Saturday, November 26, 2005

w00t!

I hinted in the comments of the previous thread that I was working on something, but I couldn't say yet. I needed to wait until this was set up and actually working before I posted about it. Anyway, forgive me if I get a little enthusiastic and splashy about this, but

We've got a domain name now!



Go ahead and check it out--go to www.howardempowered.com and see the cool way it redirects to this blog. Spiffy, huh?

Now check out www.howardempowered.org. Yep, that one works too! These penguins are so excited, they want to join Snoopy in his happy dance.



And finally, one more... www.howardempowered.net
Dancing Baby just had to join the celebration!


So, please feel free to share the good news. If, for whatever reason, we need to do another change of address, this will keep people from getting lost in the move.

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Update...I see that Snoopy's enthusiasm continues unabated, but the penguins and baby don't seem to want to dance for me. I'll see if I can have a word with them.

Update to the update: Okay, at least everybody is actually dancing now, but there's this odd black stuff coming off the dancing baby. If you want to enjoy Dancing Baby with various music and costumes, including some dancing baby animations that are just *wrong*, you can view them here.

Serving Up Some News

Laughing stock of Katrina makes disaster his business

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
The Guardian

Michael Brown, the bureaucrat who headed America's response to Hurricane Katrina and himself became a symbol of man-made calamity, is going into the disaster management business. He is setting up as a consultant, marketing his expertise on coping with catastrophe - natural and self-made.

"Look, Hurricane Katrina showed how bad disasters can be, and there's an incredible need for individuals and businesses to understand how important preparedness is," Mr Brown told the Rocky Mountain News. "So if I can help people focus on preparedness, how to be better prepared in their homes and better prepared in their businesses - because that goes straight to the bottom line - then I hope I can help the country in some way."

Rural Water Worries Persist After Chinese Chemical Spill

By JIM YARDLEY
New York Times

Liu Shiying lifted the metal cover off the clay cistern in a corner of the bare kitchen and lowered a tin ladle into what remained of her water supply. Then she raised a scoop to her mouth. "Do you think it smells?" she asked on Saturday, not taking a sip. "We're still drinking this. It is our only choice."

Ms. Liu lives in one of the dingy villages on the outskirts of Harbin, the provincial capital whose municipal water supply had been shut off for four days to prevent contamination from a chemical spill that dumped a huge tide of pollution into the city's main water source, the Songhua River.

But on Saturday, as Harbin's four million residents learned that water would be restored by Sunday night, rural residents like Ms. Liu in the villages beside the Songhua got no such good news. Isolated and reachable only by rugged, dirt roads, these villages depend on underground wells or the river itself for drinking water. And as the pollution passed by, many villages never got the boxes of bottled water delivered to major cities like Harbin.

Cindy Sheehan Back in Crawford, Tx.

By ANGELA K. BROWN
Associated Press

CRAWFORD, Texas - Three months after the mother of a fallen soldier led a 26-day anti-war vigil near President Bush's ranch, peace activists and Bush supporters converged again Saturday for dueling rallies.

Cindy Sheehan, whose 24-year-old Casey died in Iraq, called for anti-war activists to return to Crawford this week as Bush celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday. The war opponents' camp is at the same 1-acre private lot that a landowner let them use in August when Sheehan's original campsite became too crowded.

The first demonstration attracted thousands from around the country and made the woman from Berkeley, Calif., a national figure."

Nobody knew what was going to happen, and we made up Camp Casey as we went along, and it grew and grew and grew," said Sheehan. "But we're here to say that the killing has to stop, that we're not going to justify any more killing on our losses. And we're not going away."

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Something different

Apologies to Holly who came over to this normally friendly place last night and was met with the disturbing visage of Darth Cheney. Not sure if anyone has a post planned for this morning, but in the interest of having something less evil up top--and not having a great new picture of Howard Dean, which would be the natural choice, I'll post the last thing I was working on. I figure at least it's decidedly un-evil.


If someone has a post that is more political and on topic for this blog, please go right ahead and post. In the mean time, this can be our open thread.

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Friday, November 25, 2005

X marks the...

...dang, I just can't think of a good word for Cheney that rhymes with "spot".

