How They Do It

Penny Ante

"Why is office politics in the academe so vicious?"

"Because the stakes are so low."

That was the truest thing I learned during my years as a Grad Student. Kevin Drum, reviewing conservative thinker Bruce Bartlett's attack on W "Imposter" says that the same dynamic is at play in our national political discourse. It's a great article summed up by these quotes:

Ideological activists may be loath to acknowledge this, but the truth is that today both major political parties are largely stuck.

On the left, the problem is that liberals have achieved the bulk of what they set out to achieve 75 years ago, and the country is pretty happy with it....There just aren't very many big-ticket items left with the potential to generate a lot of voter excitement.

...In the same vein, the problem on the right is that conservatives have failed miserably whenever they've tried to take a serious chainsaw to modern liberalism. Cutting taxes is just about all they have left, and as Bartlett concedes, taxes can't be cut forever......

.... In practical terms, we're no longer fighting seriously over grand principle, we're just fighting over who gets the most toys.

Read The Review

Rally For The Danes

Ultimately, Free Speechers are too well educated and to polite...

A Thousand Words....

All beginning with 'insane-lapdog'

OK, What Is My Status, Vis-a-Vis Dual Citizenship?

Isn't Ireland supposed to be backward?

This lede from The Irish Examiner:

MORE than half the public supports some form of gay marriage, according to a new poll which shows 51% of adults are in favour of giving legal status to gay partnerships.

The Irish Examiner/Red C survey on attitudes to homosexuality also reveals that exactly half of Irish adults would be happy to allow gay people to adopt children on the same terms as heterosexuals.

The findings are published as a Government-appointed working group, due to report in June, examines the legal, financial and familial implications of introducing civil partnership legislation.

People Who Go To Twelve

This week we anoint our first reader-nominated Person Who Goes To Twelve. He has made a career out of skewering his own profession, poking at the gullibility of his fans, celebrating actual rational thought, satirizing cheesiness and proudly embracing a life without God, all from the Mecca of American Tacky Cheesiness, Gullibilty, Blind Faith and Irrationality: Las Vegas, NV.

Out nominating correspondent points to our honoree’s contribution to NPR’s ‘This I Believe’, where, in defending his own belief ‘that there is no god’ we also find a liberation of faith from the clutches of the neediness and desire for self-justification.

“I'm saying, ‘This I believe: I believe there is no God.’
Having taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough. It has to be enough, but it's everything in the world and everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the family I'm raising now is enough that I don't need heaven. I won the huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day.”

Agree with that or not, somebody who pays his rent with proceeds extracted from the vacation accounts of the Great American Heartland should know better than to honestly stand against the very values that group holds dear. Doing so, Penn Jillette, is Going To Twelve.

Frankly, Almost All Of His Oeuvre' Is Criminal..

Maybe they can look into Phil Collins too.


MORRISSEY QUIZZED BY FBI

Singer MORRISSEY was quizzed by the FBI and British intelligence after speaking out against the American and British governments.

The Brit is a famous critic of the US-led war in Iraq and has dubbed President GEORGE W BUSH a "terrorist" - but he was baffled to be hauled in by authorities.

Morrissey explains, "The FBI and the Special Branch have investigated me and I've been interviewed and taped and so forth.

"They were trying to determine if I was a threat to the government, and similarly in England. But it didn't take them very long to realise that I'm not.

Read More

Political Wire Notes

From Political Wire we learn:

Illinois' senator Richard Durbin really is one of the most Liberal Senators (#7; John kerry is #8)

Al Gore remains a threat to Hillary according to Dick Morris

The American Research Group sees Hillary's support as wide but shallow and that the race could go to "who can become the anti-Hillary the fastest"

I of course say, let's find a nice successful southern Governor

What Does This Mean?

Is This Like LBJ 'losing' Cronkite or is it Rove positioning for the fall elections?

Via Media Matters:

O'Reilly: U.S. should leave Iraq "as fast as humanly possible" because "there are so many nuts in the country"

Summary: Bill O'Reilly suggested that the United States "hand over everything to the Iraqis as fast as humanly possible" because "[t]here are so many nuts in the country -- so many crazies -- that we can't control them." O'Reilly has previously called those advocating immediate withdrawal from Iraq "pinheads" and compared them to Hitler appeasers.

