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They don’t have to.
Yeah, I know, conservatives aren’t techno-savvy, they’re too hierarchical, etc, etc. But here’s the thing: If there were boatloads of campaign cash out there for progressive candidates, if our party leadership were relentlessly progressive and kept the caucus together on key votes, if there were a vast echo chamber of left-wing talk radio and think tanks and newsmedia promoting all the issues and stories we care about… I wouldn’t be here right now. I wouldn’t need to be.
We netroots have to be active, and generous, and loud, because we’re all we’ve got.
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They can’t compete cause nobody loves em- everybody hates em an they oughta just go eat worms.
We are the Resistance Movement. Truly. We have a Vichy Congress.
And it ain’t gonna change anytime soon. Got my shit packed for the long haul.
Yeah, the problem with the right roots is less that they’re hierarchical so much as what’s at the top of that hierarchy.
Which is not to say that *we’re* hierarchical, but if we were, it sure as hell wouldn’t be Mark Penn or Bob Shrum at the top of the pyramid.
“We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will give you no peace.” Leaflet 4, White Rose
Right roots = Establishment, Netroots = Insurgents.
does that make us…weeds?
So right, Eli.
I think that’s a matter of perspective.
And the pyramid is built on a foundation of flawed premises
I prefer invasive species myself
sorry…I’m a little freaked out about hearing an interview with richard hayes phillips, author of witness to a crime about the ohio voter fraud conspiracy.
really freaked.
and yours is fish-eye?
snake heads
Where did you hear it?
Just trying to take in the big picture.
that is a very iceland quote eli, well done
Ah, very wise. It’s easier to have faith in your outlook that way, huh?
It’s a lot easier to do with photographs. On the downside, it’s really hard to keep your own feet out of the frame…
Scary, depressing, outrageous. Looks like the whole thing is finally going to blow. The BIG question is how safe, reliable will the vote be in NOV? Thanks
And will allegations of tampering be taken a little more seriously this time?
The guy who is filling in for Randi Rhodes Radio show on Nova M is saying there was a super secret session of congress last evening called by the minority whip…… Kuchinich objected but I can’t find anything about it anywhere….. Does anyone know or heard about this?
and we are armed with sabots
Ha. Especially so when ya got Big Feets.
I’m constantly telling myself to get out of the way.
No, but did you see the YouTube of Dennis saying he’s bringing his impeachment articles to the Judiciary Committee on Friday.
Probably not, if it gets to that. I am hoping there will be enough dust-up/outcry that there will be alot of security and preemptive planning for the machines, paper etc. Surely there could be real scrutiny at the local and state level. Just seems to me…
does that make us…weeds?
better to be generic lefty hippy weeds than the more specific righty pest, the sotted surge
MmMM
brownies
Oh nevermind
He played the SPAN audio of the session and googled it and got nada…. just wonder what is going on…
I *think* the ground has shifted a bit now that a lot of states have instituted paper-trail requirements. Instead of “How can we verify the vote totals?”, now it’s more like “How will we know when we *need* to verify the vote totals? And how will we get someone to do the verifying?”
And, of course, there’s still all the legal and illegal dirty tricks to prevent people from voting in the first place, which I think is still the right’s strategy of choice, as it has much less chance of leaving fingerprints or blowing up into a truly devastating scandal.
Digg it because you can and because you care!
And because you have to.
Yep. There are few if any true progressives in the US political system; nobody to really counter 30 years of class warfare from the richest 1%, endless war-mongering and Reich Wing “culture war” against anyone who’s not American Taliban style moralists (e.g., stealing is ok, but sex is evil, etc.)
