South by Southwest: media-technology (via Mowser)

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Friday, September 05, 2008

Obama-Biden is the ticket

Three great Democrats responded to John McCain's acceptance speech on CNN's Thursday night post convention Larry King Live (transcript). The Nation's editor Katrina Vanden Heuvel, former New York governor Mario Cuomo, and Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post, were all very effective at keeping on message. Subtly and skilfully their comments reinforced the reality of the convention, as it was characterized by The Raw Story (9/4/08): "Attacks, praise stretch truth# at GOP convention." The Republican drama, all the huffing and puffing, Rove's name-calling of Biden,* the attacks on the media for so-called bias, are well-crafted tactics to keep the real story of the Republicans' 8-year history buried.

Seriously! But not every journalist is actually taking the bait. Politico.com's Roger Simon appeared to be properly chastened when he offered this: "Why the media should apologize" (9/4/08) To quote:

On behalf of the media, I would like to say we are sorry.

On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.

Arianna Huffington made a very good point. She reminded Democrats that focusing on the Sara Palin story is a distraction we should avoid. To quote:

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, CO-FOUNDER AND EDITOR, HUFFINGTONPOST.COM: That is a little bit like the same sarcasm that we had last night from Sarah Palin about Obama.

But it was also a speech -- I feel her contradictions. Although he had these things to say against Obama, the speech was primarily against George Bush. He actually said we need to change almost everything. He said we need to restore the pride and the principals of our party. He talked about bringing back transparency and accountability. He talked about responding to disasters differently and protecting our security differently. These are all attacks on George Bush. So even though his speech started with his gratitude towards the president, there is no question this was his effort to distance himself from Bush, which of course started...

KING: Isn't that smart?

HUFFINGTON: Of course, he has to do that. But can he really convince the American people that this man, who has basically voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time, who has changed his positions on taxes, on torture, on immigration, is actually going to bring change to Washington? It really demands a huge suspension of this belief. And I don't think the American people will go there unless they're seriously distracted by the soap opera of Sarah Palin. That's why Democrats need to be very careful not to focus on Sarah Palin. This is not what this election needs to be about.

If you just cannot abstain, however, Ed Kilgore offers these Palin premises for reference: "A TDS Strategy Memo: Six Highly-Targeted Democratic Messages responding to the V.P. Selection of Sarah Palin," from The Democratic Strategist of 9/2/08. Kilgore begins with four facts:

1. That McCain rejected Mitt Romney in order to pick Palin
2. That Rush Limbaugh energetically promoted Palin’s candidacy and Ralph Reed, James Dobson and Richard Viguerie all consider her one of their own. A number of articles suggest that the desire to satisfy this group played a very significant role in McCain’s decision to choose her.
3. That Palin has extremely limited experience.
4. That Palin has a history of pressuring and firing political opponents. This is not just in relation to a single case regarding a particular State Trooper, but in other cases as well when she was mayor of her small town.

Regarding Obama/Biden -- Getting back to the real candidates about which we all should be talking, bobcesca.com "makes sense to me," says "betmo." The blogger's point (on 9/1/08), focused on the subject of all the Republican "venting*" about the candidates executive qualities. To quote:

Would someone somewhere on television repeat, over and over, that, for the last 18 months, Senator Obama been the chief executive in charge of the insanely successful 'Obama for America' campaign and has raised more money, received more primary votes and registered more voters than any political campaign in American history?

I agree with Arianna Huffington. Republicans have no program to offer. They are offering two personalities - two Heroes For the 21st Century. According to the Republican plan, we voters need to just get over the first 8 years of the 21st century and move on in to the Era of Heroes.

My conclusion -- These morning-after thoughts are from my dear roommate, "Seven-of-Eight:

When choosing a President for the United States each voter has a responsibility that extends far beyond their immediate surroundings and circumstances.

With our system of government, it is highly unlikely that either of the current candidates, or those in the future can bring about all the changes they promise. There are, however, serious consequences from action that a president may take on his or her own, with or without the approval of the American people. The Bush administration is proof that information can be manipulated to justify whatever a president may decide to do.

We simply cannot afford to have someone in the oval office that is unstable, prone to temper-fits, and an agenda that is military in nature. John McCain is a good person, no doubt. Our country owes him for his service. We don't owe him the presidency and can't afford to make that mistake when we vote.

References:

U.S. Election in Depth from the Financial Times (9/5/08 newsletter)
Ed Kilgore @ 9/2/08 Democratic Strategist: A collection of "the Best Sound-Bites and Brief Quotes from the Democratic Convention in Denver" -- Obama, Biden, Clinton, Kennedy, Kerry, Gore -- and many others.
The Democratic Strategist 8/23/08 -- "The Biden Choice, Women and the South"
Brad Jacobson* @ at-largely: " Scant Coverage of Obama Assassination Plot -- Irresponsible Or Cautious?"

Hat Tip to regular contributors (#Jon) and (*"betmo") for their links.

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics republicans mccain palin arianna huffington 2008 election

Saturday, August 30, 2008

On to McCain: Let the Record Show

About Governor Sarah Palin -- Senator McCain, we are on to you now about what your actions indicate. The negative reaction to your naming of a right wing novice to be your running mate is broad and deep. And it is far from an unreasoning reaction. There are good reasons for our opinions. It is not as if we citizens would be unaffected by the outcome, if the order of succession tragically came into play here.

About this Veep -- The range of similar views spans the political spectrum. Long time liberals leveled predictable comments; but so did some conservatives. Democratic reaction ranged from edgy delight to dismay. Republicans wanting to support their presumptive presidential nominee were left scrambling for coherence.

What is all the sputtering about? These links from " betmo" offer, she says, "two views of Palin." The first bears on the question of women's choice and the second is by an Alaskan who appears to be in the know.

