Just a quick update on how the trip is going
September 2007 archive
Sep 14 2007
Do you ever wonder
Do you ever wonder? The catch phrase made popular by humorist Andy Rooney. A 60 Minutes staple, he is both funny and thought provoking at the same time.
Please follow me below the fold for my take on that age old question.
Sep 14 2007
Hammer Time
Who wants to go here? I don’t, it isn’t like we haven’t been here before but exorcising the lies and purging the evil is always beneficial and Friday is trash day in my neighborhood so let’s take it out.
Sep 14 2007
The Problem With The Netroots Strategy On Iraq
The Netroots has this year focused its fire on Iraq on “moderate” Republicans and what they term Bush Dog Democrats. Move On’s Tom Matzzie “masterminded” a brilliant plan that Move On has implemented this spring and summer of running ads against “moderate” Republicans like Jim Walsh and it worked, Walsh will now favor a toothless “change the course” strategy that Democrats will offer as a “bipartisan” plan. Move On and the Dems have concocted a political position that will give “moderate” Republicans cover on the Iraq issue in 2008 while doing nothing to change the course of the Debacle. Brilliant!
Similarly, the Bush Dog Democrat plan, which threatens to run Netroots-inspired primaries against people like Mississippi Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) (because I am sure Mississippi Democrats will rise up once some Mississippi progressive is anointed as the Netroots candidate in such a primary), will no doubt make a big dent in Bush’s Iraq policy. Not.
Meanwhile, erstwhile Netroots Dem Joe Sestak (D-PA), once a supporter of a date certain for withdrawal, no longer supports a firm timeline:
Sestak said, Democratic leaders should set aside their demands for immediate withdrawal “and begin to help author a comprehensive regional security plan that accepts the necessity for a deliberate redeployment.” . . . Sestak has been among those Democrats who think that setting a “date certain” for withdrawal is the best way to force Iraqis to assume more responsibility. But he now believes the length of time needed to redeploy, and the potential for the entire Army to “unravel” unless troops are redeployed, require a compromise. . . .
This is indicative of all that was wrong with the progressive activist strategy on Iraq in 2007. Instead of concentrating on growing and holding the group of Dems, once 171 strong in the House, in favor of no funding without timelines, some decided they could pressure Republicans and conservative Dems like Gene Taylor. And we are where we are today in no small measure because of these miscalculations. I repeat, one more time, that it will take pressure on Dems, MAINSTREAM and PROGRESSIVE Dems, to hold the line on no funding without timelines. We need to work for more pledges like this one:
Dear Mr. President:
We are writing to inform you that we will only support appropriating additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during Fiscal Year 2008 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of all our troops out of Iraq before you leave office.More than 3,600 of our brave soldiers have died in Iraq. More than 26,000 have been seriously wounded. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed or injured in the hostilities and more than 4 million have been displaced from their homes. Furthermore, this conflict has degenerated into a sectarian civil war and U.S. taxpayers have paid more than $500 billion, despite assurances that you and your key advisors gave our nation at the time you ordered the invasion in March, 2003 that this military intervention would cost far less and be paid from Iraqi oil revenues.
We agree with a clear and growing majority of the American people who are opposed to continued, open-ended U.S. military operations in Iraq, and believe it is unwise and unacceptable for you to continue to unilaterally impose these staggering costs and the soaring debt on Americans currently and for generations to come. . .
The pledge made in this letter should have been the focal point of our activism. Sadly, it was not.
Sep 14 2007
Pony Party; Eeny, meeny, miny……mear???
Let me start off this fine, fine morning by saying that I am not monkey-obsessed, nor do I intend to invite monkeys exclusively to the Pony Party. That’s not how I do.
However, I’m giving myself a pass, as yesterday’s ‘Monkey House’ title was really a reference to Kurt Vonnegut, and not any actual monkeys. And who doesn’t love monkeys?
