an ignorance of people with needs reached its respective heights and depths. I believe that much of the support for Obama’s candidacy was a reaction to this misguided policy. To the President who so woefully presided over eight years of reversal for the American people I eagerly say farewell. To the man about to take office, Barack Obama, I wish him wisdom, forbearance, humility and good fortune because the fate of Americans and many of the peoples of the world are now dependent upon his guidance.
* Quote of the Week – “The United States does not torture. We will abide by the Geneva Conventions. That we will uphold our highest values and ideals.” The words were spoken by Barack Obama at the press conference introducing his Intelligence Team on January 9, 2009. An incredible number of Americans volunteered to help elect Mr. Obama. These were some of the words and more importantly the actions we want from the President of the United States of America.
Broadcasts this week featured President Bush saying the exact same words “The United States does not torture,” in news clips from years past. (The evidence and Mr. Bush’s own words during his legacy tour the past two weeks showed this statement to be a lie.) I trust that Mr. Obama will prove to be a president we can believe.
* Letter of the Week - A group of scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have sent a letter to the Obama transition team about widespread managerial misconduct in a division of the agency. "The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the scientific review process for medical devices at the FDA has been corrupted and distorted by current FDA managers, thereby placing the American people at risk." In the letter FDA dissidents alleged that agency managers use intimidation to squelch scientific debate. In the Bush administration business interests took precedence over the interests of the American people and avoided scientific findings like they were a communicable disease. I would not be surprised if similar letters are being sent from the Dept. of the Interior, the EPA and a plethora of other federal agencies. I am optimistic that such an anti-intellectual approach to government and special interest generated “under sight” will improve with Bush’s departure.
* Responsible approach to our environment ~ our lives are at stake – Last week I discussed the health threat resulting from the lack of regulation and guidelines for the byproducts of coal-fired facilities. “Senate Democrats said…they want stricter rules for toxic ash from coal-fired power plants following a massive spill in Tennessee that has threatened drinking water and caused health fears.” Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) said, "The federal government has the power to regulate these wastes, and inaction has allowed this enormous volume of toxic material to go largely unregulated." Inaction is the operative word. Taking action following a disaster is positive. As the Obama administration designs it economic recovery program preventative programs should be an important element. Recall that is was known for a long time that the levees in New Orleans were inadequate to keep the city from flooding under certain conditions. The price for upgrading the levees would have been a lot less than the costs that resulted from the Katrina disaster. And how many lives would have been saved? The staggering cost of the Tennessee cleanup will possibly be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Health issues aside, lack of prevention is stupid economics. And NO, health issues are not aside. It is the tragic consequence of ignorant economics.
* The Word of the Day ~ “Confabulation” is defined as familiar talk or conversation – Last Saturday my Yahoo home page offered this word of the day. It accompanied news on the same page about Illinois Governor Brad Blagojevich’s impeachment, Mayor of Baltimore Sheila Dixon’s indictment on theft and perjury, more news about the Ponzi embezzler Bernard Madoff and news of additional mini-Madoffs. These are the current faces of the disease of fraud and dishonesty running rampant throughout our society. Feeling helpless we confabulate about these matters and shrug our shoulders. I have a sense that as a society we have become too accepting of much that is wrong and what such a development forebodes.
* Lack of accountability contributed to this mess ~ it will not get us out of it - When Barack Obama was asked about investigating possible crimes by the Bush administration his response was “we should look forward as opposed to looking backwards”. I found this response condescending and irresponsible. Eight years of unaccountability, marked by very responsible individuals and organizations identifying the breaking of laws cannot be swept under the national carpet. It only keeps the door open for further abuses by the Obama administration or future administrations. Fortunately, there are some responsible people in Congress (this is not a typo) who do not accept Obama’s somewhat glib view:
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said, “I think that there’s a lot that remains to look at, and I appreciate that President Obama doesn’t want to make it his purpose as a new president, with America in real distress in many directions, to go back and look at all this, but I think we in Congress have an independent responsibility, and I fully intend to discharge that responsibility.”
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House Judiciary committee “got behind a very different approach, releasing a nearly 500-page report that recommends establishing a blue-ribbon commission -- along the lines of the 9/11 commission, but with subpoena power -- to investigate whether crimes were committed” by members of the Bush administration. “The report also advocates an investigation by the Justice Department, potentially involving a special prosecutor. And in addition to focusing on issues of torture, wiretapping, and the like, the report also recommends continuing to probe matters like the leaking of the name of former CIA agent Valerie Plame, and the US Attorney firings.”
For two months we have listened to Bush and Cheney and their supporters/spokespeople weaving a legacy web as disingenuous and delusional as much of Bush’s presidency. I suggest that it is imperative the truth be told.
* The rule of law – In a speech last June the man Barack Obama has nominated for Attorney General, Eric Holder, said: "I never thought I would see the day when a Justice Department would claim that only the most extreme infliction of pain and physical abuse constitutes torture and that acts that are merely cruel, inhuman and degrading are consistent with United States law and policy, that the Supreme Court would have to order the president of the United States to treat detainees in accordance with the Geneva Convention, never thought that I would see that a president would act in direct defiance of federal law by authorizing warrantless NSA surveillance of American citizens. This disrespect for the rule of law is not only wrong, it is destructive in our struggle against terrorism."
Holder is the nominee that Senator Arlen Spector (R-PA) is opposing for Attorney General. It appears that my “esteemed” senator from Pennsylvania prefers Attorney Generals who range from overly partisan to incompetent such as Ashcroft, Gonzalez and Mukasey – appointments he did not block in his Judiciary Committee. Spector never tires of hearing himself pontificate but many of us in Pennsylvania are exhausted. Should Mr. Spector decide to run again in 2010 he has my commitment to work for his defeat.
* Making the big decisions, or, it’s not my ass on fire – On Wednesday I watched VP Dick Cheney being interviewed on PBS. Jim Lehrer asked Vice President Cheney about the American soldiers who have lost their lives in the war in Iraq. Lehrer asked, "Mr. Vice President, getting from there to here, 4,500 Americans have died, at least 100,000 Iraqis have died. Has it been worth that?" "I think so," Cheney responded. Mr. Cheney failed to note that none of his children or grandchildren lost a life, an arm, a leg or their eyesight or sanity in Iraq.