1) Regarding women -- "Sarah Palin and Feminists for Life,"by Ruth Rosen is at TPM Cafe (8/29/08). To quote its conclusion:

In the end, I decided that Feminists for Life is neither about feminism nor about choice. It is a cunning attempt to convince young women that choice means giving up the right to "choose."

Sarah Palin is the inexperienced woman Sen. John McCain has chosen as his running mate, hoping that she will attract the vital female vote. It's the worst kind of affirmative action, choosing a person he barely knows, who is completely unprepared to assume any national office. It's like nominating Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court. It's all about ideology and not about competence.

To put it bluntly, Sarah Palin is no Hillary Clinton. Nor does she have the vision and brilliance of Barack Obama. This is an incredible insult to most American women. Just how stupid does he think we are?

2) From on the ground -- "Dispatch From Alaska: Palin? Really?" is by Charles Wohlforth, a lifelong Alaska Democrat and occasional TNR contributor, gives us the word on Palin from up north. It is from The New Republic - The Plank (8/29/08): To quote rather extensively:

I first met Sarah Palin just after she'd been elected mayor of the little town of Wasilla, Alaska, in October 1996. My first impression was that she didn't seem up to the job.

. . . I eventually came to see her appeal when she ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2002. She projected an authenticity and freshness that was very appealing in a state saddled with a corrupt oligarchy of pro-oil Republicans. . . Palin was among the first to take a stand. Having been in the right place at the right time, with that amazing smile, she shot upward in a way no one has ever done before.

The idea of her being a potential president, however, is laughable. That is to say, at our house this morning, we literally were belly-laughing when we heard the news that John McCain had chosen her. I wouldn't be surprised if the audience she spoke to at McCain's announcement was the largest she ever addressed.

Running for governor two years ago, Palin didn't have firm stands on issues, and in debates, she displayed discomfiting shallowness. A moderator had to ask her three times to clarify her position on the critical (for us) issue of indigenous hunting rights. Her victory was simply a vote for change.

. . . By most objective measures, she isn't ready to be a single heartbeat away from the presidency. The image of McCain and Palin on stage this morning looked a bit like a graduation picture, of father and daughter. It reminded me as well of the elder George Bush and Dan Quayle. On the other hand, Palin did well in her speech.

About what we do or do not know -- Author "smintheus" @ Daily Kos (8/29/08) wrote a very good expose, "Some things you didn't know about Sarah Palin." HT to Jon for this. To quote:

Sarah Palin had political experience only as a small town mayor until less than two years ago. What we don't know about her could fill a book. Here are a few things we're learning about Palin.

. . . John McCain would have us believe that Iraq is the central battle in the war on terror, and yet he selects as his running mate somebody who was paying almost no attention to the Iraq war for 4 long years after the invasion.

. . . the troopergate scandal, in which Palin allegedly misused her power as governor by bringing inappropriate pressure for two employees to be fired. What's perhaps most interesting is that Palin appears to have begun misusing power almost as soon as she got any real power.

About mainstream media's McCain bias -- Senator McCain, we are on to you about the easy time the mainstream media has given you over the years. This little gem from Jon (8/22/08) is from Time Magazine: "McCain, From The Vault." This story features a McCain 1988 campaign video, as well as a recent New York Times correction regarding erroneously calling McCain a "fighter pilot." And even vets are on to you, including this "One Pissed Off Veteran." the link comes from Jon on 8/24/08, who says, "it has a number of anti 'mc insane' sites."

About your lobbyist ties -- Senator McCain, we are on to your hypocrisy. This is from Jon (8/22/08) "This guy is good talking out of both sides of his mouth! Check out this post on Think Progress:"McCain: There Are Too Many Lobbyists In Washington, But 160 Of Them Run My Campaign." To quote the post's opening:

Earlier this week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) held a $1.75 million fundraiser tied to Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition head connected to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. In an interview with Politico yesterday, however, McCain ripped lobbyists as birds of prey, adding, I think there are too many lobbyists in Washington". . .

Getting on to McCain is not unpatriotic, it is not irrational, and it is not irresponsible. It is necessary. The Democratic Convention is over and now it is time to move on to McCain Unmasked --The Republican Convention. You have heard before and you will hear again, "We cannot afford four more years of this."

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics 2008 election mccain

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Warning Voices --

Someone issuing a warning must be believable to be effective. After a long record of fear mongering our unbelievable government officials are no longer effective. Bloggers as a body have struggled for credibility due to many factors, so the most conscientious among us issue our warnings judiciously. We want to avoid suffering the fate of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," an Aesop's fable. It ends with this:

An old man tried to comfort the boy as they walked back to the village.

"We'll help you look for the lost sheep in the morning," he said, putting his arm around the youth, "Nobody believes a liar...even when he is telling the truth!"

Decades ago, Daniel Ellsberg suffered much at the hands of his government for getting out the truth. He has a new warning for us. The story from comanchecountychronicle says, "PENTAGON INSIDER HAS DIRE WARNING." (It comes from my blog friend, betmo, on 8/13/08). To quote:

This article from the AmericanFreePress is by Daniel Ellsberg, the former Defense Department analyst who leaked the secret Pentagon Papers history of the Vietnam War. Ellsberg offers insights into the looming attack on Iran and the loss of liberty in the United States at a recent American University symposium. What follow are his comments from that speech. They have been edited only for space.

By Daniel Ellsberg

Let me simplify . . . and not just to be rhetorical: A coup has occurred. I woke up the other day realizing, coming out of sleep, that a coup has occurred. It’s not just a question that a coup lies ahead with the next 9-11. That’s the next coup that completes the first.

The last five years have seen a steady assault on every fundamental of our Constitution . . . what the rest of the world looked at for the last 200 years as a model and experiment to the rest of the world—in checks and balances, limited government, Bill of Rights, individual rights protected from majority infringement by the Congress, an independent judiciary, the possibility of impeachment.

