Wow! Go NED!!!

Joe’s speech, improved for accuracy!

Fun!

My Starbucks cup is leaking…

foist

ok, foith!

I’m sending out super positive vibes up to CT.

My second 1rst! What a great way to start the day! Well, off to work. I’ll be hummin’ “Have You Had Enough?” all day! Have a good one all..

GO NED!!!

Sorry, but this is an enormous pet peeve of mine — education is a way up for a lot of folks, and the Republican Rubber Stamp Congress and George Bush just said, “Well, booo frickin’ hoo. Stay on welfare and work as a night janitor and tell your kids to have a great life doing the same damn thing.

In my family, there were/are two ways up and out of the mines and mills: 1. getting an education and 2. joining the military.

By blocking support for folks to go to college, are they trying to force a higher number of them to enlist?

Summer (bargain bin) reading;

‘Bacchus & Me’ – Jay McInerney

http://www.epicurean.com/books…..eview.html

‘Love Me’ – Garrison Keillor

http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ…..p;n=283155

‘The Crash of Hennington’ – Patrick Ness

http://www.popmatters.com/book…..gton.shtml

‘Driving Men Mad’ – Elise Levine

http://www.mcclelland.com/authors/interview.html

‘The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature: The Collected Writings of Neal Pollack ‘ – Neal Pollack

http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ…..p;n=283155

I’m thinking it’s going to be close in CT. In the small group that I canvassed, there were more undecided then anything else. More people were either leaning to or supporting Ned, and only one was leaning towards Loserman.

The only thing that matters are the people who will cast the votes. I hope the GOTV will be strong from Ned’s campaign.

it’s next to impossible to get on welfare unless you are a young mother with kids — some college education is a way to get a halfway decent job that can pay enough to raise kids. Shutting off schooling keeps one on welfare but there’s a 5 -year time limit on that. Joining the military becomes a more desirable option — park the kids with Granma and go off to Iraq!

I met a carful of Joe’s employee canvassers going to hit churches yesterday while volunteering for Lamont. They were asking for directions, I leaned in and saw the stacks of Joe lit. The people were not passionate, they were trying to make a buck.

Joe’s GOTV has been growing and growing. His robo calling is out of control (hopefully a negative). People have signed up for his temporary positions. His money has finally trickled down to the street level and employees are putting flyers in people’s hands. His money doesn’t care which day it is, his money needs to get spent to attract targets.

Please do volunteer today and tomorrow, every calorie burned for Lamont is worth it. Right up to poll closing!

Just read “The Air-Conditioned Nightmare” by William Saletan on slate.com. Apparently first appeared in Washington Post. It’s about how climate control is killing the planet. Scary, sad, and I feel so selfish. The brief heat wave is over in Maine, and we’re be back to open windows and breezes through the screens. So feeling a little less guilty today.

http://www.slate.com/id/2147167/nav/tap1/

Hey Medaka, Howzit in Nara…? Gas here went up 10 cents from Sat to Sun, and now with the BP Prudoe oil delivery being interrupted because of leaky pipelines, expect prices to continue to rise. We have 7 cords of wood being delivered today……..price on that is up $40/cord from last year!!!

I did hear one negative comment that influenced one man’s view. He was now leaning toward Ned because of the incident at Pete’s, the burger place.

As drowsy said in 11, please if you can help out today or tomorrow, it will be worth every calorie.

Sat down last night and read the new issue of Vanity Fair – read the article about the air traffic control on 9/11; have saved the article on Bush 41 and bush 43 for tonight, I think.

Most alarming thing I read over the weekend was the Bush plan to federalize the National Guard…

Did just fill my tank yesterday – that’s getting to be an almost $50 outlay (if I let it get as low as I did this time).

Have to go back and listen to tommy yum’s toe-tappin’ jingle again – it perks me up!

Why, whatta lovely cuppa you pour, Christy! Mmmm — dee-lish — thankee kinely.

I’ve just run across some comic relief to the Lebanese, Iraqi, Afghani and Nutmeggi news — from good ol’ ever-reliable Alligator Bag, natch.

If there’s a soul left in this place who yet doubts that she’s barking bonkers, please follow me here. (N.B.: Starbucks figures prominently.)

…
Ex-aides cite personality

But the former aides said their differences with her were over personality, not politics. Several said they continued working for her, despite the way she treated them, because they believed in her mission.

“I have never in my life worked for somebody like her — ever — and hopefully I’ll never have to again,” Dornan said.

Jamie Miller, Harris’ second campaign manager, who quit in April, said, “It’s almost like she won’t allow herself to be successful with someone else helping her.

“Any time it’s not about her, she makes it about her.”

Glenn Hodas, her third campaign manager, who quit in mid-July, said Harris failed to kept her promises “not to have tantrums, not to berate staff, not to micromanage and nitpick, and not to get flustered on inconsequential details.”

Harris’ campaign isn’t the only place where her top aides have quit. Her congressional office also has seen more than a dozen key staffers leave since she took office in 2003, including four chiefs of staff and four press secretaries.

In July, congressional speechwriter Jennifer Hickey informed her friends she was quitting in an e-mail that said: “Value of Handing in my Resignation Letter: Priceless.”
…

We had a summer workshop last week. College profs coming to talk to K-12 social studies teachers about their areas of expertise (I need to buy that book too). The first day was Tom Paine. It really blew us away how much his writing pertains to today. The author of this book came to talk to us, great guy, Progressive minded and couldn’t resist throwing in comments about how misguided things are today.

Thomas Paine and the Promise of America
We go free copies of his book & Common Sense, and he signed them for us after we had lunch together. My book now says “Hope to see you in Madison!”

a telephone call from a real live nice human being is a lot less intrusive than “Bill Clinton personally calling…” from an unresponsive computer.

Hi Mainemom, where are you in the Dirigo state? OS is in Hancock…

I’m with all the comments on the outrage about the dumbing down of education here in the US, that “All Child Left Behind” program that only trains for testing scores where schools are punished for poor results instead of helped, on top of years of enabling sports and diminishing the arts will take generations to repair. The failure to fund generously college education grants and loans is part and parcel of advancing the division of the “classes” if you will permit the use of that word. It’s like when Bork was wanting to be a Supreme Court justice and his attitude was that there was a limited amount of liberty, and if one person got more, someone else would get less. IMO, this selfishness is directed from the core of today’s alleged leadership by people who prefer to keep and expand their own positions of advantage and power rather than serve and expand the common wealth.

Morning Everyone!

