Fitzarootsie?

Christy,

Thanks for the two parter yesterday.
Always feel better after reading your analysis.
Have you considered a book on the CIA Leak Case? LIEfest: How the Bush Administration
Nearly Poisoned America…
It has a happy ending…

The Bay State Librul

Thanks, Jack — it was a good read through the judge’s opinion. It’s always nice to see a high profile case get treated like every other case on the docket. :)

http://www.courant.com/news/lo.....lines-home

I hope I did this link from the Hartford Courant correctly. Maybe some new about Lieberman’s desperation will help lift your spirits.

Reed is a former military officer (like Graham) and may be a West Point graduate (not certain about this). Seems apparent they will talk about the alleged war crimes, military justice, culture. He is quite good on the destructive effect the war is having on the military.

dmh — well, that makes more sense. That could be a good discussion — thanks for the insight. I knew there was something else about Reed that I was missing, and that would make sense to book him with Lindsey Graham on that subject.

frith (fred!)

What’s giving me hope? Sounds corny, but sites like FDL. There’s a real conversation going on now, not only by FDLers and Kossacks and Atriots, but by folks who normally don’t talk or even think much about politics but are now freely laughing at and joking about this malAdministration. Thanks for starting the conversation. I feel a real turn in the air. (oh, and thanks for the topnotch Scootergate analysis — I feel like I now have BA in Plame-ology.)

From a long-time lurker…

Yeah. It seems the Judge has taken a balanced and practical approach to the case.
I’ve been a four month lurker…
I can’t believe how I was shaped by the MSMers like the NY Times, WAPO, and Boston Globule…
The FDL rocks… and I’m addicted…
It seems like a family…
Great job…

Looking at that list, it looks like a cable news network’s dream come true: Where are all the white women?

Nothing against white men in suits and all - been known to doff one myself from time to time - but itsn’t there more to political discourse in this nation than old white guys?

The only woman on the list is Condi, and she’s got to run around to three of the five shows. Of course, she’s got to give the party line, whether or not that’s the same as her private thoughts . . . Does anyone even try to get a slightly different perspective on these shows?

OT - Mary had a great write up of the orders issued in the Michigan spying case that is worth digging up and giving some more prominence to. Part II of “That Has To . . . ” @ 90.

Morning Passing Shot — glad you dropped out of lurk mode. :) It’s true about the political conversation becoming more widespread — I’m hearing so much more discontent among Republican/conservative friends toward this Administration than I ever have. And a lot more jokes about the Shrub than I’ve ever heard, even from former supporters. Hmmmmm…

FDL in particular is inspiring me of late.

I just finished France’s Moore Lappe’s book Democracy’s Edge:Choosing to Save Our Country by Brnging Democracy to Life.

The book is about problems and actual people,regular folks like you an me who have come up with solutions on their own.

A school in the poorest part of SE Ohio who left No Child Left Behind in the dust.

Job training programs for the poor that actually work.

Urban gardens and greenhouses that not only feed people and give them meaningful work,but also cure urban blight by cleaning up empty lots and using abandoned buildings.

Prison rehabilitation programs that reduce recidivism rates dramatically.

Farmers keeping their family farms(we in the USA lose 15,000 of these a year),and doing things in new ways,not agribusiness ways.They turn a profit and help keep our food supply localized,out of the control of corporations.

With corporate media being the rule rather than the exception,there are stories of people taking back their local media,a little at a time.

The book is well researched and thought out.Every problem has a solution,usually several.

Lappe’ calls it Living Democracy,and says our real security comes from working together,solving problems,and overcoming our fear of each other.When people are directly involved in their own communities,by extension they just naturally want to protect their investment.When fewer people are excluded from that process,we all benefit.Less crime,less poverty,better education,and feeling secure with our neighbors.

It’s an amazing book,along with it’s companion piece Hope’s Edge(which looks at similar citizen created programs-mostly surrounding food-around the world).

Democracy isn’t something we have,it’s something we DO.It’s not just voting and elections,and the process is never,ever done.It’s a constantly moving,living thing.We’ve come to accept the notion that we don’t have individual power,or that we are somehow separate from Democracy.Nothing could be a bigger lie.

I’m someone with a rather checkered past I’m afraid.For that reason,I would be a political liability were I to run for office or become a political”mover and shaker”.But Living Democracy type projects are something I can do,and maybe even have a larger effect in some ways than if I were to delve deep into politics.

That kind of stuff makes me feel powerful,and that,in this day and age,is something.In the end,the only way to stop feeling helpless is to help.