During the February 20 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Bill O'Reilly suggested that the United States "hand over everything to the Iraqis as fast as humanly possible" because "[t]here are so many nuts in the country -- so many crazies -- that we can't control them." O'Reilly then claimed that the "big mistake" was actually "the crazy-people underestimation."

Because It Takes A While For People To Catch On

Try as it might, our own government and it's Ministry Of Propaganda (AKA Fox News), may finally be failing to hide it's remarkable lack of acheivement. From the Wall Street Journal OnLine

And just for the record, historically speaking, at no time did I ever Doubt that Al Gore Would have handled everything from 9/10/01 better than George II. My second thought following viewing, live, a second airplane crash into an American Office Building was " Oh fuck, we have got the wrong guy in DC to handle this mess". I'm telling ya, sometimes I amaze myself with my grasp of the obvious. Anyway...

"How would you rate the job that the Bush Administration has done preventing a terrorist attack in the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001 -- excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"Base: All Adults


Positive (NET) Feb. 2004 70% Feb. 2006 52%

Negative (NET) Feb. 2004 30 Feb. 2006 47

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
* Less than 0.5%.

Stupidity And Mental Instability Illegal In Europe

I realize that Austria has a particularly vital interest in accounting for it's past but this is not OK, ja? Denial of free speech is how stupidity and ignorance is maintained, not prevented.

Prosecutors say Irving jail term should be longerBy Philippe Naughton and agencies

Austrian prosecutors have filed an appeal against the three-year prison sentence handed to the British historian David Irving, arguing that he escaped too lightly for the crime of Holocaust denial.

Irving was left stunned and open-mouthed when the sentence was handed down after a one-day trial in a Vienna court yesterday.

After entering a guilty plea and publicly accepting that he had made a mistake when denying existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz, Irving had clearly expected a more lenient punishment over two speeches made to Austrian neo-Nazis in 1989.

Read More

Glad that I Live In A Safe City...

My Hometown, Hotbed of Terrorism:

From The Toledo Blade....

3 charged in terror plot; local suspects planned attacks in Iraq, U.S. says

In a simple West Toledo ranch house and during target practice at a local shooting range, three area men plotted to build bombs and help assist the insurgent attacks in Iraq, federal authorities alleged yesterday.

The men, including a University of Toledo computer and engineering student, planned to wage “holy war” using skills learned via the Internet, officials said, and they intended to enter Iraq under the guise of doing business related to a Reynolds Road used-car lot that one of them owned.

Two of the men were arrested in Toledo over the weekend and pleaded not guilty during a hearing yesterday. The third was arrested in Jordan and flown back to Cleveland, where he pleaded not guilty yesterday.

See, I Would've Guessed Cat Stevens, or Gary Glitter

Queen album brings rock to Iran

Rock band Queen, fronted by gay icon Freddie Mercury, has become the first rock act to receive an official seal of approval in Iran.
Western music is strictly censored in the Islamic republic, where homosexuality is considered a crime.

But an album of Queen's greatest hits was released in Iran on Monday.

Mercury, who died in 1991, was proud of his Iranian ancestry, and illegal bootleg albums and singles made Queen one of the most popular bands in Iran.

Lyrics explained

The album contains hits such as Bohemian Rhapsody, The Miracle and I Want to Break Free, but reportedly omits a number of Queen's love songs.......

Read More

Department of Unlikely Headlines

From CNN:

Bikers roll to military funerals to oppose anti-gay protests

FORT CAMPBELL, Kentucky (AP) -- Wearing vests covered in military patches, a band of motorcyclists rolls around the country from one soldier's funeral to another, cheering respectfully to overshadow jeers from church protesters.

They call themselves the Patriot Guard Riders, and they are more than 5,000 strong, forming to counter anti-gay protests held by the Rev. Fred Phelps at military funerals.

Read More

Onward!

I am having trouble avoiding a back handed compliment, like 'Well, it's about time". Oh, I guess I didn't. Still not finding terms like 'Notre Dame', 'Loyola', or 'Jesuit' anywhere in the article. But at least the idiots are being answered. From CNN.com

Scientists enlist clergy in evolution battle

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (Reuters) -- American scientists fighting back against creationism, intelligent design and other theories that seek to deny or downgrade the importance of evolution have recruited unlikely allies -- the clergy.

And they have taken their battle to a new level, trying to educate high school and even elementary school teachers on how to hold their own against parents and school boards who want to mix religion with science......