But people on the street are sick to death of what we have, and as much as elite media have locked us out, there’s at least a place where we can now talk to one another.
well here’s the link from 7/15/08…saying he’s going to take it to the JC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz1xFCST_tg
There must be something in the air. I brought this up in a couple of private communications today re Obama adviser Cass Sunstein. Law schools, think tanks, and policy centers are dominated by the right, even those which are called non-partisan or even liberal. Take Kenneth Pollack and Michael O’Hanlon, for example, at Brookings. Or Cass Sunstein. I listened to the interview with Amy Goodman, Glenn Greenwald, and him (link at Glenn’s place) and I have heard there was a forum at netroots nation with Sunstein as well. His view of FISA and torture is pretty much the same as Kit Bond’s or Mitch McConnell’s or Dick Cheney’s. The truth is that the left blogosphere in its own imperfect way is the counterweight to this whole rightwing system. The Cass Sunsteins are not.
Okay, okay…here’s the link from today….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv478I8p3e8
There is no Progressive Establishment. We. Are. It.
Right Time to read Sun Tze, Mao and the latest from the Chinese and others on asymetrical warfare.
I got 2 of the 3 any book suggestions on the third?
Also must read about the battle of Dien Bien Phu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B…..n_Bien_Phu
Who knew that being a Rebel meant homework:)
This can’t be good news
Yes. We. Are.
And, Dennis Kucinich.
Watch the link at #36. You will like it. It will warm your little hearts.
It is the only wat we can set this nation on the right course! And the benifits will be amazing to reap! Education through 16 years of schooling! Medical care for every one of its citizens and so and so on… We can and will do it!
Yes! And as long as the Netroots remains freely accessible, Democracy can thrive.
A major study of Democracies around the world found that one of the characteristics that correlates most strongly with democracy is openly accessible internet.
Defending an openly accessible internet is next to defending the Constitution as among the most important things we can do. Its kinda like the free press, y’know.
Bob in HI
Would that make Late Late Night the Classified Ads? :)
Eeeeeliiiiiii!
Is it lame to delurk just to go OT? For any fans of “The Office” (US version), note the guitarist on the left in the clip. That’s Creed Bratton, I am pretty sure.
::ahem:: As you were…
You got that right. Internet neturality and freedom is just an extension of the first admendement. We must fight to keep the internet open and unfettered by the big telcos who want to limit what can be sent over “Thier hardware”
Click here to read “Net Neutrality’s Quiet Crusader” in today’s Washington Post
Cool Friday I’m going to be here all day:) Whose arm did Dennis break to get these hearings? What exactly convinced Nancy to let us have a Democracy?
For you I’ll make an exception…
Exactly. There are tons of people in the left blogosphere who don’t make a dime out of what they do but are a hundred times better than any number of Cass Sunstein who has made a career out of flogging ideas that don’t even rise to the level of mediocrity. At democracy now they had a small blurb saying that Sunstein had just moved from the University of Chicago to Harvard, very prestigious but the guy is an idiot. Goodman also briefly discussed his recent book Nudge. With all the chaos and manipulation in financial markets, the tragically failed policy of deregulation under Bush, Sunstein’s big thesis is we don’t actually get anybody to do anything we give them a nudge. It’s rather like suggesting bailing out the Titanic with a thimble. Mindlessly stupid does not even begin to capture it but this is supposed to be one of the Democratic Establishment’s guiding lights. Just incredible. If this is the caliber of advisers that Obama has around him, we should be afraid, very afraid.
We’ll tune in together to get the answers to those quesions and more…:)
You bring the popcorn, I’ll bring carrots and celery.
Thanks Eli. We want justice? After what Rove did to the DOJ, it’s just us.
I like to fight them directly, but some times it gets so damn overwhelming. Yesterday I was depressed when I saw that Hannity signed a 100 million dollar contract and Rush a 400 million dollar one.
You mention think tanks. Nobody takes on the think tanks. The Real intellectuals don’t, they just assume that people won’t take them seriously, mean time they are quoted on TV and radio all the time MORE than the real experts! The “think-tanks” preach free market but they are all RW funded and don’t have to make a profit!