Would love to find a rhyme that has the feel of "demonic baby-eating cyborg", but no such luck. I do like this interpretation of Cheney failing on Family Feud (you have to scroll down a bit past the stuff about Schmidt and Bubp to get to it).

In case you missed the story earlier, Media Bistro explains:

Appearing on Hannity & Colmes, Drudge said the X's appeared for "less than a 15th of a second" each. "It was almost subliminal," he said. "However, when you slow down the tape you see Dick Cheney's face with a large X on it."

Well, sure, there are probably all sorts of subliminal (or subliminable) meanings one could read into that. I seriously don't believe that this was done intentionally by CNN--they explained that it was a glitch, they officially apologized, and it was on for a fifteenth of a second, for cryin' out loud!

Still, now that I actually *have* a still of this, it's kinda fun to speculate. Personally, I'm rather partial to the sentiment expressed in this bumper sticker:

Besides, even Howard Dean said on The Morning Sedition, "Well, the Vice President, you know who the Vice President is. Spiro Agnew!"

So I think that sounds like a plan...get rid of 21st century Agnew first, and 21st century Nixon shortly thereafter.

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Friday Comics

Pork Rinds
Baby Daddy
Family Values
Too Late
Deep 6 Santa

And my favorite for today: Mixed Blessings



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Top Ten Reasons to Be Thankful In 2005

Teri Mills is a longtime Democracy For America community member. Her guest column on health care appears on Blog for America on Fridays and she blogs at nationalnurse.blogspot.com.

10. The Blog for America community because even if we don’t always agree with each other, we keep coming back.

9. In one month it will be 2006, time for voters to redeem the past election and elect a Democratic House and Senate.

8. The American Red Cross and all the agencies and individuals who are working to help the survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

7. George Bush’s approval ratings which are slipping lower than an SUV's mpg rating.

6. Six United States senators who stood up against an abysmal extension of the Patriot Act.

5. California voters who just said NO to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

4. Democracy for America A-List candidates and all those who ran for office this past year. Win or lose, we appreciate your efforts.

3. Americans who are finally waking up to the reality of being misled into an unjust war.

2. Our brave young men and women fighting abroad who we all want to come home as soon as possible.

1. Howard and Jim Dean, our favorite brothers, who work tirelessly every day for democracy.

—Teri Mills, RN, MS, ANP
Democracy for Oregon

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Thursday, November 24, 2005

Things to be thankful for...

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness ... you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of Imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ... you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death ... you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep ... you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace ... you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If you can read this blog, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

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E-cards, or how I spent most of Thanksgiving day

Last year (or maybe two years ago, now I'm not sure) we created this holiday card to be nondenominational without being a tepid, noncommittal "Happy Holidays".




See the rest here, in my diary at Street Prophets. In the comments, Sunflight asked "Can these be sent as e-cards? I'm pretty clueless when it comes to computer graphics." I answered that I am pretty clueless about the whole e-card concept, and asked if anyone else knew anything about e-cards.

But then, because I couldn't just leave it at "I don't know"--after all, what kind of Secretary of Googling would I be if I couldn't find that information. The rest of the story is long and tedious, and frankly I might actually start to weep if I had to recount how much of a baffling PITA every single step of this was to work out. I did take a break to go out to Thanksgiving dinner with Demetrius, the kids, and my brother, who just got into town around noon today. We came home, the kids are having some quality time with their uncle, and, dang it, I was determined to get this to work.

It finally does--I think. I don't know if it works with all browsers and stuff like that, and I do wince at the blinky ads you get when you preview your e-card, but that's the price you pay for a free service. Click here to see the images you can send as e-cards.

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Thursday Comics

Pure In Heart
Button Man
Freedom Of Religion
Tick, Tick, BOOM
NASCAR-ization Of America
Reason For The [American] Season
The Economic Engine That Could
Small Print
LAW Of Supply And Demand
Hybrid Hummer
Exploitation
Made In America
Fire Sale
Tough Turkey
Attack Dog
Cruel & Unusual
Lonely At The Top
Hegelian Synthesis
G. Gordon Liddy I. Lewis Libby

And my favorite for Thanksgiving: Put A Fork In It



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Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Thanksgiving

Crossposted at Disabled Americans for Democracy, Disabled Voters for Dean and The Arty Blog

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, that quintessentially American holiday, let us reflect on the blessings peculiar to us as Deaniacs.