There have been violations of these principles by many presidents before. Most of the specific things that Bush has done in the way of illegal surveillance and other matters were done under my boss Lyndon Johnson in the Vietnam War: the use of CIA, FBI, NSA against Americans.

All these violations were impeachable had they been found out at the time but in nearly every case the violations were not found out until [the president was] out of office so we didn’t have the exact challenge that we have today.

A Salon.com blogger who has credibility with a good number of us is a civil rights lawyer named Glenn Greenwald. I often quote him in my posts about national security and the Bush administration. Happily, he is now on the radio a couple of times a week. One of his recent broadcasts concerns the passage not long ago by Congress, of a very disastrously amended Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and Halperin's major responsibility for lending incorrect credibility to the flawed measure . Read the transcript of listen to the podcast: Salon Radio: Morton Halperin.

A blogger I admire because of his commitment to original material is Simon Owens at Bloggasm: Earlier this month he sent me an e-mail about a piece I had cross-posted at The Reaction. I quote Simon's message:

8/7/08, subject-- "news tip for the Reaction"

Hey Carol, I read your post today mentioning Glenn Greenwald's piece about the questions that he raised concerning ABC's reporting on the anthrax attacks. I got a chance to talk to Greenwald on the phone yesterday and wrote a feature article about my conversation with him and two journalism professors from New York University and Columbia University. My article is published here. Anyway, I thought this was something you and your readers would find interesting.

Take care, Simon

Countering fear mongering or combating the secrecy about wrong-doing by government officials is among the main goals of blogs such as mine, specializing in the national security vs. civil liberties sphere. Bloggers issuing warnings must be believable to be effective. Bloggers as a group are growing in credibility due to many factors, including issuing our warnings judiciously. We must choose our sources carefully and listen to our guts about what is true and what is not. We will never be effective if we lie. And it is exceedingly hard to find out the truth. We must avoid the temptation to be like the little boy who cries wolf. We all want to avoid suffering the fate in the Aesop's fable.

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics journalism blogs national security credibility

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Off the beaten path of politics

Sunday should be a day of rest. Today's post meanders along the path of the unusual, steering away from serious politics. From the ridiculous to the sublime, and points in between, S/SW peers into the murky forest.

"Digital Drugs: New Worry For Parents?* Reports of Sounds With Drug-Like Effects Have Some Parents Spooked" -- OPINION by KIM KOMANDO -- Aug. 9, 2008. Take the time to read some of the comments following this story. They range from utter derision to reports of positive personal experiences by users. This is from ABC News. To quote:

. . . can music create the same effects as illegal drugs?

Some say that certain sounds, when played on headphones, can have a drug-like effect.
(Photodisc)This seems like a ridiculous question. But websites are targeting your children with so-called digital drugs. These are audio files designed to induce drug-like effects. All your child needs is a music player and headphones.

Understanding Binaural Beats -- There are different slang terms for digital drugs. They're often called "idozers" or "idosers." All rely on the concept of binaural beats. It is incorrect to call binaural beats music. They're really ambient sounds designed to affect your brain waves.

. . . Dr. Nicholas Theodore, a brain surgeon at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, said there is no real evidence that idosers work. But he noted that musical preference is indicative of emotional vulnerability. Trying idosers could indicate a willingness to experiment with drugs and other dangerous behavior.

Theodore added that idosers are another reason to monitor kids' Internet usage. And, he said, kids need frank talks with their parents about correct choices.

"I suspect this 'Pied Piper' phenomenon will pass rapidly and quietly," he said.

These tiny morsels need very little explanation:

"Teach Your Children Well." Blog friend "betmo" who asks, "weeping jesus is nothing sacred?" It's from Media Needle. To quote:

Parker Brothers replaces Monopoly money with Visa brand Debit card systems.

Top 9 best new drugs*: One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small. Take one, take them all!" By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist, Friday, August 8, 2008
This link is from my friend Jon: "This video made me laugh -- you should watch it: Funny or Die about "a new ad for the Republican party."

The dilemma for the Internet is how to make money, so ISP companies decided to advertise. And then they decided to get together. The idea of media consolidation must extend to the digital world, if it is to be realistic. And consolidation is not usually good news for consumers. It often limits access to information, drives up prices and can threaten privacy. The perfect example follows -: Google, Yahoo partially disclose terms of ad pact"* from The Raw Story/Reuters, Saturday August 9, 2008. To quote:

Google Inc and Yahoo Inc released on Friday excerpts of a pact covering their search advertising partnership that keeps secret financial terms and the extent of other ties between the two.

. . . Critics say the deal threatens competition for advertising that runs alongside Web searches. Congressional leaders have conducted hearings to investigate what impact the partnership could have on the Internet market. The agreement covers the United States and Canada, but not other international markets.

. . . But the contract is heavily redacted in an area that covers "other business opportunities" and is silent about how the sharing of user data between the partners could affect the privacy of Yahoo users.

HT to betmo for all of the *links.

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news internet isp humor psychology

Friday, August 08, 2008

The Political Voices of Women

The year 2008 has all the potential to be a blowout in the realm of politics. One of the signs in the increase in the involvement of women. Senator Clinton let the way with her very meaningful run for the U.S. presidency. She remains in the news because those in the know do not really understand what to make of her right now. And women are the ones to ask. Here is a good place to start to at least find out what women who write about politics are thinking. It is the "List of 500+ women bloggers, by founder Catherine Morgan. Catherine explains:

When I first published this list back in October, we had links to 100 women blogging about politics. Today, the count is at 500, and still growing. Are you a woman blogging about politics? Are you on the list? If not, please leave me your link in comments, so I can add your blog. And, if you would like to be a guest blogger on The Political Voices of Women with a guest post, please join our community.

