Paragliding Chihuahua

Yes, that's right. I said "Paragliding chihuahua" ..


And then you have the pigmother dachshund.

For the Girls / For the Chicks

For the Girls..
This one's for the girls. [thanks to Kristin Breitweiser]

"We need the best Commander in Chief to get us out of the foxhole -- not merely complain that we shouldn't be in the foxhole."

__________________________________

Here's two hipsters who more than likely won't be voting for Ralph

For the Chicks (or maybe the dudes..)
This one's for the chicks [thanks to Bill Maher at Facebook]

I don't think it matters that Ralph Nader's running. It didn't matter in 2004. How many people even remember he ran in 2004? So it's silly to make a big issue of it. At this point, Ralph's just in it for the chicks... or the dudes... always hard to tell with him. But, there can be no doubt, he's got a point about how narrow our presidential debates have become. He's the wrong messenger, because even most of the people who used to like him now hate him, but no candidate is talking about single payer health care, which 59 percent of doctors support. No candidate dares talk about cutting the bloated military budget. Gun control. A carbon tax. Gay marriage. Cloning supermodels. We won't have a debate about any of these things. That's bad for the country, isn't it? In fact, isn't Ralph Nader's platform still the best one? Couldn't Barack Obama, with all his political gifts, be borrowing more from Nader's platform? That would be real change.

Eric Brewer on Bush's Day at the Museum

I'm encouraged to read that, during recent daily press briefings in D.C., Dana Perino hasn't been totally ignoring Raw Story's Eric Brewer.

....I finally got to ask Dana a question.

My inspiration for the question was the great surge of hope I felt when I heard President Bush claim last week that he had recently learned something: "A clear lesson I learned in the museum was that outside forces that tend to divide people up inside their country are unbelievably counterproductive."

He was in Kigali, Rwanda, talking about his visit to the genocide museum there, and although the remark was part of his explanation for why he has not intervened in Darfur, I thought the "clear lesson" might apply equally to other countries. Iraq, for instance. So I asked Dana:

"Last week, President Bush said that during his visit to Rwanda, he learned the clear lesson that outside forces that tend to divide people up inside their country are unbelievably counterproductive. How will the President's newfound insight affect his Iraq policy?"

Sadly, it appears, not very much. The rest of our interchange...

[Here's the rest]

Why Is It Always The Media's Election?

Fred Armisen and Amy Poehler
on last Saturday's SNL
posing all-too-realistically as
Sens. Obama and Clinton

In the article The Media's Election by Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, we see how the corporate-owned media play a large, often unnoticed role in U.S. national politics.By defining and choosing the issues, corporate MSM "acts as gatekeeper in setting the limits for political discussion and sometimes even candidacies for public office." Because John Edwards was not by definition a "marginal" candidate, MSM rejected his candidacy by "a combination of ignoring him and subjecting him to much more negative reporting than the other major contenders."

Mr. Weisbrot suggests that Sen Obama "knew how to define his candidacy within the limits of the media's constraints and still have a mass appeal."

"..From the beginning of his campaign he mostly avoided challenging powerful interests, and talked about "getting all sides to the table" and overcoming "decades of bitter partisanship." The media and punditocracy lap this stuff up like honey.

The column focuses on Obama as a crafty politician who says what he needs to say in order to sway voters in any given circumstance while avoiding media scrutiny (thanks to what appears to be the media's own temporary adoration and pedestal-placing of him). Obama is expected to once again shapeshift from his brief days as the sudden populist in Ohio and he'll likely..

"..once again hew closer to the media boundaries on their "sensitive" issues such as trade. In a different time and place this could risk alienating his base and suppressing turnout, but with the economy going down the tubes and -- no matter what the likely Republican nominee Senator John McCain thinks -- an unpopular war, this election should be the Democrat's to lose."

Mr. Weisbrot believes the general election campaign will "make any previous comments from the Clinton campaign or photos of Obama in a turban look mild by comparison."

I agree, and I don't think it's going to be as easy for Obama to convince the general public that having made a speech against the idea of the Iraq war in 2002 will provide him with convincing reason as to his judgment about what he's done in the Senate since he got there (in which most of his time's been spent running fast and furiously for POTUS)..and where to proceed from this day forward on U.S. foreign policy.

I've learned enough about so-called "cake-walks" in the past eight years to understand there's no such thing as any election that's "yours to lose"....not when we know that the fickle MSM is pulling the strings. A perpetual skeptic, I'm also not the true believer nor am I the Obamamaniac that so many of my fellow Democrats have fallen into becoming. He doesn't make me cry or see dead people or mystic visions. I have my personal faith for that, thank you.

I'll support Sen Obama's candidacy if it turns out that my fellow Democrats choose him as their nominee, but let's not kid ourselves. I think he's going to be in for the battle of his oh-so-brief political lifetime in the national spotlight when he butts up against John McCain. Corporate-owned mainstream media are not going to be Barack Obama's best pal and defender if and when he becomes nominee. You saw MSNBC's Tim Russert begin a new kind of crusade against their darling last night with the debate-question about the Jewish vote as it related to Louis Farrakhan and Rev. Jeremiah Wright. And so it begins....

_______________


Related: CNN has the video of Russert's line of questioning where Obama and Clinton discuss whether he rejects Louis Farrakhan's support. observe Hillary Clinton schooling Sen Obama on how to properly react to such a tough line.

Aubertine Wins. Will Wind-Energy Win in NY State?

Maple Ridge Wind Farm, Tug Hill Plateau, Northern NYState
Photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell


The ripples from NY State Senate Democratic candidate Darrel Aubertine's historic special election victory for State Senate in the 48th District last night against Republican Will Barclay is being felt all the way to Albany, where Republicans have controlled the Senate for four decades. At the Daily Kos website, an Albany-based Democratic activist spreads the joy at the thought that Democrats, while heading toward November, are now one seat closer to taking control of the state Senate where the GOP's majority is now down to two seats [32-30].

