November 2007 archive

Nov 06 2007

Muse in the Morning

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
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…

Nov 06 2007

Musharraf Plays Bush for a Fool

Admittedly not a hard thing to do to a man who would lose a game of checkers to a 16 oz. bag of shredded mild cheddar cheese.

We learn today that all of the reasons the White House has been backing Musharraf, and all of the ways in which the White House was trying to make it look pretty — make it look like they weren’t ever backing a dictator — are falling apart.

* The White House had hoped former Pakistani Prime Minister Bhutto would take part in a for-show power-sharing agreement with Musharraf.  It now apprears she will not do so.

* Musharraf’s aides are now admitting the declaration of martial law had little to nothing to do with cracking down on extremists.

* Those aides also say no moves are planned against said extremists.

More after the jump . . .

Nov 06 2007

Ron Paul and the Democrats We Deserve

So, yesterday, Republican Ron Paul raised $4.07 million, in a Guy Fawkes Day fundraising stunt.  That is more money than any other Republican has raised in a single day, although it falls short of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s biggest single day take.

Dr. Paul is a candidate whose campaign has caused no shortage of consternation, both among us here on the political left, as well as in Republican circles.  Dr. Paul is, after all, a nut.  He’s an unapologetic isolationist, a goldbug, a religious fundamentalist, and a possible to probable racist.  He polls at under 5% in nearly every poll.

So why is this person who most Americans had never heard of a year ago outraising nearly all Republican contenders and most Democrats, without any support from major lobbys or corporations, and drawing adoring crowds nearly everywhere he goes?

Nov 06 2007

Al didn’t kiss my ass…

…but he’s still kickin’ ass:

Gore Rips Media: ‘Don’t Give Equal Time To Someone Who Believes The Earth Is Flat’
This morning, former vice president Al Gore appeared on NBC’s Today Show to talk about global warming. Host Meredith Vieira brought up a Nov. 1 Wall Street Journal op-ed by climate skeptic John Christy, a former member of the IPCC. In the op-ed, Christy wrote, “I see neither the developing catastrophe nor the smoking gun proving that human activity is to blame for most of the activity we see.”

When Vieira asked about the op-ed, Gore noted that Christy “no longer belongs to the IPCC” and is “way outside the scientific consensus.” He also sharply criticized the media for giving so much air time to such climate skeptics:

But, Meredith, part of the challenge the news media has had in covering this story is the old habit of taking the on the one hand, on the other hand approach. There are still people who believe that the Earth is flat, but when you’re reporting on a story like the one you’re covering today, where you have people all around the world, you don’t take – you don’t search out for someone who still believes the Earth is flat and give them equal time.

Nov 06 2007

The Stars Hollow Gazette

I’m often called on to speak in public and I’ve never been afraid of it.

Eyeballs don’t intimidate me, perhaps because I’m terribly nearsighted.  ó–ò

Nor am I shy in crowds.  I have problems with intimacy.

While I was an up and coming politician, visiting the locals cultivating votes, I ran up against an attractive female type.

She was a new member, yet very influential.  She was good looking and outgoing, a recruiter and a motivator, destined for greatness (which she achieved).

After the meeting she came up to me at the bar (and if you don’t hang out you will never succeed) and ran her fingers through my hair.

And I flinched.

She said- “Funny.  Most guys enjoy it when I do that.”

Nov 06 2007

Pony Party: Music to prepare for impeachment! :) w/poll!

Tomorrow’s the day!  YAY!  We get to see which House members are willing to stand up for the Constituion, and which ones we should primary!

Nov 06 2007

Time to vote! (poll)

In Buhdy’s essay The Manifesto Project Sucks…as a name a few new names were mentioned.  I’ve taken those names and included them here in a quick poll.  Please vote on your favorite one and or post an alternative in the comments and I’ll do a follow-up poll with the new suggestions. 

Our current suggestions are below, please take a moment to think about the suggestions before voting or offering your own suggestions.  To get in the mood you may want to open a bottle of purple ink.

