For Chist's Sake, Who Cares? John Edwards in the Age of Holier-than-thou Morality

Tonight on Hardball, David Schuster, went on about how John Edwards' titillating 2006 affair has damaged his message on poverty so severely that...well, he has lost his message. So powerful is the media's feeling about this moral lapse that it surpasses everything else in his career, and all other news on this Friday dump-day.

The National Enquirer, after months of trying, for no real reason, to uncover this thing, as if no one else in politics ever has cheated, as if it means anything in the face of what his work and message has been....or even in the face of the news of the week or the fact that we are at war and planning another, has finally satisfied a hungry supermarket checkout line, dragging our culture further into the gutter.

Lies? You wanna talk lies? How about the lies that the democratic leadership don't want to waste time bringing to light? How about the sick, the old, the suffering that are hungry tonight because of the lies of the government and the insurance industry? What about those old republican ultra-conservatives who would force patriotic Americans to deny their right to the pursuit of happiness honestly, forcing don't-ask-don't-tell, while they have sordid bathroom sex with strangers, even sneaking them into the White House press briefings?

Yeah, HuffPo's Edward's Big News Page will fill you in on the immorality of that night way back 2006, and its even being suggested that then the family went forth, stoically, with this lie under their belts. But who is to say what happened, how they felt, and if they even knew? Maybe it was his own personal secret...Why do we care?

You know what? As heartbroken as I am, because this may answer the question of why he dropped out when and how he did, and as much as I hate liars, I've got to say that I don't think that it changes what his message has been in this race or how he would be as a President or a Vice President, Attorney General, or diplomat.
To deny his influence on the messages of the primary candidates, of all of them, is to deny the effective parts of Bill Clinton's Presidency, the social and political impact of RFK and JFK, and if you want to go there, evidence suggests that even Martin Luther King Jr strayed.

Anyone who has been on the road in any intense job capacity understands what happens sometimes in those intense hours and days and weeks. Not that it's OK; not that anyone would condone it. But can't we just understand that whatever it was back then, in 2006, they obviously worked it out and decided to go forward as the happy family that they appear to be. Can't we allow ourselves to learn from Edward's message about the Two America's and apply that to what needs to be done? Why does the message have to be tarnished by a slip that is as common as divorce is in this country?
All of Europe laughs at us, the ugly Americans who waste so much time on issues of morality while we slaughter innocents for oil and allow our own weakest citizens to go hungry and without proper care.

I don't like it, and I'm really, really disappointed, but humans are fallible and its not for us to question what happens in someone's personal life unless it is against the law or hurts others in some way that effects society as a whole.

Why are men like this? We are animals and the urge for sex with many different people is deep in the coil. That doesn't mean that we dont have the ability to reason and that we shouldn't strive to overcome those urges, especially when there are children and the construct of the family unit involved.

I cant say that I believe in marriage in general, as a 100% forever thing. I don't understand the mentality of lying to oneself that any particular marriage is the one that will weather years and trials. Rather, if I were to find someone who I felt compelled to marry, I would have to say, realistically, that its a craps shoot and that all we can hope for is to make it to old age together in one piece; that we would promise to try to understand the fallibility of humanity and to not be cruel to each other. Its not OK to make a promise and to be untrue, but its unrealistic to think that its possible for 100% of the people, especially in positions of power that require huge egos, to be perfect 100% of the time.

Why should this make a difference in what he did professionally?
I guess he should have told the truth up front...
I guess they all should have.
I suppose that if we took the same amount of time to hold up the truths of the Clinton's, the McCain's, the Bush's, the Cheney's...I wonder which would be more destructive to society as a whole.

As usual Americans will follow the bouncing ball, the shiny-shiny, and let the rest be buried. Its the soap opera effect...but this is not a story on TV, these are people who have some very real ideas that just could improve our lot as a country and the world as a whole. So, lets no get carried away with this crap. Move along, theres nothing to see here...except some ideals that were meant to bring us closer to what America was founded for.

John Edwards Says No.

According to Reuters, After giving the keynote speech at CTIA, the wireless industry showcase (that I wish I was at,) John Edwards was asked in a small Q&A session if he would accept the VP slot for either candidate....He said No.
Apparently he also declined to endorse one candidate or the other, but I would've guessed that!
Oh well...Onwards and ...upwards....

c/p RIPCoco

The Grammys and Crippled Chicken Farming While Reading Sunday's NY Times...Livin' in the Future and None of This Has Happened Yet....

I know, I know...where's she been? I don't know, I say, as I look through the unfinished drafts of the past couple of lousy weeks of school meetings and a sick, paralyzed chicken.... and just feeling overwhelmed by the political climate and the climate of my life which seem to meld like the mud and relentless rain that makes us run to the window at the sight of flurries, wondering what happened to our snowy winters? Is the end nigh?

All craziness aside, if i don't get something down about whats going on, I find that thoughts upon thoughts run round in my head, so maybe its better to just spit out a little something, rather than waiting for the time to get it all down here....and maybe its just a little shorter...maybe...just a little...

So, sitting here watching the Grammy's and with my fingers crossed for a positive outcome from the meeting(s) this week between the Writer's Guild and the Producers; the hope for 24 with Janeane Garafolo as an investigator looking into the actions of Jack Bauer, and, no doubt, swept up into the action of the world of 24; or I hope so anyway. Janeane is my favorite action hero!

The Grammy's show sucks, and maybe thats because a large percentage of the new talent out there sucks...and the snippets of a nod they give to what might be a real part of the canon of American Music are just not enough...for whatever thats worth anymore; like, if you were still proud to be an American and wanting to promote our culture. Funny how the Band, Canadians and one American, and the Beatles, represented by Ringo Star of the new smash non-hit, Liverpool 8, an oddly horrible song, and by Yoko Ono in a white top hat....where is Paul? Ah, I don't know/don't care about the most eligible batch in the world....and the Cirque du Soliel doing a pretty fantastic dance number out of the over pimped legacy (THERE! I used it!!) Are John and George looking down on this and smiling or just out there in the nothingness realizing how meaningless that anything of beauty that we've created is in the face of the real power in this world? Still, the bright point is really this Cirque strangeness set to Beatles music.

Oh, and the writers are pretty damned right in their demands, and absolutely correct to hang in there and disrupt the prime times of the lazy American couch people until the greedy producers give in.

Being a big MSNBC watcher, I've got to say that I'm pretty disgusted by whats been going down over there regarding the bad boyz club and their mysogynistic bullshit that is actively thrust upon us daily by the usual suspects, and the parade of the same old horrible pundits. Thats why I find it sort of disingenuous that the suits over there decided to suspend one of the better and more intellectual members of the reporting staff, for saying the word "Pimp" in regard to what Hillary Clinton has done with her daughter. Its a crappy, knee-jerk and overly PC reaction to a few letters written about someone who never ever says that kind of stuff. As opposed to the long history of abuse by Joe Scarborough and Tweet Matthews, I'm aghast that the management felt that Schuster was the right vehicle for whatever repositioning they are attempting. I wrote to them, and I would suggest that anyone else who has a position on this do the same.

