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The PUBLIC SQUARE (open thread)
Linked to groups: Blog For America, blog for America Test and Poll Group
Monday, 28 July 2008
Oops, blew the last one up. Apologies...
Here's a new one til the next one :-)
Blog on!
Got a well earned day off comin' when I wake up. This whole altering the course of Civilization thing is getting a bit intense. But if ya gotta do it it's best to be among friends.
Heart pillows and Full Snuggles,
El Cabong...
Hi Thankful!
Just a couple of articles since it's late and I just returned from dancing. In 2 years, the Olympic games will offer, first ever, Argentine Tango on ice!!!! I met the woman tonight who's choreagraphing the ice dancing couples for the games. She just returned from Paris where she worked with 6 couples.... the most famous skaters in the world. She was a member of the Royal Ballet from 8 until almost 30 and now she's living here. She was also a competitive ice skater. She's now dancing tango and at 69 she looks in her 40's. An amazing woman. She's close friends with my very close friend who let me stay in her apt. this time. What a small small world and the 3 of us will certainly *do the town* when I get back here. She has leukemia and refuses any more treatment and is beautiful, vibrant, funny and fun. She was in remission and is no longer. The doctors want her back on chemo but she won't do it. And I fully understand why.
Here's the article:
Iraq: Poised to Explode Iraq is poised to explode, and Iran may be in control. McCain's solution: provoke a showdown with Iran. Obama's solution: try to make a deal with Iran to stabilize Iraq. I'm not sure either "plan" will work.
cool! And how neat for your friend, I don't doubt the ballet, skating, and tango has kept her youthful. Debi Thomas once spoke and performedat a benefit we held for our Girl Scout council. Girls auditioned to skate or be part of a small choral group that went out on the ice to perform (sans skates :) Kid1 was part of the choral group. I had a chance to talk with Debi a bit, what a smart, articulate, wonderful young woman.
ack, missed some of the comment when I copied and pasted in case the firefox prob resurfaced (don't wanna blow another thread :)
...As for not further treatment and chemo, I can understand that, too. oh, maybe I lost that part of the post 'cause it's too close to home still. Wishing your friend long vibrancy and easy peace.
~ ~ ~
On McC v Obama plans - I'll take diplomatic efforts first over sure conflict any day, any time.
ack, missed some of the comment when I copied and pasted in case the firefox prob resurfaced (don't wanna blow another thread :)
...As for not further treatment and chemo, I can understand that, too. oh, maybe I lost that part of the post 'cause it's too close to home still. Wishing your friend long vibrancy and easy peace.
~ ~ ~
On McC v Obama plans - I'll take diplomatic efforts first over sure conflict any day, any time.
This is chilling.
Pak journalist in US jail on terrorism charges Nayyar Zaidi, the well-known US-based Pakistani-American journalist, who has been a citizen of the United States for more than 30 years has been in US custody for the last four months on what are said to be terrorism-related charges.
This is even more chilling, if that's even possible anymore. IMPEACH!
Richard Wise: MARYLAND STATE POLICE TARGETED ACTIVISTS Maryland State Police infiltrated peace and anti-death penalty activist groups in 2005 - 2006. The State's response so far has been completely inadequate.
And with this, I'll say g'nite.
BILL MOYERS: Fritz Hollings on What's Wrong With America We work from early morning 'til late at night and all weekend and everything else. But we are working now, not for the country, but for the campaign. All the time is fundraisers. All the time is money, money, money, money.
oops, got sidetracked and heading to pillowland soon.
Tis election season and those working on campaigns and fund raising have made the choice to do so.
:-)
Yesterday was Maura's!
Today is Linda in SFNM!
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Don't forget to do the recommend thingie. It's fickle at times but usually works w/in a few tries.
Nite & ♥'s to all
Kindness is free!
- Hillary supporters for McCain ? a scare story that never took place
By * rdorgan on Jul 28, 2008 7:19 AM EDThttp://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/07/28/20080728prezmoney0726.html
Clinton's donors backing Obama
by Ronald J. Hansen - Jul. 28, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Thousands of Hillary Clinton's donors gave at least $1.2 million to Democrat Barack Obama in June, accelerating a migration from her presidential campaign that began months ago.
Republican John McCain collected about $11,000 from that group in the same period, according to an Arizona Republic analysis of Federal Election Commission records.
The numbers suggest no widespread defections from the Democratic Party after its hard-fought primary season between Clinton and Obama ended the first week of June. McCain has hoped that many of Clinton's supporters would join him in an anti-Obama backlash
...http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=211860
Dean tries to turn Ga. from ‘red’ to ‘blue’
ATLANTA - Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean swept through Georgia over the weekend.
