I will never forget how excited I was when Geraldine Ferraro was chosen as Mondale's vice presidential choice. I even went to a rally she held in Seattle, cheered and thrilled to see proof that my feminist activism was worth it. It's no surprise that as a status quo Democrat, she's a key operative and surrogate for Hillary Clinton's campaign. But here's a key example of how that campaign plans to win:
"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she continued. "And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." Ferraro does not buy the notion of Obama as the great reconciler.
Oh, really. If he were white like the affable, not notoriously successful governor of a small Southern state like Bill Clinton. Or the go-along-to-get-along Senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy. Really, Gerri, you do your candidate no favors with stuff like this.
Free media is the term PR people use for when publicity comes through channels other than paid advertising. Letters to newspapers is a quite effective way of getting your views before thousands of people and, believe it or not, letters to editor columns are one of the most highly read sections of a newspaper. Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. John Conyers, chairmen of the intelligence committees in each Congressional body are asking people to write letters about FISA to raise public awareness of the issue now in conference between the two bodies. The main sticking point is the ongoing battle to resist the provision that would grant immunity from prosecution for telecom companies that cooperated with the administration's admitted illegal surveillance of Americans following 9/11. To be fair, the administration doesn't admit the illegal part of it. As far as they're concerned, under their unitary executive theory, anything a president does is legal by definition. Nixon thought the same thing, as you might recall. Right up until he resigned. It should also be noted that the former CEO of QWest, my phone company, is appealing his conviction on insider trading charges and in court documents filed with that appeal, it turns out that the administration actually began its spying in February 2001, right after Bush took office. Anyway, Leahy and Conyers have set up a handy little online tool to help you write to your newspaper, give the relevant facts and opinion and ship it all off online. They wouldn't be asking if they didn't believe it would be effective.
So the recently elected Democratic governor of New York whose career as a crusading Attorney General had him on the future presidential candidate map is going down. In flames. Oldest game in the book, just can't keep it in his pants. From the text-messaging between the "girl" and her "handler,":
"he" (believed to be a reference to Client-9) "would ask you to do things that, like, you might not think were safe - you know - I mean that . . . very basic things. . . . "Kristen" responded: "I have a way of dealing with that . . . I'd be like listen dude, you really want the sex? . . .
The Eye Candy feature to your right is a list of links that offer some form of visual beauty. Send me your finds. This is The Sartorialist, one tasteful man's highly popular take on the fashion of the streets and the runways.
Andrew Sullivan, a confessed conservative who blogs over at The Atlantic, several years ago reversed his previous support for the Iraq War and has become a huge Obama supporter. He's had an ongoing aversion to all things Clinton and at one time described Hillary as having "cooties." Or maybe he said she gave him the creeps. I can't remember, but I thought he was being extreme and reflecting the misogyny that colors much opinion. And it may be misogyny. But in this post on Friday, he makes the same case I would make if I had the patience to write it. And he probably does it better than I would. It's short. And reasoned. I'm not putting up anything else political this weekend and will go looking for more pooties or something.
Well I knew Obama was favored to take it, but 59% seems way overboard, like he killed her. Now on to the Mississippi primary on Tuesday, then a nice respite until Pennsylvania and North Carolina in six weeks. This is the most fascinating and important election of my lifetime and, sadly, I'm turning into a Hillary hater. Good thing I keep to myself, I might get nasty if I ran across a supporter.
Not me, way not me. I haven't worn an elevated heel in so long that I can't remember the last time. I still have that pair of cute little red dancing shoes I bought when I was in my 30s, but never worn. I think it's the last pair I bought. I don't think I have any more left from that previous life of wantonness. But anyway, an Italian researcher — female — found out that heels can be good for your pelvic pleasure, your postpartum (I am so-o-o postpartum) recovery and all sorts of other things I can't remember because it doesn't apply to me. But not good if you have knee, ankle or hip issues. Isn't that most of us? Oh, well.
Free FAX From Your Computer Below Okay, Glenn Greenwald and Firedoglake are saying it's time once again to pressure House leaders to do the right thing, protect the Fourth Amendment and forget about telecom immunity. There's a piece of draft legislation floating around from the House committee that reportedly does NOT contain immunity for the companies' previous cooperation with the administration's illegal electronic spying. Trouble is, they may put it back in at some point during negotiations with the Senate or float a separate immunity bill, which no doubt will pass with the help of the so-called Blue Dog Dems. FAXing is most effective and you can do it for free from your computer. If you use the free service detailed below, they will send you an email that you must use to confirm before the FAX is sent. Be sure to check your junk mail, which is where my first confirmation landed.
Please do all you can to prevent passage of any legislation providing immunity to the telecom companies that cooperated with the Bush administration's illegal spying. I understand there is draft legislation being prepared and urge you to post it online so the American people may see for themselves what is being proposed. Millions of us are closely watching the process on this surveillance legislation and receiving daily updates of events as they unfold. We will hold leaders in both parties responsible for any further deterioration of our Constitutional rights.
Prompted by a little flap the Mississippi Obamaites are making over Hillary's dissing of the state for having no history of electing women to federal office or governorships, Markos Moulitsas, the owner/founder of Daily Kos had someone research all the states. If you're curious, it's here.
By the way, Hillary was in Iowa when she dissed Mississippi. You'll notice that Iowa also has a zero for zero record. Heh.
Okay, Amy Sedaris isn't for everybody. But I say, anybody who puts her slightly used cosmetic and dental products on a table for sale at 25 cents to party guests is my kind of person. And her brother's name is David. Yeah, that David.
Some of you know I am sort of addicted to woot.com (for the writing, not the products, but of course I spend money there.) Well, one of the writers is doing news, too.
PASADENA, Calif. (AP)—A robotic spacecraft circling Mars has snapped the first image of a series of active avalanches near the planet’s north pole, scientists said Monday.
Previous spacecrafts have only been able to capture images of the more common passive avalanche, or as it is traditionally known, “a pile of rocks”.
Yikes, it's getting late and I have to run over and change the channel, for some reason the Osmonds are on PBS. WTF?
My congressman Norm Dicks was on fire tonight on the Lehrer News Hour over the lost Boeing tanker contract, battling with some "expert" I never heard of. "The Europeans would never in a million years" do what the U.S. Air Force did, and somehow John McCain is in the mix. I haven't been following this at all but it sure is entertaining, I might stay tuned. There will be hearings. (Note: I've met Dicks, shaken his hand, he's a crusher, and used to get a calendar from him every year because of previous contact as a reporter for his hometown newspaper. he's always quotable.)