Angry Broad at 13 — now that sounds like a book I need to check out. Thanks for the recommendation. :)

Christy - HuffingtonPost has the old link (firedoglake.blogspot.com)
to FDL under the Full Blogroll drop down.

Needless to say, but I couldn’t get here from there without the intervening Blogger link!

Thanks, ding — we’ll let someone know. Appreciate the heads up!

Reed and Hayseed, I’ll go with immigration, considering it’s Faux news, but the SCOTUS suppression of whistleblowers would be a better story.

Christy, this quote: “When I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it: always.” is from Mahatma Gandhi and carries me over lots of rough spots.
Thanks for all you do for us.
ralphinlex

My mother is Lithuanian. She used to tell us: “Life is a bowl of shit. Hang onto the rim - don’t fall in.”

My Mother. What a positive influence she was!

Christy, hang on to that rim. You’ll feel better after your trip.

Bush: Done, ruined and fucked

I heard about the $2,500 payment to the Haditha victims on NPR early Friday morn…
I couldn’t get it out of my head… how low
the value. All life is precious… An Iraqi
human being is the same as us….
It made me sad. How really wasteful and stupid this war really is…

The Bay State Librul

Good morning, all. Please forgive me for OT’ing back to the boffo politics-in-pop-culture thread. About to post the following there, I looked up and saw it’d be EPU’d . . .

Hmm, what’s left to add? Don’t recall anyone’s mentioning Wertmuller’s “Swept Away” in the movie division … not much on the funnies yet, either, so lemme throw in Doonesbury; Calvin & Hobbes; The Far Side; my current fave, Rudy Park; and greatest of all, the immortal Pogo (especially the late, mid-60s stuff featuring Jedgar as a bulldog, LBJ as a steer, etc.).

Lawdamussy, Walt Kelly cut loose on the Chimpians would like-to-kill us all a-laughin’!

Come to think of it, maybe that’s the nutshell of why I love FDL so much: Walt Kelly himself would fit right in here.

No higher praise possible from this quarter.

Check out Unity08.com. I just saw it on C-span. They say:
“Unity08 is a group of citizens deeply concerned that the wheels have come off our political system, that the American Dream is slipping away and that time is short to get things back on track.”
It’s the first glimmer of hope I have had for this country since 2000. I have signed up and given a donation. They are older wise men completely focussed on the power of the internet.
Check them out.

Harman at Smith 2006
Since Jane Harman, Smith ‘66, is getting a lot of press, mostly negative from Left Blogostan, I thought I would post this, from her commencement address at Smith College (Reddhedd’s Alma Mater, I believe) this year.

Christy,
What gives me hope……Al Gore, FDL, Russ Feingold and Fitz!

But really it is FDL and the group of like minded souls that has wandered through the abyss and found a wonderful home here. You and Jane have made me laugh, cry and want to throw my computer at the wall. So inspiring!

Another beacon of hope is Markos, Jerome and whoever Pach turns out to be.

I look forward to seeing and hearing your points of view. Any more CSPAN appearances in the works?

Once again…..THANKS. I am spreading the word. FDL the new fourth estate.

Also, let me add that her daughter made a good college choice also. :-)
I am from a long line of East Coast Liberal Elite. :-)

Angry broad at 13….

Now THAT gives me hope!

“Democracy is not something that IS, It IS something you DO.”

Christy,I hope you do read it,I wish more progressives with connections to the power structure would.

I know that for me,I feel very,well,unembraced I guess(for lack of a better word)by politics.The forays I’ve made into politics have left me rather cold.I always end up being a Den Mother rather than being at the table with the people doing the “important stuff”.Support people are important,after all people gotta be fed,transportation issues pop up,phone calls need to be made and so on.I don’t mind doing it either.But I do mind when my voice doesn’t matter or no one is interested in my input.Why should I work my hiney off for someone who won’t hear my voice too?

Living Democracy projects give someone like me their power back.I like that.Now the decision is what to choose from all these new possibilities.It’s like being able to breathe after coming out of a smoke filled room.

Not to blogwhore or anything,but in the coming weeks I’m going to be looking at some of these projects in the book in depth and blogging about them.I may even try my hand at interviewing some of the people running these programs if I can find out their contact info.

Mary Alice at 22 — Atrios had a post about the Unity08 folks that might interest you:

http://atrios.blogspot.com/200.....7877253343

I have to say, they don’t make me all that hopeful.

