For those of you that have admired Molly Ivins over the years, her old favorite Texas Observer
has a stunning article on an honorable man who killed himself in Iraq.

http://www.texasobserver.org/index.php

Let the deprogramming begin!

I’ve got to run to the bookstore and start my bibliotherapy. Maybe I’ll be brave enough to leave them laying around in plain view!

Cheers!

Am popping back in for just a second, but I can’t leave before extending a hearty welcome to you here at the Lake. It’s a great place, and we are always happy to see new folks like yourself take part in our conversations, enlivening the joint with your own experiences and ideas.

Don’t feel “way behind”! It’s never too late to have your eyes opened to the extent to which our democracy’s been undermined, and everyone here will be happy to fill you in on any details you might have missed, or suggest good links for solid information.

You have a perspective as the “recovering adult child of a Rush lovin’ National Review spewin’ wingnut” which will be valuable in the years to come — in our long-term marathon battle to unite the country around a commitment to the original values of our Founders, and the Constitution we love. You can help us understand what will be necessary to open the eyes of others who are still blind.

Looking forward to hearing more from you in the days to come!

Oh, and one more thing — I second the emotion about Joe Wilson. Mr. K8 and I had the pleasure of meeting the man and chatting with him for a good bit. He’s just as dreamy in person! Sigh.

;-)

I will definitely read this book! I was left unfulfilled by Haynes Johnson’s Age of Anxiety although I much appreciated the resurrection of the Red Scare spector.

Stephen Colbert has to be doing a happy dance about the bee story. Fewer bees, less honey. Less honey, fewer bears!…

Final note: I just saw a bumper sticker I might actually put on my car: “IF you are not outraged, you are not paying attention.” I know I am way behind the bloggers here, but I think I have a valid Oprah worthy excuse: I am the recovering adult child of a Rush lovin’ National Review spewin’ wingnut.

Yours newly and truly, dosido (named in honor of another Joe…Lieberman.)

I know this is totally irrelevant but Joe Conason has the dreamiest voice.

He does!!!! And he’s a really nice guy. Saw him here in DC last week @ a book signing.

I recommend his book for those “family & friends” who need a primer re Bush & Iraq. It’s very readable & well-organized. Also, the comparison to the Sinclair Lewis book that inspired him is uncanny.

Go, buy the book.

Review of the original by the Boston Globe

Picture this: A folksy, self consciously plainspoken Southern politician rises to power during a period of profound unrest in America. The nation is facing one of the half-dozen or so of its worst crises to date, and the people, once sunny, confident, and striving, are now scared, angry and disillusioned.

This politician, a ‘Professional Common Man’, executes his rise by relentlessly attacking the liberal media, fancy-talking intellectuals, shiftless progressives, pinkos, promiscuity, and welfare hangers-on, all the while clamoring for a return to the pie-scented days of old when things made sense and Americans were indisputably American. He speaks almost entirely in ‘noble but slippery abstractions’ – Liberty, Freedom, Equality – and people love him, even if they can’t fully articulate why without resorting to abstractions themselves.

Through a combination of factors – his easy bearing chief among them (along with massive cash donations from big business; disorganization in the liberal opposition; a stuffy aloof opponent; and support from religious fanatics who feel they’ve been unfairly marginalized) he wins the presidential election.

Once in, he appoints his friends and political advisors to high level positions, stocks the Supreme Court with ’surprisingly unknown lawyers who called [him] by his first name.’ declaws Congress, allows big business to dictate policy, consolidates the media, and fills newspapers with ’syndicated gossip from Hollywood.’ Carping newspapermen worry that America is moving backward …

Given the nature of ‘powerful and secret enemies’ of America – who are ‘planning their last charge’ to take away our freedom – an indefinite state of crisis is declared, and that freedom is stowed away for safekeeping. When the threat passes, we can have it back, but in the meantime, citizens are asked to ‘bear with’ the president.

Sure, some say the methods are extreme, but the plain folks are tired of ‘wishy-washy’ leaders, and feel the president’s decisiveness is its own excuse. Besides, as one man says, a fascist dictatorship ‘couldn’t happen here in America … were a country of freemen!”

peterdownunder, you slay me