Jan 26 2008
Mark Twain, among his many other gifts, seems to have been something of a seer.
While perusing a collection titled The Bible According to Mark Twain (primarily devoted to excoriating the god of Abraham), I came across an unpublished piece of Twain’s, written in 1901, that seems to perfectly encapsulate the state of the nation, as we prepare to move from the reigns of George I, Clinton I, and George II, to that of Clinton II.
Twain’s text below the fold:
Jan 26 2008
Dennis Kucinich, in a speech today, dropped out of the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. He is going to concentrate on winning re-nomination and winning his congressional seat.
Jan 24 2008
Dennis Kucinich, the only presidential candidate to support the impeachment of Richard Cheney, has made it official on the floor of the House! Perhaps W will talke about it during his State of the Union Speech later that evening!
Jan 24 2008
This is no jibe against folks who are passionately involved with the candidates of their choice in the Democratic primaries. Frankly, I wish the present environment of our 2008 national elections were worthy of this amazing committed passion.
This isn’t even a jibe against the candidates themselves.
This is, however, a jibe at the 2008 elections.
There are folks who say it might just damned well be better if we stay home and let Republicans have their way with America. I understand the reasoning behind it, I do . And if our world were solely mechanical and mathematical and the heart had no place in it, I might even agree with this logic.
Trouble is, those folks calling for this strategy won’t be the ones suffering and most likely dying as a consequence. And although it’s argued it is ultimately noble to be careless with folks’ lives that might just be blown away no matter what we do (both here and around the world), I’d just as soon avoid lending my hand to that endeavor. If I were one of those vulnerable folks who reside at the bottom of the ladder to be considered for sacrifice, I’d be a little annoyed that my life was not even being considered in this equation. I dunno, most folks, no matter how miserable, don’t want to die. It seems to be something we all have in common.
So I’ll vote for the Democrat and I’ll vote in the primary. I’m not a damned fool. But no, for me, the heart of America is being broken by this reality, by there being virtually no opposition to these criminals who walk the halls of power in government and commerce, and it’s not even about political party at this point. It’s just about regular Americans, not angels or devils, but flawed folks, as are we all, who are being shown nothing to aim at, feeling no genuine confidence. Because no matter what our candidates say, our present national conversation is being held against a backdrop of criminal acts being committed the entire time, lawbreaking of such breathtaking arrogance and abuse of power that it renders all “national conversation” absurd.
Jan 23 2008
The neo-Bushit continues.
As Recruiting Number Dwindle, Podhoretz Bangs His Drum
And even the Pentagon has been saying that the Surge failed, and the relative “quiet” right now had nothing to do with it:
From the Pentagon: The Surge didn’t work.
That’s one reason you keep hearing them talk about their legacy, while others try desperately to spin it — they are attempting to pre-fabricate a success out of the worst Presidency in history, and to ideally obscure the complicit role played by the Congressional Republicans and their associated pundits.
The Democrats aren’t playing smart, either, and by pushing their luck that the public will hate the Republicans more as election time approaches, they endanger themselves and the nation further by failing to act ~now~, before the summer campaign season and before BushCo can initiate (directly or indirectly) a nuclear conflict in Iran.
And things need not be this way.
Jan 23 2008
The CBC/CNN debate in South Carolina is history. One of the issues covered was that of Univeral Health Care. The Big Three each have their plans, which are built upon some form of our current system of health insurance. The other major plan is HR 676, The Conyers/Kucinich Plan for Medicare for All.
Jan 22 2008
Raw Story now reports on its front page that Rush Limbaugh may not support any of the Republican presidential candidates. It seems that the right-wing political movement is now in its last throes, seeing that there is no clear favorite in the race and none of the current candidates can unite them like Ronald Reagan did.
And Limbaugh is hardly the only gatekeeper who may sit out this race. The Republican Party is controlled by many gatekeepers, including Dobson, Norquist, and many others. Dobson, for instance, has refused to give his blessing to Mitt Romney, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, or Fred Thompson. The fact of the matter is that the social conservatives who provide the boots on the ground only have one candidate — Ron Paul, who meets their purity tests on abortion, gays, gun control, immigration, and taxes. Paul does not have the blessing of one of the key wings of the Republican Party — the defense hawks and neocons, given his opposition to Iraq. However, the fact that he is the only antiwar voice in the GOP and 34% or so of Republicans do not approve of Bush’s handling of Iraq means that he is competitive.
Jan 22 2008
Jeralyn links to this Las Vegas Sun analysis of the Nevada Caucuses. According to the Sun, it all boiled down to this:
And though it’s easy to slice and dice and analyze strategy, there’s this: Nevadan Democrats put their faith in Clinton and her experience.
At dozens of precinct locations voters interviewed by the Sun cited Clinton’s experience as the overriding factor in their decision.
Clinton’s “experience” over Obama’s call for “change.”
Jeralyn says this:
I continue to believe that when it comes time to vote, those adversely affected by our tumbling economy are going to be less concerned with aspirational change and more apt to ask which candidate has both a concrete economic program and a track record showing the ability to push it through.
I hope that’s true, but on an even broader scale. Because I don’t hear much about anyone’s economic programs. Even in the endlessly blithering blogosphere, the campaign themes are repetitively dumbed down to “experience” vs. “change.” And Jeralyn is spot on that people actually want to know about concrete policies. It would be nice if the campaigns and their supporters realized that.
If people really want real experience, they’d have supported Bill Richardson. If people really want real change, they’d be supporting Dennis Kucinich. The people who continually hype the illusion of Clinton’s “experience” or Obama’s “change” need to be a bit more honest with themselves, and figure out what it really is that makes them so adore their favorites. Maybe, then, they will do a better job of selling their candidates to we skeptics. Or maybe they won’t.
Jan 21 2008
From Dennis’ campaign site site:
Kucinich wins presidential endorsement from key Mexican American organization
Ohio Congressman and Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich gained a significant endorsement today from the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA), a progressive advocacy organization based in California and well known for its work in the areas of civil and human rights.
Jan 20 2008
According to CBS news, Hillary Clinton has won the Nevada Caucuses. Not that there’s any surprise in that, since she and Obama were seen as the true possible winners most of the way through. No, Nevada’s just telling us what we’ve known all along. The big two media darlings are going to be the front runners. Let’s look at the results:
Clinton – 54%, Obama – 45%, Edwards – 4%
Jan 18 2008
The New Hampshire recount is continuing. The Democratic recount, paid for by the Dennis Kucinich campagin, is further along than the Republican recount. So far, it looks as though the counting was pretty good, although there are changes in almost all of the wards counted.
Jan 17 2008
The New Hampshire Primary recount started yesterday. Paid for by the Dennis Kucinich campaign, the recount may or may not show a change of the winner of the event. Even so, after one day, we’ve found enough out to be able to say that the recount is worth every penny!