The incomparable Farmer of corrente takes us back to a White House tea party in 1929 that tells us something about our own time.

Ever wonder why global warming has never caught on as a big political issue in the United States? I think it’s because people are focused on their immediate surroundings and a very near term time horizon. So in order to convince people to support environmentally friendly programs, it makes sense to show tangible problems that the program is going to solve.

A test case of this theory will be the FasTracks initiative that will be on the ballot in the Regional Transportation District in metropolitan Denver this fall. Proponents and opponents of this mass transit funding initative are gearing up for multimillion dollar ad blitzes. And while big picture environmental questions are being left out of the equation, local ones might prove to be decisive.
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Over at LiberalOasis, which I run from my Brooklyn apartment, I’m mostly focused on results: offering analysis and advice to help Dems win and help liberal positions triumph. I put aside my personal hankering for political theater.

And as political theater, the New York primary has been an immense let down.

Historically, New York has not played a maverick role, often punching the ticket of the frontrunner. But it usually makes them dance first.
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California continues its temper tantrum and the outcome of this civic immaturity may be dramatic. The LA Times today is framing the election on Tuesday as a measure of Arnold Schwarzenneger’s clout and, sadly, I suspect this is true. The most important thing is that it’s just so, well…kewl that our governor is a movie star.
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It’s starting to become clear that, to the Bush administration — and their corporate and media cohorts — the definition of a “terrorist” is “someone we don’t like.”

All in the past week, we were treated to the following spectacles:

– An administration official — the education secretary, no less — declaring the National Education Association a “terrorist organization.”

– The chairman of American International Group referred to lawyers who are opposed to Republican plans for tort reform as “bar terrorists.”

– CNN’s Judy Woodruff, in an interview with Jean-Bertrand Aristide, chiding the Haitian leader that the armed thugs rampaging through the island nation were not “terrorists” but rather “political opponents.”

But in the meantime, a mail bomber in Arizona can set off an explosion in a government office — one aimed at promoting racial diversity — and hardly anyone hears a peep about it. Certainly, no one has begun referring to the attack as terrorism, even though that is quite clearly what it is.

It happened Thursday in Scottsdale:

Bomb in mail injures 3 at Scottsdale city office

Don Logan, director of Scottsdale’s Office of Diversity and Dialogue, suffered serious burns on his hands and arms in the 1 p.m. explosion at the Human Resources Building near Scottsdale City Hall. A mailroom employee delivered the letter-size package to Logan, to whom it was addressed, in his cubicle.

Logan’s secretary, Renita Linyard, and a co-worker, Jacque Bell, suffered minor injuries.

When the package exploded, it shot shrapnel into the walls, carpet and ceiling and burned a 3 1/2-inch-wide hole in Logan’s desk. About 25 people were evacuated from the building.

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Here are the Feb. 23-25 SUSA numbers for Rhode Island’s quiet ‘race’. SUSA’s Feb. 11 poll results are in parenthesis.

Kerry 66 (70)
Edwards 23 (11)
Kucinich <7 (<6)
Sharpton <7 (<6)

With a MOE +/- 5% , this sample size of 354 looks at ‘certain’ voters and excludes ‘probable’ voters.
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Maryland joins the fray on Super Tuesday after state Democratic party leaders including Chair Ike Leggett moved the primary up in an attempt to gain more attention from presidential candidates. Will Tuesday be the last gasp for candidates like Sen. John Edwards trailing Sen. John Kerry or a reversal of fortunes that reinvigorates a race that otherwise might be all but over?

The American Research Group, in a poll done Feb. 27 – 28 shows Kerry leading Edwards 46% to 35%, a slight widening of the gap indicated on their Feb. 23 - 25 poll showing Kerry ahead of Edwards 42% to 35% with 15% undecided and everything else in small single digits among registered Democrats likely to vote. Democrats on the ground seem to feel that, while many want this race to be over so that the focus can be on beating President Bush, Edwards remains competitive.

