Rain is pouring down in massive quantities outside my window as I type this. The unsettled environment rather matches the unsettled news cycle today:
– Check out Glenn Greenwald on how the mainstream press and certain politicians are drumming up this insane McCarthyesque hysteria against Iran’s largely ceremonial president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, who they make out to be this grand dictatorial mastermind when in fact he’s not much more than a figurehead. But of course such considerations are as nothing when our great and wise leaders of the PNAC Platoon have decided that they want to bomb Iran, even if it means causing the Shiites next door in Iraq to break their years-long truce against attacking Americans. (Yes, kiddies: Most of the attacks against US troops in Iraq are being done by Iraqi Sunnis, not Iraqi Shia and certainly not, despite the media’s constant regurging of Bush propaganda, Al Qaeda. If the Iraqi Shiites see their fellow Shia next door in Iran get bombed by us, do you think they’ll still refrain from attacking our troops?)
– Looks like Michael Mukasey might not be waved through into Alberto Gonzales’ old chair without an actual vetting: Patrick Leahy has some questions he’d like answered about Mukasey’s handling of post-9/11 terror trials.
– Meanwhile, here in Minnesota, Land of Falling Bridges, Stingy Republicans, and a Transportation Department so starved for cash that its own headquarters is falling apart, the torrential rains outside my window remind me of the special session that Tim Pawlenty said would take care of the needs of the people in southeastern Minnesota whose homes, businesses and towns were washed away last month. Except, of course, that when the cameras went away, Smilin’ Tim does what he always does to anyone not rich enough to be a major GOP donor or otherwise hurt him in any way: He screwed them. (Remember, this guy wants to be your next vice president. Keep track of what he does.)
– One of Minnesota’s top Republicans, Dick Day, thinks he can take out Tim Walz by cuddling up to that charming group of racist ding-dongs, the Minutemen. Don’t know if that’ll fly in Walz’ district — Gil Guteknecht lost his seat to Walz last year doing similar appeals to racism — but it might work with the administrators of the Turner School District in Kansas City, where one student was beaten up for speaking Spanish (the school’s officials are calling the incident “a mutual fight”), and where two years earlier another student was suspended after a teacher heard him speaking in Spanish (h/t TexBetsy).
So what’s your Monday looking like?
Related posts:
- Changing of the Guard: US Troops Withdraw from Iraqi Cities; Maliki Declares “Sovereignty Day”
- Morning Swim: Monday Already
- US Contractors Held in Iraqi Jail for Green Zone Murder
- Cash for Clunkers Ends Monday Night After Triggering 700,000 Sales
- Richard Trumka of AFL-CIO on FDL to Talk Health Care, Monday, August 24, at 4pm ET
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1
PW!
sadly yes
Phoenix Woman!
Proud to be a supporter of Tim Walz in ‘06 and again in ‘08.
the media will bring down America
Why put hope in Leahy?
Because there is no one else?
Because we need to work with what we got?
I didn’t even like Olbermann’s characterization of the Ahmedinejad visit.
One glimmer of hope, PW, Mukasey will be scrutinized…!!! 8-)
What does the Republican Party and Iran have in common?
Neither of them has homosexuals, that they know of.
-GSD
C&L has this up:
Shuster to Rep. Blackburn: “When was the last time a New York Times ad ever killed somebody?”
link
Jonathan @ 6
Because we live in the world of IF and the world of magical thinking. It’s all we have.
GSD @ 9
Heh, both have the same tolerance…!!! ;-)
Dang, PW.
So Much Stuff you bring up.
Thanks. You cut to the chase.
(I must say, tho, I do like P. Leahy. I think he does have the cojones that others lack.)
And, I wouldn’t worry about Smilin’ Tim. He’d have to find a candidate who will win.)
egregious @ 4
Hello, Egregious!
Dick Day’s going to be in for a big surprise if he thinks bashing brown people will win him Walz’ seat.
r.e. our pals from PNAC
from Rulers and Ruled in The U.S. Empire by James Petras,
reviewed by Sherwood Ross at Counterpunch.
Greenwald yesterday excoriated most Congressional (D)’s check it out while you are over there reading about the kerfluffle at Columbia.
A while back the seriously brilliant (and hopelessly adorable) Reza Aslan made the point that when Khatami was president of Iran, calling for dialogue, the US establishment ignored him. Because we all know the President of Iran is essentially a figurehead who doesn’t decide policy. The Mullahs do. When Ahmadinejad says controversial things, the US establishment goes nuts, treating him an existential threat…
Jonathan @ 6
Frankly, Bush isn’t going to nominate the second coming of Louis Brandeis. But that doesn’t mean anyone should be waved through.
JPL @ 11
No, because I live in the world that my 3 children and 17 nieces and nephews will inherit. I love them deeply and work on their behalf, expecting not very much change for myself. The people we support in Congress are human and therefore not perfect, even if we had consensus about what constitutes being perfect.
We can hold people accountable, yes, but if we demand that all of our saints do exactly what we say they must or else be exiled from the Good List, we will end up with so little power as to be an asterisk in history. I am vastly more interested in changing things for the better, and that’s going to be messy. Join me.
Wow, Rachel Maddow said: “I’ve always loved Pat(Buchanan)!” 8-)
Some people may or may not be starting to refer to Washington as Little Israel.
(snip)
First a neo-Nazi Web site posted the names, addresses and phone numbers of some of the six black teenagers and their families at the center of the Jena 6 case and urged followers to find them and “drag them out of the house,” prompting an investigation by the FBI.
Then the leader of a white supremacist group in Mississippi published interviews that he conducted with the mayor of Jena and the white teenager who was attacked and beaten, allegedly by the six black youths. In those interviews, the mayor, Murphy McMillin, praised efforts by pro-white groups to organize counterdemonstrations; the teenager, Justin Barker, urged white readers to “realize what is going on, speak up and speak their mind.
(snip)
link
The Mayor of Jena praised the “efforts of pro-white” groups. Jeebus!
Dan Abrams seriously misreporting the NYT/MoveOn ad controversy.
I guess he thinks it’s OK since he calls the segment “My Take.”
Anybody watching Ken Burn’s “The War”….???? Lots of interesting background to our life experience now…can be found there….
Women, were extraordinarily powerful and capable during the “military-industrial complex” push for war, at the time…..super technologically capable….then….women built the airplanes, etc.
How come in the 50’s, women were re-defined by media as Beaver’s mother???…in the 60’s as promiscuous and power hungry (women’s lib), in the 70’s women were defined as “self-centered and obsessed big hair”…in the 80’s…defined as the “self-absorbed and the me generation”…in the 90’s women were defined as, I dunno…”invisible?” or “baby killers…like the woman who drove her kids into the lake” or promiscuous as in Mary Kay Letourneau…baby boy rapers…and now????? Women are associated with an obsession with ….Brittany Spears, Anna Nicole smith….weight…wrinkles…incompetent mothers…this is, to me, disgraceful and alarming. Biatches!! This ain’t right!!!
GSD @ 9
707!!
Abrams said NYT gave MoveOn the rate it did “because MoveOn is a liberal group.”
I wonder if he will acknowledge that while MoveOn paid the difference when it found out it may have underpaid, Rudy G got the lesser rate for an ad and REFUSES to make up the difference.
egregious,
It appears to me you think the system is broken and can be fixed.
I may be wrong in this assessment.
I believe we are at a point where the U.S. experiment has run its course and thoughtful individuals need to discuss what’s next.
Steve-AR @ 20
Interestingly, Barker was released that night from the hospital so he could attend a school function and was subsequently expelled for bringing a shotgun onto school grounds thirty days later… Hmmm… WTF!!!