One of Clinton's favorite books is "Team of Rivals," Doris Kearns Goodwin's account of Abraham Lincoln's Cabinet, and she assembled her own team of advisers knowing their mutual enmity in the belief that good ideas come from vigorous discussion. But while many campaigns are beset by backbiting and power struggles, dozens of interviews indicate that the internal problems endured by the Clinton team have been especially corrosive.
If I find something equally as informative about Obama, I'll post it. In the meantime, John McCain is off to Europe.
Oh, julimac, did you have to bring that up? Well, there it is. It sits on your shoulder, reads your thoughts. And ur blogz, heh. This quote from a Philip Larkin poem today in a highly recommended interview by Harper's blogger and all-round wonderman Scott Horton.
And specious stuff that says no rational being Can fear a thing it cannot feel, not seeing that this is what we fear—no sight, no sound, No touch or taste or smell, nothing to think with, Nothing to love or link with, The anesthetic from which none come round.
The interview is with Susan Sontag's son David Reiff about his mother and his book about her death.
Oh, there's an urgent "call them, write them" post(s) up on Daily Kos all because House Intelligence Committee Chair Sylvestre Reyes said something unclear but if you've ever seen him on C-Span you'd kinda wonder when he's ever said anything clearly. And Nancy Pelosi said something that made everybody paranoid that she's willing to throw immunity under the bus. But there's also speculation that the Dems and the R's are just gonna let everything stay the same and not do anything, which is good. And neither Glenn Greenwald or Firedoglake are writing about it. I'll wait to see what they have to say
Want to call your congressman? FAX your senator? Email the guv? I have added a column on the right slugged Action Resources One-Stop with the first of a small set of resources for us all. Use it when you need it.
Over at Daily Kos, when they get the occasional so-called troll diary, bad writing, bad reasoning and with some absurd but transparent agenda, the commenters start posting recipes in response. God knows there's been enough bad reasoning, bad writing, bad punditry and absurdity connected to this campaign for the Democratic nomination that I feel burned out from reading it all. So I've eased up on posting the past few days. But I'm hungry and I'm going to go the store now to pick up some dill seed, yeast and cheese for this: (Mmmm)
INGREDIENTS:
1-1/2 to 2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 package active dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon instant minced onion
2 teaspoons dill seed (NOT dill weed!)
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup small curd cottage cheese
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
PREPARATION:
Grease a 1-1/2 or 2 quart casserole with solid shortening and dust with flour; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups flour, whole wheat flour, yeast, sugar, onion, dill seed, salt, and pepper and mix to combine.
In a small saucepan, combine milk, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, and butter until warm, about 120 degrees F. Add to flour mixture along with egg and beat until combined. Beat three minutes at medium speed, then stir in enough remaining flour to make a stiff batter.
Spoon batter into prepared casserole. Cover and let rise until double, about 1 hour. Bake in preheated 375 degrees F oven for 35-40 minutes until deep golden brown. Remove from casserole and let cool on wire rack for 20 minutes, then cut into wedges to serve. Serves 8
Sigh, it's going to go on awhile I guess. In the meantime, the ACLU wants us all to call our representatives about the FISA bill and here's a link to their site where you just plug in your zip code and they give you the name and phone number. The current thinking is that the House is splitting the Senate bill, separating out the telecom immunity portion so that those who are against it can be on the record opposing it when they vote. But there are enough Blue Dog Dems willing to add their votes to the R's that it will pass anyway. I suppose they could actually do it today with the Bush/McCain lovefest the big news to give cover, but I also read that it can't happen that soon because the rules committee has to weigh in first, arcane procedural stuff. I'm tired of it, I need a mini piggy to cuddle.
Here's another petition you can sign. Because it's clear the House is going to approve the Senate bill to give telecom immunity, why bother at this late date? It only takes a minute so why not add your voice to the growing list of people speaking out, let them hear you.
A bigger step is to call your representative. Here's the number, just ask for the office of your representative. I think there's an 800 number, too, but haven't looked it up. (202) 224-3121.
Word out there in Blogikistan today is that the House is about to capitulate and approve some form of telecom immunity later this week and then the whole thing lands in court as Sen. Russ Feingold has predicted. What a slog it will be. Meanwhile, remember the premise behind this assault on the Constitution.
I leaned to John Edwards and am totally willing to vote for Hillary in the general if she gets the nomination. But I've been a solid Obama supporter since the New Hampshire primary. I'm sick of the Clintons for all the dirty campaign tactics, but I believe she can beat McCain. I think Obama can do even better and those of you who know me know I am not the cult type. His opposition to the war, of course, is the main reason. I don't like Hillary's support for that vote, as well as her yes vote on the Kyl-Lieberman amendment that could be seen as a first step towards authorizing an attack on Iran could be nearly as bad. It's clear Obama is pulling in independents, even some Republicans and his campaign's ground game is impressive. I plan to be part of it tomorrow by making some calls to one of the four states holding primaries (in Texas it's the weird primacaucus) on Tuesday. You call on your own nickel, so I don't know how that might affect you folks. You can get a phone card and it's pretty cheap. Don't know how the cell minutes work, since I live in a black hole. Anyway, if you want, here's the place to go to sign up for it.
Barbara Seaman has died. I never heard of her either, but she was a constant and consistent advocate for women's health, helping change the way women advocated for themselves. Her criticism of the amount of estrogen contained in The Pill changed things for all of us. And for that, I'm grateful.
True to his promise, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he declines to prosecute former White House officials Josh Bolten and Harriet Meirs for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer subpoenas to appear and testify about the White House involvement in the politicization of the Department of Justice. (This is the old U.S. Attorney's scandal and you may remember nine of them were fired, even though they were Bush appointees, supposedly because they refused to prosecute trumped up political charges for political allies. In Seattle, John McKay was fired, and the evidence so far indicates it was over his decision not to prosecute anyone over Dino Rossi's loss to Chris Gregoire for governor. The FBI investigated and found no wrongdoing. A Bush appointed judge in Eastern Washington found no evidence to justify a lawsuit. Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, found no evidence of wrongdoing. The R's in this state were, and still are, livid.) So, what's the next step? The House leadership will likely pursue court action, and it could take the rest of the Bush term to resolve.
...one of the things feminists do best -- like Democrats -- is kick the crap out of each other
My response: wow, brings back the bad old days of being criticized for shaving my legs, Mormon men from Utah bringing their women in to destabilize the Washington State Women's Conference and the fear tactics used to rally the founding mothers of Seattle NOW to fend off a takeover by the Socialist Workers Party by getting out the vote to overwhelm an alternative slate of chapter candidates, of which I was a co-president candidate. I learned my politics there and I cherish the memories. It was the choice issue used against Obama in New Hampshire that clinched my support for him.