Moving slowly, eh, Christy? Not mentally, I betcha. You never complain, but I noticed you mentioned RA back when I was just a lurker. Hope it’s not kicking up. Pamper yourself today, whether so or no. You work harder on any 1/2 day than 20 of us work in a week, & we luvs ya, gal. ;->

OH Dem party sent a lil msg & link out today. In case it hasn’t broken forth yet here yet, Ney apparently has decided not to run (duh), & has been rummaging around the OH repug closet floor for a replacement. Is he too late to get hissorryself off the ballot? Any buzz on this OH Sen. Joy Padgett he seems to have found behind the tie-rack?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200…../ohio_dc_2

Must also mention a book–”The Defining Moment–FDR’s 100 Days and the Triumph of Hope”–Jonathan Alter. A really enlightening read about the nitty-gritty of rising to power, of power changing hands, and, mostly, about how great a role charisma and confidence plays in leadership. This country was so desperate, leading newspapers were advocating for a dictatorship. FDR relied on gut instincts, but he had a golden gut. Quite the contrast with the current dear leader.

Hi Old Sow — I’m in Falmouth. (I’ve commented before, but rarely) I was just up on MDI this weekend, after picking up my son at Camp Jordan! The most beautiful summer days I think I’ve ever seen!

Adie at 21 — my understanding is that he hit the two week mark — he had to make a decision in the next coupla weeks and the additional DoJ push on his Congressional testimony and a potential charge of lying to Congress hanging out there pushed him out. That he wants a hand-picked Taft appointee to replace him speaks volumes about the sorry state of the GOP in Ohion right now. The DCCC has some additional info. on her this morning.

Welfare issue consistent with Republican attitude of “I got mine so fuck you”, or the corollary which is “I fucked you to get mine.”

My latest reading is “Don’t Try This At Home” – a companion to the “Mythbusters” series on the Discovery Channel. Some of their outdoor “experiments” are filmed in our general neighborhood, and The Kid loves it. The book is going to be a birthday gift in two months, but I’ve got to read it now. Despite the title, the book has some things that Adam and Jamie DO want kids to try at home, so I want to make sure that I’m ready for that – ’cause The Kid will want to try those things out ASAP.

One more thing: Fitz! (But I suppose a set of Fitz indictments would be on my wish list for *future* reading . . .)

Oh yes, Mainemom. Sat/Sun were near perfect. Paradise for all. It was almost psychedelically beautiful!!

Current books here are Galileo’s Daughter, and Conservatives Without COnscience. How wudda thought we’d be nodding assent to John Dean!!

I’m readin’ the blogs but I’m watchin’ this: http://video.google.com/videop…..&hl=en

SKY=FOX correct?

Peterr @ 26

One more thing: Fitz! (But I suppose a set of Fitz indictments would be on my wish list for *future* reading . . .)

ditto

From Pierre Tristam:

But what struck me as I read the article today (it had sat under a pile of papers all these weeks) was this small detail about Israel’s then-nascent attacks on Gaza against Hamas in response to the soldier-kidnapping situation there: “[W]orried that Hezbollah’s armed wing might attack too, the Israeli military has issued a high-level alert along its northern border with Lebanon.”

Now, this is being reported two days before the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah.

http://www.pierretristam.com/B…..080306.htm

Organized crime on an international level.

Right now I’m reading “The Great Influenza” by John Barry – which is extremely well written. It is a narrative and dissection of the influenza pandemic of 1918 and, at the same time, provides the history of American medicine, medical research and public health.

Regarding the mood of folks in Conn – I think they just want the thing to end. They are being bombarded by calls, ads, articles – they aren’t used to this level of intensity.

That being said, Lieberman is his own worst enemy. I think the local papers held their noses and endorsed Lieberman – most on the premise that he has learned his lesson now and will change his wicked ways.

One woman I spoke with yesterday who claimed to be Undecided (she told me she wasn’t going to tell me who she would vote for even if she had decided) told me she had just heard a Lieberman ad on the car radio that really offended her. Then she went on to describe the ad…something to the effect that Lamont was a member of the same country club that Bush’s parents used to belong to. As I’ve been saying – many, many people in Connecticut belong to country clubs and trying to link Lamont to Bush via his parents’ country club membership 50 – 60 years ago is beyond pathetic. Anyway, my comment to the woman was – it’s tough not to have a record to run on. She laughed.

I doubt that Lieberman’s Hail Mary speech last night will change much. It may fortify people who were going to vote for him anyway – justify their vote. But Lieberman has an 18 year record and politically aware voters aren’t going to forget the crappy things he has done just because he quasi apologized last night.

Organized crime on an international level.

Yep, jayt, and we’re far from the only populace that’s Had Damn Enough. If only that were an un-alloyed Good Thing.

The new poll showing Ned’s lead down to six points may be a very good thing for the Lamont campaign. Enough to get people scared and out into the streets.
All you guys and gals working on the campaign know that we are with you in spirit. Keep up the good work…and don’t relax until the polls close on Tuesday night.

just read this, Gilliard on Lieberman/Race

http://stevegilliard.blogspot……-race.html

and yeah Mainemom, despite his periodic forays in to wankery, I am dying to read Alter’s book on FDR

and to escape some of the current ‘off-kilterness’ am reading a novelization of the life of Mabel Stark – premier tiger tamer for Ringling Bros. in the 1910’s & 20’s

Christy, I also tend to get confused on this very small, nitpicky point, but the word is spelled ‘gauge.’

I have been looking at many of the blogs lately and the pundidiots that are in a real tizzy over the rebellion of the man-in-the-street Democrats against the party aristocracy. The implied threat of loss of place has stirred up the beehive.

I have also read M.C. Miller’s Fooled Again and Scott Ritter’s Iraq Confidential. Both of which are well worth the time.

I need to get away from all current events all the time so I am now reading Karen Armstrong’s The Great Transformation. I also spend a lot of time reading with my nine year old son. It sure can be fun to read Cynthia Rylant or Mim Fox or many of the other excellent authors of children’s books.

DAB @ 31

I guess you missed my response to your comment in the previous thread. Apologies for repetition, but allow me to re-post:

To start off, I’m happy to hear that you made it to the Norwalk office! I’ve spent several days there in the past week; not only do they have a great AC system, but there are good folks there, and the busload of NYC volunteers yesterday made for good vibes (though I was in Greenwich, we still talked about it).