A Mason-Dixon poll, on the other hand, shows Kerry with a dramatic 3 to 1 lead over Edwards in polling done Feb. 23 to 25. Those results would seem to be supported by a Survey USA Poll from Feb. 3-5, while presumably out-of-date, which calls Maryland a formality and gives Kerry an overwhelming lead of 47% and Edwards 15%. This suggests that even Dean’s dedicated followers who still talk about organizing for him, and the supporters of Clark are among those probably making Edwards more competitive. Repeated poll results and conversations with Democrats around the state indicate that none of the other candidates are moving at all, despite grassroots efforts.
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I went to check on the latest from the liberal radio network called Central Air. I guess it dawned on them that the name sounded more like air conditioning, because this was all I found new there:

Central Air is now Air America Radio

On March 31, 2004 Air America Radio begins airlifting entertaining, progressive talk radio to millions of Americans who for far too long have been and are being neglected by talk radio broadcasters today.

Our on-air personalities and guests represent today’s top political and popular humorists, commentators, activists and analysts.

Our irreverent, informative programming sparks the kind of challenging political and social dialogue that has been absent from AM radio for years.

Our programs will mix provocative conversation, challenging interviews and biting political satire.

This is a pretty interesting scam that undercuts other vets more deserving:

I have nothing but the deepest respect for the men and women of the U.S. Navy. During the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, they served diligently as their flattops mounted day and nighttime air strikes in support of the Army soldiers and Marines on the ground, and they endured long months at sea with scant liberty port visits. I also have the highest admiration for military leaders who consciously look after their people, and go the extra mile to get them recognition, rewards and benefits to make their service more tolerable. But what the Navy did in terms of awarding “imminent danger pay” and “combat zone tax relief” for the crews of the carriers USS Harry Truman and USS Theodore Roosevelt and their escort ships – and perhaps many other warships still unknown – was nothing short of criminal fraud.

Correctly, he puts the blame on the leadership. It’s also a relief to see that Ahmad Chalabi is finally getting long overdue scrutiny for his scams, too, as reported by Major Barbara.

It also appears that some of our terror prosecutors may be displaying the same degree of ineptitude as the LA team that went after OJ. This further highlights the danger of a government limiting judicial oversight of the Gitmo prisoners. Eliminating all due process oversights there permits complete abuse of justice without the necessity of messy stuff like, yanno, evidence.

It’s also surprising - given the legit fears we have about terrorist cells in this country - to discover how easily they may have infiltrated our military. How convenient. Now they don’t even have to pay for flight school tuition with Uncle Sam provided this service to them.

Daddy, are we safer yet? And what happened to the boy-king’s clothes?

Head to Brad DeLong’s and make yourself herd. And don’t have a cow, man.

While theorizing on that, why not also try visualizing dropping some coin in the Paypal collection plate for this site? As a card-carrying member of the Working Poor, Unincorporated, the cost of building and maintaining a site dedicated to the passionate defense of an American democracy built on the mainstream foundations of the progressive advance of human and civil rights and the informed debate of an engaged citizenry can be daunting.

None of the proceeds go to the support of any of my bad habits other than the nurture of my malformed wit, which couldn’t make it on its own.

When I read the freeper’s article challenging the authenticity of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, I wondered aloud if others had addressed this.

Googling, I learned that Guenter Lewy, an anti-totalitarian poli sci professor who fully supported the Vietnam War, and HG Burkett were the two whose books sought to debunk the VVAW. Republican Senator John McCain has denounced Burkett before for his attacks on Kerry. Lewy, however, seems to be a credible guy.
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With Dirk Steele’s post (below, two posts down) we begin our Super Tuesday primary coverage. CA, NY, OH, GA, MN, MA, MD, CN, RI, VT will vote next Tuesday, and it may surprise some, but at least half appear to be competitive. From now through Monday, our team will provide the latest lowdowns on each.

We also invited OnBackground aboard as a guestblogger to cover one of them. OB is “a policy analyst and communications consultant with campaign, legislative, and advocacy experience” from Maryland.

On Wednesday, we’ll get a roundup of results and exit poll findings, and we’ll repeat the process for the TX, FL, LA, MS primaries that follow a week later. As we scour the mainstream and alternative news sites of all cities of 50,000 or more, and the bloggers from each state that we know, we hope to provide the most comprehensive coverage available online.

