Date

Don't Eat the Poison

susan — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 13:36:41 -0500

Im guilty of despairing that the dysfunctional Dems will manage to blow it again and fail to gain the necessary seats in the midterm elections. So my sister gave my nose a tear-springing tweak and told me that we shouldnt all gather round and gnaw on that bone because it only gives it more power. Its the ant poison that Karl Rove has put out for us, and we each take a little nibble and go home to our nest and spread it around. And we all know what that does to the others in the nest. Extermination is, after all, Tom DeLays business, and he may be down, but not yet out.

BETTER TO LIGHT A (ROMAN) CANDLE?

susan — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 12:48:59 -0500

According to right wing mush heads like columnist Jonah Goldberg, we liberals (however you want to define that -- Open-minded? Respectful of individual rights? Generous?) are the reason were losing the war on terror that the three Bushkateers are so gallantly waging this holiday, as the rockets red glare light up the skies over their ranches and beach homes.
I am feeling just a little bit nudgy about celebrating our independence when we dont seem to have so much of it anymore, starting with the obvious oil addiction and our trizillion dollar debt to China. And then theres yesterdays image of the Baghdad market blown to smithereens, the horribly burned little boy in the hospital, todays photo of the mass graves and on it goes.

Fourth of July, 1950-something

barbara — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 09:18:55 -0500

by barbara
When I was a kid, we sometimes traveled to rural North Dakota over the Fourth of July. Thats where my fathers side of the family lived.
Grampa had already given up farming. He and Gramma bought a house in town. It must have felt like being funneled into a baby food jar, though the population was barely 1,500 at the time. Aunt Margie and Uncle Millard and my three girl cousins continued to live in the country, on the site of Grampas defunct silver fox farm. (PETA would have had a field day with that.)

Siren song

barbara — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 13:08:56 -0500

by barbara
Am I the only one who gets the creeps when the sirens go off at 1:00 on the first Wednesday of each month? Theyre running right now, fading some as they rotate away from us, growing louder and more piercing as they swing around our way.
More than once, I have wondered if there are sirens in Baghdad or Afghanistan. Note to self: Check this out with photojournalist friend, Linda.

Siren Song, redux

susan — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 14:29:20 -0500

Well no, except I get the creeps when they blow on the first Wednesday. (I know Barb, it feels like Monday.) The hairs on my neck stand up every time. And I get the creeps when I see the mother in Baghdad laying out mats to sleep with her children on the roof because it's 120 degrees and the electricity only sputters in randomly, and I get them when I see Condi's huge mug on my CNN default page and realize that there couldn't be a worse team than the one we have responding to North Korea's nuke tests, and I get them when I see that Kenny Boy will serve his time in hell and not in prison.

Faraway places with strange sounding names

barbara — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 13:26:38 -0500

by rebecca with a wee assist from barbara
I toyed with the idea of excerpting Rebecca's email, but all of it is interesting--particularly to someone (me) who has never been to Indonesia. Rebecca's work takes her there with some frequency, and this is her most recent missive about time spent there. Printed here with her permission. B
There arent many times in my life that Ive been called "madam," as I was earlier this morning, but thats one of the surprises of being in a two-thirds world country. At least its better than being called mister, which happens to me on a much more regular basis.

George's generous friend, Ken

barbara — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 17:40:46 -0500

"He was a generous person." Thats how George W. Bush described his friend, Kenneth "Kenny Boy" Lay, on the Larry King show. Indeed he was. To his employees? Not so much. But to the Republicans? A little of his discretionary income.
Here is a partial listing of Lays generosity, taken from the Federal Election Commission report on individual donors. Apparently Lay became more discrete with his donations once Bush was elected, given that there are no more "generous" donations after January 2001.

Ann Coulter: The explanation at last

barbara — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 09:16:52 -0500

by barbara
Someone sent around a photo of Ann "Probable Plagiarist" Coulter earlier this week. The first word that came to mind was anorexic. (Full disclosure: Okay. Bitter, venomous, harridan and shrew were right up there.) Coulter is the poster woman for "Yes, you CAN be too rich and too thin."
All of this gave me sudden, blinding insight into why Ann Coulter has Americas most vicious mouth and reprehensible behavior. The poor thing is hungry! Clearly she is not getting enough to eat! She is skulking about, foraging on the fringes of society, living on road kill. Thats what happens when a creature goes feral.

A nice place to visit, but . . .

barbara — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 16:23:53 -0500

If I doubted that the Iraqis were any more committed than my own superiors to outfitting and training their army, the answer came after a long presentation to the Iraqi army battalions executive officer, offering suggestions on his logistics operational plan. I concluded by asking what he thought. "My plan is that you should care for all of our logistical needs," he said. "Why?" I asked. The Iraqi executive officer replied, "You broke our country. Now, you fix it." The essence of a failed policy did not get any clearer than that.