I couldn't concentrate much on the morning shows today, except to re-register that the republicans hate McCain; and more power to them and him. I'm feeling confused by what we've been left with on our side. It isn't working very well for me, though I did vote for Obama. I just don't feel represented and I still cant figure out why Edwards backed out so soon. I hope that it becomes clear as time goes on because I just cant imagine that we can possibly go into what comes next without his values and vision. For Christ's sake, people are suffering, and we have to get some money back into the education system.
Oh, so many other things too, I know...but from the get go, the system in this country seems stacked, like a wall over which the poor can't see, to even know what it is they could have or what they might want to strive for...This is a blindness that is meant to keep the underclass permanent, regardless of the wasted talent and dreams that are left there...That, to me, is un-American. Aren't we all supposed to have some value?

Today, I went through the Sunday papers and, as usual, pulled out a few things to read in paper form rather than online. There is something about the Sunday New York Times and how it feels in your hand...the smudge of it, the smell of it.

The book review this week is a political issue, and between the candidates, partisans, and the wars, is a piece on African American Identity Politics, which reviews the book Sellout, by Randall Kelly, and the book A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why he Cant Win, by Shelby Steele. They both seem to cover the difficulties faced by black people who either break out from the popular African American culture, or are not considered to be "black enough." Both raise some legitimate questions that are really timely but, according to the reviewer fall short in heavy handed, overwrought prose, and the authors also being somewhat self centered in their assessment of their subjects. I expect the market to be flooded with this sort of material before long. Honestly, I'm not surprised to see this so soon...and I hope that we see some deeper insight than the "who's to blame?" argument about the African American culture not taking responsibility for itself. I am going through some of this with some kids Im helping, and in the world of no-snitching and being trapped in the community center and/or in a dangerous neighborhood vs. getting out, even a little, there is the reality of accusation of not being "black enough." I wouldn't have thought it for afar, but on the ground, its very real.

Thanks so much to travel writer, James Vlahos, for exploring "The Other Iran," in the Travel Section. If you didn't get a chance to see this, pop over and see the slide show. This is the other Iran in the sense that it is the old Persian part of Iran, but the title of the article, the content, and the slide show, beg us to look at what John McCain and possibly Hillary Clinton have their sights set on as a threat worthy of preemptive strikes. Look, Im not saying that I endorse or understand their culture...nor do I know much about the weapon issue...but I sure as hell don't trust any sort of warning coming out of this administration. I would hope that a new administration wouldn't just continue the path of the war, but restart the investigations and involve the UN in them. This is a beautiful and intricate culture that the people of Iran have obviously preserved carefully. Other parts of the country range from sophisticated cities with universities and business, to countryside. Why don't the American people get to see more of this before Iran is totally demonized as part of the Bushco oil plan?

And finally, In the Connecticut Section, is a horribly sad story about 3 brain-injured soldiers who are struggling to pull out of what seems to amount to vegetative states, and after family struggles, horrible care, testimony before a senate committee, one was able to get the VA to pay for private care. The mother then called another mother from the VA hospital to help her get her son treatment...and so it goes. Why we cant provide our soldiers with better care is a question that is probably best posed to the existing administration that ignores these guys as much as is possible without getting caught. But the story is really about the mother's sacrifices, and about the support that they give each other. The soldiers are never going to be OK and there is just so much help a rehab hospital can be in these cases. This story is about the effect of this war on entire families, and on the very foundation of our country, if we are all not included in the war effort. We have to end this thing right away, but in the meantime, maybe we can actually sacrifice beyond shopping with our tax rebate. Maybe we can reach out to those in need and send to soldiers at the hospital and abroad...and help those in need right in our own towns...people are suffering and we are all a part of this thing, even if we opposed it and even if we despise it.

I also strongly suggest the magazine section ...the whole thing, this week. Its got the Defense secretary Gates on Iraq and Iran, and the beginning of pain...as in, does pain start in the womb? Do babies feel pain? This is not only interesting to those who suffer from chronic pain, but also to anyone who has a stake in the abortion battle. If it can feel pain, is it a human life?
And then a guy who eats bugs, as part of the usual food report, and a piece on the ethics of organ donation....on to a portfolio of Oscar contenders.

OK, enough is enough. I haven't even gotten to frank Rich yet. Why is it that weeks can go by without much or much to say about the Times, and then there is a day with some really, really bright points?

Finally, for Springsteen fans, here is a song from his new record, Magic, which is really kind of fantastic, for the amount of the time Ive had to listen to it. I really like the words to this....there isn't much of a video here; just stills...Ill try to find a better cut of it. Magic really deserved the Grammy, and as of this publishing time, he hasn't won anything for it.



For Springsteen's commentary on this song see the live show cut below..."this is a song about the future, but its really about whats happening now."...I wish I had the energy to see Bruce live again...But look at that crowd; the size of that place...that used to really give me a thrill, but anymore, its just anxiety provoking. I've seen him plenty anyway...

John Edwards-Grown Up

Congratulations to Barak Obama on his South Carolina Win...Still waiting to see who comes in second. I don't know when or if American voters might choke at uncertainty mixed with racism, but if they're gonna start to have second thoughts, I hope that its before the general election.
I guess that Bill Clinton didn't win much of anything until later in the primary season, so its impossible to guess what will happen as this thing goes on. As far as I'm concerned, with Edwards, its all about the message, and hopefully he will have a good long time to talk about these very important issues. Its early to pick a winner in this, but as much as I hear that people hate Hillary, I'm also hearing some trepidation that Obama might not have the experience that is is necessary for this time of war. If we get any kind of terra surprise, we might see a result that we didn't bargain for. I hope to god that any of our candidates who moves towards the front of the pack is ready to react and act like they know what they're doing and they're gonna kick some terra-ist ass !

c/p Brilliant at Breakfast

John Edwards, The Mill

Debate Night Chicken Blogging.....RIP to the Clinton Era...

The chickens love to roost outside in the cold...up on their roost trilling and cawing, all puffed up and warm inside their feathers...this is the best time to grab them for a hug and a kiss! The rumpless Arcuna is my favorite! He spends alot of time outside my window here watching me write.
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Meantime, inside the silly little cottage in the woods, I've been watching the unreal New Hampshire debates, and weighing the very real differences among the democratic field...and the circus-like insanity of the Republican field as a whole.(Cue: circus music)
I miss Mike Gravel, and am sort of thankful for Ron Paul. Besides his really deep insanity and spitballing on how things would be run if we lived in colonial times, he speaks some pretty heavy and fearless truth. Having him in any sort of decision making position in this country would be a disaster...but I love to hear him exclaim and then watch the scary, half/dead Thompson guffaw and respond incoherently.
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What I'm not hearing on either side here is how we are going to document the bold crimes that are still bleeding this country dry. I want some answers. I don't want to wipe the slate and move forward, trying to forget this brush with the pathological. I want it spelled out so that every grade school educated, under-served and under-represented citizen in the furthest reaches of America, can realize that they should never feel again like they have to vote against their own better interests in order to keep America safe.



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John Edwards is clearly the winner of this thing, if you're counting content and concrete plans that make sense. I love John Edwards...I have to say that he has really stood out in this process for me. I have no reservations about him. Why does the media work so hard on shutting coverage of him as a candidate out?