Anyway: despite the obvious downsides, phone calls and canvassing are still the best methods we have to move voters. I’ve been working phone banks all week and I know full well that some people don’t appreciate it; in Ned’s campaign, we never call unreceptive folks a second time (if the database is working right). I wish there were a less intrusive instrument for this kind of work, but presently there are none (a fact that I pose as a challenge to my fellow technology entrepreneurs). Nevertheless, many of Lamont’s supporters are actually quite receptive to our calls and eager to vent their views to a sympathetic ear. A polite listener, offering solid information and logistical support, might just be the final factor in getting them to the polls.

JayT, an interesting article to forward to people like my father, who now agrees with me politically much of the time, but only read NYT, Globe and see occasional TV. They do not see the slant of their news sources just don’t get the wrongness of the Isralien tactics. We can get to the same points on many issues, but there is a huge divide between folks who listen to alternatives and read news on line from all over the world.

Good mornin’ firepups,

I just started reading “Memoirs of a Geisha” after seeing the movie. My wife assures me the book is much better than the film (which I thought was great).

James Fallows has an interesting looking article in the new Atlantic entitled “We Win-A New Strategy for the Fight Against Terrorism”. I haven’t started it yet but basically he’s saying that the US has won the war on terrorism and now is the time to start a more intensive military and diplomatic campaign. Hmmm…

Otherwise, I’ll just be reading Firedoglake about 900 times today. *g*

now…whut I’m reading…

I already confessed some time ago that I’m hooked on the Patrick O’Brian Aubrey/Maturin series (E.g., “Master & Commander”).

Just about to polish off O’Brian’s “The Fortune of War” & hand it off to similarly smitten hubby.

Among the last few pp., I stumbled upon this gem, & it seems oddly appropriate to something, if I just knew what… *takes another lonnng sip* [sonny is part-timer at Starbucks - talk about yer Golden Years - ah-h-h - green tea is for after the sun passes the nooner!]:

(describing a rather quiet morning getting started on the ship)

“… the busy deck-full of hands were doing something more directly connected with war than making metal shine. Some chipped corroded round-shot, others made foxes [British ship during War of 1812; transl., anyone?], paunches and seizings, and the forward pumps wheezed round, discharging a thin stream over the side [heh heh - oops, sorry to interrupt]. The hen-coops were already up. The proud cock crowed, clapping his wings in the first rays of the sun, and a hen cried out that she had laid an egg, an egg, an egg!”

medaka, you still here? Mighty quiet today, bub. Yokay?

I’ve begun to think of the Bush admin as something of a cross between organized crime and Wal-Mart – they’ve got it all – anything slimy or nefarious you need done, whether domestically or internationally – they’ve got that one in stock.

Anyone listen to Rachel Maddow this morning on Air America Radio? She’s convinced that the new NIE that Negroponte has ordered will define the events in Iraq as full-blown civil war, and that will be the thing that pushes us to withdraw from Iraq. Interesting that you had Condi on with George and Timmeh yesterday, STILL talking about the “hypothetical” of civil war, and refusing to comment on what might come next if that is what is happening. But what you have are conditions that would not allow them to credibly start drawing down, not when they keep claiming that things are just about to turn the corner, so the only option is to have an official assessment that there is a civil war, to justify deployment out.

Wish I felt like these people had even a clue what the ramifications of any of their decisions were likely to be.

One of the articles I read in Vanity Fair was by a guy who’s been in Iraq for quite some time covering the war. His take was 180 degrees away from Condi’s “the Iraqi people have chosen democracy” speeches from yesterday. He described rampant corruption and greed, a government that is coming apart at the seams. He also said that the media reporting from Iraq are underplaying, rather than overstating, the conditions there.

And she also questioned why we are going to supply nuclear material to India, when two Indian comapnies have just been sanctioned for supplying technology to Iran…and not one word to Congress about any “problems” there might be with this Indian venture.

Sigh…

In the heat of the summer, and the CT Dem primary, I offer a reading respite… five new poetry books that have kicked my ass this summer, all groovy in their own way:

Paula Cisewski – Upon Arrival
Upon Arrival

Juliet Patterson – The Truant Lover
The Truant Lover

Richard Siken – Crush
Crush

Ted Mathys – Forge
Forge

Sarah Manguso – Siste Viator
Siste Viator

Christy — no time to read, and heading over to Lamont HQ to do some more neighborhoods with RevDeb, Selise, and others from the Mass Rootz, but if you haven’t seen the op-ed by Peretz in today’s WSJ, check it out. It anyone needs any further proof that The New Republic has become The Ancien Regime, there it is.

Go Ned!

Jeez Christy, you’re suprised that the Republicans are only too happy to promote the establishment/continuation of a permanent underclass under the guise of reform? :)
“Someone’s got to pick the cotton.”

Interesting about the activities in Southern Iraq. Given that the real obstacles to partitioning the country are Baghdad and the difficulties of creating a Kurdistan with stable borders (as far as I can understand it), it is fairly plausible that much of the rest of the country will just try and establish their own areas of control and governance and try and distance themselves as much as possible from those situations. What incentive is there for families in Basra to allow their futures to be held hostage by the machinations of kingmakers and death-squads in Baghdad or Kirkuk? The glory of Iraqi National Unity? I’m afraid that ship has sailed (and sunk, tragically).
peace,
jim

Okay, MSNBC has officially pissed me off this morning. They are referring to George Bush’s vacation home as “The Western White House” while he’s giving his address and press conference (or whatever the hell he’s doing this morning). I have had it with MSNBC trying to cover his butt. He is on vacation, on his family estate in Texas. It is not “The Western White House.” I know it’s just nitpicky semantics — but language is important, and with this language, they are trying to give him cover for his almost-month-long-vacation again this year. Wankers.

Kai,

You’re right, there really is no other way – particularly for a campaign to understand who to call election day to make sure supporters get to the polls. But we also have to understand that these folks are getting Clinton robocalls, union calls, out-of-state calls, etc. – and that’s just for the Senate race. They are also getting calls for mayoral and state senate races. I can see how they can’t wait for Wednesday.

I live in Danbury and have gotten some calls but not as many as folks in other parts of the state.

I think I may have been calling a particularly rough crowd – I was calling Monroe and they weren’t particularly receptive at all. Apparently Monroe’s a community that’s leaning Lieberman. The calls I made to Westport were much friendlier and there was some venting about Lieberman.

jim at 45 — not surprised, but definitely disgusted.

scarecrow rules!
Thanks for your great work in CT!

Anne @ 16 re the Nat’l Guard – Gov Huckabee was on C-Span yesterday discussing this issue. The conference of governors is going on in Charleston SC, seems a pushback is on the way.