Geese, Phoenix Woman! Thank you for calling out the R word. (Out of vogue, into vogue.)
I’m already upset about the Jena Six because I know this part of the world too, too well. Some families still have their grandfather’s KKK sheet and hood in the attic. Seriously.
Here I am in beautiful California living in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I just returned from Mt Rose and before going home from the long drive, I stopped at my favorite little deli for a take-out sandwich and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a white pick-up with a couple of guys driving hell-bent-for-leather through the driveway sporting two large flags. On the left was the Stars and Stripes and on the right was the Confederate flag.
My southern roots knows what this means. They were shouting which I took to be California’s version of the Rebel Yell. So there you have. The Jena Six unpeeled California. Give people the opportunity and they will show their true colors.
I believe we are at a point where the U.S. experiment has run its course and thoughtful individuals need to discuss what’s next.
Hmmm, I’m not sure what you mean. Please continue your thought.
Jonathan @ 25
We’ve got a chance to set things right. Let’s give it all we’ve got. And I bow to no one in pessimism about the current situation. One of these days you guys are ask me for links to stuff :)
egregious @ 30
Hear! Here! (solves the problem of which word it is) *g*
demi @ 28
The U.S. always has been an ongoing experiment.
Supposedly in democracy.
But really in the exploitation of free resources.
All of that is coming to an end.
Real Kristofferson, cute video of “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”
Japandrew @ 15
Exactly. It’s because they’re looking for a pretext to attack Iran, even though it would mean the end of the unofficial (but no less real) semi-truce the Shia have towards us (but which we don’t have towards them). This semi-truce is the main reason our troops haven’t been cut to ribbons. Yet.
Jonathan @ 25
Dang, Jon, ya seriously need to shed your luddite views and actually watch some TV, there are a lot of rational discourse out there! The system is broken but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater…!!!
How about throwing the Bush out with the Blackwater?
-GSD
GSD @ 36
lmao!
Egregious, I think that the FDL group will give it all we’ve got. My concern has to do with MSM talking about Move-on rather than missing nukes. Even though at times we sound like defeatists we’ll continue the good fight.
GSD @ 35
707!
LS @ 22
Yup. (And I’m proud to say that most of the best footage and stories in that series was done by the good citizens of Rock County, Minnesota.)
Jonathan @ 26
From a 1947 speech in the House of Commons by Winston Churchill:
“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”
I’m with Winston.
CT at 34
I used to watch TV. a lot.
Feel cleaner now, not having watched it for 2 years.
It’s an addiction.
How can I get through the day without watching Tweety or KO?
I’m not critical.
Just expressing my own feelings.
JPL @ 37
That’s why we’re here — to talk about the stuff the MSM won’t talk about. Pass it on to your rellies and friends. Widen the conversation.
Phoenix Woman @ 39
I beg to differ, wait till you see Sen. Inouye’s interview about the War…!!! 8-)
Phoenix Woman, thank you for the meaty post!
I savor these.
Shorter Repugs: “We are the American War Party. Come party with us!”
Jonathan @ 26
“racist ding-dong minutemen” aside, I think our problems can be addressed, if only we can find a charismatic, intelligent and decent leader (or leaders) to help bring people together to do so.. but the window is closing very quicky, with strategic competitors like India and China poised to make our American dream a satellite of their own, very legitimate ambitions, and with the one hundred trillion ton bogeyman of climate change out there to humble us all. Unless we move quickly to clean up the mess that shrub made, and to utterly obliterate, say by the end of the 1st half of 2009, his legacy of bad legislation, bad decisions and un-American brutality and meanness, I fear that you can pretty much stick a fork into our collective dreams. ..and of course, if that happens and all else fails, there’s always still hope for our great state of California to become something more than a state :)…
More Sir Winston, from memory: :
“One can always count on America to do the right thing, after they’ve tried everything else.”
I’m part of the this is a marathon crowd.
I’m also a fond believer of better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
Although I do a lot more cursing lately.
We are not the only nation that exloits free resources.
All is not lost, I believe. But, we must stay vigilant.
Smile. Sometimes it helps.
QuakerGirl @ 28
People might be surprised, but there are plenty of red-necks in NoCal.
One is too many
Do you live in Doolittle’s distict or Lungren’s? I’m in Lungren’s (Grrrrr)
PS when I come back from Tahoe I usually stop to get some food in Cisco Grove or Colfax
CTuttle @ 35
That is right. Fight on! We are not stupid. “They” whoever “They” are… are floating to the surface…slowly..albeit..but coming to light…on bubble at a time…There are more people on earth who want peace..rather than chaos, death, and war. The narrative fed by the media…keep searching for truth.
demi @ 49
Thank you. Like a cascade of cool, clear, water.
Peterr at 40
I respect your views.
My thought, FWIW, is that the U.S., as an experiment, has run its course.
And that thoughtful people should begin considering what’s next.
LS @ 51
I lived in Minnesota for the first twelve years of my life. Barrett, Blackduck, and Bemidji. I’ll never forget the walks along the lakes. The ice sculptures all lit up in people’s front yards at Christmastime. The respect for the earth and growing good food, and later canning it. The freezing cold, the mosquitos too, but the really good people and the safe feeling, knowing that people watched out for each other.
I love Minnesota, and I’m pissed off that the Rove machine has infected my home state to this degree.
Will Al Franken get the seat?
Jonathan @ 41
I understand, I was brought up with very limited TV access, Hardball and KO aren’t necessarily the best, but, I refuse to limit my intel because of a worry of a debasing of my morals… I’m comfortable living in my own skin…!!! *g*
We are in a war. It is the Global War for Truth. (GWFT).
I’ll tell you something exciting about my Monday (well, actually, ALL of our Monday): At 11pm pacific time last nite, BlueAmerica2008 was at $95,918. As of now (6:30pm pacific time) Blue America2008 is at $98,879.
We have added almost three thousand dollars in less than 19 hours to candidates’ accounts at a critical time: the last week of September, when another FEC quarterly reporting period closes.
Additionally, BlueAmerica2008 is only $1,121 away from crossing $100,000. I’m pretty sure we can cross it in the next four and a half hours. If you plan to contribute, and have some spare change right about now – right about now would be a great time to choose a candidate or more than one candidate (or the BlueAmerica PAC) and put some money in the till.
I got this rolling last nite with a donation to the BlueAmericaPAC that took us over $96,000, and had no idea it would steamroll so quickly. Please join me in supporting a BlueAmerica candidate tonight. Thanks!~
Your regular blogthread will now resume after this commercial interruption….
Jonathan @ 53
So how do you describe the results of the experiment? A failure? 300 years of Enlightenment thinking, and fertile ground for progressive thought, a failure? A place that, no matter how messed up, has always provided a mechanism for fixing things, a failure? 231 years of peaceful transitions of power, but it’s a failure? What IS next, in your view?
The goods far outweigh the bads. You only lose when you quit fighting.
sadly yes @ 5
the America the media is bringing down is one of it’s own invention.
a chimera.
the USA existing by virtue of it’s constitution,under attack by parties seeking power over and the degradation
of the people,is in a process of renewal.brought about by(of all people)the lawyers holding true to the laws of your constitution and the mass communication brought about by this blogging phenomenon.
imvho
we are witnessing these lawyers finest hours.
as for the bloggers–
wait til you have in your sights,
their lies.
be true to your cool.
We have family serving in the Army in Iraq. We want them home now.