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I am, as usual when watching anything on ABC, bewildered at the mono-tonality of the Charlie Gibson-Diane Sawyer cult. Even Georgie Snuffleupagus has taken on the hushed morning tone of people who live in high rises with vast shiny wood floors and ununsed surfaces or perfect temples made of bamboo and facing just so. I can feel the Feng Shui of the delicacy with which these people report the news. ***********************************************************















All in all, I've found this process to be fantastic, because we have had the great fortune to have had a great field up until Iowa and to have heard what they have to say. The concept of hearing ideas spoken in a public forum had fallen away. And in a world where the Republican contenders are a bunch of bumbling nuts, I have to say that we still have an embarrassment of riches, in the bold ideas being laid out here; Bold ideas being just pulling ourselves together and trying to get us back to some semblance of where we were trying to be, so imperfectly, too many years ago.


















Its gratifying that Americans seem to really want change, but I hope that the difference between Obama and Edwards become as strikingly clear as they are to me and the rest of the political junkies out there. Look at the differences in policy on globalization, healthcare, and nuclear power, just to start. Take a look before they start to pull together too much, as they have already. Soon you wont be able to tell them apart; and they do make good counterparts. Its just too bad that they each need a VP who has some sort of older statesman thing going on. The two of them would be the most dynamic white house that we've ever had.

Hillary? She was just so-so...very heavy botox, lots of struggle, fighting back from the brink, and, I feel sort of sorry for her. The blog word is that the Clinton era is dead...RIP to the Clinton Era....

Edwards Gains Ground, as Obamarah and Billary Slug it out...And On the Other Side? Cue the Circus Music, the Left Behind, and the Swimming Monkeys!!

Sunday: Life after the morning shows?
Planet Earth on Discovery Channel.....
The world outside seems pretty big sometimes.... and the pathological bullshit going on in here is sort of unbearable in the face of this:



These guys can stay down for up to 30 mins!
Forget the tiny pandering of the animals with the biggest egos on this planet. we've got nothing compared to the survival skills that are evolving every day out there on Planet Earth...Pick your nature show, folks, and sit right down for a heart warming HD journey into how small we really are in the scheme of things. Maybe I'm getting old, and maybe its that I resisted the new technology for so long, but high definition really is the new hallucinogenic for people of a certain age.

And that drowning feeling? Well, after long strange dreams about swimming in the tropics with old ex-friends who I hope to never see again, I was brought back to Mitt Romney by Frank Rich, who shines a light once again on the should-be criminal ball-dropping of the pundits and press in this country. The frustration of that on this icy morning, chipping away at the path, and fuming about how a swift boat attack is all that could stand between us and a Romney presidency, is just too much for my weakened sensibilities!
Surely, its our fault because we give them the ratings, but then, we also don't have much choice, do we? Why would it be so wrong to bring back some type of fairness doctrine? What are they so afraid of if they are so right...?

So, we watch the same old corpses, and hope for an explosion by the likes of Larry O'Donnell, who has been as much as pooh-poohed this week for his temper last week, as opposed to looking at what it was that he said that was just so unseemly.
According to Frank Rich in today's New York Times:

Pushed over the edge by his peers’ polite chatter about Mitt Romney’s sermon on “Faith in America,” Mr. O’Donnell branded the speech “the worst” of his lifetime. Then he went on a rampage about Mr. Romney’s Mormon religion, shouting (among other things) that until 1978 it was “an officially racist faith.”

That claim just happens to be true. As the jaws of his scandalized co-stars dropped around him, Mr. O’Donnell then raised the rude question that almost no one in Washington asks aloud: Why didn’t Mr. Romney publicly renounce his church’s discriminatory practices before they were revoked? As the scion of one of America’s most prominent Mormon families, he might have made a difference. It’s not as if he was a toddler. By 1978 — the same year his contemporary, Bill Clinton, was elected governor in Arkansas — Mr. Romney had entered his 30s.

The answer is simple. Mr. Romney didn’t fight his church’s institutionalized apartheid, whatever his private misgivings, because that’s his character. Though he is trying to sell himself as a leader, he is actually a follower and a panderer, as confirmed by his flip-flops on nearly every issue.

Polite chatter. That's what gets me. Its politeness that got us where we are now...so, for Christ's sake, lets at least look at the truth before we install another idiot president in place of the current one. The words that we shall not speak are the ones that need to be spoken, so lets look at the skull and bones underpants of this thing. The Iraq war shows us that if we keep quiet in the runup to a disaster, it can be nearly impossible to disentangle ourselves from the ensuing mess.

Racism; I keep hearing it mentioned as a cautious point on why we shouldn't support Obama. He might not be able to win the general. But that caution belies a disconnect with what is really going on out there.
Its evident in how the press and other candidates on both sides underestimated the Oprah-Obama factor. Its evident in the condescending way with which Oprah, who is arguably a spokeswoman for not only African Americans in general, but American women and her fan base, which spans larger than most of us realize, was dismissed as a pop-icon with no real weight in something as heady as an election. Think again. The woman who decided to turn her back on trash talk, and who got the country reading again, is more powerful than maybe Jesus, and probably, at least as powerful as the M$M's script for this thing. At least she knocked things around a bit and made the contenders show some of their real colors. This is not Springsteen or Bon Jovi rallying the kids; Oprah is another animal altogether and she speaks to a different place in the psyche of real people who are struggling to get by. Why? I really don't know. Call it a mysterious phenomenon; but don't disregard it.

Oprah is a populist who has taken chances for her convictions, and as much as she turned her back on the wrestling masses that Jerry Springer gave a stage to for ratings, she still has been a forgiving force who finds the common ground that represents every person in every trailer park, every upper east side matron, and those in-between. Its uncanny how she has built on that and has managed to remain above the fray in her objectives, and its not something that anyone could have predicted. But, I would think that people who watch this stuff for a living might be a little more aware of who Oprah is.

Even as Oprah represents the black thing when she goes into her hey girl! ghetto voice or does her MLK I have seen the mountain tone,she crosses a line that white America cant cross; not even Hillary as the wife of the "first black president," or whatever he was....but as she crosses those lines, she does it as if white and brown America are right there with her. She makes people of all colors warriors in a battle that is more intellectual than anyone realizes. She is talking about racism, which is absolutely knee-jerk visceral in those who grew up in places where it was ingrained, but she does it as if we were all in the battle together against what might even be something even within ourselves. What works about this is that she has a tone of self-forgiving and understanding, which makes it all more understandable and acceptable as something that we all need to change. I say all of this as someone who doesn't much watch Oprah and who is not much of a fan, unless she has on a specific subject that I want to see.

According to Rich, though, the worry about ingrained racism shouldn't be that much of a problem for Obama:

Race is certainly a part of the groundswell, but not in a malevolent way. When I wrote here two weeks ago that racism is the dog that hasn’t barked in this campaign, some readers wrote in to say that only a fool would believe that white Americans would ever elect an African-American president, no matter what polls indicate. We’ll find out soon enough. If that’s the case, Mr. Obama can’t win in Iowa, where the population is roughly 95 percent white, or in New Hampshire, which is 96 percent white.

