Taking Back the Center (One Extremist At A Time)

viola_dreamwalk @ 2:43pm: "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street"
Just another reason that Keith Olbermann is totally my TV news boyfriend:

As a veteran of eight years in therapy, and a fascinated student of the process, it should be noted that people who publicly deride it tend to actually be those who know they need it most. Latent On-the-Couch-iality or something. Somewhere from deep inside Mr. Rove is screaming "get me a shrink."

...If there really is a functional al-Qaeda on the continent, it hasn't needed to attack us since 9/11 because we're all the Claude Akins and Jack Westons from the episodes accusing each other of collaboration.

In this vital area at least, the terrorists have already won. Nobody has to tear our country down; our leaders are doing it for them.

viola_dreamwalk @ 1:17pm: Rush is a band.
* Moderate Republican blogger Charging RINO is calling for a "revolution of reason":

A revolution of reason. This will not be an easy task. There are those at both ends of the political spectrum who dislike reasoned debate, because it's much easier to get on the evening news when you shout than when you make a quiet but sincere argument. The ideologues on the right and on the left don't believe in compromise, because they can raise more money to keep themselves in power from those outraged few who cluster with them at the fringes. It will be up to us, the mighty middle, the majority who until now have been too silent, to make our arguments heard. We can no longer watch in stunned horror, shaking our heads on the sidelines as the right and the left play political football with the issues of the day; we must take to the field, and we must commit ourselves to the cause of reason with just as much dedication that those embattled farmers did back in the spring of '75.

Be reasonable. Is that too much to ask?

* E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post writes about the coming 'Revolt of the Middle':

If you were to prepare a list of the top 10 stories you will never, ever read in a newspaper, one of them would surely include a sentence beginning: "Thousands of angry, screaming moderates took to the streets yesterday demanding..." You can finish that sentence however you would like. The accepted view in politics is that moderates don't get angry, don't scream and don't demonstrate...

But something important has happened since President Bush's inauguration. America's moderates may not be screaming, but they're in revolt.

* The Bull Moose has a joygasm over the possibility of a moderate revolt.

* May 16-20 is US National Bike to Work Week. If you can bike, even part of the way, to work or school, try it that week. It's good for you, it's good for the planet, it helps alleviate gridlock and road rage. Check out the site, the Bike to Work people have lots of good info -- and you can even win a free bike.

* christianleft reports that "[n]ationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh claimed that "the religious left ... hates and despises the God of Christianity." What with the what now? Oo-kay.

If that's too depressing for you, check out christianleft's reprint of progressive Christian author Anne Lamott's article 'God Doesn't Take Sides'. Trust me, it will make you feel better.

* And in response to all the Religious Right nuttiness of late, Sojourners quotes Kierkegaard:

"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament."

- Soren Kierkegaard

viola_dreamwalk @ 11:59am: Before these crowded streets -- Earth Day Post
I've always been a little ambivalent about Earth Day because it seems slightly tokenistic to me, but with more and more people on both sides of the political aisle getting more invested in the health of the planet -- well, it certainly can't hurt. So, here are some links (some of them I've posted here before) to earth-friendly info and resources.

* Anna Sova Luxury Organics offers all-natural, non-toxic paints, textiles, gifts, candles, chocolates and more. Want to plan an organic, planet-friendly wedding? They've got you covered. Not sure which cleaning products are best for you and the environment? Anna Sova can tell you. This site is amazing. Go check it out.

* Renewable Choice offers wind power certificates for your home or car. I love their "commuter program" -- for $3.60 per month, I can buy enough wind power to off-set the fossil fuel emissions from my daily commute.

* Ask your local power company about their renewable energy options and incentives. For an extra $.008 per kilowatt, all the electricity for my apartment comes from clean, renewable, non-polluting sources.

* Request paperless billing. Everyone from your credit card company to your internet provider now offers the option of delivering your billing statement via email. You can still send in a check to the billing address, but you won't receive that monthly envelope stuffed with glossy advertisments that wind up in the trash.

* Starbucks is having Earth day celebrations at its store locations, with live music and offering tips on how individuals and corporations can be environmentally responsbile. Some of their ideas? Use your own coffee cup at your local store and save $.10 on your latte. Or receycle used coffee grounds in your garden or compost pile.

* The EPA has Five Things You Can Do To Reduce Air Pollution

* Check out EnergyStar CFL lightbulbs as an alternative to those expensive GE Soft Whites. I use these in my overhead lights, and love them. They use a fraction of the energy of a conventional lightbulb, give off a nice, soft glow and only need be replaced every couple of years.

