Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
Pretty much does say it all about the closing days of the Bush “43″ presidency.
An aside: from whence comes the term “lame duck“?
(This is not to say that there aren’t — scattered about federal agencies like mold spores — plenty of “Bushies,” still ready to do damage.)
Addendum: In comparison, the Obamas on day before Thanksgiving.
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
What do my friend, Zenfishing, and our president-elect, Barack Obama, have in common?
See if you can spot it. (Telegraph UK, 50 facts you may not know about Barack Obama)
Friday, November 14th, 2008
Yes, Idaho (as all states and provinces, I suppose) has some real winners. Here are two examples — a man from up north with a sign and a noose and a bunch of little elementary school students being raised up right[-wing].
Hey, be really proud.
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
I wrote an off-the-cuff email to Speaker Pelosi since she’s getting headlines for wanting to move forward on throwing money at GM and the other “Big Three” automakers. It’s not silver-tongued, but it’s earnest.
Speaker Pelosi,
No no no no no! Please reconsider the automaker bailout. It’s harder to say “no” but it will tarnish the Democrats with the same “spending like money’s growing on trees” brush that the Republicans of recent years have earned.
If you do move forward think long and hard. These are the companies that have ignored any forward thinking. They’re pumping out SUVs in the wake of Peak Oil for godsakes. They’ve mismanaged their way into this mess and they deserve no consideration. Note that other car companies aren’t failing. The ones that are forward-looking. I heard Honda in Canada is opening new plants.
And across the board: I am not wanting to hear any more stories about anyone getting bonuses or working in any but austere environments at financial firms or any other entities that are benefiting on the backs of US taxpayers. Please play it smart. I’d like Democrats to be in Congress more than two more years.
Respectfully,
{signature}
This is especially apropos in light of my recent posts noting innovation. (Something the Big Three think means adding bigger cup-holders.)
Sunday, November 9th, 2008
I’m just scanning a report — a bit dated now, it’s from mid-2007 best as I can tell — but I think the material covered deals enough with core values, or at least considered values, so I think the intervening year plus has little to no relevancy. Indeed, what I’m positing is that the Right misreads America, or at least a majority of her citizens.
The intro page gives a quick run down and links off so that you can either read the report or download a PDF.
The über-short synopsis is that Americans tend to favor the progressive rather than the right-wing point of view (by varying degrees, but consistently). Interestingly, however, they like the label “Conservative” (or “Independent”) and dislike the label “Liberal”. But by and large, they’re more caring of their neighbors and more concerned about the environment we all live in than you’d think.
All in all a hopeful trend. Ha! Look at me — I’d written off hope and progress like so many.
Monday, November 3rd, 2008
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
As mentioned in my last post, I’m not peppering my blog with links to all the cogent political arguments and telling YouTube moments of the past weeks. Barack Obama is simply the best candidate for the presidency that I’ve seen in a very long time, and he simply must win or America will never again resemble herself. For all those that are gleeful at the “sure thing” of his win, I point you to voting machines and disenfranchisement machinations and the sowing of confusion by lie and innuendo.
Which brings me to this perfect example. Spotted in Dowd’s 10/22/2008 column she’s talking about the backlash after Colin Powell endorsed Obama for president. (Whether or not this literally occurred or is a construction of Dowd’s for illustration isn’t relevant because there are hundreds of examples of similar illogic.)
He got a mass e-mail from a man wanting to spread the word that Obama was reading a book about the end of America written by a fellow Muslim.
“Holy cow!” Powell thought. Upon checking Amazon.com, he saw that it was a reference to Fareed Zakaria, a Muslim who writes a Newsweek column and hosts a CNN foreign affairs show. His latest book is “The Post-American World.”
I’ve gotten a couple of emailings myself these past few weeks. The first I gently rebuffed with “This is silly.” The second I responded to at more length, to which I received the response “Thanks for taking the time to send your civilized rebuttal.”—which nevertheless didn’t change her mind one whit. I generously allowed that “you know how it is when two people can be looking at the same vista from two positions and though they see the same thing, they see it quite differently. I can appreciate and respect your feelings on family. I know a strong and healthy family is a central value in so many cultures. But I see so many things that compromise family and I think our lists are not the same.”
Ah–enough. I have work to do.
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