I’d argue instead that any sizable racist anti-Obama vote will be concentrated in states that no Democrat would carry in the general election. Otherwise, race may be either a neutral or positive factor for the Obama campaign. Check out the composition of Oprah’s television flock, which, like all daytime audiences, is largely female. Her viewers are overwhelmingly white (some 80 percent), blue collar (nearly half with incomes under $40,000) and older (50-plus). This is hardly the chardonnay-sipping, NPR-addicted, bi coastal hipster crowd that many assume to be Mr. Obama’s largest white constituency. They share the profile of Clinton Democrats — and of some Republicans too.

And that sticky religion thing? The things that we might prefer not to mention? Oprah and Obama both come off as pretty heavily religious, but they are not exclusive or freaky, like the underpants that Romney and his folks wear:

“Church free” is the key. This country has had its fill of often hypocritical family-values politicians dictating what is and is not acceptable religious and moral practice. Instead of handing down tablets of what constitutes faith in America, Romney-style, the Oprah-Obama movement practices an American form of ecumenicalism. It preaches a bit of heaven on earth in the form of a unified, live-and-let-live democracy that is greater than the sum of its countless disparate denominations. The pitch — or, to those who are not fans, the shtick — may be corny. “The audacity of hope” is corny too. But corn is preferable to holier-than-thou, and not just in Iowa.

I don't know about anyone else, but the idea of an Obama candidacy seems sort of nice to me. I don't want another Clinton crammed down my throat and I want real chance. I'm willing to, at least, pretend that there is some choice and that big corporations and oil interests don't control everything. Whats the worst thing that can happen? Hasn't it all happened already?

In an absolute reversal of the prevailing news blackout on John Edwards, this week's Newsweek calls John Edwards The Sleeper and The Road Warrior, and talks about how he really could win Iowa and become a contender in the big show:

But it's worth keeping in mind just how wrong the media echo chamber can be when it comes to predicting winners and losers. At about this time four years ago, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was the press-anointed darling who could seemingly do no wrong in Iowa. Dour John Kerry was scorned by reporters as the should-have-been who had blown it and couldn't possibly win. But on caucus night, Kerry wound up the victor—and Dean wound up screaming. Reporters were left to wonder what they had missed. One story the talking heads may be missing this time: just how badly John Edwards hates to lose.

I'm so tired of being told who my candidate is gonna be. I'm so tired of the likes of Chris Matthews and his ilk bleating on about how Hillary cant possibly lose...so, why bother even voting? It seems to me that as the networks have a responsibility to not give results too early on election day, they should try to act like there is a choice and try to encourage people to vote. The problem with them is that their responsibility is to the shareholders and not to the process. Every time I get the feeling that I'm being told to not bother any longer, I send Edwards some money. I honestly think he is the best one for the job at this time, and I honestly think that he has a chance. I also would like to make Chris Matthews and Tim Russert wrong (even though they have started to change course already...cue Sam Seder's backup beep!)
Its just nice to see a little coverage of Edwards, as if he were there and an entity in this race, and its also a nice article. It acts as if he is some new guy that no one knows about...but the background never gets old in a race like this.

Huckabee is on the cover of the New York Times Magazine this week and if you needed any further evidence of his particular brand of insanity, just look to the third paragraph for Huckabee's joy at the endorsement of Tim LaHaye, the author of the Left Behind series and game. I wrote about the game a year ago here, and, really, if Huckabee believes in the wrathful Jesus of the Left Behind series, and that our kids should be playing a game that allows them to ride at the side of the angry Jesus and kill those who were not raptured up to heaven (your choice of automatic weapons!)...you know, the left behind...kill 'em all! This is when I start to wonder what the fuck is going on in the republican party; what could they be thinking?

Chris Matthews played a video today of a fake Huckabee commercial that is supposedly posted on Andrew Sullivan's site. I didn't see it there, or on YouTube, but I am looking for it.

On the Iowa Trail.....Larry O'Donnell Tells it Like it is in the Church of Mormon; and Maher too.......

Godspeed to John Edwards. With the Iowa Caucuses offering probably the most fair picture of middle Americans (albeit, jaded by this rather heady process that allows most of them to meet and talk with the candidates,) barreling towards us, and Barack and Hillary neck and neck, with only one mistake possible between the two of them, John is well within the margin of error, with a good network already in place in New Hampshire. I really believe that Edwards is the only electable candidate that isn't under the sway of the powers of the ego/career trap or the big power of the ruling corporations that quake at the idea of Edwards raining on their parade. For God's sake, when are Americans going to look at the hard facts and cast a vote that serves them and their fortunes, instead of voting on a vague impression taken from media bytes being thrown about by the M$M?


I would be very interested in seeing Barrack Obama win this thing too; as opposed to Hillary....BUT...I don't know if he has enough political experience to get things done in the office, and whoever gets this one has to hit the ground running. At the same time, I like the idea of ideals being tossed about; I liked the West Wing and I can easily see Obama starring in the next generation. But I get this red flag warning, strobing G-R-I-D-L-O-C-K. Maybe it will be that way to an extent anyway, considering that the war will become ours on inauguration day, and we are doing nothing to make it clear that there is a laundry list of criminals here, and their crimes are being glaringly ignored. If we don't go after the criminals now, we deserve what we get.
Can Obama handle the fallout of 8 years of the Bush crime syndicate?

To me, Edwards holds the key to the undoing of the insane policies that have been sliding into place since Reagan. He also doesn't care anymore what they say about him and what they do to him. He has been through it all and acts with the air of someone who is just concentrating on being himself, and screw the handlers and bullshit. Edwards still has a chance and I hope to god that he has the support in Iowa among people who are weighing the actual policies of the candidates.
And to be absolutely sure of this, it looks to me in hi-def, like Edwards has recently freshened up his botox, as has Chris Matthews. Whatever it takes, I'm for it!

On the other side, its clown-time all the time...its never over.
Rudy cackled through Timmeuh Russert's, "tough as they get..." according to Chris Matthews, questioning (NOT!) on Meet the Press. Every time he was asked about his scandalous ongoing rip-off of NYC during his tenure, he cackled hysterically, like a crazy man. But then, Matthews talking about cackling, is a bit of pot-kettle-black, and his ranking of who is a tough interviewer....well, these guys are so involved with each other's asses that its not worth getting angry anymore. Oh, and by the way, Matthews thought that Romney's not-Mormon, religion speech, was the best speech of the campaign! Huh? Hasn't he heard Edwards? Obama?...hell, even Oprah reading off cards, in her MLK-black voice, was better than that. He made no sense and he came off as disingenuous.

Lets get real about the church of Mormon and Mitt Romney's bullshit speech that has already gotten too much airtime by now. Mormon: There is a self appointed leader to whom,it is purported, Jesus himself appeared in 1820, and subsequently an angel dictated the Book of Mormon to him. Thus began a cult of Jesus-freakishness, in which Jesus is considered the creator of everything, replacing God, except to get a little help or direction from him here and there. There is some sort of planetary influence a la Scientology, a disgusting amount of sexism and racism, and the belief that those who don't practice this particular form of Christianity will not go to heaven. The notion that the followers were sent from heaven where they previously resided with god, and that they are following a predestined path in order to gain experience for their return to heaven, removes basic responsibility from them of having to question their assumed authority about all things Jesus; the rest of us be damned...unless we want to get baptized into the cult...then I guess we're saved, only to be explained away as some wandering sheep that have found their way back to the fold; as part of the grand predestined design, of course...like, to teach the rest a lesson...?

