McNerney's First Democratic Radio Address

Jerry McNerney was selected to give the Democratic radio address that follows Bush's radio address. Very well-written. We can't take McNerney's hard-fought victory for granted and will need to make sure McNerney is re-elected in '08.

In this election, the American people clearly called for change: change in the way we do business in Washington, change in the way that we shape our energy policy, and most importantly, a change of direction in Iraq.

Read the entire address: here.
Listen to the address: here.

End of an error

Paul Krugman "A Failed Revolution" declares the so-called 1994 Republican revolution over:

As long as people like Mr. Armey, Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay were out of power, they could run on promises to eliminate vast government waste that existed only in the public's imagination--all those welfare queens driving Cadillacs. But once in power, they couldn't deliver.

[...]

Is that the end for the radical right? Probably not. As a long-suffering civil servant once told me, bad policy ideas are like cockroaches: you can flush them down the toilet, but they keep coming back. Many of the ideas that failed in the Bush years had previously failed in the Reagan years. So there's no reason to assume they're gone for good.

Well, this midterm election swept many of the buggers away, but as someone living in John Doolittle's district, I'm well aware that some remain.

Quotable

"Suburban parents dote on and hover over their children, micromanaging their appointments and shielding them in helmets, kneepads and thick layers of S.U.V. steel. But they allow the culture of boy-toy sexuality to bore unchecked into their little ones’ ears and eyeballs, displacing their nimble and growing brains and impoverishing the sense of wider possibilities in life.

There is no reason adulthood should be a low plateau we all clamber onto around age 10. And it’s a cramped vision of girlhood that enshrines sexual allure as the best or only form of power and esteem."

~ Lawrence Downes "Middle School Girls Gone Wild" NYT Editorial

Cheney turned "pugnacious" says President Ford

Nothing like being rebuked from "beyond the grave." In an interview with Bob Woodward to be published only after his death, Ford speaks candidly about the mistake of Bush's war on Iraq and the disappointing conduct of Cheney and Rumsfeld.

"Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. ...I just don't think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people unless it is directly related to our own national security."

Source: The Guardian

This truly is a "must see film"

The Ground Truth: After the killing ends

This is a very compelling and well-made documentary about veterans of the Iraq war. One aspect of this film that helped to make it so powerful was the use of music. I especially enjoyed the songs from Tom Waits and Patti Griffin. It's available from NetFlix and you can order the DVD directly from the filmmakers at thegroundtruth.net.

The Ground Truth is an honest and powerful representation of what killing does to soldiers and the bravery it requires to come home and tell the truth.
~ Geoffrey Gilmore

Rest in Peace

Gerald Ford
July 14, 1913 - December 26, 2006

"The political lesson of Watergate is this: Never again
must America allow an arrogant, elite guard of political adolescents
to by-pass the regular party organization and dictate
the terms of a national election."

Merry holidays!

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant:
if we did not sometimes taste of adversity,
prosperity would not be so welcome.
~ Anne Bradstreet

We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels,
we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.
~ Anton Chekhov

Top Ten Victories for Women in 2006

Compiled by the editors of Ms. Magazine:

POLITICS: 2006 is the breakthrough year of women leaders in the United States. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) becomes the first woman and first self-identified feminist Speaker of the House. As the third-in-line to the presidency, Pelosi now holds the highest public office achieved by a woman in United States history.

The 110 th Congress will have the largest number of women chairing committees: including Representatives Louise Slaughter, Nydia Velazquez, Juanita Millender MacDonald, and Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer will all head committees beginning in January 2007.

Women voters led the way in the 2006 election: the gender gap proves to be a determining factor in electing the new Congress. If only men had voted, exit polls show that the Republicans would have maintained control of the Senate.

A record number of women were elected to Congress (90) and state legislative seats (1,731). However, the U.S. still lags behind many other countries with women comprising only 16.3 percent of Congress and 23.5 percent of state legislatures.

Voters send a pro-women's rights message when they decisively defeat a draconian abortion ban in South Dakota and parental notification measures in Oregon and California. Women voters led the drive to approve a minimum wage increase in six states (AZ, CO, MO, MT, NV, OH) and to defeat a ban on same-sex marriage in Arizona .

HEALTH: The Food and Drug Administration issues two approvals for women's health and lives: after a long campaign by women's rights and reproductive health organizations, emergency contraception is approved to be sold without a prescription for women 18 and over; Gardasil, a vaccine for women and girls that prevents the spread of certain strands of the human papilloma virus (HPV) that can cause cervical cancer, is approved.

EDUCATION: Two major Title IX sex discrimination cases are finally settled in favor of girls' sports teams that were receiving proportionately less funding than their male counterparts at both a high school in Birmingham, AL and public schools in Prince George's County, MD.

BUSINESS: Indra Nooyi is named CEO of PepsiCo, becoming the 11 th woman to head a Fortune 500 Company. However, women still hold only 1.7 percent of corporate officer positions at the nation's largest companies.

TELEVISION: Katie Couric becomes the first woman at any network to anchor the weekday evening newscast alone and Ugly Betty , the first primetime television show to feature a working-class Latina , premiers as one of the hottest shows on network TV.

INTERNATIONAL: 2006 is the year of women leaders worldwide: Michelle Bachelet is elected the first woman president of Chile, immediately appointing a gender-balanced Cabinet and requiring gender parity in all government appointments; Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson is inaugurated as president of Liberia, becoming the first woman to head an African nation; Portia Simpson Miller was elected Jamaica's first woman prime minister; and Han Myeong Sook became the first woman Prime Minister of South Korea.

Quotable

"Schwarzenegger did not run as a Democrat, but as an opportunist who took advantage of a Democratic Party afraid to stand up for progressive values and stand strongly with it's chosen nominee."