* Sojourners magazine has a special environmental issue on Down-to-Earth Theology:

Our writers will take you from fishing boats in the North Atlantic to the Peruvian rain forest, from a rural retreat in Washington state to a Maryland bog, from the Garden of Eden to the highways and byways. And you'll find practical discussion of a faithful relationship with God's creation that ranges from our individual spiritual lives and habits to our collective shaping of policy.

* Sojourners is also helping sponsor an Earth Day discussion on "Sacred Oceans and Seas" with the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Programs.

* And what Earth Day would be complete without the Toyota Prius and all the other shiny, new hyrbid vehicles coming to car dealers within the next year:

Toyota is doubling production to sell 100,000 new Priuses in the US this year. This spring, the company will introduce the Lexus RX 400h, billed as the world's first luxury hybrid, followed by the Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV. And it's considering opening a US manufacturing facility...

Of course, Toyota's not the only company with a hybrid on the market (see "Hybrids Hed2Hed"). Honda has the Civic Hybrid, Accord Hybrid, and Insight. Nissan licensed Toyota's technology for the forthcoming Altima Hybrid. Ford introduced the Escape Hybrid SUV and Chevrolet has the Silverado Hybrid pickup. But Toyota has sold more hybrids than all other automakers combined, and it's the only manufacturer fully embracing the technology's long-term prospects... [w]hich means that if there's going to be a hybrid in every garage come 2020, Toyota must lead the way. It may seem odd that the company poised to overtake General Motors in the next few years as the world's biggest automaker is out to render the traditional internal combustion engine obsolete. But the early success of the Prius is making believers out of Toyota suppliers.

viola_dreamwalk @ 12:32pm: Let's take to the streets and shout, "Be Reasonable!"
* "The problem is, the center doesn't give as much of a shit as the crazies." On The Daily Show, Jon Stewart interviews John P. Avlon, author of "Independent Nation: How the Vital Center Is Changing American Politics." Really good stuff. Check it out.

* In that vein, check out centrist blogs the Centrist Coalition and the Moderate Voice.

* One of my very favorite centrist bloggers, The Bull Moose, has this to say about those kooky Right Wing Elites:

What is most damaging to the Republicans is that they appear out of touch with America. For years, the right's rap on the left was that it was dominated by intellectual elites who couldn't relate to America. That can now be said of the right. The conservatives are now a mix of inside-the Beltway egg-heads and K Street hustlers. The Schiavo case and social security privatization are two issues that illustrate the gulf between America and the right.

* Operation Truth is helping generate support and awareness for the recently-introduced "Comprehensive Assistance for Veterans Exposed to Traumatic Stressors Act of 2005." Congress has been cutting funding for the Veterans Administration, so OpTruth wants to show lawmakers that this bill has citizen support. Go here for more info.

* Success! See, it actually does happen from time to time... be_bold reports that the Stop Fake News campaign has been successful. The FCC "declared that TV broadcasters must disclose the source of video news releases (VNRs) produced by the government." Read all about it, here.

* Oh, look! Another one: Senator Kerry recently introduced measures designed to aid military families that lose an active duty loved one. Both measures, part of the proposed "Military Families Bill of Rights," passed.

viola_dreamwalk @ 11:49am: I close, dear Wormwood, with my usual admonition - "Leave no fingerprints behind."
* Sojourner's Jim Wallis talks about The pope, Terri Schiavo, and moral consistency:

One of the great attractions of Pope John Paul II's spirituality was his consistency. At the core of Catholic social teaching is the idea of a "consistent ethic of life," an ethic that seeks to protect and defend human life and dignity wherever and whenever they are threatened, and which challenges the selective moralities of both the political left and right... Consistency is deeply attractive to people who long for public integrity - particularly to a new generation. The same lack of consistency in the politically selective eulogies of the pope also characterized the highly politicized responses to the sad story and death of Terri Schiavo... Again, the issue is consistency. Will Schiavo's defenders now also care more about the loss of civilian lives in Iraq or prisoners (even innocent ones) put to death on death row? Will they refuse to accept the silent tsunami that takes the lives of 30,000 children every day due to hunger and disease, or even support the Medicaid funding for vulnerable people that helped sustain Schiavo's life for many years?

* Speaking of the Terri Schiavo case, the Washington Post reports that "the legal counsel to Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) admitted yesterday that he was the author of a memo citing the political advantage to Republicans of intervening in the case of Terri Schiavo."