AP – Army snipers hunting insurgents in Iraq were under orders to “bait” their targets with suspicious materials, such as detonation cords, and then kill whoever picked up the items, according to the defense attorney for a soldier accused of planting evidence on an Iraqi he killed. Gary Myers, an attorney for Sgt. Evan Vela, said Monday his client had acted “pursuant to orders.”
RonD @ 57
The U.S. represents a form of social organization.
As a form, It has worked splendidly, because Enlightenment ideas were ideally suited to a largely empty continent filled with resources.
I could go on, but that game is over.
That’s why I suggest thoughtful persons look to the future.
Tornadoes strike UK amid freak storms
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weat…..58,00.html
Please don’t tell me everything is normal. Mr. Gore, Mother Earth needs you.
Mad Dogs @ 46
er,
There is one War Party, with two branches.
The (D)’s are now trying to use faux opposition to Bush’s current failed war as a wedge issue.
But if you heed their belligerent statements against the Next Evil Hitler, and note above where so much of their financial support comes from, you see that they are not in the slightest opposed to exerting military hegemony per se, they have some minor tactical issues, and are cynically posing as antiwar on the advice of their pollsters.
97-0 in the Senate, the Lieberman Sense of the Senate resolution paving the way for the next insane, criminal act of aggression, fully bi-partisan. How you like them apples?
Jonathan said,
“That’s why I suggest thoughtful persons look to the future.”
Not to be argumentative at all, I would like to hear some of your ideas about the future.
Hi all.
PW, you sure you want to ‘borrow’ Driftglasses handle?
Check out the new David Gilmour DVD everyone. It is sweet.
Will peace ever break out?
egregious @ 4
Walz voted to give Bush more spying powers on the FISA changes. I’m not so sure anymore that he’s a good guy.
Jonathan @ 26
Jonathan: I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that you’re Caucasian. I’m not saying that to criticize you; I’m Caucasian, too. It’s an observation.
The reason I’m making that guess is because it’s the Caucasian progresssives and liberals who are usually the ones who’ve been saying, at each setback of the past seven-odd years, that America can’t come back.
Meanwhile, the non-white bloggers I’d been reading — most especially the late great Steve Gilliard — were saying things like “Oh, come on! You talk about losing habeas corpus? Habeas corpus applied only to white people until the 1960s. We’ve been worse off than this before — and non-white Americans much worse off than whites — and we’ve come back from it.”
Then again, there’s this tendency among people, the farther left one goes, to reject politics in general and democracy in particular (the true ideological Communists see it as but a way station on the road to the workers’ paradise), whereas the far-righties despise democracy even more, but take great pleasure out of manipulating it for their own ends and are much more likely to stick by the Republicans than far-lefties are to stick with the Democrats. (The best recent evidence of this appeared in 2000, when Ralph Nader, running to Gore’s left, pulled seven times as many votes as did Pat Buchanan did running to Bush’s right.)
I thought that Columbia University President displayed the most appallingly bad manners I’ve ever seen from a public figure in a very long time. Why make such an ass of yourself in a public forum, except for the attendant publicity?
I believe the Iranian got the better of him.
sadly yes @ 5
But they won’t report it. They won’t notice it.
TeddySanFran @ 58
Woo hoo!
That’s why I suggest thoughtful persons look to the future.
neurophius @ 63
I don’t know how to create the future.
But I think I know some ingredients.
In HS: at least
4 years of English
2 years of math
2 years of science (including biology)
4 years of physical education
PW — thanks for letting me drop that commercial interruption into this thoughtful thread….
(The best recent evidence of this appeared in 2000, when Ralph Nader, running to Gore’s left, pulled seven times as many votes as did Pat Buchanan did running to Bush’s right.)
I love it when PW lights a candle.
Let it shine….
Jonathan @ 60
the legacy of the enlightenment is a
resourse.
the freedom of thought not just permitted but encouraged by your constitution is a resourse.
the creativity of your society is a resourse.
the availability of material assets is moot.
the USA stands or ceases to exist by virtue of the sovereignty of its constitution.
$12,000,000,000 per month on war. That we know about.
PW at 67
I’m a white guy, divorced, 1 daughter, 61 years old. Etc. Etc.
My point is not to give up.
But to direct one’s energies.
Blub @ 47
While we are all waiting for that ‘charismatic, intelligent and decent leader’ …
Where will we find such people?
Consider that right here at FDL, genuine leadership is evidenced in mutual education and a shared commitment to ‘helping it along…’
Leadership is here. Recognition is not.
Necessity is the Mother and genuine ‘leadership’ is simply and honestly responding – doing what is necessary – without hope of perks, fame or grand comfort.
You know,’blood, sweat and tears …’
Jonathan’s point is very well taken – what do we want next? And what are we prepared to do or sacrifice to get ‘there’?
Politically and economically we are pretty well-screwed.
What do you all think.
The leadership paradigm of ‘greatness’ manifest in the one or the few has brought us to this point. What is next?
Jonathan @ 73
I agree, except the PE part. Fuck PE.
I got PE credit for being in the Band.
Yeah!
PW @ 68
it is true they may despise democracy, but one of the reasons the (R) party has been dragged so far out onto the fringes of the lunatic right is because they don not automatically stick to the (R)’s out of some sense of obligation to vote for the least worst, no matter what.
see for example :
they (R)’s know the fundy leaders can and will tell their sheeple to sit this one out if neccesary, and it gives them leverage.
Most of the left unfortunately refuses to use what little leverage they have with the bought and paid for Washington (D)’s.
My Monday went quite well. I gave a test to one of my high school classes, and said afterward, this test will not be graded. The kids were happy as clams.
TeddySanFran @ 70
Because of NY state assemblyman Sheldon Silver and the other raving loony tunes threatening to pull Columbia’s funding for daring to invite Ahmedinejad in the first place.
snip from the Guardian:
The White House also announced Monday that first lady Laura Bush is traveling to the Mideast in October. Her country itinerary was not released, but White House press secretary Dana Perino said one purpose of her travels is “to promote U.S. public diplomacy.”
snip
I wonder if she will get what Pelosi got?
“Meanwhile, here in Minnesota, Land of Falling Bridges, Stingy Republicans, and a Transportation Department so starved for cash that its own headquarters is falling apart, the torrential rains outside my window remind me of the special session that Tim Pawlenty said would take care of the needs of the people in southeastern Minnesota whose homes, businesses and towns were washed away last month.”
The only thing that surprises me these days, is that similar disasters haven’t befallen other states, similarly beset by Republican wingnut hatred of state governments and any public organization that actually invests in something so trivial as a nation’s infrastructure. Oh, wait, we still have thousands of other bridges to choose from.
Seriously, the “in” word among my old friends and colleagues these days, especially the well-educated professional types, is “emigration.” Considering that the dollar will probably soon be worth a lot less than those crisp blue $100 bills used while playing Monopoly, seems like all the smart and entrepreneurial types around me are buying up software packages to learn French, Dutch, Italian or particularly German, getting set up in a nice job in the Eurozone, and emigrating to raise their kids there. (Nobody wants to go to the UK, or even to Canada or Australia– the UK in particular has its own infrastructure and super-debt problems.)
I can’t say I blame them. In a place like Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands or Italy, they get to have a job with hours and benefits that actually have some relation to the needs of real human beings, plus they have public schools that are actually funded and teach their kids, they have good infrastructure, and most of all, they get a salary paid out in Euros.
That alone is enough to make me look longingly at some flat in Brussels or Stuttgart for my next few working years. Certainly beats the mess and the useless currency we have back here.
