Jan 28 2010
Did you know you have an unpleasant nature, and dislike people? This is no obstacle.
What it is…I MAY NOT HAVE ENOUGH OF ME
BUT I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU
Exposure: It is impossible to achieve the aim without suffering.
(If only I could find the original, high-pitched version, which is personified art. Oh, well:)
Jan 28 2010
Jan 28 2010
There’s no possible way to fit all of this in one post. I’ll start here and write a series summarizing the trial and what I predict will happen. I’ll start with some background for the trial.
First let me make clear, I’m not a lawyer. I’m just an interested gay person who thinks this trial will affect all our lives. I don’t even live in California. I’m pretty inquisitive and if I say something, I’ve researched it quite a bit, but that doesn’t mean I’m not wrong. I’m not completely confident that I’ll get all the legal aspects right and if anyone wants to comment to correct errors, please feel free.
Two gay couples in California, one male couple and one female couple, attempted to get married in California, but were denied a marriage license since Prop. 8 had passed, limiting marriages in California to one man and one woman. They decided to combine their cases and sue the Governor and the Attorney General, along with a few others in federal court. Kristin Perry is the name on the case, so it is called Perry v. Schwarzenegger.
Jan 28 2010
Here’s the deal.
Some fucks on the left want to give control of corporate political speech to congress.
Sounds like a good idea? Yeah, if you want congress to have the power to censor blogsites owned by corporations. Or the NY Times. Barf. Or Rush or Fox News.
These fucks on the left are misguided. They fear and despise Rush and Fox News. But they’re devoid of ideas on how to deal with these cesspools.
They want to trash the First Amendment to achieve the goal of shutting Bill O’Reilly’s mouth.
Goddamnit. Fight fire with fire. Debate in the open marketplace of ideas.
Don’t cave and become like a nazi. This message was brought to you by Viet71 and is aimed, in part, at Jane Hamsher and her septic system at FDL.
Jan 28 2010
If you didn’t watch the SOTU address, you didn’t miss much.
There will be little intro here, as the review follows.
Jan 28 2010
Crossposted at Daily Kos
President Barack Obama is a superb orator. If anyone can make an rousing speech, he can. He has proven it time and again. For him, words matter. He is calm, rational, never gets too emotional, and always tends towards the logical. Display of emotions is for losers, many an analyst has observed about his speaking style.
Tonight, he had the crowd’s attention all the way. Talk about a “captive audience.” Oh sure, the Republicans booed him and refused to stand up and cheer. That’s what they always do.
Imagine the president’s surprise when he thanked the GOP for its invaluable contributions to our national discourse and, instead of screaming “You lie,” members of the loyal opposition stood up and cheered him when he uttered the following words of wisdom…
RJ Matson, Roll Call, Buy this cartoon
Jan 28 2010
Cross-posted at Progressive Blue.
Howard Zinn, Historian and Activist, Dies at 87. The New York Times described Mr. Zinn.
…an author, teacher and political activist whose book “A People’s History of the United States” became a million-selling leftist alternative to mainstream texts, died Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif.
I recently wrote a DKos diary called Will you be watching “The People Speak” tonight? As a “leftist alternative” and as a dedication, I’ve updated the part of that diary about the the December 4th interview between Howard Zinn and Bill Moyers.
It was amazing to see these two great Americans sit down and discuss history from the bottom up, focusing on historic successes of the people. Looking at the Bill Moyers Journal link you can read the transcript and view clips from “The People Speak” or below the fold are the YouTube links and a few small thoughts about a man who dedicated his life to the people.
Jan 28 2010
The New York Times reports:
Howard Zinn, an author, teacher and political activist whose book “A People’s History of the United States” became a million-selling leftist alternative to mainstream texts, died Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 87 and lived in Auburndale, Mass.
The cause was a heart attack, his daughter Myla Kabat-Zinn said.
Published in 1980 with little promotion and a first printing of 5,000, “A People’s History” was, fittingly, a people’s best-seller, attracting a wide audience through word of mouth and reaching 1 million sales in 2003. Although Professor Zinn was writing for a general readership, his book was taught in high schools and colleges throughout the country, and numerous companion editions were published, including “Voices of a People’s History,” a volume for young people and a graphic novel.
“A People’s History” told an openly left-wing story. Professor Zinn accused Christopher Columbus and other explorers of committing genocide, picked apart presidents from Andrew Jackson to Franklin D. Roosevelt and celebrated workers, feminists and war resisters.
Even liberal historians were uneasy with Professor Zinn, who taught for many years at Boston University. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. once said: “I know he regards me as a dangerous reactionary. And I don’t take him very seriously. He’s a polemicist, not a historian.”
In a 1998 interview with The Associated Press, Professor Zinn acknowledged that he was not trying to write an objective history, or a complete one. He called his book a response to traditional works, the first chapter, not the last, of a new kind of history.
May he rest in peace.
Jan 28 2010
Howard Zinn has died at 87. The author of the People’s History of the United States.
Just last week he wrote this in the nation:
One of Professor Zinn’s last public writings was a brief essay, published last week in The Nation, about the first year of the Obama administration.
“I’ve been searching hard for a highlight,” he wrote, adding that he wasn’t disappointed because he never expected a lot from President Obama.
“I think people are dazzled by Obama’s rhetoric, and that people ought to begin to understand that Obama is going to be a mediocre president – which means, in our time, a dangerous president – unless there is some national movement to push him in a better direction.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01…
I was surprised to learn that the People’s History sold a million copies.
Jan 28 2010