We have, not only our own families and friends, but a nationwide, indeed an international, community of friends, comrades, and co-workers, all of whom share the same values, American values: honesty, kindness, love of country, hard work… We share, too, a vision of a just America, an honorable society that cares for its own, especially the most vulnerable and most disadvantaged; that is a good international citizen; and that has earned once more the respect and love of the world. We see a land where young and old, LGBT and straight, black and white, Jew and gentile, disabled and able-bodied, Latino, Asian, Native American and Arab-American all embrace one another as sisters and brothers and all have the same equal rights in fact as in principle under the law.

We see America as she should be, and we know that we have the power to bring that vision into reality. Tomorrow, as we give thanks for all the blessings, large and small, with which the Lord has graced our lives, let us keep a special warm thought for Howard Dean and thank him in our hearts for having given us hope, strength and community.

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What are you thankful for?

Jo in Vermont is the most recent member of our blog family to start up her own baby blog, Earth to You. I think puddle's baby blog, pyzch, must be at least a toddler by now in comparison. ;)

If you have a few minutes, why not stop by Jo's new blog and say hello, and share what you're thankful for...

I'll keep this simple for my first post - what are YOU thankful for this Thanksgiving week of 2005?

I'm thankful for so many things, but right now I am thankful that America is waking up to the onslaught of abuse this administration has brought against the very least of us, who in reality are often the very best of us. may the neocons get what they deserve and may the dollors they have misappropriated, lost or just plain stolen from American taxpayers be taken out of their personal accounts and used to help America become the great promise she has been since her creation.

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Wednesday Cartoons

Farking Optimists
Pardoned Turkey
Labor Pains
Workers' Comp
Bah! Humbug!
Layoff Logic
Where The Sun Don't Shine
Private Motors
It All Began With...
...Mongols Voting For Bush
Some Things Never Change
Pain And Suffering
Character Issue
Anonymous Sources
Aiding & Comforting The Enemy
Truth-Speakers
Out Of Iraq
Cut And Run
Dumb & Dumberer
Castle Aaaagh

And my favorite for today: Eager Idiots



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Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Thanksgiving

By Subway Serenade

In March of this year my friend and neighbor was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and was moved to a nursing home. Since that time I have laid my guitar aside in order to assist his wife with visiting her husband and running errands. Today I realized that for the first time in eighteen years of performing in the subway, I will probably not be performing my Holiday Show.

Normally today I would be performing at Rector Street, just around the corner from the American Stock Exchange. Of the forty five stations I've performed in it is my favorite. It is there in 1989 I wrote my theme song "The Subway Serenade," and in 1994 I wrote "The Gift," which I consider my masterpiece. Today folks would begin leaving for the holiday at one in the afternoon looking forward to a five day weekend. For me it would have been the kick off to a 4 hour a day marathon without a day off, clear through to New Years Eve.

My friend, John isn't expected to survive the holiday season. He and his wife, Rosalie have been married for 69 years. He nursed her through severe depression early on. She nursed him through his Quintuple Bypass twenty years ago and he took care of her as she slowly lost her ability to walk. Now John is in the home and his wife, with great difficulty, gets out the door to spend two hours a day at his side, even though he barely remembers her.

So as this Season opens, my guitar will rest in the corner so that my friends can spend their last Thanksgiving together. I celebrate their Love.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Subway

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Tuesday's Comics

Meet The New Boss...
...Same As The Old Boss
Big Brother Is Watching You
War Is Peace
Freedom Is Slavery
Ignorance Is Strength
Minitrue
Minipax
Miniluv
Miniplenty
Emmanuel Goldstein
Is Our Congress Learning
Soon-To-Be-Dead Weight
Point
Exterminate The Vermin
Like Flies To Dung
Cheney Little
Mission Impossible
Sunk
Belief In Faeries
Lipstick On Wilbur
Courage vs. Cowardice
Pinky & The Brain
Chicken

And my favorite for today: Murtha's Morale Effect



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New Internet Worm

It comes in an email, with an attached .ZIP or .zip file. This is part of the warning the FBI issued yesterday.

