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Now that even the corporatist beltway elite lackey media has slowly come to recognize the inevitability of the political version of the unbeatable New England Patriots losing the big one it's time to put the intramural pissing matches aside and to start reorganizing for a shot at the true target. The Hillary Rodham-Clinton campaign now faces fourth and thirty-two, has the ball at it's own twenty yard line, is down by eight and there are sixteen seconds left in the Super Bowl. It's not exactly officially in the books yet but the fat lady is humming and the opposing team has just administered the traditional Gatorade baptism to their head coach on the sidelines.
The corporate media, blogs and our individual attention spans are understandably consumed by the celebrity hype of presidential politics these days. Mothers Day however offers an opportunity for all of us to reflect on our society and individual families.
Women have made remarkable gains the past forty years. Indeed when Billy Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in their famous 1973 tennis match, women were typically denied credit cards simply for being women. Today women are CEOs, television news anchors and Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker of the House.
I got an email from a fairly fiscal conservative friend, who is socially liberal. She thought it funny and thought my head would explode. I found it funny too, and indicative of how the right has framed Liberals.
Democratic National Convention Schedule of Events
7:00 pm ~ Opening flag burning
7:15 pm ~ Pledge of Allegiance to the U. N.
7:20 pm ~ Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
7:25 pm ~ Nonreligious prayer and worship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton
7:45 pm ~ Ceremonial tree hugging
7:55 pm ~ Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
8:00 pm ~ How I Invented the Internet - Al Gore
8:15 pm ~ Gay Wedding Planning - Barney Frank presiding
8:35 pm ~ Ted Kennedy proposes a toast & explains the new amnesty program
8:40 pm ~ Our Troops are War Criminals - John Kerry
9.00 pm ~ Memorial service for Saddam and his sons - Cindy Sheehan and Susan Sarandon
11:00 pm ~ Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
11:05 pm ~ Collection for the Osama Bin Laden kidney transplant fund - Barbra Streisand
11:15 pm ~ Free the Freedom Fighters from Guantanamo Bay - Sean Penn
11:30 pm ~ Oval Office Affairs - William Jefferson Clinton
11:45 pm ~ Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
11:50 pm ~ How George Bush Brought Down the World Trade Towers - Howard Dean
12:15 am ~ 'Truth in Broadcasting Award' - Presented to Dan Rather by Michael Moore
12:25 am ~ Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
12:30 am ~ Satellite address by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
12:45 am ~ Nomination of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Nancy Pelosi
1:00 am ~ Ted Kennedy proposes a toast & provides swimming lessons
1:05 am ~ Coronation of Hillary Rodham Clinton
1:30 am ~ Ted Kennedy proposes a toast
1:35 am ~ Hillary Rodham Clinton announces Bill Clinton as her running mate for VP
1:40 am ~ Bill Clinton asks Ted Kennedy to drive Hillary home
Pentagon Embeds Ex-Generals In Media Ops
The NYTimes, on April 20, past, broke a long story which focussed on revelations that the Pentagon and the Bushevik regime had embedded military propagandists, mainly former Generals, in important consultative and commentariat positions with the major US Corporate Media organizations. The NPR Ombud addressed the issue at some (ultimately unsatisfying) length and delicately danced around the problem. She quoted NPR Defense correspondent Tom Gjelten:
Gjelten: "...A General wants to be a military analyst on NPR or some other news organization in order to curry favor with the Department of Defense which in turn will benefit him in his defense contracting. That's a hypothetical scenario we have to be concerned about."
In reply to which, I sent the following message to the NPR Ombudsone:
It is now official: every single justification behind the Afghanistan War and its seeming never ending occupation have been disavowed - by the very politicos that have been not only responsible for the lauching and conduct of this war, but likewise by those who have been staunchly supporting this conflict.
In other words: the Afghanistan war was absolutely for nothing.
