Date

Where is the Shared Hope of Our Old Memorial Days?

susan — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 12:03:41 -0500

Published on Monday, May 29, 2006 by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune

by Susan Lenfestey

In May I hear drums, or I think I do. The rhythmic rat-a-tat of my neighbor's roof project, the deep thrum of the subwoofers on the low-rider idling ahead of me, the sharp staccato burst of the pileated woodpecker in the newly lush canopy outside my window -- all take me back to the sounds of the Memorial Day of my childhood.
It's conditioning I suppose, part of being, well, a boomer -- the generation that grew up in the patriotic aftermath of World War II, when Memorial Day packed almost as much of a wallop as Christmas.

We gotta get outta this place

susan — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 18:19:49 -0500

by susan
Okay, time to get outta Dodge. We've been given the perfect deus ex machina by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who is understandably ticked off by the latest reports of American troops killing Iraqi civilians at Haditha, and has stated that violence against civilians has become a "daily phenomenon" by American-led troops who "do not respect the Iraqi people."

I admit that I come to this cut-and-run strategy belatedly, being more in the We-Broke-It-We-Fix-It school of thought. But it's now clear even to dreamers like me that we are a huge part of the problem and not the solution. Arguably we always were the problem, but once the disastrous course was set (and we won't cover that old ground here -- but neither will we ever forget) I reluctantly bought into the idea that we couldn't abandon all the Iraqi people whose lives we had upended. I know some capital P patriot is going to yammer at me about how we toppled a ruthless dictator who gassed his own people, and yes we did, but now we're doing a lot of the killing of his own people for him, while he sits in a box being tried for crimes against civilians that are starting to sound sickeningly familiar.

God-fearing man promotes fear

barbara — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 09:49:38 -0500

by barbara

Just read in the NY Times that folks in Utah tend to stand in solidarity with George W. Bush. They voted him in, and theyre willing to ride his poll numbers with him down to ground zero.

A woman in Provo says this about W: "I like (him) because he is God fearing, and thats how a lot of people in this area feel."

Okey dokey. God fearing. Well, thats where we have yet another parting of the ways.

George Bush and his pals play the Old Testament card over and over again. George has embraced (situationally, anyway) the model of the strict father who knows whats best for us, and if we stray, were toast. Well, apparently someone forgot to tell him he only got half-way through the book. Which in Georges case is not surprising, it being especially difficult to read the Bible upside down.

Caution, Under Construction

susan — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 12:55:49 -0500

Please excuse the static nature of this website. We are reconfiguring it to make it more of a conversation and less of a series of sporadic rants and essays.
We'll be under construction for about two weeks, but still occasionally posting as we go.
We look forward to an improved site with a forum for easier exchanges, the addition of photojournalist Linda Cullen's work, and whatever else we can think of to make this baby hum.
And if you have some linen to air, send it along. We'd love to hang it on the line.
Stay tuned, susan

Veni, vidi, very weary

barbara — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 10:31:56 -0500

I'm a DFL convention survivor. That means I have completed my stint as a voting delegate at the MN Dem party's annual endorsing convention. And let me tell you, it was really something.

Where else would you see hundreds of adults parading around an auditorium with brightly-colored signs held high, shouting out names and slogans like kids on a sugar-buzz? Where else but on "The Sopranos" would you hear a whole cadre of people referred to sotto voce as "persuaders"? Where else would freezing the floor mean something other than bringing in the Zamboni crew?

Obviously (?) there was more to it than that. Heres the short form. We arrived. They speechified. We shouted our approval. We voted. We waited. We voted and waited some more. We ate mounds of stuff that passed for food, hoisted a toddy or two, and slept little. We came back each new morning for more. We endorsed some candidates and broke the hearts of others. And then we went home.

Great piece borrowed from Daily Kos

barbara — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 15:01:34 -0500

Here's a great piece from Daily Kos.

Louder Than Words
by DarkSyde
Wed Jun 14, 2006 at 05:40:30 AM PDT

After YearlyKos, with the midterm elections looming and 2008 not too far in the distance, many of you probably wonder, what do we do with all this energy? Well, you have come to the right post!

Some of you are first time readers, maybe even new to blogs. Perhaps you saw or read a story about a bunch of progressive political bloggers invading Las Vegas? We played a big part in that. See my first comment or click here to learn how you can begin to participate in people powered politics.

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More borrowing with gratitudery

barbara — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 08:10:04 -0500

Excerpts from Eric Altermans blog, "Altercation" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/

Bush sounding like a moron . . . :

Mr. Bush told the prime minister that he had come "to look you in the eye." He repeated the phrase later at the palace, when he told troops and other Americans he had come "to look at Prime Minister Maliki in the eyes and determine whether or not he is as dedicated to a free Iraq as you are."

Excuse me bub, but thats not the way life works. You cant fly across the world, have a couple of photo ops for a few minutes with a guy whose language you do not speak and whose countrys history you know nothing about and "determine whether or not he is dedicated to a free Iraq."

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An Inconvenient Truth in an ambivalent world

barbara — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 10:08:54 -0500

by barbara

Saw Al Gores movie, "An Inconvenient Truth" yesterday. Took a couple of my grands. Got turned down by a third. Three to go.

The movie. It was good. Gore was good. I brought extra socks in case the movie blew mine away. Didnt happen. Did it need to?