Mitt says that America's founders didn't mean to separate church from state THAT much, but at the same time he says that he will do his best to keep the two separate, except that...he is a devout Mormon, and so he must have believed the particularly disgusting teachings that he no doubt followed in his early 20's, such as the belief that blacks are from Mars, while Mormons are from Venus! yup....This group has a dirty history worth looking into, and old Mitt, by proclaiming his devotion throughout the years, particularly naming times of his life that he was still a Mormon, has made it clear who he is...exactly clear.

Larry O'Donnell hit this straight on yesterday on McLaughlin. I was so relieved to see someone able to express the disgust that I have been feeling about the fundamentalism coming from sectors of the republican party, that I started to count the minutes until this showed up on the YouTubes. Larry O'Donnell has the first comment, and its really the only thing you need to hear on this joke of a debate on religion and what the candidates intend to do with it.


I'm not a religious person, but I respect the urge in others, if it gives some comfort. Its certainly nice to have some belief and community in this world; something that I personally lack. I just cant see anyone with the devout belief that a certain group of people are going to heaven (coming from heaven, even,) and the rest of us are going to hell, (or are from hell,) as capable of being a leader to us all. Can one just set those sorts of beliefs aside? I didn't get the feeling from old Mitt's speech that he is able to separate anything from his religion.

...Oh and, he is no JFK...nope, not at all....


Bill Maher on Mormonism


Next up: Huckabee the circus freak...

c/p on Brilliant at Breakfast

John Edwards is The President That This Country Needs!

This is the man who should rightfully be leading us. I'm so tired of the likes of Chris Matthews telling us that Hillary has it all sewn up. Watch her numbers drop as I type this! This is not a done deal and I wouldn't underestimate the power of this man's convictions.

John Edwards is my choice for President of the United States, and if you care about the future for our children, and for what the America that we grew up in, full of hope and progress, used to stand for, you have to open the door to the possibility that we can stand for something again.

Give this video a few minutes of your time...it is a little long but well worth it in that it covers the message that John Edwards has consistently had for as many years as he has been in public service. I don't believe that this man is a liar; I saw him speak in Chicago in a small room, and I knew that what I was seeing was sincerity. As someone who you all know, knows my political stuff, a little too well sometimes, and as someone who is, as most of us are, really skeptical of both parties and all politicians, I would stake my life as I know it on this guy being clean and sincere. Also, Ive found that a good part about being obsessed with this stuff is that you get a gut feeling based on information and emotions...and my gut tells me that this is the guy that should be our nominee.
Jill already posted this on Brilliant at Breakfast, so I won't be cross pasting this one, but I did want to have it up here at RIPCoco too.

Consider John Edwards for 2008. He is the one who embodies all of the qualities that this country needs in order to heal and reclaim our place as the strongest and most influential country in the world. Lets have hope again:

Another Debate, Another Halloween....

Its Halloween...Boo!...and I'm listening to Marc Maron filling in for Randi Rhodes. Its almost like the old days except that he wont be on again tomorrow.

Last night I watched another democratic debate on MSNBC, and this one was notable in its horrible format and questions...and also in the poor moderating by Brian Williams, who was stiff and counter-intuitive. The light moments were the lightening round, which was basically the candidates talking in fast forward like Alvin Chipmunk, and Biden's comment about Rudy's "noun, verb, and 9-11" structure for every comment he makes.

The word today is that Barak Obama crashed hard, and I saw something that I find annoying in ...well, anyone, much less my President...He is not right on point... he says ummm alot and looks around too much. I think that he has his moments of real shining presence, but I find him to be sort of soft when it comes to the need for some sort of combative message to the people.

We are in what might be described as a serious crisis in this country. We are in trouble, and I don't want to feel like the man who wants to be my President doesn't have a strong sense of urgency. And its true also that when I saw them all debate live at Yearly Kos 2, Obama sat, leaning forward, looking to the side at the moderator rather than at the audience, and seemed almost young and sort of lacking in the kind of polish and presence that enables someone to go confidently into negotiations with world leaders; someone who goes in and kicks ass. I think that he is a gifted orator, but I don't know that he can really command the dyed in the wool politicos that have to be dealt with in this job. By this debate I can see clearly that he is green and he does need seasoning. Obama is just not ready yet....(notice that I say yet.)



Meanwhile, Hillary has been touted by the press as the one, and we are basically being told to pack it in and head to the polls and pull her lever...but the same press that is telling us who to vote for and sizing up the big show as a Hillary vs. Rudy game, were tremendously quick to jump on her when they felt like she had made a big slip in saying that she believes that illegal immigrants should have access to drivers licenses. This is a hot button issue, and its one that is being skirted by most politicians; embraced by others....And Hillary made the mistake of stating a position!! Well, we can't have that, for Christ's sake!! I guess that its silly to note that all the candidates agreed with her except for Dodd. This is the crack in the veneer that they were looking for.

It dawned on me, much to my delight, that if Obama is looking young and green, and Hillary showed a hairline fracture, Edwards is only one mistake away from being the guy...and let me tell you, Edwards shined last night.

John Edwards is a man who has been through this ringer as the different apparitions that advisers and handlers will create at the big show. He has clearly straightened out, in his own mind, what his life is about and what his campaign is about. I think so anyway...Its impossible to ever truly trust any politician, but I've seen him up close, and I bought his line; hook, line, and sinker. I really think that he is the guy...and that if its not for President this time round, its to do some really important work on this country and whats wrong with it. Like Al Gore, he might actually be able to do more good while not being president.

What I love about this process, which is a much more open-format and full debate schedule than the Rovian Bushies would ever permit, is that the field is fantastic and varied. I'm not wishing that the field would narrow all that soon, mainly because I'm acutely aware that things are being said over and over that have needed to be said for years. And though its true that the corporate media has their own manipulated spin on what is being said, in their drive to make Hillary be the candidate, sound/YouTube bytes are being created that are bound to make their way out of that lock on information that is hanging heavily in the air on network TV, radio, and in the papers.I want everyone from the media powers-that-be to the bloggers to pick this stuff apart until its dust. I want the conversation about how horrible Bush has fucked us up to go on and on.

I keep remembering driving around here as the war began and as the first part of the attempted destruction of the constitution began, and the first horrible mistakes started to become apparent...and this is such a different atmosphere, even if we end up with the repugnant Hillary Clinton, (with her questionable ability to beat even Rudy Giuliani,) at least the things that needed to be said were, for the most part, said. All that is left is to try to understand why the House and Senate are not on board with what the country clearly wants....and where the corporate media thinks that they are getting off in distorting things so much. I love this stuff, even if it is gut-wrenching and heartbreaking most of the time.

Last weekend, I had a garage sale here at the Chicken Ranch , and due to my ever present Impeach Bush sign, I was treated to a day long running conversation about the extreme disappointment that people are feeling about the current majority rule and their lack of balls in getting us out of Iraq one way or another.

