Saturday, May 26, 2007

Howard Dean on Ring of Fire

Thanks to floridagal for the heads-up that Howard Dean was going to be on Ring of Fire this afternoon. Below is a transcript of most of the segment. The main thing I'm missing is the name of the person interviewing Howard. Apparently it is someone who worked on his presidential campaign.


Ring of Fire: When you were out there doing the 50-state strategy, how important was it that there was a balance, particularly of radio, in the world?

Howard Dean: Well, as you know, right wing radio is, as I call it, "hate radio", and it takes advantage of the very worst that people have to offer. They're always appealing to people's bigotries and people's prejudices and racism and all that other stuff. So, what I like to think of Air America as, is a place for optimism and idears. And I think that's really by and large, what it's been. We need a place where Americans can tune in and listen to things that are going to be good about America. Different ways of doing things, and not the kind of fearmongering and hatemongering that goes on on the right.

Ring of Fire: Speaking of which, last week we saw the passing of Jerry Falwell, and Republicans were jumping all over themselves to eulogize him. What do you think his legacy is to the political process.

Howard Dean: I think he has been an incredibly divisive person in terms of American history. He did appeal to sometimes the very worst in people--the anti-gay stuff, the racism that was going on at Liberty University with White folks not being able to date Black folks and stuff like that. So, you know, it's a mixed bag. He certainly was a potent political force in the Republican party, but in some ways he represented the worst of the Republican party.

Ring of Fire: And we saw, what was so interesting, in the debate a few weeks ago, three Republican candidates raising their hands saying they didn't believe in the theory of evolution. Isn't this part and parcel of appealing to the Falwells and the Pat Robertsons of the Republican party?

Howard Dean: Those folks are a passing generation. The Democrats are actually starting to reach out to Evangelicals. Young Evangelicals would rather hear what we're going to do about Darfur, poverty and global warming than they would beat up on their gay neighbor. And you know, in some ways, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and Oral Roberts and these people are dinosaurs. They're people who represent the anger part of Christianity, and there really is no justifiable anger part of Christianity--they're showmen, they make money off it. But the new generation are people that are emphasizing what was really in Jesus' message, which had to do with reaching out to people, taking care of the least among us. It's a much more American message, and the young, smart Evangelical preachers are creating *huge* congregations with that kind of a message of hope. And that's something the Democrats can work with, and I'm looking forward to that.

Ring of Fire: Well, you have been reaching out to them. We've talked about that in the past. And that's a perfect opportunity to talk about the fact that you have not written off any state in the union. I want us to tick this off...in two years as chairman, the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives, took control of the Senate, won a majority of the nation's governorships, and added ten new chambers in state legislatures. And then, James Carville said you should step down the next day, because, of course, that makes sense...

Howard Dean: The generations are passing in every institution, including ours. (Laughter). Look, I didn't do all that stuff by myself, without Chuck Schumer we don't win the Senate, and without Rahm Emanuel we don't win the House. It was a team effort. But, what we did do is go into new territory. Territory like Kansas and Minnesota and upstate New York--territories that hadn't been aggressively attacked. And of course we're delighted that we won the majority in the House and the Senate, but the really exciting thing is that we forced the president and the vice president to be campaigning in Idaho and Nebraska the last two weekends of that campaign.

Ring of Fire: You put them on defense.

Howard Dean: You gotta be playing offense all the time. When you start playing defense, which we've been doing for thirty years, then you're not winning. And now we're winning, and we're winning because we're asking everybody for their vote. There's not a vote that I'm afraid to ask for, and we do not have to give up our principles to ask people that don't agree with us for their votes. People will respect you if you respect them, and that's something we've learned by watching the terrible mistakes of the president. The president has not just been incompetent because of his policy mistakes. He's been incompetent because he set out from the beginning of his presidency to only be the president of half the people. And we want to be the president of ALL the people, including those that don't vote for us.

Ring of Fire: And you took the words right out of my mouth, because, in fact, not giving up our principles involves being able to stand strong in opposing this war. And we saw candidates in unlikely places, people like Jim Webb in Virginia, John Tester in Montana, who, in red states, ran against this war and won majorities.

Howard Dean: That's right. I think that people understand now that when you don't tell the truth about why you're going to war, the war effort's not likely to be successful. And the president and his folks simply didn't tell America the truth.

Ring of Fire: I've asked you this before, Governor--what does it feel like to have been essentially four years ahead of your time? (Laughter) You were a lonely voice--within the Democratic party, I might point out, calling for an end to this war. How did it feel to you watching people come around?