John Kerry launched a major broadside on the Bush foreign policy yesterday, claiming those policies had weakened our military. He also announced his own detailed plan for the protection of our nation.

The Baltimore Sun provided a nice background on John Edwards that might add to your knowledge of him.

I’ll add something about the ‘two Americas’ theme that Edwards has campaigned on. In an excerpt from his new book, 20/20 co-anchor John Stossel provides a definite must-read “Confessions of a Welfare Queen: How rich bastards like me rip off taxpayers for millions of dollars.”

And, while the President leads the quest to exclude millions of Americans from the right to marry, I agree with Sheila Lennon: it’s about time to grant equal rights to the majority, FIRST.

I don’t know what this means, but it really pisses me off:

Michael Moore stödjer Wesley Clarks kampanj och pekar på att när Vietnam-kriget pågick var Wesley Clark general medan George W Bush var desertör. Moores påståenden har upprört mycket känslor i USA, tyvärr verkar det som om Moore har rätt, här finns också en länk till videon där Moore uttrycker sin önskan att få se en debatt mellan generalen och ‘desertören’.

And then there’s this foreigner, who I originally thought had called Our Leader a “Homo Retardus,” but then, I figured out that the “konservatiivisen fratboyn” to whom he was referring was my friend, John.

Blogi “IU Day by Day” tarjoaa näkymän keskilännen konservatiivisen fratboyn opiskelijaelämään. Tämä blogi, joka tuo elävästi mieleen koneteekkarit, toimii samalla hyvänä muistutuksena siitä, millainen keskivertoihmisen kirjallisen tuotoksen taso on, ja millaisia blogit tyypillisesti olisivat, jos niiden kirjoittajat olisivat oikeasti edustava leikkaus väestöstä. Sebastyne-tyylinen mallilainaus

‘I filled out applications for most of the day. Witch by the way if you are a company and looking for a intern call me.

I met some of my fraternity brothers for lunch. Witch is always a good time.

That night I went Miss Saigon with a girl I met in my religions class. I was always kind of curious about the plays that go on in the theater. And I could not just go by my self or with my fraternity brothers because that would make me a fagit. The only way straight guys should ever go into a musical theater is with a girl. Or else he does not like girls.’

osoittaa, miksi kommenteissa bloginpitäjästä käytettiin termiä “Homo Retardus”.

I just can’t get very excited about Tuesday’s primary in Ohio. I’ve already seen a Kerry victory speech once a week for the last two and a half months. It’s getting to be more than a little bit boring.

Wednesday is the day when Ohio becomes exciting. It’s when Ohioans start thinking about November and the state’s role as 2004’s battleground’s battleground. The race for the White House is very likely to be won or lost in the Buckeye state, and right now, it doesn’t look good for Bush.

The old adage that people vote with their pocketbooks comes into play here. In Ohio, those pocketbooks are lighter than they’ve been in years. At six percent, it ranks eighth from the bottom in unemployment with joblessness in one county hitting nearly 17%. Nearly a quarter of a million non-agricultural jobs have left the state in the last four years.
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Whichever of the Democratic candidates becomes the party’s nominee, he’ll spend the next eight months trying to develop solutions for these problems in pursuit of a more promising future:

Unfortunately, he’s likely to underestimate the Republican nominee’s intuitive sense about what Americans really want:
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Over time, in the great citizen discourse that is the blogosphere, the efforts of a few stand out because of the excellence of research that creates a database of useful information or because of questions raised or calls to action that demand a high degree of soul searching by the citizens of our republic.

I’ve run across a few things recently that meet this standard and decided to keep them permanently enshrined in a new sidebar section titled “Vox Populi Viaduct”. If you’re as quirky as me, the name ‘viaduct’ immediately brings to mind the title of a Marx Brothers movie, which reveals the full extent of my Marxist leanings. But the real definition is “A series of spans or arches used to carry a road or railroad over a wide valley or over other roads or railroads” and it seemed apropos, as the intent of this category is to serve as a span to carry us over a maze of roads that seem designed to confuse us, before we get completely lost.