TeddySanFran @ 69
I actually think Bollinger was on the money… I just want to know that he’d subject shrub (as opposed to Iran-shrub) to the same treatment if the latter condescended to speak at Columbia (incredibly unlikely). “Mr. President, you are a pathetic liar, the worst president this country has ever seen. How would you recommend that your successor repair your catastrophic legacy?”
Abrams made an ass of himself tonight re the Moveon ad. Dems should stop running away from this. After all the crap the repigs have put out with no apology ever, even after it is proven to be crap the dems are still collapsing at the first sign of trouble. Witness Hillary, Levin and others. Stand up and challenge them to prove betray us is not just another hack general who would be spending more time with his family if he didn’t deliver. Did anybody notice the 4th star
Do we have to wait for his memoirs to realize we are being had again? Stand up fools!!!
TeddySanFran @ 70
I totally agree.
Then I read that Duncan Hunter is threatening to cut off all funds to Columbia for allowing Ahmadinejad to speak there. And my first thought was that that was the explanation for the rudeness. The U. President must have been threatened with retaliation unless he gave such an intro.
I’m becoming disgusted with my country.
ccmask @ 85
c’mon! you’re making this up
Elliott @ 90
Would I kid you? It was hidden in one of the paragraphs in the bigger story. I guess the Logan Act doesn’t apply here because she gets the boss’ okay.
And then there’s this: My principal dropped by my house after school today and said he had only one question. He said: kiddo, why can’t you behave? I told him it was my environment. He laughed and left.
TeddySanFran @ 74
I’d say that BlueAmerica is anything but an interruption on this thread. It’s part of a new approach to progressive politics, aimed at bypassing the mainstream press (item 1 in PW’s post), searching for candidates willing to hold executive branch officials accountable for their actions (item 2), and helping them to run against and defeat the corporate hacks and racist thugs that seem to be so prevalent on the GOP roster of candidates (items 3-4, and a lot of other items not mentioned in the post).
To me, BlueAmerica is the logical extension of this thread.
sporkovat @ 82 — Dobson’s just one leader, and not the most powerful (his own power’s been waning as his core audience ages with him; he’s 71 and most of his flock’s nearly as old).
Besides, in 2000 the religious righties were making similar whines about Bush (whose father was a Rockefeller Republican in that he supported Planned Parenthood and other socially liberal groups), but it came to crunch time they lined up behind him. As I’ve already mentioned, Nader pulled in seven times as many votes as Buchanan did that year.
My monday was fine- won a golf match against goopers.
solai @ 89
…this from the man who plans to leave his congressional seat to his son, as some kind of feudal fiefdom (I guess that’s one way to keep his skeletons in the closet).
btw Rep. Hunter, since we’re on the subject ot higher education and your criticism of Columbia, where did you actually get that college degree before you enrolled at the first-rate Western University Jefferson School of Law? Did you get that BA in the three months you spent surfing at UCSB before you allegedly dropped out? Boy, you must be a fricking genius.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weat…..58,00.html
Scratch #97.
This instead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7KrlDZ5Hkw
Would love to see the Hunter the younger fuck up big time on his way to congress…perhaps sex with eels in a public restroom.
RonD @ 47
Good one, RonD! We’ve tried a man (corporation) who failed to show up at the earth summit today. Just imagine! The form of government we have/don’t have won’t matter a lick if the earth is ruined beyond repair, will it? Un-freaking-believable.
Loo Hoo. @ 100
*sigh*
RW! I was just going to congratulate you on the golf game.
But, Eels?
There’s womens here.
Yuck.
rwcole @ 99
Yum. Eeels. Sushi!
Lahoma tells me she likes Al Gore.
I’d pay to read that Police report…
Jonathan;
What ‘vision’ do you think possible?
We cannot go back, there is no ‘back.’
We can only move forward. What will the
future look like?
That is the most profound question of
our time. Or of any time.
Perhaps I am wrong, but that is what you are asking people to consider, I believe.
PW
and he has delivered to them in spades, though it is true they are always clamoring for more.
somewhat of a tangent, and I don’t have a link handy, but there are those who think Buchanan was never an ‘ex’ Republican, but was sent out to torpedo the Reform Party, which he did admirably.
demi @ 102
I’m having trouble with the golf part
of course I don’t have the patience for it, I’d have to buy new clubs everytime I went out! ;)
New clubs evertime I went out!
har de har har
good one.
prolly me too.
john in sacramento @ 50
Hello John – Sorry for the delayed response but I stopped for dinner. True confession – I am still registered to vote in Nevada where I deal with two Repugs and one democrat, sort of, Harry Reid. I used to live in Nevada full time now I just spend time in both places. I think Nevada needs my vote more.
I’ve stopped in Colfax also for a bite. This incident happened in Roseville near my home. Most of the people I meet here are pretty Liberal and express concern over healthcare and lack there of. Maybe I just bump into my own kind so I am deluded into thinking there are lots of Liberals here.
nonplussed @ 105
I’m not so sure the Eels would like that. (youtube)
PW-another excellent post. It looks as though Pawlenty has taken a page from the screw over applied to the Gulf Coast after Katrina and Rita and is doing the same to flood victims in his state. One thing about goopers, they are always on the lookout to screw over whomever they can, for as much as they can get.
Oh Hillary. You let me down. There was a time not so long ago I would have walked through red hot coals for you. I thought you were a progressive. From me to you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ORM-bqag1E
GlovesOff.org is buying a full page ad in the Moonie Times..
Ahmadinejad for President
or Bush?
in fine print.. is their a difference?
/s
Oklahoma kiddo @ 103
Really? I never would’ve guessed…!!! ;-)
Balrog @ 65
Where have you been, sir?
David at 104
The future looks to me like the present.
More people.
More energy consumption.
More destruction of the planet.
Coupled with a decline of the U.S. economically and a rise economically of China.
I’m interested in what takes the place of the U.S.
Loo Hoo. @ 115
True! How’s the wee one?
Thanks–the Twin Cities media is ignoring these stories, so it’s good to see some A-list exposure.
Assuming no Gore, Edwards or Hillary? He’s been worse recently. She’s been slightly better overall. Dunno :P I agree that there’s no inevitably here between the frontrunners.. could very well come down to a floor fight at the convention, and I still can’t see the junior senator from Illinois being a viable alternative (hence the choice above).
Al Gore- the man who made Lieberman his running mate:
his “cousin Albert” has effortlessly inhabited the vestments of a liberal politician, to hear Gore Vidal tell it, the former Vice President’s liberalism is merely a prop developed to bring him to the head of the Democratic Party.
“Well, although we are cousins, and I was a friend of his father’s, I’ve always thought he was absolutely pointless as a politician. He’s just another conservative southerner.”
In fact, Al Gore’s voting record as a senator was surprisingly conservative until he rolled his eye toward the White House. Throughout most of his career, he was pro-life and had an 84% anti-abortion rating from the National Right to Life Committee. From 1979 – 81, he voted five times on the side of a Republican sponsored rider that granted a tax exemption for schools like Bob Jones University that discriminate on the basis of race. He was openly anti-gay, calling homosexuality “abnormal” and “wrong,” and telling the Tennessean in 1984 that he did “not believe it is simply an acceptable alternative that society should affirm.” Gore was such a strong supporter of the gun lobby – ultimately voting against the critical 1985 legislation for a mandatory 14-day waiting period for handgun purchases – that National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre once said, “We could have made Al Gore NRA Man of the Year – every single vote.” Finally, when it came time to vote on conservative Supreme Court nominees, Gore publicly praised but voted against the scandal-ridden Clarence Thomas. He voted in Antonin Scalia. If the wider public had been more aware of his legacy, few would have recognized the Al Gore of 1988 who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Pulling his hat down so that his eyes are shadowed from the sun, Vidal continues his effortless assault on Al Gore: “Another border-state, southern lover of the Pentagon…there was never anything the Pentagon asked for that Cousin Albert wasn’t down there giving it to them; he voted for the first war in the Gulf.”