Al Gore for President again!!! What an articulate and intelligent man– I’ve forgotten what it was like to have those qualities in the WH.

its long past time to out Miss Lindsay Graham.

Yep, they look like mallards to me when i bring the photo into photoshop and adjust the levels.

DJ DrZ — thanks for posting the Harmon address. I know that progressives generally give her a hard time for her centrist positions, but as a fellow Smithie, I’ve always had a soft spot for her. Especially given her extensive knowledge on intel matters — it’s knowledge that is essential at this point in our history. I don’t know what is best in terms of representation in her district — and I absolutely believe in holding elected representatives to their districts as well as their own internal values — but I have to say that I like her. I’ve said that before here, but after reading through her speech, I just felt the need to say it again. Thanks for posting the link.

yes, mallard hens

Passing Shot (8), Jack Walsh (9) — welcome to the family! Grab a cup ‘o joe or whatever you dring, kick off your shoes, have a seat and put your feet up on the coffee table.

Angry Old Broad (13) — wow, I need to order that book pronto, it might help with an idea for a local open source think tank on economic development. Thanks!

And now on the subject of hope…what gave me hope, besides FDL, is Gore’s speech at Constitution Hall in January this year, and the indictment of Scooter Libby last fall. And now, YearlyKos — even if I can’t be there. It means the “fever swamp” gained enough self-awareness to make itself manifest and take concrete physical action, apart from its action for political candidates and issues.

Weird, I just lost a huge comment. Anybody else had issues this morning?

One more time…and I don’t have all of my comment recovered…

Passing Shot (8), Jack Walsh (9) — welcome to the family! Grab a cup ‘o joe or whatever you dring, kick off your shoes, have a seat and put your feet up on the coffee table.

Angry Old Broad (13) — wow, I need to order that book pronto, it might help with an idea for a local open source think tank on economic development. Thanks!

Nuts, that’s twice I’ve lost a comment! Okay, obviously the cosmos says I need to do something else right now.

What gives me hope? The fact that there are people like you and all the other wonderful bloggers/writers who believe in what you’re doing and do it so well. The fact that I can sit at my computer in red-state central and feel like I’m part of a community of progressive people. The fact that you can inspire a mom in Tennessee to donate a few dollars to candidates in Connecticut and California…you have some real power! Thanks for all you do!

Barack Obama was at an Ohio Democratic Fundraiser in Columbus, Ohio yesterday. I didn’t attend, but a lot of Ohio bloggers did. If you check out the Lefty Blogs Ohio page, reports from the evening are starting to show up

http://www.leftyblogs.com/ohio/

Good Morning Firebirds ,

went to bed last night rather hopeful about Kos & Jerome getting an hour with Russert - yeah I know it was CNBC and Saturday night, but if I’d told you about it six months ago, you’d have laughed me off this board -

tried to find an endorsement either way in the San Diego paper - couldn’t find one - guess we’ll have to wait for the left coasters to wake up

speaking of cage liners - that Mehlman add-a-pearl AP article is appearing as “news” - jeebus

Buck up, Christy, something’s coming and it is good. It is big, and it is transformational. There is electicity in the air, the likes of which I have not seen in decades. In the meantime, read the lyrics from West Side Story.. “something’s coming”

http://www.westsidestory.com/s.....thing.html

-sofistic

Re: The Canadian Terror bust. . .

Today, Canada rolled up an alleged terrorist ring. The AP reports the
arrests came from information gleaned from the arrests by the FBI of two
suspects in Georgia.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....anad%u2026

“Canadian reports said the raids were the consequence of the arrests by the
FBI of two Georgia men in April. At the time, the FBI announced the two men
had met with others in Toronto to plan attacks.”

Press reports of the Georgia arrests claim they were the result of
court-approved surveillance:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04.....index.html

“Court documents reveal the investigation included court-authorized
wiretapping, recounting a conversation between Ahmed and Sadequee’s sister.”

Tell me again why we need illegal wiretaps?

By the same token, that wording “included court-authorized wiretapping”
sounds fishy. What else led to those arrests? Were the wiretaps sought
based on illegal information which then led the government to seek court
approved surveillance? I imagine that will be litigated or looked into by
defense counsel. Does anyone know more about this case?

Re: Hope - Roots Project gives me hope. More to the point, the people in it give me hope.

I have really come to enjoy the bird pictures used at the top of the Sunday talking head threads. I never understood people who would go out of their way to observe birds (”birders”) until recently. Still wouldn’t go in for it myself, but being able to identify birds and understand their behavior is useful in my work, and they are fascinating.