Howard Dean: You were part of that campaign, and I think you remember the day that I said capturing Saddam Hussein would not make us any safer, which created a huge uproar. Unfortunately, "I told you so" is not a good campaign slogan. So, I'm happy doing what I'm doing. We have a *great* field of people running for president. It's a great time to be chairman of the DNC, and I'm really looking forward to seeing our presidential candidate win.


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jc, aka Judy Lynne Cadoret

More pictures of jc and her family can be found at puddle's blog.

Thank you to Denise for passing along jc's obituary, which was just published in The Daily Advertiser

MURRAY, Ky. - Judy Lynne Cadoret, 50, passed away May 13, 2007 at her family's home in Murray, Ky. after an extended period of declining health.

Judy was born March 20, 1957 in Rutland, Vt. to Warren J. (Jerry) Cadoret Jr. and the late Ramona (Mona) Cook Cadoret. The family traveled extensively, and Judy's childhood was spent in Louisiana as well as Colombia, South America and the Republic of South Africa .

She graduated in 1974 from Buras High School (Buras, La.) where she was editor of her high school yearbook. In 1978, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Nicholls State University (Thibodaux, La.) where she had also worked as a Coach and Trainer for the Women's Athletic Team. Judy then returned to Buras High School as a Teacher (Art, Industrial Arts/Woodworking, and Health & PE) and was also Head Coach for the girls' basketball and softball teams and Assistant Coach to the girls' volleyball and track teams.

Four years later, in 1982, she moved to Lafayette, La. where her love of teaching continued and she found an outlet by helping her friends and neighbors improve their computer skills. There, she attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana where, in 1987, she acquired her second Bachelor's degree, again graduating Magna Cum Laude. At the time of her death, she had also partially completed her Master's Degree at the same university. Judy resided in Lafayette for 24 years. There she had been employed in the City Prosecutor's office as a Paralegal and later worked in the law office of Doucet-Speer as a Paralegal and Bookkeeper. She also held a Notary Public commission. Judy became a master of the computer and, in mid-1998, she formed a home-based computer services, transcription, and record-keeping business, which she maintained until 2006.

Judy was a sensitive soul who possessed a deep love of animals (especially her kitties, Xena and Gabby). She was also a champion of equality and individual rights who despised any form of racial or gender prejudice. Though preferring to stay out of the spotlight, she was politically active in promoting her beliefs through her graphic design work for candidates of like mind. She was a dedicated "blogger" and enjoyed debating political issues on the internet.

Judy was an accomplished artist who had her hands in everything: drawing, calligraphy, ceramics, painting, woodworking, stained glass, photography and computer graphics. Her most recent project was formatting and publishing the book Mona's Musings written by her mother.

Judy was preceded in death by her beloved mother, Ramona (Mona).

She is survived by her father, Warren (Jerry); her sister, Jan; and her brother, Jay. She leaves behind many extended family members and friends who will miss her exceptional talent and wit.

Published on May 26, 2007.


We miss you, jc. But we feel honored and blessed that we got the chance to know you.

Previous posts:
Remembering jc
From Thankful...

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Good Morning

This week, when he was not working on something for a client, Demetrius was perfecting this bizarre little creation...


I made this half-pony / half-monkey monster to please you!

By any chance does anyone here know where that comes from?

My morning so far...I just started up the computer a little while ago, and as I sat down at my desk, both cats came into the room. Stevie jumped into my lap and snuggled up against me, and Cat Girl meowed softly, looked up at me, and rolled on her back.

Oh, that's right...Daughter in Ohio is sleeping over at a friend's house, and went there straight from school yesterday. Which means the cats probably haven't been fed since yesterday morning. Went upstairs and, yep, their dish was empty. So of course I fed them.

I do love that they asked so nicely. :)

So, how is everybody's weekend so far?

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Friday, May 25, 2007

Sarcasm Society

Just discovered a link to the Sarcasm Society web page via StumbleUpon. Check out the tagline: We would love to hear what you think!

Hope everyone is having a great Friday night (and, no, that was *not* sarcasm).

This is an open thread.

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A puddle ponders its place

You may have heard around the tubes that today is the opening of the Creation "Museum". May 25 is also Towel Day, in honor of Douglas Adams, so this seems like a fitting time to repost this excerpt from a Douglas Adams lecture:

I mean, there's no other conclusion you can come to. And it's rather like a puddle waking up one morning--I know they don't normally do this, but allow me, I'm a science fiction writer (laughter). A puddle wakes up one morning and thinks "Well, this is a very interesting world I find myself in. It fits me very neatly. In fact, it fits me *so* neatly, I mean, *really* precise, isn't it? (Laughter) It *must* have been made to have me in it!" And the sun rises, and he's continuing to narrate the story about this hole being made to have him in it. The sun rises, and gradually the puddle is shrinking and shrinking and shrinking, and by the time the puddle ceases to exist, it's still thinking, it's still trapped in this idea, that the hole was there *for* it. And if we think that the world is here *for us*, we will continue to destroy it in the way in which we have been destroying it, because we think we can do no harm.