Why do I like John Edwards so much? He is very clear that if we are to continue on this road that we need to understand that we are going to have to sacrifice and take responsibility for the position that we are in. This isn't just Bush's mistake or something that politicians have to handle; we are all there in the thick of this thing and as time goes on it will effect us in much more palpable ways...so, don't look to the authority figures in this thing to get us out of it; they are every bit as helpless as we all are. This thing is going to take some real work to dig out of, and its not going to be easy.



By far, the most interesting person at the sale was the last guy, who was a local pump guy on his way to an emergency call. He wanted to get some toys for his grandchildren...and upon seeing my Impeach sign explained to me that he is a vet and that as far as he can see, that this is a fascist government.... then he went on to lay out every point that I had ever thought or had heard from the likes of Seder and Maron, the prophets out there, and my favorite blogs....not to mention what had been going around my head for all of these years. This is an older local guy who is not on the internets at all, and who is getting by listening to a local black liberal station which is supposedly available up here at 95.5 FM.

He reminded me of myself before AAR came out of nowhere and reminded me that there are sane voices out there somewhere...and he was so happy that he found someone who agreed with him. Sometimes it seems like we are out here rattling round in our own heads, and at some point critical mass has to ensure that there is some movement in the direction that we are mandating. They work for us, don't they? I mean, I guess that if Hillary gets into office, it will be the equivalent of more of the same lite, so you cant be too careful. But when are we gonna get so mad that we remove these people from power? What has to happen? How bad does it have to get before we demand that the networks even actually report on the demonstrations that we are marching in?

Garage sales are strange in that they cross personal barriers...who is buying what?...and who understands what? Many immigrants came by and they bought alot of my old sneakers at 50 cents a pop....I lowered the price for things like that, in that these are the people doing most of the heavy lifting around here. The Hispanics were the best hagglers, but I started to get a little tired of it all in that I was making the prices super low to begin with. I began to pull items back from even being on sale because I felt like...it was almost embarrassing to fight with an older Mexican woman about a jacket from Banana Republic or something, that was new, and that she wanted for a dollar...but that I could sell on eBay for $15...I was saying basically that I live uptown here in this beautiful place and that I have a computer to sell my fancy things, (actually my sister had given it to me as a present and I had never worn it,) and I was somehow torn between giving the stuff away and pulling it back...but I didn't want to haggle down to some silly price. Maybe I was losing my mind...maybe I had been in the garage too long. It was an odd sensation and it reminded me of why I usually just give stuff to the Salvation Army and let them sell it.

Maybe that I was just getting sick, which I was, but a whole day of discussing the extreme political distress that is going around out there, on top of going through all of my kid's baby stuff, my past, and seeing so many neighbors and people who came up from downtown to go through the "rich people's" stuff, frazzled me.

No doubt that I am frazzled and burned out anyway. I don't quite know what to do about it, because its not like I can shut off politics, or my kids, or my life...and even if I do, it goes round in my head until I can research the ideas and spit 'em out here or there...I don't know what to do. But something that I find heartening in all of this is that this guy, John Edwards, is really speaking the truth; and its not just a truth about the current situation. Its a truth about life in general and how we move around on this planet, what we can expect from our interaction in this society, and what our responsibilities are in life...towards each other, our families, our friends, and the larger world. The disconnect has to stop here...we must find our way back from becoming so disconnected. If we don't, we cant hope for much besides a fast food, cardboard, empty world, with a couch and a TV remote....
So let the debates continue, and maybe, just maybe, some little bit of information will get out there and into the popular psyche enough to wise us up...lift us up...

John Edwards on Health Care...This Guy is the Real Deal!

Jill posted this today, and I think that it should be cross posted to as many blogs and sites as possible.
This IS why we need John Edwards in the White House. There is just no question left in my mind that this man is finished with business as usual, and that he is ready to fight to change things. And not only to change things but to remember who we are and what we stand for. What good is any of it if citizens like this have to struggle like this for what should be (and were, I believe, before this disastrous regime put the plan into overdrive,) our rights. We have the right to health care; full health care. We have the right to jobs and the American dream, if we work hard and are able to get ahead somehow. The decks are stacked against anyone who isn't a millionaire in this country, folks...and thats the real truth.
This is the change we need...this guy is the one:



Pass it on.....

Edwards, Obama, Clinton, Lobbyists, and Campaign Reform...Money Talks... But Who is it Speaking For?

Digitotalitarians Unite!!



Here we go again.
Welcome Home!



Lets get one thing straight; No money is clean. I'm sure that the headlines about Edwards and Obama accepting donations from large corporations, and whatever the earth shattering revelations are in this world of overly literal campaigns and an undereducated populace that can only take in information in sound byte form, are interesting, but the fact, until there are actual facts that mean something, seems to be that this is a concocted line of what-ifs and maybes that don't add up to much.

We are frozen. Its as if, in this political atmosphere, no one should deviate from their position of 6 years ago, and no one should grow and change at all. I'm afraid of anyone who has learned nothing during this administration, much less the Bill Clinton Administration! But, besides the Rove instilled fear of the awe inspiring "flip-flop," I don't even see that as the issue here.
What I see happening is some form of desperate extrapolation to comb through every donation to try to connect it to some lobbyist...or the corporations that they represent.

We're all wading in the same pool here, folks, in that we could all be lobbyists, if you're gonna count the individual lawyer donations as a lump and the people who work for drug companies as a lump. Isn't that so many apples and oranges until every lawyer that has given cash to Edwards gets together and hires some guy to hand the money over in the interest of an issue or a set of issues? Then couldn't all individual blogger donations or Mom donations to Obama or Edwards also be called special interest contributions? Don't we all have special interests in whatever our pet issues are? So, where do you draw the line in tracing this stuff and who decides when a lobby is a lobby if its not formal? Its surely a slippery slope and I doubt that any candidate wants to have to pick apart every donation that comes in before there is some meaningful reform of campaign financing and lobbying, but isn't it safe to say that these lobby's are only formal if they are in fact formalized?.
But the wider message seems to me to be that Obama and Edwards don't want to accept donations from the overt lobbying population that has grown into a monster, and that Clinton is, as usual, carefully parsing her words to be sure to be so inclusive as to recognize that every lobby firm and every large corporation employs Americans. Now, that would be meaningful if deregulation had not allowed the top management and CEO culture to raid logical business structure, and suck all the money upwards....I don't believe that a Phillip Morris Lobby represents the guys who run the factory machines, and certainly not the pickers; probably not even the secretaries or administrators. So, when she says that she is supporting all Americans with her take on the lobby issue, she is saying that she supports the top tier of earners, because without corporate regulation back in place, there is no worker lobby of much substance out there....and certainly there is not a Phillip Morris Lobby that includes a Phillip Morris worker's lobby, representing the fact that the little guys will lose their jobs if big tobacco is hurt...This is all about corporations pushing their agendas forward so that the top guys can get really rich, really quick before the rules change again. And its clear to any of us in the real world out here that the agendas of large corporations largely do not represent the working people of America.
See, the bigger idea here doesn't have much to do with some donation that slipped past or some gotcha that Matt Drudge is looking for. its about the big picture and the desire to change things fundamentally. To assume that this stuff might effect you positively, beyond the fact that you may get killed by some drug or law that has been pushed through to your detriment, is fantasy and as likely as winning the lottery and having to deal with the "death tax" or a windfall tax. No, the conversation that Clinton is having that includes all Americans means all rich Americans, because this lobbying stuff is what goes on behind closed doors in the halls of power. To call it out is to open those doors and let some air in...and if that means that someone is out there looking through every contribution record to the Obama and Edwards campaigns, then so be it.