Indeed, Al Gore was one of only ten Democrats to break with the party and vote for President Bush Sr.’s Gulf War in 1991. But while Vidal sees this as a facet of Gore’s eager-to-please statism, others have attributed his dissenting vote to self-interest. Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson accused Gore of peddling his vote on the Iraq War in exchange for high-visibility, headline-grabbing speech time on the floor. According to Simpson, the night before the vote Gore stopped by the GOP cloakroom and asked, “How much time will you give me if I support the President?” Taking him at his word, Simpson and Senator Bob Dole offered Gore twenty minutes, thirteen more than his own party would grant. In Simpson’s account, over the course of the night Gore jockeyed to have the floor during prime time to ensure that he would get coverage in the next day’s news cycle. The negotiations went right up to the last minute, leaving Simpson to conclude that Gore “arrived on the Senate floor with… two speeches in hand. [He] was still waiting to see which side – Republicans or Democrats – would offer him the most and the best speaking time.”
For Vidal, st
Jonathan @ 117
see #47.. I’m not that pessimistic, but we’re just plain running out of time.
Oh be still my beating heart!
This story confirms that Hillary will NOT be the nominee. Rejoice!
Shrub says Clinton will get nom.
When has he been right about ANYTHING?!?
When Gore and Lieberman ran for office- Lieberman was the more liberal of the two- much more liberal voting record.
thanks for the info rwcole, but, with respect, I really don’t see the point of preemptively bashing somebody who isn’t running and who, by all indications, won’t be. I’ll file this away for when Mr Gore is an issue, which he, unfortunately, isn’t at this point. Again, I ask the question: Clinton or Edwards? :)
Blub
Good point
rwcole @ 121
I’ve made this point here several times with many different backing links. Prepare for an onslaught of comment stating, “But he’s a changed man now. Haven’t you heard his speeches?!?”
Blub @ 120
Blub,
You’re more optimistic than I.
I see the U.S. as a experiment that’s run its course.
I want to explore what’s next.
I think ALL the prez candidates are backward looking.
Steve-AR @ 10
Driveby — whoa! I’ve waited years to see something like this!
Shuster reminded me of my old high school principal; firm, no-nononse, and emphatic that certain standards of behavior WILL be met. Or else, your ass was outta there.
That Congresswoman could hardly look Shuster in the eye.
Busted! And she knew it.
TeddySanFran @ 69
Bad news, for sure. Not as bad as the jackass on 60 minutes, however. I loved the audience howling today when he said that Iran had no gays! Hope that plays world-wide!Jonathan @ 78
I know you are sincere, Jonathan, and I love the fact that you marched in DC last weekend. But don’t be so frustrated right now. Things will change for the better. Look at Schuster tonight, for instance. If it comes down to the point where we will lose our Constitution (and not correct the parts that have already been legislated away) I think Americans will rally.
rwcole @ 123
I’d still have much preferred Gore in ‘00 than Shrub…!!! :P
For me and kiddo…
good night.
lahoma
Oklahoma kiddo @ 131
Nite, Ma’am!!!
I haven’t seen anything about the Kyl/Lieberman bill. Did that get debated today?
Jonathan @ 117
One wonders if the USA will have much of anything to say about the future you have delineated, which assessment I find very likely.
Since we are of an age and have children, the questions we are posing are of more than academic interest.
I should like to think that here remains in this country enough thoughtful and committed people to actually insist upon creating something here where our children will have something besides weaponry to export. Once, possibly, our society might have been able to export solutions to the problems you’ve enumerated. Sadly, I don’t see the awareness required for that to happen. I still hope that something of moral substance might yet be initiated and built upon. Somehow I feel you are such a builder.
CTuttle @ 131
I’d have preferred a protracted constitutional crisis over the 2000 election, with threatened secessions and Scalia as caretaker Supreme Leader to shrub. But then again, I just don’t like the little twerp
Oklahoma kiddo @ 132
nighty nite Lahoma & OKK
Jim Coughlin @ 87
Excuse me, I think you’re speaking to the wrong group of people if you’re calling us fools.
good night CTuttle.
lahoma.
Blub @ 136
Amen! However, it went the way of the Dems’ SOP these days, fold and cede the initiative…!!! 8-(
I also thought the President of Columbia used extremely poor taste in his remarks today. Didn’t his momma teach him that you should be at least civil to a guest?
As regards the uproar of having the Iranian president speak here, is it any different from every media outlet falling all over themselves to show ad nauseum every video of Sadam Hussein? At least Ahmedinejad has the guts to appear in person, and answer questions in a country that is obviously not a fan of his. The argument that he is a terrorist supporter and therefore shouldn’t be allowed to speak rings hollow in light of the many Hussein videos we’ve all seen over the last 6 years.
solai @ 134
Not that I noticed on cspan. Most of the day was spent on a water bill.
readerOfTeaLeaves @ 129
dayum, Shuster did his homework on Blackburn.
David at 133
You’re kind to suggest I’m a builder.
I’m not.
Just appreciate the opportunity to share thoughts here on FDL.
Eureka Springs @ 142
I don’t know if there was a debate, but both Lieberman and Kyl spoke today. And, I think I heard that they are going to vote tomorrow.
Elliott…
good night.
lahoma
demi @ 145
What’s the gist of the bill?
Jonathan @ 144
That is precisely what building is about.
You are a journeyman.
Lahoma and Kiddo,
G’nite and enjoy your Environment.
CTuttle @ 147
War with Iran.. at least congressional approval of it.
demi @ 149
good night demi.
lahoma
solai @ 88
Oklahoma kiddo @ 103
Ah, shit, OKK. She told you that before. What good did it do? Now who does she like that’s actually running? (ps. I like Hillary more after her getting the best of MSM yesterday!)
Eureka Springs @ 150
I’m kind of surprised shrub still thinks he needs that
CTuttle @ 131
Not sure if I should go here, but it does relate to the state of affairs (not the Ghouliana type of affair) talked about in the main post…
I happily voted for Nader in 2000. All of the things that are talked about around here about Bush Dogs and Chris Carneys, etc. are exactly how I felt throughout the 90s as I watched NAFTA, Telecommunications Act and so on get signed by our “liberal” Prez Clinton.
I studied Gore’s record then and concluded it would be much more of the same and possibly even worse. The complacency shown by my fellow Liberals bothered me, and I started thinking that the falsely named “centrist” Dems were PURPOSELY destroying the Party from within to make sure the social upheaval of the 50s and 60s would not happen again.
This had to stop. In my own experience, most every Nader voter I knew would not have voted at all if he didn’t run, so I wasn’t too worried that he would hurt Gore’s chances. Plus, if Gore couldn’t beat the trained monkey, he didn’t deserve it. Worst case scenario, Shrub would be such a disaster and laughingstock that the true Liberal base would get re-energized, much like what is happening today with blogs and such.
Well, this were happening this way with Shrub’s popularity tanking within months, and sabre-rattling with China (remember that?), and I was thinking perfect, he’ll get impeached within two years.
Then 9/11 happened and they’re still using that for political gain to this day, six years later. Now where’d I leave that tin foil?
Eureka Springs @ 150
Aargh, my Senators’ had best not vote aye! AC360 covering Gore v. Bush, now!!!
bonkers @ 154
Heh, I voted for Nader in ‘04…
bonkers @ 154
You’ve told the truth of it precisely.