Anne — the real problem with the Indian nuke sales is that the White House AGAIN pulled a fast one on Congress, pushed for approval and withheld info about the sanctions until after the approval. Lying scum; they are NOT about security in any real sense of the word. This Indian situation was a headfake to the Pakistani government, and possibly towards Russia and China as well, but our members of Congress had no real chance to vet this mess given the BS that Bushistas pulled. Grrr…

Now on the nightstand:
Traveling Mercies, by Anne Lamotte (should have read this AGES ago, love her work)

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie

Founding Brothers, by Joseph Ellis

Someone just lent me a copy of Bush on the Couch, too, by Justin Frank MD.

What a mix!

Christy, it’s disgusting enough that the MSM calls Bush’s Waco house a “ranch.”

DAB

an interview with John Barry on the book:
http://www.eyeonbooks.com/EOB/0404/barry.wax

(another on my long list which also includes his Rising Tide)

and hey Musicians! – just saw that Stanley Crouch (yup, that Stanley Crouch) has written an examination of jazz musicians: Considering Genius – critics are raving, musicians are salivating

My summer reading list.

Christy, I noticed the White House banner behind the podium @ Crawford during Condi’s statements “Western White House” what a joke!

Christy – I noticed that yesterday, Condi was speaking in front of a “Western White House – Crawford, Texas” sign, so it is the White House which has defined the location, and MSNBC (and all the other outlets) that has accepted it.

Western White House? Texas is only the “west” if you live in New York.

(Of course, out here in CA, folks say that everything on the other side of Nevada is “back east”!)

Well, I’m listening to local church bells. This morning’s selection is “The First Noel”. Now that might strike some people as odd, seeing as how it’s August and all.

Welcome to my world.

Wall Street Journal Op-ed by Martin Peretz, mentioned by scarecrow
Warning, reading this will make you very very angry.
WSJ does not keep their editorial page behind a subscriber firewall, because they know even neocons aren’t dumb enough to pay to read it.

What a crock!! I don’t care if he does have some authority as president, he doesn’t get to say his own digs are the White House!!! WE have already provided him with working digs; if they aren’t good enough for him, he should find the exit door.

Bugs me more that he’s going to write off every damned bit of expenses that he’s incurring in Crawford because the deciderer chose to do business out of his house.

That’s how it works, gang. He’s giving himself a raise through tax write-offs, on your tab.

noticed the White House banner behind the podium @ Crawford during Condi’s statements “Western White House”

they thought it sounded better than their first choice – Klown Kollege

lotus @18 – Through my shadenfreude at Ms. Harris’ tribulations (b*tch thinks she’s entitled to whatever she wants after her role in the coup of 2000) I continue to feel some compassion for her oh-so-public meltdown. I doubt I’d feel this way if I worked for her, but she has issues and she isn’t dealing. She’s a nutjob and being such an attention whore isn’t good for her. It can’t be easy, being her.

Hi Tommy Yum. Thanks for The Tune.

lotus – fyi – Medaka said he/she’d see us on Wednesday

testing 123

I already confessed some time ago that I’m hooked on the Patrick O’Brian Aubrey/Maturin series (E.g., “Master & Commander”).

Just about to polish off O’Brian’s “The Fortune of War” & hand it off to similarly smitten hubby.

Among the last few pp., I stumbled upon this gem, & it seems oddly appropriate to something, if I just knew what… *takes another lonnng sip* [sonny is part-timer at Starbucks - talk about yer Golden Years - ah-h-h - green tea is for after the sun passes the nooner!]:

(describing a rather quiet morning getting started on the ship)

“… the busy deck-full of hands were doing something more directly connected with war than making metal shine. Some chipped corroded round-shot, others made foxes [British ship during War of 1812; transl., anyone?], paunches and seizings, and the forward pumps wheezed round, discharging a thin stream over the side [heh heh - oops, sorry to interrupt]. The hen-coops were already up. The proud cock crowed, clapping his wings in the first rays of the sun, and a hen cried out that she had laid an egg, an egg, an egg!”

I’m nearing the end of book 21, Blue at the Mizzen,of this series. It’s the last one, excepting the unfinished work that was published after O’Brien’s death. I can hardly stand it that this wonderful series is over for me. It feels, though, that O’Brien might have known his time was growing short (didn’t he pass at age 90?). Blue at the Mizzen seems different than many of the others. He’s tying up some threads that had been dangling for several books. I really don’t want to reach the end of this series. :(

I’m thinking about BP suspending production in Alaska, and $4.00 a gallon gas very soon.

Is Lamont hammering Lieberman on his vote for Cheney’s energy bill? He should be.

I saw An Inconvenient Truth last week (finally, on a 95 degree day, to get out of the heat) and was really struck by Gore’s graphic on the world’s CAFE standards for automobiles. China has higher CAFE standards than the US. China!

It’s not just the war. It’s that the Rethugs are systematically destroying the world.

cbl @ 60

noticed the White House banner behind the podium @ Crawford during Condi’s statements “Western White House”

they thought it sounded better than their first choice – Klown Kollege

cbl: watertiger is all over that one…

http://derenegade.blogspot.com…..tions.html

:-)

Summer reading – Conservatives without a Conscience – Dean doesn’t much like his bretheren – and Raven’s Exile, about rafting the canyon lands we head for in a week. Lovely bits of geology mixed with philosophy and beautiful terrain. She writes very well.

GO NED!

Oh, BTW, that push poll story I’ve been pushing since the CA primary? Looks like just that, a story. No one has come forward to say they received one in spite of emails to all Dems in the district by those checking into it. Shit. That means someone I know made it up. Shit. Politics ain’t beanbag by a long shot.

I’m a bit bummed. Saturday I entered my info into the volunteer link to help on the campaign. I was planning to fly in Saturday from Minnesota and stay through the Primary doing whatever I could.

I never heard back from anyone. I even re-enlisted, to no avail.

Hopefully this means that I wasn’t needed at that time.

Go Ned!

Reading Sen. Dorgan’s just-released Take This Job and Ship It.

Hey, Twisted, the Republicans need YoYos to go with their Rubber Stamps. They truly believe in You’re on Your Own.

British Petroleum workers found a small oil spill (4 or 5 barrels), so they’re shutting down their pipeline. Should reduce available U.S.crude by about 8% – prices to rise accordingly.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..NlYwNtdHM-

(on the bright side – that’s by far the longest link I’ve ever produced).