* And that's exactly the sort of tactic that's causing one-third of Republicans polled by the Wall Street Journal to worry that the President and Republicans in Congress could be "going too far in pushing their agenda." Social security, judicial nominees and the "nuclear option" in the Senate are also causing concern among Republicans:

...the president is seeing significant chunks of that base balk at major initiatives, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows. One-third of Republicans say Democrats in Congress should prevent Mr. Bush and party leaders from "going too far in pushing their agenda," and 41% oppose eliminating filibusters against Mr. Bush's judicial nominees -- the "nuclear option" that Senate Republican leaders are considering. The Schiavo case has opened another rift. Though Mr. Bush and Republican congressional leaders acted to maximize the opportunity for reinserting Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube, 39% of Republicans said removing the tube was "the right thing to do," while 48% said it was wrong. About 18% of Republicans say they lost respect for Mr. Bush on the issue and 41% lost respect for Congress. The survey of 1,002 adults, conducted March 31-April 3, has a margin for error of 3.1 percentage points in either direction; the error margin for Republicans alone is 5.2 percentage points.

* Funny! The Bull Moose blog weighs in on that infamous memo, with another secret memo -- this one sent from Karl Rove to Wormwood, which is just awesome.

viola_dreamwalk @ 11:19am: Scandal, Filibuster, Heresy and 'Fan'damentalism
* The Bull Moose blog is urging action to help protect those affected by genocide in Darfur, and points us all in the direction of Coalition for Darfur, a bi-partisan partnership between "a Southern conservative and a Northern liberal... to raise awareness about the genocide in Darfur, Sudan and money for a worthy organization doing vital work there." The money goes to Save the Children and the blog itself has all sorts of info you won't find on the nightly news. Check it out.

* John Kerry is running an ad in USA Today opposing the "nuclear option" proposed by Senate Republicans to disallow filibusters in the debate over judicial nominees, a move that Sen. Jerry says will make "the nomination and confirmation of judges will become a tightly-controlled, one-party affair." Sign up to show your support here. The goal is 200,000 signatures.

* The DNC wants you to get to know Tom DeLay. DeLay is Majority Leader in the House of Representatives and is the central figure in "a bewildering array of investigations into corruption, abuse of power, and ethics violations." No, really. Check it out. Among other things, he's connected to bribery, gambling and accepting extravagant gifts from paid lobbyists.

* Operation Truth has posted its After Action Review, "a groundbreaking report on the war based entirely on feedback from the Troops." The site has also been updated with pictures and video sent in by troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.

* And, finally, Kung Fu Monkey outlines the disturbing similarities between fandom and religious fundamentalism. Hee!

All this allows me, in my quest for buzzwords, to create a new one: Fandamentalists.

" ... (noun, pl.); fans who violently believe the only valid interpretation of any entertainment source is a dogmatic adherence to their favorite version of that source. Any change to the smallest detail is inherently unacceptable (see also "heresy") and met with frantic scorn. See also Hal Jordan and Klingons, bumpy vs, smooth.

viola_dreamwalk @ 8:19pm: Buy now and save, it's a war for peace
* I saw Gunner Palace last week. I can't say enough good things about it. The premise is this:

GUNNER PALACE reveals the complex realities of the situation in Iraq not seen on the nightly news. Told first-hand by our troops, 'Gunner Palace' presents a thought provoking portrait of a dangerous and chaotic war that is personal, highly emotional, sometimes disturbing, surprisingly amusing ... and thoroughly fascinating.

Filmmaker Michael Tucker, who lived with 2/3 Field Artillery, a.k.a. "The Gunners" for two months, captures the lives and humanity of these soldiers whose barracks are the bombed-out pleasure palace of Uday Hussein (nicknamed Gunner Palace), situated in the heart of the most volatile section of Baghdad. With total access to all operations and activities, Tucker's insider footage provides a rare look at the day-to-day lives of these soldiers on the ground -- whether swimming in Uday's pool and playing golf on his putting green or executing raids on suspected terrorists, enduring roadside bombs, mortar attacks, RPGs and snipers.

Check out the trailer or read reviews of the film here.


* Sen. Boxer wants our help to "tell the oil companies to stay out of ANWR!"

Did you know that many power companies around the country offer clean, renewable energy packages for their customers? It's slightly more expensive, but with energy prices set to skyrocket this summer, you'll probably end up saving money. I spend an average $5-8 extra per month on my own renewable power options. Most of these companies offer paperless billing options, too.

Also- If you drive your car 15 miles every day, you can off-set the emissions for the price of a Starbuck's caffe latte -- about $3 per month, depending on your car's gas mileage. American Wind allows you to buy clean windpower certificates for a small monthly charge.

Greenpeace loves Harry Potter... Just so long as his adventures are printed on recycled paper. Go here to ask Scholastic Books to do just that. Bloomsbury has already agreed to do so for the U.K. edition.


* Sure, it's funny when Jon Stewart does it... Help put a stop to actual fake news.

And John Rogers over at Kung Fu Monkey misses Republicans. So do I, John. So do I...

