T R U T H ! ! !

Fitz!

Fitz?

grass roots, my astro-brick.

encouraging OT, front page at DKos:

Greenwald’s book hits best seller list Hotlist
by kos

Awesome news: How Would a Patriot Act has hit the NY Times Best Sellers list in its first week of eligibility.

Not only does this validate the unorthodox marketing and publishing strategies employed by Glenn’s publisher, but it should help open the door for more blogger authors (I want Digby to write a book).

Y’all Know The Drill

maybe Capus has been replaced by George Romero . . .

Steve Capus, Pres. NBC News
212-664-3228
steve.capus@nbc.com

Rick Kaplan, Pres. MSNBC
Tel. 201-583-5050
Fax 201-583-5179
rick.kaplan@msnbc.com

Bill Wolff, VP Program.
201-583-5008
bill.wolff@msnbc.com

Jeremy Gaines, VP Comm.
Tel. 201-583-5000
Fax 201-583-5977
jeremy.gaines@msnbc.com

John Boxley
Programming Producer
Tel. 818-840-4763
Fax 818-840-4275
john.boxley@nbcuni.com

redd, they will never get it right. that’s not what they are there to do. they are there to lie, obfuscate, distort and silence.

ask yourself why not one major news source has covered what’s in that link. it’s hardly a ’small’ story, by any standards.

lol — just read through the bottom of the last thread that went up while I was working on this, and I see that a number of us caught the same thing at the same time. *g*

looking forward to hearing you as kosvegas, btw. there’s almost too many panels to go to; i hardly know what to choose.

OT, but his friends luv them some Jon Tester — you should too!

http://www.helenamontana.com/tester/

Perhaps MSNBC needs a few bricks sent their way . . . got a snail mail address, anyone?

(Or maybe just send them some Legos™, since they may not be ready for real building materials. . . )

So now Clusterfuck is the victim of a classic gooper PR blitz- complete with mythical characters. bull shit, and white girls? Is that what you are telling us here? So is Clusterfuck gonna fight back? This is funny as HELL!

Brickgirl- new gooper version of Betsy Ross?

“Donna” (I think it’s Donna Gregory %u2014 I’ve been waiting for twenty minutes now for them to flash her last name on the screen, to no avail”

Probably right with Gregory. There is one that works there…

http://www.gogomag.com/dg/

Colelcted my two copies of Glenn’s book yesterday. Gave one to friends. First comment from friend: ‘This guy’s mad!’

Now if we could just get the MSM and Congress to read and understand the book…

Better pic of Donna Gregory…

http://www.gogomag.com/cgi-bin…..&Donna

interesting comments by mark corralo (unca karl’s spokesgeek) about abu gonzales gross abuse of power for issuing supeonas for steroid investigation in baseball to SF chronicle reporters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06…..ref=slogin

Mary McCurnin at 108 of last thread —

Your story is so poignant and infuriating, I’m lost for words. In my a-churchy way, I will pray for you and yours. So much, so many kinds, of beauty lost. Ghastly.

Send bricks to MSNBC. Heavy ones. Lots of them. Let them know bricks.

Let’s make those cyber-bricks to MSNBC. The poor mail carriers didn’t do this.

So, when will she be invited to the White House?

After all, Amir Taheri, the Benadorian voodoo master who gave birth to the Iranian Badge Zombie was feted there earlier this week.

.

lotuslander(18)- thankyou!

This drive-by journalism just keeps on getting worse and worse What passes as news today is a 90 second gloss on very complex and disturbing issues, and then on to the next celebrity divorce/baby carseat/weight loss ga-ga. There are so many news items worthy of in-depth discussion and programming, only to be consigned to the Steppinoffalots, Pumpkinheads, and Tweeties- arghhhhhh.

better shot of Donna Gregory -

http://www.cyberjournalist.net/images/barbie.jpg

OT – RS & RFK

Raw Story just posted headline saying “RFK ’stolen’ election article up soon, Rolling Stone says…“

Looks like BradBlog was correct and gets full credit for breaking the story.