JCB, who did you contact, because Ned still wants volunteers.

Thanks Dr. Bong !

of course I hear this in my head as the Chimp drones incoherently on. . .

http://pages.prodigy.net/area512/circus2.mid

Will someone please explain to me the difference between “sectarian violence” and “civil war” and how will we know when “sectarian violence” becomes “civil war”?

Christy, you mentioned your RA in your post – my wife’s has been in remission since she had our daughter in January. Not a single arthritis-related pain. Today, she says it’s acting up again. Must be something in the air.

Old Sow @ 14

Hey Medaka, Howzit in Nara…? Gas here went up 10 cents from Sat to Sun, and now with the BP Prudoe oil delivery being interrupted because of leaky pipelines, expect prices to continue to rise. We have 7 cords of wood being delivered today……..price on that is up $40/cord from last year!!!

Hey OS! Price up everywhere for everything, always. It never ends, does it? I’m thankful at least that I don’t have to drive — public transport is brilliant. But we had a wet early summer, and even veggie prices are starting to creep up….

Have company here now, so I can’t hang too long. We were gonna go to the beach tomorrow, but this pic pretty much says why we’re not … *sigh*

JCB @ 69

I’m a bit bummed. Saturday I entered my info into the volunteer link to help on the campaign. I was planning to fly in Saturday from Minnesota and stay through the Primary doing whatever I could.

I never heard back from anyone. I even re-enlisted, to no avail.

Hopefully this means that I wasn’t needed at that time.

No! This means that folks were swamped and messed up the organization of the lists that are distributed between the local campaign offices. There are never enough volunteers, period. If you can still make it here, do it! If not, all I can say is, Thanks for trying and now do what you can with your pocketbook and voice!

Peace.

I saw where Ney said he didn’t want to put his family through any more of what they’ve had to go through, so that’s why he’s leaving Congress.

Maybe he’s going to take them to the same location where Ken Lay is laid up in hiding..

Sectarian violence can never become civil war until all parties have uniforms.

Uniforms are very important.

cbl – thanks for that laugh…Klown Kollege, indeed, although one wonders if repeated matriculations at Klown Kindergarten qualify one for the Kollege program. *g*

Rayne – here’s the thing. Probably any other president who went “home” we would still consider to be working, but this president seems more inclined to treat the job like it comes with a time clock and feels entitled to take frequent breaks from the hard work of presidentin’ that for him, going home is going home – regardless of how many travel with him.

I, for one, am exceedingly wary of the August Crawford break – that’s when all hell seems to break loose, and he – and all the others who are supposed to be paying attention – are notoriously out of touch.

The irony is that he thinks he should get points for “only” taking ten days, instead of the whole month like he usually does. But when the Middle East is in flames, and Iraq is coming apart at the seams, it strikes me that anything more than a weekend is being painfully ignorant and dismissive of the magnitude of the problems we have right now.

Western White House, my patootie. Agree totally with you Christy about that spin. My husband’s comment when he saw video of Bush ealier this morning–oh, that’s the room he screwed up Katrina in. Wonder if that’s why they’ve adopted an audio feed this morning?

Will the MSM tell us if he’s reading from a script?

jayt – the Prudhoe Bay spill

could eat up FDL bandwidth by linking to all the Repub strutting about how environmentally safe and friendly the pipeline has been – and how wrong all us treehugggers were . . .

lotus @ 40

medaka, you still here? Mighty quiet today, bub. Yokay?

Just checking in now, lotus, a bit late. Hope you get this!

I gots company so I should say goodnight — I’ll drop by again your tomorrow evening …. Have a great Election Eve Day, everyone!

We were gonna go to the beach tomorrow, but this pic pretty much says why we’re not … *sigh*

Ruh-oh, medaka. That thang aimed at you? How big/etc. is it? Y’all be safe!

DAB @ 47

Kai,

You’re right, there really is no other way – particularly for a campaign to understand who to call election day to make sure supporters get to the polls. But we also have to understand that these folks are getting Clinton robocalls, union calls, out-of-state calls, etc. – and that’s just for the Senate race. They are also getting calls for mayoral and state senate races. I can see how they can’t wait for Wednesday.

I live in Danbury and have gotten some calls but not as many as folks in other parts of the state.

I think I may have been calling a particularly rough crowd – I was calling Monroe and they weren’t particularly receptive at all. Apparently Monroe’s a community that’s leaning Lieberman. The calls I made to Westport were much friendlier and there was some venting about Lieberman.

Thanks for your kind reply, DAB. I live in Greenwich and have received next to no calls from any political campaign (though plenty from telemarketers, who apparently have a better grip on our personal info, eh?), but I can imagine how annoying it would be. I’ve been mostly making calls to Stamford and Norwalk, and it hasn’t been as hostile as your description, which is good news because urban centers are seriously contested terrain. Anyway, keep up the good work! See you round — maybe at the Meriden party on Tuesday night?

Cheers.

cbl @ 63

lotus – fyi – Medaka said he/she’d see us on Wednesday

Hi cbl — actually, it’ll be more like yr Monday night or Tuesday morning. I just can’t get enough FDL with the CT primary happening …

For some time now, I have been going back and reading the letters of Thomas Jefferson, here:

http://etext.virginia.edu/jeff…..ffcont.htm

Also, I have been trying to get a theoretical handle on what is happening now. I wouldn’t call it a paradigm shift, or even a grass roots movement, something more like re-establishing our roots (both philosophical and moral). Going back to the work of von Bertalanffy on General System Theory, to the work of Max Weber, and Durkheim, and dreging up tons of statistics of long-term trends. Feeling the urge to somehow weave all of this into a whole, given current technology (the blogs, as well as world-wide data sources). Just an urge to zoom way out and see our current situation in a larger context.

Oh, and after hearing Ricky Lee Jones, having a strong desire to drag out the old ‘62 Jazzmaster and put some tunes together.

For Sharkbabe: I used to collect guitars, and you would drool over some of them, like a Mosrite, a Rickenbacher 360/12 and a dozen others I shouldn’t take up bandwidth blathering about.

With the pocketbook and the vibe generator (is that dirty?) it shall be then. Away!

Kai @ 76

JCB @ 69

I’m a bit bummed. Saturday I entered my info into the volunteer link to help on the campaign. I was planning to fly in Saturday from Minnesota and stay through the Primary doing whatever I could.

I never heard back from anyone. I even re-enlisted, to no avail.

Hopefully this means that I wasn’t needed at that time.