Remember Republicans? Sober men in suits, pipes, who'd nod thoughtfully over their latest tract on market-driven fiscal conservatism while grinding out the numbers on rocket science. Remember those serious-looking 1950's-1960's science guys in the movies -- Republican to a one... We needed those guys. They were a dull but crucial part of the national dialogue. (And they knew their scotches. )

Read the rest here, it's worth it.

viola_dreamwalk @ 10:13am: * David Kuo, the former White House Deputy Director of the faith based program, discusses his experience with the administration's attitudes toward religion over on BeliefNet:

"Sadly, four years later these promises remain unfulfilled in spirit and in fact. In June 2001, the promised tax incentives for charitable giving were stripped at the last minute from the $1.6 trillion tax cut legislation to make room for the estate-tax repeal that overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy."

The Bull Moose blog discusses the situation in further detail as well.

* The EPA offers tips on Five Things You Can Do To Reduce Air Pollution. EnergyStar CFL lightbulbs are not only good for the environment, they save you a ton of money and help your house plants grow. Win-win.

* Vote by mail! Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury wants the country to adopt Oregon's vote-by-mail elections system. He may be onto something: Oregon had the nation's third highest voter turnout in November, with 86.5 percent of registered voters casting a ballot and almost no problems with fraud, voter intimidation or recounts. Bradbury wrote a recent Washington Post opinion piece on the subject:

While many states were embroiled in fights over touch-screen voting machines and provisional ballots and struggling to find enough people to staff polling places, Oregon once again quietly conducted a presidential election with record turnout and little strife... Vote-by-mail is voter-friendly, and high turnout in every vote-by-mail election shows that voters like the convenience. Oregonians receive ballots in the mail two weeks before Election Day, allowing ample time to research issues, review and mark the ballot, and eliminating the need to stand in long lines waiting for a polling booth... The answer to the nation's voting anxiety is not a national standard that imposes new rules on an outdated system of polling places. The answer is a low-tech, low-cost, reliable and convenient system that makes it easier to vote and easier to count votes. The answer is vote-by-mail.

* Operation Truth has updates to its Iraq photo gallery and college tour dates and speakers. The groups is also sponsoring a 'Really Support Our Troops' donation and information drive -- because it takes more than a yellow magnet on your car.

* On March 19, Sojourners magazine will sponsor vigils marking the "two years since the beginning of the costly U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. As people of faith, we are called to raise prophetic voices for peace and to remember the deadly consequences of war. We are called to hold in prayer all those affected, from Iraqi civilians to our own soldiers, along with the decision-makers in Washington and Baghdad as they attempt to advance a peaceful solution." Also on the Sojo website, God's Politics author Jim Wallis continues to update his blog as he travels around the country.

viola_dreamwalk @ 12:56pm: The Budget VS The Bible
* The Budget VS The Bible: Sojourners magazine wants you to let Congress know what you think of President Bush's proposed budget.

* Also in the current issue of Sojourners:

* Jim Wallis looks at evangelicalism and the "greatest heresy of the 20th century... the privatizing of faith."

* Brian McLaren compares Hotel Rwanda to The Passion of the Christ: "When I walked out of the 2005 film Hotel Rwanda this thought wouldn't leave me: If we really had the mind and heart of Christ, this is the movie we would be urging people in our churches to see."

* The magazine's special environmental section looks at the growing interest among 'evangelical' Christians about protecting the environment: "Despite wariness toward mainstream environmental groups, a growing number of evangelicals view stewardship of the environment as a responsibility mandated by God in the Bible."

* Also- did you know that if you buy a hybrid car, truck or SUV, that you can get up to $2000 from the federal government? That's in addition to the money you save on gas. (The Toyota Prius will only cost you an average $491 per year on gasoline, and was just voted "Car of the Year" by both CAR and DRIVER Magazine and Motor Trend.)

* Operation Truth takes on the continuing armor shortage being faced by troops in Iraq and the strain being placed on reservists and National Guardsmen.

* Newly elected Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean lays out his plan for the party and asks for your support. Meanwhile, John Kerry donated $1,000,000 to the DNC and encouraged his supporters to rally around Dean's grassroots vision.

viola_dreamwalk @ 12:25pm: * FactCheck.org gives its run-down on the President's State of the Union address.

* Get info on the 2006 elections and what you can do from be_bold.

* The DNC has information and a petition online, protesting the President's proposed budget.

* Meanwhile, Senator Kerry has set up a health care hotline called the Give Voice to Our Values line (866-876-4490). You can listen to selected callers here.

* Progressive Christian author Jim Wallis appeared on The Daily Show a few week's back. The video of that interview is now available here and Wallis blogs about his experience on TDS at Sojourners magazine.