Another thing that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. What are the consequences for people who slander and lie on talk radio or cable TV? Are their any consequences for Drudge running lies? Drudge is the most powerful person in the news media yet he can never get fired. I read this line today in some whiner’s column in Newsweek. The author was going on about the bloggers and them not being reporters and picking up the phone, but at the same time he doesn’t talk about the newspapers just waiting around to see what Drudge was saying.
you shouldn’t lurk so much, you Silleigh thing :)
“quesions “
Oh, my goodnes, I’m slurring…I sound like the presidint. :(
Thanks, Eli. I hadn’t thought about Durante in ages. Here’s another Grass Roots song that captures the task ahead.
Much as I like the idea. It is a sop, an exercise without teeth, on the part of she who took that which must not be named off the table.
We need think antitanks. Or something.
The libel bar in this country is set very very high, fortunately or unfortunately. I think maybe this is one of the many things that the free market is supposed to take care of: If some idiot radio host says, say, that 99% of autistic kids are just whiny brats whose parents have never laid down the law, then everyone will boycott him and his advertisers will bail and he’ll get fired.
You of all people know how well *that* system works.
Meh. I come here to learn stuff. Also, to pick up stuff I can post on my local Craigslist that ticks people off.
Or, better, wakes ‘em up. Trying to get the grass to grow in the bare spots, as it were.
This is my favorite, but it doesn’t really have much to do with the topic at hand. Maybe if it were Late Nite or something.
But Hugh, he had to move to be near his new wife, Samantha Power.
I Eli, I think you’re exactly right.
You should totally comment more, and here’s why.
a true power couple
Is this Late Late Nite?? The music sure is great:>)
Hearing get us MSM screen time for all the stuff an your list that they have been ignoring until now. Stuff isn’t real until it appears in the MSM unless your a blogger in which case our stuff does not appear in the Media until its almost over.
But what is over Bush’s Presidency by natural means or by impeachment? Maybe they will let Bush finish his term and then go after him I don’t care I want him taken down.
bye have to go
i think you’ve set the bar way, way too low.
Well it’s not just Drudge. It’s the whole MSM: Time, Newsweek, the WaPo, the NYT, cable news, network news, and PBS shows like the NewsHour and Washington Week. I admit currently to a certain creepy fascination watching ABC Nightly News and how Charlie Gibson is going to spin stories in a Bush-McCain direction.
I could totally do music video posts every day without breaking a sweat.
Ah, but obviously I didn’t do my job well enough to teach people the new method. It’s not a boycott. To get advertisers to pull their ads they have to decide themselves. That’s the spocko way. Boycotts are hard to pull off when the Savage, Hannity, Rush people say, “Those people aren’t your customers anyway. If they don’t like it they can turn it off!”
I worked with another group, Hate Hurts America, to use the same techniques on Savage. They got 18 advertisers to pull their ads costing him over one million dollars. Then he sued them.
It’s hard to push new tactics to some people, some thought processes are still stuck in the 1960’s. If I never hear, “Hey, hey, ho, ho blankety blank has got to go!” again I’ll be happy.
Yeah, my bad. I was mainly talking about the free market argument, which doesn’t necessarily take spockos into account.
Rwcole. I thought that my family and I were the only ones who had ever heard of that song. Maybe my mom isn’t quite so…unusual.
I’m glad Kucinich is doing this. I just don’t think Pelosi deserves any credit for it but does deserve criticism.
Yeah, I read The Republican Noise Machine a few years ago. It really disgusted me to see how much money went into manipulating the news.
WTF is the national enquirer up to now?
http://www.nationalenquirer.co…..rity/65193
so post one now…
What fits your mood?
Eli, could I make one small suggestion on the title of your post? I’d suggest this change:
methinks you are correct sir!! i do feel we’re moving the playing field a bit more progressive……. or am i nuts lol
They sure are lots of fun at times… One of the reasons I love staying up with ES and Suz… Music music and more music.. which conversly means memories and more memories. Music is such a huge part of our lives, more than most people relize. I am lucky having a musician as my sweetie, she sings soprano, plays oboe, English Horn, Flute and teaches kids music…
Music is the short cut to the soul and you can’t stop it!
If you don’t you really should check out the late late nite threads.. you will be amazed the music thats gets linked to. Things and music you forgot you knew and loved!