For Immediate Release
November 21 , 2005



Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691

FBI ALERTS PUBLIC TO RECENT E-MAIL SCHEME

E-mails purporting to come from FBI are phony

Washington , D.C. – The FBI today warned the public to avoid falling victim to an on-going mass e-mail scheme wherein computer users received unsolicited e-mails purportedly sent by the FBI. These scam e-mails tell the recipients that their Internet use has been monitored by the FBI and that they have accessed illegal web sites. The e-mails then direct recipients to open an attachment and answer questions.

The e-mail appears to be sent from the e-mail addresses of mail@fbi.gov and admin@fbi.gov. There may be other similarly styled addresses. The recipient is enticed to open the zip attachment which contains a w32/sober.jen@mm worm. The attachment does not open and its goal is to utilize the recipient’s computer to garner information. Secondly, the virus allows the e-mail to be forwarded to all those listed in the recipient’s address book.

The text of the email is as follows:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click here for the rest from their site.

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Monday, November 21, 2005

Things you have to believe to vote Republican (Part 1)

(Note: A friend sent this to me in 2004. Just thought I'd share)

1. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.


(Image from Topple Bush)

2. The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq. (Click for The Civilised World)

3. Government should relax regulation of Big Business and Big Money but crack down on individuals who use marijuana to relieve the pain of illness.

4. "Standing Tall for America" means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.



5. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.



6. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

7. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

8. Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.



More here, except, you know, ewww!

9. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

10. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

Susan D.

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Howard Dean on The Morning Sedition

Howard Dean joined Mark Maron and Mark Riley of The Morning Sedition on Air America Radio this morning. You'll note that Howard plugged Democracy Bonds a couple times toward the end of the interview. That prompted me to finally add the graphic link to the Democracy Bonds page on the DNC web site. You can see that link on the right hand side of this page, right above the smiling picture of Howard Dean.



Maron: Howard Dean joins us by phone this morning. Great to have you on the show again, Dr. Dean. Welcome!

Dean: Thank you for having me on!

Maron: Well, look, Dr. Dean, I just gotta ask you right out, is there any way that we can get all the Democrats to agree that this war is the wrong thing right now and we've got to bring these troops home?

Dean: I think there is, and I think we're pretty close. I think Jack Murtha's leadership is just incredible. Oddly enough, the plan to get out, that I think we can get Democrats to coalesce around is a plan written by a Republican. By Lawrence Korb, who's a former Undersecretary of Defense.


Maron: We know him--he was on our show.

Dean: He's a very bright guy, and he's written a very interesting piece which I think is the key to how you get out of Iraq without endangering our troops or maximizing the terrorists' ability to cause mayhem over there. And I know Jack talked to him before he came out with his redeployment strategy. We need to redeploy our troops, the Guardsmen need to come home, there need to be a group sent to Kuwait to be on hand for the terrorist attacks, and there needs to be a group sent to Afghanistan so we can do the job there which the government wants us to do, and then we'll leave a few troops in Iraq over 2006 in order to stabilize the situation there which the President's made a huge mess of. So, I think that's a reasonable plan--I think Democrats ought to coalesce around. I think we can do that. It's gradual. The Republicans have practically signed onto it in the Senate. They know their Commander in Chief has got us into a big problem here. And you start to see them peeling away. You saw the Senate pass a resolution that 2006 should be the year of transition . Well, that was a step in the right direction for the Republicans to take.

Maron: So you think that what happened last week with the Republicans hijacking Jack Murtha's proposal and making their own to sort of call them on what they're seeing as some sort of bluff was the right move?

Dean: Oh, I think that the Democrats voting no on the Republican thing--that Republican proposal was just ridiculous. They did what they always do: they rewrote something, pretended it was honest, I mean, this is probably the most dishonest group of people we've had running America since Richard Nixon's administration. They actually reminde me a lot of Nixon's administration as well. You got Cheney in there talking about "pusillanimous pussyfooters" and you got the President out there saying "Victory is at hand". (Laughter) These guys, they wouldn't know the truth if it hit them in the face.

