Date

A vision and a miracle

barbara — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:56:42 -0500

perhansa

"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible that you haven't grasped the situation." (Jean Kerr)

My name is Perhansa. I admit that I am addicted to seeing both sides of an issue. I am powerless to change. As a result, my life has become unmanageable. I thought about joining a twelve-step program for people who won't take a hard line stance, but I couldn't get past Step One, since the remaining eleven steps require me to confess belief in a higher power. So I realized I'd have to hunker down and resolve my addiction on my own'"many thanks to those of you who so caringly offered helpful suggestions. I think I'm on the road to recovery. Let me explain.

What I Learned on My Vacation

susan — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 11:56:09 -0500

She's Baaaack!

Well, sort of. Jimfest wonders why take a spring break if I get so blue when I return. Well, we do lots of things for pleasure that leave us a bit melancholy when they come to an end, that's why. And, as Babs has noted, the weather here doesn't help, though today the sun is trying to peek through, adding a silvery glare to the monochromatic muck all around us. It's inspiring me to go remove the winter garland, which now looks like the under-arm fur of an orangutan, from our long corner fence.
But first, a light load of wash. It gets better, read on.

Has anyone seen the moral compass?

barbara — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 11:06:47 -0500

by barbara

LeftyMN sent a link this morning to an interesting post by someone named Bob Ryan. I had two reactions. Wow! (and) I wish I were smart enough to think so deeply that the end result would be profound in its simplicity. Turns out that Iceland could serve as a moral model for the United States. Ryan's post says their national philosophy can be summarized in four points: Turn the page.

Bush's man in Minnesota

barbara — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 09:03:23 -0500

by barbara

John Kline. U.S. Congressman in Minnesota's Second Congressional District. My district. John Kline, Republican. Retired Marine colonel. Son in Iraq. Assorted family members in the military.

Last night, for the first time in his seven years in office, Kline consented to hold a town hall forum. Given that it was a dark and stormy night with gale-force winds and the threat of a huge dump of snow, the turnout was surprisingly large. We mostly filled a high school auditorium. But for little gaggles of Kline's hand-picked supporters here and there, we were largely co-mingled. Yes, that means that Republicans and Democrats were seated side by side, front to back, hither and thither. I happily report that I believe I do not have cooties this morning, and further believe that I did not infect any Republicans with liberalis erudititis. Of course there's more!

Bush's man in Minnesota: Part II

barbara — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 07:41:55 -0500

by barbara

People were not predisposed to attend John Kline's first-ever town hall meeting in their happy place. Which was probably the whole idea of what preceded it. Inflame the opposition. Republics are very good at that, witness Bush's session recess appointment of Mr. Swiftboater as ambassador to Belgium. But I digress.

The official word, prior to Tuesday night's John Kline gig, reportedly came from Kline's D.C. chief of staff, Stephen Sutton. Citizens were told that Kline did not trust the League of Women Voters to moderate the meeting (and, in fact, his own staffers took charge, as in total charge). Citizens were told that Kline viewed the 700 individuals who had petitioned for the meeting to be liberal operatives (most were, in fact, peace activists). Citizens were told that questions would be pre-screened. Suffice it to say that Dems were not predisposed to be in our happy place as we entered Lakeville South High School.

The Morning News

susan — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:35:44 -0500

In which we encounter recess appointments and crippled veterans

by susan
It was one of those blood-boiling news mornings. (Yes, I'm of an age where I still get the bulk of my news via the inky page, with a syrupy cup of joe to match. And the motor-mouth to follow.)

For starters, the arrogance of King George continues unabated with his latest recess appointments, most notably, the aptly named Sam Fox to be ambassador to Belgium. Nothing new that heavy financial lifters get ambassadorships, but most get approval from Congress before they pack their luggage. This jackal, a $50,000 donor to the swift-boat slime attacks on John Kerry, was clearly not going to have the Senate votes necessary, so our sullen boy-king waited for the week-long congressional recess to slide his buddy into place. Well, the race is to the swift -- boat slimers.

This (un)Holy Season

susan — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 22:36:02 -0500

by susan
Good Friday. If you're of that persuasion. Even though the sun's shining, it's record-setting cold here in Minnesota, with wind chills in single digits. April has earned its cruelest month status.