Suggestions

The Tomorrow Project

Principles for Tomorrow

Amber Wave Platform

Progressive Voices Project

Project for the True Majority

Progressive Principles

Guide To Sane Politics

Declaration of Responsible Progress

The Bodhisattva Project

Leviathan

Dharma for Progressives: What Paths We Will Follow as if Reality Were Actually Able to Intrude Upon Us!

The Progressive Charter

Nov 06 2007

Of Manassas and Guernica, tomorrow’s battle in Virginia

On April 26, 1937, twenty-four bombers of the German Luftwaffe “Condor Legion” with the help of a subordinate Italian expeditionary force, dropped forty tons of bombs, on the town of Guernica in the Basque Country of Spain.  Up to 1,600 people were killed and three quarters of the city’s buildings were reported completely destroyed. The raid, called Operation Rügen, is generally viewed as the Luftwaffe’s first test of the tactics of terror-bombing that would become the hallmark of the Nazi blitzkrieg as it swept through Europe two years later.

Just as Franco’s Spain was used as a testing ground for the tactics, men and machines that would later wreak havoc on a global scale, tomorrow in Virginia, we will be witness to a test of a new blitzkrieg of sorts. The Republican Party will be testing, on a statewide basis, its latest strategy and weaponry for the coming 2008 election cycle… the immigration wedge. 

Tomorrow is Election Day. Here in Virginia, 140 state legislative seats are at stake.

Our airwaves have been dominated in recent days with campaign ads. Interestingly, just about all of them mention immigration, and none of them accuse the opponent of being too harsh….

Tomorrow will be an interesting test case on the power of the immigration issue…

If Republicans exceed expectations – and things have looked pretty gloomy for the state GOP in recent cycles – and the issue of illegal immigration is key, you will hear a lot about that issue from coast to coast next year.

National Review

Nov 06 2007

It’s The Wingnut Comedy Hour

What makes laugh are the absurd statements and actions made by politicians, their spokespersons, commentators and pundits.

Nov 06 2007

The Locker Room

Catch Up

So, so sorry I couldn’t keep up with the weekly postings over the past month.  Things got super-hectic, and sports were the last thing on my mind…

Since I’ve last posted, the Red Sox have won the World Series, and South Africa has won the Rugby World Cup (sorry, dave). 

Nov 06 2007

One Thing Leads To Another

So I’m scrolling along at Docudharma, and I find (and promote) this great essay by Pico, Fragile Coalitions: Lessons from ENDA and McClurkin, part 1.  A number of us have been thinking about coalitions lately, and many of us have witnessed the recent flamewars over at the Big Orange on the Obama/McClurkin fiasco as well as the ENDA fiasco (which Robyn has written about as well).

Pico asked some good questions on how we can go from splintering factions to real coalitions:

I’ll have more to say in the second half of this post. In the meantime, some questions for you all:

What interest groups and/or ideological groups do you think pose the greatest challenge to unified party fronts? Are some more polarizing than others?

When the opportunity arises to meet the demands of part of a coalition group, is it better to fight for who you can or to maintain group solidarity (basically, do you agree with Frank’s argument for incremental change, or with his opponents)?

While each coalition can flame out in its own spectacular way, are there overall strategies for getting non-aligned groups to work together?

I think these are excellent questions to consider, especially in light of the next essay to arrive on the front page, Armando’s Why I Concentrate My Critiques On The Non-Clinton Candidates.  Armando urges us all to press the candidates on the issues:

That is why I focus my attention on her rivals. That is why I support Chris Dodd. He has paid attention to the issues that matter to me. He has brought them to the fore. He has made his rivals move on those issues. Barack Obama, on the other hand, has moved NO ONE on any issue since he became a Senator. From my perspective, his candidacy has been an utter failure. I think from his perspective, he wants to win, it has been as well.

I deplore this focus on “doubletalk” (as if all them do not engage in it.) Press Clinton on the issues. Indeed, press Clinton’s RIVALS on the issues. Asking them why they want to be President is not only a waste of time, it distracts from what I think most of us want – attention to the issues we care about.

Nov 06 2007

Pony Party: What are you reading?

Light Emitting Pickle here to bring you the most recent open thread. First, a few words about Pickle Pony Parties:

Please do not recommend a Pony Party when you see one.  There will be another along in a few hours.

Load more