I still don't quite get this social networking thing, although it's on the list. Do middle-aged feminist female progressives who enjoy wicked humor want a network of their own. Who knows, maybe they already have one and I just haven't found it yet. Then this morning someone commenting on a post at Firedoglake suggested readers Digg it and I did, even though I quit digging a long time ago because Digg didn't seem to remember me. Then right after that, I got this:
Hey there! june is your latest fan. She became your fan because she likes what you are up to on Digg and wants to see what you think is interesting. You can either leave her as a fan or add her to your own list of friends.
So there are people out there automatically signed up who automatically sign you up. June, it turns out, has 299 friends and I am one. Who knew?
Three whole hours on the intertubes this morning and I'm thinkin' "I got nothin,' nothin'!" when lo and behold I try Wonkette. Even though I list Wonkette over there on the right in a prominent position, I stopped reading daily a long time ago (well, okay, for the last month) because it's too funny and inside baseball and Megan Carpentier, the site's former Anonymous Lobbyist, was gone and there were no more women posting on a site once run by a single woman, Ana Marie Cox, who got a better gig at Time's Swampland. Guess who Wonkette featured? Megan, now at a likely better paying gig at Glamour and, she's still funny. As in:
Take the political quiz below, and score yourself after the jump. Don't forget to leave your score in the comments.
1. Hillary Clinton is... A. Proof that you can't wear tapestry blazers with Nehru collars and win an election B. Yet another woman who will never be President. There are about 152 million of us after all. C. An insatiably power-hungry spawn of the devil married to the least ethical President in modern history. D. Some blonde lady on the teevee that looks kind of like my mom but with better make-up.
Just click the link above and take the test, even if you're no longer 12 years old. Support Megan Carpentier.
Morris was eventually tossed aside after he was caught reading polling data to his prostitute as she sucked on his toes, but Penn stuck around and led Clinton to a resounding 49% performance against Bob Dole.
Okay, how long have the names Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, David Addington, et al rung a bell? Me neither. So now, Harold Ickes, Dick Morris (remember Dick Morris? No, why would you?) Mark Penn are back in our vocabulary.
The cost of the Iraq War, heretofore not really explained, is explained by one of the leading economists in the United States. Trouble is, he falls into the same liberal fallacy that I think in the end insults my intelligence. There should be no if/than proposition in the argument. Are we to take seriously the assertion that we might have borrowed this much money from China and other sources to cure poverty or feed the world? I don't think so. I'm sure there's a name for this logical fallacy, but I'm not going to look it up.
Who needs the ability to calculate sales tax. The ability to make change. The ability to change a typewriter ribbon. Cursive handwriting. Ability to drive a manual transmission car. Mapreading. It's all here. All the obsolete skills in one easy reference place. I would add "the ability to write he said/she said stories for a down-market news reading audience" but I don't want to disclose too much. Or hurt anybody's feelings.
Obama's a closet Muslim. Hillary's a lesbian. McCain's a cheater. What's true, what's not? Now that the campaign season is about to reach a feverish level as the race narrows to two candidates, there will be all sorts of accusations out there. Some are generated by sloppy, lazy or deliberately misleading information put out by the candidates themselves. Some will come from the dreaded 527s, the outside political groups organized to promote a candidate or attack the opponent without being directly controlled by his or her campaign. The infamous Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that went after John Kerry in 2004 were such a success that they became a new word. Without further ado, below are the places you should go for credible, non-partisan fact checking, and there's a story about them here.
There was an article making the rounds yesterday about some study showing teenagers today have not enough historical or literary education to identify references to their own culture. I for one am thankful for the term crypto-Nazi, I use it daily. The exact quote, on national TV, was "Now listen you goddam queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi..." Classic. Buckley v. (Gore) Vidal letting their differences hang out at the '68 Democratic Convention in Chicago. Dates me, I know.
I see that remark a lot on progressive threads out in Blogiskistan. I hear it from my friends. So, in remembrance of William F. Buckley, who died today still opposing the Iraq War and favoring the legalization of marijuana, and who I also sort of miss, a little Molly riff:
In World War I, they went around kicking dachshunds on the grounds that dachshunds were "German dogs." They did not, however, go around kicking German shepherds. The minute someone impugns your patriotism for opposing this war, turn on them like a snarling dog and explain what loving your country really means.
Maybe you've heard about the little verklempt moment on The View as fellow hosts consoled a teary Whoopie Goldberg on Monday because the Academy Awards producers left her memorable Oscar moments out of the segment celebrating past hosts. Well, someone did a little research to fill in the blanks.
The Republicans on Tuesday surprised their Senate colleagues by agreeing to debate Sen. Russ Feingold's bill to begin troop withdrawals in 120 days. But don't be fooled, they aren't going to support it, and neither will 24 Democratic senators who voted against the measure opening up the debate. The R's think they can make some political capital by showing on the floor of the Senate how everything is going so well, what with violence down and some alleged political progress. At least that's what they say. Really, though, they just want to postpone the expected debate about the dreaded banking bill.
But why should we care, way the hell out here? Well, they haven't elected a Democrat in the district for more than 100 years. Kos doesn't make it any more than New York politics, but ya know, I gotta wonder if there's something below the radar. Something bigger.
between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is likely the last one of the Democratic primary season. It starts on MSNBC at 6 p.m. PST. There's only one week to go until the crucial Texas and Ohio primaries, and the Clinton campaign has been throwing everything out there it can think of in hopes that something will stick. Depending on who you listen to, she must win both, she must win at least one, she must win both by big margins to have a chance. Over the weekend, it became pretty clear that the Republicans believe they'll be running against Obama as the machine churned out specious attacks on his patriotism, his — nonexistent — ties to black su premacists, his supposed naivete, his intention to actually talk to leaders of Muslim states, blah-blah. Oh, yeah, his wife. So given that this is my last chance, I'm going to try liveblogging the debate. UPDATE: Couldn't liveblog after all, MSNBC online was funky, apparently because so many people were logging on to it. Oh well, if you didn't see it, there will be plenty of clips and commentary out there. Try You Tube. Let me know what you think.
Supposedly a new vote is scheduled in the House later this week on the FISA/PAA fight over immunity for telecoms who colluded with the Bush administration to illegally spy on Americans' phone, email and other communications. We now know the practice has been going on since Feb. 2001, shortly after Bush took office and long before 9/11. Yet it is the administration's position that they need to be able to spy without warrants in order to protect us from terrorists. We also know that the 40-some lawsuits and ensuing discovery process is the only way we will ever learn who in the administration authorized the illegal wiretaps. If immunity is authorized, the crimes go unproven and unpunished. What Can You Do? If you haven't already signed the petition to House members, go here.
