(Image edited from this lovely original by Jeff Fecke of Blog of the Moderate Left.)
Good morning, fellow Firepuppies! And how are you all this fine Saturday morning shading into afternoon?
Those of you in the Minnesota contingent of Firepupville probably are all too familiar with the twit-and-wisdom of Katherine Kersten, the StarTribune’s most prominent wingnut welfare hire (well, next to D.J. Tice) and a monument to what conservatives think of as affirmative action. Kersten, who is trying to out-gulch Miss Gulch in terms of goosestepping wrongness disguised as morality, is now attacking a local college, St. Thomas, for not being right-wing enough.
This is a place, mind you, that in the words of a recent letter writer to the Strib, features these charming throwbacks to Kersten’s favorite time when conservative anti-female morality unquestioningly ruled the roost: “Threatening notes slipped under doors. Racist graffiti placed on campus posters. A white hatemonger [Ann Coulter] welcomed. A black peacemaker [Desmond Tutu] turned away. A commencement speech made to denigrate women.”
But that’s still not enough for Miss Gulch. One little sin wipes out all those atta-boys.
The sin? Emulating most any other liberal-arts college worthy of the name by having Margaret Atwood’s classic and much-honored book The Handmaid’s Tale in its curriculum.
No, I’m not kidding. Neither is she, though it’s sorta hard to tell at first, as she continues her charming habit of getting things wrong.
My favorite part of Kersten’s unintentionally hilarious piece:
Admittedly, “The Handmaid’s Tale” is not exactly the best vehicle for such a project. In literary circles, it’s utterly passé — conjuring up long-vanished bogeymen like televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker.
Yannow, Miss Gulch, when I think of The Handmaid’s Tale, I don’t think of Tammy Faye Bakker, but of people like you.
If you’d actually read the book, you’d know that its real focus isn’t on televangelists. It does, however, have a lot to say about people who are co-opted and corrupted into turning against and assisting in the subjugation of their beloved mothers, sisters, daughters, and other persons who share their gender.
What must make the book hit painfully home for you, Ms. Kersten, assuming you’ve actually read it and not just skimmed the Amazon reviews, is that Atwood didn’t just make it all up: As she told BBC interviewer Harriet Gilbert in 1996, all of her examples have either happened in the past or were (and are) happening today, both in and out of the US.
Just as Auschwitz had its Kapos, and France had its collaborationists, the women of the book’s America — renamed “The Republic of Gilead” — had to suffer the Aunts, the women who, in exchange for special privileges from the male Commanders, were the main on-the-spot enforcers of female subjugation.
How does it feel to be an Aunt, Ms. Kersten? How does it feel to be working to shove your sisters off the ladder so you can be a Queen Bee and get special doggie treats from the guys?
Is it worth it?
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1?
Hi PW.
dos?
Phoenix Woman!
Great graphic.
PW, this fits really well with the Susan Faludi book we discussed last weekend at book salon.
egregious @ 4
If Hillary was substituted for Muslims then it would be accurate wingnutia.
OT there was a short reaction by Bill Richardson to the Mukasey vote over at Huffpo.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..71969.html
The best line is this:
This should be posted outside the house of every Democrat in Congress in letters 3 feet high and stamped on their office doors so that they can see it everyday when they go to work. This is the message that 70% of the country has been trying to give them for months. Maybe this would help remind them.
Man that book…Gave me the chills when I first read it waaaaaay back when. I think that’s when I first started paying attention to politics and to feminism.
Hugh @ 7
Amen!
Snarky made the same point.
Remember loosehead said Mukasey was supposed to zip thru with 70 to 90 votes. Instead we held him to 53.
We’re not winning the games yet but we are pushing them back.
egregious @ 4
That’s courtesy of Jeff Fecke. He’s wonderful.
egregious @ 10
But 53 is under 60, and that should be the point!
egregious @ 10
Exactly. In fact, the movement conservatives like Richard Viguerie didn’t like Mukasey at first. Why? Because they wanted someone that nobody outside of themselves could stomach.
TexBetsy @ 12
While I quite agree, that’s definitely breathing down their necks!
More emails!
Hmmm. Related? You decide.
I just clicked on the link to Kersten’s idiotic article. Couldn’t stand much of it, but got a hoot out of the rather prominent ad just above, touting the wonders of knee replacement surgery.
(Now, before all you guys with sore knees get all uppity, I’m entitled, okay? I’m sitting here w/ replacement knees myownself.)
i remember reading that book at 17 in high school. It made a start impression on me then, and still echoes now. The fact that some women have a brain offends people still, is a sad fact of life.
That particular ‘journalist’ has forgotten the lessons others learned the hard way.