Those of us who keep up with such things, know that neocons do not make the best friends for women. They are too fond of warring. At Think Progress, on Aug 6th, 2008 Faiz wrote this: "Bolton: Regime Change In Iran ‘Would Lead To Greater Stability In The Region’" My friend, betmo -- who sent me this link -- has some choice words in her accompanying e-mail:

oh- and it worked so well in iraq? does fuckwad realize that when we took the shah out that the ayatollah took over? i think i may have a stroke.

And far too often, Conservatives do not do well by women. Note the appointments of SCOTUS justices, Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and Alito. Just remember what has happened to women under the Bush administration. To find out more check out these links from from my friend Jon:

The first one is to a dispatch (8/6/08) to AlterNet by celebrated author, Thomas Franks: "How Washington's Right-Wing Wrecking Crew Robbed Us Blind." This is a great article about his new book, The Wrecking Crew -- How Conservatives Rule." To quote:

Conservatives have turned a vast government built for our protection into a device for exploiting us.

. . . So let us begin on the solid ground of these simple facts: this spectacular episode of misrule has coincided with both the political triumph of conservatism and with the rise of the Washington area to the richest rank of American metropolises.

Second, this great little website is called Unfit McCain. The Home Page is titled, "Seven reasons why you shouldn't vote for Sen. McCain in 2008." There are several other pages with a raft of useful "ammunition" for arguments with women who are leaning Republican.

South by Southwest's web page has undergone a bit of summer house cleaning. I consolidated all of the groups to which I belong into the same section. I updated the list of places where I post, as well as edited my Blogroll. And I moved things around a bit. Yet to do is updating the civil liberties section. I am currently so discouraged about all those losses that I have been in avoidance mode for a few days. But I take heart from my women (and men) friends have not let their voices be stilled at this crucial time.

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics women bloggers republicans mccain 2008 election

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Like-mindedness vs. admiration of a different view

The blogosphere's readers and writers have vastly differing tastes. Many of us favoring advocacy attract like-minded readers. My own blog generally fits that description, though once in a great while I get one of those really disagreeable (anonymous) comments.

As opposed to opinion, most of my readers are looking for information and find their way to my site via a search engine's link to S/SW. They probably do not initially care what I think. They might return on a regular basis to ascertain my political opinion, or they might return just to read my writing. But there are not very many of those folks, and they often drift away, just as I do with some of my favorites.

My blogfriends, just as my in-person friends, are often a bit more "out there and gutsy" than I am. On the other hand most of the friends I have had the longest are the ones with whom I feel the most kinship/like-mindedness. I found a new "little blogger," like me today, with whom I instantly felt a kinship. I happened across her blog in one of those Google searches to which I alluded earlier. Now, however her post on Ed Kilgore has disappeared when the search was redone. Go figure. Her name is Gail and she has been writing the blog Arizona Eclectic since March 2, 2007. We are both from the Southwest, we are both "of AARP" age, we both have an interest in graphics, and our blogs' illustrating images are strangely related somehow. Her 3/2/07 post, "Representatives, NOT!" is still as pertinent today as way back then. It speaks to my own post of yesterday, "Congress runs for election, too." We seem to be politically like-minded.

As many of my readers know, my like-minded blogfriend "betmo" often sends me links she already knows I will like. Here are a few of her latest links to articles on various subjects in which betmo knows I remain interested:

Speaking of conservatives, though I cannot imagine any Democrat saying this, Media Matters had a story that betmo characterized as "ah, compassionate conservatism.

"Summary: On his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage claimed that autism is "[a] fraud, a racket. ... I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don't have a father around to tell them, 'Don't act like a moron. You'll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don't sit there crying and screaming, idiot.' "

I speculate that 98% of you will have a like-minded reaction to a post, from Dandelion Salad, on the threat of losing the Internet as we know it:

"ALERT: Telecom/ISP corporados are plotting to completely monetize the Internet"

By Mike Finch

July 16, 2008

Common Dreams has put out a fine newsletter for many years that betmo and I both read. She tagged one recently for me because of my goal to write more about Africa. It's title is pretty self-explanatory: "Report: US Africa Aid Is Increasingly Military."
Activist "betmo" connected me to Al Gore's website, We Can Solve It. There all of us like-minded friends of the environment, who want to work on climate change, can join together in the effort.
Since I am a "Space Nut," though my friend betmo may or may not be one, too, she sent me this link about NASA's discovery of the cause of the Northern Lights.

And I sometimes can find something to admire in a view different than mine. One of my co-bloggers at The Reaction, "Carl" often sees things differently than I do. A recent post of mine (quoted below) produced some comments I'm sharing:

[from the post] . . . According to Wikipedia, Democratic incumbent Senators running this year include: *Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Joe Biden of Delaware, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Tom Harkin of Iowa, *Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, John Kerry of Massachusetts, Carl Levin of Michigan, Max Baucus of Montana, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, and *Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia. Democratic incumbents should not have a free ride with us. But this view presents several big dilemmas for us as we consider our choices for congressional representation. Those include accepting the new power of the relative conservatives elected in 2006, avoiding the temptation to not vote for some Democrats in November -- or vote Republican, understanding that Democrats need healthy majorities in Congress in order to do anything meaningful, and holding up the "big tent" principles that have long been the mark of the Democratic Party. . .

4 Comments:

Carol,

All due respect, but how many states are you a resident of?

Cuz last time I looked, the state elects its senators, and so shouldn't we be deferring to the Democrats in those states as to whether or not these folks deserve re-election?

By Carl, at 4:47 PM

Thanks for your question, Carl --
I will vote for any obscure Democrat running against my Texas Republican Senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison's empty seat when it comes up. She is retiring to run for governor, I predict.
I think you miss the point of my post. I write as an activist who has an audience of readers around the blogosphere, as do you. Progressives like me do have a dilemma when it comes to which Democratic Senatorial candidates to root for, not which ones to vote for.
It is elemental that the states' voters will decide the election of each senator. But most of them do not live in a vacuum. I hope and believe that I have a chance to influence at least a few of them who read The Reaction. Failing that, at least I have articulated a dilemma that I believe others might share.