At least that's what some people said is the implication of a photo of him in Somali native costume during a 2006 trip to Africa. Supposedly spread by disgruntled Clinton campaign staffers according to Matt Drudge who runs a popular online news aggregator whose claim to fame is breaking the Lewinsky spotted dress story. Staffers claim if there was a photo like that of Hillary, the press would be all over it but they tread lightly with Obama. Drudge is often the source for nasty rumors that quickly make it to FOX News, then CNN, then everyone else and it has today and that's what happened today. This is often how the news works, and I bet most of you never heard of Matt Drudge and avoid FOX like the plague. Anyway, brighten up, Congress reconvenes tomorrow.
Howard Dean, head of the Democratic National Committee, has a petition up that you can use to add your signature to the Federal Elections Commission complaint to force the FEC to make McCain stick to his public financing pledge. I'm not going to go into all the detail, I'm not sure I can. But basically right after McCain came out and tried to inaccurately allege that Obama had pledged to take public financing in the general (he didn't, he said he'd negotiate terms with the Republican nominee, and said it in writing, it was discovered that McCain had sort of shot himself in the foot with a campaign loan predicated on later federal funding and something to do with the Ohio candidate process that is so arcane I almost ground my teeth to stumps not reading about it.
Update: Controversy on the blogs over the fact that an Alabama CBS affiliate run by brothers with strong ties to Bush and Co. ran pictures of its darkened parking lot during most of the Seigelman piece, claiming feed problems from New York. CBS NY says no feed problems. Conspiracy or accidental goof? Who knows? GOP in AL put out very misleading statement. Apparently 60 Minutes has much more, no one seems to know whether they plan to air it.
4:42 p.m. Okay, so the worst dress of the evening so far is sadly worn by Daniel Day Lewis' wife Rebecca Miller, daughter of playrite (damn spellcheck!) Arthur Miller. It was black with some sort of black velvet flowers streaming down the middle and...wait for it...wait for it...red velvet bows as straps! Omigod, I missed the matching piping on his tux, and the shoes, both of them. Oh wait, no, there's Tilda Swinton wearing something like a black robe from Hogwarts. I also happen to know that she lives with a very interesting older m an, the father of her children, and has a much younger lover, French I think. Good on, Tilda. Speaking of really bad gowns, I don't suppose Aretha's coming. Okay, she does it on purpose, but what can the purpose be? Aretha wants my eyes to hurt?
Trivia ? What ever happened to Helen Hunt. A. She's directing.
5:47 George Clooney, mmmm. Where's Brad? Where's Leo? Where's Matt? Oh, that's right, he's in bed with Sara Silverman. Jon was funny, but not as good as Billy Crystal.
5:55 Okay, I didn't like Ratatouille all that much but I like ratatouille and know how to make it. But the acceptance was good.
Guess I have to see the Piaf movie after all.
(One hour until 60 Minutes, what will I do?)
Songs. Is Enchanted on your Netflix list yet? Is Amy Adams the new Julie Andrews? (Is bitch the new black?)
Visual Effects, The Rock, blah blah.
Note: A lot of the audience celebrities are caught chewing gum or something, including Daniel. Will he get rid of it before he accepts?
Art, Set: There Will Be Blood? No, Sweeney Todd. Haven't seen either. Blanchett is pretty preggers. Depp's wife has one of those charming gaps between her front teeth.
Supporting Actor. Javier? Hal? Presenter Jennifer Hudson from last year's Dream Girls. When Eddie didn't win, he walked out in a huff. Okay, I just think that anything Phillip Seymour does is Oscar worthy, and I haven't seen Charlie Wilson's War yet. Okay, I like Tom Wilkinson, too and I haven't seen that either. God, I haven't seen much. Javier, of course, he brought his mother. What did he say. How dare he speak in Spanish. Immigration reform. Get that fence up. 6:23 Supporting actress, Alan Arkin, mmmm Wait Until Dark. Cate, I want Cate. Amy Ryan. Tilda. All Good, Ruby, yea. Tilda. Wow. She didn't expect to win. And she's still in that Black. Robe. She's great, actually.
6:44 I don't know who Jessica Alba is. She's wearing something in eggplant. Technical awards. Is it time for 60 Minutes?
The Coen brothers, adapted screenplay. Really weird guys. Fargo, mmm. Is it time for 60 Minutes?
Worst Production Number of the Century. This Oscar nominated song by Chenowith in some grey, fashiony thing with a Rasta man. This girl has no rhythm. Stewart has got to be laughing. Lead actress coming up and 60 Minutes is looming. What will I do. Surf.
(Time out for 60 Minutes. Devastating piece on politically motivated prosecution of former Democratic Governor of Alabama Don Siegalman, Karl Rove behind it.)
Another stupid song from Enchanted, Travolta looks like his hair has been painted on, yeah, Once couple takes it. (Male of couple, Glen Hansard was in The Commitments, one of the few movies I actually own.
"Make art, make art," he says. Shot it in three weeks for $100,000 with handicams.
Screenplay--Diablo Cody for Juno, the only former phone sex worker among the nominees. She not only invented herself and her story, but her name. Cool, real tears.
It's Daniel, everybody knew it would be. He's not chewing gum. How come his tux had red piping in the still, but not live? I forgot to look at his shoes. He was w
earing desert boots before. Denzel is shaving his head and has grown a beard. Good night. In Memoriam: Kinda sad, all those old people and last, Heath Ledger.
Scott Horton at Harper's and Glenn Greenwald at Salon both are strongly recommending skipping the Oscars between 7 and 8 tonight and watching 60 Minutes instead. Horton, an expert on the politicization of the Department of Justice by Karl Rove, says it's a deep and explosive piece. So, I'm not looking for someone to Tivo it after all. FYI. By the way, Horton is also an extremely credible and active attorney involved in lots of progressive causes. He has a new article out in Harper's about all this. Unfortunately, it's only available to subscribers online, so I guess I'll have to pop for the magazine at the stand.
A college student in New York has put up a survey asking people how they get their information as part of his senior project. It's quick and easy and I trust it because he's a member of Daily Kos. Help him out if you want here.
And they're charming and so is the movie and so is their music. My first movie recommend on this blog. Others would be "Away From Her" and "The Savages."