Will do Rayne…
Off topic… had an idea for a novel…
Someone finds “one time wonder” Harper Lee’s
second novel… M for Mockingbird…
Hey, it’s a rainy day in the Boston area
Someone probably has thought of it…

H for Hope,
Jack

I am so sick of seeing Biden’s face on these shows. Is he the only Democrat allowed?

It encourages me that now even those well to our right are saying things like this (Andrew Sullivan in this morning’s Murdoch-owned Times of London):

The horrors really are your America, Mr Bush

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/a....._1,00.html

Yes he’s the only Democrat allowed.

Can’t put Russ Feingold on cause that would mean the end of the world as we know it.

I’ve been reading this site for a while. A firend of mine has a blog with political/new satire that linked to Crooks and Liars and from there I got here.

It gives me hope that there are other people of similar mind to me. That I’m not necessarily alone in my thoughts. I’m probably a bit to the right of many here, but I think I consider myself to be a ‘centerist’, or middle of the road. Some things, I’m conservative on and others somewhat liberal.

It’s hard for me to keep up with all the discussions going on, so I haven’t posted much. I don’t talk a whole lot of politics at work because, 1) I work in cubeland, 2) there’s not a whole lot of time to socialize. I am fortunate that my Friday night group is fairly like minded and we can talk there.

My mother has been raising my spirits. Found out this week that here test for bone cancer was negative; I’d already resigned myself to the other outcome, so all is well - even better than well - here.

She’s a great indicator of Republican thought also. She announced at Easter dinner that she is no longer considers herself to be a Republican. She is now, at age 74, an Independent. As a decent and moral person, she can no longer support the R party. (gee I wonder where she’s been getting her information, heh). I’ve been telling her for a long time that is she could just let go of the idea, which she and so many Repub’s cling to like life itself, that the admin is composed of people who are basically good at heart, but poor in execution, she’d see the light. And here in central, rural, god-it’s-depressing-sometimes Indiana, the light’s coming on.

There’s a local radio station here - it’s country music. This county is absolutely and utterly Republican. But - the other day I heard the Guy on the Radio mentioning the latest Bush-disaster and saying, “but that just brings one question” (and I thought here we go) “what has this adminsistration done right?”
I almost fell over.

Hi, Parachutec:

In response to (41), it seems abundantly clear to me that we’re not dealing with the A Team of terrorism this time. Ordering three tonnes of ammonium nitrate since OK City guarantees that you will be completing the sale with the involvement of someone in law enforecement, even if the purchanse is legitimate.

The articles in the papers back home made me laugh ’cause I could see these guys asking for C-4 and German 88s in good working condition at the army surplus stores.

The Creature From the Blog Lagoon is a fine one to talk about “the powers of denial.” His entire pathetic existence is based on denial.

Ahh, Biden.. There are times I want to throw a brick at the teevee and knock those perlies right down his throat. He turns that smile on and off like a light switch, whether or not the smile is relevant to the subject at hand.
-sofistic

Kudos on your grand news, jayt!

My family is a constant source of joy for me, too.

Just want to add one more sign of hope to the others: we’re not all as disenfranchised as I thought–we can make a difference, vide, the Ned Lamont story. Hopefully Francine Busby next.

David at 47 — oh man, you made me spew my coffee with that one. It would be the end of the world as we know it for the Sunday pundit set, wouldn’t it?

jayt @49, next thing you know, your radio station will start playing the Dixie Chicks again …

Funny, I haven’t seen the chixy dicks going after the Dixie Chicks lately. They even made number one on the country charts last week. Humm, change in the air….?
-sofistic

welcome to the lurkers!! we love you. . .

oh Pachacutec, ya beat me by 15 seconds -
Welcome Lurkers and recently de-lurked - I remind those who still might be feeling shy or even intimidated about the level of commentary here - many of the commenters you now nod your head to and enjoy once thought they couldn’t chime in either- so come on in

jayt - happy happy for you and your family !

jayt- My mother, a life-long republican from Ohio,also has declared she’s an independent now.

Sofistic- That’s why he’s the only one who gets asked to apprear on those shows.

Hope is the thing with feathers, ED once said, and I have certainly noticed that attending to the natural world,–swans like yours here, or fat sleepy baby geese and even the stray crawdad that found his way into my little ornamental pond—these things give me hope. The only thing I don’t agree with is her line that hope”never asked a crumb of me”, because I think hope demands a tremendous amount from the hope-er. It takes great courage to hope.