~ Randy Bayne, at California Notes

Red & Blue Holiday Wishes

One of those e-mail things going around:

For My Democratic Friends:

"Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher."

For My Republican Friends:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

How the Right Wing steals our heroes

Excerpt from "How long will the right let us love Obama?"

Three Democratic leaders on the poll have faced the full wrath of the smear machine, two as the Democratic Presidential Nominee, the third as co-target of the attacks on President Clinton. And where are Al Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton? All are near the bottom of the rankings with favorability of under 50%. That is the power of the smear machine. This is what the machine does to our leaders - the leaders of the party of the people. It smears and attacks and destroys them.

Our point here is not whether you will vote for them, or volunteer for their campaign, or give them money, but do you, the American voting public, have a favorable impression of these leaders?

The sad and resounding answer is no. This is what the machine does to Democratic and Progressive leaders. It smears, and attacks and destroys them. It leaves millions of Americans with an uneasy feeling about John Kerry or Hillary Clinton, a bad taste in the mouth, "I don't know. I just don't like him." It's emotional. It's not rational. But it is very, very real.

[...]

And then there's Al Gore. Al Gore is one of the most remarkable leaders our country has had over the past twenty-five years. A Vietnam veteran, Congressman and Senator, Al Gore was visionary on Global Warming and the environment, actually did lead the development of the Internet, was an active Vice President fully participating in the administration that gave this country its finest years of the last forty.

Next, look at the background of Gore's opponent in the 2000 Presidential Election. And imagine that, remarkably, when all was said and done character emerged as the dominant theme of the 2000 campaign and it was Vice President Gore's character that was being called into question!

Just think about that for a minute - consider what kind of psychological manipulation of the public had to happen before that could be the case.

Now we are seeing the same pattern repeated with another 2008 hopeful, Senator Hillary Clinton. Every single American should have a favorable impression of Senator Clinton, regardless of whether or not they are supporting her as a potential candidate.

Hillary Clinton is the first woman in our nation's history, the very first, to have a legitimate shot at becoming President. She is an inspiration. She has the chance to make history. And yet, we repeat the Right Wing talking points about her. We say that she is "polarizing." And we say that she is "hated in her own party." And then there's that omnipresent, "I don't know, I just don't like her."

"...time wounds all heels..."

Guest blogger: Susan

Thanks for the notification, went to see it [The U.S. vs. John Lennon] Tuesday night. Every American Citizen should both see this movie, and reflect on the shame we as a nation felt for having elected Nixon, for not one, but a second term. The same as Bush. Gore Vidal, a Republican, couldn’t have made a better point. If it is released as a DVD eventually, I will buy enough to pass on for posterity. We should never be duped again.

If W held out an olive branch to me, I would feel the need to overcome my pacifist ways for a moment, and soundly thrash Bush with it for each life spent needlessly in his war, one I am convinced he had a hand in inciting. It would take more than an olive orchard to undo the damage Bush and his machine has done to our America , and the damage to our offer of goodwill throughout every nation.

John Lennon’s comment, regarding how time wounds all heels is the inspiration I needed to keep going.

A bad week for blowhards

First, Christopher Hitchens with his self-revealing and outright stupid remarks about female comics and now this from who should be the first inductee to the Hypocrite Hall of Shame:

Looked in a Mirror Lately, Bud?

"In all my time in Washington, I've never seen such smugness, arrogance, or such insufferable moral superiority. Self-congratulatory. Full of itself..."
--Bill Bennett, inflating to three times his normal size in righteous umbrage over the Iraq Study Group

Source: James Wolcott's Blog

My, My, Neil Young's "Lookin for a Leader" Receives Grammy Nominations

Nominated for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song

Young's album "Living with War" was nominated for Best Rock Album

Quotable

"You can do all the rotten things you want. Karma will leave you alone. Provided you are a rotten person. Rotten people never pay for their rottenness. Karma only goes after the halfway decent.

Truly good people never have to worry. They don't disturb the cosmic order. But they better watch out when they do. Step out of line once and they step right into the path of an onrushing metaphorical tractor trailor and get flattened.

Mostly, though, since the truly good are truly good because they don't step out of line ever, they're safe.

It's the rest of us, the middling good, the halfway decent, the not really bad but nobody's about to pin any medals on us, who have to worry."

~ Lance Manion, "Karma is a funny thing"

Media's real power

Yesterday, I posted an excerpt from a personal essay that was very well written and urged *all* of you to follow the link to finish reading it. Today, I'm posting an excerpt from one of the best blog posts I've read about media in a very long time. Sometimes, media's real power stems from the information that is selectively withheld.

I’ve been thinking about his for a long time, but it got moved to the front of the stove after we had all that trouble getting people to understand that when we referred to Bill Maher outing Republican party chair Ken Mehlman on Larry King Live, it was’t “outing” as they understood it. Washington insiders knew that Mehlman’s gay. That wasn’t why Larry King briefly looked poleaxed when Bill Maher mentioned it. He was shocked because Maher was talking about it where hoi polloi like us could hear.

- Teresa Nielsen Hayden, "Why I Blog"

The Zen or Big Lebowski of it All

From one of the best personal essays I've read in a long time:

"...I waddle up to the line and make sure my tacky blue-glitter shoes are tied properly and pointed in the right direction with my tacky blue sparkly ball. I then get marvelously lost in the moment, the Zen or Big Lebowski of it all, chucking the ball in the air like a shot put so it has a reasonable shot of landing near the head pin. And unlike the disease that has no cure, every shot sails out of my trembling hands with renewed hope that every darn one of those pins will fall down before I do."

- Joel Davis

You must read the whole thing. Pin me down - When a neurological disease hijacks your body, it’s time to go bowling