Hugh @ 7..This sound like the most probable reason for the “staged” Murkasey vote.
Reid Allowed Vote On Mukasey In Exchange For Military Funding Bill
TPM
Chris Bowers has a piece that describes the political reality that Reid has to deal with.
Meet the Onos: The Opposition In Name Only Caucus
(And here are the problems.. Akaka (D-HI), Baucus (D-MT), Bignaman (D-NM), Cantwell (D-DE), Dorgan (D-ND), Harkin (D-IA), Inouye (D-HI), Kohl (D-WI), Landrieu (D-LA), Lieberman (I-CT), Lincoln (D-AR), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Pryor (D-AR), Rockefeller (D-WV), Salazar (D-CO)
Open Left
Don’t these women consider themselves intelligent and educated? What kind of cognitive dissonance rolls around in their skulls?
aliasofwestgate @ 16
One cannot forget what in one’s blind and hands-over-ears fealty to the kool-aid pourers one has never learned.
TexBetsy @ 12
The floor votes are not usually the “real’ reality. The whip counts on cloture votes is the political reality that the leadership has to deal with. The 53 is a political fiction.
see the open Left link @ 17
Steve-AR @ 17
To his credit, Salazar voted against Muckasey.
TexBetsy @ 12
Sorry, out of touch somewhat as usual of late.
Could some kind soul explain to me why several of the Dem. prez. candidates couldn’t be bothered to vote? I saw the rundown yesterday and was aghast. They would have killed the nomination, wouldn’t they?! Yes, I heard that some muttered some mushmouth excuses about Boosh simply reaching for some worse evil-doer as interim appointment if Mukasey was stopped, but, but… have they really stooped this low?
I’m with Richardson on this. Better to have fought and lost than not to have tried at all.
Phooey!
Unfortunately, there is a nation wide attack on colleges, by Democratic Congress kritters. They may be getting “comfortable” with the loyal bushie wars, but they also have time to threaten college students with the loss of their scholarships.
CNET reports that Democratic leaders have threatened to withhold Federal funding of colleges, unless they pay extortion to the “Music and Movie Industry”. The Democratic Congressional “leadership” continues to serve lobbyists and their wars, while betraying the Party, the Constitution and the people.
To his credit, Salazar voted against Muckasey.
IMO if these had been a cloture vote he would have been with
Baucus, Pryor et al.
What I want to know is how do they raise their daughters?
As the middle of three generations of college educated women who was raised with the mantra… “get that education” it could be your survival but…. a college education is to provide a place to be exposed to all points of view, to learn about anything and everything. I was excited when my kids took classes on the humanities and arts, the worlds religions and viewing a specific topic through film.
Steve-AR @ 23
I’d like to think that he’s paying attention to his constituents, and taking note of Colorado’s drift Blue-wards.
From the “best guesses” that I saw on the net, was that there were may be 31 votes against cloture. There was no fight because there was nothing to fight with..ie votes.
Frank33 @ 23
One Corporation under God :/
The last line of Kersten’s column kind of sums it all up:
“For many female college students, the challenge is going to be, not resisting male tyranny, but finding an equally well-educated man to marry.”
Yep. Because that “male tyranny” thing is so 20th century. It’s not like the Washington Post is writing stories about a presidential candidate’s cleavage or anything.
Oh, wait a minute . . .
Geeze… The Handmaid’s Tale is a classic. And ding dong has a problem that they are studying it in a college?
Connecticut Man1 @ 30
I presume St. Thomas is a private four-year school, so the state has no leverage over their curriculum anyway. I wonder whether Ding Dong picked a “cause” that she knew she couldn’t win, just so she could bleat about it indefinitely.
Hugh @ 7
Perhaps this might be a good project for some Washingtonians that might be reading here? I think it would be interesting to see their reactions to the quote, all on it’s own, taped to all of their office doors.
Sadly, I doubt college is what it used to be for many of today’s students. Because of shortage of funds, working extra jobs and/or raising family WHILE taking classes, etc., many students totally miss that mind-broadening experience students used to get. They’re too busy commuting, rushing through, taking ONLY the courses they just MUST in order to qualify for certain jobs. The idea of taking a course for developing broad knowledge of the world at large, philosophy, ethics, scientific principles, the arts – anything extra is just not part of the curriculum any more for the hoards of part-time students scrambling just to survive and get to tomorrow.
OT but can’t help it. DiFi announces support of telecom amnesty in SFChronicle. Is this the new Lieberman?
egregious @ 10
I agree. The point is that a couple of our Senators demanded an answer, and created controversy over a critical issue where there wasn’t any. We Democrats embarrassed the president and made the Republicans vote for torture, with little Democratic support. We forced the nominee to take a stand on a critical issue, and have a position from which we do more damage to the torture party.