And speaking of which...

* Book Recs!

God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the
Left Doesn't Get It by Jim Wallis

The 'Sorry Everybody' Coffeetable Book

Thieves in High Places by Jim Hightower

viola_dreamwalk @ 4:37pm: It's been awhile...
* Senator Kerry wants our support for his Kids Come First healthcare initiative. Go sign the petition.

* Hmm. Maybe this is why I get pulled out of line by 'random' airport security checks so often: FBI Keeping Records on Pre-9/11 Travelers

The bureau is keeping 257.5 million records on people who flew on commercial airlines from June through September 2001 in its permanent investigative database, according to information obtained by a privacy group and made available to The Associated Press.

* Conservative commentator (and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under Ronald Reagan) Dr. Paul Craig Roberts is really, really pissed off. At whom, you ask? "Rush Limbaugh... G. Gordon Liddy... the Bush administration, and the neoconservative ideologues who have seized control of the US government." And that's just for starters! Check out what he has to say:

In the ranks of the new conservatives, however, I see and experience much hate. It comes to me in violently worded, ignorant and irrational emails from self-professed conservatives who literally worship George Bush. Even Christians have fallen into idolatry. There appears to be a large number of Americans who are prepared to kill anyone for George Bush.

The Iraqi War is serving as a great catharsis for multiple conservative frustrations: job loss, drugs, crime, homosexuals, pornography, female promiscuity, abortion, restrictions on prayer in public places, Darwinism and attacks on religion. Liberals are the cause. Liberals are against America. Anyone against the war is against America and is a liberal. "You are with us or against us."

This is the mindset of delusion, and delusion permits no facts or analysis. Blind emotion rules. Americans are right and everyone else is wrong. End of the debate... Like Brownshirts, the new conservatives take personally any criticism of their leader and his policies. To be a critic is to be an enemy. I went overnight from being an object of conservative adulation to one of derision when I wrote that the US invasion of Iraq was a "strategic blunder."

* Nirvana for President! Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic campaigns for election reform and social change.

* Want to help the U.S. achieve independence from foreign oil? Check out Renewable Choice. You can opt for clean wind energy for your home or purchase renewable energy certificates to off-set pollution based on the number of miles you drive in your car, or both. This is a really cool program, and has the added benefit of helping small rural communities. Some of the biggest wind farms in the country are along I-82 in Washington State near the Tri-cities. (As a side note -- the farms themselves are oddly beautiful. I'll take some pictures the next time I head up to Pullman.)

viola_dreamwalk @ 10:24am: * Hey, remember those weapons of mass destruction? Yeah. Well, the thing is? They're kind of not there. Like a little bit. And we, uh, kind of decided to stop looking for them.

* Oh, man are we ever in trouble. Check out the story of this 70-year-old retired Army doctor, who was recalled to duty and sent to serve in Afghanistan.

* And the White House is refusing to pick up the tab for the President's inauguration, forcing the District of Columbia to "$11.9 million from homeland security projects." Virginia Republican Congressman Thomas M. Davis calls the administrations position "simply not acceptable" and "odious."

* Slate magazine makes a compelling case for liberal federalism:

Many liberals who haven't yet moved to Canada have indulged the fantasy of a "blue state" secessionist movement. But the American legal tradition does offer liberals a practical alternative to secession or a condo in Vancouver... Federalism is not just for conservatives, anymore.

* Christian author Max Lucado wants to remind us all that "God is not an American God":

"God is not beholden to any particular nation. But we've almost thought that God is an American God. That's a dangerous road to get on."

* And from the same website: Why Can't Liberals and Conservatives Get Along? Because They Fundamentally Misunderstand Each Other

viola_dreamwalk @ 1:15pm: * Congressional Democrats today lodged a (mostly symbolic) protest challenging the validity of votes in Ohio.

* Meanwhile, Senator Kerry wants our help in pushing Congress to take action on election reform.

* Go shop at Staples. No, really. The company has pulled all of its advertising from controversial right-wing broadcasting company, Sinclair Broadcast Group. Go reward them for their corporate responsibility.