Christy:
“You know, facts, research, actual journalism instead of a fluff piece? Hellooooooo?!?”

“You know, fiction” – Colbert

-sofistic

can we send kristen one brick for each of the tens of thousands of active-duty “green card soldiers” who are willing to fight for this country?

Mary McC – while I’ve thought about how hard hit small businesses in general might be, I had not really thought through a situation like your brother’s. Prayers for you and yours.

cbl,

LOL Are you sure that isn’t Laurie Dhue? ; )

You know, this is the exact thing people like Carol Darr are trying to regulate blogs over. They bring up the Haliblog bugaboo—paid content on the internet that will fool people and promote political agendas.

Of course Kos, Atrios and others have repeatedly pointed out the problem not only exists in other forms of media, but that it’s worse because outlets like television are limited bandwidth and it’s harder to get opposing voices aired.

As Atrios always says, I guess we need another blogger ethics panel. Clearly the traditional corporate media is above reproach.

Mary McC (and anybody else who needs momentary respite from all this), check in on the pandas at
http://animal.discovery.com/cams/pandavidr.html

and

http://animal.discovery.com/cams/pandavidr2.html

as needed. They’re ALL that kept me sane as I watch(ed) what was happening to NOLA and the coast — and everything everywhere since.

It’s interesting to see how goopers are playing the immigration issue. Clusterfuck’s in trouble- goopers need to run away from him- Clusterfuck himself needs a political revival. What to do- here’s the ticket- Clusterfuck runs toward the middle on immigration which can’t hurt him and may benefit him- and the other goopers who actually have to run for re-election run toward the base and away from Clusterfuck. It’s a win/win scenario? Well so hopes Karl Rove.

Rove knows that in the future- the goopers need a big chunk of the Latino vote to survive- but Voila- waiting in the wings is Clusterfuck the Third- who has a Latino wife- so the future is secure for gooperdom.

Smack em now- we’ll invent a new party personality and embrace em later.

For Mary McCurnin at 108 prev. post: Your story is heartbreaking. I hope you will write again with updates. There’s no substitute for hearing from people who are directly experiencing the pitiful response our government is providing.

OMG Cozumel – I have a new muse . . .

plopped on your screen
for all to see
the cow patties
glistening with Dhue

Wonder if Jebidiah’s latino wife knows that she is the secret gooper weapon for the future of the party. If she makes noises about findin a saner man or something- she could end up with a big seat on tje gooper gravy train.

OfT

Well, WaPoO took another chat question from me, although I don’t really like Ms. Ifill’s unthoughtful answer and have told her so in a follow-up question unlikely to see the light of day:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..00878.html

I was getting ready for work this morning, and heard my local NBC station doing the brick story, only they mentioned someone entirely different from the Brick Bitch – someone named Chris Brown. I have a feeling that the BB is going to make him the front person now, as he looks more grassroots-y than someone who worked for Steve Forbes.

I checked the Send-a-Brick website, and here’s what I found about him:

Chris is a Senior political science major at the University of North Texas. He is involved in grassroots and party politics in many levels and has represented organizations across the country. He has appeared on TV, radio and print around the national calling for stronger borders. He works out of Washington D.C but lives in Fort Worth, Texas with his dog Tyson.
Chris helped found SAB because, “I feel our open borders and the effects of illegal immigration are destorying our country and I wanted to give the silent majority a way to make their voices heard.”

The misspelled “destroying” is his…teehee.

Am still trying to figure out how a senior at a college in Texas “works out of Washington, D.C.,” but lives in Texas.

Their website also says they plan to deliver bricks to the home offices of members of Congress.

Now I need to go shower off the ick I feel after visiting the dark side…blech.

I take that back, Gwen DID take my followup, good for her!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..00878.html

2008 may be the quicksand election. The “winner” will sink into the swamp left by the Clusterfuck group never to be heard from again!

What was that song – “Hit By A Brick?” Jethro Tull?

And then there’s George IV, rw, who’s half Mexican his own seff. Up right after his daddy, the Jebster (who speaks fluent Spanish and is at his best in a crisis, dammit).