Lets try tying the fortunes of the top tier of corporate America to the fortunes of the bottom tier, and then revisit what the lobby is. How 'bout everyone gets a raise and that the big guys pay windfall taxes out the wazoo into funds set up for those who have lost their jobs due to technological advances that have allowed those windfalls? Don't get me started on outsourcing! How 'bout tying worker happiness and ability to achieve the American dream to how much a CEO can take home?...These guys will still surely get rich, but just not as rich...At some point its all just so much zeros on a statement anyway, isn't it?

Its a pretty bold move for Edwards and Obama to keep hammering this point, because surely it puts up the red flag to all the diggers out there to get to work to find the one bad contribution or person that works on a campaign who used to be a lobbyist...but, its an issue that needs to be addressed and I'm happy that its coming up. I'm also glad that we get a glimpse into the real Clinton, because her non-answers are rather frightening and it almost as if one tiny crack might let a ton of sludge loose that will not only be bad for the party, but dangerous for America.

I'm not perfect..OK, if you must know, I went to Wal-Mart some months ago and I bought some chinos for the kids that were probably made in China. I drive a Jeep that guzzles more gas than it should. I use air conditioning...hell, I love air conditioning! There are reasons for these things but I am not going to make excuses or go on about my carbon offsets. As I go along in life, I can certainly say that I've modified and changed and I am going to continue to do so. I need and want the tools to do that with, like a real hybrid truck that can get up my driveway in the winter. I expect that of anyone who is growing up in this life, and I certainly expect it of our leaders. We need the tools to make real choices and sacrifices, and we need leaders who aren't afraid to offer them. The deregulation thing has not worked out...lets just face it, change it, and move on.
And try really hard to look at who is profiting from these issues and leaving them as they stand. The hardest thing is probably to look at our own lives and to realize that some of the maintenance of the status quo by us is built on the fantasy that we might one day be in the class of the same people who benefit from these things.

Which brings me back to education. If we don't educate our kids, and ourselves, to think critically, make decisions, have ethics and morals, then how can we expect anything to get done?
What ever happened to that line of education? I think its gone in a haze of political correctness and some crazy tie-in between those things and religious upbringing. This idea is not true and doesn't fly. If we are so caught in political correctness that we cant even look to the past and talk about what was wrong or right with the way things went, then we are a country of sheep being groomed to be the rabble, while the elite get whats theirs.
No kid should leave the American school system without some critical real-life skills, decision making, and an idea of how great minds thought throughout history, and how the same is not only possible for them but expected of them!! Without that the American dream is dead and we might as well just prepare for the rapture.(...not!)

Netroots Nation...President's day at the Yearly Kos and the Wrapup.....

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I have seen the future of rock and roll and it is John Edwards!!
Yesterday at the Yearly Kos was confirmation for me that John Edwards is the one.
After a day of writing, and wringing and running round, I was able to get a great seat with Jill at the Presidential Leadership Forum, which was really more of a debate, and also just a stomping, energetic, loud, good time, with alot of the usual sound bytes and, for me, a great window into the unspoken body language, posturing, and those on their feet reactions than we normally see. This crowd was challenging in a way that these candidates are not especially used to, and it was clear who was easily able to embrace it and find it fun , and who was bristling ...not to mention that Mike Stark was sitting in front holding a sign that said "Hillary Stop Lying." (Check this guy out...hes awesome)

John Edwards speaks with the conviction of someone who is really devoted to changing things for the better and who has been through the mill of having his message shaped enough to get to a point where he has nothing to say except what is real to him...nothing else works ultimately. He loves a challenging audience and intelligent questions, and he is an active and thoughtful problem solver. It was so clear how energized he was by what we do and how the netroots have changed the playing field. And he is ready to change things, even if it means painful transitions and walking through the fire.
I came away from the forum feeling like he was really on fire, and I came away from the breakout session as a true believer. Hopefully I will be able to get a little video and audio up here.
I have to say that I went into this liking him (and Obama and Richardson as well) and came out completely sold that he is the future. I feel strongly that even if Hillary is the nominee and if she gets my vote, I will likely work for Edward's One America movement rather than put my energy into whatever she is doing...the rest Im not sure of...The ticket matters, the atmosphere in the country and the world matters....we'll see. But as of today, I remain an Edwards girl and I think that he needs to raise more funds because if more people saw him and what he's saying, he would be IT. Why the press is freezing him out is anyone's guess. I don't want to sound conspiratorial here so I'm not gonna say anything. In the coming weeks I want to talk more about Edwards specific plans and his ideas of how we can get back to the moral center of what America was supposed to be striving for.

The former First Lady and current Jr. Senator was in fine form in her turquoise pantsuit/jewelry combo and carefully measured answers.
Hillary was not prepared for this crowd and for the taxing and exacting reactions she would get. Simply put, she couldn't pander to us as if we were Wal-mart shoppers, and the reflected glow of Bill had long ago worn thin on this hawk. Hillary's carefully delivered sound bytes, came off as watered down Republican hackery. Really, I was surprised at how uncommunicative she was. How does she expect to get elected if there are things that she cant really go into and acts like she doesn't even have to explain it?
When pressed about pledging to not take special interest lobbyist money, Hillary made it clear that she wants to represent ALL of the people, including lobbyists, who are Americans too after all, and corporations, which are made up of Americans...right?
As John Edwards talked about the need to reform the system he urged Clinton to pledge...and her answer? "Well, John certainly has been taking that position."
That's it. And that's who she is. She believes that we should trust her record enough to believe that SHE couldn't possibly be swayed by lobby money. I just want to know why I should trust anyone who wont lay things out and acts like she is so above it all.
She said that she won't visit all the states but has that same "strategy" that Howard Dean talks about...But she does intend to visit all the red parts of the blue states. Its all a part of the strategy, you see.... she then went on to explain how she figured out where to go in NY State for the most bang...interesting, calculating...I know it happens all the time, but I don't need Hillary to go on about how clever she was in inserting herself into NY State politics when she decided that NY was the state she wanted. I don't think she is a bad senator, but I find her disingenuous and self congratulatory. She also seems to assume that its her and Howard all the way. I think that she takes alot for granted.

On the international front, Hillary believes that its not that the world hates Americans, but that its just Bush that they hate...huh? Doesn't what Bush orchestrates around the world reflect on us? Aren't we represented by our leaders? Aren't we sending them to do our work?
This disconnect is the red flag for me that Hillary doesn't really get what is coming down. We expect our politicians to tell us the truth, not be secretive. We also expect them to fucking represent us. We have had 6+ years of a president who condescends and acts like the things that he knows are too, too, secret for us to possibly understand. I don't like Hill's attitude about it. It of course there are classified issues, but its the attitude here that sits wrong...just quietly go about your business...don't use that tone with me!