At the same time, we have to remember that when this crowd of scoundrels is driven from office, we are going to need a justice department that has some chance to recover, and we need one to operate now. We can always hope that this near-death experience will teach Mukasey to exercise his own judgment, and ignore the opinions of the David Addisons of the world, realizing that he must answer to a suspicious Senate.
moondancer @ 34
Maybe Holy Joe is seeing DiFi on the side?
I almost overlooked the title of your post, PW.
Sadly, it appears the answer is “yes.”
Simple answers . . .
(h/t Atrios)
EvilDrPuma @ 31
AHHH! EVS. (Eternal Victim Syndrome) In this case, the victims of that mean’n’nasty anti-American liberal education.
Steve-AR @ 17
Sorry it took a while to respond to you.
I don’t buy the Reid story. What are we talking about in the Defense Appropriations bill exactly? It’s a must pass bill so it’s not likely the Republicans can or would stop it. Also there is no indication that Reid is going to use it to substantially change our Iraq policy. So I think this is just a smokescreen.
As I have said in the past, Reid has given something away up front publicly and in a way that is embarrassing to Democrats for what? An unknown, nebulous promise for something later that the Republicans don’t have to admit to and may never deliver on?
As for the list of slackjawed conservative Democratic Senators, I don’t get this either. Reid is going through all these machinations to protect a bunch of weasels that we know to be weasels and who don’t care that we know what they are?
Seriously, who cares if 6 or 16 of them defect to the Republican side? The Democrats end up looking weak and feckless anyway, and unwilling to oppose even the most extreme nominees of a deeply unpopular President. Besides, do you think Jay Rockefeller who backs immunity for the telecoms and has been generally useless really would have a problem with a nominee like Mukasey who backs the worst excesses of the Bush unilateral Executive?
All Reid managed to do with his theatrics was undercut all 4 Democratic Senators who are running for President by making it look like they ducked a vote on which they supposedly had taken a principled stand.
Finally, I would point out that this is not Reid’s first cave-in on something really awful put up by the Administration. I would remind you of the original FISA cave-in this August and the Military Commissions Act (when he was Minority Leader) in September 2006. Gee, what did he get from the Republicans for those?
Connecticut Man1 @ 38
Now you’re catching on.
moondancer @ 33
She’s given up, totally divorced from whatever ethics she once pretended to possess. You can read it in her face, her stance, her delivery. She’s utterly beaten. She should RESIGN NOW, while she has(?) a shred of dignity left in her own mind. I doubt anyone else looks up to her. She’s a perfectly coiffed (if you liked the 50’s), sorry mess, an empty shell. imho of course
Perhaps Mukasey promised something privately.
Adie @ 41
I agree, she’s a mess. It would be a mistake on her part to think she can tow the bushco line and maintain support of CA. She’s making herself vulnerable.
anybody that didn’t read Eli’s post yesterday “How Did We Get Here?” really, really should.
Eli lays it out there in a really good, clear way. things like, we’re not really having a battle between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, we’re having a battle between the Money Party and the People Party.
this picture explains the hypocracy that we keep running up against. Eli links to a David Sirota column about John Edwards and Mike Huckabee which is very worthwhile. it leads me to believe that we can actually upset the apple cart if we start getting behind Edwards. Sirota says that Edwards has a real chance in Iowa and it’s because he is the only major candidate there who is getting across a populist message (except Huckabee). Iowans are evidently responding to this.
it all ties in with what Glenn Greenwald is saying about Ron Paul (i.e. striking the right note with a genuine populist message).
i don’t personally think that John Edwards hung the moon, but i do think that if we are going to have a real impact on the election next year we will have our very best chance by getting behind Edwards and give him some momentum at this critical juncture. January approacheth. if nobody can manage to throw a spanner in the works soon it’s probably going to be all too predictable and boring for the next year and we’re going to be mumbling and muttering the day after with a Money Party president elect. think about it.
LS @ 41
why would he bother? that sort of thing no longer seems necessary with this batch of congresscritters and, especially, their sorry bunch of “faux leaders”.
Wes Clark, live on CSPAN 2, just said that he expects Bush to announce a huge 100,000 troop withdrawal from Iraq in the Spring, which he will try to take credit for, including perhaps a victory parade….and he’s not kidding.
He may have insider insight into this.
Adie @ 41
You could call it the Lieberman effect. You have a Senator not running for re-election increasingly out of touch with their constituents with 6 years before them. Like Lieberman, Feinstein has been liberated and has released her inner *sshole. She no longer cares what anyone thinks. It’s all about her ego and the only thing that can stop her is an indictment for shoveling money to her defense contractor husband.