Monday morning laundry

barbara — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 10:34:42 -0500

The following tidbit makes the internet rounds from time to time.
Given our unique niche as the communal clothesline, it seems particularly apt.
Notice: We do not hereby, either expressly or by implication, endorse Tide detergent. Reader discretion is advised. WARNING: Do not eat Tide. Do not put Tide in your ears. Do not snort Tide. Do not brush your teeth with Tide. Do not use Tide as a contraceptive. Do not mail Tide in plain brown envelopes.

Eleanor Rigby revisited

barbara — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 20:29:09 -0500

by barbara
A disturbing trend noted by social scientists in recent years has been Americas declining stock of social capital, which can be defined as all the different formal and informal ways people and groups connect with each other."
Check out Lonely America: the high cost of low social capital, borrowed from Daily Kos.

Somethin' brewin' in the west

barbara — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 11:19:10 -0500

by barbara
Jon Tester. Not exactly a household name, at least in my area. Not yet, anyway.
The guy is running a populist race for the U.S. Senate in Montana against Conrad Burns. Burns was tucked into one of George Bushs crowded pockets by Jack Abramoff. Yes, I know. Bush has had only a passing acquaintance with Abramoff. Also with Ken Lay, Tom DeLay and Prince Bandar.
Wikipedia tells us that populism is about appealing to the concerns of average folks. Its antonym is elitism. Think John Kerry. (Sorry, John, but it is what it is. Very difficult to picture you breaking a sweat in a Sears T-shirt.)

It's not easy being green

barbara — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 10:27:26 -0500

by barbara
Scored tickets to last nights opening performance of "Wicked." Not that hard to do, actually. A good friend is the local producer, and we got four tickets in the fifth row, center.
Okay, the preceding was a big, fat lie. We played the ticket game along with all the other little people. Heres how it works.
The day that tickets go on sale to the Munchkins, you perch by your phone like a gargoyle. At zero hour less five seconds, you dial. Then you redial, redial, redial. Busy, busy, busy. By zero hour plus three minutes, you learn that the tickets are sold out. All of them. For the entire run. Wow. Other gargoyles are more clever than we.

Libert, fraternit, egalit

barbara — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 13:44:08 -0500

by barbara
Okay, I am totally over-stimulated today. WAY too much material out there.
Weve got your Middle East war accelerating. Iraq in chaos. Valerie Plame suing The Dark Lord and his pals. Oil prices poised to skyrocket yet again. National debt going into orbit. Kim Jong-Il playing "Catch Me If You Can." Possible conditional, one-time-only constitutional review of U.S. government spying on its citizens. Wildfires raging in the west. Walls going up in the south. Hurricane Katherine Harris in the east. Those scary Canadians to the north. Can a gated nation be far behind?

Rocky Mountain highjinks

barbara — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 09:33:09 -0500

Gather round, everyone. This is too good to ignore. The source is Colorado Confidential.
A battle royal is going on in Colorado. Bill Ritter is the Dem candidate for governor (that's Bill in the photo), going up against "Both Way Bob" Beauprez (whose image apparently cannot be captured on film or in mirrors).

Expletivity

barbara — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 08:23:57 -0500

by barbara
Breaking news! George W. Bush says bad word at the G8 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The usually inarticulate W is reported to have linked the following 22 words while speaking to Tony Blair whilst dining today (apparently unaware that a microphone was picking up his comment): "See, the irony is what they really need to do is to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this (bad word)."

Time out

barbara — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 10:23:20 -0500

by barbara
Ive been going to my granddaughter Brittany's soccer games for several years. This year, shes 11 and she plays on an area traveling team. It's been a great season for them. Her team just won their division tournament and now they're headed to state. (Full disclosure: Brittany is a nom de soccer, for I wish to protect her anonymity.)
When Brittany started playing at, oh, about age 6, the field was smaller, there were fewer players out there and skills were, let us say, in the nascent stage. That soccer ball was like a magnet, and wherever it went, they went. Together. In a tight little cluster. (Think RiverDance.)

Land of the Swedes and home of the knaves

barbara — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 09:23:55 -0500

by barbara
We do not do political analysis here at the Clothes Line. We just hang up the linen which, in my back yard, flaps in the breeze over the compost pile. Hence the following.
Just so you know? Minnesota is in hot contention for this years coveted mega-FUBAR award. The acronym stands for (bad word)ed Up Beyond All Recognition. If youve been following Minnesota politics in the past few weeks (and even if you havent), its pretty clear why were in the running. Heres this weeks cast of principal characters:

George Bush, humanitarian

barbara — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 10:19:38 -0500

The world is on fire,
and people are perishing.
Crush stem cell research.

