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Mon Feb 08, 2010 at 13:21:28 PM EST
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I know we thought Obama at long last made some great, fighting speeches recently. To the Righties, obsessed with despising Obama, those speeches were ridiculous, ego-driven lies strung together by a supreme egoist---- and, therefore, easily deprecated, ignored, and belittled. See this clip from PowerLine, a conservative blog, and the comment or interpretation of the small little clip of a fragment of an Obama speech. The righties really have to work to turn Obama's remarks into a personal assault on him, but they manage to do it:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/a...
Compare this with Gerard Alexander's attack on Obama and "liberals" in The Washington Post Outlook Section for Sunday, 7 February 2010 as being "condescending:"
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Mon Feb 08, 2010 at 07:11:33 AM EST
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Those words were spoken by a fictional character, C. J. of West Wing, to National Security Advisor Nancy McNally. The complete line is "They're killing women. They hate women. The only reason they keep women alive is to make more men." The Quirini of that episode were bad. The Hutu militias of the Congo are worse.
They are raping the women, and the little girls. Multiple times. With sex organs and with any object that's handy.
Nicholas Kristof has written about this. I recently wrote this diary about 1 of his columns. Yesterday, in The World Capital of Killing, he argues the death total may have exceeded the 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. He still writes about rape, and about Dr. Denis Mukwege, who has treated many of the raped, whose insides have been destroyed.
So does Eve Ensler, in a powerful piece in Glamour, Women Left for Dead-and the Man Who's Saving Them. I ask that you please keep reading.
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Sun Feb 07, 2010 at 16:20:04 PM EST
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It looks like even the Republicans in the General Assembly are pretty sick of Gov. Bob McDonnell's refusal so far to commit to amendments to cut the state budget by over $4 billion. In two weeks the budget committees in each house must have bills ready to adopt, but without executive leadership, the job is well nigh impossible.
Perhaps McDonnell is praying that four or five Republicans in the legislature will meet in a back room and devise ways to eliminate more than $4 billion from the budget and then take all the blame for the program cuts that will follow. That won't happen.
In an interview in the Richmond Times-Dispatch this weekend, State Sen. Tom Norment (R-James City), the Senate Republican floor leader, said, "It's going to take divine intervention."
I don't know if he is asking God to write the state budget or asking God to prod the new governor to show at least a tiny bit of leadership. Both appear to be long shots.
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Sun Feb 07, 2010 at 07:15:39 AM EST
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From liberal Frank Rich in the New York Times, repealing DADT is the right thing to do, and besides, at this point most conservatives know better than to make an issue of it, because the politics, especially among independents, is against them. Look at new Senator Scott Brown, who may be with them on financial issues, but like independent is not on social issues, because after all, in Massachusetts gay marriage is a settled issue.
From conservative Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post, there is no right to serve in the military. The real issue is military effectiveness. DADT is hurting the effectiveness of the military. Besides, her former Marine brother, who used to strongly oppose gays serving openly, now says leave it to the troops. But remember, no one has a right to serve.
And from me? I'm not a columnist. Leaders should lead. DADT was wrong when Clinton was President, it is wrong now. And politically, most young people want to know what all the fuss about gays is about.
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Sat Feb 06, 2010 at 15:05:51 PM EST
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Use this to comment on what you are seeing, doing, and thinking as we struggle through this mammoth storm. In Fairfax City the snow began yesterday about 10 AM, big fat, sloppy snow which came down but turned instantly to slush, and then it gradually changed to smaller, sharper pellets that descended furiously from the heavens. Suddenly the accumulation began to mount up. I shoveled a partial path to my air conditioner compressor heat pump on my back patio, and shoveled about 5 inches off the equipment---- and repeated this preventive maintenance four times. It turned much colder and windier and snowed overnight continuously---- everything disappeared under a thick, heavy, wet blanket of snow. A couple of hours ago the snow turned dry and powdery, and mounted up even faster; I continued to shovel a way to my heat pump.
All kinds of frantic birds are flying in flocks, swooping from snow-laden tree limb to snow laden tree limb, having no place to light, and unable to find food. Can birds eat flax seed? I will put some out for them. Just paid two energetic young boys 80 bucks to shovel mountains of snow in both front and back, and dig out my car. They will return tomorrow to re-do the entire job, as the shovelled part is re-filling with snow.
What's up with the rest of the world out there?
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Sat Feb 06, 2010 at 13:05:12 PM EST
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It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions (which often backfire). What I write about today isn't even euphemistically qualified under the label of "good intentions." It is far more convoluted than that. Instead our House leaders have conjured up a reckless ploy. They are playing with fire, and our lives, those of us who depend upon Social Security checks, small as many of them are (including mine). Here's what's up.
In a move described here, designed to embarrass Republicans, Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer are poised to force a vote on a resolution opposing the privatization of Social Security. They think they can shame the No-Shame players, who fill the ranks of the Republican House Caucus. But they cannot.
House Democrats are going to force their Republican colleagues to vote on a resolution opposing the privatization of Social Security. The move shows Democrats are putting their full political muscle into painting the Republicans as enemies of Social Security and using the chief GOP budget writer Rep. Paul Ryan's plan to cut benefits as evidence.