By Carol Gee, at 10:51 AM

Carl - I know you didn't miss the point of Carol Gee's post. Just playing dumb to suggest that she's guilty of something? Cheap rethugnican trick.

By toosinbeymen, at 12:42 PM

toosinbeyman, I must tell you that Carl is a good Democrat, as far as I know. We just happen to see what to do as writer/advocates differently. And I take no offense -- to either of your comments.

By Carol Gee, at 5:00 PM

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics blogging activism

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Activists' Digest of Awfulness --

Blogging is an activist tactic that many of use to try to make a difference in the world. Activists also write letters to the editors of newspapers, call the offices of government officials and even take to the streets. We want something to change, because there is something awfully wrong happening. And activists often work together for change. The blogosphere does this through exchanging e-mails, as well as posting to blogs. I get regular e-mails from my fellow blogger friends "betmo," of life's journey and from "Dan'l," who writes The Future was Yesterday.

*from betmo --

FYI, Republicans & Big Business-- Blogger "betmo" often titles the subject of the e-mail, "fyi." This link came in on 6/26/08: from Afterdowningstreet.com, the story discusses some awful campaign tactics by Republicans. It reads "Justice for Sale: How Big Tobacco and the GOP teamed up to crush Democrats in the South." On 7/8/08 betmo asked, "huh?" The tomflocco.com headline read: "JOHN MCCAIN’S WIFE HIDING WAR PROFITS, UNTAXED OFF-SHORE ACCOUNTS? Federal agents: Cindy McCain’s full tax returns will show war profits, pre-9/11 insider trading, secret off-shore accounts linked to 1241 Class C Nevada corporation payoffs and bribes." It is awful that voters might let John McCain (through his wife) get away with this. And make no mistake, Senator McCain is no different than George W. Bush.

FYI, the FBI -- The Bush Republicans have held the White House for far too long for many reasons, not the least of which is their massive assault on Fourth Amendment civil liberties privacy protection. On 7/5/08: KDFA, News Channel 10, Amarillo, TX reveals that the "FBI Could Investigate You." And there does not need to be much of any excuse. "Strains of Wagner!" is what came to betmo's mind about this awful news. On 7/9/08: betmo warned, "and so it begins." Secrecy News Headlined, "FBI Headquarters Not Cleared for Classified Intelligence," the atory continues to reveal that federal standards for secure classified storage cannot be met by the FBI. In a related linked story, the FBI said that this does not mean that classified information is not secure.

"Fyi," Under Republicans -- 7/16/08's McClatchy Newspapers headline reveals that "Results are in: California's San Joaquin Valley is the worst." To quote: "Poverty, poor health and plenty of school dropouts have put the San Joaquin Valley's 20th Congressional District dead last in a new national scorecard that ranks the overall well-being of residents."

"FYI: interesting site -- Pattrice Jone’s Bravebirds.Org", 7/8/08. This is an interesting view of the values surrounding not eating meat. I am not a vegetarian, so please understand that I will not be marching on this subject. Not that I ever march, actually. I write. I am including all the paragraphs that betmo sent me. To quote:

“As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: in their behavior toward creatures, all men were Nazis. The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased exemplified the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is right.”

In this passage, Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer gets right to the heart of the connection between violence against animals and violence among people: the principle that might makes right. Even people who are pacifist in every other aspect of life will condone violence against animals with no better justification than “because we want to and we can.”

Killing in self-defense is one thing; killing for pleasure is another. As every happy vegan demonstrates, people do not need to eat meat to be healthy. As long as one has access to other sources of protein, then one cannot claim to be killing in self-defense when one eats meat.

In the United States, families consume far more meat than could ever be considered necessary by any reasonable standard. Indeed, many meat items are snack foods rather than meals. In the
United States, we also have an epidemic of violence among young people.

When we encourage our children to eat the wings of dead birds as a snack, we are teaching them that that it is okay to kill for pleasure. Is it any wonder that some children put that lesson into action in the classroom?

When we torture and kill animals so that we can have snack foods, we are doing something to the body of a non-consenting creature in order to obtain pleasure for ourselves. The same dynamic is involved in the sexual abuse of children. In both cases, the wishes of the victim are ignored while the desires of the perpetrator are paramount. In both cases, the only “justification” is that might makes right.

A different, more subtle, form of child abuse occurs every time a child’s natural empathy for animals is supressed by parents or care givers who demand that the child eat meat. When the crying child who does not want to eat a cow or a pig is forced to swallow those tears along with
the dinner, real damage is done. Psychologist Alice Miller has shown that children who have been taught not to feel empathy grow up to be adults who can follow the orders of Nazis. Thus, in forcing children to participate in violence against animals, parents endanger not only their children but the world.”

KFC’s killing your brain cells and you’re too dumb to see it. They feed you good tasting, bad food, filling your body with sugar-coated strychnine, a body led to the medical slaughterhouse, cared for by detached Mengele’s.

The same man who owns Mickey D’s owns the pharmaceuticals, owns the surgical supplier, owns the politicians - like Obama - who won’t do anything to stop the “nutricide”/genocide/homicide that is being visited on our people.

When will we see the unity of oppression, see how the treatment of animals is mimicked by the inhuman treatment of so-called human beings. The brutality visited upon animals by kindergarten sadists always finds expression through domestic battery, child abuse, police brutality and war. And those kindergarten sadists aren’t born - they are made, produced, cultivated, nurtured
and rolled off of the cultural assembly line. When will we see that when all life is respected, all life is respected and when some lives are not respected…Abu Ghraib’s happen, Holocausts happen, slavery happens, reservations happen, incarcerations, rapes and torture happens.