Hillary also wanted to assure us that we are SAFER since 9-11 as far as our first responders system goes.....Well, Hillary, I'm here to tell you that I live a couple of towns over from you, and if anything happens...nuclear power plant accident, disease, chemical spill, hurricane, windstorm...we are screwed. Most houses in our area burn to the ground because we have a first responder network that is undermanned and with archaic equipment. But, we are in small towns...how about looking at New York City? Well, the system is far from safe or fixed, with communications that are still limited at best, and a billionaire mayor who is as concerned as Giuliani was with how how things look and smoothing over the deficits, leaving us all in danger in this most dangerous time that Herr Bush has created for us. In short, the radios still don't fully work!!

There is a small rumbling in the blogosphere to stop Hillary, because she would obviously be the GOP choice and she stands in the way of a real candidate getting out there. It feels pretty negative to me to turn on our own, but I have to say that there is something about Hillary that is not quite right and all there. I am uneasy with her and she sounds more and more Republican. She definitely wants to keep all options opened and she doesn't want to have to answer to anyone. I am really unsure about how she feels about globalization, social programs, war with Iran, real withdrawal from Iraq, and changing course in a big way in this country.
So far it seems pretty canned and positioned. She always seems to phrase things in a way that allows some way out..I dunno...

Obama is an incredible guy with great ideas. I cant say enough how much I feel for him and what his message is. I have been asking people about his breakout group and people came away from it awed and as true believers, but there is some but..but going round...Its always, IF he can get it, he would be great BUT can he? Is he ready? Its not clear to me that he is ready at all for the #1 job; nor does it seem clear to his supporters. I'd love to see him get some experience, grow a little older, and get better with the cameras and crowd. He hunched, he blushed, he leaned to the side and addressed the moderator directly, hardly looking to the audience...and I wanted to see more passion besides when Edwards tossed it to him and they tag teamed Hillary. This was a challenging group and even though it was his birthday, and the hall rang out with a good part of the HB song, I didnt sense that he felt as sympatico and as if he is one of the people as some of the others.

I've heard anecdotes from a couple of different people, about how he acts in the senate...as if he is just passing through and that his real job awaits him up higher...and I never really gave it much credence until now. Maybe he knows something we all don't know, or maybe you just have to be like that to make it through this process....but I like to feel like I could talk to any one of these people, just like any guy hanging round my town...and he is one that I'm not sure is comfortable enough in his own skin to realize that he is just some guy. ..just like anyone else...just a little extra vision and leadership qualities.


I love Chris Dodd and have pretty much no problem with him as my state's senior senator. He seems to have remembered his fire in the wake of Teddy Kennedy's flip-out on the floor when he started yelling "what is it you people hate about working people?"...fantastic!
It makes me happy to hear him and to proud to have him out there...His voice is important....but he is not the next President of the United States or even possibly our nominee...so this is all an exercise in getting information out and providing a wide field for us. I am very happy with this field, btw. I was just really disappointed that Ned Lamont still feels that he owes a debt of gratitude to him for his endorsement, and is campaigning for him actively. I would have liked to see Ned put his energy and following behind Edwards (who was one of the first politicians to come out for him.)
A great moment was when Obama speaking of public financing of campaigns, made the mistake of saying "...and I'm glad that Chris has gotten on board with this!" to which Dodd said "Ive been taking that stance for 15 years, I'm no NEWCOMER!"...Snap!

Richards was, as always, impressive and wonderful...but again, I just don't see it, and since he has said that he is not even interested in a job in the next administration because he feels like he has the best job in the world, I feel like I'm happy to have his input in the process, but I'm not gonna spend alot of time and energy on him.

And then there are Kucinich and Gravel, who are the perpetual short straws in these things where they draw randomly as to who is gonna sit where. They made the perfect bookends to that crew and were largely ignored and overlooked. Kucinich had some good points but was not forceful and lacked fire. Gravel seemed to struggle in and out of lucidity, providing some comic relief here and there...but it seemed like just so much nonsense and a little embarrassing.





































Netroots Nation is going to be the new name of this convention, and I think that its fitting that Markos step back at this point from being the king of this little party and let it grow beyond a blogger comment site that has become a social networking site. This organization has to be allowed to become as powerful as it is, without the collar of the person that is Kos.
Markos gave a really nice speech, which was quite touching all in all...and the comedians ranged from just so-so to pretty OK...and the community feeling was pretty strong over ice cream sundaes for those who waned to stand on line for half an hour to make their own or ices for the rest of us that wanted coffee more than anything.... by the time we all ended up sitting round on the couches blogging and watching the drunken goings on out on the patio.

By the time I stumbled down to the closing brunch this morning and loaded up on fruit and...bacon... (and a pretty funny exchange with staff about the huge amount of vegan bacon available and not taken, how they never serve that and don't really know what it is, and remembering that Janeane Garafolo said that she is a vegan except for bacon and sausage!)and listening to the debrief comments by the panel and many of the commenter's from DK, it seems like everyone feels like it was a huge success and that its a must for next year, no matter where they hold it!

Best purchase (thanks to Jill): a long Ethernet cable so I could sit on the bed with the laptop...it has really changed my hotel experience to be able to lay in bed and be on line at the same time!!

Tomorrow AM I'm off to the shambles of my home, where my William has taken to his bed with a headache, a baby chick died, and apparently no laundry has been done in days...Mom is nauseous, so I'm out of luck. It is really hard to get away like this because the falloout comes pretty hard. Next time I may just get a pet sitter and bring Will and Ben along....let them hang out at the pool or something...maybe next year will be more kid friendly. Jr. Activist Caucus anyone?

So, I know what Ill be doing this week...not to mention all the actual WORK I have to do...
Oh well...you wanna play, you gotta pay!
I met some really great people, had a great time with Jill...and did some good writing. I love going to new cities, even if I don't get around much, and I love getting alot of new ideas and feeling like Ive got something to say.
Thanks to everyone who worked so hard on this thing. Its greatly appreciated and I'm really looking forward to next year!

I hate flying....wish me luck!

Greetings from the Yearly Kos....

Disgusted that I lost a pretty big post last night, and tired from the up all night getting things ready, stress, and travel itself, I’ve arrived in this flat place, where I have a Hyatt room with a view (check out the ballpark,), a Westin-like bed, not so heavenly, and even fireworks that were just set off outside of my window at dusk last night, so close and at an angle that I’ve never seen before.

Of course that bomb sound makes me jump, and I’ve been looking at a bridge collapse on Keith Olbermann, and feeling spooky in general….tired and worried. Finally I guess I have to turn off the TV and try to move on to the issues at hand.

This bridge thing is not about tragedy, folks…Its infrastructure! This is what happens when an administration puts all of its money into wars that feed their own cronies and pockets and….what happens when bids go out to the lowest bidder regardless of the quality of the work…with no oversight….no oversight…remember Reagan saying that there is no reason that big business cant oversee itself?...

It’s not like the Big Dig hasn’t been going on and on forever in Boston; and didn’t a huge slab of concrete fall from the ceiling of that onto some cars?

New York, and apparently Chicago are in constant construction, but it all seems to be scrambling to keep up, when general upkeep is defunded more and more.

Is this the fault of the unions? Large corporations that use