Certainly there’s many issues this nation faces where such viaducts would be useful. Yet I consider the matter of our national security to be the greatest one before us for two reasons. Not only must we be prepared to recognize armed foes and be prepared to defeat them, but we also must be vigilant against the threats to our freedoms that too often occur when political opportunists manipulate the public during moments of fear. Vox Populi Viaduct shall serve as a span of thought to counter all enemies, foreign and domestic.

The first two listings there are the well-known compilations of Billmon and Quiddity Quack. Selling the WMDs (Billmon) is the record of the Bush administration’s campaign of fear of mass catastrophe and Myths of a Connection (Quiddity Quack) is the campaign to tie Saddam Hussein to Al Qaida. Both were used to arouse citizens and build support for the invasion of Iraq. And both were campaigns built on the thinnest of evidence that hasn’t borne up well under close inspection prior to or after the war.

Credit also goes to elvis56 of Lunaville for setting up both in permanent repository. The other, equally important viaduct links require credits to three other bloggers, and a news outlet.
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President Bush, in the spirit of fully cooperating with the 9/11 commission, has agreed to permit them to ask him twenty questions in a closed session on a Sunday behind the old gnarled oak tree next to the Thomas Jefferson memorial in the dead of night under a new moon during the Year of the Ox.

“We’re confident that this compromise is one which the commission will gladly accept,” said Scott McClellan. The compromise was the result of “meeting halfway” between the unlimited numbers of questions under oath in an open session that the commission wanted and the President’s initial offer of no questions whatsoever in a closed session with a representative of the President, a norwegian hedgehog named Bruce.

Thomas Kean, chairman of the commission, is to ask the first question of the President, namely “Is it animal, vegetable, or mineral?“. The last question is expected to be “Does it require specific knowledge to use it?”

“We’re pretty sure it’s either a verb, or a secret,” said vice-chair Lee Hamilton.

“We need to know what went wrong on 9/11 in order to make sure we’re doing everything we can to make this country secure,” said White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. “The President feels that there is nothing more important than making this country secure — except, perhaps, getting reelected.”
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It’s always pleasant to see the resume fleshed out and a photo attached to a fellow blogger. Despite all the good reasons one may choose anonymity, I feel the strongest connections to those able to put themselves fully online, as MB has. Go, donate a little more to help her campaign.

The top anonymous blogger came out from behind the curtain a little in this news article. Every little bit helps make that primal connection.

It appears Steve Gilliard may be home this weekend. His sister Jen indicates his health is much improved and in another week or so, he may be blogging again.

And what of our own? Here’s a few members of our team:

Shari mentions a milestone every loving parent will recognize. How quickly the years pass…

Jeralyn Merritt points out that one of our chief justices is developing quite a pattern of conflict-of-interest breaches that makes a mockery of America’s justice system. An activist judge can create heartburn for a legislator but an unethical one at this level can destroy an entire branch of government. [Correction: as a commenter noted, he’s not a ‘chief’ justice. Scalia’s just a pedestrian judge whose prior rep as a smart one has clearly been overcome by the holes in his sole.]
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mimi swartz, executive editor of texas monthly, writes on op-ed piece for the nytimes, examining in detail how little everyone examined in detail awol’s military service whenever he runs for office:

according to mr. bush, reporters conducted a thorough investigation of his time in the texas national guard when he ran against ann richards for governor in 1994, and again when he ran against al gore in 2000. the complete guard records, the president told tim russert on “meet the press,” were “scoured.”

this came as news to me, as i lived in and reported from texas during those times and feel that questions about the story — mr. bush’s life story — linger 10 years after his first political victory. why they linger is a more complicated question, one that has as much to do with the press as it does with the president.

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Dear Representative _________;

Initially, the president opposed the creation of the commission. After the will of the people became clear, he changed to a position of support. It took a year to get the process started. It has taken numerous efforts for the commission to overcome resistance in the Pentagon, the White House and State Department to gain access to materials necessary for their work, even though the White House permitted a journalist previous access to some of those documents.