There is a long discussion today at Glenn Greenwald's site at Salon about the administration's fighting back publicly over the House's refusal to approve telecom immunity. Greenwald is where in my opinion the smartest people in the progressive blogoshere hang out. I've summarized the FISA issue before, but it's important to reflect on where this single issue rests in the whole scheme of things political. I could never summarize it as well as commenter ondelette, so I'm just going to cut and paste his/her reminiscence on the totality of the Shrubya years. And at the end, there's another cool video. Guess not, I liked the one I already posted better.
This is why I said the corpies are calling in their chips on this. The administration has built a huge illegal house of cards, and everyone who has participated in it -- corporations on the NSA spying, the CIA on torture and rendition, the military on Guantanamo, foreign governments on a variety of things, even news media on keeping a lid on everything -- wants to know whether they can deliver on the promises that no one will get hurt. This showdown is all about showing the dark side that they can deliver on getting immunity through a congress controlled by the enemy. It isn't about this particular immunity, except to a handfull of telecom companies, it's about all the future immunities they need to promise to provide. They got important immunities rammed through before the Democrats took control -- the Military Commissions Act contains an retroactive clause similar to the one in the FISA bill making procedures at Guantanamo legal that had previously been violations of Geneva.
This is literally about the investors threatening to pull the plug unless the blanket immunity part of the overall project, of which FISA is just one piece, rolls out on schedule and according to plan. It's plain old corporate restructuring as they see the Republicans about to lose the governing power which constituted the sum total of their employable assets.
What else is there to learn? On FISA, the full extent of the spying. On torture and rendition, the legal opinions and the full extent of the program. On Guantanamo, the rigging of the military commissions. On the OLC and the U.S. Attorneys, the racketeering going on for the White House in the Justice department, and whether or not there have been clandestine election rigging moves. On intelligence and diplomacy, whether or not we have had an accurate picture of the world through the government for a long time.
It is also probably a very, very bad idea to believe there aren't programs violating either U.S. or international law, about which we currently still know nothing, and also a bad idea to assume that the press knows nothing about any of them. One thing I'm intrigued with [Warning: conspiracy theory alert] is the character of the vote rigging in Pakistan by PML-Q and MQM. It seemed to be designed to prevent a working majority, not to win an election. Odd for a dictator who doesn't care what people think when he suspends the Constitution. The result was an election in which everyone knew there was vote rigging but decided to accept it. That kind of subtlety looks very Rovian. Either Musharraf is a good student of Rove or he had help. We know he had an American campaign advisor...
As Taobhan and others point out well, the press is a large factor in this. With the current torture debate, for instance, the press is largely guilty of facilitating Stephen Bradbury's contention that if the interrogation method doesn't involve prolonged severe pain and suffering it isn't torture, as a legitimate side in an even debate. The Torture Act's definition of prolonged severe pain and suffering doesn't apply to the process of interrogation at all. It applies to the damage it causes. And it would include totally painless interrogation methods that cause painful psychological problems or damage later (spec. "procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality"). Look it up. (Title 18 U.S.C. 2340).
If this lobbyist scandal gets worse, and there's plenty of reason today to believe that it will — and the Federal Election Commission's decision works to keep him committed to public financing and prohibited from much campaign spending until the fall — who should the Republicans choose as their candidate that would be best for Democrats? Mittens? Huck? Newt? Jeb? Sign a petition here.
Update below I've posted a lot about the surveillance bill that senators and House members are currently wrangling over during the Congressional recess, trying to come to some compromise that will give the government reasonable access to potential threats while preventing the administration, Republicans and even some super-compromised Democrats from granting the telecom companies who cooperated with previous illegal wiretapping from getting legal immunity from the 40 or so lawsuits pending against them. The discovery process in these lawsuits is the only remaining way we have of learning exactly what happened and which administration officials also violated the law by spying on Americans without warrants. Now there is a new Republican sponsored ad out warning us that terrorists are hiding under our beds and will grab out ankles when we get up to pee unless they get everything they want. I won't link to the ad, it's a laughable pandering "24"-style piece to stir up the base. I will link to the ACLU's plea for donations to help it get a big ad about this issue into USA Today next week when Congress reconvenes. And here's a brief YouTube piece that sort of summarizes the whole thing. A little wonky, but it's got a cute bear to entertain the kids with. Update: Apparently the Republicans have decided they'll just go with the scare tactics since Democratic leaders announced today that the R's have instructed their staff and representatives to boycott the negotiation meetings.
I have been sunk in the sea of despond — meaning reading everything everybody is saying about the McCain lobbyist story except the original New York Times story itself, what can I say, I'm a journalism junkie — and so just learned that 60 Minutes will run its piece on the US Attorney scandal on Sunday. Trouble is, it's on opposite the Oscars. Gonna be tough for me to forego Jon Stewart who is hosting the awards show and shots of multiple stars and their really boring speeches, but I haven't ever missed the Oscars. And I don't have Tivo. What to do, what to do? But I know someone who does have Tivo. Problem solved. Must-see TV.
It's not really one of my pressing interests, but it made me laugh out loud, so maybe you will get a chuckle. From Scout Finch at Daily Kos today: The US Navy announced that due to bad weather, it will postpone the attempt to shoot down the impaired satellite until tomorrow at the earliest. Our zillion dollar "star wars" technology is clearly capable of stopping incoming missiles so long as: they come one at a time, are the size of a school bus, travel in orbits that have been calculated for months, don't deploy any decoys, and the weather is clear.
So in Wisconsin he gets 58%, in Hawaii 77 % and in Washington...wait for it...wait for it... 50%. That was the primary total, the caucus total was 67%. What does this mean? Did women vote differently in the primary because they knew it didn't count? Did more independents and Republicans vote in the primary than attended the caucuses? And what about all those people who forgot or declined to pick a party on the primary ballot, which everyone seems to hate because we're in transition and just don't get it now that there's a real primary contest and our state actually mattered and most of us never bothered to caucus before and never really got that primaries have never mattered for Democratic voters anyway? I don't know, and in the big scheme of things, doubt that it matters a whit except we Washington voters seem to be incredibly confused, or confusing or something.
I Am Always the Last to Know Except for you, of course, which is the whole premise of this blog. I read it so you don't have to, right? Cuz you don't have time. And if it's cool, I pass it along. I try to keep it short and linky, the sort of thing you can check daily or weekly or monthly and not feel as if you've missed much, because when it's not politics, it's timeless. So far, I've mostly done politics, but Congress is in "controlled recess," my term meaning Nancy and Harry are sort of keeping it open to prevent Shrubya from pulling a fast one and becoming the first president since 1948 to call Congress back into session for an emergency, their thinking being that he sees the failure of the telecom immunity he wanted as an emergency. No, I didn't know they could do that or he could do that either. Civics lesson of the week, I guess. Anyway, if you want to chip in a few bucks to help the ACLU keep the pressure on when Congress returns, you can do so here.