Riley: Dr. Dean, can red state Democrats, who seem to be the ones that at times will peel away from the Democratic consensus on many of these issues, particularly the ones who are up for re-election next year whether in Congress or the Senate, can they be depended on to stay the course on this? To hold with the rest of the Democrats?

Dean: I think they can, but I think we've got to sit down and draw this consensus and get people to sign on to this Lawrence Korb position. I think it makes sense, it's gradual. The Republicans have practically signed onto it in the Senate. They know their Commander in Chief has got us into a big problem here. And you start to see them peeling away. You saw the Senate pass a resolution that 2006 should be the year of transition . Well, that was a step in the right direction for the Republicans to take, and I was just delighted.

Maron: In terms of the Democrats who are seeking re-election, in terms of the Democrats coming together as we were talking about, do you think it's right to do what former Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards did and admit that he was wrong in voting for the war in Iraq?

Dean: I think that was pretty courageous and it got a lot of attention. He didn't come out and dance around, he said, "Look, I was wrong. " Period. That was the first sentence of his piece, and I thought that was pretty courageous.


Maron: And what about some of the other parts of the platform you're looking towards in terms of the Democratic momentum.

Dean: Our agenda is very clear. What we want is, one, honesty back in government, and I want to have tough legislation passed that both Democrats and Republicans will have to abide by. Two, I really do want health insurance for all Americans. ?6 other countries have it, I think we should have it. Three, we want a balanced budget, only Democrats balance the budget. You can't trust Republicans--they haven't done it in 40 years in America. Four, we want jobs in America that will stay in America, and I think renewable energy is the key to that. And I think that's a pretty succinct agenda for the American people.

Maron: Hey, it sounds good.

Riley: Now, you were talking earlier, Dr. Dean, about ethics, and we see that there's a lobbying nest involving Jack Abramoff that has touched a couple of Democrats. Is the party itself really ready to change the way Washington does business, even if it hurts the party in the short term?

Dean: They’d better be, because the country is more important than the party. I’ve had enough of ethics problems in Congress and we need really good legislation that will stop this. You know, the Republicans came in in ’94 and suggested they were going to clean up Washington, and of course they’ve made it even more corrupt than it was before. I want to fix this problem. We need some honesty in politics, and I know some people think that can never be achieved, and we’ll never get to it 100%, but what’s going on now is awful! We’ve never been at a time, that I ever know of, where the Republican leader in the Senate was under investigation, the Republican leader in the House is indicted, Karl Rove, who has security clearance, for God’s sake, after leaking wartime information! The President can’t tell the truth—I don’t think he even knows what the truth is any more—

Maron: And the Vice President’s under suspicion!

Dean: Well, the Vice President, you know who the Vice President is. Spiro Agnew! (In background, laughter and “Ooooooh!” from the Marks.)

Maron: So how are you doing with money, Dr. Dean? You guys have enough to facilitate this thing?

Dean: I think so. We just broke the record in terms of off-year fundraising, without any soft money, so I think we’re doing fine. You know, we’ve really done what we had to do. We’ve got people working right now in all 50 states. We’ve got a strong way of communicating with the American people that doesn’t depend on the mainstream media, including thanks to you at Air America. I think we’re in good shape. There’s always more you can do, and the big thing we want to do is get small donors to give the Democrats money. I want everybody to go to Democrats.org and get a Democracy Bond. That’s ten or twenty dollars a month off your credit card. We want to make the party dependent upon Americans and not just big interests. And so we are trying to raise a lot of small dollars, and if you’ll go to our web site Democrats.org, people can help!

Riley: Okay, Doctor, there was a problem at one point with some congressional Democrats and your leadership. Has that beef been resolved?

Dean: Oh, I think it has. We now have the House, the Senate, the governors and the mayors all working together on messaging and agenda, and that stuff has been resolved. I’m always going to be an outsider, so you know, there’s going to be some discomfort. But Harry Reid has been an enormous ally, I mean, he really tells it like it is. And a lot of the real catalyst in questioning whether the President has been truthful or not started when Harry Reid decided to shut down the Senate over the fact that Republicans had lied to him about whether they were going to do a congressional investigation to find out what happened at the beginning of the Iraq war. He’s a great partner. And Nancy Pelosi has really brought the House Democrats together. So I do think that things are heading in the right direction, and I think things are going well that way.