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Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 18:56:45 PM EST
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Sarah Palin's husband Todd had more than a passing interest in her governance. He sat in on many of her meetings and worked from her office. NBC has just posted the first batch of Todd Palin's emails, which were requested under the Freedom of Information Act in 2008.
The network has posted a searchable database of the emails here. The bulk of the emails remain hidden, by what is likely a misuse of "executive privilege." The public had and has every right to know the extent of the involvement of Todd Palin in the everyday workings of Alaska governance. This is especially true if Ms. Palin intends to run for higher office. Stay tuned for more on this unfolding story.
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Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 17:52:37 PM EST
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In the real world (that is outside the LaLaLand of the Senate), this would be called what it is. But not in the Senate. We citizens have gown too accustomed to it. And as a consequence, there have been increasing efforts to bring government to a standstill. It happened in the case of the new TSA nomination. The Senate republicans would not "allow" a vote on the President's nominee. And TSA was without its leader when the "Shoe Bomber" attempted to take down a plane. It happened also when Ben Nelson demanded special treatment or he'll kill health care reform. It went over so poorly, Ben Nelson tried after the fact to kill his own perverse amendment. Mary Landrieu demanded special treatment for LA, or else. Blanche Lincoln's contortions, rationalizations, and obstructionism were designed to give her singualar authority over health care (and a lot more). (Did you know she wrote her constituents suggesting she stood up to the President?" Now we see that the Senate "can vote on no more Obama nominations." Not one. The Imperial Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) has so decreed. 70 nominations have ground to a halt. It has come to this.
Sen. Richard Shelby's (R-Ala.) decision to place a "blanket hold" on all presidential nominations until a pair of billion-dollar earmarks for his home state are fast-tracked has reignited the debate over the parliamentary tactics being deployed by the Republican Party. It also has thrust into the spotlight the clout that major defense contractors often yield on the political process.
Read more here.
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Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 10:33:47 AM EST
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Let's face it. We live in a market-based world where everything seems to be treated as if it's up for sale. Political parties, whether they want to or not, have to "sell" themselves and their positions to voters. After all, we are asking those voters to be motivated to go to a polling place on a Tuesday and cast a vote for a Democrat who has promised them all sorts of things.
We Democrats in Virginia have a product to "sell," as well. I'm assuming that the product we are trying to sell is government that works for the average American, not just for the wealthy elite; government that protects ordinary citizens from the tyranny of the powerful; government that puts the environment and real people above court-mandated corporate "persons."
If we Democrats are going to market our party to voters, we should be able to tell people, concisely and clearly, exactly what we believe in and what we want government to do.
Recent history certainly has shown that the Democratic Party of Virginia needs to learn to market itself to the Commonwealth's citizens. It must communicate in clear, unequivocal language. It's time to stop talking vague policy and arcane procedure to the voters and start talking principle. Then, those principles must be translated into a legislative and executive agenda that can be presented to voters.
How else do we think we will ever get those first-time and presidential-election-only voters to realize that they are vital to bringing progressive change to Virginia and that we need then for every election. They need to be sold on the idea that their self-interest is at stake in local and statewide elections, not just national ones.
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Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 10:51:38 AM EST
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President Obama took his case to his own supporters last night. Here's the link to the video. Having had a great week following Q and A sessions with both Republican and Democratic Legislators, the President made his case to his supporters.
Although much of the event's introductory remarks were boilerplate, the President made a compelling case to reject disappointment, and stand strong to accomplish the Democratic agenda.
One thing that stood out was his enumeration of his accomplishments. In a communications world wherein one normally hears one soundbite or three talking points at a time, Rarely do you get a complete list. And it's easy to forget just how much he has accomplished.
Here are just some of the items he mentioned.
• Upheld the principle of Equal Pay for equal work;
• Restored stem cell research;
• Extended health care to 4 million more children;
• Passed the strongest Veterans bill in decades;
• Protected families from twin plague of mortgage fraud and predatory lending;
• Initiated more protections of children against tobacco companies;
• Justice Sotomayor confirmed;
• A National Service bill named for Teddy Kennedy;
• Began the process of repealing DADT;
• Began to rebuild our military;
• Reduced nuclear proliferation;
• Worked internationally to reduce green house gasses and reduce global warming;
• Banned torture;
• Began to leave Iraq;
• Charted a new path in Afghanistan and Pakistan;
• Set a new tone with the Cairo Speech;
• Lived up to our ideals by standing along side the people of Haiti;
• Admin governed and lead for a change;
• Refused to put a finger in the wind and govern by polls;
• Began the long journey to get to where we need to be;
• Unlike the previous administration, took action to stem the flow of job losses;
• Despite inheriting a system on the brink of collapse, reversed course and prevented a Great Depression;
• An economy that was shrinking by 6% is now growing by 6%
• Worst is past, but much devastation remains;
• Was the first to post White House visitors log online;
• Increased integrity by refusing to hire lobbyists in the administration;
• Requested that Congress use no more earmarks;
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