* “Sometimes we are so caught up in who's right and who's wrong that we forget what's right and wrong.”
Author unknown
The pall of the departing administration hangs darkly above this new fallen snow. A foot of snow, on top of the previous layers, set down with a regularity that abolishes all ideas, or news, about global warming. Intense white cold on the ground, while up in the sky a grayness, matched by our political scene, persists. Cheney and Bush stay on television, for what purpose I cannot fathom. To possibly give some shred of substance to a fairytale (of their own, and Condollezza's, making) in which they were passable leaders. They were, and continue to be, worse than the proverbial Emperor With No Clothes. Even naked, he would have been preferable. Bush has signed an Executive Order (what the hell are those ridiculous secret and scantily published things, anyway?) which makes all his papers his and nobody else's. This, in spite of the law, now year's old, about how all Presidential papers are owned by the country itself. Cheney actually said that Osama's capture or killing was not a dead issue for the departing Forces of the Dark Side. He said "we have a few days left!" More material for Letterman, who is about to be bereft of such vastly entertaining segments as his 'great speeches of the President,' routine.
As these gray clouds of the previous dark and dreadful administration finally pass, the sun of the Obama organization must shine through, if only by contrast. What a great act to follow. What can Barack, and team, do that would be worse, or even equal to Cheney, Bush and the rest? His talk lately, laced with truth and reality (it appears) is a bit grim. When this guy says the situation is 'dire,' which he did yesterday, we better be listening. I could not agree more, although I have tried to stay away from being too much of a doom and gloom forecaster in this blog. We are going to be effected by this economic downturn. Each and every one of us. And not just by the loss of jobs. We are going to go through some loss of services we are not ready for. In communication. In energy. In food. In areas we cannot even contemplate right now. But we are going to have to. We are in the last thirty days of life as we knew it, unless something happens (like maybe aliens landing and taking over!) which I cannot foresee at all. There is no percentage in making such predictions, however. Who cares if one knew and wrote about it, after it happens? People don't think that way. Our culture reacts to forecasters who are wrong in the same way. We really don't care. We are just entertained by the forecasts themselves. It is like crossword puzzles. We really don't learn from them. We just puzzle over them and then complain that they are too easy (if we can work them without helpl) or too hard (if we can't). If we really learned better English or history or anything from them, then we would be able to remember what the word for the covering of a seed is. Or the word for a needle case. Or what city the Taj Mahal is outside of (or inside of, I can't even remember that either). We keep 're-learning' those words, but never to the point where we have them available next time we need them. And so this is why we end up with a Bush and Cheney in the first place! We keep forgetting that we have seen these characters before, and what they were like. Star Wars even showed us all about them in those movies! We even called Cheney 'Darth Vadar,' and Cheney himself liked that (which was a giant clue!). Bush was the emperor of the Imperium, but not quite so debauched looking. It was, and is, all right there, for us to see and know, just like the word for the case of needles ride around in.
Governor Rod, one of the people on this planet selected by God to keep us from thinking about the tsunami that is gathering out there, and coming for us, is at it again. He gave another speech. He quoted some ridiculous poetry. Oh please. My blogs have convinced him that he is not only powerful enough to defeat his Federal enemies, but that he is right. And righteous. Well, keep reading Blago. To your distress. You are not right. You are powerful. But you are wrong as hell. You conducted yourself like George Bush, but you were not given a surrounding team, and aura, nearly as powerful as that man's. You have been just as ignorant and stupid as he was. Not by what you did (as he was) but in how you did it. You thumbed your nose at the very people who put you in office. Then you thumbed your nose at the people who thought to investigate you. It is not like Fitzgerald (in spite of being the typical out of control righteous Federal Prosecutor he is) did not give you fair warning. You knew you were bugged and went ahead and said terribly things anyway. Hubris. You are being placed firmly above the sharpened point of the Sword of Hubris, and you are going to be slowly lowered onto it. My advice, Governor Rod, is to make your 'deal' as quickly as possible and get your butt to that ranch in Texas, where Bush and his stable of idiots will be holding up. You are dumb enough to know the password without looking it up (Open Sesame!). This public is merely entertained by your antics right now. But trouble is coming. And fear and misery are great motivators. When the public is sufficiently stimulated, it is, indeed, going to remember that the Taj Mahal is in Agra and that you, and a good number of other executives and leaders, need to be tracked down and barbecued. Make your deal and then spend the money on hiding out and getting plastic surgery (and not the kind that will make your chest look like your hairdo!).
There is good news. Geico news, I call it. Baseball players, and other sportsmen are signing for contracts entailing ever larger benefits and salaries. Contracts of a hundred and eighty million, for five years, are becoming common. If you will recall, Geico (the auto insurance company) recently ran some off color ads in which terrible scenarios were set up for certain individuals (like a guy appearing before a judge for sentencing). Somebody, other than the individual announces that there is great news. Our individual perks up and says "good news? What is it." The news turns out to be a silly break on auto insurance premiums for one of the side players (like the judge or the prosecutor, I can't remember). Life in the news world is like that, just now. Since life in general is not good, and there are only gloomy clouds forming above our immediate future, we are being asked to share the great fortune of a few. Those people are safe. Maybe we might become one of them. Win the lottery. That sort of thinking. Part of life. Not a part I buy into, but then, I am not 'normal.' At all.
There is also good news coming out of the Middle East! In the same vein. The Israeli's today agreed to stop bombing the Gaza Strip for three hours. This so that the residents could go out and find the dead bodies of their families and get them inside or interred, or whatever. Then, after the three hours, the Israeli's have agreed to bomb the hell out of them once more. I mention this not because of the bizarre reality of it. No, I mention it because CNN played this news, about an hour ago, as if the Israeli's, in their role of 'bombers,' were also being beneficent and sympathetic to the plight of the poor Palestinians living there. The analogy of a few blogs back comes to mind. What is this 'measured mercy' being dispensed over there? It reminds me very much of a phrase that was trotted out last year called "trust with verification." Whoever created that one had never heard of the word oxymoron, or learned it's definition. You see, there can be no trust with verification. Verification defeats the trust part of the phrase. Not by me or to me. But by logic. Unless you are talking to somebody really stupid, I mean. Like somebody who can never remember what the word is for a seed's covering.