Now that 9-11 Commission needs a two-month extension to properly complete its work. The president supports that. The Republican Speaker of the House has refused.

This is an issue above politics. As an American, I believe we need to have this investigation completed properly. As a caring neighbor, I think the families of nearly 3,000 victims deserve to know exactly what happened and why. It would dishonor the dead to do any less.

As a citizen, I want to know how a band of renegades and rogues and murderers were able to penetrate the defenses of the strongest military in the world and successfully strike one of its major command centers at the Pentagon. Though the guilt falls on the murderers and the people who supplied, funded and sheltered them, I want to know why not a single person in our intelligence agencies, military command or appointive office has been held accountable for anything at all when there is a significant body of public evidence that indicates a number of errors were made.

How else can we know what occurred and how we might prevent future occurrences? How can we have confidence in the leadership we have in the present war against terrorists when our president can not even lead the Speaker of the House to grant sixty more days to complete this job properly?

The Speaker’s response lacks reason, lacks conscience, lacks compassion for the families and does a disservice to us all. I encourage you to use your good office and all means at your disposal to persuade Representative Hastert to grant this extension. It is imperative to our trust in our government that complete disclosure and full accountability occur in this matter.

Respectfully;

_____________________
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Get Your War On #32

Yoosta Bees

Troubletown

Theocracy

His & His

Colin, by Boondocks

Bush gets Pentagon Warning

Preamble

in one of those instances where no punchline would be considered either (a) tasteful or (b) funnier than the truth itself, a movie goer suffered a heart attack at a screening of mel gibson’s the passion of the christ and died during the crucifiction scene. the kansas city channel tells us:

fifty-six-year-old peggy law collapsed during the first public showing at the warren theater in east wichita. she suffered a heart attack during a climactic scene in the film, kmbc reported.

“it was during the time that they were crucifying christ, and putting the nails in his hands and feet,” one witness said.

not a good endorsement. we can only assume she’s in heaven, pestering st. peter for her money back.

[ed. note: we warned you the punchline wouldn’t be tasteful or funny].

Educational issues finally emerged from undercover with this week’s spectacular remarks by our Secretary of Education, Rod Paige.

These remarks did not come out of a vacuum. Under increasing pressure for a number of weeks, the Department of Education (DOE) under Paige has been working hard to salvage the President’s signature education bill, No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Mary Ratcliff has written a wonderful big picture view of this at the Left Coaster.
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I think it’s fair to say that the cloistered conservatives who still can’t get over the notion that their pee-pees are dirty, are having multiple orgasms lately as they foist their perversion aversions on an audience of too many that still feel guilt about pleasure.

People may hurt, suffer and die, but if they do so while thinking about God or in the name of God, why that’s hunky-dory. But when God’s name is invoked in the course of having fun, baby, you’re gonna be dipped in the eternal deep-fat fryer because, yanno, ours is a loving God.

What a load of sado-masochistic crap these Prophets of Pain are flinging. Whip me, beat me, spank me Cosmic Daddy; I didn’t order bombs dropped that killed innocent civilians but I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill, so scorch my heiny and let the Demon Beasts gnaw on my bones. I deserve it, ’cause enjoyment of a few moments in a miserable world is not permissable, according to the Dominatrixes of Doom.
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For over two centuries, states have infringed on the US Constitution by passing laws that deny some part of their population the rights others have. This is par for the course. What offsets these local laws is a national belief that minorities shouldn’t lose rights because they inflame the prejudice of the majority. The US Constitution has explicit provisions to protect minorities. But now, for the first time in 228 years, the federal government (in the figure of George Bush) is threatening to amend the Constitution to specifically remove rights.

There’s no other way to regard it. While the spin holds that hetero bigots have the right to not be offended by gay marriage, a Constitutional amendment to that effect wouldn’t give them more rights. It would remove the rights of other citizens. You can’t spin this as a rights-granting change.
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Now that Wesley Clark is out of the race and it’s down to Kerry v. Edwards, who am I for?

I’m very glad you asked that question. Now, if there are no further questions, class is dismissed.
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