* And, finally, Seattle Weekly takes a legitimate-yet-funny look at whether George W. Bush is actually the Anti-Christ. Check it out:

"Bush is one of the key figures leading the church away from Jesus," says Christian author Don Miller, who wrote the nonbluenose Christian best seller Blue Like Jazz. Miller is no pantywaist—he had the balls to run a ministry at Reed College in Portland, Ore., which is so godless that its soccer team is said in campus legend to have once staged a halftime crucifixion in a game against a Christian school. But he couldn't stomach it when, for instance, Texas Gov. Bush not only allowed the execution of his fellow born-again Christian, the penitent ax murderer Karla Faye Tucker, but made vicious fun of her ("Please don't kill me!" Bush said, mocking her prayerful plea for God's mercy). Miller classifies Bush Christians as modern Pharisees—the allegedly proud, rigid, legalistic hypocrites John the Baptist called "a generation of vipers." "The worst condemnation that Jesus has for anybody, I mean the worst, is for Pharisees," says Miller. "If you asked Jerry Falwell who the Pharisees are in our society, they can't point anybody out." There are no mirrors in Bush's church.

sesshomaru_8 @ 12:31am: Hello everyone
Hey everyone, I would like to say hello. I was wondering if there was a community of swing voters who are "on the fence". Although I am not of age to vote, I have been relentlessly centrist over the summer of '04. Through my journal I disproved talking points and ranted. More or less it was cathardic, but it was not enough.

In the end, towards election day, I could not find either candidate likeable, or agreeing with me. Being Catholic really, really, stinks sometimes. I couldn't support Kerry for the abortion issues, I could not support Mr. Bush because of his unjust war, and because of his stance on the death penalty. In other words, I disagree with both sides. I am not for gay marriage, but financial benefits of marriage, like putting your partner in your will, being able to more readliy visit them in the beauracracy known as the hospital, etc. because i have heard the most rediculous stories.

I recently read Against All Enemies. I recommend it to you all. I am also reading America: The Book.

So anywho, I do hope we all can have a rip-roarin' (how Texan!) good time.

(P.S.) Other positions are:

Practicality in the Terrorism Campaign
Capturing Osama Alive
Making sure that you have the intelligence correct
Politics should be very separated from intelligence
The religous right makes Christianity look bad (stupid Puritans, they too were almost like them, desiring a theocracy)
I dislike people who condemn others to hell (Fallwell and Roy Moore)
I love John McCain
I hate Condelezza Rice
I hate Paul Wolfowitz
I want a flat tax (10%, no more %((%^*& brackets!)
I dislike beauracracy
I love Jon Stewart
Putting much pressure on the Saudis, since we trust them way too much.
Routing out radical clerics in Palistine, let it prosper and they might stop killing each other.
That is just a small portion, but I will stop now. I am scaring everyone.

viola_dreamwalk @ 1:36pm: Tsunami relief efforts...
This isn't a political issue (or, at the least, it shouldn't be) but it's an important one:

Tsunami Help has updates and links to aid organizations: http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/

And the International Red Cross/Red Crescent is asking for donations: http://www.ifrc.org/

viola_dreamwalk @ 1:58pm: The latest from Senator Kerry:

I'm writing to invite your participation in one final 2004 act of collective generosity. As a soldier, I remember how much it meant to hear from loved ones - especially at the holidays. So, I thought you and I could work together to make it easier for our soldiers serving in Iraq to phone home and hear a friendly voice.

We've found a program that does just that. Operation Phone Home is run by the USO, which has been an extraordinary friend to American soldiers for decades. The USO buys phone cards at cost and provides them to our soldiers free of charge. You can help the USO help our troops this holiday season right here:

http://www.uso.org/carddonations

In January, I will go to Iraq to see the situation firsthand and personally visit with our courageous troops who are serving America so well. Nothing would please me more than telling them that hundreds of thousands of us have expressed our thanks to them in this concrete and personal way.

Operation Phone Home is a great idea, and let's those of us who oppose the war show that we support the troops by doing more than just sticking a yellow ribbon on our cars.

viola_dreamwalk @ 1:12pm: Appropriate to the season...
This holiday season, Sojourners magazine (which is quickly becoming a favorite read of mine) wants to remind us to "put the Herod back in Christmas." Check it out:

Christians like to talk about putting Christ back into Christmas, but let's not forget to put Herod back into Christmas. Herod represents the dark side of the gospel. He reminds us that Jesus didn't enter a world of sparkly Christmas cards or a world of warm spiritual sentiment. Jesus enters a world of real pain, of serious dysfunction, a world of brokenness and political oppression. Jesus was born an outcast, a homeless person, a refugee, and finally he becomes a victim to the powers that be. Jesus is the perfect savior for outcasts, refugees, and nobodies. That's how the church is described in scripture time and time again - not as the best and the brightest - but those who in their weakness become a sign for the world of the wisdom and power of God.