No! This means that folks were swamped and messed up the organization of the lists that are distributed between the local campaign offices. There are never enough volunteers, period. If you can still make it here, do it! If not, all I can say is, Thanks for trying and now do what you can with your pocketbook and voice!

Peace.

Prairie-Yoyos rock!

lotus @ 83

We were gonna go to the beach tomorrow, but this pic pretty much says why we’re not … *sigh*

Ruh-oh, medaka. That thang aimed at you? How big/etc. is it? Y’all be safe!

They’re calling it a “compact” one. It’s not too big, last I heard only 975 hectopascals (sp?) — it’s under 950 that you need to be scared ….

See ya’ll on the flip!

the Prudhoe Bay pipeline fuckup spells the end permanently of ANWR dreams of drilling.

I spent all day Sunday working for the Lamont campaign in Bridgeport. The office in Bridgeport has an extremely dedicated staff, but they need MANY MORE VOLUNTEERS!

I do not have the liberty of calling in sick today or tomorrow, but I pray that some of you reading this can make the time to get over there. You will LOVE it! It feels so great to help with such an important cause.

In my one day in Bridgeport, I spoke with dozens of undecided voters, some of whom seemed convinced to vote for Lamont by the literature that I gave them and our discussions about the differences between Lieberman and Lamont.

In many cases, what matters most in how undecideds vote is who they talked to most recently.

Again, I implore everyone at FDL who can get to Connecticut to please go – knock on doors and make the closing argument for Lamont face to face with the voters of Connecticut! Lieberman’s paid people are out in force and we need to match them. Thanks and godspeed.

First time posting here! I have a few blogs that I stop by daily to get my news without the MSM filter, and Firedoglake is one of them. I’ve been enjoying the reports on the CT race. It’s definitely time to wake up the beltway crew (both parties), and make them more responsive to us “mythical little guys.”

I’m in the midst of reading “Armed Madhouse,” by Greg Palast. Scary, and you wouldn’t find it believeable if it was fiction. Sadly, it’s reality…

Go, Ned!

Joezoe can’t get his “big shift” out.
“Mr. Lieberman said that while he believed his vote to authorize the war in 2002 was correct, he now felt a “heavy responsibility” to end the war quickly….”

That was in the NYT’s on Sunday.

The linked article below from the Boston Globe, posted just 8 hours ago, doesn’t even mention Joezoe’s latest, that he wants to “end the war quickly.”
Lieberman strikes back in final days
“Accuses opponent of spreading `lies’”

Note to Joezoe. Starting wars is easy. It’s ending them that’s tough.

also read this this morning –

http://www.juancole.com/2006/0…..ullah.html

hey, anyone seen Angie lately ?

JCB @ 87

With the pocketbook and the vibe generator (is that dirty?) it shall be then. Away!

Okay I get what you’re saying: pocketbook or pocket rocket.

Cheers.

Morning All,

I’ve been reading puppy training books – because yes ! He’s arriving today. Ian Dunbar is a wonderful teacher. Also, The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell and Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson. Both great reads about doggies and their humans.

Christy, I don’t usually give health advice, but I suffered with arthritis too. Started taking a good quality Omega 3 ( I call ‘em fish pills ). And also eating more and more veggies, 80% of your diet if possible and raw as much as possible.

Creating a more alkaline internal environment has eliminated a lot of my nagging health issues. Arthritis was the most awful, but I am now pain free.

Check out phmiracleliving dot com (in all your spare time). It’s been very helpful.

Hope you feel better.

GOOOOOOOOOOO NED !!!!!!

Christy at 24, thanks.

We were “represented” in OH senate for years by a Voinovich appointee whose only qualification was as a loyal repub. fundraiser – goom. I can only imagine, but I’d rather not just now, thanks.

I gather OH Dems already have someone lined up for Ney’s seat. I’m so clueless because I’m thoroughly tied up emotionally & effort-wise at the national level these days (after YEARS sweating in the trenches trying to do what I could for OH’s dismal public education ‘fortunes’). I’ve simply made up my mind to vote STRAIGHT DEM. all the way thru the dang ballot, & I’m urging EVERYONE (especially those I hear complaining!) to do likewise. I don’t care if the dawg catcher is a Pug or a Lhasa A-Shi*so. Dem Dem Dem!

We simply MUST flip this thing around & get the mops out ASAP. I am so-o-o-o tired of cleaning up after repugs; and Jr’s gang of thieves has made a horrible, horrible mess! Just LOOK at that floor!?!

Oh, speaking of messes, I presume folks might have seen in today’s news that BP has CLOSED the USA’s largest oil field (yes. the whole thing. north slope AK), because they [JUST NOW??????!!!!!] discovered extensive corrosion in THAT kinda toobes, yah-da-yah-da-yah-da….

…Belay over there! Be so good as to hand the honorable(???) Sen. Stevens a bucket and sponge! Perhaps he would prefer a straw? Oh Howdy Guv! Nice of you to show up. Pleasure to meet ya here ’bouts. Oops! So sorry! I’m sure it’ll wear off in due time.

Yes. The price of oil is spiking as we speak..
and try not to think of caribou and snow goose babies…and all those little peeps & squeaks less obviously cuddle-able BUT no less important to the world. Don’t s’pose I need remind yee not to pine for yer neighbor with that shiny new hummer… nor that honorable senator wading in “his” self-inflicted wasteland of rapidly defrosting tundra. DAGG!NABBIT!!!

Come-ON NED!

I recently had eye surgery, so I haven’t been reading much. But last night I was indulging in one of my guilty pleasures — watching Godfather II, when I was bowled over by a speech I’d forgotten. It was said by Lee Strasberg, giving his awesome performance as Hyman Roth (aka Myer Lansky, one of the biggest mobsters of all time) and I know everyone remembers the last part (”Michael, we’re bigger than U.S. Steel!”) but I’d forgotten how the speech begins: “All we need is a man who wants to be President of the United States and enough money to make it possible.” I’d bet my house that Karl Rove knows that speech, chapter and verse!

I’m on vacation and reading:

1) The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia (Michael Gray)
2) Wicked Messenger: Bob Dylan And the 1960s (Mike Marqusee)

The first is very quirky, badly organized, lacks entries on lots and lots of songs, but worth a look because it is chock full of Dylan trivia.

The second is quite good on the politics of the 60’s and how Dylan responded to them. It’s nice to read about what people were fighting for back then.

new thread: “Programmers Wanted”

dalloway 98

I hope the eye’s mending well. Take care ;->

Good catch from Godf. II, groan. Right on target!

yer not “Darby” are ya, by any chance??