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Thursday, May 24, 2007

Al Gore on tonight's Daily Show

Just a reminder that Al Gore is a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight. He is scheduled to discuss his new book, The Assault on Reason.

Update: Holly asked in the comments whether Howard Dean had said anything about the Iraq funding bill. I just found this at the DNC blog

"Dean: Democrats Must Keep Our Word to the American People"

Governor Dean speaks out about Iraq and the responsibility that Democratic leaders have to the people who voted them into office.
...
"The American people loaned us that power, and we know that we have to continue to earn their trust so that we can earn their votes and win back the White House in 2008. We must keep our word to the American people."
Click here for the rest.

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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Olbermann: The entire government has failed us on Iraq

Keith Olbermann did a special comment on the Iraq funding bill this evening

Few men or women elected in our history—whether executive or legislative, state or national—have been sent into office with a mandate more obvious, nor instructions more clear:

Get us out of Iraq.

Yet after six months of preparation and execution—half a year gathering the strands of public support; translating into action, the collective will of the nearly 70 percent of Americans who reject this War of Lies, the Democrats have managed only this:

Click here for the rest.

For other news of the day, check out my Google Reader shared items here.

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Some thoughts on courage

Originally posted last night at the Independent Bloggers' Alliance

At the end of the work day, I do a brief scan of blog headlines to try to get up to speed on what's happening out there in the wide, wide world (channeling the Poky Little Puppy). This evening, a predominant theme is that the Democrats "caved" on Iraq. Quite honestly, I'm not sure what I think about that. The thing is--I just don't have the time or interest to follow this story (and others like it) closely enough to have a genuinely informed opinion on what constitutes necessary political courage versus wisely playing the cards you've been dealt. So, guess I'm not cut out to be a political pundit.

But I've been thinking a lot about courage in the past 24 hours, after hearing this man speak at a forum at my church



His name is Davis Mac-Iyalla, and he is the founder of Changing Attitude-Nigeria, a support group for Gay and Lesbian Anglicans, and he is visiting the United States to call attention to the persecution of LGBTs in his country. Even attending a GLBT-affirmative event--something I didn't have to think twice about here in central Ohio would subject me to tremendous risk if I lived in Nigeria. If a draconian "Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act" were to pass, the penalty for being openly "straight but not narrow" would be a five year prison term.

From time to time, I have wondered, if Demetrius and I were born at a different time...if we had met in 1964 rather than 1984...would I have had the courage to follow my heart and marry outside my "race". It's not an easy question to answer. Mind you, part of the difficulty is my tendency to ask pesky, practical questions, such as, "Where would we have met?" and "How likely is it that we could have spent those long, casual hour together with our mutual friends?" But the basic question I ask myself is, "Would I have the courage to be that kind of pioneer? Could I really be that brave?"

Last night, I was faced with a new question: "Would I have the courage to risk my personal safety--possibly my life--in order to make hostile religious and political authorities acknowledge that I exist?

That's an easy one, and I can answer it right now.

Nope.
No. Freaking. Way.

So I couldn't help but be awed, humbled, and impressed to hear Davis tell his story. From a statement on the first anniversary of Changing Attitudes-Nigeria,
In the first year, we have many achievements to be proud of, including our impact on the life of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, which had previously denied that lesbian and gay people are members of the church. The Church was so disturbed by our visible presence that it attempted to discredit the organisation, at the same time falsely claiming to be open to gays.
At last night's meeting, Davis Mac-Iyalla described being arrested after one of the early meetings of his organization. He and his fellow members were beaten, and were held for three days without food or water (and without charges), before finally being able to get the bribe money so that his jailers would release him. And not long after that experience, he led the first national meeting of CAN, which was attended by over 1000 GLBT Anglican Nigerians.

I encourage you to read more about Davis Mac-Iyalla and Changing Attitudes-Nigeria. This is not an Anglican issue, or a GLBT issue, or a Nigerian issue--it is, quite plainly, a human rights issue.

The Daily Office (Sponsor of Davis Mac-Iyalla's U.S. tour)
Changing Attitude UK (The director of this organization was instrumental in helping Davis get Changing Attitude Nigeria up and running)

Also posted at My Left Wing, Street Prophets, Booman Tribune, and ePluribus Media

Update with regard to funding:

The people who wish to silence Davis and others like him are very well funded.