LS @ 42
ROFLMAO
I like that fahrender. Edwards is the only current candidate with any chance that is even slightly inspiring and speaking to us progressives.
OT: http://www.mailtribune.com/app…../711100308
I said I would keep y’all updated on this case. The teacher in my district who made national news by carrying her concealed weapon to school lost her case yesterday. It will be appealed but I’m happy with the decision.
Is waterboarding now legal? My neighbor is really pissing me off…If anyone is interested, I added a recipe for a great and easy meatloaf to the last thread.
Adie @ 45
I’m just looking for answers. Up until he was confirmed by Congress, his nomination could have been withdrawn at any time if he had sounded “threatening” to the Administration in any way. Just a thought.
Steve-AR @ 24
At best, imo, it’s a sign they are taking heat for their egregious gang of fourteen type of voting history.. and finally adjusting a little. I do agree they would have voted for Mukasey in a heartbeat if his nomination were in jeopardy. Also I have to wonder how votes such as this reflect false impressions on progressive ratings sites (progressive punch).
I agree that the Defense Bill explanation sounds thin. The “deal” that Reid got was to split out the war funding…If he rolls over on that then the whole this is bullshit.
All Reid managed to do with his theatrics was undercut all 4 Democratic Senators who are running for President by making it look like they ducked a vote on which they supposedly had taken a principled stand.
PW, I had a feeling you were going to write about Kersten’s latest fundie harangue. I can’t imagine what it is like to be so terrified of hearing, seeing or reading anything that is not a mirror of her world. That makes me question how strong the belief systems of people like Kersten can be when they expend so much energy trying to eradicate anything that differs. Gawd forbid that people might think or question.
moondancer @ 34
Meet the new HoJo same as the old DiFi…We won’t get fooled again…
Or somethin’ li’e dat.
rat bastahd @ 49
thanks, rb.
Eli’s post and Sirota’s both make a lot of sense. we need some serious strategy in place and being implimented or it’s going to be the same old same old for the next five years …..
“…find a man equally educated to marry.” Yeah, that’s gonna be a problem. Not.
I know a doctor who married a printer, and a woman working in the film industry, sorta high up, whose long-time companion fixes trucks!
But of course to be aware of stereotypes, you have to, er, be aware of stereotypes.
Hugh @ 46
Oh, but I beg to differ on style points, anyway. She’s a-wash in signals of personal misery. This is not a happy person, nor satisfied. This position cannot be sustained for a full term. Look. at. her. She looks as if she’s mentally curled up in a dark corner of the closet with the door closed. If I liked her as a person, I’d worry. Just sayin’. *adjusts “listens-to-horses” badge*
Reid isn’t our man. He is an old-line pol whose years in DC have made him conservative. He had to work with the crazy wing of the republican party, and over the years, if there was anything that made him a voice of the left, it was sandpapered off. He and most Democrats respond to constituents with money. Until we progressives prove we can raise enough money to give our candidates a fighting chance, including primaries, we aren’t going to be represented except at the margins.
Back in the 1970s, as a member of the SF Board of Supervisors and later as mayor, DiFi was always a supporter of big developers over neighborhood interests, and also of the status quo over any kind of change.
I am not surprised by DiFi’s embrace of the telecoms. Frankly, I’d have been stunned if she’d done anything else.
ccmask @ 49
MY MY! If I were your nastyneighbor, I’d be a tad nervous. You’re pretty adept at multi-tasking, heh.
(((peace)))
Di Fi has been like this since I voted for her as a lessor of evil Mayoral candidate in San Francisco. This is how she has always conducted herself in any office/position.
Well, Ann Coulter is willing to give up her right to vote if it means another Dem would never be elected…..or was it just all the other women’s right to vote….or is it that Ann doesn’t consider herself to be a woman. I just get sooooo confused!
rat bastahd @ 49
That is insane..isn’t carrying a firearm into a school prohibited under the Oregon CW law?
Eureka Springs @ 61
sorry for barging in on this. i’m probably way too far out in left field compared to all you guys who’ve been long-time difi-watchers. i have been NOT referring to WHAT she’s doing now or has done before. i’m referring only to her demeanor while she’s doing what she does, making public statements et al. that’s what i do. again – apologies if misunderstood.
Adie @ 61
Haha. The neighbor on the left has three golden retrievers and one smaller dog; the neighbor on the right has three Irish setters. I’m so tired of stepping in “little packages” they leave on my lawn.
PeteCO @ 21
Ironically, Several of these folks voted against the 2002 War Powers Resolution.