Read the full article here.

tiferet @ 11:52am: ( Log Cabin Republicans (gay/lesbian rights activism within the GOP) newsletter. )

viola_dreamwalk @ 3:27pm: Soujourner's editor David Batstone has some interesting things to say about the separation of church and state, and how extremists on both sides are actually making the exact same argument:

( Maybe the toughest challenge of living in a democracy is to respect the freedom of other people to live according to values that are not your own. Real freedom, however, does not thrive in a moral vacuum (the ardent secularist) or a moral straightjacket (the ardent theocratic). What does my ideal of democracy look like? I can sum it up in a single sentence: A person arrives at faith freely, practices it openly, and uses dialogue with others about their own life path to deepen their understanding. )

viola_dreamwalk @ 2:18pm: Better Dead Than Red
* This has been all over the place, but it's definitely worth another mention: "Sign John Kerry's "Every Child Protected" pledge today and forward it to your family, friends, and neighbors."

* Salon's Michelle Goldberg has some advice for the "blue states": "If at first you don't secede..." screw everybody else. No, seriously.

For now, of course, secession remains an escapist fantasy. But its resonance with liberals points to some modest potential for constructive political action. After all, as the South knows well, there are interim measures between splitting the nation and submitting to a culture pushed by a hostile federal government. Having lost any say in how the nation is run, liberals may be about to discover states' rights -- for better or worse.

* Total shout-out. Heh. Charles Pierce has this to say over at Altercation:

"The CIA is looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the president's agenda."

And there it is. Courtesy of a former (you freaking bet!) top-level spook, as relayed by Knut Royce of The Baltimore Sun yesterday, the single dumbest notion yet to leak out from under the Mayberry Machiavellis. I have enormous respect for the Newsday guys, and I have no illusions that this would ever happen in any major newspaper, but ought not the next piece of the story read something like this?

"Of course, as history and common sense would tell us, this perception no more conforms to reality than it would if the White House perceived the CIA to be a pod of humpback whales, an exaltation of larks, a gathering of the Inuit tribes, or an alternative rock band from Pullman, Washington. Sources have declined comment on whether or not the White House political operation has stopped its brief experiment with psilocybin mushrooms."

* And speaking of the Pullman-Moscow "metro" area, the Seattle Times has an interesting and disturbing analysis of the case of Saudi-born U of I grad student Sami al-Hussayen. al-Hussayen was arrested and charged last year with providing "material support" to terrorists. He was held and (eventually) charged under a provision of the Patriot Act, before an Idaho jury acquitted him of any wrongdoing.

In Moscow, the Muslim students began frantically calling the university's law school early that morning, saying they'd been threatened with jail or deportation if they failed to cooperate, according to Monica Schurtman, a law professor who advised some of them. One was questioned for seven hours, she said.

Just for reference, this is one of the things that really got me concerned/angry about the methods being used by the Bush administration even before the invasion of Iraq. One of those students who was detained by the FBI is a friend of my brother's. It's pretty easy to ignore these issues until someone you've met gets hauled away by the authorities. (The only connection my brother's friend had to al-Hussayen was that they occasionally attended the same mosque. And since there are only about two mosques in the entire area, it was a real stretch.)

* And, finally, The Portland Mercury declares that we're "Better Dead Than Red":

It's time to state something that we've felt for a long time but have been too polite to say out loud: Liberals, progressives, and Democrats do not live in a country that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Canada to Mexico. We live on a chain of islands. We are citizens of the Urban Archipelago, the United Cities of America. We live on islands of sanity, liberalism, and compassion--New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, St. Louis, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and on and on. And we live on islands in red states too--a fact obscured by that state-by-state map... If Democrats and urban residents want to combat the rising tide of red that threatens to swamp and ruin this country, we need a new identity politics, an urban identity politics, one that argues for the cities, uses a rhetoric of urban values, and creates a tribal identity for liberals that's as powerful and attractive as the tribal identity Republicans have created for their constituents. John Kerry won among the highly educated, Jews, young people, gays and lesbians, and non-whites. What do all these groups have in common? They choose to live in cities. An overwhelming majority of the American popuation chooses to live in cities.

viola_dreamwalk @ 9:00am: We welcome our new European overlords! (No, seriously. We welcome them... Help us!)
* Salon has an intriguing article right now about the "new cold war" between the U.S. and the European Union. The U.S., by the way? Not winning.

* You know who I miss? John McCain... the real one, not the boot-licking pod person replicant they replaced him with. McCain was a politician (much like John Kerry) with whom I disagreed on a lot of things, but always respected for his discernment and willingness to reach across party lines. Check out what he had to say back in 2000 about politics, intolerance and the rise of the religious right:

But political intolerance by any political party is neither a Judeo-Christian nor an American value. The political tactics of division and slander are not our values.

They are corrupting influences on religion and politics and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country...

We are the party of Ronald Reagan not Pat Robertson. We are the party of Theodore Roosevelt not the party of special interests. We are the party of Abraham Lincoln not Bob Jones. Join us. Join us.