I’m going to turn in and take care of this allergy/cold. Good night all you good folks. Sweet dreams.
I’ll have to admit that while I voted for Gore- I didn’t really think that the 2000 election mattered much- it looked like peace and prospertity and neither of the two (rather rightish) candidates were capable of fuckin it up- boy was I wrong..
QuakerGirl @ 158
Stuffy head-free sleep, QG.
Try OpEdNews.com article on” Step back from D.U. war”(someday I’ll learn the linky thing)Seems posible some Chinese adults May have slapped our military hands.If true by outsoursing our chip production to them we may have given them the keys to the store.This explains many strange news stories of late like wandering B-52 armed w/ nukes.Go to 2nd link.
I’m waiting for Jon Stewart’s reaction to Rudy taking a call from Judy during his NRA speech.
End the day with a laugh.
solai @ 162
don’t share too much, please — your west coast pup pals like to see it fresh if possible….
Rude–eee’s wife insists on sharing the stage with him- even on the phone.. Fuckin sick fuck!
Hiya PW!
They MAKE us speak Spanish in class.
Bonkers
ding ding!
good points – Nader didn’t take votes away so much as pull in people who would have otherwise avoided the polls, because they couldn’t stand voting for someone advocating odious policies.
i.e. they were true to their principles.
Cheney/Bush are obsessed. Ahmadinijad was demonized. He did answer the questions he was asked. Don’t tell me, that he didn’t…he did. He has questions. I have questions too. Please for the love of the inhabitants of our Mother Earth, our Spaceship… Stop! I’m cryin’…..
I have more questions to Giuliani, Bush, Cheney, as to history, than to this man.
SnarKassandra @ 165
?donde esta la biblioteca?
tjb @ 161
Hey, if I figured out the linky thing anyone can!
The whole situation with China concerns me greatly. From the lead paint toy situation to the tainted food to the trade imbalance. Very bad scoobies.
Elliott @ 168
Esta cerca al salon de ciencias.
CTut @ 156
Good on you, being ‘pragmatic’ in ‘04,
Kerry, seemed the least-worst, and, well
the rest is Hiss.
Greetings by the way. Your Beatles link
is loved by my seven-year old daughter,
‘All You Need …’ Thanks
rwcole @ 164
Remember the scene in the first Austin Powers film where Dr. Evil is sitting at the table holding his cat and he hands it off to an underling?
It was fine to vote for Nader everywhere but Florida- in California- it was no biggie- my daughter did it. Nader didn’t really INTEND to compete in close states- he figured the dems would take Florida cleanly. Little did he know.
Back to war w/ Iran. I’m very concerned about the ’sense of the senate’ bill. Have the dems figured out, yet, how to counter all this bull.
Attention Texans! Please write letters to the editor and to the governor about this.
Nite, QG, best wishes for a speedy recovery…!!!
SnarKassandra @ 170
:)
you’re a smart cookie!
Elliott @ 177
yep!
tjb @ 161
With respect, I think one needs to understand something here: B-52s with nukes only go wandering around the country on the national news if the order for said little odyssey originates at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, regardless of the microchip or chips involved. Now, on the other hand, if the case you’re trying to make is that shrub’s cranial cavity contains, as its sole content, one of these chips or that he himself is a foreign robot, then you might just be onto something :)…
Loo Hoo @ 152
The more that I have thought about it, the comment by Hillary about walking one day in our shoes that we been in for the last fifteen years and the laughing at Chris Wallace; that must give the GOOPers nightmares. They may have the bravado to say they want to run against Hillary; that laugh should scare the shit out of them.
David W. Bartoo @ 171
Wow, A much belated thank you! Tell her she’s very welcome…!!! *g*
solai @ 173
er, they don’t want to counter it, like the last one, 97-0, they are fully behind it.
Though someday, some might regret being for it before they were against it, if their pollsters say it is ok.
Hillary’s running a damned good campaign- growing momentum- no major hitches–best presidential campaign we’ve seen recently- much better than Rover’s 2000 primary campaign for shrubberusi.
madmommy @ 169
China concerns everybody, but I also don’t think one can have it both ways: either they’re a sinister empire on the brink of defeating us or they’re a chaotic third world country incapable of properly regulating their industries.. not both.
China could be the major economic power in the world in fifty years- but not tomorrow.
rwcole @ 183
… and, given Edwards’ little stumbles in the past two weeks and barring some unforeseen piece of good news, she’s also the person I might just have to swallow my pride and work to help get elected
Should we learn Chinese in school?
Blub @ 184
As a mom, and this may seem trivial, but I was utterly flabbergasted to see Mattel appologize to China for the fact that Chinese plants put lead paint on toys. They said it was a design flaw. Huh? A design flaw is wheels falling off, not the type of paint. I assume there is a class action suit comming down the pike against Mattel sometime soon.
Blub
I’ll support her if she wins the nomination. I would prefer Edwards- but he’s a long shot at this point.
SnarKassandra @ 187
YES! if you have the opportunity take it!
blub@179 Long read but well worth it .If true then Pres Cheney has already been sat down and understands Deep do-do.Before this read I was sure those weren”t a mistake but rather a leak from some Patriots.Buy the way I’m sure of that because it seems 4 men involved have met untimley demise ala Pat tilman,ect
Elliott @ 190
Spanish, French or Latin.
SnarKassandra @ 187
Stick with Spanish for now, Missie! Mandarin is a extremely hard language to learn for a westerner…!!!
Teddy, were both watching right now right?
So I can quote Jon:
The Senate is Fucking Crazytown!
MOMMY Well- “design flaw” really means “specifications”.
The product had a detailed list of specifications that either specified a specific type of paint or did not. If NOT- then the Chinese were free to use whatever they wished.
madmommy @ 188
two things are going on here: (1) the chronic inability of a chaotic third world country to regulate its industries and (2) the chronic abrogation by shrub of most of the normal functions of a first world country government to assure product safety. Corporate greed will happen regardless, but #1 and #2 are necessary pre-conditions for our present plight, #1 is just a reality of a world in which there are rich countries and poor ones, and globalized supply chains linking them, and #2 is actually one we have the ability to do something about. We use to inspect things like toys. I blame this all on shrub.
At this point- it’s convenient for US companies to blame snafus on the chinese- it may or not be warranted.
rwcole @ 189
Edwards is my fave, too! But, that quiz on the last thread said Kucinich, now, he’s a looong shot!!! *g*
Jena 6.
Jenna.
just odd that’s all.
Blub @ 196
And food, and bridges. The good old days.
There was also a toy which had a part that fell out when chewed..You can bet that the chinese didn’t design that piece of shit.
cute kitty!
Tuttle
Kucinich is beyond long shot. There’s a better chance of the second coming.
rwcole @ 195
A sane person might think that the use of lead paint on children’s toys would be an obviously bad idea. This is what we get when manufacturing is outsourced to save the company money. I certainly didn’t see the price of Thomas the Tank Engine toys go down one nickle.
CTuttle @ 193
Japanese is the best choice. Despite China’s emmergence, Japan is still the jewel of the East. Financial Times has reported that thanks to the write-offs of the bad bank loans, Koizumi’s reforms and Japan’s massive FDI in China and the US, Japan is the model for China, and is the unofficial business language for Asia. Plus, if you read it fluently, you can also read Chinese, though you won’t be able to pronounce it.
rwcole @ 203
nothing could cause me to support that man
madmommy @ 204
They want to make it cheaper and keep the extra. That is the American way.
rwcole @ 203
Boo-hoo, rain on my parade…!!! ;-)
Get Tough @ 205
Excuse my obtuseness, but how can you read something you can’t pronounce?