But I want to sweeten this public service announcement, make the vegetables go down a little easier. Introducing Nina Paley, the most famous person I never heard of, this week at least. A few years ago, she got really pissed off about overpopulation and made this really cool animated short.
I Need Staff That used to be my little personal joke, a way of admitting I had no time to do all the things I needed to do. Now I have plenty of time to do it all, and I still don't do it. I was charmed when I heard an NPR reporter's story about how he'd hired a service in India to do all sorts of things for him, including reading stories to his son over the telephone. He was so pleased with the service that he decided to retain a partial version of it after the story was over and his employer stopped paying the bill. So, do you need staff?
The ineffable Steve Clifford at Crosscuts explains. "The transition from Hip to Humorless in the early 30s appears a distinctly American phenomenon.I think this is due to diet, specifically cheese..."
Hillary said something and then Barack said something and McCain had something to say, too, and Bush blah-blah, and then Hillary... Bottom line: I'm bored silly with the news today and so probably is everyone else on the blogs I read and look to for inspiration and links, because I remain uninspired and linkless. Maybe it's post-Potomac/Super Tuesday letdown, brain hormones that had kicked into high gear for more than a month suddenly out of whack and no new excitement in sight. So, I punted over the weekend. Explored the non-political and found, judging from the comments, some gems. I've been trying for a couple hours to repeat that lucky streak, but came up dry. Friend sent me two stories from the New York Times, but the piece on the kind of people on The Nation's egghead cruise to Alaska was too long and the best quote was about the unlikeliness of finding Ralph Nader in the hot tub on the top deck. The other one was by a progressive Democratic woman who married a Republican and how sincerely happy she was when he voted for Obama. Emphasis on sincerely. Not even a dribble of snark. I decided not to even try Wonkette today. Maybe that was a mistake but I'm done. Fear not, however, I've been holding stuff in reserve for just this situation. Okay, it's derivative, and there's no link to anything better, but it's mildly amusing. Otherwise, I got nothin.' If it's this bad tomorrow, maybe I'll make up a contest. Any suggestions?
FROM THE RESERVES:
I have toyed with the idea of putting together a list of favorite signature lines from progressive commenters at Daily Kos, but in the meantime, here are some from Bill in Portland, ME, who beat me to it. But then, he's getting paid to do this sort of thing.
"'Politics' is made up of two words. 'Poli,' which is Greek for 'many,' and 'tics,' which are bloodsucking insects." Gore Vidal (Kairos) -
If we Americans analyzed our social problems as much as we analyze pro football, there would be no more AIDS, homeless people, or pregnant teens... (Wry Twinger) -
"In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican." ~H.L.Mencken (PoliSigh) -
I don't mind straight people as long as they act gay in public. (International Jock) -
"If you're going through hell - keep going!" -- Winston Churchill (newbie Keith Olbermann) -
What you see is what you get, but what you don't see is what ends up getting you. (Existentialist) -
There are 10 types of people in the world--those who know binary and those who don't. (DoLooper) -
"Whenever someone says he's going to save your soul, keep a tight grip on your wallet." (bergerc84) -
"Success is a level of violence where the people feel comfortable about living their daily lives." --George W Bush, May 2, 2007 (Mspicata) - "Never raise your hands to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected." - Red Buttons (Man in the Middle)
Bill's sig line is "Judge me by the strength of my character, not the underwear on my head."
My line, if I had one, would be, "We're all here because we're not all there." Unofficial city motto, Port Townsend, WA
Do you like expensive sandwiches, Mos Def and co-ed sports? Of course you do, you're white. I love Mos Def, just look at him. What's not to love?
Anyway, too bad the writer's strike is over. I have a feeling the people who put together the sly little blog Stuff White People Like will be posting less often.
No politics today. Instead, a delightful food blogger, French, with eclectic humor. For instance: "Did you know woolly mammoths had a flap of hairy skin over their anus to keep out the cold? Can you think of a more endearing feature? or a more appropriate topic to discuss with your V-Day date?"
Now, go read her for a little while, learn how to make Nutella ice cream and forget all our troubles for a while.
There are so many petitions out there, I can barely keep up. Here's one from the ACLU telling House leaders to stand tough against telecom immunity and stand tall for principles, like, er, the Fourth Amendment.
There's a Democratic candidate in Texas mounting a campaign against Neanderthal Republican Sen. John Cornryn. Rick Noriega is an active National Guard member, Afganistan veteran, and it looks like Cornryn is trying to Swiftboat him. You can sign a petition regarding this tactic here.
Another Good Woman I don't want to discourage anyone from working for or donating to Darcy Burner in Washington, but I think she's going to beat Dave ("I vote the way they tell me") Reichert. And there are other great people like Donna Edwards of Maryland who recently beat a corrupt incumbent Demo. One of them is Dr. Victoria Wulsin, running against "mean" Jean Schmidt in Ohio. Give her a look here. Every few bucks counts.
Wednesday, it was Harry Reid. Today, Pat Leahy sent me a letter. I'm tight with these guys, I tell ya. Leahy wants me to send his news out to all my friends. He says the best way to a decent surveillance bill is to set up a conference committee between the House and the Senate. I think that's what Sylvester Reyes and John Conyers are up to already, but just in case not, here'swhere to go to easily get word to your senators and representatives.
Okay, so it may not win a Grammy but I felt today (and starting yesterday) that finally, finally the mist was dispersing and congressional Democrats' basic intent was beginning to be clear. They had set up the Republicans for three big losses, Shrubya was left sputtering for the second day in front of the cameras, even promising to postpone his trip to Africa if only, if only, House Democrats would see their way clear to give their approval to the Senate surveillance bill and include retroactive immunity for telecoms that helped him practice illegal wiretapping of Americans. If not that, at least extend the current bad surveillance bill, he pleaded, or something much worse than 9/11 could happen. That was a lie, of course. The Dems refused to take up the bad Senate bill, they ignored another extension of the current operating legislation after Republicans inexplicably joined with a few Dems to reject extension the day before. It will expire, but there are provisions in the new and old laws that do not prevent surveillance already in place, and only requires, heh-heh, a warrant to initiate new ones. No free pass for AT&T or Verizon this time. And then, to top it all off, the Dems — and three Republicans — gave leadership permission to sue Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten for contempt of Congress. That was the final blow for the R's, who walked out in protest. The two contempt measures passed anyway. The netroots — progressive bloggers and commenters — have been railing for many months against Democratic leader for their cowardice, their go-along attitude towards the minority party, their fear of the fearmongers. But maybe it was in the plans all along to let it build to this drama. Anyway, today my head is exploding in joy and gratitude. Congress is now in recess for 12 days.