Adie @ 39

Don’t know what a paunch is but a fox is a marlinspike term meaning a braided marlin line and a seizing usually refers to a line that is tied to something to make it fast (stationary).

Christy @24,
The candidate picked to run in Ney’s stead is just awful. She ran such a nasty campaign against Terry Anderson—an unforgivable one.

Anne 7:34 pm — I understand your point, but I’ll liken it to my spouse’s situation. He’s the president of a local manufacturing firm in which we have a minor investment.

Just because he elects to do work from home once in a while doesn’t make this a company owned facility where we can hang the company shingle out front.

Ditto that so-called CEO and his excessively brushed “ranch”; this shareholder ain’t cotton to the “western White House” thang.

(cross posted from a Steve Gilliard thread)

Turning Lincoln to the Wall . . .

When FDR was elected President, African Americans said they were Turning Lincoln to the Wall. Had they turned their backs on the Great Emancipator? No — they were turning their backs on the Republican Party, because the GOP had turned it’s backs on them.

FDR was an American Aristocrat, but he did more to help poor and working class Americans than any President EVER. Even though FDR did very little on the Civil Rights front, he did what he could — African Americans appreciated that.

Joe Lieberman may have been there in the Civil Rights era, but he has long since turned his back on ordinary Americans — African Americans included.

On Tuesday, the voters of Connecticut will Turn Lieberman to the Wall . . .

I thought I saw a photo once of the western white house banner at crawford that also had the presidential seal on it. Can we say hubris?
The BP pipeline break reminded me I just read (msnbc?) about Cheney’s letter to Alaskan lawmakers urging them to “promptly” enact a bill to allow BP, Conoco, & Exxon to build massive pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to upper midwest with, surprise, surprise, huge tax breaks. The letter backfired..lawmakers said stay out of our business-so far. Would there be a connection with this pipeline break & the immediate media talk of higher gas prices? I have no idea how I have become so cynical.
Education for all is the best investment any country can make. “Compassionate” conservative are enacting laws against their own best interests. They are so disconnected from reality, they cannot see ahead to the consequences of enacting laws cutting education, anti-birth control, anti-minimum wage raises, & on & on. How ironic it is that they are rapidly increasing the numbers of americans that they have such contempt for. How they think these policies can be good for them in the long run is insane. The “compassionate” cons would reap the benefits of a better educated, better paid society but they can’t see past their tax breaks & “values” bigotry. Bad karma. It will come back to bite them but the rest of us end up suffering from their arrogant ignorance.

Hi, guys and gals! I am keeping my fingers crossed for the final dash in this race: so you still have the best wishes coming over from Italy…

Just for your info here is the price of petrol in Italy : 1.44 euros per litre for unleaded petrol, that would be … 8.4 USD per gallon ..

So now you know why we do not have lots of USA cars running around here : whoever would decide to buy something as silly as a Hummer or similar vehicle would need to be extremely dumb first of all (going throgh the historical centre of an Italian city like Florence or Rome would be impossible) but also awfully rich to keep it going…

Talking about books if I may give you an advice I am halfway through John Dean’s “Conservatives without a coscience” and it’s a interesting, if somehow chilling reading…

P.s. Lotus I have missed the “pull up a chair” post this saturday : I was out of town trekking on the mountains around here … I have spent two nights sleeping under the stars at 1800 meters over sea level and enjoing some of the most breath taking views I ever had the pleasure to lay my eyes on… Still if you want I can translate some of the receipt and post them here or in the the next “pull up” post (or send them by email you have one available..)

Any way take care all of you ! and …

Vai Ned!

TritoneS at 102

Thanks! Huh! I’d just assumed marlinspike referred to a marlin (fish) bill. My parents were deepsea fishing enthusiasts, & those marlin “spikes” (as they called them) were a common trophy item around the docks, plus they seemed likely handy for olde tyme sailors to sew & poke things with. Guess not(?)

(Don’t pounce on me folks. This was way back in the 50’s, when I was a kid, & the adults all thot marlin were plentiful, and they were, and, and,
*sniffle* Oh shoot! I wasn’t gonna do that…

Bushwacking vacation – at least Blair had the
decency to cancel his vacation.

Terry at 65

We’re obviously not anywhere near as far along as you in the series, but I’m already dreading what I’ll do when the covers of the last one are creased, sigh.

You could dive right into the extensive set of writings O’Brian and others wrote about the times, seamanship, the old-time sailing vessels . . .

Supposedly there are volumes & volumes out there. You could become an expert on exactly which sail went where & when & why, all the guns & their quirks, etc.

But you’d miss Maturin, just as we would…

Oh heck. Just start over from the beginning. I’ve seriously considered it. ;->

BTW

Believe it or not I have a client in the Original Western White House(surfers cursed it)

Off Christianitos in San Clemente(Cottons)

:)

Doh I mean OWWH’s niehborhood…..

Doh it’s been a long night Peace out good luck….la dee da

;)

Diane and others.

Would you rather Jr. be supervising the digging of a perch pond on the south lawn?

Maybe we should be thankful for small favors.

Besides, you know he’s not running the show. He doesn’t even pretend any more.

I wonder how the mosquitoes are in AK right now. Maybe they could send him up to Prudhoe with a mop & bucket. Just don’t give him a hammer. Saw him pretending to be JimmyCarter awhile back, and he doesn’t have a clue which end is which. GAWDamighty what an awful mess!

C’mon Ned!

Rayne – sometimes I wonder if, before Bush arrives at Crawford, he has people truck in some brush for him to cut…

Yesterday morning, Stephanopolous introduced the segment with Condi by stating something like, “joing us from Crawford, where she spent the night, is Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.” My response…? “So, Condi, how did George sleep? Was he “glad to see you” or was that just some brush under the covers?”

Hi there, kimba! Ooo, your trekking weekend must have been marvelous.

Please do post some recipes on future Pull Up A Chairs — not that I wouldn’t love to have them all to myself via email, mind you, but then everybody’d be mad at me.

Anyhow, great to have you back with us to share these pre-balloting nerves!

been readin’ Hebrews 7, upon the advice of a spiritual friend.

now i’m thinking; if the fundies could go back and read this, truly fundamental old-testament/torah stuff, and leave the revelations alone again for awhile? May be as peaceful as bible study!

at least, reading this has inspired me to stop trying so hard to change the world…

Terry in Maryland:
By blocking support for folks to go to college, are they trying to force a higher number of them to enlist?