Plague descending

barbara — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 09:44:43 -0500

by barbara
Woke up this morning feeling kinda . . . creepy. "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." Whoa. Then I remembered.
Karl Rove is coming to Minnesota today. To raise money for Michele (Looking for My Shoe) Bachmann. Michele is a pice de travail. Homophobe extraordinaire. Flies exclusively with her right wing. A perfect Republican candidate for congress, in other words. Oh. Shes running against Patty Wetterling, a petite powerhouse who has become a compelling political activist in the years since her son Jacob went missing.

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

barbara — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 08:56:46 -0500

by barbara
All right. Attack my politics if you must. Question my values. Critique my writing. But leave my clothesline alone!
An article in this mornings Star Tribune discusses the fact that "solar drying" of clothing is considered tacky in some areas, and is completely verboten in others. This is a quivering shaft in my laundry basket.

Summertime blues

barbara — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 11:06:13 -0500

by susan
I'm sitting on my duff on Mackinac Island and fussing about the heat. With no newspaper, no TV, and gummy-slow Internet, I'm in a news vacuum. I now understand how George Bush got to be the way he is.
If you don't read the news, and only occasionally step off the shady porch to slash brush, you can pretty much avoid knowing that the world is blowing up around you. You get the most peripheral take on things, little glimpses of trouble spots, which prompt you to mutter inane things about who oughta stop doin' what to whom. Just the other day I said to my husband, "Whassup with Israel?" That's about as deep as it gets when your daily news intake has the nutritional value of a marshmallow.

Mission accomplished, continued

barbara — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 14:32:38 -0500

by barbara
Im going to vent here. And its not going to be pretty, especially if you tilt right. So you might want to stop reading now.
For starters, we have the Vice Decider proclaiming on Friday that uncivil war is "a long way from over . . . . Its going to be a battle that will last for a very long time. It is absolutely essential that we stay the course."
What day is this? Which war? Check your playbooks. Trot out the one-liners. War du jour for Cheney in this case is Israel and Hezbollah, but one size fits all. His response is a cut-and-paste from Iraq. Also from Afghanistan, where we couldnt get out fast enough to launch Georges Next War and left that nation in an absolute shambles.

Head 'em up, move 'em out

barbara — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 20:04:16 -0500

by barbara
Got to musing today about what it would mean to me, personally, to have a Democratic president in the Oval Office. Not as a guest. No. As a permanent fixture, beginning in late January 2009, having been elected in a scrupulously honest November 2008 election. Oh, stop your snickering.
Here are my ten completely selfish reasons for wanting to oust Republicans from the White House and beyond:

Spin cycle: There's good news today

barbara — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 07:46:27 -0500

by barbara
"Why are you liberals so negative?" The question eats at my soul like a maggot on rotting garbage. Why indeed?
With a heavy heart, I started my routine of slogging through the news. And then, epiphany! I chose some stories to share with you. Choices that might seem dark and snarky at first blush. But no, it is time to rise above pervasive negativity. This is a new day. Every story--even those brimming with death and deceit and greed--must surely have a sunny side. For example:

Inconvenient future

barbara — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 00:47:27 -0500

by barbara
Saw Al Gore's flick last night.
Third time for me.
Mine is a dial-up brain.
Such foolish folk we are,
Denial-dipped and glib.
Science has got it right.
Earth has grown weary
of its human tenants.
Eviction notice
posted on the Arctic ice.
Damage deposits
will not be
returned.
Hopeless, is it, then?
Not yet, not yet.
But soon.
(to be continued . . .)

Conundrum

barbara — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 23:06:45 -0500

Somethings been bugging me, and I thought Id throw it out there.
Several days ago, I decided to start walking again. For exercise. No destination. Just a round trip, out and back, from home. Bad week to start. Record high temps. Record-high lows. Humid. Youre not supposed to see your breath in Minnesota in July. Unless youve just eaten something truly disgusting.
Im out of shape, but Im not stupid. I figured that if Im going to do this walking thing, it needs to be in the very early morning hours until this hot spell breaks.

Taking the heat

barbara — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 11:19:00 -0500

by barbara
A complete change of pace today. Apparently I have clothes-polar disorder.
It was a different world in my neighborhood this early weekend morning. Not many cars. Fewer emissions. More dog-walkers and bike riders. The occasional runner, grimly determined to keep to the clock. The temperature was moving steadily through the 80s toward todays high of 100 degrees. There was no hint of early-morning freshness. The air was thick with unspilled moisture and the going was tough.

Introducing Linda Cullen

barbara — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 21:33:10 -0500

by barbara
Have we got great news for you! Beginning this month, someone new will hang out with us at the Clothes Line. Her name is Linda Cullen. Linda's on the right in the photo, in case you hadn't already figured that out. She's a world-class career photojournalist who is based in the Twin Cities area"based being particularly apt in Lindas case. She's on the go, all the time. Even when she's here. Which isn't often. Her resume is dazzling. Her passport looks like an exotic places word find. And she has truer grit than John Wayne.