HOWEVER: the name “Bush” gonna be political toxin for a loooong time after this-here one.

RW, yeah but I think the recent marches and demonstrations by ordinary everyday working-class Latinos who came out in vast numbers illustrates that they won’t be played. There is a lot of hatred being cultivated along the border to absofuckinglutely nobody’s benefit, and the interviews given by the Border Patrol and the CA National Guard yesterday indicate that W isn’t winning any support for his little “plan” in their camps. Once again, the only winner here is Halliburton, i.e., Deadeye.

Not entirely off topic:

A few posts back we were talking about the persistent non-factual assertion that keeps popping up in the media, that “nobody got killed at Abu Ghraib”. A retired Marine general was quoted in a WaPo article on the Haditha murders as saying this. It bugged me, because it ain’t true. We all saw the photo of the grinning female reservist kneeling next to the battered, bruised corpse of an Iraqi prisoner, preserved on ice and wrapped in plastic. So I emailed the reporter, Tom Hicks.

He emailed me back:

“He was speaking more or less metaphorically. When I mentioned “the Ice Man,” as the Abu Ghraib soldiers called that corpse, he said that wasn’t his point.”

Huh???

Bim.Bo.

mudkitty – on the odd chance you’re not being snarky…”Thick as a Brick”, and yes Jethro Tull.

can someone remind the media that ports are part of ‘the border’ and that the bush administration seems to have absolutely no problem with millions of ‘undocumented’ containers arriving from abroad…

What the goopers have been involved with in the last few years is pretty incredible. Yes- they have increased the deficits dramatically- but what hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves is- they’re eating the seed stock!

There were billions of dollars of future revenues layin out there in the form of untaxed capital gains- the wise are now cashing in and paying the 15% tax. That is creating a revenue spike NOW that will create a revenue drought in the future. When congress comes back to their senses and raises the capital gains rate again- there won’t be much left out there to tax- cause Clusterfuck ate it all.

Now the goopers are talkin about doin away with the inheritance tax- which flushes another future revenue stream down the toilet.

If you think of the US as a corporation- the goopers have been sent in to milk it till it dies and then put it out of it’s misery!

…although “Hit by a Brick” is infinitely funnier…

“Grassroots, hell!”

Amen, Christy. MSNBC isn’t smoking the roots of the grass, just the buds. “Virgina Green” I hear it’s called. (Don’t want none of that foreign weed . . .)

If the Dems retake the House I envision all sorts of hand-wringing in the CorpNews Media about sloppy reporting like this…Until such an occasion, these journobots will pimp gooper talking points 24/7.

How did the CorpNews Media get the rep for being liberal?

The Dems held the House for 40 years; the political tropism of the CNM seems clear.

pgw – that was priceless!

Chris;

May I make a suggestion?

You always hear about “Jeez, I just went to Google and in 30 seconds…” (I know – I’m one of those people, and I’m a fumblefingers besides when it comes to the keyboard.)

But let me recommend something. Please do a post where you show – in very simplistic terms and with lotsa graphics where possible/applicable – the exact process by which you found the abovementioned results.

Then you or others in the blogosphere can take said piece and spread it far and wide, showing just what MSM outlets like MSNBC and the New York Times are too lazy or willfully ignorant to do.

Done right, we could get said posting eventually into the MSM and possibly create a counter to the standard mindset of folks that rely on TV for their news and not the blogs.

As a bonus, you create, in effect, not just a posting, but a tutorial for people that want to learn how to best do searches in places like Google.

To digress a sec…I use my elderly parents as a yardstick for computer savvy in the general public, and right now my mother is at the point with searches where she was five years ago with computers in general – she has what she needs when it comes to stuff, but little in the way of self-confidence. If I sit with her for an hour and watch her do what she pretty much knows what and how to do, with mild corrections or recommendations to optimize the process, she gets the self-confidence she needs and the next thing I know, she’s off to the races.