23 Senators voted NO: Akaka (D-HI), Bingaman (D-NM), Boxer (D-CA), Byrd (D-WV), Chafee (R-RI), Conrad (D-ND), Corzine (D-NJ), Dayton (D-MN), Durbin (D-IL), Feingold (D-WI), Graham (D-FL), Inouye (D-HI), Jeffords (I-VT), Kennedy (D-MA), Leahy (D-VT), Levin (D-MI), Mikulski (D-MD), Murray (D-WA), Reed (D-RI), Sarbanes (D-MD), Stabenow (D-MI), Wellstone (D-MN), Wyden (D-OR).
And in the House
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2002/roll455.xml
Note that none of the current Democratic Presidential candidates other than Kucinich are on either list. Ron Paul is the only Republican.
Nice post! I have a nice day planned for today, Saturday. A full body massage, manicure/pedicure, and a nice relaxing glass of wine! While I sip my wine, they wll be cooking my awsome chicken parmigiana at the italian gardens! Why is it the small family restaurants have the best food?
Enjoy your weekend!
DEB
Moon @ 63
Ann Coulter thinks that she would get a special dispensation allowing her to keep voting, even if all other women lost the right.
Just like she thinks she has a special right to vote where SHE wants, not where the law says she is supposed to vote.
Great post, PW-Kersten is such a tool and the Strib show us all it sold out to the wingnuts. Oh, wait, their “news” coverage shows that.
Moon @ 62
why don’t you ask her, & publish reaction on UTOOB? Might be best if you aren’t the one holding the camera. Wouldn’t wanna short it out or nothin’ ;->
The feeling here is that stupidy is not gender, ethnic, education, economic class, political affiliation or age specific.
Peterr @ 29
Or this…South Dakota ex-Republican Lawmaker Charged With Molestation
cinnamonape @ 72
Is he an ex-repub or an ex-lawmaker?
He’s apparently a XXX Republican.
Yes, I mean that both ways.
-GSD
ccmask @ 65
Hey! Our nebber only has one golden (sweet, sweet doggie, but with big big, um, well…) plus a monster that looks & acts like a pressa canario (sp?).
when nobuddy-lookin’ dis ole lady scoop up all da dam piles from our yard & tosses ‘em unner charmin’ nayber’s booshes, heh heh heh.
yer meatloaf recipe? um? you didn’t, did you?!
*blergh* ;->
We are being politically molested everyday and night by the GOP and a few very bad Democratic enablers.
I’m going to pewk:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/…..an-for-vp/
Murtha sure has been muzzled.
sorry to go off topic but this is about as official as an unofficial announcement can get
joe lieberman is going to be the republican vp candidate
from here
OKK is the ostinato of this blog, or basso continuo, if you prefer.
Hi OKK! ;-> *waves from treble section*
LS @ 77
Gawd Almighty…..Save us!!!
Peterr @ 29
So is Kersten going to get on board with stopping the decline in wages White Males have suffered since the 70’s with Reagean-Bush economic policies or is she advocating spinsterhood?
http://www.mises.org/freemarke…..ontrol=200
LS @ 77
lmao Unity08 baby, yeah!
Moon @ 81
i think she just did.
LS @ 77
Don’t forget that it’s Little Billy Kristol pushing this. Given his track record of accurate predictions, I would not be too awfully worried. And even if he got this one correct, it would still be a good thing.
For the Dems.
Kersten is offering up minority scapegoats for the real anxiety Whites feel over a declining standard of living.
If White America ever figures out that the rich are getting richer while they are getting poorer… well the GOP’s Southern Strategy will become a hangman’s noose.
Adie @ 81
I am for sure stubborn. (I would as you might espect prefer to call myself resolute) And my voice is somewhere between bass and baritone. ;0)
Oklahoma kiddo @ 78
Murtha had a chance to put his corrupt ways behind him and make a principled (I am using that word a lot recently) stand against the war. He is still anti-war but his continuing corruption taints his views on the war and makes him an ineffective spokesman.
LS @ 78
it’s really their only chance, they have to try to get some swing voters, most people don’t know joe is a republican mascarading as a democrat
it’s a good move for them to be sure
perris @ 80
Conneticut has a Republican Gov I take it?
dakine01 @ 86
krystol is wrong on the affects of policy he’s not wrong on what the neo con policy is going to be
Some have proffered that there is a place for Lieberman in a neo-Clinton Admin.
Things Come Undone @ 90
Yes, Jodi Rell.
perris @ 89
I agree he has a lock on the whiner vote. *g*
perris @ 91
And he seems to think this would be a good policy move for the Rs so I rest my case.