Just how is John McCain getting away with endorsements from such extremist pastoral advisors, two of the most right wing warmongering preachers in America: the anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian, and Islamophobic, John Hagee and Rod Parsley. This alert which was just received from BraveNew Films, says: McCain's "Spiritual Guide" Wants America to Destroy Islam.
We have all heard of Rev. John Hagee, the McCain supporter who said God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its homosexual sins. Well now we have Rev. Rod Parsley, the televangelist megachurch pastor from Ohio who hates Islam. According to David Corn of Mother Jones, Parsley has called on Christians to wage war against Islam, which he considers to be a "false religion." In the past, Parsley has also railed against the separation of church and state, homosexuals, and abortion rights, comparing Planned Parenthood to Nazis.
The Open is open for non sequitars and random thoughts. But directly below this are two excellent essays by Ed Encho and Stephen Crane.
I have to go on a job site today with the girl who got beat up in my horror story below. They will pick up the man who assaulted her today; one can only hope his nutsoid girlfriend doesn't come looking for retribution.
Onward to West Virginia! After duping fewer of the "white niggers" in the Hoosier state into believing that she is some sort of brawling, beer drinking, elbow wrestling, blue collar 'one of them' the bitter and recalcitrant monster that is Hillary Rodham-Clinton moves the goalposts one more time. The non-elitist who just happens to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of at least $ 109 million dug around in the sofa cushions in order to lend her never ending crusade another $ 6 million and change in order to remain solvent while the operatives work their chicanery and try to strong arm, sweet talk, cajole and bribe those superdelegates into getting with the fucking program and throwing in the Clinton restoration - when will those fuckers get it that Tracy Flick 2008 is entitled to the presidency goddammit?
I had a new neighbor move in a while back. I wrote about her before. (probably on mlw, not going to look it up)
I met her through her working at a local flower stand that opens a month or so a year and through the schools. Bubbly, if not a little overwhelming, definitely type "A". (I seem to attract those.)
They moved in the neighborhood, and she decided to (try) and make me her new best friend.
It gets uglier from here, almost like an episode of 24. Thank God I was not involved in any of it.
I tell ya; in short, her and her boyfriend are both prison bound, and my taste in other human beings is totally in question anymore. I trust way the fuck too easily.
At least one high profile war critic sounds alarmed by a recent revelation that Mr. Bush signed a "secret finding" against "the Iranian regime" six weeks ago. I'm frankly less than agog about it.
In a May 2 CounterPunch article, Andrew Cockburn wrote that Bush has launched a "covert offensive" on Iran that is "unprecedented in its scope." The "directive covers actions across a huge geographic area - from Lebanon to Afghanistan." The directive, according to Cockburn, also permits an expanded range of actions, "up to and including the assassination of targeted officials."
Wow, I thought as I read it. That's some scary sounding stuff. Then, out of habit, I rescanned the piece to note who Cockburn's sources on the secret finding were, and here's what I found: "those familiar with its contents."
Great. Caesar's. Ghost. Credibility wise, that kind of thing puts Cockburn and CounterPunch on an even footing with Michael R. Gordon and the New York Times.
In the Spotlight for Environmental Essay for April:
The Rape of Louisiana, Part II
by: Carinthia
Carinthia Of The Paradox of Vision, a marvelous blog run by she and her fabulous husband El Prez, is on our spotlight!
Visit Carinthia's blog, and be sure to look for more of her work here.
I am honored to have her here!
An honorable mention goes to Srliberal, whose worthy essay was left out of the voting by my own error, and his work Rethinking Nuclear Power? which also got a wide response and merits recognition. If you missed that please read it.
Thanks to all who participated in our recognition of Earth Day, and all the Environmental issues that need addressing!!!
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Welcome to WWL, a place for Liberal Politics, Op/Eds, Information, Rants and Just Plain Fun. I consider this a Radical Gumbo, with many varied ingredients making more than the sum of its parts!
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