Whether it’s a conscious plan or just another indication of how the GOP faithful regard the plebes, I’d call that a pretty good guess. There seems to be an endless lust for war with this crowd, and they’re stuck as far as instituting a draft is concerned. Sure as hell it isn’t going to be
their precious little poppets signing up to die.

Today I realized that Anne Couter is the right wing Howard Stern, in fact she could actually be Howard Stern and visa versa…

tall, long hair, greasy/obnoxious pallor, borderline Touretts syndrom differing only in political perspective….

I think this would make a great Daily Show or Saturday Night live skit…

has anyone seen the two of them together at the same time?

Ooh, goody, a whatcha reading thread.

I’m reading Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami. Just picked it up, along with Never Let You Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Remains of the Day), and Cloud of Sparrows by Takashi Matsuoka. Oh, and a collection of short stories by Yasunari Kawabata.

I’d never read any Japanese lit before, but I’m pleased with what I’ve read, so far. It’s not the same old formulaic plot, characters and word choices that we get over here. I’m quite easily bored with most books these days (the writer’s curse), but Murakami is holding my attention.

Christy Hardin Smith @
46

Okay, MSNBC has officially pissed me off this morning. They are referring to George Bush’s vacation home as “The Western White House” while he’s giving his address and press conference (or whatever the hell he’s doing this morning). I have had it with MSNBC trying to cover his butt. He is on vacation, on his family estate in Texas. It is not “The Western White House.” I know it’s just nitpicky semantics — but language is important, and with this language, they are trying to give him cover for his almost-month-long-vacation again this year. Wankers.

You talkin’ ’bout The Pig Farm, Redd? That’s what we call The Crawford Ranchette at our house!

Hi everybody and thanks for asking, cbl! I am visiting my family in Va. and absorbing their love and wisdom and have been almost too busy to even lurk! I really don’t know if I will ever catch up on all the threads. *sigh* Kudos to Howie and Tommy Yum for the fantastic song that is playing in me sore head– what a gift.

GO NED!

Mommybrain @
68

Summer reading – Conservatives without a Conscience – Dean doesn’t much like his bretheren – and Raven’s Exile, about rafting the canyon lands we head for in a week. Lovely bits of geology mixed with philosophy and beautiful terrain. She writes very well.

GO NED!

Oh, BTW, that push poll story I’ve been pushing since the CA primary? Looks like just that, a story. No one has come forward to say they received one in spite of emails to all Dems in the district by those checking into it. Shit. That means someone I know made it up. Shit. Politics ain’t beanbag by a long shot.

Hey, mommybrain, that’s what the blogtopia (tm skippy) is really for — wrassling down rumors and exposing them as fact or fiction. Your role in this was just as it should be — keeping the story alive and in front of people who could find out whether it was true OR NOT. Onward!

Sticky @43:

Another poet you might want to read (if you’re not already) is Ginger Andrews, who runs a house cleaning business with her sisters.

I came across several of her books — An Honest Answer and Hurricane Sisters — at Port in the Storm book store in Somesville, Maine on vacation in June.

Here’s a short poem from Hurricane Sisters:

COMMUNICATION

I refuse to come right out and tell you
that I feel old, unattractive, unappreciated,
and flat-out taken advantage of.
Instead, I ask, do you ever feel
really, really selfish? And you say,
All the time.

Another thing I’m reading — the price o’gas at the pump. A very expensive fillup this morning and looks like it’ll go much higher. Isn’t it an amazing coincidence that last week there was some reporting about Cheney trying to strongarm the Alaska lege ? And now BP shuts down its pipeline? Coincidence? Hmmmm.

There’d be fewer question marks in this comment if the media would actually be capable of multi-tasking enough to report on more than one issue at a time. I only heard a quick mention in passing and so I’m not sure myself of the exact details of the Cheney thing.

Once upon a time the news networks actually did practice real journalism instead of pundit-opining and I would have believed it would have been worth my time to try to research this further with actual expectation of learning facts.

Now, not so much.

Go, Nednuts!

New thread — or two. *g*

Ironranger 106–just scrolled back to catch up on comments. Like minds!

No time to read much lately, but I have lots of books piled up waiting for the right time and mood.

For those of you who like Patrick O’Brian and/or Hornblower you might want to find a biography or two about Thomas Cochrane, the real life ship’s captain who was the inspiration for both.

Fascinating and a ripping yarn!

nobody at 116

I look fwd to you taking a notion to change that name one a these days, but then I’m pushy sometimes, so ignore me at will.

Put your feet up, dive into that reading and savor it. Relax. Recover. Recoup.

You sound like such a giving person, you’ve earned that at the very least.

If you lurk much around FDL, you already know.
It’s a caring community of involved people.

When you need to sit and read and ponder, do so, and rest assured there are plenty of others here to take over the load for awhile. We take turns here in an easy, free-wheeling sorta way, and try to support eachother.

Nobody dictates. It just works.

(((((peace)))))

“Well, I’m listening to local church bells. This morning’s selection is “The First Noel”. Now that might strike some people as odd, seeing as how it’s August and all.

Welcome to my world.” jayt @58

jayt – maybe you’re in a wormhole that alters the space time continuum. Can you tell us if Ned wins the primary? And what happens in November? (haha)

I’m [trying to] read the horrific latest on this shameful ‘Iraqi girl rape & murder,’ without weeping too hysterically. Though that’s much easier said than done.

JF@74: “Will someone please explain to me the difference between “sectarian violence” and “civil war” and how will we know when “sectarian violence” becomes “civil war”?

JF, I’m assuming what’s behind your question is frustration. I watched the hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee with Generals Abizaid, Pace, and Rumsfeld. There was an exchange between McCain and Pace that went something like this: McCain: Did you anticipate civil war a year ago? Long pause. Pace: No, sir. I got a sense that admitting there’s a civil war would get the generals in trouble with Rumsfeld. And think of it, the administration and the Pentagon don’t want the public to know the true state of affairs in Iraq. The $433 stated costs so far to US taxpayers, the thousands of young men and women dead, the thousands wounded requiring a lifetime of medical care which the $433 doesn’t cover, the GWB’s failed foreign policy. The Administration would have to admit failure and we know their history on that score.

But, something interesting was the statement by John Warner that congress may have to reevaluate its resolution authorizing the war. I interpret this as meaning that congress did not sign on for US soldiers to take on civil war in Iraq and that at least some Republicans are signaling to the White House that they are considering withdrawal of US troops.