The 48th District includes voters in the Northen NY counties of Jefferson, St.Lawrence, and Oswego. The region has more than its share of rural familes who have had trouble meeting the cost of high fuel bills generated by the need to heat their homes througout the tough Upstate winter.

One sometimes-contentious debate between the two candidates has been the respective stands on which they've taken over the region's energy demands, which have continued to increase although no new large power plants are being sited and one lies dormant in the balance between indecision and expired law. While both candidates supported alternative energies that were not limited to wind and nuclear power, I think that Aubertine was the more convincing spokesperson for the benefits of wind power in Upstate New York and less willing to accept business-as-usual on the Energy issue in NY State.


Alternative/Green Energy Solutions Win the Day in New York

In New York, there are currently six operating wind farms, five under construction, and at least 30 more planned. As you can imagine, New York has been inundated with proposals to build wind turbines and wind turbine ‘farms’ or ‘parks’.

An article from the Watertown Daily Times by Jude Seymour [quoted below] explains the difference on where the two candidates, Barclay and Aubertine, stood on Green energy-project regulation, involving Article X, a NY State Public Service law designed to streamline the siting review and approval process for major electric generating facilities, which has expired and is waiting to be newly authorized.

Power producers say the measure, which is to replace the expired Article X, is needed to attract investment in plants and to avoid electricity shortages. The ISO has warned that parts of the state could face shortages if new plants are not built by 2012.

Article X has given the state authority to override local objections to power plants and, since the law expired, State lawmakers have been unable to agree on a new bill in which major divergence ofopinion betweenRepublicanand Democrat is on the fuel sources. The Democratic-controlled Assembly has wanted to lower the plant-threshold from plants of 80-megawatt capacity to plants of 30 MW capacity. Democrats also aim to allow more local/community input on what will happen in their communities and wish to pay more regulated attention to Environmental Justice issues. Last May, the Republican-controlled NY State Senate passed a measure allowing nuclear and coal plants while the Democrat-controlled State Assembly allowed only coal plants that did not increasing global warming.


I believe, after looking at his stand on the Energy issue, that Aubertine's win is a vote of public confidence and acceptance for more wind power and other alternative energy projects in the region:

Last May, Mr. Aubertine voted for an Assembly bill, A8697, that would have revived Article X. At the time, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said the bill made "critical improvements to the law by enhancing health, safety and environmental protections as well as significantly improving community participation in siting decisions."

Any power plant that met or exceeded a 30-megawatt threshold would be subject to Article X, the bill said. That would include all proposed wind farms in Jefferson County.

Mr. Barclay voted against the bill, citing what it excluded.

"We would love to get another nuclear facility in Oswego County," he said. "With the Article X bill, it excluded nuclear power. It would have gone through the standard permitting process. That could make it more difficult to site a plant in Oswego County."

The Assembly bill also excluded waste-to-energy facilities and coal facilities that would not reduce carbon dioxide emissions, according to a May memo by the Independent Power Producers of NY Inc.

"By excluding these types of generating facilities from the Article X siting process, the bill limits the state's ability to obtain fuel-diverse electricity supplies to help maintain electric system reliability, and the bill creates competitive disadvantages among companies and between technologies," the memo noted. A Senate companion bill, S5908, passed that house but remains in the Assembly Energy Committee.

Mr. Aubertine said he "would certainly consider" a modification to the Assembly bill to make the siting process more fuel and technology neutral.

- Jude Seymour

When it comes to new "green" power generation, there will always be the NIMBY problem ["not in my backyard"]. For environmentalists, the inescapable paradox to obtaining alternative energy is the eventual need to place the green energy-producers on virgin land. In last summer's NY Times, author Henry S.F. Cooper, who is clearly speaking for the NIMBYs among us, suggested a legal alternative regarding Article X, and that is to:

"..give New York’s commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation a veto on approving turbine siting. All these bills are steps in the right direction; they have critical elements that are worth incorporating into the new Article X legislation, to assure burdened upstate towns that community character and historic and scenic resources will be protected."

Monks Seek To Break Wind in Mohawk Valley

Pardon the odd take on words, I mean absolutely no disrespect. The "break" of which I speak is related to the NIMBY issue and to Henry S.F.Cooper, who is quoted directly above. Added to the recipe of NIMBY is certainly a religious freedom issue. This dispute isn't taking place in Darrel Aubertine's 48th District, but is happening further South in NY State, precisely in Jordanville, a lovely town with lush rolling hills in the Mohawk Valley region where there's a plan to erect 68 wind-turbines within view of Otsego Lake.

From The Little Falls Times, January 7, 2008:

[..] JORDANVILLE — The Holy Trinity Monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad is opposed to the 136-megawatt Jordanville wind project.

Its opposition to the proposed Iberdrola Renewable Energies USA wind farm received a boost Friday when the nonprofit Preservation League of New York State added the campus to its annual list of the state’s most endangered historic resources, “Seven to Save.”

Opponents to wind-power near Jordanville say:

[from article]: "The 49 wind turbines, some as close as one mile from the monastery’s 750 acres of agricultural and scenic lands, would impact the views from landmarks and places of prayer. It is for that reason that Holy Trinity Monastery was named to Seven to Save."

Proponents for windpower say:

[from article]"..Others contend that the turning rotor blades will not disturb the serenity that the monks and pilgrims have long sought.