This is the one that’s been stuck in my head since yesterday…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI064eeFnyA
any of the K-Tel hits?
Probably too confusing, since that’s their nickname for *us*…
Its not time for a full-fledged Snoopy dance yet. What we’re getting on Friday, so far, is a modified limited hangout of the dirty linen. It is NOT (or at least, not yet), an impeachment hearing. That will require a vote by the HJC to initiate formal impeachment hearings– and that is what MUST happen!
It was established during Watergate that, faced with a formal impeachment hearing, neither the President or anyone else can hide behind “Executive Privilege.” That bit of hide-and-go-seek is what is holding things up right now, as Rove, Bolton, Miers, and others thumb their noses at the subpoenas they have received.
What will happen on Friday is that up to three panels will be heard about the pros and cons of administration malfeasance, misfeasance, crimes, etc., and what to do about it. What Pelosi is apparently pushing is more legislation (sic.!) Fat lot of good that will do, although some additional laws are no doubt needed. If that happens, the Snoopy dance will change to a dirge.
Hey, Nancy, how does it feel to have sold your soul?
Bob in HI
hi Eli,just wanted you to see the new kitties
http://www.animalshak.com/2008…..owhou.html
there is a kind of intellectual synergy that can happen when people work together – different people bring different interests/experiences/information and once conversations start happening, whether contrived or spontaneous, sparks start flying in ways that happen very rarely, if at all, when we are disconnected. the net has allowed us to find each other and to work together – beyond the constraints of geography.
eli, you are so right about the need to do something that brought us here.
Way to make me run off screaming! Damn youse, you have a long memory.
I like the way they describe Sunstein as the nation’s most cited legal scholar. What does this mean exactly? That this somehow makes his ideas about FISA, torture, impeachment, and accountability less than the crap they are?
They actually ran a similar story months ago. What’s with the reporters tailing Edwards not being able to get a picture or something. Wouldn’t they have at least cameras on the cell phones they carry. Best advice is to ignore it.
You are soooo easy.
Aww! I love when they’re all squirmy and slippery.
It’s like a great big open-source think tank. Or a whole bunch of smaller ones.
Ya just never know what will be next. So many if I don’t save them on my youtube I forget them!!
they just purr all day wash em,hold em ,feed em,just talk to them,purr machines!”g”
Wonderful! I’m envious.
Missed it the other time around. Why am I not surprised they should trot it out again now? :-(
well with the stinky economy our fundraising is not really up to snuff.people just dont have extra money for orphan critters.but i had a slight accident ,so havent been doin enuf to stoke the flames,but pretty soon ill be back in action
O No, that’s a TX hit in grade school. Haven’t heard it in a while..
Re: Charlie Gibson. I heard coverage about his press plane for this trip, and Gibson did not get a seat. I rather believe that was due to debate questions about flags and wright and tax cuts. Good for Ob.
Is the (show/hide text) mucked up for anyone else? Squirrels in the toobz again?
That’s right Eli! We are all we got, so we have to stick together through thick and thin. ;-)
that song “Mamasita” is growing on me…there is so much TALENT…out there in MERIKA,i hope this ship of state turns around soooooon!
CNN
it’s hinky here too.
It was working for me about an hour ago, and then stopped. I figured it was just me, since I’ve been having all kinds of YouTube/Gmail problems with Firefox lately.
there is way too much division in the net roots imo….some peeps argue every point to a gnats ass,not seeing the big picture
Well, that should help Team McCain’s morale…
Working for me!
exactly.
well, except for the financial support, health care, paid vacation, air conditioned office, free access to online libraries, ….
But, but, but it takes a lot of energy to try and see the big picture. Ha.
Eli was just commenting about TBP at the beginning of this thread.
Works for me if I use IE, but not FF, or even FF emulating IE.