**From "Dan'l" --

Surprise Surprise - NOT! on 7/12/08. This is like a lot of other awful stories about Cheney and also about Halliburton. To quote waronyou:

According to journalist Jason Leopold, sources at former Cheney company Halliburton allege that, as recently as January of 2005, Halliburton sold key components for a nuclear reactor to an Iranian oil development company. Leopold says his Halliburton sources have intimate knowledge of the business dealings of both Halliburton and Oriental Oil Kish, one of Iran's largest private oil
companies.

Don't be surprised when this happens -- As of this moment I am exercising free speech, lawfully. I feel that it would be awful to enlist ISP's as policing agents for the unlawful theft of intellectual property. That is the job of law enforcement. According to ABC News, 7/4/08: "This is a well disguised step . . .

closer to what the video and music industry really want - to hold ISP's accountable for files sent by users. Ultimately, this could easily result in the Web and it's contents being controlled by Corporations and Courts, which has been a Republican dream since the web came to be."

Or when this awful thing happens -- To close, betmo sent me this. The story says that "corporados want to completely monetize the internet." The story begins with an awful situation in Canada, but the scenario is entirely possible in the USA. Hold on to your hats folks. The free Internet is continually under threat.

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Examining an obsession about civil liberties --

"Privacy advocates," "civil libertarians," "Fourth Amendment Constitutional activists," "Left Wingers," "Right-leaning members of the Libertarian Party," "Online activists," I am one of you. We are, indeed strange bedfellows.

What is the reality? I am trying to figure out why I have this obsession about protecting U.S. civil liberties. I wonder whether I am being too paranoid about the U.S. government spying on Americans. I am very curious about the actual facts of the current administration's (what I believe to be illegal) domestic surveillance program. I think about what it is about all this that is so bothersome to me, and to the others of us who regularly blog about the issue. I often look to those whose expertise has been so pivotal in this fight. Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com, whose links I have liberally used in this post, often states the reality in which I believe. Today's includes good insights on the administration's apparent motives for its massive spy effort. To quote from his current post:

. . . the reality is that the Government and the telecoms broke the law not for weeks or months, but for years -- well into 2007. They continued to do so even after the NYT exposed what they were doing. They could have brought their spying activities into a legal framework at any time, but chose instead to spy on Americans in exactly the way our laws criminalize. Manifestly, then, national
security had nothing to do with why they did it. The Bush administration chose to do so because they wanted to eavesdrop without oversight and to establish that neither Congress nor the courts can limit what the President does, and telecoms did not want to jeopardize the massive
government surveillance contracts they have by refusing.

Congress is not the least bit obsessed about this constitutional assault. Are they right and are we the ones who are losing our minds? We strange bedfellows feel that we are losing our constitutionally protected Fourth Amendment civil liberties of freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. I wonder why our elected representatives in Congress are not as obsessed about this as I am. After all, they are the ones who took the oath to uphold and protect the Constitution. I never took such an oath. Why does it seem to matter more to me; I am just one little blogger regularly pecking away about FISA at my little notebook's keyboard. But big blogs are also obsessed. "The FISA cavein is Congress' shame," says "Scarecrow" at Firedoglake. In one succinct and searing post this writer says it all, and so much better than I have been able to manage, given my current obsessive funk. To quote rather extensively from this fine writer's main points:

For six years, the Bush Administration and the nation’s communication companies have been illegally spying on Americans’ phone calls and e-mails. They did this in direct violation of the Constitution’s 4th Amendment and a federal statute – FISA. Both laws emphatically forbid such surveillance unless the government first obtains a warrant from an independent (eg, FISA) court.

. . . the US Senate is planning today to grant immunity to the lawbreakers, while sanctioning more warrantless surveillance, weakened oversight and a sham investigation.

. . . it wasn’t just a few, scattered incidents of warrantless surveillance, nor was the spying directed solely at suspected “terrorists.” The spying was massive, sweeping, and undifferentiated. Everyone’s privacy was vulnerable. . . the Bush Administration diverted, stored and searched through millions of our communications looking for . . . what? . . . we won't know how our private information becomes misinterpreted and misused – that is, used against us, without us knowing why or being able to do anything about it.

. . . Can you imagine the leaders of our present Congress signing the Declaration of Independence? Would any of them have insisted that the Constitution not be ratified unless it included a Bill of Rights?

. . . The nation’s founders were not such frightened people. Those who signed the Declaration of Independence pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in open defiance of the world’s most powerful empire, a regime that would certainly have hanged them if they failed in their efforts to become free men. Now our Congress cowers because they fear a President with 25 percent approval ratings and a Republican Party that the electorate can’t wait to throw out of office.

Fourth Estate and candidate failures to uphold the Constitution obsess me. I ask why has the mainstream media, except for the New York Times, been mostly silent on this extremely important issue. And, most disappointingly, why does protecting civil liberties not matter as much to my chosen presidential candidate as it should. Sarah Wheaton at the 7/3/08 New York Times blog, "The Caucus," explored Senator Obama's dialogue with his supporters who disagreed with his stance on the current FISA bill up for debate today. To quote: “This was not an easy call for me,” Mr. Obama said in a statement posted to the diary of Joe Rospars, a top Internet adviser to the campaign. “I know that the FISA bill that passed the House is far from perfect.”

This examination of our obsession about civil liberties tells me that neither I nor my fellow protesters are crazy. We are focused, honed in, tuned in to a reality that is a big problem for the nation. It is good to remember that I am not the only one who feels this way. It is upsetting to remember that there are far too few of us to matter at this point. But that does not mean we will give up our obsession. We must not; too much depends on it.

Update: This is a sad day in FISA's history. The Senate approved HR 6304 by a vote of 69 ayes and 28 nays. Glenn has the full story, including the defeat of three "improving" ammendments prior to the final vote. Obama voted for the bill; Clinton against it. He also reports that Congress has now dropped to single-digit approval ratings. Is anyone surprised?

This day in history: July 9, 1787 - Constitution Convention. Convention discusses committee's report on ratio of representation in House.

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics fisa domestic surveillance civil liberties constitution activism

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Intel tell-all

Biometrics -- There is no part of me that the government does not want to document, inspect, surveille, spy on, control, or dominate. This from Alternet reports that "Bush wants your eyeballs" (6/16/08)*

George Bush just issued a directive to expand the acquisition of biometric information, and to ensure that agencies across the executive branch share it.

. . . All this according to National Security Presidential Directive Number 59, also known as Homeland Security Presidential Directive Number 24, which George W. Bush signed on June 5.

. . . The directive does not say how these other persons who "may pose a threat" are to be defined. And the directive is so broadly worded that it appears to cover anyone the government has biometric or other personal data on.

. . . Give the Bush Administration's demonstrated disdain for applicable law and international obligations, and given its record of violating people's privacy rights, this is not reassuring.

*from betmo

Always Good Intel Resources:

Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com
Christy Harding Smith at Firedoglake. Ryan Singel at Wired: Threat Level Emptywheel at Firedoglake. Paul Kiel at Propublica TPM Muckraker at Talking Points Memo

I am visiting my family of origin in Wyoming. Therefore blog posting may be much more sporadic. But I will be tuned in to the web as much as possible, given technology and circumstances.

A day in history: June 28, 1787: Constitutional Convention. Franklin suggested that chaplains bless the convention's deliberations each morning.

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics domestic surveillance

Friday, June 06, 2008

Presidential candidates switch seats this week.

The Democratic Party's campaign has come to an ending and a beginning during the past few days. This momentous week that is now coming to a close. Saturday will mark the official end of Senator Hillary Clinton's historic bid for the U.S. presidency. The presidential election will be contested from now until November by Senators Obama and McCain.

What do we know? We know an awful lot. A search on "obama" in my Bloglines aggregator returned 3, 155,000 posts. Memeorandum.com leads with the best and most prominent current info about the changes with the Democratic campaign. The news that Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had a meeting somewhere in Washington, D.C. Thursday night was the most intriguing. The New York Times reported much of what is known about the event, headlining "Clinton meets with Obama, and the rest is secret." To quote the story's conclusion:

Finally, as Mr. Obama was headed back to Chicago on a private plane and Mrs. Clinton had returned to her home, another rarity took place. A joint statement was issued by representatives of the two senators, but sent out by Mr. Obama’s staff. Those words, perhaps, were the first cooperative undertaking since the presidential race began six seasons ago.

“Senator Clinton and Senator Obama met tonight and had a productive discussion about the important work that needs to be done to succeed in November,” the statement said.

Mrs. Clinton’s farewell from the race comes Saturday. When she offers her endorsement, Mr. Obama said he intends to be in Chicago with his family. Unless, of course, he isn’t.

Because Obama and Clinton were clever, the media did not see their secret meeting coming until it was well underway. Many of us get a secret kick out of the mainstream media sputtering away about failure to disclose, etc. But I got an even bigger kick out of this little gem from Firedoglake (6/5/08) - "We Should've Seen This Coming," by Blue Texan. The clever short post cascades a number of mostly Republican quotes (Dick Armey, Tom DeLay, Dick Morris, Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh and George W. Bush) on how Hillary Clinton was going to win the nomination. To quote the blogger's conclusion: "I predict that Republicans will continue to be wrong about everything."

My favorite conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Dish at The Atlantic (6/6/08) writes an interesting blurb about -"Obama The Post-Boomer." Sullivan has often been right on point with his posts. This short piece focuses on the important generational differences between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and between Obama and John McCain.

We know a bit about how Obama's win is viewed by people in other nations. Aljazeera reports that he is "the favourite global candidate." Philip Stephens says in The Financial Times that "the world wants a vote in an epic presidential contest." Matt Frei of the BBC News says that "Obama now has a mountain to climb." This neat little story comes from a post at Make it stop! Make it Stop (5/31/08) - "Obamacan Bridging," by Bucarooskidoo. To quote:

. . . I have been overseas . . . I did see convincing evidence that Barack Obama is not just a candidate for US President, he is now a worldwide cultural megastar.

In virtually every major city in Europe and Asia, Americans and locals have been gathering near the big river in solidarity behind the slogan, "Yes We...SPAN!" They refer both to the bridge they are standing near or on and Barack Obama, who first coined the term "yes we CAN." Both groups see Obama playing the same role as the bridge does, i.e. linking peoples, providing a means of transition, just bridging the gap generally. In Hungary, they gathered on the famous Chain Bridge, built in the l830s to link Buda and Pest and launch Hungary into a new, dynamic era; in London, it was the bridge between St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tate modern art gallery, the symbolism unmistakable. There were similar gatherings in Paris, Tokyo, Berlin, Strasbourg, basically anywhere there is a river and bridges. I have never seen anything quite like it in a Presidential campaign.

It got me to wondering whether Obama is even bigger abroad than he has ever been here, where he is a candidate...in any case, a bona fide extravaganza, an Event, a human Happening!

As of this moment Barack Obama has moved into the driver's seat of the Democratic campaign. And Hillary Clinton is going to have to learn how to ride in the back seat without getting carsick. So far it has not been an easy switch for this amazing and gutsy candidate, who still has much to give to the nation.

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics democrats republicans 2008 election obama hillary clinton foreign press

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Landing on Mars was a 50-50 chance.