Today, after six years (and haggling on wording right to the finish line) the UN's Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change, made up of 2500 international scientists, released its report on global warming. Even though most of us have known this for at least a decade, and Al Gore won an Oscar for putting it on the big screen, the heart sinks to see it all spelled out.

Wage Peace

barbara — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 14:18:05 -0500

by Judyth Hill
(but frequently misattributed to Mary Oliver--even here, for one full day. My bad! Barbara)

Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble, breathe out whole buildings
and flocks of red wing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children
and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Don't wait another minute.

Ifill v. Imus

susan — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 12:17:30 -0500

The I's Have At It

by susan
Can we take a brief moment to look at Gwen Ifill's op-ed today in the NYTimes? Like Ifill, I have never heard Imus, unless he's making the news for offending someone else. My understanding is that he's a so-called shock jock, handing out kudos and knee-breaks as he sees fit, without any adherence to right or left ideology. He has a face made for radio, as they say, with an odd aura of the sepulcher to it. But that would be judging him on appearance, which would be unfair.
So let's look at his words, which wouldn't be.

The twelfth of never or now?

barbara — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 14:19:49 -0500

by barbara

"Americans must leave Iraq now, not an hour later!"

Yesterday, John McCain told us that the Iraq war is winnable. "Unfortunately, the American people are not being told of the progress that's being made."

Yesterday, Sami Rasouli (pictured) told us that Americans must leave Iraq now, "not an hour later!" because America has F-A-I-L-E-D. Stay-the-course and surge (I call it scourge) means continuing to fail. What is the shelf-life of failure, I wonder. Perhaps Lyndon Johnson could have told us. Who to believe, hmmm? Read the rest.

Boys behaving badly

barbara — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:26:36 -0500

by barbara

Just in case you missed it, there's no immediate danger of bringing home the troops. The Pentagon announced this afternoon that the tours of all 145,000 active-duty Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are being extended from 12 to 15 months. According to an AP story on HuffPost:

Some units' tours in Iraq had already been extended beyond 12 months by varying amounts. The new policy will make deployments more equitable and more predictable for soldiers and for their families, (Robert) Gates said. Unfortunately, there's more.

God bless you, Mr. Vonnegut

barbara — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 08:53:06 -0500

by barbara

Every now and then, a death makes me sadder than my tenuous connection to the deceased warrants. So it is with author Kurt Vonnegut, who died yesterday at the age of 84. Vonnegut made the front page of today's New York Times, which probably would have confounded him. The Times described him as a man whose "dark comic talent and urgent moral vision . . . caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation." Please read on.

Buying the War: Bill Moyers Journal

susan — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:37:24 -0500

by susan
Okay, I love Bill Moyers. Maybe I'm the last person to know this, but the Bill Moyers Journal is returning to PBS, and the first segment, airing on April 25 at 9 pm (eastern time, I think, check local listing) is about how the media helped sell the lies on the run-up to the war.
If you're busy, it's Tivo time! (I don't even know how to spell it, so you think I know how to use it? I heading off to Geezer Tech right now.) More.

Mississippi, Mo Dowd, and Me

susan — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 17:16:35 -0500

by susan
It was a beautiful day for hanging the laundry. So beautiful that we failed to do the wash which is required before hanging. Instead we walked along the spring-swollen Mississippi and across the Stone Arch bridge, showing off our dirty little city to our son and his girlfriend who are visiting from LA.

Yeah, dirty. It's always that way in April. So we point up to the gleaming new Guthrie and the zillion dollar condos, and down to the excavated mill ruins which explain why Minneapolis is where it is, and try to avoid all that mid-level detritus of winter. But with the trees barely in bud, the sun takes on a harsh burn and illuminates the grit and stains of road salt, the wrappers, bottles and old shoes on the river bank, the roiling effluvia of the river itself, flushing the great northern bogs and fens of their winter muck.

Field notes from Little Walden

barbara — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 07:19:27 -0500

by perhansa

"How can I tell what I think 'til I see what I say?"- E.M. Forster
"How can I tell who I am 'til I see what I do?"- Per Hansa
"How can I think with this racket?"- Shuttup Puhleez

A year or so ago, I read Elizabeth Kolbert's book about global warming titled Field Notes from a Catastrophe. It scared the s*** out of me. