I decided to gather the links of the Democratic candidates who have announced so far, and post the links here for anyone who is interested. Let me know if I'm missing any.
Hillary Clinton
Chris Dodd
John Edwards
Dennis Kucinich
Barack Obama
Bill Richardson
Tom Vilsack
I'm, uh, not quite "whelmed" with the list. So, who am I forgetting?
And now for some cute baby duckies to end this post on a positive note.
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I just watched the video of Howard Dean on Hardball. He did a great job, of course, but Chris Matthews started in on the "inevitability of Hillary" stuff, mentioning, in particular, Hillary's decision to forgo public financing in both the primary and the general election. Howard noted that he was the first candidate to do that in a primary, but also remided people that he took a vote among his grassroots supporters before doing that. Matthews persisted with the issue for a while, also saying that if California moves its primary to February 5, that will guarantee a well financed candidate like Hillary Clinton the nomination.
Matthews and other commentators also went on and on in the post-SOTU commentary about Hillary and her boatloads of money. So when I woke up this morning, I really felt like I had to respond.
The following is an excerpt from the Douglas Adams video I linked to in this post. Since I can't get a screen capture from the video, I'm including this image of Douglas Adams with his daughter, Polly.
The conclusion of Adams' talk on endangered species:
There is a kind of terrible irony that at the point that we are best able to understand and appreciate and value the richness of life around us, we are destroying it at a higher rate than it's ever been destroyed before. And we are losing species after species after species, day after day, just because we're burning the stuff down for firewood. And this is a kind of terrible indictment of our understanding.
But, you see, we make another mistake, because we think somehow, this is all right in some fundamental kind of way, because we think that this is all sort of "meant to happen".
Now let me explain how we get into that kind of mindset, because it's exactly the kind of mindset that the kakapo gets trapped in. Because, what has been a very successful strategy for the kakapo over generation after generation for thousands and thousands of years, suddenly is the wrong strategy. And he has no means of knowing, because he is just doing what has been successful up till then. And we have always been, because we're toolmakers, because we take from our environment the stuff that we need to do what we want to do and it's always been very successful for us--
I'll tell you what's happened. It's as if we've sort of put the "pause" button on our own process of evolution, because we have put a buffer around us, which consists of medicine and education and buildings, and all these kinds of things that protect us from the normal environmental pressures. And, it's our ability to make tools that enables us to do this.
Now, generally speaking, what drives speciation, is that a small group of animals gets separated out from the main body by population pressure, some geographical upheaval or whatever. So imagine, a small bunch suddenly finds itself stranded ina slightly colder environment. Then you know, over a small number of generations that those genes that favor a thicker coat will come to the fore and you come back a few generations later, and the animal's got a thicker coat.
Man, because we are able to make tools, we arrive in a new environment where it's much colder, and we don't have to wait for that process. Because we see an animal that's already got a thicker coat and we say we'll have it off him. (Laughter.)
And so we've kind of taken control of our environment, and that's all very well, but we need to sort of be able to rise above that process. To rise above that vision and see a higher vision--and understand the effect we're actually having.
Now imagine, if you will, an early man, and let's see how this mindset comes about. He's standing, surveying his world at the end of the day. And he looks at it and things, "This is a very wonderful world that I find myself in. This is pretty good. I mean, look, here I am, behind me is the mountains, and the mountains are great. Because there are caves in the mountains where I can shelter, either from the weather or from bears that occasionally come and try to attack me. And I can shelter there, so that's great. And in front of me is the forest, and the forest is full of nuts and berries and trees, and they feed me, and they're *delicious* and they sort of keep me going. And here's a stream going through which has got fish in it, and the water's delicious, and everything's *fantastic*.
And there's my cousin Ug. And Ug has caught a mammoth! Yay!! (Clapping). Mammoths are terrific! There's nothing greater than a mammoth, because you can wrap yourself in fur from the mammoth, you can eat the meat of the mammoth, and you can use the bones of the mammoth, to catch other mammoths!
Now this world is a fantastically good world for him. And, part of how we come to take command of our world , to take command of our environment, to make these tools that we need, is that we ask ourselves questions all the time. So this man starts to ask himself questions. "This world" he asks himself, "so, who made it?" Now, of course he thinks that, because *he* makes things himself, so he's looking for someone who will have *made* this world. "So, who would have made this world?" he thinks. "Well, it must be something a little bit like me. Obviously *much much* bigger, and (glancing up) necessarily invisible, but he would have made it. Now, *why* did he make it?"
Now, we always ask ourselves "why" because we look for intention around us, because *we* do things with intention. We boil an egg in order to eat it. So, we look at the rocks and we look at the trees, and we wonder what intention is here, even though it doesn't have intention. So we think, what did this person who made this world intend it for. And this is the point where you think, "Well, it fits *me* very well. You know, the caves and the forests, and the stream, and the mammoths. He must have made it *for me*!"
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.
There's an awful lot of speculation one way or another at the moment, about whether there's life on other planets or not. Carl Sagan, as you know, was very keen on the idea that there *must* be. The sheer numbers dictate, because there are billions and billions and billions, as he famously did *not* say, in fact, of worlds out there, so the chance must be that there's other intelligent life out there. There are other voices at the moment saying that if you look at the circumstances here on earth, they are *so* extraordinarily specific that the chances of there being something like this out there, are actually pretty remote.
Now, in a way it doesn't matter. Because think of this--Carl Sagan, I think, himself, said this. There are two possibilities: either there is life out there on other planets, or there is no life out there on other planets. They are both *utterly* extraordinary ideas! But, there is a strong possibility that there isn't anything out there remotely like this. And we are behaving as if this planet, this *extraordinary*, utterly, utterly extraordinary little ball of life, is something we can just screw about with any way we like.
And maybe we can't. Maybe we *should* be looking after it just a little bit better. *Not* for the world's sake--we talk rather grandly about "saving the world". We don't have to save the world--the world's fine! The world has been through five mass extinctions. Sixty-five million years ago when, as it seems, a comet hit the earth at the same that there were vast volcanic eruptions in India, which saw off the dinosaurs, and something like 90% of the animals on the planet at the time. And another 150 million years earlier than that, another giant, giant, giant extinction. The world has been through it many times before, and what tends to happen, what happens invariably after each mass extinction, is that there's a huge amount of space available, for new forms of life suddenly to emerge and flourish into. Just as the extinction of the dinosaurs made way for us. Without that extinction, we would not be here.
So, the world is fine. We don't have to save the world--the world is big enough to look after itself! What *we* have to be concerned about, is whether or not the world we live in, will be capable of sustaining *us* in it. *That's* what we need to think about. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. (Applause).
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Thanks to jc in the comments for providing a link to the text of the speech for anyone who would like to "read along". I think I'll pass--just finished transcribing a very thoughtful section of that Douglas Adams video I posted about earlier. It would be a neck-breaker of a segue to go straight from that to what the "Decider" has to say. (I have that as a post in draft, by the way.)
You can find the text of the Democratic response by Senator Jim Webb here.
Via Kos
SOTU games
More SOTU Games & SOTU Open Thread
For those of you who are watching, please share your thoughts about how the mood differs from previous SOTUs by Bush.
Oh, and for anyone who missed the news, the *real* president's documantary, An Inconvenient Truth, was nominated for an Academy Award.
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I got this link to a State of the Union parody from Kos. He adds...
And incidentally, James Adonian, who plays Bush in this clip, needs to get his Patriot Facts web show picked up by Comedy Central.Links to some Patriot Facts episodes are provided in the same Kos entry.
Via Democrats.org "Watch It!: Governor Dean on TV"
Catch Governor Dean on TV tonight. He'll be doing three interviews, back to back. The line-up:Alternate link for comments
MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews at 5:00 pm
CNN's Situation Room at 5:15 pm
Bloomberg's Money and Politics 5:30 pm
W00t! I don't know how many people other than Cat and myself will be excited about this, but I just discovered a blog entitled Another Chance to See, and via that blog, found a link to a streaming video of Douglas Adams giving a lecture on "Parrots, the Universe, and Everything".
An 87 minute streaming video posted by UCTV--University of California Television entitled "Parrots, The Universe and Everything". It's a complete Douglas Adams lecture by the great man himself, all about "Last Chance To See". Enjoy!!!
He talks about a number of other endangered species he'd investigated for the book as well, though.
When I checked my email Sunday morning, Stanley Campbell from Rockford Peace and Justice asked if I was busy Monday and if I wanted to join him on the radio. His group and the group I am organizer for, Democracy for America group (Rockford Progressive Meetup) have been working together on peace projects from rallies to documentary showings.
Now you have to meet Stanley. He wears several hats in the community from his day job of director of the Rockford Urban Ministries to running the local fair trade store. Stanley is a vet of the Viet Nam war and he has traveled recently to Iran on peace visits. Stanley's grey beard and casual dress might cause you to think "grizzly" but his wide smile and gentle manner overshadows all else. He often wears his veterans for peace hat perched on his head. All the media in Rockford know Stanley and he is the first one they contact if they want a story.
Enter me, Holly, who considers media a necessary evil. A TV camera causes my eyes to bug and limits my vocabulary to ahhhs, So, the suggestion by Stanley to join him in talking on the radio sent terror through me. He kept saying, "Now this is going to be fun." I kept thinking, OK I know it is good to grow my comfort zone. What I do for the progressive movement.
I spent the rest of Sunday worrying while my husband dug into research. How much do we spend on the Iraq war? $8 billion a month. Saddam was Sunni. Iran is Shite. What are the main points of the Iraq study group? I spent the evening sending out one hundred fifty emails to friends and fellow progressives telling them to call in to ask softball questions. My daughter sends me the advice to not answer the question just say what you want them to hear,
Stan and I made a date to eat at the local Thai restaurant to bone up on talking points and for him to give me advice like, have fun, that’s what the radio people want anyway. Have fun with the Iraq war?? Hmmm. I ordered my food, not spicy. I doubted digestion was going to take place anyway.
WNTA radio is on the south side of town hidden behind an apartment complex and next to a golf course. You could miss it but the big antenna betrays its function. I bring a water bottle and a stack of notes on a clipboard. Stan brings in an empty sheet of paper and a pen. Radio host, Mark Meyhew, rises from behind the microphone to shake my hand as Stanley introduces me. Mark is casually dressed in a black t-shirt. Ya gotta love radio, I didn't even need to bother with the makeup. Mark is a big guy, with a limber mouth. Stanley told me Mark is a moderate but asks great questions and knows how to work with phone calls.
They explained that you talk into the side of the propped up microphone and to put on the head phones to hear the callers. I was looking for the big red light saying "on air" but unfortunately you just need to know when to not talk. I only blew it once by talking too soon when I asked Stanley to take my picture in front of the microphone so I could post it on the blog.
First we talk about ourselves, which of course I love to do. I talked briefly how our group meets monthly and we are issue oriented but know the best way to make true change is to become involved in politics. Stanley talked about the organizational meeting tonight to plan for the DC peace rally and our up coming meeting with our US rep.
The phone lines lit up. There were 8 lines and they were all blinking. The producer told Mark he would hold off the "regular" critical caller until right before break and the drunk would be just kept on hold so he couldn't keep calling back. OK, I knew I could handle this.
Roy starts out critical of Bush. The second caller gets lost in cell land and Ned goes off about the budget. Yes!!! I could use Bob's research and quote $8 billion a month. Ed. from our progressive group, talks about the Iraq Study Group. I know the stuff, I am energized and thank goodness most of the callers were of like mind.
When CJ called he used the Limbaugh statistic that more Americans have been killed by illegal aliens than in the Iraq War (jeeshhh). My eyes rolled but I responded, we need secure boarders and this unjustified war has taken our eye off the ball and deterred money that could be more appropriately be spent for real security. Stanley smiled and gave me a big "thumbs up" in support.
It is almost time for break so they balance the callers with "Mr. Critical" he rants on about all the people Saddam has murdered and how they moved the WMD over to Somalia. No time to respond, off to commercials.
Mark runs through a commercial speaking fast and furious. Now here is a profession I could get paid for my fast talk. He ends with the weather report, "Cloudy and cool". I look out the window and stifle a laugh; there is bright sunlight.
Mark closes the conversation with asking what can be done in Iraq? I answer that it is a mess and there is no good solution but Bush's current escalation is not the answer. Stanley ends with information about the meeting tonight and I tell interested people to check out our web site at www.rpmforamerica.com.
I leave exhilarated but exhausted and feel like a truck just ran over me. I guess that's what growing your comfort zone feels like.
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She left some comments in the previous thread. In a nutshell, it was pre-labor and not first stage labor the other night, but she's on bedrest and understandably checking back in slipped her mind. More medical details in the previous thread. Not going to frontpage all of that, but, bottom line is, I can *completely* understand Kimmy not checking in with us earlier. Read more here.
Light a candle for Kimmy and family, a smooth, comfortable labor and delivery, and a healthy birth here.
By the way, Kimmy, since you *did* go all penitent and with the "don't beat me" stuff in the comments below, I decided I could take the liberty of posting your gorgeous picture here. It's a much milder form of "penance", I think. ;)
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I know some readers here also post at My Left Wing, so I thought I should front page this as well. I had no idea Maryscott O'Connor was in the hospital until I saw this diary entitled I visited Maryscott yesterday. Yikes--apparently she's been in the hospital for over a week. Shockwave writes:
I will print your comments and give them to herAnyway, I set up a new candle page for Maryscott O'Connor, and diaried it here.
...
We talked about MLW, I told her the site was holding up and will be there when she gets out. We talked about Hillary, the image copyright controversy at DKos to which she said; that she wanted nothing to change at MLW and in true Maryscott spirit she told me she rather go to court than change the current rules.
I trust that soon the doctors will find a cure for what ails Maryscott. Her living conditions were fine and the hospital staff seemed competent and engaged.
Maryscott is my friend from our early days at DKos and I have grown closer to her, Adam and Terry since I moved to their neighborhood last year.
Please keep her in your thoughts and if we all do our part she will soon be back in action and MLW will pull through.
It's stopped snowing here in Columbus, and school wasn't cancelled. (It's hard to know when it might be--all I know for sure is that way less accumulation is needed to close the schools here than was the case when we lived in Chicago.) Stevie, who is often my blogging companion, moved to his spot on the heating vent this morning. I guess that means that, in his cat mind, it's officially cold. I know all you New England people will say this isn't *really* cold, but it's not *my* opinion, it's the cat's. And he lives a pretty sheltered existence.
So, what's going on in your part of the world today?
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Looking to see if there were any reports of Kerry getting ready to announce for 2008 (everybody's doing it these days), I found this...
'It's a sad day in our household. John Kerry is dead.'
"John Kerry was named such when, at 4 years old, my youngest was saddened to learn that the person her parents voted for hadn't won the election. Naming her hamster 'John Kerry' was her way of making up for that.
"It was always funny to hear the girls playing with him in the other room: 'Ooh! John Kerry pooped! There he goes; catch him. He's going under the dresser!' or 'Ouch! John Kerry bit me!' They never shortened his name to 'Johnny' or 'John'; he was always referred to in the formal sense.
"I'm not sure what the real John Kerry would think of this, but he should consider it an honor.
"We will miss John Kerry — at least until we bring Obama and Hillary home from the pet store."
I would not have known that today was World Religion Day, had not attended a forum on interfaith marriages at our local public library. The forum was our local interfaith groups' way of marking the day. I *did* know that Bush has cynically pronounced today "National Sanctity of Life Day". (Eye roll.) But I like this better.
Observed on the Third Sunday in January each year, in all Continents, from major cities to the most rural of localities, World Religion Day events help foster interfaith understanding and harmony. It provides the opportunity to seek a unified approach to the spiritual challenges that confront humanity, and recognizes that the Earth is but one country and mankind its citizenry.At the two hour forum, three couples told their stories, and there was some small group discussion too. The man who leads most of these things is a member of the Sikh religion, and worked on a book about Religion in Ohio. At the beginning of the program, he cited some statistics from the book. One that stood out to me was that almost *half* of Ohioans don't list themselves (whereever one might list such things) as belonging to ay particular faith tradition. That would probably come as a surprise to a lot of people, who think "Christian Right Red State" when it comes to Ohio.
Note from Renee--Alan wrote this in the comments, and it's a more thoughtful assessment than I've been able to come up with. Frontpaging it for discussion since the announcements seem to be coming fast and furious these days.
I've been looking at some stuff about John Edwards today, and wondering if I could vote for him. I see some issues. In no particular order:
He didn't, and still doesn't, have any administrative experience (e.g., as a governor). That's not a deciding factor by itself, but it's not insignificant.
He has said that he was wrong to vote for the war on Iraq; well and good. But I (as well as many others) knew it was a very bad idea at the time. Why would I want someone as president who is less intelligent, or less knowledgeable, than I am?
I cannot forget his ad hominem attack on Howard Dean at the Rock The Vote debate in Boston: "The last thing we need in the South is people like you..." There is no rational possibility that it was an impromptu outbust; it was planned and seriously considered. It is the sort of thing lawyers with weak cases are trained to do, have done since Classical times (that's why the technique has a Latin name), and although it can be effective in an adversarial proceeding, I feel it bespeaks a significant defect of character.
I will also admit to a tendency to stereotype and prejudice. Senator Edwards speaks English with such a pronounced accent I find it difficult to understand him. And that accent has no good associations for me, but several bad ones. Still, I can recognize my prejudice, and I don't think it would overpower rational decision.
Senator Edwards says he regrets following the overcautious advice of the "professionals" and will do it differently this time--stand for something. Well, we'll see.
I'm not saying I absolutely wouldn't vote for Edwards. But he hasn't made his case with me, and he has quite a sales job. There's still about a year for a dark horse to materialize or for someone to seize the country's imagination who has not done so yet. Bill Richardson is rather shopworn, but might do.
P.S. from Renee...no, I haven't heard any updates about Kimmy. Hopefully if there are any, someone can post them in the comments. Light a candle for her here, if you like.
Also, totally unrelated, but interesting--and I'm not likely to be able to post again today--there's an article in the Faith and Values section of the Columbus Dispatch about Buddhism this week.
More thoughts on Edward from jc (from the comments)
I have many of the same items Alan listed on my Edwards evaluation list. A couple more items from my Edwards list.
He didn't just vote for the war in Iraq, he made fear-mongering speeches and helped sell the war to the public. He co-sponsored LIEberman's bill.
He drafted parts of the Patriot Act and voted for it (of course most did vote for it) and criticized it mainly because it would have been good if only the Attorney General could have been trusted not to abuse it. (I believe a good law is one that can stand up no matter who is in power.)
And on the gay issues, he was against gay marriage AND civil unions, although he did throw in a little pandering language on gay people in general.
Edwards makes a lot of pretty speeches, and is now saying a lot of the right things. I just don't know if this version of Edwards will stick around when the political winds shift again.
I'm holding out for a better candidate.
jc Homepage 01.21.07 - 12:45 pm
Ever since my teen years I've enjoyed the music of Sri Chinmoy. So as I return to guest blogging here I thought some of his music would sooth you on this beautiful day. Enjoy.
Subway.
Note from Renee: New posts from puddle here.
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Thank you to Karen for passing this along from BFA...
Light a candle for Kimmy and family here.
And yep a doody I'm in labor! hehe Its only stage one, this can go on for hours (or not!! And thank you!!
Thought we needed a new thread, but I need to keep it simple because I'm busy.
Meet Zombie Renee. I kept thinking that I feel zombie-like for the past few days, so last night I tried to make a Zombie Renee sim.
She got better.
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It's an open thread. You know what to do...
For anyone who would like a chuckle, this is kind of fun…
The Deadly Follies of Stick Figure Warning-Man and Family
I got a kick out of that because Daughter in Ohio has talked about how unfair it is that bad things keep happening to that poor guy. She said she was going to write a story where nice things happen to him. Like people give him presents and bake cakes for him…
Oscar's comics, if he posts them, will be here.
New design by Demetrius
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Good Afternoon, Bloggers! Just got this email from Teri Mills, our marvelous Deaniac National Nurse, and since we need a Friday Thread, here it is.
I don't know if it's kosher to put a donation appeal on the front page, so apologies if it isn't.
We sure do need a focus on healthcare in this country, though!
Reminds me of how Teri used to do a Friday morning post at BBB each week. I'm in process of asking my Rep., Peter Welch, to co-sponsor the National Nurse legislation this year, just as Bernie Sanders did last year!
XOXOXXX ~ listener
The National Nursing Network Org. is officially a PAC, 501 C-4, and we are urgently seeking donations to help us to travel to Washington DC this coming March. Contributions are not tax deductible so that we may continue our lobbying efforts.
For a 20 dollar donation (that can be made on line at www.nationalnurse.org ) we will include a certificate in your honor in a packet to be delivered to your US Representative and will send you a copy of this as well.
Interested in writing a check to support this cause? Email teri@nationalnurse.info for how to do this.
This is a grassroots campaign and we truly count on supporters such as yourself to help to keep the momentum going to establish an Office of the National Nurse.
Thanks for your ongoing support, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Teri
www.nationalnurse.org
Thank you to everyone who shared jokes when I asked for some in yesterday's thread. If you missed that thread, you can find it here.
I've devoted much of my time today to adding keywords, teasers, and descriptions to things we already had up at Cafe Press. At the recent Valentine's Day prep chat, the representative from CP was saying, again, how important it is to use all of these opportunities to make a site "rich in content for search engines". That does tend to be the one area we kind of forget about, so I'm working on it because it needs to be done. It will pay off in the long run.
Why do I feel like I'm trying to convince myself to eat my vegetables? Really, this is even more boring that what had me zombified yesterday.
Since I was working on the Valentine's Day stuff, I revisited a page I did a while ago, and followed the link to the Unfortunate Valentines at Cap'n Wacky's Boatload of Love. They do seem to have added some new ones since I was last there. Not all of them are winners, but a number of them made me laugh out loud. Here's one of them...
Nothing quite says "I love you" like leaving a permanent mark on the skin of your valentine by holding metal over an open flame until it's so hot that it will leave a scar when pressed, hissing, into the flesh.And, I haven't gotten around to checking it out yet, but apparently there are Unfortunate Cards for other holidays/occasions as well.
Also, I'm a bit concerned that the lad may be in love with a cow.
floridagal posted this in the comments late last night...
Click
I am just beginning to realize what a horrible job Howard Dean took on in getting the state parties back on track. This was at The Next Hurrah, and he had to literally get some out of bankruptcy. 12 apparently. I know Florida was in debt big time.
You know the drill--talk amongst yourselves.
If anyone is wondering about puddle and Peter, there are a couple new posts today at puddle's blog.
In the past few days I've been directing you to Firedoglake for their coverage of the Scooter Libby trial. Do check out that blog for up to date discussion of the trail--Pachacutec is liveblogging jury selection in the comments.
But I wanted to point out this post by Jane Hamsher, for anyone who might have missed it.
As someone who has devoted years to building this blog around coverage of the CIA leak investigation, it's going to be really rough to sit on the sidelines for the first two weeks while Marcy, Christy, Pach and others cover the trial in person. I've been working for months now to obtain a press pass and set up the "Plame House" in Washington DC as a central place for bloggers to stay and share information amongst ourselves as we cover the trial. When I received (with the help of Arianna Huffington and Rachel Sklar of the Huffington Post) the only press pass awarded to a blogger to be in the actual courtroom, I was blown away. And as you might well imagine, it would have to be something pretty serious to keep me away for even a moment.Sorry for kind of a long excerpt, but I realize a number of people here are not familiar with Firedoglake. A number of Dean people do post there, and it's the closest I've been able to find to the fast paced political discussion we used to have at BFA. And I'm not really in a writing state of mind at the moment, don't have enough charge in my brain cells to do a good job distilling this down. But I wanted to include enough to give you all a sense of who Jane is and why I wanted to make a candle page for her.
In mid-December I was diagnosed with breast cancer for the third time. It's a bit more serious this time and treatment is going to have to be more extensive. I owe a huge debt of thanks to all the folks on the blog who have stepped in and allowed me time to investigate treatment options with many physicians and make an informed decision on that front. In addition to regulars like Christy, Pach and TRex who have taken over many of my duties, I also need to express my thanks to commenters like Scarecrow, Looseheadprop, Peterr, Hugh and Oilfieldguy who have done incredible work posting so that I could take this time off. Guest posters like Taylor Marsh, Swopa, Steve Gilliard, Watertiger, Howie Klein and others have also pitched in, and no amount of words can thank the incredible RGB, our site administrator, who has taken it upon himself to coordinate all these disparate elements on the fly. It's been a daunting task and he has managed it spectacularly.
On Thursday I go in for surgery at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. My surgeons are Dr. Armando Giuliano, with whom I've been down this road before, and Dr. Jay Orringer, who comes highly recommended by both friends and his own superb work. Thanks to the time that all of those who contribute to this blog have afforded me to investigate all my options, I feel really confident in my choice of treatments. Right now I'm writing from John Amato's house, the Crooks & Liars bat cave, where I'll be recouping. The emotional support that bloggers like John, Digby, Arianna, and of course Pach, TRex and the amazing Christy have given to me during this time — well, there just are no words to express.
Crooks and Liars has some of the video of last night's Daily Show...
During her appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, Condoleezza Rice was challenged by Senator Boxer for not having a personal stake in the war because she doesn't have any immediate family in the military. Seeing that bringing a child into Condi's life may finally make her realize the human cost of war, Jon Stewart decides to take one for the team and tries to serenade the distinguished Dr. Rice with some intellectual pickup lines. Hilarity ensues.It *was* funny! (Click)
Hello Everyone:
This is Dar. It's been awhile since my last post/confession, but I'm glad to be back.
Although we honored Dr. Martin Luther King yesterday, his actual birthdate is January 16th, and today I'm proud to announce the launch of our new site DemocracyInteractive.com (formerly DemocracyChat.com). The site, as our tagline conveys, is "a real-time free speech forum." We decided to dedicate the site and our very first frontpage to Dr. King because he exemplified the true power of free speech.
I was born and grew up in Selma, Alabama around the time of the Civil Rights Movement, and now live in Montgomery, Alabama, so Dr. King is very much a part of my life and history. My grandparents, who could not vote without the threat of harassment, job loss or worse, had pictures and paintings of Dr. King around our house like a member of our family. In many ways, he's a member of all our families.
Dr. King possessed the rare conviction to stand for what was right when he had every reason not to do so. For starters, he had 4 little children, his home was firebombed, he was almost fatally stabbed, and too many other incidents to name, but he remained steadfast. Today, we have a man in office who stands for the wrong things, with no consequences, and thinks that's real conviction. Dr. King stood up for what was right despite the consequences. That, more than anything, is what makes him great.
It's not brought out enough, but one of Dr. King's most passionate stands was against the war in Vietnam. I truly believe that if Dr. King were here with us today he be standing against us sending more of our men and women into another bloody quagmire. He would be standing for those held without trial for years and he would be standing against a government that seeks to spy on and deny the rights of its citizens .
So, we dedicate our site to Dr. King and others, before and since, who've had the courage to stand for democracy.
I invite my fellow members of the Howard-Empowered community to join us at DemocracyInteractive to chat about the issues of the day, and to have some fun. If you haven't already, sign up, login and express your free speech today.
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Dar has a post about Martin Luther King in draft, but has asked me to hold off on posting it until around noonish. So, in the meantime, here's an open thread. And a picture of a snow cat, courtesy of listener.
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Just a reminder that jury selection for the Scooter Libby trial begins tomorrow.
Bloggers at Firdoglake have been following the case, and will be liveblogging as the trial progresses.
By the way, completely unrelated, but I just found Oscar's MLK Day post at Underground Railroad.
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Many friends and colleagues have asked me about my trip to Washington for the election and swearing-in of Nancy Pelosi. I thought you might like my impressions. This weekend I spoke to newly elected speakers of state legislatures at a conference at the University of Virginia. There I met the three other women speakers, all of them Democrats; Barbara Buckley of Nevada, Terie Norelli of New Hampshire and Margaret Kelliher of Minnesota. It was interesting to exchange notes and hear about the challenges their states face. They too are thrilled that a woman is taking the reins of the Congress with the intent to guide a change in direction for the country.
Gaye
Notes from January 4, 2007:
Last week I attended the election of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. The election of a woman to the most powerful legislative post in the nation is an historic moment. I was seated in the gallery above the floor of the House near the section labeled in gold letters, “The Ladies’ Gallery.” I sat between a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and Maggie Fox, the wife of a three term congressman from Boulder Colorado, Mark Udall. Maggie’s sixteen year old daughter was sitting with Congressman Udall. Other children and grandchildren sat with members of congress as well.
Vermont’s newly elected congressman, Peter Welch, was below and perhaps ten rows in front of us. The clerk called the roll in alphabetical order, each member naming their candidate, Pelosi or Republican John Boehner. The Californians would embellish their vote with, “voting from the home state of the most honorable new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.” The Baltimore members would chime in “Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi,” with emphasis on the name of Pelosi’s father, the former Baltimore mayor. One member voted with the intonation of an accomplished preacher, “in the name of equal rights, justice and for the love of Jesus, Nancy Pelosi.” Several members voted “in the name of all the children and grandchildren” in their specific district. During the hour it took to get to the U’s and the W’s Maggie pointed out various current congressional leaders such as Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and former Speakers Tom Foley and Dennis Hastert, as well as celebrities in the galleries, such as Martin Sheen, Tony Bennett and Howard Dean.
Some in the gallery were sporting a lapel button where Pelosi’s face had been substituted for the face of Rosie the Riveter, a substitution that was more flattering than the same move a Vermont health care advocacy group had made with my face two years ago. The well known World War II poster has become a symbol for women stepping into roles of power.
The tone of the day appeared uncharacteristically gracious for Washington politics. Both Republican leader Boehner and Speaker Pelosi spoke of working together in the name of serving all Americans, not just their political parties. In her remarks the day before, Pelosi had spoken about making decisions with the prosperity of future generations in mind, a theme the Vermont legislature has also articulated.
As she accepted the gavel from Congressman Boehner, Speaker Pelosi invited children to come up to the podium. As she gave her remarks, two boys, perhaps ages 7 and 10, stood by her right arm. The younger boy kept picking up the gavel and twirling it around like a pinwheel. The older boy would reach around from behind to stabilize the gavel. After a few minutes the younger boy would resume the twirling only to be reminded by his older side-kick to put it down. Eventually Speaker Pelosi put her right hand down and gently but firmly took control of the gavel and placed it on the podium, without missing a beat in her speech.
I was struck by the familiarity of this barely discernable move. She could have been engaging in any of the multi-tasking that she has undoubtedly done as a parent of five children born within six years. Except this time she was delivering an address to the people of the United States about her vision for our country, and all the while establishing a limit to how much “fiddling around” she was going to tolerate from these boys.
After the vote and the speeches, we left the gallery to get in a “line” (it was a mob, not a line) of family members of new members of Congress waiting for a picture with Speaker Pelosi at a “private swearing in.” There was nothing private about it. It was total chaos. Eventually our group was called in as the family ahead of us finished up. We moved into place, Speaker Pelosi and Peter Welch holding the Welch family bible while about fifty cameras clicked and whirled.
As we turned to leave, Peter introduced her to me as the Speaker of the Vermont House. She held out her hand, and said, “Ah, Madam Speaker” and, fairly star-struck, I said the same in return and we shook hands and held them together for the cameras. In a few seconds the Welch entourage was swept into the adjoining atrium. It was the next group’s turn to hold hands with history.
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This and that before I head off to church...
An article about yesterday's inauguration...
With a soothing cadence instructed by his years as a counselor and Methodist minister, Strickland stoked that optimism, holding forth the promise that he will enable a "raw hope ready to be put to purpose" against the cynicism that has scarred Ohio government with corruption and hastened the state’s economic decline.Text of the inaugural address
Lobster corn dogs? I had no idea such a thing existed.
Party’s party has a rural touch
Read the rest here. Another report on today's festivities, with video, can be found here.
Democrats from across Ohio are descending on Columbus this weekend as Gov. Ted Strickland and other statewide Democrats are formally inaugurated with pomp mixed with lobster corn dogs and "jazzed-up fair food."
Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, who took office Monday, were set to repeat their ceremonial oaths of office about noon today, followed by Strickland’s inaugural address as the state’s 68th governor.
You're all just dying to know this, right? Nah, probably not, but I wanted a light, fun topic to post for Friday night. Basically, it's an open thread. ;-)
Anyway, I thought I'd tell you about my Sims. For Christmas we got a couple expansion packs for the Sims 2, including Sims 2 Pets. In addition to being able to adopt dogs and cats, there is the possibility of having your little simulated people become werewolves. I found this guide that explained what you need to do...
In all, there's really no reason not to have a werewolf. Having that instant boost of energy will especially help single Sims have fun out on the town, and it gives newly created Sims a chance to level the playing the field by devoting extra time to studying job skills. Also, werewolf Sims can be called on at night, unlike normal Sims that get all mad when you call them at 2 AM. Really, they didn't need that sleep, did they?
To have a werewolf in your neighborhood, you'll have to work a bit for the first one. First, you'll need a house that has a lot of trees. And when I say "a lot," I mean like two dozen. Literally. Just spend every cent you've got on the pine trees (or any kind of tree really) and place it somewhere on your lot.
...
The specific wolf you're looking for is one with glowing eyes.
And you need to greet him and pet him and play with him and get to be really, really good Sim friends with him, which can take several nights, before the Leader of the Pack wolf will finally honor you with the "nibble" that is needed to turn your Sim into a werewolf.
Via Democrats.org "TGIF Open Thread"...
Heads up! You can catch Governor Dean on CNN's The Situation Room today at 5:15 p.m. and on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews at 5:30 p.m.At last night's anti-escalation vigil, I ran into Rev. Tim Ahrens, who is the founder of the We Believe Ohio group. He spoke on camera to reporters, although I haven't found that online yet. He also said a few words to the vigil attendees as we were attempting (unsuccessfully for the most part) to keep our candles lit. He spoke of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech at Riverside Church in 1964
There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle, and others, have been waging in America. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor - both black and white - through the Poverty Program. Then came the build-up in Vietnam, and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political play thing of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic, destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.You can read the rest here. What Tim Ahrens said last night is that we don't want to be ten years into the Iraq war and regretting our silence, so we need to make sure we are speaking out now.