Bill Kristol is also known as Dan Quayles’ brain. He’s also the warmongering propagandist that Jon Stewart treats like a king.
-GSD
I like the fact that the Report-o-Matic is apparently an Apple IIe.
Albatross @ 97
Please explain.
Lieberman is a most distasteful individual.
Thanks PW. FWIW, I wonder if Kersten believes in women’s right to get a divorce or to own property?
TexBetsy @ 99
The visible portion of the case is the same shape, and it’s under a monitor shelf like they used to have and the monitor is the same shape – that’s an old 1986-era Apple IIe setup.
Best image I could find, sans shelf.
http://www.zock.com/8-Bit/Apple-IIe-2.JPG
Albatross @ 101
But where/what is the report-o-matic?
Albatross @ 97
Oh man, I haven’t thought about faq-o-matic in ages!!
Dianne Feinstein, Harry Reid, Bill Kristol, Joseph Lieberman, Katherine Kersten (the topic of this thread), when did being an evil weasel become a prerequisite to play an important role in our nation’s public life?
I would love to see just about any commenter here debate Hillary.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 99
I have a certain amount of contempt for him.
Hugh @ 107
my contempt on the other hand is uncertain, I believe it’s without limit but I can’t be certain
Oklahoma kiddo @ 88
…not meant as stubborn, not that there’s anything wrong with that, heh.
We were once told in a masterclass by an incredible musician, “Listen to the baseline! Always go by that, and you’ll never get lost.”
The poor college-age violinist who had lost her way in a shakily memorized rendition of a complex Bach partita learned something that day that she never forgot. ;->
Thank you for all that you do, OKK!
And please give Lahoma a hug for us.
You guys are very special.
TexBetsy @ 103
If you follow the linked image at the top of this topic to the original comic, you’ll find that the computer in the image is supposedly a “Report-o-Matic” that replaces the reporters at the Star Tribune newspaper.
The same technology is being rolled out in Hollywood for the writer’s strike…
Steve-AR @ 53
It’s like this.
Sorry, I guess the image isn’t linked – the comic is linked in the text.
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zo…..amp;size=o
Back in the day, the idea that South America and Africa really had been next to each other was ridiculed — just because they LOOKED like they belonged together dodn’t mean that they USED TO BE together. Well, look how that turned out: plate tectonics is now our way of looking at the surface of the planet.
The disconnect between what the ideals of the Democratic Party are supposed to be and what the Party’s actions in fact are has exposed a rift like the one down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The ideals and the actions, like the two continents, are far apart and getting farther from each other.
At some point, there is no way to salvage a failing relationship. At some point, you had better sit down and tot up the check stubs, because you know it’s going to go to the lawyers. You had better think through how it all is going to go down.
If We the People are going to get out of this abusive relationship — no abuse without a willing victim, remember — with the Democratic Party, planning is required. Even if We the People do not go through with the separation, we owe it to ourselves to think through how it could be done.
Adie – I think my comment was just a muted scream in general, a response to the “is Di Fi the new Lieberwoman” question. No.. She has always been like this! Just exasperated cries out from those of us who know from experience and have had no better alternative in the SF voting booth for a very, very long time.
behindthefall
did you just send the whole gang to the showers?
whu? *crickets???*
Loo Hoo. @ 111
Hey there, Loo Hoo.
I enjoyed your link.
Righty-O.
AP
Would that common goal be not to leave office?
Adie @ 114
I’m feeling pretty dim wited today
LS @ 78
We can only hope. It would guarantee a republican loss for the WH, and Lamont in the Senate.
faits divers:
Adie @ 109
I’ll do that. My sweet thing is due back here from up north (Tahlequah), sometime this afternoon.
Here is the kind of stuff I would have filed with UFO and Area 51..now I am not so sure..
HR 1585 Authorizes Plans For Martial Law
Published on Friday, November 09, 2007.
linl
Eureka Springs @ 114
Thanks. I appreciate all the background I can soak up from you guys who know pols the best. Believe it or not, even tho we’ve never lived in CA, I’ve been aware of her and sorta watching her since the horrible as*assination in SF years ago when she became prominent enuf for us to notice her. These payola-tainted pols drive us all nuts!
Looking back upthread, i’m embarrassed to say i sounded too too know-it-all-ish by a wide margin. Please feel free to file my comments anyplace you like, heh.
I would like to ask all the Democratic candiates for president if they would be inclined to take Joe Lieberman off the table.
Has anyone ever seen, “The Power of Nightmares”???