"The faith community needs to step up to the plate," agreed Eugenie Scott, Executive Director, National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California.

Scott said many people held the "toxic" idea that "you are either a Christian creationist or you are a bad-guy athiest".

A Failure Of Liberal Imagination

Sarah Vowell, upon realizing that she has no optimism about the state of our union. (For the record, Dan and I found ourselves a NY bar at noon Jan 20, 2001).

...Alas, I see my initial worries about the current administration as the greatest betrayal in my whole life by my old pal pessimism. I attended the president's inauguration in 2001. When he took the presidential oath, I cried. What was I so afraid of? I was weeping because I was terrified that the new president would wreck the economy and muck up my drinking water. Isn't that adorable? I lacked the pessimistic imagination to dread that tens of thousands of human beings would be spied on or maimed or tortured or killed or stranded or drowned, thanks to his incompetence.

I feel like a fool. All those years of Sunday school, and still the apocalypse catches me off guard.

The Danger of Going To Twelve

One of my favorite arguments in Keith Olberman's GT-12 status (below) is causing a little controversy:



Crossing the Line on a Cable Show?
By Deborah HowellSunday, February 19, 2006; B06

Dana Milbank can be controversial with readers. The Post reporter has his fans -- and I can be one of them -- but I think his appearance on MSNBC last week was a mistake in judgment.

Milbank wore hunting gear -- an orange stocking cap and striped vest and gloves -- on Keith Olbermann's show Monday night and made several meant-to-be-humorous remarks about Vice President Cheney's hunting accident. Here's an example from the transcript:

Olbermann: And will there be more hunting trips? I mean, would you actually go hunting with the vice president at this point, even dressed the way you are?

Milbank: I understand that Pat Fitzgerald has been offered an invitation to the next one....

Read The Whole Thing Here.

Major Threat To My Free Time

So I discovered YouTube.com. Wanna see Bruce Springsteen performing an acoustic version of 'Growin Up' at the Gaslight Club in NYC from May of 1970? How about The Allmans w/ Duane and Berry performing Whipping Post in 1970? George Clinton and the Parliaments in 1969. Mekons? Clash? Bad Company? Zevon's final Letterman performances? ....So far that's all I've had time to review. Quality is hardly HD but, Omigoawd wotta trove.

I'll Show Ya Sumpin Scarey, My Little Goblin

You know, the gun. Uh, I mean, that big rifle. I mean I mean the shotgun....

Meanwhile, Back In DC

From Jesus' General

The Great Suburban Wilderness Of Chicagoland

Today, a poodle was attacked!!!! Really.

Residents seek help with bold coyote

Amanda Marrazzo
Published February 8, 2006

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS -- Some Arlington Heights residents this week pleaded with officials to do something about increasingly brazen coyotes.

Although the subject was not on the Village Board agenda Monday, eight people addressed trustees.Marla Goldberg said she and her two 30-pound-plus dogs were recently trapped in their dog run by a coyote.

Schadenfreude Is Of Limited Worth

Even though Stuart Rothenberg sees 9 of the 10 most vulnerable House seats in '06 are currently held by Republicans , Congressional Quarterly shows only one Senate seat in Play and only 4 House Seats. CQ does show a lot of Governor ships in play, all of which are currently held by Republicans. This augurs well for 2008.

Schadenfreude Dept.

Go ahead, smile. It's all we've got.

Bush Approval Sinks Across Country

President Bush's net job approval is now negative in 40 of 50 states, according to new Survey USA polls.

And Then There's Texas...

Why, tell me why, didn't we just let the South Secede?

Pastor Says Mental Illness Is 'Demons'
By JULIA GLICK (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated PressFebruary 15, 2006 9:37 PM EST

McKINNEY, Texas - The church pastor of a woman accused of cutting off the arms of her 10-month-old daughter told jurors Wednesday that mental illness is actually demon possession and cannot be cured with medication.
Dena Schlosser, 37, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the November 2004 death of her baby, Margaret. She was not taking her anti-psychotic medication at the time of the slaying.

"I do not believe that any mental illness exists other than demons, and no medication can straighten it out, other than the power of God," said Doyle Davidson, the 73-year-old minister of the Water of Life Church, which the Schlosser family attended several times a week.
Dena Schlosser's attorneys have faulted her husband and the church's beliefs for discouraging medical treatment. Schlosser's husband, John Schlosser, testified Tuesday that he did not seek medical help when his wife told him she wanted to "give the baby to God" the day before their daughter's death.