Answer: these 2 tigers:
Sep 14 2007
“As indigenous people, we have always depended on the environment . . .”
also posted at Truth & Progress
The quote in the title is from a letter which in its English version begins
 Dear AES Shareholders: We are addressing you on behalf of more than 15 indigenous Ngobe communities which live on the banks of the Changuinola River, located in Bocas del Toro Province, Panama. We have lived along this river for many years, this river which borders La Amistad International Park – a World Heritage site shared by Panama and Costa Rica. We work the land as our ancestors taught us, cultivating oranges, corn, bananas and other crops which grow together with the small number of animals we raise. But also, the fish and shrimp of the Changuinola River are an important part of our diet and our culture. Currently, our lifestyle and the ecosystem surrounding us are facing a grave threat: the construction of three hydroelectric dams on the river, located above and below our communities. These dams, called Chan 75, Chan 140, and Chan 220, are being financed and constructed by AES Corporation. While some of us have been temporarily employed to clear trees and prepare the ground for construction, the reality is that in the long term these dams will have disastrous effects for us. |
The dams are expected to rapidly eradicate up to eleven species of diadramous fish and shrimp on which the Ngobe traditionally rely. For a technical analysis, see Probable Effects on Aquatic Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function of Four Proposed Hydroelectric Dams in the Changuinola/Teribe Watershed, Bocas del Toro, Panama, with emphasis on Effects within The La Amistad World Heritage Site (22-page pdf)
AES’s Panama page, which features a smiling young Indian boy, sounds benevolent enough:
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. . . we’re not just running a business, we know that the impact of our work goes far beyond that. Bringing electricity to places that never had it before, working for the social good-these are often profound outcomes of our business. Providing electricity can radically improve the quality of life, especially in developing countries, and especially because AES does so reliably, safely and responsibly.
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Sep 14 2007
The Morning News
Bush preserves big troop level in Iraq
By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
1 minute ago
| WASHINGTON – President Bush’s claim that progress in Iraq justifies preserving a large U.S. military presence there for at least 10 more months was shadowed by discouraging developments on the security and political fronts.
Friday morning, 12 hours after Bush’s address to the nation, the White House was to report that Iraqi leaders had gained almost no new ground in meeting U.S. benchmarks on bringing about reconciliation and stability. The report being sent to Congress by the White House underscored the difficulty of Bush’s argument that American sacrifice was creating space for political progress by Iraqis. Other bad news hit 12 hours before Bush’s speech, when Iraqi police reported the assassination in Anbar province of a prominent figure in a local alliance with U.S. troops against al-Qaida. It was a sharp blow to Bush’s frequent celebration of military gains in that region as a model for the rest of the country. |
Sep 14 2007
Muse in the Morning
 Muse in the Morning |
The muses are ancient. The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them. Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward. In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.
It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse. Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets. Others have been suggested throughout the centuries. I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts. And maybe there should be many more.
Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…
Sep 14 2007
Immanentizing The Eschaton – “A Pot to Piss In”
Yesterday began the search for my own paradise on earth, both in the physical and spiritual sense. I covered a third of a state in my search, visiting seven pieces of property that could soon become a studio/gallery/workshop/home and small working farm.
Something made me remember a moment in college just now, my friend Wendy had just completed a “left-handed bacon stretcher” for one of her assignments and I asked her, “What’s next?!” She replied matter-of-factly, “a pot to piss in.” Sure enough a few days later there was her pot, along with a toiletpaper dispenser and cupholder, created in a rustic Americana style. Simply perfect.
Sep 14 2007
The Joy of Lobbying or Talking Impeachment With Jerry Nadler
The Joy of Lobbying or Talking Impeachment with Jerry Nadler
At the end of August Representative Jerry Nadler (Nadler) from New York City’s Congressional District 8 met with about twenty of his constituents to discuss impeachment. This meeting was arranged in response to letters the Congressman received from his constituents indicating their concern about what is going on with our government and requesting that he support impeachment. It says volumes that Nadler set aside the time to meet with us and gave us a full hour. It was clear in how he addressed us and how he ran the meeting that he took our concerns and the issue of impeachment seriously. What follows is what he and we had to say…
Sep 14 2007
A little rant
So Buhdy says go for it. “You can literally write anything you want, in any form you want, at any length you want, in the recent essay list.” Okay I will.
Shit!
I hear…
What happened to this country?
You, you stupid shit. You voted for dubya, you drank the koolaide, you waved the flag, you placed the magnet, you thought that’s all you had to do. They wouldn’t lie to you now would they? They’re family, just like the guy at the car dealership and the jewelry store; “We’re just like family!”