I have periods where I feel, what is the point of paying attention to all of this when I can change so little? I was against the Iraq war and Bush before I knew much about them, so why bother being more informed when all it makes no difference to the world and makes me so much more unhappy?

Here’s what I’ve come up with, besides the feathers, such as it is. In the course of my becoming more aware and responsive I have written letters to the editor, etc, and they are usually well received, but I see little respose. BUT I also come across cases, that I wouldn’t have known about without the blogs, and that my own professional niche makes me a powerful advocate for.

Case in point, a pediatrician in oregon who was discovered to have stashes of videotape of him performing genital exams on children, he happens to be the son of an important appelate judge, and was getting almost no sentence. I wrote a letter to the editor of the oregon paper, the judge & the DA, I said that the good dr did not actually possess child pornography (for which their was a maximum year sentence), he possessed illegally obtained medical information and should be charged accordingly. On the day of his sentencing I got a call from the newspaper who said that my letter had been attached to the DA’s complaint. Two months later I got a call from one of the victims mother’s who thanked me for standing up for them and wanted a referral for her traumatized daughter.

So, I can do SOME things with visible success, and the key is for me to figure out which ones those are, and to do enough of them to stay sufficiently hopeful to work on those things with INvisible success. Things which take time and large numbers to change.

Maybe you should go read ED’s poem and think about how your own spirit always notices the feathered world around you, drawing their hope. We had a nest destroyed last year by racoons in the night and I was heartbroken. A friend wrote me the prescient words “Nature does not mourn her loss”,

i think she leaves it up to us to do that.

Christy -

Hope:
Judge Walton and Patrick Fitzgerald - two people doing the right thing; two people *with power* doing the right thing.

JFK Jr. - Using his high profile to get the word out that our voting system has become corrupted (and is fixable.) Brad Friedman and Bev Harris for keeping on this story when everyone else in the MSM ignored or laughed at it. Rep Conyers for having investigated, irregardless of his chances of effecting any changes from within Congress.

Glen Greewald for bringing grassroots progressive politics to the bestseller list.

Ned Lamont for launching a well-aimed shot at a political Goliath.

Christy and Jane for - among *many* other things - putting Plamegate under a microscope and making this a much bigger story than anyone else would have.

Jon Stewart and Keith Olberman for striking back at the right wing Media Machine.

The majority of American people for, however slowly, having come to realize that their emporer not only is naked, but has been pissing for years all over the national landscape.

We are still in terrible times, the worst I’ve seen in a lifetime which encompasses the eras of Vietnam, Watergate and Ronald “Chance” Reagan. Two years ago I thought we were at a tipping point. I no longer feel that way. The US has drifted distressingly close to total abandonment of everything our bill of rights and constitution stand for. But I see the pendulum swinging back. What I watch for now is how far and how fast will it swing.

Shrink in SF at 61 — that was lovely, and a balm for my mood this morning. Thank you. And thanks to everyone else — some days, just joining in the discussion here with some many caring, thoughtful people is a huge boost on a daily basis. And I just can’t say enough how lucky we at FDL are to have the fantastic people who comment and read here. So thanks to all of you — for all you do for us, every single day.

And Jayt, fantastic news. Give your mom a hug from me.

Looking for signs…
Go to Drudge, and scroll down the page, take a good look at the chimp with the snatch, a lot happier than with the first…

btw, Gore is incredibly thoughtful and articulate on This Week this morning. It’s so nice to see the unfettered Gore of this morning and of the Constitution Hall speech earlier in the year. Citizen patriot, indeed.

Well . . . I have never been politically active but the past year I have been emailing my Senators and House Rep non-stop. Have only gotten a phone call from Dick Durbin’s office which I appreciated and only a canned email from Obama. I was so pissed about their lax attitude on the NSA and my point to them has been that it is only the tip of an iceberg of what this Bush Admin is doing — and is a huge symptom of the problem of a free for all for Bush and his ilk.

Of course, I got the same crap of the need to balance our rights with National Security in which I responded that 10x the number of people died from firearms in 2002 than died in 9/11 and I don’t see a rally to get rid of the right to bear arms.

I realize that it was not only the people and their families that were devastated but also a huge economic cost on 9/11. But imagine all the people that people died of firearms since 9/11 and what that does to the families of the people slain and the economic cost to the public.

But damn — this is not an issue on FOX to have the 4th amendment ripped out of the Constitution. The frickin’ Mexican border is the issue now and the Democrats followed the frickin’ ball that the Karl Rove tossed in the other direciton to take away our sights off Iraq and NSA. And the whores of the MSM went along with it.