Davidson said he hardly knew the family, although John Schlosser testified that Davidson was the first person he called after his wife told him what she had done.

Davidson, who has a cable TV show in the Dallas area and in several states, also testified that he has cast demons out of parishioners and seen evil spirits."

Maybe The Water Of Life is 80 Proof.

Medic!

People Who Go To Twelve

Forget Al Franken, Forget Jerry Springer even forget True New Deal Democrat Ed Schultz, the True Hope For The Reality-Based Community is appearing Nightly on MSNBC, singlehandedly battling Fox News and most of the morons on his own Network. Gifted with Saul Alinsky's appreciation for the power of Ridicule and the Sports Fans' belief in 'heart' the host of Countdown brilliantly skewers the absurdity of our Pres and his pea-brained coterie of dilletantes, dimbulbs and do-nothings. I live for each night's naming of the day's 'Worst Person In The World' (Bill O'Reilly wins at least once a week, and it's never really a contest). The O was the only television person to openly attack the insane concept that there is/was a 'War On Christmas'. He's the only man in all of media to present a finger puppet enactment of Anna Nicole Smith's Supreme Court Case. And, on Monday, regular Guest Dana Milbank of the Washington Post was interviewed while wearing Hunter's Orange. Keith Olbermann Goes Where No Journalist Dares: He Goes To Twelve.

Honor (Again) From Dishonor For My Home Town!

I might one day have to stop making fun of Toledo if this continues. This is the latest in a year long scandal that started with Noe and has led to the Governor pleading guilty to misdemeanor ethics violations. Breathtaking Republican Corruption is not only for DC and TX. This is a true object lesson in the arrogant parasitical nature of the GOP Power-Grab:



$1 Million Theft Charged in Ohio in Coin Scandal

TOLEDO, Ohio, Feb. 13 — A coin dealer and prominent Republican fund-raiser was charged Monday with stealing at least $1 million from a state investment in rare coins that has embroiled Republicans in scandal during an election year.

The 53 charges against the coin dealer, Tom Noe, conclude a 10-month investigation by state and federal prosecutors into the $50 million rare-coin investment Mr. Noe managed for the state insurance fund for injured workers.

The investigation led to sweeping changes at the state workers' compensation bureau, an agreement by Gov. Bob Taft and two former aides to plead no contest to ethics charges, and pending charges against two other former Taft aides.

Mr. Noe is accused of stealing from the investment by writing checks, sometimes for hundreds of thousands of dollars each, knowing that the money was not his to use.

His lawyer has acknowledged a shortfall of up to $13 million of the money Mr. Noe invested for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

Sanity Victorious in a Once Blue State

I remember having to ask the pricipal (sister Margaret Ann, or 'Fish Lips') for permission to discuss Evolution in the classroom. It seemed an absurd requirement at the time and perhaps Ohio has caught on:

Ohio Evolution Lesson Plan Eliminated

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Disputed teaching material used by Ohio public school students that questions evolutionary theory is headed back to the state committee that wrote the first version.
The Ohio Board of Education voted 11-4 Tuesday to delete a science standard and correlating lesson plan that encourages students to seek evidence for and against evolution. Critics had called the material an opening to teach intelligent design, which holds that life is so complex it must have been created by a higher authority.

''It is deeply unfair to the children of this state to mislead them about science,'' said board member Martha Wise, who pushed to eliminate the material.

The 2002 science standards said students should be able to ''describe how scientists continue to investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory.'' The standards included a disclaimer that they do not require the teaching of intelligent design.

The board vote represents the latest setback for the intelligent design movement....."

Maybe things are looking up.

1.6 Billion Just Don't Buy What It Used To

First consider this from Raw Story:

Today Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Rep. George Miller, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, and other senior Democrats released a new Government Accountability Office report finding that the Bush Administration spent more than $1.6 billion in public relations and media contracts in a two and a half year span.
"The government is spending over a billion dollars per year on PR and advertising," said Rep. Waxman. "Careful oversight of this spending is essential given the track record of the Bush Administration, which has used taxpayer dollars to fund covert propaganda within the United States."

And then reflect on this From CNN/Gallup:

Bush's approval rating drops to 39 percent: ..... President Bush's overall approval rating, which dropped to 39 percent, down from 42 percent in a poll taken February 6-9.
Fifty-six percent of respondents said they disapproved of the way the president is handling his job.