“It’s disappointing that some opponents of clean energy have abandoned honest argument and are now using underhanded tricks in order to block the development of clean energy in New York State. There is simply no reason that the Holy Trinity Monastery cannot coexist with a wind farm for decades to come. Clean energy projects can and should be developed in concert with the protection of New York’s landscape and historic structures. This project is good for Jordanville, good for Central New York and good for New York State. The community of Jordanville should reject this dishonest attempt to curb the development of this important project in the effort to make New York green again,” said Carol Murphy, executive director of the Albany-based Alliance for Clean Energy New York, in a written statement.

F.O.R.E. (Friends of Renewable Energy), a southern Herkimer County-based citizen’s group dedicated to leading the way for green energy, issued a statement that said the issue is not the monastery, but those who are using it as a pawn to “squash any and all wind farms that try to come into the area so that visitors and residents won’t have to see them, in the distance, if the conditions are right and there is nothing in the way.”

________________


From Cooperstown, NY's Freeman's Journal July 6, 2007:[...] "...the monks at Holy Trinity Monastery, the Russian Orthodox Church’s spiritual headquarters overseas, have begun a cycle of “molebin,” prayers of supplication somewhat like the Roman Catholic novena, and as many as a dozen people from the community have been attending.

Iraq/Recession Campaign

At the MoveOn.org website today, you'll see this:

As long as we keep pouring that money down the drain in Iraq, we’ll never solve our economic woes. We won’t have the money to take care of people hurt by the economic downturn, or to invest in making our economy more competitive.

That’s a message that pundits and politicians need to hear.

A polling by USAction.org has shown that, 69-to-25, U.S. swing voters have expressed their strong support for ending spending for the Iraq war.

This morning, former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth Edwards joined top anti-Iraq war leaders to announce the launch of a new nationwide, multimillion dollar campaign aimed at shining a light on the cost of war in Iraq. The new Iraq/Recession Campaign was launched with a teleconference. Along with the Edwardses on the teleconference were John Podesta, CEO of the Center for American Progress, Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org; Brad Woodhouse, president of Americans United for Change, Jon Soltz of VoteVets.org, among others.

As economic concerns weigh heavily on the minds of Americans, opposition to President Bush's reckless war in Iraq continues to grow. The massive cost of the war in Iraq- hurtling toward one trillion dollars - has increased demand for a strategy to bring U.S. troops home. The Iraq/Recession Campaign will highlight the majority of Americans who want to see leadership on investing in critical priorities at home and establishing real security throughout the world.

Speaking from her home in North Carolina, Elizabeth Edwards gave a reason why she was lending her name to this campaign. She said that it's important for the American people to understand, if they feel that the economy is their 'Number One issue,' that ending the war in Iraq should be their 'Number One issue.' Her husband, 2008 presidential candidate John Edwards agreed, saying that, wherever he went in this country over the course of his now-suspended campaign, there was great angst expressed among voters about their personal economic security. Issues like gasoline costs, healthcare costs and availability, rising college costs, and mortgage foreclosure crises loomed heavily on voter's minds. Former Senator Edwards stressed that voters will have a clear choice this Fall, the choice being between a Democrat who will end the war and focus on the economic anxiety that exists and a Republican - which will likely be John McCain - who will continue the Iraq war and the failed foreign policy of the Bush administration. [See Ryan Teague Beckwith's Edwards: Iraq, economy tied, NewsObserver.com]


Incidentally, John McCain said, just today, that to win the White House he must convince a war-weary country that U.S. policy in Iraq is succeeding. If he can't, he said... "Then I lose. I lose." [AP]


John Podesta of the Center for American Progress cited the falling dollar, the price of oil at times exceeding over $100 per barrel, the staggering federal IOU's due to the need to restore a nearly broken military and to take proper care of our nation's veterans, huge deficits, and stagflation the likes of which have not been seen since the 1970s as reasons for voter anxiety and deep concern about the millions the taxpayers are forced to spend each and every day that we remain occupying Iraq.

_____________



On other media websites, the word is.....

The Hill puts an Obama-spin on the new Iraq Recession campaign, but not one spokeperson involved on the campaign has said this morning that the Iraq/Recession campaign is about Obama or Clinton or even strictly about Democrats. It's about the American people and their economic priorities. See: Edwards joins Obama supporters in new anti-war effort by Walter Alarkon, The Hill


John Nichols at the Nation is still wondering if Edwards will endorse either Democratic candidate and he also talks about how Edwards is defintely not waiting around for inspiration to strike, but is instead "endorsing" an approach to the 2008 race.

CBS' Vaughn Ververs provides us with: Edwards Joins Effort To Link Iraq, Economy

The Guardian's Elana Schor tells us that Edwards speaks out against Iraq war spending, calling the group of anti-Iraq-occupation campaigners "natural allies for either Clinton or Obama during a general election race against McCain."


The Swamp at the ChiTrib has more. (and this philosophically relates to the quote I use from MoveOn's Eli Pariser at the very end of this blogpost.)





Send a Letter to the Editor

At MoveOn.org, you can easily send a Letter to the Editor: The cost of the war and urgent needs at home



Questions for John McCain

During the January 24, 2008 Republican presidential debate, a question taken from an audience-member summarized what some are calling the Iraq recession -- the connection between the US's presence in Iraq and recession back home.





VoteVets.org has a question for Senator and likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain:




CNN's Political Ticker Showcases the VoteVets.org ad today.
See: Votevets.org targets McCain on Iraq

The Caucus [Leslie Wayne,NYT Political Blog] talks about the ad.

Marc Ambinder on McCain's "100 Years" in Iraq. Listen to Senator McCain trying to clarify '100 years' here.


______________


Recession and Iraq

Some will likely debate and perhaps dispute the connection between economic recession and the war in Iraq. This posting by NYT columnist Paul Krugman isn't directly related to the new Iraq-Recession campaign, but he gave an opinion in late January about the talk of economic recession and how the Iraq War relates (and doesn't relate) directly to U.S. economic woes. One very important point Mr. Krugman makes is that Iraq would be exporting more oil now if we hadn’t invaded — a million barrels a day, perhaps — and that would have kept today's high oil prices down somewhat.