Teach people how to fish for the truth, and…well, you know the rest.

um…Mrs. Jeb is from Colombia originally I believe. Jorge IV (also not serving in his country’s armed forces http://goarmy.com (like all his Bush cousins) ) is a native-born US citizen but his Mamacita was a Colombiana…

What is the provenance of these bricks? Is Karl Rove grunting them out as he waits for Fitz?

Enquiring minds want to know.

Jebidiah apparently plans to sit 08 out- as the nation recovers from “Bush fatigue”- but we haven’t heard the last from him.

Clusterfuck hopes to limp home with at least decent economic numbers in terms of GDP growth- of course he put it all on the card- but americans will never remember that. The next president will inherit the most godawful mess imaginable and will likely fail. At that point, we’ll have Jebidiah stepping to the plate offering more tax cuts- the “proven solution”- and here we go again in a race down the rabbit hole.

rwcole -
posted this link last night – it is illustrative of what I am finding in gooperland – ‘defeatist – GWB has abandoned us and others like us’ meme

go over to Schlafly’s Eagle Forum – they’ve all but declared war on the Chimp

isn’t this his 29-31% base ?

am getting the impression this defeatist stuff could be indicative that only us po’d lefties are gonna vote in November

http://www.redstate.com/story/2006/5/31/18511/0369

Hard to say who gets helped/hurt poltically by the Lou Dobbs inspired “brick” movement. If it ends up allowing goopers to hold congress- then I suppose they win- but it’s far from clear that they are gaining significant advantage from it.

Gee, *ilson, are you sure about that Colombiana? FLA media have generally said Mexicana . . .

I think we must, somehow, fund a progressive alliance to create a 24 hour news channel to counter the lies and misinformation on Fox, CNN and MSNBC.

If you think of the US as a corporation

… and that’s all the gopers think it is, no criticism of rw there intended.

doesn’t much matter where Mrs. Jeb is from – they lead ’separate lives’

and amen to pgw & PeterR

If true it is the ens, finally, check…

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

June 1st, down the page…

Hillary’s revenge…

Bush met his wife, Columba, while teaching English in Leon, Guanajato, Mexico. Columba was born in Leon.

Yep, cbl, it’s the only House of Bush-Latino connection that could prove problematic for us someday. Or not.

OT– Hans Blix speaking on WMDs on cspan1 live.

Paul Rockwell exposes a local example of what might be called soft swiftboating, of Ron Dellums, running for mayor of Oakland, by the Chronicle. They haven’t got any better since Charles Foster Kane bought them.

OT.

Bush from his SOTU speech in January 2004.

“America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country. (Applause.)”

Todays News:

Nouri Al Maliki seeks to set “ground rules” for US engagement.

Another Bush promise to his base shattered.

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0606/332663.html

-GSD

my wrong! Mrs. Jeb is indeed originally Mexicana http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columba_Bush

it’s her naughty daughter Noelle who is a Colombiaphile

Rolling Stone STILL mum. Not. Liking. This.

cbl–Interesting link- thanks. I’m not sure that “defeatist” is the right headline for it- I’m not sure there is an adequate headline for it- the comments are all over the place. Some of it could very well have come from this site- just replace DINO for RINO- and you have exactly the same sentiment.

I think that the gooper story is the most interesting right now. They are being forced to deal with failure- not at the polls yet- but in the dismal record of the gooper government- and it’s not a pretty picture. Can’t tell yet where it’s going- but the winds of war are blowing. Did you see Peggy Noonan’s op/ed that I linked earlier? She’s predicting a third party as the current goopers are too LIBERAL- she’s picked up on Nader’s “not a dime’s worth of difference” theme. Incredible.

palamedes 52,
I think that’s a great suggestion.
Then people could see, “What, you mean you just put this plus that into the little Google window and bada bing—you find out the CNN person was all wet?” ;)

Re Noelle: if I were a Bush (perish the thought), I’d self-medicate too.