Bush's ratings have hung between 38 and 43 for almost his entire second term. One can apparently only polish a turd for so long...

Dick Cheney: Fighting the Social Security Crisis One Old Guy At A Time

Signs of Hope

Gee, it's like ask and ye shall receive. From today's NY Times:

At Churches Nationwide, Good Words for Evolution

On the 197th birthday of Charles Darwin, ministers at several hundred churches around the country preached yesterday against recent efforts to undermine the theory of evolution, asserting that the opposition many Christians say exists between science and faith is false.

Continue Reading Here

Dan! Get Me My Snakeskin Boots!

"Kids go through hard rock, hip-hop and pop very quickly, and then they're hungry for something else," says E Street Band guitarist and garage-rock DJ Steven Van Zandt -- who gets hundreds of e-mails from teens thanking him for introducing them to bands like the Kinks. "They always end up coming to [classic] rock & roll."

Can't they get their own music?

Read Teens Save Classic Rock

Is the Eleventh Commandment "Thou Shalt Be Obstinately Stupid"?

The LA Times has a great/hilarious/wildly disheartening feature on Creationism

To give you a flavor:

"Boys and girls," Ham said. If a teacher so much as mentions evolution, or the Big Bang, or an era when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, "you put your hand up and you say, 'Excuse me, were you there?' Can you remember that?"

The children roared their assent."Sometimes people will answer, 'No, but you weren't there either,' " Ham told them.

"Then you say, 'No, I wasn't, but I know someone who was, and I have his book about the history of the world.' "

He waved his Bible in the air.

"Who's the only one who's always been there?" Ham asked.

"God!" the boys and girls shouted.

"Who's the only one who knows everything?"

"God!"

"So who should you always trust, God or the scientists?"

The children answered with a thundering: "God!"

"We're going to arm you with Christian Patriot missiles,"

ohferchrissakes.

I just don't remember Jesus using weapons analogies, but, of course, I got trained in all that Vatican II 'God is love' stuff that our new Christian-American leaders have showed me was foolish and soft-minded.

And why aren't the great Catholic universities making noise about this?

Madrasas, anyone?

Jack & George - 2001

Yes! A real photo of Jack Abramoff and our Pres!
And Karl Rove just makes it even better.

Social Studies Fun

Remember filmstrips? Unhappy about our current government? Click Here.

Not Just L.A

LA isn't the only place that's been saved from amazingly inadequately underarmed terrorist. Newly reported previously thwarted plots include:

Ahm Bur-glar: nearly crippled McDonaldland economy by hijacking critical burger shipments; indefinitely detained within the Fry Fortress by the power of presidential pretend. Unrepentant and unrestrained, given the chance he would robble again – quickly, and without mercy.

For the full list, visit fafblog

Aah, New Hampshire in February

"My name is Mark Warner. And I'm unemployed"

Mark Warner visited NH this week to speak the NH Dems. Hotline covers the highlights. My question: Is having 37 applause lines in a 32 minute speach good, bad or average? Any media types out there want to give us a frame of reference?

People Who Go To Twelve

His voice, a cross between Hank Williams’ mournful bay and George Jones’ steely resignation, encompasses all of America. His Band opens Emmy Lou Harris shows with brilliant essays in electrified Appalachia, then comes back on stage with the star replicating her dark, Daniel Lanois produced U2-goes-Americana journeys into the Heartland’s soul. He can pick with the best of the Nashville Flash-boys, while never sounding like them. He has the strangest damn guitars you’ll ever see. He has sung Otis Redding. He has written a great song about landmines (and, let’s face it, protest music isn’t often great) And on his new album, he aims for nothing less than rescuing Christ from the Old-Testament-obsessed Psuedo-Christianity of the Religious right. Amen. Buddy Miller is a Higher Power.

People Who Go To (the Terrible) Two's

Angry SIR PAUL McCARTNEY stormed out of Wednesday's Grammy Award ceremony when he was beaten to the Best Album gong by U2.

The 63-year-old was convinced his disc CHAOS AND CREATION IN THE BACK YARD would win the honour - and he refused to congratulate his Irish rivals on their triumph with HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB.

Fox News columnist ROGER FRIEDMAN says, "The ex-Beatle got up and left with his very arrogant bodyguard. They weren't exactly subtle about it either.
"He walked right past STING without saying hello." (ZJS/WNTSU/JB)
(c) 2004 World Entertainment News Network

Truth or Super-Fake?