Join us and welcome anyone of good faith to our ranks. We should be - we must be - we will be -- a party as big as the country we serve.

I don't agree with a lot of what he says in that speech, particularly about policy issues, but I agree with the spirit of it. The Bull Moose blog has some insight into how the religious right's attacks on McCain back then were a harbinger of the power they aspire to now. It's interesting stuff.

* Now more than ever, it's important for the American public to see the truth about what's happening in Iraq. I've linked to Operation Truth before. They're a "non-partisan group created to help [the troops] share stories of life on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan." Right now, the group is trying to raise money to buy t.v. and radio ad time. The ads they've produced are here.

tiferet @ 12:01pm: FYI: Log Cabin statement on the election
( As usual with political forwards, you may assume that I agree with some, but not necessarily all, of the content herein... )

viola_dreamwalk @ 8:15am: Aluminum foil makes a lovely hat *and* helps keep out the government's mind control rays...
Get out your tinfoil hats...

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann reports on the lingering specter of voter fraud:

This is mentioned because there is a small but blood-curdling set of news stories that right now exists somewhere between the world of investigative journalism, and the world of the Reynolds Wrap Hat. And while the group’s ultimate home remains unclear - so might our election of just a week ago.

Stories like these have filled the web since the tide turned against John Kerry late Tuesday night. But not until Friday did they begin to spill into the more conventional news media... Thus the majority of the media has yet to touch the other stories of Ohio (the amazing Bush Times Ten voting machine in Gahanna) or the sagas of Ohio South: huge margins for Bush in Florida counties in which registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 2-1, places where the optical scanning of precinct totals seems to have turned results from perfect matches for the pro-Kerry exit poll data, to Bush sweeps.

We will be endeavoring to pull those stories, along with the Warren County farce, into the mainstream Monday and/or Tuesday nights on Countdown.

Meanwhile, the AP reports that "a national voting rights group said Friday it documented hundreds of voting irregularities affecting poor and minority voters in seven Southern states, and that errors with electronic voting "gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes" in Ohio.

be_bold has a growing collection of news stories, links and other information about possible voter fraud.

And, on a completely different note, here's SorryEverybody.com, where 48% percent of the American people apologize to the world through the magic of digital photos. From the site's intro page: As our so-called leaders redouble their efforts to screw you over, please remember that some of us — hopefully most of us — are truly, truly sorry. And we'll say we're sorry, even on the behalf of the ones who aren't.

viola_dreamwalk @ 9:05am: She's a rebel / She's a saint / She's the salt of the earth / And she's dangerous
Don't let them tell you we didn't make a difference: According to this, 9.3% more people between the ages of 18-30 voted this year than in 2000. That's higher youth voter turnout than any year since 1972. That's 4.6 million more of us. John Kerry won 4 million more votes than any other Democratic presidential candidate. Coincidence? I think not. It wasn't enough this time, but next time...

In fact, The Daily Kos has an interesting breakdown of the youth vote by state, including an 'under-30' electoral map:

Just a note to anyone who's been buying the "kids didn't show up" spin. It's bull:

"Despite long lines and registration snafus, voters under age 30 clocked the highest turnout percentage since 1972. The good news is that America's young people are more engaged in politics than at any time in two generations. Aging cynics have been quick to blame the kids for a host of political lapses, but the cynics have it wrong."

People under the age of 30 turned out at the highest rate in more than 30 years, and we voted for change. In battlegrounds -- where my organization and a host of others did the bulk of their work -- turnout was above 60%, and broke for Kerry by an average of almost 20 points.

Still think the youth of America don't care? At least in the so-called "red" states? How about this? In Colorado today, "about 85 high school students upset about the nation's direction were camping out in the school library, demanding an audience with Republican leaders."

Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid. Join be_bold, they've got the right idea: "This community was created in the wake of the 2004 re-election of George W. Bush. We worked hard to elect John Kerry and oust BushCo and his harmful policies, but we came up a bit short. Not again. We have to work even harder - and smarter. We can't simply talk, we must do." The community was only created a day or two ago and already has 60 members. Impressive!

And, finally, a quote for the day. Think of it as a response to the religious right. We do not lose heart...

...we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God... But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed... Therefore we do not lose heart.

device55 @ 9:44pm: Staying Positive
I've been trying to stay hopeful.

I think that voting for Kerry was about voting for what's right about America, and what's wrong with the current direction our country is taking.

Although Kerry didn't win, I think that's it's still the good fight, the right fight.

It's important now not to lose sight of that.

In the spirit of that I'm offering up a bumper sticker-sized pic and icon to help remind folks to keep their spirits up, and to keep looking to the horizon