Maron: Well thank you Dr. Dean. I was just in Vermont, and they wanted to wish you a belated happy birthday.

Dean: Well, thank you very much, and Happy Thanksgiving to you guys!

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Monday Comics

Seasonal Affective Disorder
Desecrating The Flag
And Your Little Dog Too
Lost
EEOC On Crack
GOP Efforts
Coitus Interruptus
America's God
Head Dick
Drug Problem
Exhibit A
Exit Strategy
Crosshairs
Yes
Starve the Beast Brat
Character Issue
Malicious Design
Disturbing Truth

And my favorite for today: Banana Republicans


Plan B for comments access

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Bush's exit strategy foiled by locked door

A big Sunshine Blog thank you to listener who posted this link and brought a little sunshine into the day for many of us. I'm sure I am somehow enjoying this way too much, but it is such delicious irony...

Door thwarts quick exit for Bush

The president strode away from reporters looking annoyed after one said he appeared "off his game".

President Bush tugged at both handles on the double doors before admitting: "I was trying to escape. Obviously, it didn't work."

Updated: Closeup from spiegel.de (german newspaper) Click picture for full version.



Photo via Atrios--more here.

He's just such a little boy...but not in a good way. Always running away from responsibility, always denying he's at fault, ducking tough questions. So, heck yeah! I thoroughly enjoy watching him get thwarted by a locked door. It's almost like a metaphor or sumpin'.

Click here for the article, and the link for the video. Here's another story on the topic: Locked doors thwart Bush's bid to duck question (Heh.)

"Respectfully, sir -- you know we're always respectful -- in your statement this morning with President Hu, you seemed a little off your game, you seemed to hurry through your statement. There was a lack of enthusiasm. Was something bothering you?" he asked.

"Have you ever heard of jet lag?" Bush responded. "Well, good. That answers your question."

The president then recited a list of things of that he viewed as positive developments from his Beijing meetings, including cooperation on North Korean nuclear disarmament and the ability to have "frank discussions" with his Chinese counterpart.

When the reporter asked for "a very quick follow-up", Bush cut him off by thanking the press corps and telling the reporter "No you may not," as he strode toward a set of double doors leading out of the room.

The only problem was that they were locked.

What an asshat.


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Done any Darning Lately?

Done any Darning Lately?


I realized the other day that nobody I know darns socks anymore. I can remember my mother darning socks. I even darned a few myself back in the day. We don't seem to do that anymore.

One of the things that most impressed me about Howard Dean was the frugality he and his family practiced in their personal lives. Not because they have too, but because it just makes sense.

When I drive past Wal-Mart or any of the local malls the parking lots are packed. So many people seem to go shopping as a form of recreation, rather than going because they need a specific item. Sadly enough most of those shoppers, especially at Wal-Mart, are fueling their own downfall. They're providing profits to companies who contribute heavily to the Republican party, or to companies who treat their workers unfairly with low wages and no health care benefits.

We all know by now that this Republican administration cares only for "the haves and the have mores". They've made that plain enough with the legislation they've passed and with their total abandonment of Katrina victims in the days following the devastation.

During the Great Depression my grandmother made jelly at home and then sold it on the streets to buy food for her four children. She had a favorite saying ever after: "Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do, or do without". I think Howard Dean lives that way. I believe it is an honorable way to live. Howard Dean practices good stewardship every day, and he has my admiration for it.

Susan D

Alternative Link

Helping The Democrats Learn How To Use The Internet

One of the Dean Campaign's legacies is that the campaign, and it's supporters, used the internet to organize, communicate, and fundraise.

This impressed Democratic committees and candidates across the country, but two years later, some of them still don't know how to utilize the internet to it's fullest potential. One of my goals as Chair of the Rutland City Democrats is to help the committee learn how to use the the internet as an effective tool.