Stephen Views the News 1/7/09
* Israeli government not always right ~ Palestinian people not always wrong, but often wronged by their leadership – Many of us in the United States have a cultural and/or emotional connection to Israel. Others see a political connection to Israel as an American ally and some Christian fundamentalists see the connection as biblical. Regardless of the connection it would be unbalanced to say that Israel can do no wrong. The defense of Israel’s actions in Gaza predominates in the mainstream media in America. Bush’s neocon support of Israel and Obama’s silence about the attacks further the one-sided American perception of this conflict. I suggest that the debate encompass contrasting views such as Glen Greenwald at Salon.com in an article titled “Orwell, blinding tribalism, selective Terrorism, and Israel/Gaza,” the website Dissident Voice that discusses Top 5 Lies About Israel’s Assault on Gaza and Jstreet.org “the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement.” In Israel there are strong demonstrations against the Gaza military action and Consenting Adult offers some insight including the observation that the attacks are really about Israeli domestic politics.
Marty Kaplan writing at Huffington Post soul searches the myriad moral and political dilemmas confronting the long-suffering Israelis and Palestinians. For those wondering why Israel launched their Gaza attack at this particular time Lisa Gans writing at Huffington Post suggests: “But the fact that Israel decided to launch this massive attack on the Gaza strip in the waning days of the Bush administration suggests that Tel Aviv, at least, thinks that the days for such an action might be limited… Nothing in the events leading up to the now nine day long assault (as of January 5th) on Gaza created a sense of urgency that justifies the scale and speed of the Israeli action… Rather than being a sign of support for the Gaza offensive, Obama's refusal to comment at all may suggest that, while he is unwilling to interfere in the White House's ability to conduct foreign policy, he may not be supportive of Israel's actions, and that he intends to take a different tone from the current administration tone in office.”
A final thought, at least for the moment. Let us not forget, although the Arab world will, that Hamas (like Hezbollah in Lebanon) chose to secret their armies and weapons in hospitals, schools and mosques and use civilian populations as shields. Let us not forget the suffering imposed upon the people of Gaza through Israeli blockades and policies prior to the current hostilities. And let us not forget the decades-long abandonment of the Palestinian people by the surrounding Arab governments who see the Palestinians as pawns. There are no heroes.
* Quote of the Week ~ On Monday Barack Obama announced the appointment of Dawn Johnsen to serve as the next Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). It is the office that issued the torture memo justifying the behavior of the Bush administration in Guantanamo and other venues of disgrace. In an article in Slate on April 3, 2008 Ms. Johnsen said the following: “But we must regain our ability to feel outrage whenever our government acts lawlessly and devises bogus constitutional arguments for outlandishly expansive presidential power. Otherwise, our own deep cynicism, about the possibility for a President and presidential lawyers to respect legal constraints, itself will threaten the rule of law--and not just for the remaining nine months of this administration, but for years and administrations to come.” Contrary to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, whom I spoke about last week, Dawn Johnsen gets it. Thanks to Think Progress and Salon’s Glenn Greenwald for bringing this to our attention.
Greenwald is a constitutional lawyer who I have come to highly regard. He points out that “The Office of Legal Counsel, inside the Justice Department, is probably the most consequential federal government office that remains relatively obscure. The legal opinions which it issues become, more or less automatically, the official legal position of the Executive Branch. It is his opinion that Johnsen may be Obama’s best pick yet to serve in his administration.
* Hobby of the Week ~ Navel Maniac – The name does not refer to pirates off the coast of Somalia. Navelmaniac.com is a web site featuring photos of peoples’ navels. Since 1999 the photographer and web author stops men and women on the streets of Brussels and, with their permission, takes a photo of their belly button. On behalf of my readers I spent two hours looking at the vast collection and concluded that Belly Button Identification (BBI) could potentially replace finger prints and DNA in crime investigations. I sheepishly and salaciously concentrated on female buttons but sometimes could not tell the difference. I do not know if this brings into question my eyesight, my sexuality or the admonition to “get a life.” Since my travel agent Sheila reads my blog please consider this as a request to provide airfare and hotel accommodations for Brussels and a digital photo of your navel. In a world increasingly burdened with one crisis after another such a benign activity may prove beneficial to one’s mental well-being.
* Question answered ~ a moment of “a hah” – I have wondered why the Republican Party suffered dislocated shoulders throwing their arms around Sarah Palin in support of her vice-presidential nomination. Her Alaskan proximity to Russia seemed lame in establishing her foreign policy credentials. Her almost total lack of experience was a weak argument for “the fresh face” syllogism. Not every Republican is a religious fundamentalist. Finally, I have an answer to my quandary that makes sense. She understands how Republicans do political business (okay, Democrats too). An investigation of Palin appointments by the LA Times found: “More than 100 appointments to state posts — nearly 1 in 4 — went to campaign contributors or their relatives, sometimes without apparent regard to qualifications; Several of Palin’s leading campaign donors received state-subsidized industrial development loans of up to $3.6 million for business ventures of questionable public value.” In being guilty of being redundant I repeat the mantra that until we have public financing of elections, pay-to-play politics will prevail. You betcha!
* When the cupboard is bare one alternative is to eat crow – Marty Weisberg at Slate.com maintains an updated list of Bushisms, comments made by the President that usually do not make much sense. A Bush comment made this week but not yet added to the list is perhaps iconic of all that has gone before it. During a luncheon meeting with the Weekly Standard: “On domestic policy, Bush was asked if he made progress in some areas for which he hasn't and probably won't get credit. Topping his list was his unsuccessful drive in 2005 to reform Social Security.” By “reform” Bush meant “privatize.” He invested considerable time, energy and expense to sell this program to the American people. It proved to be a thorough dud that never came close to acceptance. Given the collapse of financial markets we can only say, “Thank goodness.” Given that a failed initiative tops his list of “making progress” we can only say, “Good riddance.”
* Clean Coal mythology – I recently noted the sludge spill from a coal-fired electric plant in Tennessee could wind up being an environmental disaster. It has not received that much attention in the mainstream news. However, the NY Times learned from the Tennessee Valley authority that in 2007 the plant’s byproducts included: “45,000 pounds of arsenic, 49,000 pounds of lead, 1.4 million pounds of barium, 91,000 pounds of chromium and 140,000 pounds of manganese. Those metals can cause cancer, liver damage and neurological complications, among other health problems.”