I just found it online, and I’m gonna watch it. I think it was not allowed to be released here in the Homeland.
http://www.archive.org/details…..Nightmares
Hey, demi!! Beautiful day in these parts, huh? Now if those clouds would just give us some rain…
Isn’t ST Thomas also that wingnut school whose lawschool sponsored the “Bill Orally Morality Boat Cruise & Loofa Festival”? I know it never took off–no one with $$ take Orally seriously enough to waste money on his cruise, and his true believers are too poor–but the potential was entertaining. It might have almost been worth it to go to the seminar on vibrating butt plugs and sexual harassment.
punaise @ 119
Did the deer have insurance?
Hugh @ 128
Was it an illegal alien deer?
Hugh @ 128
D’oe!
punaise @ 130
a dear with no eyes=no i deer
a dear with no legs and no eyes=still no i deer
a dear with no eyes, no legs, no genetials= still no fucling i deer
Steve-AR @ 122
The marines have been working hand in hand with FEMA and civilian law enforcement here after the fires. And Issa, Duncan and Bilbray called in the military fire helicopters from all across the country, for which they will take great credit in the election. It escapes people that if we weren’t spending all of the money in Iraq, we could buy our own firefighting planes and helicopters. The civilian authority didn’t welcome the intrusion, either, since the civilian and military aircraft are on different frequencies. Ended up splitting territories.
LS @ 125
Loo Hoo. @ 132
How convenient that Blackwater is now under the DOD….holy shizzola…
If this is true, we have to do something about it now!!
EvilDrPuma @ 31
She’s actually complaining in her article that because it is a Catholic school they should pull the book out of the curriculum. What Kersten doesn’t seem to appreciate is that the Handmaid’s Tale is taught with other books in which the topics raised are critically examined. Not all of the other texts are even commensurate with the views of the Handmaid’s Tale. IOW the school is trying to get their students to THINK critically. The book does not identify the Catholic Church as the religious faith that has created the dystopian society, it could be any of several religions. It also features the cooptation of many left-oriented groups.
It could not be an anti-Catholic text unless all of the characteristics of Catholicism are mirrored in the dystopia. But even the critics admit…”this world is not what Catholicism actually is”. Since the forces that have created the dystopia in Atwood’s book is not identified as Catholicism why do the critics insist IT IS? They could just as easily say that “1984″ criticizes Catholicism. Or “Gulliver’s Travels”.
But even if the text was critical of certain aspects of Catholicism… one would think the Church would want students to be familiar with such criticism and have their students able to access the best Catholic scholarship and commentary to analyze and defend the faith. That likely isn’t going to happen prior to University, or subsequently.
I once had a very Conservative political science professor who assigned Das Kapital to his students (in translation)…just so that he could have students analyze it and contrast it with other economic systems.His view was that if you are utterly ignorant of an erroneous view you are likely to be swayed by summarized versions of it…or lack the resources to mount a credible arguement against it from adherents who are quite familiar with YOUR society.
Hitler refused to allow English language translaions of Mein Kampf to be distributed after about 1935, knowing that his programme was written for a German audience and that if others saw his philosophy they would be wary of his actions. He preferred Goebbels to present him to the World in a sanitized marketting package. A young American student who studied in Germany translated the text and then had it privately published in the US. That student was a man named Alan Cranston, who went on to become Senator of California. Cranston ’s introduction asked the reader to look at events in German in the context of Hitler’s anti-Semitic and anti-Slavic rhetoric and militarism.
He believed that people could read and think…something that Kersten doesn’t thnk that Catholic University students are capable of doing.
And wanting their great Blackwater training facility in east San Diego.
Not to worry..DoD outsourced the supervision of Blackwater to Aegis..a particularly bad Brit Merc Company.
ironranger @ 54
Problem is, the book IS a mirror of her world.
Loo Hoo. @ 126
It’s gorgeous here. But, not a cloud in the sky. You’re closer to the beach and I’m closer to the desert.
Also,
I read Steve Ar above and followed the link.
The line that made me smile (not in a good way) was…
He fully understands the dangers of al-Qaida, Bush said.
That was off the cuff, right? I don’t think his writers would have handed him that one.
Oh yeah, the writers are on strike!
Geez. New thread and time for me to make a Costco run. Catch you later!
TexBetsy @ 74
I think that since she believes that 20 year old female college graduates are better paid than their male counterparts…then she deserves a cut in pay…with the money donated to some of those “deprived males”.
IIRC, Cranston was sued for copyright infringement by Hitler’s publisher, thereby making him the only American politician ever successfully sued on behalf of Adolf Hitler…IIRC
Fern@138:
The netherworld.
Come on upstairs to Blue America:
Blue America Welcomes Josh Hoyt—Let’s Not Put The Republicans In Charge
dakine01 @ 94
But any Gubernatorial appointment would only be temporary, until the next scheduled election.