I saw the bulk of this material when Gore brought his road show to St. Paul last year. Didnt have extra socks then, and wished Id brought them. It was just Al and his slides and us. Even though "us" numbered hundreds of folks in a large auditorium, there was still something intimate about the experience. Gore stuck around for a long, long time afterwards, schmoozing, answering questions, posing for photos. Yeah, I have one. Al and Barbara, together at last.

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You ate WHAT???

barbara — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 13:15:46 -0500

This just in from WSJ re Enron's formerly-suicidal-but-now-resigned-to-his-fate Jeffrey Skilling:

In the interview, Skilling insisted he was innocent despite a jury convicting him on 19 counts.

Skilling says that he stupidly helped convict himself by telling federal authorities -- whom he described as the "Gestapo" -- too much.

"I was the best source of information that the government had," he said. "Absolutely."

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In harm's way

barbara — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 09:30:50 -0500

by barbara

Heres the kind of story you hurry through because, if you think about it for more than 5 seconds, your heart gallops, your guts clench and you break out in a clammy sweat.

Two U.S. soldiers went missing in Iraq three days ago. We have just learned that Al Qaeda is claiming they have them. Three days in the hands of rageful fanatics whose modus operandi is torture and death.

Sound the alarm! Call out the troops! Make a statement to the press. "We will never stop looking for our service members until their status is definitively determined," says U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell. The thing is, after 10 minutes, it was already too late. "Status definitively determined" is a chilling warning about what is yet to come.

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Requiem

barbara — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 08:53:37 -0500

It is believed that Private Thomas L. Tucker and Private Kristian Menchaca have been found. Dead and tortured. It will require DNA tests to identify them. A day of silence on this blog in their honor.

New stuff on the way

barbara — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 11:24:52 -0500

Just a heads up that Clotheslineblog is undergoing some revisions. So if the site is funky today (what do you mean today? I hear you ask), please bear with us.

It's really fun to try to figure out the blogosphere. Glad you're here. Come back!!

Sound and Fury Signifying Something

barbara — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 19:45:34 -0500

by barbara with a little help from her friends

I've been agonizing over the seeming inability of Dems to take back the war (BTW, did you know there's a war in Iraq, mission accomplished notwithstanding??).

There must be a way to shut it down, bring it home, lock it in Cheney's bunker and never let it see the light of day again.

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Dirty, depressing linen

susan — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 17:12:50 -0500

Susan here, been out in Seattle with children and grandchildren, leaving the laundry to Ironwoman Barb. (Lynnell's off to Australia until August.)

Some people might wonder how Barb and Susan came to start a blog. Barb and Susan also wonder, but it had something to do with the way Barb so calmly expresses herself. (See below.) Though we had never met, Id noticed her pithy letters to the editor and she had noticed the purple prose of my op-eds in the Star Tribune, so we connected in the sisterhood of BIR (Bush-induced Rage).

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Ick!

barbara — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 10:29:32 -0500

Dick Cheney has slithered out of his cave (think Gollum). He is in the Twin Cities (MN) for a "private fundraiser" for Michele Bachmann who is running for Congress against Patty Wetterling.

For those who many not know, Bachmann is Minnesotas most unrepentantly shrill homophobe, having turned on her own step-sister, who is a lesbian. Bachmann once hid in the bushes to spy on a GLBT demonstration at the state capitol, and when she was discovered there, claimed she was looking for her shoe. She routinely leads prayer parades through the capitol.

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Man of the (pre-selected) people

barbara — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 08:58:52 -0500

by barbara

He came, he saw, he didnt shoot anyone. Far as we know. (Q: Why dont you people let that hunting accident thing go? A: Because like most Bushies, Cheney beat the rap, which offends us.)

Our fair cities were graced with the presence of the Dick Cheney yesterday. In yet another Rovian ploy, his comings and goings were scheduled during rush hour, rendering major streets and highways impassable. Thus thousands of peasants were displaced by one feral man. (Q: There you go again. Do you people have any decency at all? A: Yes, we do. Thats why were Democrats.)

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In a nutshell

barbara — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 17:27:22 -0500

"If you believe the war in Iraq is a success, vote Republican. If you believe the war in Iraq is a failure, vote Democrat."

Jonathan Alter, Newsweek

You think you've got problems??

barbara — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 23:29:41 -0500

by barbara

Help! I am being held prisoner in a place with no electricity. We are converting old stuff to new stuff in an older house. The electrician insisted on shutting off the power. ALL the power.

I didn't miss the microwave (very much). Didn't miss the coffee maker (after the throbbing caffeine headache subsided). Dont watch TV, so that was no biggie. Didn't even miss the telephone (unaware that would go, too.)

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NEW KID ON COURT SPANKED BY 86 YEAR OLD JUSTICE

susan — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 11:35:51 -0500

It's a bumpy ride with those Supremes. One day we get bonked with a bad ruling on Texas redistricting, and the next we get a boost with the good ruling on Gitmo tribunals. A boost described as "fantastic," "amazing" and "remarkable" by human rights lawyers.
As friend Michael Anderson points out, "in the courtroom on Thursday, the chief justice sat silently in his center chair as Justice Stevens, sitting to his immediate right as the senior associate justice, read from the majority opinion. It made for a striking tableau on the final day of the first term of the Roberts court: the young chief justice, observing his work of just a year earlier taken apart point by point by the tenacious 86-year-old Justice Stevens, winner of a Bronze Star for his service as a Navy officer in World War II."