“The South is a different place than it was 40 years ago when Richard Nixon started the southern strategy,” Dean said.
...
“We’re reaching out to evangelical Christians because we have some things in common with evangelical Christians,” he added.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/45700.html
The top U.S. military commander in Iraq isn't buying the increasingly popular idea of a publicly stated timetable for American troop withdrawal.
Isn't buying????
This guy has a helluva nerve. His opinions should go up the chain of command, and not be injected via the media into a political campaign.
I hope Obama has the balls to fire his ass if he wins, but I have my doubts
I sometimes find your negative assessment of all things bone chilling.
That aside, Patton and McArthur said far more over longer periods of time before getting canned. Surely others have as well.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-onthemedia27-2008jul27,0,712999.story
Cable talking heads accuse broadcast networks of liberal bias -- but a think tank finds that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Barack Obama than on John McCain in recent weeks.
<script type="text/javascript"><!-- digg_url = 'http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-onthemedia27-2008jul27,0,712999.story'; // --></script>
During the evening news, the majority of statements from reporters and anchors on all three networks are neutral, the center found. And when network news people ventured opinions in recent weeks, 28% of the statements were positive for Obama and 72% negative.
Network reporting also tilted against McCain, but far less dramatically, with 43% of the statements positive and 57% negative, according to the Washington-based media center
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5909569.html
July 27, 2008, 12:07AM
CAMPAIGN 2008
Down-ballot races seen as main event in Texas vote
With 100 days to go, Obama campaign trying to help state Democrats win in state House, Harris County
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN — When Barack Obama's presidential campaign and national Democratic officials talk about putting resources into Texas this year, they're not necessarily focused on beating Republican John McCain.
They're thinking about Texas as part of a strategy to eventually turn Republican states Democratic and regain a congressional delegation majority lost through the 2003 redistricting efforts of former Republican U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
...http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGxypp/commentary#comments
| By Christopher Hass - Jul 28th, 2008 at 12:09 pm EDT |
...
This morning marked the 100 day point until polls open on November 4th for the general election. As of this post, the count stands at 99 days, 9 hours and 50 minutes.
A few numbers, to put things in perspective:
Barack Obama announced his decision to run for president on February 10th, 2007 -- 533 days ago.
The time between his announcement and the Iowa caucuses: 327 days.
The entire run of primary contests, from Iowa to South Dakota, a stretch that at some points seemed as though it might never end, lasted only 152 days.
...
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20080727_the_rich_get_richer/
According to the most recent data from the IRS, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans took home a greater share of the nation’s income in 2006 than in any year of the previous 19. It’s possibly the biggest income disparity Americans have seen since the Great Depression. The average tax rate of the super-rich was at its lowest level in at least 18 years.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20080728/cm_usatoday/whyobamaseizedthefaithbasedmantle
Why Obama seized the faith-based mantle
Mon Jul 28, 12:16 AM ET
By Amy Sullivan
Even for a campaign built on audacity, the boldness with which Barack Obama has picked President Bush's pocket and taken ownership of the faith-based initiative is a bit breathtaking.
...It's fair to say Democrats were expecting a presidential nominee who would vow to overturn the faith-based initiative once he reached the White House, not one who doubled down on the program. But there are a number of reasons for Obama to stray from the party line when it comes to faith-based politics.
For one, by embracing the idea of partnerships between government and faith-based institutions, Obama isn't moving to the right so much as reclaiming an issue Democrats used to support. For decades, religiously affiliated organizations like Lutheran Social Services and United Jewish Communities received, without a hint of controversy, government funds to provide social services.
When candidate Bush pledged in his first campaign speech in 1999 to "rally the armies of compassion," he was not blazing new ground but rather following in the steps of Bill Clinton, whose Cabinet secretaries had worked closely with religious nonprofits and Al Gore, who had endorsed the funding of faith-based organizations six months earlier. Even the most conservative aspect of Bush's faith-based plan — the expansion of tax incentives to encourage charitable giving — already had been championed by Hillary Clinton at a White House conference on philanthropy.
The problem for Democrats emerged when Bush shifted tactics — holding up the idea of a faith-based initiative not just as evidence of his "compassionate conservatism," but also to forge the argument that Democrats were hostile to religion.