The holding pond that yielded the spill contained byproducts accumulating for decades. For days after the spill authorities maintained that the spill was not toxic. We now learn that, “Elevated levels of lead and thallium and what the EPA called “very high” levels of arsenic have been found in water samples taken near the site of the spill.” What should have taken hours to test took days. No surprise and screw the public. “The spill has reignited a debate over whether coal ash should be regulated as a hazardous waste. In 2000, the E.P.A. backed away from its recommendation to do so in the face of industry opposition, promising instead to issue national guidelines for proper ash disposal, though it never did.” No surprise and screw the public.
It is important to note that the Tennessee ash dump is not unique. There are 1300 similar coal ash dump sites across the U.S., most of them unregulated and unmonitored and that contain billions more gallons of fly ash and other byproducts of burning coal. “In 2007, an E.P.A. report identified 63 sites in 26 states where the water was contaminated by heavy metals from such dumps, including three other Tennessee Valley Authority dumps. Environmental advocacy groups have submitted at least 17 additional cases that they say should be added to that list.” This raises two questions: how many other locations are being contaminated since regulation and monitoring is lax to non-existent?; when will the EPA become as responsible to the American people as it is to the energy industry?
A final thought, at least for the moment. The standard for determining the cost of any fuel is the amount of energy it generates. It does not account for the real cost to our society that must include the cost of cleaning up the toxic effects of these fuels. It appears that the cost of addressing the toxicity from coal use in our air, our water and our bodies has yet to enter the calculation. It will be substantial.
* We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
Native American Proverb
* It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.
Ansel Adams
What is terrorism? Is it not what you define it to be? Way back in our own history there was a great philosophical debate about what a terrorist was. When we began the American Revolution, that debate was framed around only two words: Patriot and Rebel. We, the revolutionary fighters, claimed that our people were patriots, and not deserving of immediate execution as rebels when caught by the British. The British, of course, disagreed. Many lives were sacrificed settling that debate. And now we have the same debate going on all over again. It is almost as big as the 'aggression' and 'defense' debate. Today, countries attack, in an extremely violent and aggressive fashion, but only to defend. Israel is doing that right this minute on the Gaza Strip. They are also throwing in the 'anti-terrorist' campaign language to go hand in hand with it. In keeping with this, let's do a bit of conjecture.
Let's say that you have an opposition leader's exact whereabouts located within a few feet. Like in his home. Let's say that you drive up a truck to his front door and then run away. From a place down the block, you blow up the explosives packed into the truck. You kill this opponent, as well as his entire family, including all the women and children in the house. Is that something that would be called terrorism today? Almost certainly. In any country. In any place, and at any time. But what if you made one small change to that application of violent aggression? What if you simply changed the 'driving the truck up to the front door, running away and then igniting the explosives from down the street' into 'flew an F-16 over the house, fired a pin-point laser guided bomb into the living room window, exploded it, and then flew away.' What a difference that make's eh?
The first act is performed by locals, for the most part. Insurgents. Patricians. Those people who lack all manner of advanced and sophisticated weapons of war. But they do have trucks, fertilizer and diesel fuel. The second act is performed by organized governments around the world. By the U.S. By Israel. By Great Britain. What is the difference? The difference goes all the way back to those early times. The big wealthy fighting forces make the rules. You are a rebel and you are going to be hung if you get caught by the wrong guys. That you are fighting for something you believe in, and it is always freedom, means nothing. The Iraqi people want freedom. They wanted it from Saddam. They want it from us. And they will want if from whoever we leave in charge there when we leave. The Afghan' want it. The Palestinians want it. Hell, after all this FISA nonsense and loss of citizen's rights under the 'Patriot' Act, we want it too!
And what about this defensive warfare thing? What a crock the presentation and implementation of that philosophy has proven to be. We kill you, or take your property and stuff because we think you might come and take our's. Or we simply say that. Why would we not? Because we are good guys and they are bad guys? By who's definition? The Germans went into Poland because they were attacked. Were they attacked? No, not really at all. Hamas has some ridiculous homemade rockets they set off every once and awhile, to let Israel know that they are still there and still want their property back. But Israel has decided that they must attack with a modern array of devastating weapons and troops. Oh please. They want the Gaza Strip back and they are going to get it. Just like we wanted Iraq and we got it. They will celebrate their great victory, as we did our's. And then they will try to live with the aftermath. A never-ending grind of awful hatred and violence. But individual fortunes will be made while the soldiers and civilians die. And power will be solidified, applied and re-applied around the area, again, by individuals.
It would be the most wonderful of dreams if we could require, throughout the world, that any country at war with another must have all the top leaders of both countries living in the country where the war is conducted. And with their families around them. There are no innocents anymore. We did away with those rules, but not the rhetoric, a long time ago. Wow, would we see a reduction in war. But no, the Cheney's will always be found in their bunkers, far from any combat. Define evil. Somewhere inside your definition you should place an emphasis on cowardice. George Bush is a coward, and that is why his father has no use for him. Dick Cheney is a coward. Proven, time and again. In war and in peace. They both hurt people because they are vitally frightened, to their very cores, of being hurt. They are sad departing figures, going off to their respective ranches, and hoping that everyone will forget about the living hell they have caused and leave as their rotten legacy. But they are not alone. All you have to do is cross the pond and get yourself to Israel.
Thank Christ for Obama. I do pray that he is different. Don't you?
I have a party tonight. I have not been to a New Year's Party in twenty-five years. That kinda happens to you, or so I believe, if you have been a rolling stone. During those years I lived in places for maybe two, orsometimes three, years. You do not get to know people well over such a short period of time. But then, I have only been out here in the abandoned back-country for two years and I have a social life of some proportion. Which means I am wrong in my basic hypothesis. Not uncommon. So I have this party. And there is always the 'what in the world shall I wear' thing that occurs. I picked up my best sweater at the dry cleaners yesterday, but then there is the color issue. Since I am color blind I have a hard time putting stuff together, without causing those little side glances or raised eyebrows of fellow party-goers. And I don't look good enough. I know that because I have a big mirror in the bathroom. I know I look better than I do in that mirror, because everything is reversed in the mirror. I don't really look like that at all. Still. The effect is not pleasing. Not to me, anyway. But then, I am not trying to attract anybody so why do I care? Genetics. It is buried deep inside me somewhere. Maybe the Catholic upbringing. Maybe the Marine Corps (I sure looked good back then, although, and this is so typical, I did not think so at the time). I will do my best. The host is this wonderful guy, with a really neat wife, who expects that I will add some life to the party. In fact, Chris' exact words were "I think you will be great. Just be yourself. We don't care if nobody comes back next year." Then he went on to some other subject. I thought for a while about what he said. Am I that much of a character? I don't see myself that way. I think I am quite carefully held together. Even a bit urbane, maybe. But that is not how I am seen by others. Which is okay. I am used to that, a bit. Maybe I should include a muzzle with the rest of my outfit.