On Vermont Public Radio's "Switchboard" Thursday evening was the topic of Vermont seceding from the Union.
See the related item at: http://www.vpr.net
Here are my notes made during the show...for your stress-releasing musings!
XOXOXXX ♥ listener
"Why secede?"
Government has become too big
The US Empire has become unmanageable.
"What about the loss of federal funds?"
We will have more usable funds ourselves than the funds we receive with mandates.
"How would the rest of the country view us, and how would VT be perceived as a Republic? How would it affect tourism?"
50 nations and states in the world are smaller than Vermont.
Other nations may feel MORE willing to visit VT if it were independent.
"What if we had an emergency?"
Two words: Hurricane Katrina.
An immigrant called into the VPR show shocked that anyone would want to secede from a country that has done him so much good. He thinks VT would become a third world country.
(It might anyway, as Karen pointed out.)
Fun irony....the immigrant came from ENGLAND. Given that the USA effectively seceded from England, it was a humorous call, in a way.
VT was a Republic until 1791...the good ol' days. ;)
There is some talk about Peaceable Secession.
I honestly don't think it'll fly...because VT is presently "owned" by the Union. I doubt the rest of the country would say, "Oh well, sure, go ahead."
Caller from Montreal, Quebec (which has had it's own secession idears), Canada ...
suggests it has been great for Quebec to talk secession because Canada woos them! Ha!
Says folks from Quebec (immediately to our north) are sympathetic and would still come to visit! :)
Says to ask ourselves if the issues are a temporary thing or not. Is it WORTH getting out of the USA for what might be limited benefits.
"Canada is Vermont's #1 trading partner."
Would stay the same in the Independent Vermont.
Note: Not intended as an ISOLATIONIST idear...still very friendly toward and open to the rest of the USA.
So, who here would want to move to Vermont if we become an independent Republic?
Would Howard Dean be our leader?
Maybe instead of a President or a King we could just have a Doctor or a Guv. ;)
Another Montreal caller. Pretty sweet how interested our friends from the north are in this process! :)
The guest on "Switchboard" became interested in the idear as a skeptic but also as a professional historian. The more he considered it, the more he liked the idear and the more he was able to articulate why. So there is some very real sentiment toward doing so.
My town Rep is also the Speaker of the House in VT, though, and I know she is skeptical, understandably. I think it would take awhile (years) before it caught on here. But Bush is sure making it sound better and better, so who knows? Stay tuned! :-)
There is talk of Vermont being self sustaining, though not isolationist.
I think Vermont is better suited to this than many states, as the populace is very conscious of the need to be frugal and tending the environment, buying local, etc.. (sounds very Dean, doesn't it?) ;-)
I don't know if it would ever happen, but it is actually COMFORTING to ponder the possibility of Vermont seceding.
I wasn't taking it seriously until hearing the very reasoned and reasonable purposes in secession, and hearing that it's desired to do so peaceably and non-violently!! I LOOOOVE VERMONT!!!
"How would Vermont as a Republic defend itself?"
Well, we already have a National Guard.
(And I'm thinking: And they'd actually be HERE!)
A guy from MI just called in! Apparently the Upper Peninsula wanted to do something similar at one point! It failed because of the dependency on the Lower Peninsula. So he suggests creating ambassadors as a first step.
LOL! A woman called in with a strong British accent and misspoke saying, "I moved to Texas from America..."
She was concerned about people letting go of USA citizenship.
So it was suggested, "Why not dual citizenship?" (VT and USA or VT and CANADA...etc.)
I LOVE the idear of being a compatriot of some of my friends from Canada as well as some of you! Way cool. A new way to be a world citizen, perhaps.
Hey, turns out Americans have a constitutional right to secede.
Ooooooooo. What if we ALL (the whole nation) secede together and just leave Bush alone?
He can have the little peninsula in Kennebunkport where the Bush compound is anyway. ;)
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Crossposted at Daily Kos, Buckeye State Blog, My Left Wing and Booman Tribune.
So, whatever happened to the notion that "Elections have consequences"? George W. Bush, after his narrow "victory" over John Kerry in 2004, claimed that he had a mandate to press forward with his agenda, rather than trying to work in a more bipartisan manner. You know, "Reach across the aisle"? Apparently that is only considered an admirable trait when it's Democrats that are in power.
The midterm elections have been described by many as being driven largely by public dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq. From those elections to any public opinion poll I've seen, the message from the American public has been a resounding "No!" to the Bush administration's strategy in Iraq. Bush's response has been the equivalent of sticking his fingers in his ears and yelling "La la la la la!"
For anyone who is not aware of this...
Volunteers will host actions in cities and towns across the country within 24 hours of the president’s speech with a simple message: "America says NO more troops in Iraq!”
Thank you so much to everyone for the wonderful messages in the 100,000 thread--those of you who are regulars and those I haven't seen for a while. (Of course, it goes without saying that I would love to see those in the latter category stop by more often.) Thank you to jc for letting people at BFA know about the milestone, and for capturing the image of the Sitemeter as it reached the 100K mark. Great new bumper sticker, by the way...
Update: We did it!
I just scrolled down to the bottom of the page and saw this
My bad...This year's state of the union will be held Tue Jan 23 7pm - Tue Jan 23 8pm. Tonight is the convince Americans to send more troops speech.
As always, you can chat about whatever you like, but if you have anything to say about tonight's State of the Union address, go for it. Some of us can't stand to watch it ourselves, but appreciate it when others fill us in on what was said, how people reacted, etc.
Click here for a parody of last year's SOTU.
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Earlier this evening, I received the following e-mail from listener...
Son*in*Oregon sent this!!! Use if desired
A family just built this playground in their yard last weekend for their 3 and 4 year-old boys. The next morning, the mom woke up to this scene (see attached.) Four juvenile black bears.