Like Bill Murray said in Stripes. “There is something wrong with us . . . something seriously wrong with us.”

I’m a balm in SF! I’m so pleased to be balmy. Now off to watch MR Gore and then off to see An Inconvenient truth surrounded by the minds of the 9th most liberal city in the nation. smile. That should be some osmosis hope, too.

after thought, that wasn’t being flip, i really am touched to give something back to a writer who has given me so much.

Percy at 61:
But I see the pendulum swinging back. What I watch for now is how far and how fast will it swing.

Switching into sociologist mode:
Most (not all) social movements start with a low-level mood shift among members of a society, then the pressure builds, then a critical point is reached and “tip-over” happens very rapidly, often in a matter of days or weeks; rarely more than a couple of years.
In the US, since we have a “clocked” system in politics (office terms), rather than something like a parlimentary system, the transition takes place leading up to the clock-timing-pulse.
Sociologist mode off:
-sofistic

Here’s something about which I feel good - but it could be better - young people like Matt O.

Matt is great - bright, awake and dedicated; I just wish there were more like him. Where are the young people? The first thing I ever wrote to a paper was a loooong rant asking why more people weren’t more upset and what had happened to the spirit, at least of the sixties.

For the biggest part, I think, it’s still the warriors of that era who have again suited up to rage against the machine.

Without any imminent threat of a draft, how does one engage the young?

Is it just me or is anybody else having trouble refreshing the comments this morning? The RefCom button’ll work a time or three then go dead for long minutes; eventually I back up to FDL home, refresh there, click on this thread, scroll down, start over, find a whole bunch of new comments . . . and repeat. Teedjus it be, but only here?

Wait, maybe it’s fixed now . . .

I’m in the middle of John Perkins “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”. Fascinating. Not the cheeriest book but what I really like about it is it explains how big business made economic in-roads into developing countries as well as how we got a foothold into some of the oil-rich nations like Saudi Arabia by tempting them with dreams of modernization. It explains what I had heard about in college from people who’d been to Central and South America and puts the puzzle pieces together. The book is also a quick read. Highly recommended.

There’s an interview of Perkins discussing his book at: http://www.democracynow.org/ar.....31/1546207

Reason to hope: I think young people have really been influenced by the internet, blogs and people like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. When I talk to college age students they seem very skeptical of the administration and extremely media savvy. Hopefully Rovian tactics won’t be a permanent part of our politics.

Hope:

Children

Drops of integrity that light the darkness … FITZ

The belief that people are not stupid and will wake up at some point!

What gives me political hope? Honestly? Reading progressive blogs like FDL. It lets me know that there are other people who are just as pissed off with the administration and with Dems who don’t practice what they preach. It lets me know that there are people out there actually doing something and not just wallowing in apathy. So I have no problem making a phone call or sending an email when there’s a need for action that I can help with. And I enjoy sites that allow comments. Sure my comment might be glossed over, but at least I voiced my 2 cents.

And the blogs I read inspired me to start my own. I’m not as fancy or slick, I don’t have inside connections, I don’t make a post everyday, but I make my social commentary. And I link to sites and help spread information.

new thread - new realities

fdl is what makes me feel good — as long as we’re civil, our views enjoy considerateness here unless we happen to be joking

biden shows why it’s a shame that we have a second chamber where even the smallest states have two senators — it’s a bastardized way of combining the roman senate & the english house of lords

our house of representatives is no better since it’s given up doing oversight — but structure isn’t what makes a country: it’s the will of the people — a blog like yours gives us a chance

Christy (or anyone else looking for that ‘thing with feathers’)

when feeling less hopeful I find ’spirituals’ or old school gospel music soothing -

amidst all the YouTube mania, someone posted this link - kinda like a jukebox - I type in “Soul Stirrers” or “Blind Boys of Alabama” and get back hours of well selected, hard to find music - you could do the same with some of your classical faves you don’t have in your collection - although I suspect a West Virginia gal can appreciate ol timey church music

www.pandora.com/

I am hopeful because people have found another way to provide and get information from other than conventional sources. Thanks to FDL and all the other great blogs out there and the multitudes of people that are commenting and discovering everyday that we don’t have to buy in and support mainstream anything to make this democracy work. It is nice to have a place to come for community and balance.

cbl at 78 — oooh, love the Blind Boys of Alabama. Great stuff. And one of my all-time favorites is a version of Amazing Grace by Mahalia Jackson (I’m sure I just mangled the spelling of her first name…). Her spirituals have SO much soul in them, so much longing, and they ring of truth of spirit. Thanks for the reminder…

Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers is fantastic.