FISA Late word out of the House on Wednesday is Nancy Pelosi's statement that the Protect America Act will likely expire Friday night and it's all the recalcitrant Republicans' fault. So despite the Senate's willingness — with the help of 12 Democrats — to approve a bill on Tuesday giving retroactive immunity to telecoms (and legal cover to the Bush administration) for earlier illegal wiretapping, the House defeated an effort to replace its much better and already approved bill with the Senate travesty. But, again with the help of some Democrats, members also rejected an extension of the current terrible surveillance legislation approved in a hurry under a cloud of fear in August. So that expires on Friday. There was such a flurry of activity that I'm positively breathless. Bottom line: House Dems to Shrubya: FU 'Bout time, eh? Unless they take it all back in the next two days. TORTURE The Senate approved a report that requires the CIA to abide by the same anti-torture regulations as the military. No more waterboarding, boyos, no matter if some Justice Dept. tells you it's okay. CONTEMPT A bill to direct the Speaker of the House to pursue a lawsuit against former White House officials Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten for hiding behind executive privilege and refusing to testify before Congress about its involvement in the firing of U.S. Attorneys who balked over pursuing specious voter fraud cases was dropped onto the House floor today. Democrats have the majority, so it's expected to pass. But what if a court disagrees? We'll see.
My take? This stuff has been cooking in the cloakrooms for a long time with lots of sturm and drang in the netroots over Dems footdragging. But to tell the truth, I suspect there's been a lot of strategy and tactics involved in all of it, some bad, some good. But now, it all looks pretty good. P.S. There's another war funding bill brewing. Hmmm. Election year. 60 % hate the war. Well, I can dream, can't I?
Barack Hussein Osama bin Laden Obama Dept. According to Wonkette's sources, the Christian Right is way ahead of that October Surprise stuff, warning their devoted followers of the dangers that lurk in the favored Democratic candidate's extended family of turrerists. Wonkie doesn't link to the original, why encourage them, so I won't either.
Update below You may have noticed there's an adsense ad up on my blog today for Credo Mobile (yesterday it was Ann Coulter, go figure), which means their algorithms must work pretty good, since Credo, which used to be Working Assets, offers phone service with special appeal to political progressives. It gives 1% percent of profits to progressive causes and claims to have disbursed $50 million since 1985. More than I've given, for sure. Anyway, I can't use Credo because I live in a black hole so cell phone is pointless most of the time. But, here's something even better, signing up with Credo is being suggested by netroots denizens as a protest against AT&T and Verizon, the two companies who've spent millions lobbying for — and winning — retroactive immunity for their cooperation with illegal government wiretapping that we now know went back to Feb. 2001, long before 9/11. We know that because it showed up several weeks ago in depositions in the lawsuit by the former CEO of QWest, who believes he was punished for refusing to cooperate. In the meantime, 21 so-called Blue Dog Dems in the House sent a letter last week pledging to support the horrible surveillance bill that passed the Senate yesterday, which among other things, gives the telecoms the immunity they and Shrubya and the Dark Lord wanted to protect not only their corporate enablers but themselves from the 40 or so lawsuits out there by ordinary people and public advocates like the ACLU and the Electronic Freedom Foundation challenging the legality of what they did. Retroactive immunity means those suits will be dismissed unless the whole thing lands before the Supremes, which Russ Feingold has said he believes will eventually happen.
Where was I? Oh, go to Credo's Web site for more info and consider this form of protest. If you choose it, write a nasty letter to your carrier and tell them why.
FISA Update 3:40 p.m. Reuters reports that the House has rejected a three-week extension of the Protect America Act, a proposal from Senate Majority leader Harry Reid to forestall a total cave on the retroactive immunity issue in surveillance legislation. Speculation is that the House will okay the horrible Senate bill passed on Tuesday. If not, the whole thing expires on Saturday. It may be up to House leadership to stall with everything going back to Square One. The R's will accuse the D's of being soft on terror, but what else is new? See Action Alert in right column for House petition.
Short notice, but take a stand against torture here. Updated Below Dear Julie,
Tomorrow, I will bring the Intelligence Authorization Conference Report to the floor of the Senate. Section 327 of the bill establishes one interrogation standard for the entire U.S. government. This would effectively end torture by requiring that the intelligence community abide by the standards articulated in the Army Field Manual.
In order to attempt to block the ban on torture, Republicans may filibuster the bill or raise a point of order, claiming the torture provision violates the rules of the Senate. If the Parliamentarian agrees, we will be forced to try and waive the point of order. Either way we need 60 votes.
Already some Republicans have signaled they will side with us - however we need more.
Take a stand against torture
Every Senator will be forced to answer a simple question: do they support torture?
Do they support torture even though they know it is morally repugnant?
Do they support torture even though they know it puts our own Soldiers, Sailors and Marines at risk?
We are a nation at war -- a war in Iraq and a war against terrorism -- but this war does not give our leaders the authority to cast aside the laws of armed conflict. We need to restore our nation's moral authority, because the most effective way to fight terrorism is to harness all of our power - military, economic, and moral. When we do, the world will follow our lead once again.
It may take years, but we can start by declaring loudly, and with one voice: America does not torture.
Take a stand against torture
If we fail to oppose an evil as obvious as torture -- and it is an evil, then as Thomas Jefferson said, I will "tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just." By passing this bill we can send a clear signal to the world that America does not torture - no ifs, ands or buts.
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 51 to 45 on Wednesday afternoon to ban waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods used by the Central Intelligence Agency against high-level terrorism suspects.
Senate Republicans generally opposed the bill, but several of them also did not want to cast a vote that could be construed as supporting torture, and so were relying on President Bush to make good on a threat to veto legislation limiting C.I.A. interrogation techniques.
named Donna Edwards, a single mother who overcame struggles to become a lawyer. Edwards is an anti-war Democrat who nearly toppled longtime entrenched and corrupt DINO (Democrat in name only) Al Wynn in District 4 two years ago. She's been one of the stars of the Act Blue campaign to elect more and better Democrats, "primary" the bad ones out of office. Yay, netroots, who raised more than half the approximate $400,000 she got for her campaign. On Tuesday, she beat Wynn in the primary, 55 to 39 percent, despite the fact that Wynn got a sudden influx of $150,000 in so-called "walking-around money" from his corporate buddies the day before the primary. Walking around money is used to pay off your helpers in the district. I gave Donna $25 a couple months ago, and I'm proud of that. It's a Democratic district, she's not likely to need any extraordinary help to win the general in November.