Brett Favre. God, is he a trip, or what? The coach of his team, the New York Jets, got shown the door yesterday. This is right after the owners, the day before, swore that they were not going to fire him. Our culture. You know, the one where everyone tells the truth all the time. So Brett does it again. Devastation follows wherever he goes now. He absolutely bombs his last four games with the team and the coach gets the sack. He blows the super bowl bid last year for the Packers and look what happens over there. I'll bet the coaches get the sack there too. In leaving, he made himself into the Favre Titantic. Everyone goes down with the ship. Except for Brett, of course. He gets a small dingy to sail away in, well stocked of course. Each year I wait for this old saw of a horse to be put out to pasture. He is the George Bush of football. Dumb as a post, spoiled rotten, and flapping his mouth all the time. Oh, as usual, the owners of the Jets are just begging Favre to come back next year. And those guys have quite a solid reputation for telling the truth. Maybe the football 'hero' can finally be left to travel by private jet across this land. Another modern idiot who has been given everything in the world that one can imagine, and for doing what?He throws a leather ball well. Maybe the coming financial crisis will change the way we look at such things and at such people. I don't know though. The games of Rome became more popular as Rome went down, not less.
Bob Herbert. Today he was not writing about stupidity, although, on the same page Judith Warner was being stupid again. Bob went on and on about just what a disaster George Bush has been for this country and the world over the past eight years. Gee, no kidding. The only thing the article lacked was retribution and recovery. We need the stuff back George stole, or helped steal. We need the culprits to be put in stocks and paraded around so people will feel better. We need to know what really happened (like who got tortured and what was done to them). We need to feed our puritanical and Calvinistic roots with the moisture of the blood from all those evil people. I fear, without such retribution and recovery, we are doomed. We must set our course based upon ideas. It is our belief system that has been so badly damaged. "He who has no target, hits same," kinda thing. Look at our space program, as an example. You really can plan to go backwards and design yourself out of the very thing you claim to be headed towards. Our design for the future, given to us by NASA recently, is just such a design. We will build some old Saturn Fives and shoot them off in all directions, for awhile. Maybe we will go back to the moon or on to Mars. Maybe not. The George Bush Space Program. Might just as well get first class tickets aboard Brett Favre's ship. And we will be doing the same thing with our whole culture if Obama, and team, just let this whole thing go and attempt to 'get on with business.' This is not about business. This is about our culture. Our tribe. This is about the belief system of an entire culture.
On Sunday, December 14, 2008 an Iraqi journalist changed history. Muntadar al-Zaidi hurled a shoe at U.S. President George W. Bush and called him a dog. Think you can do better? Can you heel the nation? Show Bush your shoe-throwing skills. Now, you can give Bush the boot with Heel 2 the Chief: The Game. Enjoy this game brought to you by www.eplay.com.
http://heel2thechief.games.eplay.com/
Donald Rumsfeld © Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Sincerely,Larry CoxExecutive Director
P.S. And remember we've got big plans for the first 100 days. We're so close to reaching our goal, help us reach 1000 events by registering today.
by David Michael Green @ commondreams.org
I'm sorry, but there are moments when I just feel like a total alien who stumbled onto some planet full of bizarre life forms. They call this place America, and it sure is weird. And, lemme tell ya, I know what I'm talking about here. I've visited some pretty weird places in this part of the universe.
Try this on for size as an example. You might think that a president who is widely known for lying, who leads a party also known for the same, who is at the end of his term and virtually without any punitive power worth speaking of, and who is widely despised at home and abroad - you might think such a president would get a serious grilling when sitting down with the American media for an exit interview. And, even if that might seem like a giant leap for some, perhaps you'd at least be surprised if such an individual was allowed to continue to tell revisionist historical lies without being called to account in the slightest for doing so.
Yeah, well, different galaxy, I guess. On Planet America it seems a lot more like it's still 2002, and a frightened, compliant press is still learning how to embarrass itself by becoming a tool of a massively deceitful White House. Now that it's almost 2009, they've got it down to a science. Only today they don't even have the pathetic and shamefully flimsy excuse they did back then, in the wake of the 9/11 scare...........
ENTIRE ARTICLE - http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/15-5
The Bush Horror: An Elegy; A Letter
The following is a letter to my (infant) sons that I wrote in longhand in August, 2005 over a period of several days. It ends in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I am typewriting it here for archival purposes. My intent in writing this was to preserve for them some sense of what occurred in this country as I don't expect that the history books can or will do it justice. My other intent was to capture my own emotions at the time, which were not good.
The Trust:
My dear _ and __:
If you had told me five years ago that this country would have witnessed a contested Presidential election result, resolved only by a Supreme Court which effectively ordered a state to stop counting its votes (arguably in disregard of its own state laws), and exposing, as almost an afterthought, massive voter suppression, a near institutional campaign of racial intimidation, wanton disregard of legitimate ballots, and a manipulative smear campaign waged by the prevailing party culminating in political staffers flown to Florida to physically harass and threaten public officials, I would have thought--"that's terrible enough, but somehow the nation will get past it, somehow common sense and reason will prevail."
If you had told me that the President elected from such an unusual, ambiguous result would have, notwithstanding losing the popular vote, proceeded to force a far-right agenda down the throats of a divided electorate--and would blatantly, through Administrative fiat, strive to eliminate thousands of regulations and several decades of laws in place governing the public health and safety, appointing energy company lobbyists to positions normally entrusted to the public welfare, curtailing worker's long-fought rights to unionize in governmental agencies, massively cutting taxes for the richest one percent of the nation while augmenting defense spending, eliminating housing and educational subsidies for the nation's poorest, all the while aided by a narrow Congressional majority that shut out minority participation in any meaningful legislation, then I would have begun to have doubts as to whether I was simply on the wrong side of History, and whether my own personal views about the country I was born in and taught to respect were simply quaint or naive in the face of such a growing, inexorable tide of social conservatism and economic Darwinism...........