Harry- that’s funny as hell- total bullshit I’m sure but funny as hell. Here a snippet from your link:

“1, 2006 — Rocky shoals for Bush marriage? Informed sources Inside the Beltway report that First Lady Laura Bush has established temporary residence in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC as a result of a tiff with President Bush over an extramarital relationship involving her husband. Mr. Bush’s tryst is said to involve Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It is not known how long Mrs. Bush plans to remain at the Mayflower, however, her security detail has been present at the hotel during hours when the First Lady would normally be residing in the White House. While she was National Security Adviser, Rice, who has never been married, referred to George W. Bush as “my husband” before she corrected herself and said, “the president.” Rice was speaking at a dinner when she made her “husband” remarks. “

Years ago, shackled humans were stolen from their homeland and shipped as miserable cargo to the promised land in order to build America and prosper. Indigenous people were hunted and their land stolen.

Now some would like to foster this racist xenophobia. Something needs to be done to foster legal and fair immigration, but something also needs to be done to help the hopelessly poor around the world– just a teeny amount of our huge DoD budget would help so much.

Whatever happened to:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

This story had me in tears:
>>>>>>>>>>

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – They left Africa on Christmas Eve seeking a better life in Europe. Instead, the migrants’ rusty boat drifted off course and carried them to their deaths as it crossed the Atlantic Ocean and wound up near the Caribbean islands of Barbados.

By the time a fisherman found the boat on April 30, the bodies of 11 young men were virtually mummified by the sun and salt spray. One had written a farewell note before dying.

“I would like to send to my family in Bassada (Senegal) a sum of money. Please excuse me and goodbye,” one of the victims wrote in a note tucked between bodies.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..dly_voyage

Astonishingly reprehensible.

Homeland security slashes defense budget for NYC, claims it has no iconic landmarks worth protecting.

Seriously.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thebl…..o_mon.html

I suppose those homeland security dollars are being treated like just more pork to be divvied up among all those vulnerable states like Montana and Wyoming…

Hmmmm, re Harry, think that’s why we got that ridiculous Clinton flashback from the NYT last week? Pathetic if true, both the Times and the triangle.

Al-Scooter 54 *g*

There is a fantastic series up now at Daily Howler about how the press screwed then, and continues to screw now, Al Gore. I believe it started a week or more ago, so keep on hitting previous ’til you get to the end.
I’m pretty bad at linking, but let’s see if this works:

http://www.dailyhowler.com/

“The $2.5 million book deal that Valerie Plame Wilson, the former Central Intelligence Agency officer whose identity was publicly disclosed three years ago, negotiated with Crown Publishing Group last month has fallen through.

“Ms. Wilson, who could not agree on terms with Crown, is now in exclusive negotiations with Simon & Schuster, which originally had lost an auction for the book to Crown. … “

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06…..r=homepage

You won’t believe her agent’s last name.

I mean, ’til you get to the beginning. More coffee needed.

xyz,

well what’s going to happen to Hugh ‘Ground Zero’ Hewitt now that Michael Jerkoff has decided the Empire State Bldg and other icons do not merit protection ?!!?!?

re xyz/no icons:

I’ve always suspected that New Yorkers ought to take the WTC attacks personally…

Wow! Remind me not to go erranding after posting!

In the great minds think alike–and what greater minds are there than Christy and Jane!–here’s my EPU’ed #99 from the last thread:

The Brick Bitch is on MSNBC right now touting the “thousands” of bricks they’ve sent already.

No question’s asked of who are the “we” as in “we were sitting around talking about what to do about immigration and border security.”

Interviewer ends with “We wish you success…always nice to see a grassroots group in action….”

Brickbats to MSNBC this morning for misleading hype and ignoring the obvious astroturf.

Salut, oh we of like minds! Now on to catch-up on you others’ comments.

Regarding the homeland security cut to the defense budget of New York – this is yet another example of how this administration has further endangered America since 9/11, making us much more vulnerable to terrorism than ever before.

Christy had a piece up a while back on the weaknesses of the Bush administration on homeland security. At the time, the impression I had was that this was something that she was planning to follow up on and perhaps invite some guest bloggers to write about. I had suggested the name Graham Allison, one of the world’s foremost experts on nuclear terrorism. I think now may be the time to revisit the subject.