Snar,
I recommend learning Chinese. 1.3 billion people, economy growing at 12% per year. It’s still a poor and miserable place now, but it’s not going to stay that way for much longer. You can’t go wrong. I also recommend learning Spanish, but from what you’ve said before, I get the feeling you may already speak it.
rwcole @ 201
there’s a lot of 1.00 ‘tools’ that seem pretty poorly made: screwdrivers that look like a great deal but only have the resistance-strength to pry a ladybug’s wings open.
SnarKassandra @ 207
Gee, you think? /s
I wonder if any of their kids got to gnaw on a lead painted toy.
madmommy @ 209
You pronounce it wrong in your head. But you know what it means
mrs. kuchinich is very lucky her husband (an ‘actual’ progressive) has little or no chance of winning the presidency.
madmommy @ 209
Japan uses multiple scripts and one of them is very similar to Chinese, but they are very different languages… some meanings are different too, even in Kanji (the Japanese equivalent to Chinese script). I actually learned both and worked in the far east for years.
SnarKassandra @ 213
With the big kid learning to read I have been thinking about how to see and pronounce words. After being able to read for so long I take it for granted and forget how bizarre it must seem to see a jumble of letters that you need to make sense of.
I have to disagree with ctuttle.. Mandarin’s a lot of memorization but it’s fairly easy to learn. Japanese almost killed me because it uses a radically different word order/thought process to form sentences, and the grammar is extremely difficult. Chinese has funky characters but the word order and underlying semantic/pragmatic psychology is similar to English, and the grammar is very easy to pick up for English speakers.
Oh if only Blognia-Herzegovinia existed in 1999, or 1991 for that matter. Not sure we ever would’ve seen the rise of “centrism.” All of us could have mobilized against the DLC-Noize Machine and pushbacked before it became too powerful. Now we have such a uphill battle, more like upmountain.
It hit me the other day that my entire adult life will be run by Bush-Clinton-Clinton-Bush-Bush-?Clinton? The first election in which I could vote was in 1992. I was the campus campaign manager for Jerry Brown and we won our city (ok, sure…he was popular there already and it’s a liberal place), but money-interests within the Dem Party were silencing us even back then, and by Super Tuesday it was over. It’s only gotten 20 times worse since.
Today, Shrub said Hillary will be the Dem nom, so maybe there’s hope after all since he’s never right about anything. In the meantime, I’ll be working and donating like hell to make sure Hillary doesn’t get the nom.
These are the “leaders” that have slowly led us to the brink of an Iran invasion. Why should they continue to be the leaders?
madmommy @ 216
My brother took a long time learning to read so my mom got me started when I was 3.
madmommy @ 209
It’s not being obtuse. Japanese has three alphabets, the main alphabet, Kanji, are literally Chinese characters adopted by the Japanese around 600 AD, along with Buddhism, to provide a writing system for their langauge, which the Japanese spoke without a written system for more than 2500 years. As such, when the Japanese adopted the Chinese chararcters, they used their own pronounciations of words with the characters, though there are two, and often times sevaral, pronounciations for every Chinese character. Japanese also two more alphabets that are phonetic, which are derived from the Chinese characters they adopted. There are some differences between modern Chinese characters and the Japanese version of them. However, I read Japanese, and when I visited Hong Kong, I could understand the signs, but could not pronounce the words.
Get Tough @ 205
I tried to take Japanese to bolster my Asian-Pacific History Major, I survived one semester, and dropped the next… Fukuda has won the LDP’s primary…!!!
Did y’all see this?
Blub @ 217
I most certainly agree with ya there…!!!
3 things i could easily do:
1. learn japanese
2. learn chinese
3. vacation on the moon
SnarKassandra @ 219
It has already been well established that you are exceptional ;0)
I taught my little brother to read when he was 4, but the big kid has a thing about not doing something unless he can do it perfectly the first time. Now that he’s got some confidence though he is a reading machine.
SnarKassandra @ 192
Latin!
Get Tough @ 220
Just reading that makes my head hurt!
Elliott @ 226
Adding it in 11 and 12.
Elliott @ 226
Wish I had taken Latin.
hello all!
Elliott @ 226
Nooooooooooo. I took it and it’s truly a dead language. You can’t do anything with it except a word for crossword puzzles once in awhile.
I should note that I started learning Japanese first, in high school, and basically flunked out after 2 semesters. I then switched to Chinese in college, spent some time abroad studying it, and kept on working on it for years.. then I came back to Japanese and found it much easier.
Hey LL! How’s the vacation going so far?
Hey LL.
How you?
So where’s TRex? I gotta get ready for bed soon.
hey madmommy! gawd, this week is shaping up to be really busy already — I’m booked up every single day!
LoudounLib @ 229
Hi LL!
are you finally off for a month now!?
Get Tough @ 220
The Koreans also use the chinese script, modified slightly, Hangol is not too hard to decipher…
SnarKassandra @ 234
I was just thinking he was running a bit behind tonight.
hey demi! fine here, how you?
SnarKassandra @ 234
patience grasshopper
madmommy @ 140
Elliott @ 168
Elliot! You took the same Spanish classes that I did!
hey Elliott, yes — today is day one :-)
Twain @ 230
Latin was my favorite.
New thread upstairs. DO NOT go to the post with a drink of any liquid in your mouth. You have been warned.
LoudounLib @ 235
So much for the vacation, eh??? ;-)
Blub @ 231
Chinese students in my Japanese class always got the best grades. Just like lawyer’s kids in law school. Bastards.
CTuttle @ 237
Cassie got the zed!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..ield-trip/
Get Tough @ 220
Now wait a bonzai-pickin minute here. How could they have been speaking a language when god almighty hadn’t even created them yet?!? Answer that one mr. smartypants!
Twain @ 230
Or decipher prescriptions and medical journals…!!!
Blub @ 186
That would be a painful swallow, because she is a corporate stooge of the highest order. She has no compassion that I can detect and her
health care plan is an outright gift to the insurance industry. She will continue to keep troops in Iraq and has no problem with bombing Iran. All in all, not much different from shrub on foreign policy and marginally better on social policy.
Twain @ 230
well how else are you gonna learn that all Gaul is divided in three parts?
or that the Die is Cast!
plus it has saved me a gillion trips to the dictionary.
bonkers @ 249
My bad…”stay with the flock, stay with the flock”
Loo Hoo. @ 241
Vas ahora mismo?
(I hope that’s right)
Snarkassie, some years ago a friend of mine, a mechanical engineering major in school, took Japanese as an elective, just on a lark. He did ok, at it, so kept at it…4 years later, he graduated with a ME degree-and was also fluent in Japanese. He was hired, straight out of school, to work as a translator for Toyota, starting pay 60k/year. A BS in MechEn at the time got him offers of 35-40k. He sits by his pool, and waits for the phone to ring…he’ll escort some bigwig around the States for a week or two, translating…and then goes home, and deposits his check.
CTuttle @ 237
CT, Korean is interesting to me, too. It takes me a few seconds to determine whether someone on the street is speaking Korean or Japanese, and Korean sounds alot like Manderin, too. Same kind of hard sylables and the like. Linguistics professor would have been a great career–it’s the most interesting way to learn about cultures and history, and how close we all are, despite the MSM and the Bushies/Lieberman attempts otherwise.
SeamusD @ 251
there was quite the group hug over Hillary here earlier.
Pragmatic, win at all costs centrists (D)’s should be concerned about a Hillary nomination, her negatives are asymptotic at both ends of the political spectrum, and she is defeatable.