That was the best comment of the night to news that three more people are fired from the Clinton campaign, two of whom were members of the internet team. Oh yeah, more Virginians voted for Obama than voted for Clinton and McCain combined. But you already know how the Potomac Primaries turned out, right? They're calling the big primaries in Ohio and Texas March 4 and Pennsylvania April 22 (OPT they're tagged) Hillary's must wins, and she must win by significant numbers to have any credibility with the superdelegates who are watching closely. In the meantime, Wisconsin, Hawaii and North Carolina, all of which Obama is expected to win as well.
Okay, so here's what happened today. The Senate, with the help of a slew of Democrats, rejected every amendment to the terrible Protect America Act, including the Dodd/Feingold measure to strip telecom immunity from the bill. Mcjoan at Daily Kos reports that Sen. Chris Dodd has concluded a filibuster at this time is pointless, and is putting his faith in the conference committee with the House, which passed a much better bill without immunity. If what comes out of conference committee is still unacceptable, Dodd has promised to filibuster when it hits the Senate floor. But remember, Sen. Russ Feingold said a week or so ago, that he expects a bad bill to succeed and end up in court. But in the meantime, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid has filed to extend the PAA an additional 15 days, maybe winning time on this crucial Constitutional issue.
Update 2:46 pm
Glenn Greenwald and Firedoglake have a new FISA petition to the House members here:
Greenwald has been consistently eloquent about this travesty. In today's piece, the Money Quote:
...in 1973, The Washington Post won the Pulitzer Prize for its work in uncovering the Watergate abuses, and that led to what would have been the imminent bipartisan impeachment of the President until he was forced to resign in disgrace. By stark and depressing contrast, in 2006, Jim Risen, Eric Lichtblau and the NYT won Pulitzer Prizes for their work in uncovering illegal spying on Americans at the highest levels of the Government, and that led to bipartisan legislation to legalize the illegal spying programs and provide full-scale retroactive amnesty for the lawbreakers. That's the difference between a country operating under the rule of law and one that is governed by lawlessness and lawbreaking license for the politically powerful and well-connected.
Ah, ain't science grand! Caffeine does, in fact, enhance your cognitive function and seems also to help prevent Type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Even better taken with sugar. And, erm, nicotine.
I wasn't planning on alerting people about FISA anymore, because I perhaps wrongly believed it was past the point of citizen influence. But I respect and admire Sen. Pat Leahy, he's going to join Dodd in a filibuster on the retroactive immunity for telecoms issue, and he says he wants to hear from us. So, here's his link to another petition.
NOTE: Everthing I used to send out as Action Alerts to a short list of email subscribers will now be found on this blog. Just check the Labels list to the right on the front page, all will be found at the top under the heading Action Alert with the most recent first. Just click on it and you'll find the list of items with links.
The Bremerton High School was packed, the classrooms were packed when we split up into our precincts. The guy who ran our precinct last time said the turnout was double. We went 2 Hillary, 9 Obama, 1 undecided (after half the people went home, we discovered there was no 15% rule - so they quick took a delegate from Obama and found a delegate and an alternate for the undecideds).
Some discussion to try to convert the undecideds. Folks didn't seem all that informed about the issues - mostly it was gut feelings about the candidates.
A few interesting folks - we had three first time voters -ages 23, 20, and 19 - all for Obama. Folks were saying that they're the future - so if Obama can pull them in and get them to care about politics, that makes Obama even more important. I thought all the younger generations were lost causes after the boomers. I read something yesterday about Gen Xers (I can't remember what ages X and Y are) being a lost cause, but the Millenium Generation ('84-'03?) are movers and shakers. So, we have a delegate who's 20, has a pierced nose and big ubangee earrings stretching out his earlobes!
Someone else said that the independents will control the outcome - and Hillary can't attract them, but Obama can.
We also had an organizer from Chicago who worked with Obama years ago. I can't recall the issue (they were trying to rush him - I wanted to hear his story). I recall something about needing a million dollars and 5 factories closing in conservative southern Illinois. And Obama snapped his fingers and raised the million. He asked Obama to go down to southern Illinois - and he did - and this guy's bigoted uncle in southern Illinois voted for Obama. Impressed the hell out of this guy.
One of the nurses at the jail last night says the kids grew up with integrated schools - via non-contentious busing and voluntary school choice - so they grew up with more diversity - and race is just a non-issue with them. Cool? One of the other nurses grew up in Virginia (he's 50 yrs old) - with a high school football team that blacks weren't allowed to join. He was there when it integrated (the Remember the Titans movie with Denzel Washington!)
I haven't done enough reading about the neocons and their influence on Democratic candidates' foreign policy advisors. But I'm going to this week. Here's why: "While President Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Richard Holbrooke and others can count the take-down of Slobodan Milosevic and the containment of Serbia as a victory today -- it nonetheless is increasingly being referred to by some Dems as "regime change done right".
This ethic is gaining real traction in Democratic circles -- and has a bunch of chairs at the foreign policy advisory tables of both Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton." We need to remember:"The neoconservative story is one that is very important to understand -- because America will relive it, and we need to know next time what strategies work to curtail the ideologically seductive bravado of militant utopians on either side of the aisle."
I'll start by following Steve Clemons' links here.
Weight-loss machine Clinton Rubin and colleagues at the State University of New York in Stony Brook claim to have made the extraordinary discovery that light vibrations can prevent and even reduce the formation of fat tissue.
"If they’re self-effacing, people find them unimpressive, but if they talk up their accomplishments, they come across as pushy braggarts." But it changes with the electorate's experience, I guess.
Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo notes that the state GOP stopped releasing its caucus results yesterday with only 87% reported and Huckabee and McCain separated by less than 2%. Then, it put out a press release declaring McCain the winner. McCain's supposed to be the party nominee now, but Kansas and Washington Republicans apparently didn't get the memo. This could only get worse when primary ballots are counted Feb. 19, because half the delegates will be chosen from those results.
Update 3 p.m. “The Huckabee campaign is deeply disturbed by the obvious irregularities in the Washington State Republican precinct caucuses. It is very unfortunate that the Washington State Party Chairman, Luke Esser, chose to call the race for John McCain after only 87 percent of the vote was counted. According to CNN, the difference between Senator McCain and Governor Huckabee is a mere 242 votes, out of more than 12,000 votes counted—with another 1500 or so votes, apparently, not counted. That is an outrage." From David Postman at the Seattle Times.