Thanks very much. Here’s a link to a profile of Mr. Allison and an article on the Bush administrations failings on the issue of nuclear terrorism.

http://ksgfaculty.harvard.edu/Graham_Allison
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/…..error.html

TeddySanFran

Gwen Ifill comes across as really insipid in that talkline and her answers to your questions help show that. She describes herself as a reporter just reporting the facts. I have always found this to be disingenuous if not dishonest. Donna Gregory in the story above could claim the same. The question is what stories do reporters cover and which facts do they choose to use. A lot of bias and negligence can be hidden in those choices, as Gwen (and Donna) so ably demonstrate.

Here’s one for the Corporate Media file…

Later today, Rolling Stone is publishing an article by RFK Jr. about the theft of the election in Ohio. {See Brad Blog} We can all expect this to be soundly ignored by the Corp. Media. Any chance this can be a “Blog Storm” ?
From Brad Blog :
Pollster Lou Harris of the Harris Poll — described in the piece as “the father of modern day political polling” — says: “Ohio was as dirty an election as America has ever seen.”

I mean a full blown assault on e-mail boxs everywhere. Otherwise this thing will be buried as good as Jimmy Hoffa.

Teddy San Fran,

Good questions, really lousy answers from Ifill. I’m going to go out on a limb here and posit that Gwen Ifill is a right wing hack pretending not to be a right wing hack.
She walks and quacks like a duck.
Others presented the same/similar question and got the same non answer. With fellow wingers in the minority, she answers questions as if she were swatting flies. What an abrasive “real” reporter. Good that everyone can answer their own questions and form their own opinions, cuz you ain’t gonna get squat from her. I found my experience at the Ifill to be just awful. Good to get important questions like yours out in the right hand side of the blogoshere. Some of the questions from the righties were cute, weren’t they? Don’t count poor John McCain out, yet.

That’s a humdinger of a pre-9/11 mindset that DHS is exhibiting, Mr. Chertoff– have you forgotten?

There’s a few nucular plants in NY, oh never mind.

OT, from last thread….

but I’ve always found the fact that “From a Distance” was considered “the anthem of the Gulf War”, when its a decidedly anti-war song, which includes the lyric

From a distance, you look like my friend
Even though we are at war
From a distance, I just cannot comprehend
What all this fighting is for

now, if you actually read the whole lyric to the song, the song might actually be “pro-war” … “Distance” distorts the reality, (e.g. “From a distance there are no hungry mouths to feed, and no one is in need.”) But its difficult to believe that America adopted this singularly cynical worldview, especially given the lines “God is watching us, God is watching us, God is watching us from a distance”–no way that America would adopt as its war anthem a song with such a cynical view of God….

Re: TeddySanFran and Gwen Ifill

I participate in quite a few of the WaPo chats. Ifill and Dana Milbank are the most worthless hosts. Both of them think that their cryptic little “who knows?” responses are cute. Ifill’s cold psuedo-detachment is what passes for professionalism in today’s market. And Milbank’s tired act is what passes for edgy. Gwen took my question on Iran today, but chose not to understand the question, offered a glib response, and did not take the follow-up. Too busy telling people to download podcasts of Washington Week. Oh well, we try.

If you’re in DC, VA, or MD, come on down to Lafayette Park on Sat. afternoon or evening to participate in a peace vigil. prop1.org
peace,
jim

I’m a Democratic voter and DO NOT agree with an “amnesty-like” law for illegal immigrants. What I’ll be watching for in the 2006 / 2008 elections: 1) serious border control and 2) enforcement of existing laws against employers who hire illegal immigrants.

The bigger issue here isn’t whose idea it was to send bricks to DC; it’s communicating to these lawmakers that MANY of us don’t agree with the bill that left the Senate last week!!

Sorry, but not every Dem voter is wanting to completely override law and welcome illegal immigrants to US citizenship for $2,000 (over 8 years) just because they’re already here.