ENTIRE HORROR STORY: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/12/11/10134/024
The wind is at about twenty out there this night and the temperature is zero. I was in the snow trying to put lights on the five pine trees that stand in a row between my house and the road. Those trees are on top of a big long hill. I could get nothing done with thick gloves on, in the way of stringing the hardened light strings, so I tried to do it with exposed hands. That hurt after only a few seconds but then I could not get the damn gloves back on so I gave up and started back down the hill. After a few steps I did not have to walk any further, as I was on my back sliding the remainder of the way down. My gloves are still out there somewhere in the blowing dark and will not be recovered until spring. I will try again tomorrow. On the lights, I mean. Christmas is very important to me. I am not at all sure why except for the general nature of the idea. My Catholic days are remembered well but not actively in play anymore. I believe in God but I don't think he comes down and appoints people to be his messengers, prophets or priests. I think men do that themselves as a power and career move. But I like the idea of Christmas and all the good will that seems to swirl around it.
I have heard from a few people, with respect to my last blog. I only write two blogs in one day upon occasion. Today, a new record, as this is the third. I messed up about Tony Snow. I should have written John Snow as that is the guy. But my mind always goes back to Tony when I think of the last name Snow. And I have paid in emails and comment response for that error. Some people also feel that I carry on way too much about my observations in life, rather than about the political or economic climate we are all living in. Those criticisms are valid. I do. But that is me. If my homilies do not belong on the Obama site then I guess I should not be publishing this blog here, but here I am. I am also at from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com (and that name comes from the castle dungeon wherein Edmond Dantes was held prior to his escape and transformation into the Count of Monte Cristo). I will discuss, at a future time, why I picked that name specificially. But it would merely be more personal homily this night.
The fire is burning down, Harvey is asleep on my desk under this monitor and I am beginning to tire, as well. But I shall endeavor to persevere and watch Saturday Night Live, hoping to see something funny and fascinating. It seems that John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Saturday Night Live and David Letterman are all falling upon hard times, what with the election being over and Obama having won. It goes further back, however, as we all know. The Bush years were fabulous for poking fun. We could not have found a more able foil than George Bush (unless it was Sarah Palin!), and now we suffer at losing him. Those great presidential speeches that Letterman ran, and is still running, have been terrific, by and large. I shall miss them. But I will never ever on this planet or in this life miss that awful stupid representation of a president we are stuck with until January 20th of next year.
Stephen Views the News 11/27/08
* Change You Could Believe In – I have never paid much attention to the multiple Inaugural Balls that follow the swearing in of a new president. The little that I recall from four years ago was that the cost was considerable. I am confident that the special interests made sure to inject their ample resources into these extravagant hooplas. I would like to suggest the following to President-elect Barack Obama: Following your inauguration ceremony immediately proceed to the Oval Office with your Cabinet and begin addressing our nation’s serious problems. Cancel the balls and parties, the regalia and pomp and get to work. If you do a good job over the next four years you will be re-elected. That will be the time to take a breather and celebrate. Knowing that George W. Bush has left the White House is a party in itself - for the entire nation.
* Change We Hope We Can Believe In – Obama’s cabinet is being called by many pundits “smart, experienced, non-ideologues”. It will be quite a while before we have a sense of impact of Obama’s presidency, his policies and appointments. He certainly seems to have gotten off to a good start. I personally ignore the drama surrounding Hillary Clinton’s probable nomination for Secretary of State as well as the minutiae being mined about other appointees. This country desperately needs leaders who are smart, experienced, non-ideologues. The person we elected to lead us through this period of grave crisis should select the talent he deems prepared and capable to develop and implement the requisite policies and programs. Now is not the time to carp and critique. * Change We Can Participate In – I received an email on Monday from MoveOn.org asking for a monthly donation of $15.00. The objective - to offset the influence of huge amounts of money special interests will spend through their lobbyists to impede bold Obama initiatives on healthcare and energy. Anyone is welcome to use their financial resources to assist America moving forward. However, this is a belting-tightening time for most Americans and I would like to suggest an economical and perhaps more substantive way to influence our country’s path. It is called “activism.” Much of the money lobbyists have funneled to elected representatives has been used for re-election campaigns. If nothing else, politicians want to be re-elected. That is where you and I enter the dynamic. Since we are the ones that cast ballots, if we are sufficiently vocal, we have an excellent chance of gaining politicians’ attention. The website VoteSmart.org enables one to identify their Senators and Representatives and how to contact them. As a group we have the potential to be more powerful than the lobbyists and their masters. It requires each of us to take an interest in our self-interest. If we as citizens are not engaged, the government becomes an oligarchy of demagogues and special interests. The last eight years is testimony to such a fate.
To be an activist requires knowledge. The Dailey Kos political blog is launching a new website Congress Matters. The objective of the blog: “By watching, learning, analyzing and discussing the daily activities of the Congress, we hope to improve our effectiveness as advocates and activists. We'll pull back the curtains on how Congress conducts its business, both public and "private" (i.e., within the party caucuses and conferences), explain floor procedure and rules, and even throw in a little gut feeling when appropriate to try to get a better picture of what's going on, and more importantly, what we can do about it.”
Some of the organizations/websites that I feel are resources for people seeking to be better informed:
Common Cause
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
People for the American Way
Free Press
Center for American Progress
Human Rights Campaign
Amnesty International USA
1 SKY
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
Pro Publica
True Majority
League of Conservation Voters
Corporate Accountability International
This list is far from inclusive. In the future I will suggest additional organizations I deem worthy of consideration.
* Quote of the Week – “This isn’t about big government or small government. It’s about building a smarter government that focuses on what works.” Barack Obama, November 25, 2008
* Hallelujah ~ I have found a new Pastor! – Seven Days of Sex was the title of the sermon that Pastor Ed Young gave his congregation earlier this month. “Young challenged his parishioners to have sex with their spouse every day for a week to see how it benefited their relationship.” The Baptist pastor bases his “sexperiment” on Christian ideology – that God created sex for husband and wife. I can’t wait to show the video of the sermon to my rabbi – an ecumenical action on my part that is in tune with the new effort in our country to identify areas of common interest and move away from more recent divisiveness and isolation. I would like to suggest a new rallying cry for America – “Sex, Patriotism and Rock and Roll.”