And that would be even if Lieberman refused to announce he was standing down. It would show a real lack of confidence in his Tickets chances if he said, “I’m not gonna resign just in case we lose”. DUH!
If he announces his planned resignation, then there would be a Special Election set for 2008.
cinnamonape @ 145
Oops! Not a “Special Election”. It would be held at the same time as the Presidential Election in 2008. That would mean whoever was elected would fill out a 4 year term, if JoeLie waited until (IF) the 2008 votes count showed a victory then it would likely occur in 2010 (or possibly in 2009).
There is another reason why Joe Lie might not be selected. Romney and Giuliani would not want to select another Northeasterner who was not of a recognized Christian faith. It wouldn’t help them win over the Christian fundamentalist from the South. McCain has regional balance…but shares the Right-Wings ambivalence regarding social issues.
But if Thompson or Huckabee were the Presidential nominees then perhaps Lieberman might be considered.
behindthefall @ 113
Hint: Third Parties are produced by schisms within already elected officials who are frustrated as the citizenry over their Party leaders/managers. There have to be defections by those who are progressive within the Party. This assures people that the individuals running can govern. They already have name recognition.
The only successful 3rd Parties, even for one cycle, have been schisms of this sort. They controlled Governorships, other State Offices, and lots of seat in Congress. Even the Populists, who did all this, failed to win the Presidency, though they came close. But they did succeed in introducing a whole slate of reforms.
So what would it take for such a schism to occur? One could be if the progessive candidates do quite well in Primaries and then go on to win Congressional seats. They could then have enough votes to transform the Congressional leadership of the Party. If the Party leadership refused to change then they could form, out of a caucus, an independent Party.
Another way it could happen is if the Party actually failed to win the Presidency or lost a Congressional House. If that occurred there might be resentment against the strategies of rejecting the Parties liberal base.
Adie @ 41
DiFi was really hated by the left when she was mayor of SF, for much the same reason: her tendency to cave to biz interests without even trying to use her leverage. And for her hair.
For people like her, politics must be all about feeling “comfortable” with power. Sigh.
I skimmed the Katherine Kersten article at the strib, much like she must have done to Maggie Atwoods book. She could not have seen the movie, becasue IIRC they execute Catholic nuns in the movie. She says that the book is considered trite “in literary circles.” One can only assume what passes for au courant in such circles, dime-to-the-dollar copies of Ayn Rand and Ann Coulter?
And when has trite been a disqualifying factor in the literary curriculum? Better be throwing out all those copies of “Old Man and the Sea”.
I can’t read her column. She blathers all the Repub talking points, has nothing original to say and is always entirely predictable. I don’t mind a conservative columnist if they’re original and thoughtful. Kersten is neither. The Star Tribune is a good newspaper that is always accused of being liberal (which actually means they report the truth). Kersten is their token wingnut.
I live 5 blocks from St Thomas. St Thomas initially turned away speaker Desmond Tutu (a nobel peace prize winner) They also hired law prof. Robert Delahunty (who wrote the torture memos that John Yoo is famous for)
And Kersten thinks they are not far enough right?
Nobel peace prize bad – War criminal good.
It’s crazy. St Thomas is crazy. Kersten is crazy.
Dear friends.
I am distressed at the editing of my comments (#41) by Kenji (#148).
I should realize that comments can be foreshortened and original import thus altered considerably. So the fault lies partly with me. I will choose my words more carefully in the future, and suggest that Kenji edit more carefully. I did not mean to inflict more emotional strain than appears already to exist concerning the subject matter I addressed.
I continue to desire that those who are up to the task run for office and serve for the betterment of the world. And I continue to wish that those who should retire, and can be convinced to recognize the signs of that point of their careers having arrived, do so.
Politics ain’t for sissies. More importantly, the world as we know it cannot cope with people in office who are not up to the difficult job of proper governance.
RonD @ 142
Indeed, sued but the judge only called for an injunction on future releases…after Cranston had sold over a million copies…at 10 cents a copy!!! There was another…expurgated…”authorized” version out there which removed all the material which was expansionist and anti-Semitic. So, in a sense, Cranston’s book did impact sales of that book, and Hitler’s royalties. But the judge ruled that there was enough differences that the sales wouldn’t have been much impacted since people would prefer an unabridged verison.
Cranston also argued that the original copyright in Austria had been voided when the Nazis invaded. The judge didn’t swallow THAT argument.
http://globetrotter.berkeley.e…..-con2.html
And I was wrong about one thing…Cranston was a young news correspondant, not a student, when he was in Germany and read Hitler’s original Mein Kampf