Have You Heard About the Bush-Legacy Bus?

One new bit of information I got this morning (and what I thought to be rather amusing for some reason) is Brad Woodhouse's explanation of the "Bush Legacy Bus" project. The Washington Post has explained the project, virtually a rolling museum, as only part of an ever-growing effort for critics to chip away studiously at the legacy of the President who has said, time and time again, that he believes history will judge him ever-so-kindly when the smoke of the many unnecessary fires he's created has dissipated to somehow magically reveal a transformed Middle East.

A negative verdict on Bush also animates the work of the Bush Legacy Project, launched recently by the liberal advocacy group Americans United for Change, which announced plans to spend $8.5 million over the next year to keep the public focused on what it considers the administration's many failures. [WaPo, Michael Abramowitz, February 4, 2008]

I guess it's the name "Bush Legacy Bus" that's caused me to mentally visualize a short yellow bus carting around all of the simpleton-like Bushisms and pathetic misleadings that have passed from the President's clumsy lips over the past eight years.


The Wall Street Journal's Susan Davis says,

Americans United for Change will spend an estimated $8-$9 million on their Bush Legacy Project, a "national multi-faceted effort to define President George Bush’s legacy," and seeks to define McCain as an extension of that. Additionally, USAction said they will spend $10 million on their campaign that includes Iraq, health care, the budget and education. Jeff Blum, executive director of the group, discussed a recent USAction-commissioned poll that showed 74% of respondents stating the country is on the wrong track and that the war and the economy are top issues of concern. "The results show people are angry. They want to get out of Iraq to invest in America’s future," he said.

_____________



Progressive Voters Give John and Elizabeth Edwards Credit and Thanks

NCDem blogs about the new campaign at the website Daily Kos. See: Edwards and Obama Endorsers, MoveOn & SEIU, Launch "Iraq/Recession" Campaign

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
A February 19, 2008 quote from Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org:

As of today, we've spent over $495 billion in Iraq.

With the economy in the tank, think about what that money could do here at home: Cover millions of kids who don't have insurance, or help folks who're losing their jobs and homes. Instead, it's supporting a failed occupation in Iraq. More and more Americans are making the connection between the billions we've spent over there and the crumbling economy here at home. In fact, a new AP poll shows that most Americans think ending the war is the best way to help the economy.

But pundits still talk about the war and the economy as two unrelated things. That's why we're launching our "Iraq/Recession" campaign—our push to make sure that politicians and pundits understand what voters already know: As long as we keep pouring that money down the drain in Iraq, we won't have the money we need to solve our economic woes.

MacKinnon: Don't Fight Poverty!

At the Baltimore Sun, Douglas MacKinnon, former White House and Pentagon official is ideologically resigned to the belief that the poor will always be with us. He tells us that he's humbled and gratified that John Edwards has focused on Poverty during his 2008 presidential campaign. Sounds complimentary, doesn't it? At the same time, MacKinnon says he believes that Poverty should never seriously be the central part of any leader's political campaign.

"...as someone who was humbled by abject poverty, I appreciate the fact that, whatever his motivation, he has brought much-needed attention to an issue that begs for a constant media spotlight. It is gratifying, too, that upon his exit from the presidential campaign, Mr. Edwards said that Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama "have both pledged to me and, more importantly, through me to America, that they will make ending poverty central to their campaign for the presidency."

MacKinnon directly proceeds to turn off his so-called humble gratitude and appreciation, shifting gears to accuse John Edwards of political spin because of MacKinnon's own personal lack of faith that a change is indeed possible. It's no wonder that Conservatives have never seriously tried to end Poverty or create real-life solutions to the conditions in our society that breed poverty.

It's all about resignation. Failure registers with Conservatives from the get-go because of their personal notions. I could say "There will always be rape" and turn my head when one of my sisters is raped. Why imprison the rapist? There will always be rapists.

MacKinnon abuses John Edwards' reputation in order to draw a final conclusion that showing the face of the homeless and poor to the world is exploiting them rather than trying to call upon the people of this nation to finally wake up and ask their government to act.

It's no wonder so many young people in this nation are scrambling toward and thronging around the hopeful. MacKinnon makes a case - not for homelessness, but for hopelessness.

NYT McCain Story: Keller & The Scarlet Elephant

"....what the aides believed might not have been the real truth. And if you cannot provide readers with some independent evidence, I think it is wrong to report the suppositions or concerns of anonymous aides about whether the boss is getting into the wrong bed."

- Clark Hoyt, NYT Public Editor

~~--~~--~~--~~--~~
NYT Public Editor Clark Hoyt writes in tomorrow's NYT:

"BILL KELLER, the executive editor of The Times, said the article about John McCain that appeared in Thursday’s paper was about a man nearly felled by scandal who rebuilt himself as a fighter against corruption but is still “careless about appearances, careless about his reputation, and that’s a pretty important thing to know about somebody who wants to be president of the United States.”

"...judging by the explosive reaction to the 3,000-word article, most readers saw it as something else altogether. They saw it as a story about illicit sex. And most were furious at The Times."

Mr. Clark claims that the article was notable for what it didn't say:

It did not say what convinced the advisers that there was a romance."

Mr. Clark says that the ignored scarlet elephant in the room is that a newspaper can't "begin a story about the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee with the suggestion of an extramarital affair with an attractive lobbyist 31 years his junior and expect readers to focus on anything other than what most of them did."

________________

Seen at Tom Watson's blog:

For making the front page his national newspaper the equivalent of the men's room wall, Times editor Bill Keller is justly eviscerated in tomorrow's edition by Public Editor Clark Hoyt.