I'm with Ed, Schultz, I think that this was a faked 'screw-up' to show us how honest our President is...What do you think?


CAMBRIDGE, Md. The source of the latest leak from the Bush administration is: President Bush himself.Thanks to an error by a White House technician, the sound of what were supposed to be private remarks to G-O-P House members was relayed to the White House press corps. Bush made a brief public speech to lawmakers at their retreat on Maryland's Eastern Shore. He then shooed out reporters and photographers, saying, "I support the free press, let's just get 'em out of the room."

Once they were gone, Bush -- not realizing he was still audible -- said, "I expect this conversation we're about to have to stay in the room." He added, "I know that's impossible in Washington."

Bush then spoke for roughly two minutes on the war on terror and his warrantless eavesdropping program before the outside feed was switched off. On the surveillance, he repeated earlier assertions he'd cleared the program with top government lawyers

If Only We could Just Run Generic Candidates

From Political Hotwire

Democrats Favored in Congressional Race

A Pew Research survey finds Democrats with "a sizable lead in the congressional horse race and an advantage on most major issues." In a generic ballot, Democrats lead by 50% to 41% among registered voters andretain "a huge advantage on traditional party strengths like the environment and health care." Democrats also lead the ability "to deal with the economy (by 46%-36%) and reform the federal government (42%-29%). Terrorism, and to a lesser extent crime, remain the GOP's only strong issues."

The latest Fox News poll shows similar results, with Democrats seens as "better at handling an array of key issues and gaining public trust on some areas traditionally considered Republican strengths." By a margin of 42% to 34%, Americans think Democrats should take control of Congress in this year's elections.Meanwhile, My DD examines the 12 best Democratic pickup opportunties.

Family Business

What a great way to start a Friday - Dan Savage in the New York Times:


....And if anyone reading this believes that gay men can actually become ex-gay men, I have just one question for you: Would you want your daughter to marry one?

Evangelical Christians seem sincere in their desire to help build healthy, lasting marriages. Well, if that's their goal, encouraging gay men to enter into straight marriages is a peculiar strategy. Every straight marriage that includes a gay husband is one Web-browser-history check away from an ugly divorce.

Easy Talking Points For Busy People

So the Weapons of Misdirection are in full force just days after being called to account at the funeral for Coretta Scott King.

Remember these things, and remind your friends:

1. The thwarted attack on LA? No domestic surveillance helped thwart it.

2. Democrats who rec’d $ ‘From jack Abramoff’s Indian Clients’ had always rec’d $ from those tribes….just a whole lot more before Jack A-off upped the pot and redirected the disbursement.

3. Nevada has lots of Indians, lots of Gambling and Harry Reid. The first group has always donated to the last guy to get the middle business.

4. IF the war we are fighting is against Terror, and IF it is that war that the Pres invokes when deciding that he has any right that he wants to claim, THEN how do we know that we’ve won and can then insist that our Pres become a law abiding member of our country?

5. Support your Republican friends when they trash Hillary, encourage them to spread their belief that She couldn’t win. Eventually everyone will believe it and the Dems can find a good candidate, like Mark Warner.

6. Oh yeah, The government did spy on Rev King, so it’s not out of line to talk about that at his widow’s funeral. Nor is it inappropriate to bring up the ways that a govt might lie it’s way into a war when your paying tribute to a paragon of honest peaceful change.

In Hillary We Do Not Trust

From Political Hotwire

Warner Poaching Clinton Advisers

Presidential aspirant Mark Warner (D), "is assembling a team of formal and informal advisers with ties to the Clinton administration, raising the potential for friction with Senator Clinton, who is also mulling a race for the Democratic nomination," the New York Sun reports.The aides are described as "a variety of political, policy, speechwriting, and fund-raising figures once in President Clinton's orbit."

People Who Go To Twelve

She began her first album by declaring "Jesus Died For Somebody's Sins, But Not Mine". What more is there to say? How about, thirty-plus years on, she still kills in concert, still believes that Rock and Roll can save you, me and the whole profane screwed up world. That her challenge to Jesus was one of her humbler moments. That She had a rock legend husband but didn't die herself. That She has a ridiculously younger though rather talented boyfriend. That Her drummer will take on anybody ya got and, lastly, That Her longtime guitarist is one of Rock's great writers and archivists ("Nuggets" anyone?) and like her still looks like he needs a meal real baaad. And staying hungry is Going To Twelve. Buddha bless you, Patti Smith.