I figured the quickest way to demonstrate how powerful the internet can be is to fundraise through it. Since we don't have a large email database to send a solicitation to, I thought of another way to generate enough funds to get people starting to think about the internet's potential...an online silent auction on eBay.

By bidding in our auction, you will help the Democrats learn that the internet is a tool they should explore and use. You will also be funding the Rutland City Democrats in their quest to turn Rutland City blue again, and you might even be able to get some of you Holiday shopping out of the way early!

Some items of particular interest to this blog may be:

You Have The Power, Book signed by Gov. Howard Dean

We Love Teresa! campaign sign, signed by John Kerry & Pat Leahy

Kerry/Edwards campaign sign, signed by John Kerry, Pat Leahy & Bernie Sanders

Invitation to Bill Clinton's 1993 Presidential Inauguration Ball

3 Full Sized Packages of Green Mountain Free Trade Coffee

Maple Grove Farms of Vermont Gift Collection: Syrup, Candy, Cookies, & Spread

Ben & Jerry's T-Shirt, Size Medium, & Ice Cream Scoop

Beaded Awareness Pin from Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya

To see a full list of the items available, please go to:
Rutland City Democrats eBay Auction Fundraiser

Thank you for your support,
Jessica

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Transgender Day of Remembrance

Several commenters had already added thoughtful comments to tc's question "Is this going to turn into a religious blog?", when I wrote the following...

This blog is like a potluck...we share what we have to offer, and we sample what appeals to us. Just like at a real life potluck, you are always welcome to pass over the dishes that don't appeal to you. But it's worth remembering that labor and love have gone into those dishes as well. It's always best to decline politely with that in mind.

Just now I saw jc's comment, "This is one of the covered dishes that I put on my plate to be polite, cover with my napkin and smile, because I like Oscar and I'm glad he's here." I like that. I then went to check out her link Fun With Words, which included the bumper sticker "I support gay rites". And that's what reminded me to look up something I first heard about today in church. Yes, the introduction to this link has as many twists and turns as the beginning of a Simpsons episode, but we're here now. It is another topic that makes some people uncomfortable, but it's important to know about these things so that we can work to challenge the hatred that exists in our culture and motivates these acts of violence.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Since then, the event has grown to encompass memorials in dozens of cities across the world.

Click to learn more.

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Word For The Week


How long, O LORD?
Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;
Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
And my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.
But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalm 13

I was in Bible Study Wednesday when this Psalm was read and it resonated with me - "How long, O Lord?" I stand on the verge of catastrophe and my pleas for help seem to go unanswered, so I have been myself asking, "How long, O Lord?" I feel David when he asks, "Will You forget me forever?" Remember, David was minding his own business, tending his father's sheep, when Samuel was directed to Jesse's house to anoint the next king of Israel. God elected David out of Jesse's sons for Samuel to anoint as the next king, and that created tension between David and the king that was already sitting in the sacred seat of Israel - Saul. David spent a lot of time hiding from the soldiers of Saul who sought to end his life, and oftentimes things seemed rather bleak for David, so David cried out from the depth of his soul, "How long will you hide Your face from me?" Have you ever felt forsaken by God?

One thing that I have learned is that the believer must live in what I call the Divine Conjunction. You know the Divine Conjunction: "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king, but even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up" "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" "And Saul sought [David] every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand." We have to live in the Divine Conjunction. It's like Conjunction Junction, you know the function - hooking up saints and kids and believers. We have to live in the Divine Conjunction. We have to be able to find our "But" with two hands and a flashlight:

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

What's going on with your But? Too many believers are so concerned about the Already that they can't see the Not Yet - there is tension in the Kingdom of God between that which is and that which is to come - yet we are commanded to be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving to let our requests be made known to God, and the peace of God - which surpasses all comprehension - will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Too often we let out spiritual guard down because we still haven't found our But. We have to get our But in gear and live in the Divine Conjunction, understanding that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. We don't worship God because of the hook-up, but we must have confidence that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Get right Church and lets go home.

May the LORD bless you and keep you;
May the LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
And may the LORD,
Who is the believer's But in the Divine Conjunction,
My He turn His face toward you and give you peace.