The Democratic Party made a key tactical error in 2000 by not rebutting Bush's attacks on Clinton as a secular liberal who discriminated against religious communities. Instead, Gore's supporters took the bait and charged that Bush's support for faith-based initiatives was an inappropriate mixing of religion and politics. At the same time, Gore's advisers persuaded him to back away from promoting partnerships between government and religious non-profits.
...
In Obama's faith-based speech, he noted that his early work as a community organizer in Chicago was partly funded by a Catholic group called The Campaign for Human Development. That experience is another reason for his support of faith-based initiatives: He actually believes in them.
...
Because Obama is convinced the federal faith-based initiative is worth saving, he is in a position to critique the problems in the current system and insist on changes. One big step is to make sure that programs receiving government funds actually work.
...
Separation of Church and State trumps all of this nonsense
Lots of faith based operations here in NYC get Guminit funds for things like day care, health care, head start etc. It's often necessary because these faith based institutions have the facilities necessary that are up to legal code. As long as there's no religious coercion going on I have no problem with it.
...it is religious coercion. The message, whether spoken or unspoken is "our religion takes care of you." If they want to do that on their nickel, that's fine, but don't use my nickels to support promoting your church.
And let's say they would do this anyway, without government support. Then every taxpayer dollar they get is a dollar they don't have to spend on services, so they can spend those dollars on proselytising.
Government money for religion is just a bad idea, no matter how you try to make believe there is a wall between the preaching and the services.
happened at Staten Island Hospital, part of the Long Island Jewish Community Medical Centers. My wife has been treated at St. Vincent Medical Center. Both recieve funds from Medicaid and Medicare. Catholic Charities and other religious groups run day care centers that recieve government funds. Such arrangements have worked well in this urban environment for decades.
While recovering in the Jewish hospital, I was visited regularly by a retired Anglican Bishop. She was a delight to talk to, b ut there was no coercion. I think it's sad that the age of Bush has made it so bad that we doubt if people can act like professionals in their work.
One need only look at a local church soup kitchen that may get 10-20% of its funding from the guminit. I know there are places in the country where a crust of bread requires a lecture on sin and salvation. But that's not the way it works here.
- Independents in Massachusetts almost represent ahalf of the registered voters ...
By * rdorgan on Jul 28, 2008 8:15 AM EDT... but from the looks of cars sporting bumper stickers here, "maverick?" "independent?" McCain supporters are hard to find. Obama, on the other hand, is something entirely different, especially in Boston and on Cape Cod.
this from Jo - not about NN/videos so it got shifted to the wc...
- the missing link
By Jo on Jul 28, 2008 8:36 AM
in McCain's lobbyist ties - go get 'im, Barack!
clip... Over the years, Mr. McCain has nurtured a reputation for bucking the Republican establishment and criticizing the influence of special interests in politics. But an examination of his leadership of the Republican institute — one of the least-chronicled aspects of his political life — reveals an organization in many ways at odds with the political outsider image that has become a touchstone of the McCain campaign for president.
Certainly the institute’s mission is in keeping with Mr. McCain’s full-throated support for exporting American democratic values. Yet the institute is also something of a revolving door for lobbyists and out-of-power Republicans that offers big donors a way of helping both the party and the institute’s chairman, who is the only sitting member of Congress — and now candidate for president — ever to head one of the democracy groups.
Operating without the sort of limits placed on campaign fund-raising, the institute under Mr. McCain has solicited millions of dollars for its operations from some 560 defense contractors, lobbying firms, oil companies and other corporations, many with issues before Senate committees Mr. McCain was on.
Recently, he has drawn criticism for involving lobbyists in his presidential campaign; under Mr. McCain, 14 of them have served on the institute’s board, some representing governments or organizations in countries where the group was carrying out programs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/us/politics/28IRI.html
- McCain's modus operandi: "desperate times call for desperate measures"
By * rdorgan on Jul 28, 2008 9:20 AM EDThttp://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jul/28/mccains-smears-reek-desperation/
LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
McCain’s smears reek of desperation
Albert G. Marquis, Las Vegas
Mon, Jul 28, 2008 (2:04 a.m.)
John McCain was recently quoted as stating that Barack Obama “would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.”
Obama responded, “I was disappointed. John McCain and I disagree on policy. We disagreed on going to war in Iraq. We disagreed until recently on Afghanistan. But I’ve never questioned that he wants to make America safer. And for him to suggest that I don’t, for him to suggest that I’m less concerned about the safety of my wife and daughters than he is, was unfortunate.”
Who sounds more desperate? Who sounds like he is willing to stretch the truth in order to win an election? Who, on the other hand, sounds rational and reasonable and deserving of our vote?