UPDATE: More from Jarvis, The New Republic, TalkLeft, and a series of questions for Times editors from Jay Rosen.

~~--~~--~~--~~--~~

I guess I'd been expecting commentary like this from the Times' Public Editor [unless, of course, there was more to the story than what we'd been told]. Since I'd read it, I'd felt that the story was too much of this..


and not enough of ... well...that is to say.. not at all what I'd expect from the New York Times...and I'm not even a Republican.

Signer to Mainstream Media: Do Your Job

With only a short time for media to be responsible and play their part in informing the public about the real differences between each remaining Presidential candidate's foreign policy plans and ideas, Michael Signer, former foreign policy advisor to presidential candidate John Edwards, is asking media to finally step up to the plate.

Just entertain the thought for a moment. What if, in the coming months, every major journalist who covers foreign affairs wrote one story that actually recounted what the candidates are proposing on a foreign policy issue. On the Middle East, or the developing world. On energy independence, proposals to help veterans, the critical role of global aid, denuclearization, or how we should deal with rising powers such as Russia, China and India.

These stories would tell us what the candidates have proposed and whether their ideas are silly or workable. They would quote experts and present tough criticism and fair praise. They would tell us something about the candidates' characters. They would illuminate the future and tell us something about the past.

Most important, they would give us insight into this most critical of decisions -- who should be commander in chief of the world's most powerful country in a time of war and a time of momentous choices.


- From: It's a Scary World. Don't Campaign Reporters Care? by Michael Signer [WaPo, February 24, 2008]

Hillary Rips Obama On Negative Healthcare-Mailer

Other than the subject of experience, the big issue that separates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary is healthcare.

Here's Hillary Clinton's clarification about the substantive difference between her plan and Obama's plan. [from the Texas debate last Thursday night].





It seems to me, in this primary campaign, that Hillary Clinton's attempts to pin Obama down on real policy differences have been drowned out by debate moderators who have too much on their agenda to fit in enough substantive debate on any one topic. It appears that she's been trying to have as much issue-related discussion and as many debates as possible in the hopes of having those substantive differences come through, but I just don't think MSM will ever allow that to occur. Instead, they take the soundbites from debates with such decidedly thin discussion..the soundbites that might generate the most controversy..and run with them. The public, who deserve to know as much about the differences in each candidate's plans as reasonably possible, lose out in the process. On February 14th, MSNBC's Dan Abrams was trying very hard to classify Hillary's Clinton's publicly-stated desire for more debates [in this case, asking for a Wisconsin debate that never materialized because Obama refused] as a "cheap shot", although neither guest-pundit would agree with him.





Today, CNN shows Hillary Clinton getting tough by shaking an Obama attack-mailer in front of the camera and asking "Since when do Democrats attack each other on universal healthcare?" She demonstrates, with marked anger, how she believes the Obama campaign has gone negative to the point of remanufacturing and reviving the likeness and destructively negative spirit of the well-known right-wing 90s' Harry and Louise anti-universal-healthcare attack ad.
- [See my February 1st post about it]

Today Hillary Clinton said, "Enough with the speeches and the big rallies and then using the tactics that are right out of Karl Rove's playbook," and "Shame on you, Barack Obama."

See this CNN video.



- [See: Clinton Unloads on Obama 'Destructive" Tactics, Perry Bacon Jr., The Trail, WaPo]
- [See Fact Hub: Obama Tactics Resurrect Harry and Louise]
- [See Fact Hub: Obama Campaign Distributes Two Dishonest Mailers In Ohio]

Liberal, Conservative Patriotism v. Intelligent Patriotism

Linda Chavez wishes to judge that of which she imagines "liberal patriotism" to be.

In reality, patriotism isn't Liberal or Conservative at all.

Patriotism, however, can (and should) be intelligent.

From a speech given by Senior Associate Dean Robert McClure/Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs/Syracuse University on February 4, 2002:


[..] "Patriotism is too often the hatred of other countries…. disguised as love of our own."

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~


[..] "Citizenship is granted ONLY by a country, a sovereign state. With citizenship….. comes responsibilities, and if we are fortunate enough to reside in a democratic country--- also enforceable rights.We may postulate—as we do in the Declaration of Independence—that our rights are bestowed by Our Creator...And are therefore universal. But the truth of the matter is that our rights are made meaningful— predictable, enforceable, useful, lasting — only by the work of ordinary men and women who make the laws and keep the order within a sovereign democratic state. Rights that are universal are imaginary ideals; lofty aspirations.
Necessary reminders..goads and prods,no doubt, but not sufficient guarantees."


~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~


[..] "If democratic citizenship involves both rights and responsibilities, then patriotism is found on the responsibility side of the equation. Patriotism is a citizen’s duty—a debt owed—to the larger community, ….not an individual prerogative reserved for personal use. In a democracy, patriotism is part of our responsibility to protect and defend one another, because — if for no other reason than the most self-interested of reasons — it is the national community that bestows and protects our individual rights.

Patriotism is prompted in some measure, then, by gratitude. My rights are a gift,a sublime gift, from those who died on the beaches at Normandy,
in the heat at Gettysburg, in the snows at Valley Forge: an undeserved blessing bequeathed by my ancestors, who managed to keep the democratic faith, however, imperfectly.

I did nothing,.….ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, to earn my rights, except for being born in the right place and the right time."


~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~


[..] "Intelligent patriotism, then, requires constant vigilance, guarding against an overbearing MAJORITY that would falsely employ the flag to subvert our rights and liberties and to divide us into patriots and traitors.

And just as important, intelligent patriotism requires us to guard with equal vigilance against an overzealous MINORITY that trumpets an inelastic, absolute sense of individual liberties to deny us our right of self defense and our right to an unfettered display of our common, national symbol."