* Speaking of “ecumenical” – “President and First Lady Bush recently sent Jewish community leaders invitations to a Hanukkah reception at the White House next month. But as the New York Post reports, the invitations “raised more than a few eyebrows” because the image on them was that of a “Clydesdale horse hauling a Christmas fir along the snow-dappled drive to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.” Ho, ho ho! Oy, oy, oy!
* Being dragged into the 20th Century – “State (South Carolina) GOP chairman Katon Dawson, who is campaigning to lead the national Republican Party organization, has resigned a 12-year membership in a whites-only Columbia country club… Dawson said he began working to change the club’s admissions practices in mid-August after reading about the deed in an article in The State.” After being a member of a club with racist policies and no black faces on members for 12 years, it took an article in a newspaper to alert Mr. Dawson to the situation. Maybe when other members were saying no “Coloreds” allowed, Mr. Dawson thought they were saying no “collards” allowed. Apparently the Republican Party has not reached rock bottom in spite of its considerable efforts.
* Being dragged into the 21st Century - Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman Tuesday declared that Florida's 50-year-old ban on gay adoptions unconstitutional. Judge Lederman said, ''It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent.''
* I love contests – The Nation magazine has a contest for readers to offer suggestions, in 25 words or less, what President Bush should do after he leaves office. The response I submitted: “Nothing”!
* Intelligent and responsive governance – Two weeks ago I noted a report by Pro Publica (Journalism in the Public Interest) how gas drilling is resulting in carcinogens entering our water supplies. This week New York City and state politicians called for the state Department of Environmental Conservation to hire an outside consultant to evaluate the impact gas drilling could have on the city's watershed, and to hold public hearings in New York City and in the watershed region. It seems appropriate that we each ask our city and state representatives what respective local governments are doing to ensure the safety of the water we consume. Over the last eight years the federal Environmental Protection Agency saw its mission as protecting industry. I hope and optimistically expect this will change in an Obama administration but, some of the responsibility should be assumed by each of us to pressure and hold accountable our representatives. Our dependence on the “other guy” to do it came up short.
* No pardon in this season for a duck – An article by Joe Klein of Time Magazine summarizes the presidency of George W. Bush. It should be read in its entirety for its incisiveness and as precursor of assessments that will follow in the days and decades to follow. One sentence from this article, that generates more pathos for America than for Mr. Bush, Klein writes, “At the end of a presidency of stupefying ineptitude, he has become the lamest of all possible ducks.”
* “Consequences, Schmonsequences, as long as I'm rich.”
Daffy Duck in 1957 film Ali Baba Bunny
It's been a long time coming, and a change is gonna come! We must, as Americans, continue to pray for this great nation, and our current President as well as President Elect Barack Obama and his family. We must remember to continue doing our part in making and keeping this country a great nation.
The voters stated profoundly that we, as Americans, will no longer stand for the same old same old. We have a voice in our vote and we will stand together to bring about a change in this Nation. Therefore, if there are "repeat offenders" in your legislative, senate, or congressional seats, VOTE THEM OUT! We will not get anywhere with the same people in office. We hear it everyday...if you think you're going to get a different outcome doing the same thing with the same people in control, you're fooling yourself, wasting your time, and remaining stagnant.
It's time to stir the waters, take a leap of faith, and exercise that FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD! Get involved! Your little bit counts - even if it's just helping to feed a neighbor's child; making sure your neighbors are safe and warm; helping the children in your neighborhood complete their homework; lending a hand to the senior citizen in your community; etc. At least participatie and not stand idly by watching things get worse - that is no longer an option.
This crisis is real and WE BELIEVE that YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! YES WE CAN!
We will continue to pray and remain involved in whatever needs to be accomplished to bring Americans together, change the economy, and educate our children - the future leaders of this great Nation.
Take care and GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Mary
Stephen Views the News 11/5/08
During one of the most memorable nights in my lifetime, a night reminiscent of the hours before the birth of my daughter, I anxiously watched America choose its 44th President, Barack Hussein Obama. His skin color was not a deal breaker. His middle name was not a deterrent. Over the next days, weeks and years historians, political scientists and folks sitting in diners with coffee in hand will be debating the factors that lead to Democrat Obama being selected over Republican John McCain. The significance cannot be debated.
My personal elation was threefold:
~ I intensely believed that Obama was the better choice to lead America at this critical and complex period fraught with dangers and challenges. Our country requires a dramatic change in emphasis as to whose interests it serves domestically and, of equal importance, the direction of foreign policy.
~ This election demonstrated that a national political campaign can be successful that does not base its strategy on negativity and divisiveness, accusation and innuendo. One can only hope that the Republican Party, which continued to utilize the Atwater and Rove political tools of shlock and awe in this election, will abandon the strategies that the American people in 2008 emphatically rejected.
~ Pride that the United States of America took a huge step toward being a more inclusive society.
At 11:00 PM on November 4, 2008 it was announced that Obama had surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. I saw the tears on the face of Jesse Jackson, a leader of the African American community who, in recent years, was characterized as attacking and divisive. Few of us could stand in the shoes of Mr. Jackson and understand the dangers and challenges he faced as a leader in the civil rights movement that began in the 1960s to break the stranglehold that communities, particularly in the South, had over Black citizens. Over a two-hour period this night, each time that the camera focused on Mr. Jackson’s face, tears continue to flow from a depth that I imagine is beyond my comprehension.
I listened to another pillar of the civil rights movement, long-serving Georgia congressman John Lewis. He discussed what it meant to him and the African American community for a Black man to be elected to the nation’s highest office. It is certain that many viewers, even the majority of us that did not directly experience his history, shared his pride, emotion, and moist eyes.
Eugene Robinson is an African American and columnist for the Washington Post. I have listened to him during many of his appearances on political talk shows, his commentary always impersonal and analytical. Following the announcement that Obama won the election Mr. Robinson offered observations about what Obama’s success meant to him on a movingly personal level and the joy and pride he shared with his aging parents in a telephone conversation minutes before.
Channel surfing to ABC I listened to an interview between a White seasoned newsman and a younger Black reporter speaking from his hometown area of Lynchburg, VA. The older reporter commented about an assignment early in his career when he was sent from the North to cover a story in Lynchburg. He described his shock to find restrooms labeled Men, Women and Colored.