Changing Attitudes Nigeria is not. Josh Thomas, who arranged Davis Mac-Iyalla's U.S. tour, and who operates the Daily Office web site, is helping him raise the money needed to continue his work in educating the rest of the world about the plight of GLBT people in Nigeria. Donations are being accepted here.

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Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Happy Birthday National Nurse Teri



You can honor Teri's birthday by visiting the National Nurse web site here (and visit the store here). And, if you haven't already done so, you can sign the National Nurse petition here.

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Monday, May 21, 2007

Gate-crashing, gate-keeping, etc.

In response to an essay entitled Who are the real gate-crashers?, I commented:

Eureka!

I've finally figured out the problem...

It's those damn gates!

I never consented to gates.

And it's become really clear to me over the past few years that we're not going to make anything better simply by installing a different group of people inside the castle. Trusting that they will "remember who got them there"--when the truth is, everything changes once they get inside those gates.
It seems like work--or at least the time I need to unwind, relax, and shift gears *after* work--keeps getting in the way of my blogging. I keep starting to post about this topic, and never quite end up with the essay that I know is in my brain somewhere. I think the closest I got was in Prophets and Kingmakers, especially in the comment I appended to it

I remember when Jim Wallis came to Columbus last spring, he said something about Martin Luther King. I don't have the exact quote, but it was something like, "he never endorsed a candidate, but he was able to get politicians to endore *his* agenda.

When I attended that B.R.E.A.D. assembly, I was impressed that so many people were willing to come out on a Monday night to demand fair treatment for a segment of the population that politicians may feel that they can safely ignore. These people showed up not for a political party or candidate, but in support of a shared value. WE were taking the lead, and telling the politicians and elected officials that *they* need to get on board.
Still working on putting all of this into words, but the crux is that I've had a realization in the past few weeks...

When your main goal is to "elect Democrats"--and I'm not just talking about the orange place, but any political group with that goal--it becomes difficult to do the job of "holding elected officials accountable". Because heaven forbid we openly criticize the Democrats who *are* in office (Lieberman is a noteworthy exception). I mean, what of "they" hear us criticize? We don't want the Republicans to win, do we? If we criticize Democratic leaders, we're emboldening the Republicans!

As far as I can tell, if I commit to playing the game of party politics, and agree with the premise that getting more Democrats elected, I'm not allowed to hold elected Democrats accountable. I must instead, shut my piehole, for now. But one day--ONE DAY--once we have that solid majority, and a Democratic president, and...and a unicorn, while we're at it.

But the important thing is that we keep trying. Because if we keep doing the same thing over and over again, it's BOUND to pay off eventually!

Isn't that right, Chuck?



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Sunday, May 20, 2007

The Food Stamp Challenge

I saw this in the newspaper at some point this week, and had Demetrius post a link to it in the comments. I meant to follow up with a front page post, but it slipped my mind with everything that's been going on. Still, I think it's worth drawing attention to while it's still more or less timely:

From Tim Ryan's web site:

(Washington, DC) Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-17) will participate in the Food Stamp Challenge, an effort aimed to raise awareness of the hunger problem faced by 38 million Americans nationwide, including 13 million children. The Food Stamp Program provides over 25 million people living at or below the poverty line with a means to afford basic foodstuffs.
Click here to read a Washington Post article about the challenge, and here to see Tim Ryan's blog entries about his experience living on $3 of food per day this past week.

Note: I spent 20 minutes this morning trying to fix the link to Tim Ryan's web page, and no matter what link I used, once I pasted it into Blogger, I got a page not found message. The link I use at the beginning of this post is a link to a Wikipedia article about Ryan. At the bottom of that page, there is a link to his home page, which works when I click it. Or copy and paste http://timryan.house.gov into your browser window. Thank you, Jessica, for pointing out the "page not found" error message. Wish I could figure out what I'm doing wrong with the link. I mean, I *do* know how to make links--why can't I get this one to work?

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Remembering jc

From March 20, 2006

Image hosting by Photobucket


The picture of jc's cats is from the collection of "who we are" response ads to the "latte drinking, sushi eating" attack ads.

Here's one of jc's graphics that was featured on Blog for America, once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away...




And here's another...



Links to some of this amazing, hard-working, talented woman's web sites...

Graphics for America
Take Your Country Back
The Blog Family (includes the birthday calendar)
jc's designs blog

I just copied and pasted the links and graphics seen above from last year's birthday thread for jc. I can add newer links--or links I may have forgotten, tomorrow.

Here's a link to the virtual candle page I set up for jc and her family.

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