I was trying to come up with some ideas for the Cafe Press Anti-Valentine's Day contest. I was going to try to come up with a design using these cherubs, and the caption below was suggested by Demetrius. It's not exactly anti-Valentine, but I thought it was cute, so I made the design.
movie, and enjoy some of the birthday cake Demetrius made for me. Catch you all a little later.From Shelley in the comments
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Time to e-mail your Congressperson and let them know we're in favor of allowing Medicare to bargain for lower drug prices, as the VA does.
A year's worth of Fossamax through the VA: $250.
A year's worth of Fossamax through
Medicare: average, $800.
A year's worth of Zocor through VA:
$127.
A year's worth of Zocor through Medicare, average: $1500.
(Thanks to Al Franken on airamericaradio.com right now for the stats.)
Let your Senator know, too. The vote's coming up!
Found out about this via Firedoglake:
Gay animals out of the closet?
First-ever museum display shows 51 species exhibiting homosexuality
A first-ever museum display, "Against Nature?," which opened last month at the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum in Norway, presents 51 species of animals exhibiting homosexuality.It's an interesting article, although it's still a sad commentary that people feel too ootsy about the whole thing to teach or publish the information. And the article referenced, from Live Science, is, I don't know, kind of campy. There's something weird about having to rate each animal picture before moving on to see the next one.
...
Almost a quarter of black swan families are parented by homosexual couples. Male couples sometimes mate with a female just to have a baby. Once she lays the egg, they chase her away, hatch the egg, and raise a family on their own.
"Homosexuality" and "heterosexuality" are terms defined by societal boundaries, invisible in the animal kingdom.
...
Like most complex issues, animal homosexuality is challenging and poorly understood. Therefore, educators tend to shy away from covering it in their teaching. Many scientists don't even want to be associated with this type of research.
"I've had primatologists offer to give me their data on homosexual behavior because they didn't want to publish it," Wolfe said.
"Against Nature?" was set up partly to demystify the concept.
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Many of you probably know about this already, but I figured I should go ahead and frontpage it anyway. Via the United for Peace and Justice web site...
Click here for more.
THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN, NOW CONGRESS MUST ACT.
On Saturday, Jan. 27th, people from every corner of the country will march on Washington, DC. Our message will be clear, our voice will be strong: End the war in Iraq, Bring all the troops home now! We urge you to join us!
On Mon., Jan. 29th, we will take our message directly to the new Congress during our lobby day.
This is an Open Thread. You may use it to talk about stuff.
Moose picture via Cute Overload.
And, w00t, The Daily Show is back from vacation tonight!
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Mom, if you're reading, sorry about the language. But I really feel like this is something that needs to be worded strongly. Because I just read this (emphasis mine)
On MSNBC last week, Mr. Rangel said of Mr. Obama: “He’s brilliant, he’s talented. He’s not tested, but who could be with the limited political experience?” He said that Democrats “should have as many exciting candidates up front as we can get, so we can find out who’s electable and who can best lead our country.”Now, the premise there is good--I agree with the overall idea--but that *word* has got to go. As far as I can tell, the word "electability" was only invented recently. It was certainly used in full force by people attempting to convince those who might otherwise vote for Howard Dean to reconsider, and vote for someone they think *other* people will be willing to vote for.
I've been really struck by the gall of George W. Bush since the November elections, bullheadedly pushing forward with the same agenda, the same approach, as if the elections don't mean anything. (Yet when he was reelected in 2004 by a small margin, he called it a "mandate" that meant he had "political capital".) I found this article in the International Herald Tribune via Crooks and Liars, and it puts some of that into words better than I've been able to...
Observing President George W. Bush in action lately, we have to wonder if he actually watched the election returns in November, or if he was just rerunning the 2002 vote on his TiVo.
That year, the White House used the fear of terrorism to scare American voters into cementing the Republican domination of Congress. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney then embarked on an expansion of presidential power chilling both in its sweep and in the damage it did to the constitutional system of checks and balances.
In 2006, the voters sent Bush a powerful message that it was time to rein in his imperial ambitions. But we have yet to see any sign that Bush understands that. Indeed, he seems to have interpreted his party's drubbing as a mandate to keep pursuing his fantasy of victory in Iraq and to press ahead undaunted with his assault on civil liberties and the judicial system.
Daughter in Ohio sang with the children's choir in church today. The following isn't the song the girls sang, but was the "hymn in procession" before the baptism that was scheduled for today. The actual baptism didn't take place, because the baby was sick, but they still did the renewal of baptismal vows with the congregation--that thing with the "I will, with God's help" that I mentioned in my prayer for the New Year. Anyway, I found the song just tear-jerkingly beautiful--such that I wasn't able to actually sing it along with the congregation. When I turned around toward the baptismal font, I saw another mom of a choir member, and she was dabbing her eyes. So I know it wasn't just me. Anyway, I thought I'd share...
"I was there to hear your borning cry,Alternate link for comments
I'll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold.
I was there when you were but a child,
with a faith to suit you well;
In a blaze of light you wandered off
to find where demons dwell."
"When you heard the wonder of the Word
I was there to cheer you on;
You were raised to praise the living Lord,
to whom you now belong.
If you find someone to share your time
and you join your hearts as one,
I'll be there to make your verses rhyme
from dusk 'till rising sun."
In the middle ages of your life,
not too old, no longer young,
I'll be there to guide you through the night,
complete what I've begun.
When the evening gently closes in,
and you shut your weary eyes,
I'll be there as I have always been
with just one more surprise."
"I was there to hear your borning cry,
I'll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
to see your life unfold."
Thank you floridagal for providing us with a link to video of Howard Dean thanking the activists and netroots for their efforts towards the Democratic victories of 2006.
And in honor of the Epiphany, here's another image from the Episcopal Church and Visual Arts site, entitled Darkness Holds the Seeds of Light.
Update: You can check out Oscar's 'toons and Word for the Week here.
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