Whatever happened to the Dem party being for American labor and unions? Seems those days are long gone…

By recognizing the harmful effects of illegal immigration on low-skilled citizens and by supporting legislation to prohibit untrammeled immigration, Democrats would boost the economic prospects of their core constituencies while driving a wedge into the Republican base. Democrats could even oppose illegal immigration while welcoming legal immigration, especially of the high-skilled variety. Immigration presents Democrats with an unusual opportunity to shake up the coalitions that have guided the political parties for a generation, while proving to the struggling middle and working classes that the Democratic Party is serious about reclaiming its historic role as their champion. The overclass might frown, but I would bet that millions and millions of American workers would reward the Democratic Party with their electoral gratitude. – Brad Carson, former Democratic congressman.

As Glenn mentions on his site, he’ll be here discussing his book on Sunday at 2pm PDT/5pm EDT. Hope everyone who’s gotten their books can make it, this is a big victory.

On the subject of WaPo chats, Peter Beinart has a “Bush ain’t no Truman” Op-Ed in todays Post and will be taking comments on it at 2PM EST (soon).

peace,
jim

xyz

Well, at least, they’re consistent. They don’t defend the ports, don’t defend the cities, don’t catch Osama or defeat the Taliban, and don’t secure nuclear materials.

“Gwen Ifill comes across as really insipid in that talkline and her answers to your questions help show that.”
I agree, but what really separates Gwen in a positive way from a lot of other WaPo reporters on these chats is that she published TeddySanFran’s follow-up. John Harris, Jim VandeHei, Howie Kurtz, Cillizia sp and so many others, ruthlessly weed out the “progressive” questions and comments, and only respond to the wingnuts. Relatively speaking I think Gwen is better than most.
OT, Tom Edsall yesterday praised the blogs, which of course really takes guts with Brady, Woodward, Hiatt, and Harris looking over his shoulder.
With that said, Gwen is no Froomkin.

jim preston # 88: Gwen took my question on Iran today, but chose not to understand the question, offered a glib response

This is how they show that they “get it” wrt the blogosphere. And of course it just happens to show they don’t get it LOL!

xyz re: fatherland security funds cut

A bunch of the NY money is going to Florida and another red(dish) state or two that the thugs worry may tip blue. They know NY is a lost cause to them, politically. They are shoring up the levees that are important to them.

PBS is deliberately non-sensational in it’s tone- always has been as far as I can remember. Gwenn is a perfect example of the flat coverage tone preferred by PBS.

Plano tex – agree 100%.

This treating homeland security funding as election year pork distribution, and, to reiterate, it is absolutely morally reprehensible.

OT – Via kos: Third senate candidate drops out, endorses Tester.

(Front page link because he’s also got a Busby update.)

So C,

What do you suggest we do with the 10-12 million illegal immigrants in this country? Send them to camps where we can make soap out of them?

Do you really want to know what you can do with that number of people? Not much. They’re here, they’re not going away, and we are going to do exactly nothing about it. And do you know why? Because we need them as much as they need us. Whenever anybody mentions immigration reform in an election year hold on to your wallet and step away because you’re about to receive a load.

new thread. Ohio smells funny….

At atrios:

“Lamont: I think that those who got 132,000 troops stuck in the middle of a bloody civil war should be held accountable. I think those that approved “Heckuva Job Brownie” for FEMA in 42 minutes should be held accountable. I think that those believe that the federal government should intervene in the Terri Schiavo case should be held accountable. That’s the last place I want the federal government going, into my hospital room and into my bedroom. I think those who supported Alberto ‘The Geneva Convention is Quaint’ Gonzales should be held accountable.”

JWR–Interesting. Morrison actually is perfoming best in the polls. Don’t know much about the race though.

rwcole – From the way Richards position is described, it seems as though he’s thinking ahead. Maybe more dirt coming out on Morrison in the near future? We shall see.

Complaint to MSNBC dutifully sent. Also added a complaint about continuous, self-promoting Katy Couric coverage. Sheesh!

I have sent more money to out-of-town and in-town Demo challengers and written more letters to editors than every before in my life (Im 60). But I think we are making history here, and I want to be counted in that number when the saints of the future come marching in the history books.