Dan Froomkin has got a great blog anent this one: What Has Bush Done to the Government? Enjoy!
CTuttle @ 193
No, no, no! Au contraire! Yes, Chinese is tough (I started college intending to major in it – chickened out and went with Russian.*g*)
But the younger you are, the easier it is to learn a new language. The farther you get past about twelve years old, the more the “window of opportunity” to be truly fluent and speak without an accent closes. So, I say, if Chinese classes turn up in your vicinity, sign up, instantly!
OT..but the 24th of September is day when, for the last time in history, a Republican President acted to “Protect and Defend” the Constitution. President Eisenhower sent units of the 101st Airborne Division to little Rock, Arkansas.
my friend Michael Conrad writes:
I’m probably the only one who remembers this, but when I was in high school (9th grade I think) there was a one hit wonder who had a semi – hit with ” Return of the Mack”. Of course every guy my age said the song was about them (though none of us could figure out where we should claim we had “returned” from). In what part of the song the singer, who has a strange sounding voice, shouts out, “Once again!”.
Today, upon seeing the new Survey USA poll in New Mexico, I had no choice but to let out a “Once again!” that was so loud that my dog started barking.
I hope Survey USA keeps putting out a poll a day. Their earlier polls included the Northwest (where Edwards is strongest by far), the upper Midwest (where Edwards is very strong and Clinton and Obama are very vulnerable), and Texas (a state we have all coveted for some time now).
I would like to thank Ward Curtin, who sent me a link to the Survey USA series. Being a political junkie, seeing a new series of Survey USA polls is like Christmas. Ward is the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Senate Democrats. In other words, Democrats everywhere owe him a huge debt of gratitude for doing very important work under very difficult circumstances. Sometimes I get frustrated with local politicians (Damn you, Dave Reichert and Gordon Smith!) and really anxious for their possible Democratic replacements to ( Darcy Burner and Jeff Merkely), but I can’t even imagine what Oklahoma Democrats have to deal with.
So, here’s to Ward Curtin, and “red state” Democrats everywhere.
My point in all of this is to remind people of the importance of making sure that our presidential candidate helps, not hurts, down – ticket candidates. Really moving a progressive agenda is impossible without increased congressional majorities. Darcy Burner described best what we need to do when, in the wake of the FISA debacle, she called for us to focus on electing “more and better Democrats”.
This is a very exciting time, as we have some great opportunities to do this if we make sure that John Edwards is our party’s nominee. Here are a few quick examples of races that are much more likely to go our way if Edwards is at the top of the ticket.
Oklahoma – A notorious wingnut, Senator Jim Inhofe, faces a great candidate in Andrew Rice.
IMO, candidates like Rice in Oklahoma and Rick Noriega in neighboringTexas are the future of our party.
Kentucky – Results from the recent Survey USA Kentucky poll are included below.
This state tops my wish list along with Texas, Georgia, and Ohio. Along with Virginia, Kentucky appears to be heading the right direction.
We are fast approaching Governor Ernie Fletcher having his ass handed to him by a great ticket of Beshear / Mongiardo.
Attorney General Greg Stumbo is getting to ready to run against the shame of Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell has this strange, rare disease called Hackititus. One symptom is that he becomes a critic of the war, and hints that he will probably soon vote to end it while his in Kentucky, but then leads the charge to keep it going once he returns to DC. There’s something about Greg Stumbo that I really like. He is the kind of populist Democrat I think can win, and do it while standing up for the American people like all Democrats should. With John Edwards as our presidential nominee, and then our president, we can help make Kentucky solidly blue by 2010.
In a few weeks we’ll take the Governor’s mansion. Beshear has around a 20% lead in all the polls.
In 2008 we take their 8 electoral votes, and return an eye for an eye for South Dakota in 2004 by helping Stumbo give McConnell the boot.
Quick note: I think Democrats from the Badlands will join me in telling Steve Jarding, a southern and rural strategist who has advised John Edwards, … “run Steve run”
Then in 2010 it is Sentaor Jim Bunning’s turn to be sent to into early retirement. There are two Kentucky Democrats who are very capable of taking out Bunning, if he is stupid enough to seek re-election.
Daniel Mongiardo, who will be elected Lieutenant Governor in a few weeks, nearly beat Bunning in 2004. In a non – Bush / Rove “terror terror fear fear terror” election Bunning, and for that matter any Kentucky Republican will be beatable. If Mongiardo wants to focus on a future as Governor (it’s always good to think about the long term) then there is always…
Congressman Ben Chandler. He has been a dream statewide candidate for many Democrats for quite some time. I have no doubt that he will be heavily lobbied to run in 2010.
It’s important that we remember that quality Democrats can win in states like Kentucky. If you don’t believe that is true, just take a look at Congressman John Yarmouth.
And of course…
New Mexico – The subject of the Survey USA poll. Senator Pete Domenici is a perfect example of an out of touch Wingnut that needs to go. He is about as entrenched as it gets, so there is a chance that we could be looking at the Olympia Snowe effect, where a Republican Senator in a moderate state survives re-election in a Democratic wave simply because they are so entrenched. If he decides to run for re-election this will be a tough race. If Governor Bill Richardson, who would have time to file for the Senate if he abandons his presidential run after February 5th, gets in the race then this race would look very good for us, but that seems like a long shot. We could be looking at Richardson vs. a Republican other than Domenici, a race that would lean heavily Democratic, or we could be looking at a Democrat other than Richardson vs. Domenici, in which case it could be difficult. And this is not just about the Senate races. We are going to need a presidential candidate with coat tails to beat candidates like Domenici in places like New Mexico.
I think it is very important that we remind fellow Democrats what is at stake in this election. This is not just about the presidential race (which is as important as it gets). This is also about down-ticket candidates across the country and the future of the party, and the progressive movement.
(Numbers below)
Everybody take care,
Michael
Survey USA
http://www.surveyusa.com/electionpolls.aspx
Updated General Election Polling Review
http://esrc08.blogspot.com/
Survey USA – September 24, 2007
New Mexico
vs. Mitt Romney
Clinton – 54%
Romney – 39%
Obama – 55%
Romney – 36%
Edwards – 54%
Romney – 34%
Clinton leads by 15%, Obama leads by 19%, Edwards leads by 20%
vs. Fred Thompson
Clinton – 53%
Thompson – 42%
Obama – 52%
Thompson – 41%
Edwards – 52%
Thompson – 37%
Clinton leads by 11%, Obama leads by 11%, Edwards leads by 15%
Clinton – 51%
Giuliani – 43
Obama – 46
Giuliani – 46
Edwards – 48
Giuliani – 44
Clinton leads by 8%, Obama is tied, Edwards leads by 4%
Averages
Clinton leads the Republicans by an average of 11.33%
Obama leads the Republicans by an average of 10.00%
Edwards leads the Republicans by an average of 13.00%
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Military men take an oath to protect the nation from enemies outside and especially “enemies from within”.
….look at this – one glove is off:
LINKED HERE
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez: “‘My assessment is that we have a crisis in national political leadership. When will America recognize the danger we face? When will the corrosive partisanship of American politics end and allow for a bipartisan solution to arguably the most dangerous threat our nation has faced in over 60 years?’
After his speech, Sanchez wouldn’t name names, but told the AP he was referring to ‘the most senior leadership in our nation.’”
Sanchez, who spent a tumultuous year as the top U.S. commander in Iraq, made the remarks at a veterans summit sponsored by U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, a Corpus Christi Democrat.
About 200 veterans and their families attended the event. They gave Sanchez a standing ovation and mobbed him afterward for autographs.