~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

[..] "We don't know where, exactly, to find the enemy. Or who precisely to target. Whether rooting out the enemy at home or pursuing him abroad, the means are untried and unclear. Old—well-rehearsed war plans and massive firepower seem not so well-suited to today’s shifting and shielded battlefields. And no matter what course of action is contemplated, from dropping bombs to dropping food, unintended consequences with undesirable and costly result are sure to occur. Such is the nasty business of war.

We will wage this new war (at least in one fundamental respect) as we have earlier wars—by trial and error.. hoping to muster enough good sense and good luck to muddle through today’s uncertainties..and then to do the same tomorrow..and the day after tomorrow…and on and on until some unknown exhausting endpoint.

But without a formal beginning, without specified state belligerents named in a congressional declaration, this new kind of war poses the added danger of becoming open-ended: a war without boundaries; a war without end..."

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Good Samaritans in Charlotte

Charlotte Observer writer Tim Funk tells a heartwarming story about some local residents who created a caring environment for baby Ackah-Diazi Blay and his parents in what is all-too-often an indifferent world.

Preventing the Birth of Enemies

Understanding the benefits of meditation doesn't require a knowledge of rocket science, but it does take an open mind and a willingness to eschew the conventional, fear-based, and reactionary social tendency toward war as a first (and often futile) choice. At the macroscopic level, our universe appears to be physical. The deeper we go into the universe's construction, it is an entirely non-material world - a pure self-aware, self-interacting consciousness...a field of concentrated intelligence.

Reducing the intensity of societal stress when confronting the problem and reality of terrorism in the present time is the way toward preventing the future birth of more enemies. Accessing the power of peace within us is a million times more powerful than any nuclear force. You can call this idea a scientific neutralizing of the adversary.

There is no conventional defense against terrorism.

See this video with John Hagelin Ph.D., the quantam physisict who founded the Global Union of Scientists for Peace in July 2005 to stop the threat of nuclear proliferation and nuclear war through the establishment of large, peace-creating groups in every country - Unified Field Of Consciousness & War

Here you can view a wider scope of Dr. Hagelin's studies and conclusions about a "Peaceful Solution to Global Terrorism and Conflict.”


The lovely poster shown here is by Jenness Cortez, available for purchase at this site

Cora

I want to thank the blogger Anonymoses and all who've comforted me at a time of sadness. I lost my beloved cat Cora yesterday. She was my constant companion for thirteen years and life won't be the same without her.

Lulled be the dirge in the cypress bough,
That tells of departed flowers!
Ah! that the butterfly's gilded wing
Fluttered in evergreen bowers!
Sad is my heart for the blighted plants --
Its pleasures are aye as brief --
They bloom at the young year's joyful call,
And fade with the autumn leaf..


Ah! may the red rose live alway,
To smile upon earth and sky!
Why should the beautiful ever weep?
Why should the beautiful die?


- From: "Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway" by Stephen Foster

President Bush Dances with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Looking back on the past eight years, I wish we'd seen our President dance with joy more often....and I wish he'd led our nation in a way that would've caused us to join in the dance.



Related Stories on Liberia:

- Liberians Say Bush Visit Was a Win for Their Country [VOA]

- Liberia: 'America Will Stand By You' [allAfrica.com]

- President Bush Visits Liberia [Peet Family blog]

- Roundtable Interview of the President and the First Lady by the Travel Pool [re: Africa Trip at StreetInsider.com]

- Hospital Ship Saving Lives Again [Shields Gazette]

- Africa Mercy Returns to Liberia [Mercy Ships]

- Bono Takes IMF to Task on Liberia [Financial Times, Oct 2007]

- Chicago Tribune series on Liberia [Chicago Tribune 2005 - see links on page also]

Beautiful: Hillary Provides Unifying End to Debate

At last night's Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton sounded much like John Edwards with her ending statement that, whatever the outcome of this primary race, she and Sen Obama will be fine....but her real hope, passion, and commitment revolves around seeing that the American people will be okay.




What do you suppose she meant by the crises and challenging moments of her life? I am reminded of some of those moments by this film trailer for "The Hunting of the President", a documentary focusing on the 10-year campaign to destroy President William Jefferson Clinton and then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton based on the best-selling book The Hunting of the President by authors Joe Conason and Gene Lyons:




QUESTION: Does anyone out there think, should Sen Obama prevail in this nomination battle, that the Right will refrain from hunting him down?

Obama Lifts One Out Of Edwards' Playbook

"I haven't spent most of my life in politics, but I've spent enough time in Washington to know how much we need to change it. You know, folks from Robbins don't have lobbyists fighting for them in Washington. They count on their government to protect their interests, and they deserve a President who goes to work every day thinking about them, fighting for them. I've never taken a dime from special interest PACs or Washington lobbyists. I have spent my life working for people against those special interests. I know this fight. I am ready for this fight. And we will win this fight!"

- Remarks as prepared for delivery by John Edwards on September 16, 2003 in Robbins, N.C.

Here's how those remarks were actually delivered by Senator Edwards...and apparently Obama's people liked those remarks so much they decided to try it out for themselves!




*Speaking of Edwards and Obama, political reporter for the Charlotte Observer Jim Morrill has what might be considered to be an interesting bit of information for those who like to speculate.

Belgrade Riots Over Kosovo - U.S. Embassy Set Ablaze

Map of The Balkans
Photo credit: Stratfor.com

I think it's safe to say that violence and uncertainty have not been unexpected consequences of Kosovo claiming its independence.



Today we saw the U.S. embassy in Belgrade beseiged by a mob of Serbian protestors and set ablaze after they'd trespassed onto the consular area at the embassy compound, according to U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. The US embassy fire was brought under control about an hour after it began. There is widespread rioting and vandalism throughout the city. Serbian President Boris Tadic [more pro-European than PM Vojislav Kostunica] has appealed for an immediate end to the violence.