(NASA image - Mars "Sol Zero")

The Phoenix mission's planners thought it was going to be that tough and so did I. All of us who are long time "space junkies" sat through another nail-biter as the robotic effort played out millions of miles away on the polar ice cap of the planet Mars. "NASA's Phoenix Spacecraft Lands at Martian Arctic Site" was NASA's understated news release title. To quote from the story about how difficult the challenge was expected to be,

Among those in the JPL control room was NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, who noted this was the first successful Mars landing without airbags since Viking 2 in 1976.

"For the first time in 32 years, and only the third time in history, a JPL team has carried out a soft landing on Mars," Griffin said. "I couldn't be happier to be here to witness this incredible achievement."

. . . Phoenix uses hardware from a spacecraft built for a 2001 launch that was canceled in response to the loss of a similar Mars spacecraft during a 1999 landing attempt. Researchers who proposed the Phoenix mission in 2002 saw the unused spacecraft as a resource for pursuing a new science opportunity. Earlier in 2002, Mars Odyssey discovered that plentiful water ice lies just beneath the surface throughout much of high-latitude Mars. NASA chose the Phoenix proposal over 24 other proposals to become the first endeavor in the Mars Scout program of competitively selected missions.

Space junkie bloggers are having fun with the news. "Heaving Mars," was the clever post title by DarkSyde at DailyKos; it refers to frost heaving. A Texas Kaos post, "Phoenix has landed on Mars," has some good video links by "boadicea," a proud grad of the University of Arizona. Robert Roy Britt at Live Science blogs on Space and Astronomy worries that talk of life on Mars will start up again.

This mission is scheduled to be active for about three months. It is a study in organizational cooperation between NASA's launching the lander, Lockheed Martin developing the spacecraft, and the contributing academic community. Peter Smith of the University of Arizona is the principal investigator for the Phoenix Mars Mission, the first winner of NASA's Scout Program competition among 20+ proposals. Washington University in St. Louis is also deeply involved in this Mars weather study.

Today, Wednesday, NASA's latest report says that communication has successfully been reestablished between Mars and Earth, after period of being on standby for some unknown reason. It is through this complicated communication that we have the privilege of seeing the imagery from the Phoenix mission that is so spectacular!

Hungry for more pics? Tariq Malik at Space.com, reports on "The Top 10 Martian Landings of All Time," culminating with kudos to Mars rovers, "Spirit" and "Opportunity." To quote:

Reaching Mars is a hard and unforgiving endeavor, with little room for error. More than two-thirds of the 36 missions launched toward Mars have been lost due to failed components, rocket glitches or grievous errors that sent probes crashing into the martian surface or missing the planet altogether.

References:

NASA May 27 News Items from FLORIDA SPACErePORT. This post includes good summaries about the issues of:

the comparison of what Iraq war spending could have purchased for the space program,
the space program as a progressive cause for the Netroots Nation,
plans by Russia and Europe to build new manned spacecraft,
Senator Nelson on Presidential candidates and space policy,
and the latest news about Soyuz.

Technorati tags: news nasa phoenix space program science space

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction, and at my “creativity and dreaming” post today at Making Good Mondays).

Sunday, May 25, 2008

On the Way To a Thousand

Every blogger, it seems, celebrates "Blogiversaries," marking the annual anniversary of starting or maintaining a blog. I also mark other milestones. Today is the 987th post I put up, for example; soon I will do the thousandth. That feels like a big deal to me, not because of what has been read by others, but because of what it took for me to do it on an almost daily basis.

For me and other committed writers, blogging is a discipline. Some make money at it, but most do not. I prefer to clutter my website with something besides ads, therefore I do not participate in that way. The writing life is a discipline with an unusual set of rules for this blogger. My own goals are pretty simple. I value truthfulness and giving credit to others' work. I try to be clear and easy to read. I do not use profanity, though I am very good at insulting my opponents. I strive to present a graphically pleasing post.

Like many bloggers my target audience consists of like-minded people. I am conflict-averse. There are steps to effective targeted blogging, Sweetkenny says, regarding Blog Maintenance. I archive posts. I edit typos, even is I have already published the piece. Tagging is something to which quite a bit of attention is paid, both for my convenience and that of my readers.

Sometimes its personal writing for the blogger, sometimes it is much more objective. Why I blog is different than why you do, but we will probably find more similarities than differences. But one thing we can all agree upon, if we are staying with it, is that it is a psychologially affirming thing to maintain a blog.

A surprising number of bloggers do it as part of their spiritual path. A Virtual Celebration is the disciplined Spiritual Way for a number of bloggers. That has not been the case with this blog which is mostly political. I do occasionally feel a small spiritual tug, however, while writing at my other blog, Making Good Mondays.

Post number 1000 will see a return to the subject of blogging. This blogger is returning to a level of blogging discipline he exercised in the past, and I have always been delighted when one of my favorite bloggers gets back to regular posting. I am one of those readers who checks back occasionally to see if a writer has returned to actively posting. Thus, I have a bookmark list that needs regular pruning. Even then I am constitutionally incapable of deleting a favorite's blog; I move it to an "Archive" folder, unless the entire blog has been removed by the author. Then I am heart-broken.

View my current slide show about the Bush years -- "Millennium" -- at the bottom of this column.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: blog blogging blogosphere bloggers writing discipline internet writers weblog

South by Southwest

Friday, September 05, 2008

Obama-Biden is the ticket

Saturday, August 30, 2008

On to McCain: Let the Record Show

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Warning Voices --

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Off the beaten path of politics

Friday, August 08, 2008

The Political Voices of Women

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Like-mindedness vs. admiration of a different view

4 Comments:

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Activists' Digest of Awfulness --

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Examining an obsession about civil liberties --

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Intel tell-all

Friday, June 06, 2008

Presidential candidates switch seats this week.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Landing on Mars was a 50-50 chance.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

On the Way To a Thousand

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Hungry For Leadership Again