Discussion: 1 comment so far…
-
<!-- close commentmetadata -->
- By AgMallard <dd class="date">7/28/08 at 5:51 a.m. </dd><dd class="admin">...</dd>
Thanks to Sen. McCain's recent smear ad, I now know who is single-handedly responsible for high fuel costs. Watching him embrace a Rovian statagy is like like driving past a bad (hypocritical) car wreck. It's sad, ugly but somehow I can't take my eyes off of it.
From: Peter Koechley, MoveOn.org Political Action [mailto:moveon-help@list.moveon.org]
Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2008 4:02 PM
To:
Subject: Free Obama buttons for your friends?
|
|
Dear ...
Thank you. In the last few days, MoveOn members like you have ordered over 600,000 Obama buttons—way, way more than we expected.
So we've decided to print more, so you can share them with everyone who might want one.
Can you forward the short message below to all your friends so they can get free Obama buttons, too? Here's the link for them to get buttons:
http://pol.moveon.org/obamabuttons/?id=13339-5273165-voerwkx&t=3
If together we can give out a million buttons, people are going to start seeing them everywhere they go.
And the more that people see these buttons, the more they'll get the message that Barack Obama is the candidate with the buzz, momentum, excitement—and sincere support of regular folks across the country.
Thanks for all you do.
–Peter, Marika, Tanya, Michael and the rest of the team
PLEASE FORWARD THIS NOTE:
Hey,
Want a free Obama button? MoveOn's giving them away totally free—no strings attached. I just got mine, and wanted to share the opportunity with you.
Click this link to get a free Obama button:
http://pol.moveon.org/obamabuttons/?id=13339-5273165-voerwkx&t=4
Thanks!
I think MoveOn was trying to do the retro look but missed the mark a tad.
Oh well, the buttons (I ordered one and will wear it) are free and I guess free is casuing them to be sold out, with a need to restamp some more.
(upcoming Gerry L thread this morning has a piece about MoveOn being 10 years old)
Please recommend
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/blog_posts/26097-democracyfest-coming-soon#1216065
Thanks!
I too support strict separation of church and state. My tax dollars go to killing people which is bad enuf. How about a space on tax forms: Here's how much I'd like to donate to: and then fill in the blank with the faith of your choice. Or tax the churches that receive public money, especially those who proselytize from the pulpit, and they've been legion lately.
Between the CM and programs like the faith based one, when are the citizens of this country actually going to have a say in how our gov't is run and how the money is going to be spent.
If the next prez is BO, I'd like to suggest that he set up an on-line "public square" for the people to give opinions.
1. For instance, do you want to widen the war in Afghan? Take a poll
2. Do you want to spend more of your money on defense? Another poll.
Why not consult us? Admittedly, people w/o computers couldn't voice their opinions, but the way it is now, no one gets to say anything except at the tampered ballot boxes. How many of us called and wrote BO about his FISA vote? Didn't do a bit of good. He didn't listen.
We need to change the way our money is being misspent. And we need voices that are listened to...a way, for instance, to remove pelosi the minute she took impeachment off the table.
A no confidence/recall vote...something, anything would be better than the rape and pillage of this country and others that is now in progress and shows every indication of continuing even under BO..with his war talk and FISA vote....and the faith-based thing.
What good will a good public transporation system be if most of us are under house arrest or plain disappeared for being, for example, against the new lethal FISA laws? Where and when does this stop?
when do we say to Bushco, pelosi, HC, BO and a myriad of others ENUF IS ENUF!
Well, that's my rant. Now I have to pack and run errands. :-)
I'm hopeful that, with all of the urgent needs we have, that even a strongly Democratic Congress will resist funding Obama's ill-advised faith-based charity boondoggle.
I have nothing against faith-based charities. We were strong supporters of the Salvation Army until they began overtly discriminating against gays in hiring.
For someone who claims to be a Constitutional scholar, Obama seems not to understand the Separation of Church and State--or he was just pandering to evangelicals.
neither is a very attractive alternative.
Columnist Robert Novak has brain tumor
- Associated Press<dd>12:31 PM CDT, July 28, 2008</dd>
BOSTON - Syndicated columnist and former "Crossfire" host Robert Novak has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and is suspending his journalistic work.
Novak issued a statement Monday saying the tumor was found Sunday after he had been rushed to Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital from Cape Cod, where he was visiting his daughter.
The Chicago Sun-Times columnist says he is suspending his journalistic work for an indefinite, "but God willing, not too lengthy period." His statement did not say if the tumor was malignant.
at the new message... :-)))))))
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a lovely change :-)))))))
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