UPDATE: According to B92, the incident at the U.S. Embassy has claimed one victim whose identity at this point is unknown. The victim's body was allegedly recovered from the embassy today.

I worry about how far something like this kind of protest, unrest, and volatility could spread and which territories could become destabilized without further intervention. An excerpt from something I'd read last Autumn:

Kosovo had expected the West to continue supporting what it called the inevitability of Kosovar independence. However, that inevitability is now lost in the shuffle of a larger political battle between global power players such as Russia, the European Union and the United States, and Serbia and Kosovo are left with only uncertainty.

All sides fear this uncertainty will turn volatile — and possibly bloody. If an explosion of violence does occur, it will not be contained within Serbia and Kosovo’s borders; it could destabilize the entire Balkan region. Minor incidents of violence and instability have already been seen in Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

- Kosovo: The Fuse on the Balkan Powder Keg, November 16, 2007 [Stratfor.com] (subscription req)

Look at what Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica is leading his people to believe [speaking at a rally at the Temple of St. Sava in Belgrade today]:

Kostunica promised Serbia would never accept Kosovo's independence in an emotive speech.

"Kosovo is Serbia's first name. Kosovo belongs to Serbia. Kosovo belongs to Serbian people. It has been like this forever and it will be like this forever," said Kostunica.





The rally was also addressed by Tomislav Nikolic of the ultra-nationalist Radical Party.





"Hitler could not take (Kosovo) away, nor will these ones today be able to," said Nikolic, referring to the Western powers supporting Kosovo.

"You, from the United States and the European Union, you caused huge sadness in our hearts," said Nikolic, speaking on behalf of the parliament where his party is the single strongest force.

"We tell you, we were sad for two days, on the third day Serbs burnt checkpoints, on the fourth day we gathered at the biggest rally Serbia has ever seen."

AFP: Rioters set fire to US Belgrade embassy over Kosovo

Hating "Dumb Wars"

Does Barack Obama Think the Late-90s Serbia/Kosovo War was "Dumb"? Will Anyone Ask Him?

"I am not against all wars", declared young Mr. Obama, putative bhakta of Martin Luther King, in the pre-Iraq War speech of 2002 so pivotal to his campaign, "Only dumb wars".

Really? America's Serbian war was, by measures of Washington Wisdom, a 'smart war'. No Americans died in it (Lots of Serbians did, as did some Chinese -- but who's counting them?). Our 'war' ended in about two months: a neat affair, like a summer romance. Did Mr. Obama think that was a smart war or a dumb one? No one in the Press asks, because we are too busy with matters of vital importance, such as whether he stole a line or two from Deval Patrick.

- asks Niranjan Ramakrishnan at Counterpunch.com

Democratic Voters Seek Universal Healthcare

Walter Shapiro [Salon.com] gives us a bit of insight as to why Hillary's healthcare policy plans would get us closer to universal healthcare than Sen Obama's plan. Mr. Shapiro thinks that Independent voters, split on the mandate debate, might be tempted more by Obama's less-than-universal healthcare plan while Democrats believe the time for truly universal healthcare has come.

Only rigorous enforcement of a mandate to obtain health insurance would bring America to the verge of universal coverage. The enforcement mechanism in her own plan is something that Clinton has carefully reserved to be worked out with Congress after she is elected, though she has expressed interest in less draconian steps, such as automatic enrollment whenever someone visits a doctor or hospital. But whatever the gaps in the eventual Clinton plan (and remember that not even Medicare hits 100 percent coverage), her approach -- as opposed to Obama's -- would almost certainly bring the nation closer to the holy grail of health insurance for all.

But at what political cost? Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy at Harvard and an expert on public polling on the issue, said, "In a primary, getting everybody covered is really important to Democratic voters. But it is somewhat less important to independents. Independents are more split on the question of mandates. So in the general election, not having a mandate is not going to be a problem." Or as Goolsbee, the economic advisor to Obama, argued, "If you're going to do a mandate right off the bat, you're going to expend a lot of political capital to do it."

Chelsea Clinton paid a campaign visit to Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio on February 13th and had this to say about her mother's plan for universal healthcare, according to Adam Feuer [Wright State University's Guardian]:

Question:
"How will your mom address the healthcare crisis?"

Chelsea Clinton:
"I'm so proud that my mom stood up for universal healthcare in '93 and '94 before it was fashionable, and she's still standing up for universal healthcare. What she has proposed now does reflect all the lessons that she learned in the 90's. It's not only something that I really support because, philosophically, as a Democrat I support universal healthcare, but also because I know that it is politically achievable, and it has support from doctors and nurses and hospitals and business and labor and the coalition that we know we need to have to really get it done."

"So what does she propose? Well, if you have healthcare and you're happy with it, you can keep it. Because one of the things that she found in '93 and '94 was that plenty of people were happy with their healthcare, or they were intimidated by the prospect of changing. But if you have healthcare and you're not happy with it, or it's not really there when you need it, or it's too expensive for what you do need .. you'll be able to buy into the congressional plan .. that covers the nine million people who work for the federal government .. they're good plans. You can't be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. And one of the things my mom has proposed that is distinctive to her plan is to have mental and dental health parity for all of the plans."

* Mr.Feuer adds: "She also stated that under her mother's proposed plan, anyone who couldn't afford coverage would qualify for Medicaid."

Proud

Proud.

When you say you're proud of your country, what are you saying?

Are you speaking of a city...of Washington D.C.....or are you looking at the millions upon millions of faces who make us who we are?

Your country is today and has always been a government of people. Community-by-community, individual-by-individual, we form civic life around our common vision and elect those that the majority of us agree will best get us as close to the common vision as we can get.