I’m anxiously awaiting RFK’s expose with delight.

Meh… she sounds like a blogtivist from the right, posting on jerseygop and freerepublic. I suspect a similar effort on Kos would net a lot more than 10,000

Though I must say it hardly sounds like a massive conspiracy by the SCLM, or by the GOP, to cover up her leanings. I think describing her as someone “who has been active in political campaigns and public affairs%u2026″ sounds like a nice way of saying internet wingnut.

Margot@71;

Transparency is a great disinfectant.

So is enlightenment. ;-)

Tom in Texas at 107 — oh yeah, but for that stint as an employee of the Forbes campaign for the Presidency and all…did you read the whole of the Attytood posting? There’s more than just a coupla internet posts.

Christy;
Yes, I did read Will’s post (I commented on that thread as well). A question though: Do you seriously think that none of the posters at KoS worked on, say, Dean’s presidential campaign? That no one on MyDD worked for a nonprofit? These people are the most passionate and dedicated of the political blogosphere. Those on both sides have dedicated their time in real life to the causes they spout online about so frequently — of that I have no doubt.

Hugh – you say: What do you suggest we do with the 10-12 million illegal immigrants in this country? Send them to camps where we can make soap out of them?

Sure, that’s exactly what I proposed. Nothing like going to the sarcastic extreme and try to define anyone who you disagree with as a Nazi.

I pray we can win some elections in the next two years, but No Wonder the Democratic Party can’t get its shit together!

C:
I understand your frustration, but I don’t think anyone is for illegal immigration. I think that the only truly effective way to stop people from seeking a better life here is to make life in their own country much better — immigration from Ireland and Italy has slowed as these countries’ economies progressed, no? For this reason, I have actually had to reverse my own position on NAFTA. I now believe that a form of NAFTA that guarantees a living wage in the country affected and worker’s rights is the only way to slow immigration here. While NAFTA definitely has a bad effect on the American worker as their jobs are sent over a border, If we do not help people in Mexico find decent, well paid, and well regulated jobs, they will move here and take someone else’s job anyway.

Jim Preston 89:

You are so right. Gwen Ifill is just a disaster as a “reporter”, and Dana Milbank’s snarky answers are funny for about 8 seconds before I get really pissed off that serious questions are being dismissed summarily.

How is it conceivable that the GOP can seriously mount an anti-illegal immigration policy. I understand that they are fine with endless lies to manipulate their logic-impaired base, but does anyone here imagine that they can actually live with destroying illegal immigration? After all, illegal immigration is the method by which we globalize that part of our manufacturing and service economy that we can’t ship overseas. That is, the Chinese and Indonesians and Indians make the shirts and field the tech calls, but we can’t get houses shipped over here from China, and we can’t really process all the chicken way over there. Therefore, we globalize by bringing the global labor pool here, with illegals working for far less (tho not Chinese rates, admittedly). Surely the GOP as well as a majority of Democrats still stand on the economic phenomenon of globalization? Any comments?

FYI: Dallas’ local NBC affiliate ran the “send-a-brick” story last night, but we had our own hometown guy who was mailing them. I’d read that this was an astroturf organization, but I couldn’t find a solid expose to email to Channel 5. I will send them this post tonight.

ALL of the GOP’s “grassroots” programs are actually astroturfing and sock puppeteering. When they get around to trying to drum up a real grassroots initiative, you get stuff like MyGOP, which was an attempt to tap into online fundraising. It was a complete bust. Nobody raised more than 500 bucks.

The whole sordid story here.

This is exactly what you’d expect from a Miltary/entertainment complex under siege.
The credibilty gap just keeps spreading as these rats go down with the ship.
So far as globalization goes i think it is a revolution half made and that is tragic. Agriculture protection means the poorest half of humanity is suffering and dying. They will keep suffering and dying until ‘ Free trade’ also becomes ‘ Fair trade.’
Nafta should include the entire hemisphere imho and include a common currency, passportless travel and a smaller but smarter military.
That is the challenge for all progressive democratic socialists. To get out there and sell that.