Activist Uses Funeral As A Political Forum!!!

Martin Luther King's eulogy for the Young Victims of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing, by Martin Luther King, Jr. on Sept 18, 1963 in Birmingham, Ala. This was the eulogy for three of the four children killed in attack

This afternoon we gather in the quiet of this sanctuary to pay our last
tribute of respect to these beautiful children of God....

They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity. And so this afternoon in a real sense they have something to say to each of us in their death.

They have something to say to every minister of the gospel who has remained silent
behind the safe security of stained-glass windows.

They have something to say to every politician [Audience:] (Yeah) who has fed his constituents with the stale
bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism.

They have something to say to a federal government that has compromised with the undemocratic practices of southern Dixiecrats (Yeah) and the blatant hypocrisy of right-wing northern Republicans. (Speak)

They have something to say to every Negro (Yeah) who has
passively accepted the evil system of segregation and who has stood on the
sidelines in a mighty struggle for justice.

They say to each of us, black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution.

They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream [...]

Department of Dreams

I'm sure that Chris Mathews will try do what he can to stop this but Political Wire has this post:

Democrats Within Reach

Unlike a year ago, Charlie Cook says the possibility of
a Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives "is very real."Cook's latest forecast: "The current model predicts a net Democratic gain of 10 seats. When we factor in a four-seat margin of error, the model projects that as of today, under current conditions, and without speculating about what the national political environment may do between now and November, Democrats will make a net
gain of six to 14 seats. With a bit of luck -- or a wave of any size --
Democrats might even grasp their gold ring: 15 seats."

When Saints Clash

So Much For Civility

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain unleashed an unusually biting and blunt broadside Monday against Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, accusing him of backtracking on a previous commitment to help develop a bipartisan proposal for lobbying and ethics reform.
"I'm embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics, I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble," the Arizona Republican said in a letter to Obama.
"Please be assured I won't make the same mistake again."
McCain also told the Illinois Democrat that "I understand how important the opportunity to lead your party's efforts to exploit this issue must seem to a freshman senator, and I hold no hard feelings over your earlier disingenuousness."
"I have been around long enough to appreciate that in politics, the public interest isn't always a priority for every one of us," McCain wrote. "Good luck to you, senator."
In response, Obama sent a letter back to McCain, saying he was "puzzled" by McCain's reaction and insisting he still supported a bipartisan approach to ethics reform.
"The fact that you have now questioned my sincerity and my desire to put aside politics for the public interest is regrettable but does not in any way diminish my deep respect for you, nor my willingness to find a bipartisan solution to this problem," Obama wrote.

People Who Go To Twelve

Because the shows are still 3.5 hours, because none of his albums have ever been lazy, because he has backed up his songs with personal substance, because he dumped a model for a local girl who he met at work, and because he still has one of his oldest and best friends playing in his band Bruce Springsteen is our First Person Who Goes To Twelve

Super

I know that Mick's a twit with moves older than our Grandmother but....If you listened to Keith and Ronnie during Satisfaction (by that time I think Keith had decided The Mickster was getting too much attention) the guitar interplay was tres' cool.

The Next Dem Pres

As you know, I am committed to building a groundswell for a viable Dem Candidate in '08. So Far, my guy's looking promising in the money category.

Leader of the PACsFormer Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D) leads all potential Democratic presidential contenders in raising money for his leadership PAC. Warner's Forward Together PAC took in $3.3 million last year and has $2.4 million on hand. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack's Heartland PAC is second with $1.6 million last year and $1 million on hand.None of the other PACs break $1 million in cash on hand. Missing from the leaders, of course, is Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), who is mainly raising money for her 2006 re-election campaign. Her HillPAC seems to be on the back burner for now.

For more on Warner go to his PAC site.

Remember: No Easterners, No Senators.

Johnny Cash speaking for all good people on the subject of GW Bush

The Intro Post

So, I am sooo suggestible. Anyway, here is my blog. I know nothing about how to do this but most of my clients refer to me as 'the accountant' so clearly knowledge is not everything. Please visit and comment etc. and we’ll see how it goes.

Of course, I’m starting this at the beginning of tax season. Outside of the band my timing stinks. In the band I'm in the pocket.