As you know, Cass Sunstein is a professor of law at Harvard and the University of Chicago. Supposedly he is the most highly cited law professor in the country. He is also an advisor to Barak Obama, who is a lecturer in law at the University of Chicago. Specifically, he advised Obama on the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which he says is a big improvement over unamended FISA in terms of its protection of civil liberties. And, at Netroots Nation (bloggers conference) in Austin this past weekend, Sunstein argued against prosecuting members of the Bush Administration for their various crimes.
Today, Glenn Greenwald “debated” him by phone during a simultaneous interview by Amy Goodman: http://www.salon.com/opinion/g…..index.html
Sunstein was quite unimpressive. So I googled his name and “FISA” and came up with some highly nuanced postings in which he claims that Bush may indeed have authority under AUMF to wiretap international calls to and from Al Qaeda. Duh!
I also came across this by him at HuffPo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..90034.html
I think that Sunstein’s influence might partly explain Obama’s about face on FISA stuff.
I agree and that’s why I speak up. We are much stronger when we act like a team. This doesn’t mean our team wins every game, but as we lose one or two, it doesn’t mean we quit and go to the opposing team. See? LOL
Oooops. That should have said about Obama’s press plane for this trip. No seat for Charlie. That’s nice.
What kind of gnat’s ass we talking here? Big gnat? Small gnat? Right wing gnat? Left wing gnat? *g*
What, an African or a European gnat?
hahahahaha
Gnat’s with Big Hair and funny Southern accents? Smart gnats, stupid gnats? See, Hugh’s right, we gotta know precisely which kinda gnat we’re fighting about. :)
some are looking for the next coming of Jesus Keeeeerist im afraid
you forgot,big assed,flat assed,dimpled ass etc,etc,etc
he is a creep.i really used to think he was one of the good ones…wonder when he drank the KOOLAID?
i listened to sunstein – both on the netroots nation forum video stream and on democracy now! this morning. if obama was convinced by sunstein then obama is an idiot. a nice sounding idiot, but an idiot all the same.
sadly, i think it more likely that they are fellow travelers.
Not working for me in FF or Safari
Won’t work for me. Firefox.
wonderful thunderstorm here and the classic NITE MUST FALL is onthe telly
pass the popcorn
I do too. But it’s Obama’s responsibility to choose advisers who aren’t extremist idiots, even if they are frequently cited. I saw a list of Obama foreign policy advisers at the NYT a couple of days ago. Dennis Ross was listed as heading his Middle East team. That’s Obama’s idea of doing things differently? Ross is as tight with the Israel lobby as you can get. Is this Obama’s idea of the evenhanded approach to Israel-Palestine that not a majority of Americans but a majority of Jewish Americans say they want? *shakes head*
think ill become absorbed…nite nite you lovely pupeeps!
Nite nite Sadlyyes! ;-)
Scary. ;-)
Well he was always kind of conservative but the breaking point came when he started making enough that he had to pay the capital gains tax.
What… is the air-speed velocity of an unladen gnat?
Not working for me in FF or Safari
Workin’ fine here – with FF 2.0
FF 3.0 gave me fits, so I uninstalled it and went rapidly in reverse back to 2.0
Enjoy your evening SY.
And, lets not forget the cover your ass gnats!
TEDfest continues upstairs
I always keep my ass gnats covered.
I don’t . . . Auuuuuuuugh!
I was just sharing the above gnat stuff and my 20 year old son just finished relaying that whole MP dialogue.
You and Eli are on the same page as my guy.
Again, wise, I say.
Well, you have to know these things when you’re a king, you know.
a 20 year old? i’m impressed. are MP repeats still on tv?
It’s from the movie…Holy Grail.
yes – but how are 20 year olds being exposed to MP?
I agree
African or European?
SOUTH AFRICA GUERILLA WAR WET TWEEFONTEIN BOER FIRMAN
Needs translation. This I could get done.
Tweefontein was a battle by the Boer Commando against the British on Christmas Eve 1901. The Boer attacked a camp on a kopje by climbing, at night in stocking feet, a sheer cliff. They waited until they had significant numbers below the crest before emerging and routing the sentries and fighting hand-to-hand with the suddenly awakened British.
“History of the Boer War” by Arthur Conan Doyle