Something positive is wanted by dear Christy.

Well, as you know, children are our most precious assets as a nation, or in any other context you would like to place them! So, my good news is about some youngsters I observed all week, and will, again, next week, at a Chamber music camp for children able to read music and play with others. It was an inspiration to observe the several orchestra musicians from my hometown, giving their love of music and knowledge to 50 kids, teaching them, among other things, theory, jazz improvisation, bass fiddlin’, just plain fiddlin’, and music appreciation.

You should have seen a little 8 year old girl violinist, picking up the thread of a theme in the jazz improvisation class, riff, without stopping, or without hesitation, full of internal music that just went with the beat and could have gone on, if she hadn’t had to give it over to the next kid.

Or, the young 16 year old violinist, listening to Bartok’s violin Concerto during his snack break, then, going to the stage to perform as lead violinist in a Haydn Quartet, along with his other talented young colleagues.

I don’t know about what others think about music education, but, from my lifelong observation, the youngsters who study music grow up to be industrious, hardworking, good citizens who make life more enjoyable for the rest of us. We need more of this, and less of aggressive activities which make youngsters angry, sectarian, cheaters, and overall, not too nice adults. (You pick you own favorite kicking post for those kinds of activites.)

So, long live the arts, and long live music, and long live the spirit of children, which is bathed in enthusiasm, joy of discovery, and the search for happy fellowship!

Thanks angry old broad at 13.

Have just ordered Frances Moore Lappen’s book _Choosing to Save Our Country by Brnging Democracy to Life_
via my local library’s online service. Look forward to reading it.

Thanks also to all who’ve posted their gracious welcomes to lurkers and delurkers!

glc

longtime lurker here. FDL is now my #2 fav after DailyKos, once I was able to retain “fire, dog, and lake” in a single thought! The Plame analyses brought me over. What gives me hope is looking back over the last couple of years at how hopeless it seemed that anyone would listen to what was happening to this country. Only by comparing then to now do I actually see progress made. But I am so much more cynical about everything, and that’s a shame.

I work full-time and have a hubby and young son; I feel guilty (isn’t that what moms are good at?) that my contributions to democracy involve butt firmly engaged in chair in front of the computer, unless you count the retro posters about fascism that I put up in my cubicle at work. So maybe that book mentioned in comment 13 would be a good read for me. The idea of actually volunteering for a campaign or election seems so impossible as far as time is concerned, but I think it’s also shyness playing a role.

thank you and the FDL crew for all the solid info you provide.

Prior to 9/11 I hadn’t been much interested in politics save for staying on top of who the candidates were, voting and being concerned about the high profile issues of the day that impacted me and my own. Always registered Independent and, in hinsdight, not nearly as involved as I should have been. I couldn’t stand GWB from the time he entered the national stage though, he rankled me immediately and he tended to set my bullshit detector into overdrive.

9/11 really opened my eyes and prompted some serious soul-searching and inspired an utter obsession with finding out as much as I possibly could about just what in the hell has been going on in our name in geopolitical terms for decades. This dovetailed nicely with the emrgence of the blogosphere and its been an education ever since.

That said, one of the things that I’ve come to apprecaite is that there’s always been a large committed group of Americans fighting like hell for justice, the little guy, the environment, the Constitution, et al. and they’ve done so in silent determination, never for anything more than the cause of peace and justice. While many of their fellow Americans (myself included) took so much of what we enjoy in our lives for granted. Now that this Administration has turned our ship of state squarely toward the iceberg, many of the rest of us have awakened to all of these worthy causes. I want to thank those people that have been fighting the good, just fight all these years against the voraciousness of predatory corporations and corrupt government, trying to make this country and the world a better place.

These are the people, the true liberals, that give me hope. I am proud to join their ranks.

Hello everybody,
lurker here,
I’m still a bit too undercaffeinated to wax eloquent about hope…

…but as to those birds, I think the duck directly above the swan’s head in a juvenile male mallard- head not yet green, but breast turning chestnut; the duck at far upper right isn’t a mallard at all, I think. Too much dark and white barring on the wings; there does appear to be a bit of green on its head, though it looks like a green stripe back from the eye (though could be a mallard in transition to a fully green head)- I think it could be a wigeon. Any idea where the picture was taken?