Washington, D.C. does not now..nor has it ever represented America to me.

It's people like Fatima Faisal and Staff Sgt Phillip Trackey from my own community and state who've made me proud.

I'm proud of Chief Oren Lyons and the people of the Onondaga Nation for sharing their lessons of peace and caring about the environment with those from the outer community for so many years.

I'd said I was proud of Kevin Tillman for having taken up his brother Pat's mantle and calling for a change before America becomes just another lost ideal in the dustbin of History.

I was proud one Sunday morning to see former President Clinton standing up for himself and for all of us against the disinformation presented ad nauseum on Fox News.

I was proud to see former President Clinton speaking strongly against the attempts of irresponsible "docu-drama" writers to rewrite [and a national broadcast network to broadcast] fraudulent and slanderous 9/11 history just two months before an election.

I was proud of Al Gore as he took pride in stating his enjoyment at having been a key part of the Clinton-Gore Administration..being proud of the work they did and that he'd helped to get the breakthrough at Kyoto and had worked very hard to make changes in US environmental policy.

I've been proud of the first President for whom I'd ever had the opportunity to cast a vote - Jimmy Carter - and all the compassionate work he has done post-Presidency.

I remember the great swelling of pride in 1980, as I was reaching adulthood, of having seen the Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid...and I remember the great pride it brought to that community..our state..our youth...our nation.

I'm most proud of every soldier who volunteers for duty to our country..even when the assignment is something that is politically controversial. A lot of young men [and some young women] that I saw raised with hope and love in my own community are serving in Iraq as I type these words. I've seen my community pull together in support of our troops, even in the toughest times. It wasn't Washington, D.C. that compelled them to do so. It was in their hearts to do what they've done.

I'm proud of every Boy Scout, Girl Scout, and Scout leader in my community and around this country who, as they become [or assist youth to become] honorable young men and women, also dedicate themselves to civic activities that take them far beyond their own self-interest. [My own son among them].

I'm proud of every man, woman, and child in this country who have joined in the fight against HIV/AIDS. On this particular day, we even see activist Bob Geldof praising our nation and our President for what we've done...and we shouldn't forget it:

Mr. Geldof praised Mr. Bush for his work in delivering billions to fight disease and poverty in Africa, and blasted the U.S. press for ignoring the achievement.

Mr. Bush, said Mr. Geldof, "has done more than any other president so far."

"This is the triumph of American policy really," he said. "It was probably unexpected of the man. It was expected of the nation, but not of the man, but both rose to the occasion."

I'm proud of every man and woman who'll stand up proudly and unapologetically for who they are when they happen to deeply love someone who shares the same gender.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For me, to be proud was to have supported a leader who came closest to my vision of justice in a society that has misunderstood the true meaning of justice for far too long.

I'm with Paul Hewson, otherwise known as U2 rock-star Bono, with these words he'd spoken at a 2006 prayer breakfast in Washington, D.C.:

...this is a town - Washington - that knows something of division.

But the reason I am here, and the reason I keep coming back to Washington, is because this is a town that is proving it can come together on behalf of what the scriptures call the least of these.

This is not a Republican idea. It is not a Democratic idea. It is not even, with all due respect, an American idea. Nor it is unique to any one faith.

'Do to others as you would have them do to you' (Luke 6:30). Jesus says that.

'Righteousness is this: that one should...give away wealth out of love for him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for the emancipation of the captives.' The Koran says that (2.177).

Thus sayeth the Lord: 'Bring the homeless poor into the house, when you see the naked, cover him, then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring fourth, then your Lord will be your rear guard.' The Jewish scripture says that. Isaiah 58 again.

That is a powerful incentive: 'The Lord will watch your back.' Sounds like a good deal to me, right now.

A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In countless ways, large and small, I was always seeking the Lord's blessing. I was saying, you know, I have a new song, look after it…. I have a family, please look after them…. I have this crazy idea...

And this wise man said: stop.

He said, stop asking God to bless what you're doing.

Get involved in what God is doing - because it's already blessed.

Well, God, as I said, is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing.

And that is what he's calling us to do.

The leader I'd supported, John Edwards, had the greatest caring for the kind of justice, attainable through the rule of law, that would and could have ended Poverty through a common caring and long-standing commitment and effort. Our nation never seems to have understood the vision because no leader's never been quite brave enough to make it the center of a Presidential campaign as John Edwards did. Some have called it foolish. I call it true love for our country which, in the end, is given a face one person at a time..person-by-beautiful-person.


I've been proud of this country in so many ways...through all of my days...even on the darkest days.

I think Michelle Obama misspoke when she made it seem as if she was aware of her pride for the first time since reaching adulthood because of the [understandable] inspiration she's derived from her husband's 2008 campaign. A Boston.com blog has called it "Pride in the name of self-love". I sincerely doubt that Mrs. Obama meant it that way [see Mrs. Obama video], yet Mrs. McCain [see Mrs. McCain video]took full political advantage of what I'm certain many will see as a gaffe from the potential First Lady Michelle Obama. I always regret when someone's words are taken out of context before the person has an opportunity to expand on the intended meaning.

John Edwards, the leader I'd most admired and for whom I was most proud because of his message, his intent, and his commitment is out of this Presidential race now. His message reminded me of this quote by the great social activistCaesar Chavez about the kind of pride which cannot be taken from the once-humiliated:

Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours."

I can't say that the pride I've had, in so many ways, for this country is new-found and I can't say I feel it swelling in the present because of any one particular candidate who's still in the running. Pride has to be about more than just that.


I suspect we'll see clarity from Michelle Obama on what pride means to her very soon. I hope MSM will give her every benefit of doubt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- More on Poverty by Bono here at an older Iddybud post.