This morning I made my usual stop for a bagel and coffee. As I entered the store I saw a White customer high-fiving with an African American employee. Although the employee knew me we had never discussed politics. When I commented that last night was very special she offered me her hand in a high-five gesture.
The Obama election will not automatically eradicate what is a dwindling but still existing degree of racial prejudice in our country. It seems to be a characteristic of human nature to distrust that which is different. The candidacy of Barack Obama did make a major contribution toward the understanding that as Americans we have a common interest and a common bond. The election of Barack Obama, supported by a very significant electoral vote majority, is a threshold moment for human relations in American we can share and admire and celebrate.
* The Bush effect
One wonders if the Democrat Obama could have won this election if not for the damaging effect the Republican Bush administration has had on our country. The Republican candidate McCain was seen as a strong supporter of Bush doctrine and policy - no matter how consistently the McCain campaign attempted to distance itself from Bush. The country was desperately ready for change.
Although I have been a very vocal critic of George W. Bush I believe he did have a positive influence on the positive public perception of African Americans serving in high-level federal positions. Among the Bush appointments of African Americans to very significant positions in his administration were Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. These appointments, in no small way, helped pave the road for Obama’s journey to the White House.
* The Howard Dean effect – Not to be forgotten in the Democratic success this election cycle is the wisdom and influence of the former governor of Vermont and current Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the central organization of the Democratic Party. It was during his unsuccessful presidential candidacy 4 years ago that a 50-state strategy for the Democratic Party was conceived. For many years prior to that time Democrats ignored states it deemed unfavorable to its success. Mr. Dean changed that strategy and it was a building block diligently implemented by the Obama campaign.
* ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL
An excerpt from the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress July 4, 1776.
Stephen Views the News 11/1/08
Regardless of the outcome of the presidential election on Tuesday its close will be welcome. Presidential politics have been in the forefront for almost two years and in recent months the calls, the mailings, the emailings and the television and radio ads have become burdensome. At the same time, the number of voter registrations and anticipated voter turnout should be a high mark in our democratic tradition. There still are concerns about Republican attempts to disenfranchise voters not prone to the GOP and unreliable voting machines, but these potential disruptions can lead to systemic improvements if the activism seen in this election remains energized. Safeguards for voter rights and voting systems require an upgrade.
McCain and Obama continue to offer striking differences in content and demeanor. Obama concentrates on issues important to Americans. The McCain campaign concentrates on characterizing Obama as a Socialist, a Marxist and a supporter of terrorists. Perhaps Mr. McCain does not sufficiently believe in his own platform that he has to emphasize empty issues that lack gravitas. Obama’s tax plan, ideas for economic recovery, foreign policy strategies, energy solutions and prescriptions for health care inadequacies and inequities is what most of us care about. A poll on Thursday indicated that 59% of voters felt that Sarah Palin was not prepared to be Vice President. The Palin selection was emblematic of a McCain candidacy constructed to appeal to a narrow base and plagued by impetuous execution. The Palin nomination understandably brought into question McCain’s judgment and ability to make sound decisions. Questionable economic stances and neocon/myopic foreign policy have not added to his appeal or credibility. The John McCain candidacy has proven to be a disappointment for many Independents, Republicans and even Democrats who once admired the long-serving Arizona senator.
* Under the radar ~ Leadership and Organization – The polls indicate that McCain is still within striking distance to win this election. What the polls do not show is the comprehensive ground game that the Obama campaign has designed and implemented. The Obama campaign has established offices and built an army of volunteers across America that is beyond the scope of previous national campaigns. One aspect of this effort was registering voters and it did so in record numbers. The other aspect is directed toward voter turnout. This weekend millions of registered Democrats will be visited by Obama volunteers. They will be reminded to vote, provided with information about voting locations and hours of operation and offered rides to the polls where needed. On Election Day these same registered Democrats will again be reminded to vote and a huge number of legal experts will be deployed around the country to protect against voter intimidation and vote stealing. The Democratic Party will be far better prepared this year to deal with Republican shenanigans than it was in 2000 and 2004.
* McCain ~ Change you don’t want to believe in – The McCain-Palin campaign did not invent racism and hate in America. Evidence of these ugly facets of human behavior can be seen throughout American history. However, one would think that a national political party seeking election to the highest office would go way out of its way to avoid any taint of such negativity and divisiveness. John McCain proves this premise incorrect. A survey of news outlets and blogs provides numerous examples of increasing expressions of hate and meanness, racism and homophobia - a result of the pandering McCain/Republican political campaign. I lay responsibility for these cancerous expressions at the feet of Senator McCain and Governor Palin. Regardless of the outcome of this election their candidacy was a big step backward for American principles, a regression stained with shame that will not disappear like political lawn signs on November 5th.
* The Bush Effect ~ Lest we forget – President Bush is still in office and still intent on his damaging policies and reign of error. A Washington Post article on Friday provides the details. “The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January.” If there was not such a damaging track record by the Bush administration I would have thought the article was a Halloween trick. It reminds one of an April 1st fool: lift constraints on power plants, mines and farms; clear obstacles to some commercial ocean-fishing activities; ease controls on emissions of pollutants that contribute to global warming; relax drinking-water standards; and lift a key restriction on mountaintop coal mining – a type of mining that damages the environment and has destroyed communities.
* Karl Marx meets Grouch Marx – Representative Steve King (R-IA) tells an audience in Sioux City that Obama is even more extreme than a Socialist. With Obama America will wind up with a totalitarian dictatorship. And, bless his little heart, he informs the audience that only Republicans have a legitimate claim to representing freedom as America knows it. From the Farm Belt – it’s Saturday Nigh Live. If one does not laugh at this crap one would cry.
* Let freedom ring – My efforts and my vote support Barack Obama. A number of Republican/conservative friends have told me they will vote for John McCain. I am disappointed in their decision but understand that all of our votes are valid. When the election is over we will move forward together. One cannot ask for more in a democratic society.
* “Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.”
William E. Simon (1927 – 2000) 63rd U.S. Secretary of Treasury
Are Sarah Palin and John McCain on the same side?
When she refers to the old boys oil and gas club in Washington is she refering to George Bush, Dick Cheney, and John McCain? With the leader being George Bush?