Now, now, n69n, Miz Lindsay has always depended upon the kindness of strangers.

What is giving you hope lately?  What inspires you to stay politically active?

This “hope” thing has got to go.

Hope implies failure, the existence of the possibility that things WON’T work out, as well as lack of reponsibility, the notion that someone will come out of the woodwork to save us. So just forget about hope. Hope is for losers, literally. But having abandoned hope, you’re free to create the world you want.

Reality isn’t made of bricks. I’m politically active but view voting as voodoo.

Hi everybody and happy Redd beautiful bittersweet bird Sunday. Fdl is the best place on earth for fun and intelligence.

I had a truly astonishing night last night. The girl I been so crazy about all these weeks and months, but held back because something wasn’t quite right, well she called me last night and poured out her life, like I suspected has a torturous love thing going on with another, I just listened and listened, so many things changed on a dime and fell into place. I thought I wanted the usual with this person, instead she gave me the gift of being a comforting listening buddha lap to rest her troubled soul upon.

Life is wondrous and so am I.

Sharkbabe, you so rock!

thanks for telling that one!

To poster 88: “Lighten up, Francis” (from the movie “Stripes”)

An Angry Old Broad @13. I’m looking for Frances Moore Lappe’s latest. I can’t find the one you mentioned. Where did you get it?

um…13…nevah mind :)

Morning, Christy, everyone. It’s a beautiful day today in Southern Cal - gonna get to about 104 today!

I have hope because I’ve lived long enough to see that history has cycles and know things will swing around again, if not soon enough for me then for my boy.

Went to see An Inconvenient Truth last night as guests of Russ Warner, the man who will beat Dreier in November. Took the budding environmentalist, too, who has now found an incentive to turn off lights when he leaves a room - save the polar bear!

This movie gave me hope (and a serious crush on Al Gore, who has always been my hero wrt environmental issues. I tend to like pedagogical types anyway.) that our eight year bout with the Dumb*ucks in charge is a cycle from which we can and will recover.

This place and its people give me hope, strength and laughter. Nina Unte and Frances Moore Lappe give me hope - they’ve not given up their quest to enshrine progressive values in the marketplace.

Ghandi gives me hope. Shrink in SF made a difference in one instance (that he knows about!) and that gives me hope.

We had an invasion this year of wild parrots. First time they’ve nested in our palm tree and their raucous chatter in the morning thrills my soul and makes Mr. Mommybrain tense ;-).

I’ve been very involved in local politics this last year, thanks to FDL. I’ve seen that there are lots of great ideas and that the cycle is coming around again to spotlight them. There are many young people involved at the local level in my town.

Hope is a gift. Cherish it.

I am another lurker saying “Thanks for the welcome” and to let you know I enjoy this site so much, I signed up for the FDL breakfast at Yearly Kos.

In high school(in the 60s) my mail was read as part of Nixon’s COINTELPRO assault of civil liberties, and the issues raised by the CIA leak case and so eloquently by Glenn Greenwald are very personal for me. I have a young son,brought here in 99 to enjoy the rights he would have missed in his home country of China. Now I take him to China so he can rant on about Bush, but I mourn for the country into which he grows to be a man.Still, his rants are pretty funny(and I swear, I did not tell him that part about “Bush poops in his pants and wears children’s underwear!”)

It bears repeating every time C.Rice rears it’s ugly head that this thing, C. Rice, is a well known serial LIAR. C.Rice has lied about Aluminum Tubes, Mushroom clouds, Torture and by so doing dragged the good name of America through the mud. C.Rice is unfit for high office and is, in fact deserving of investigation for war crime. The SUPREME war crime.

Jay at 85

So well said! I was not even engaged enough to expose myself enough to send my BS detector in to overdrive. I voted for that man in 2000, God help me. I always was puzzled by the people who were so passionate, the determined as you described them. 9/11 and the motherhood that followed shortly after opened my eyes and my heart. His proposed federal ban on gay marriage sickened me for good. I can hardly bear him now. I can hardly bear my old vote, the lever I pulled. I love how you put it (and now I get to play with blockquote… please God I do not mess this up):

These are the people, the true liberals, that give me hope. I am proud to join their ranks.

I just finished the first chapter of Glenn Greenwald’s book and realized how similar we are. Both lawyers, both were rather apolitical. However, like Glenn, I’ve watched with increasingly dismay as the Bush administration tramples on the Constitution and principals upon which this nation was founded. Blogs like this one, Think Progress, Daily Kos and Amerciablog ha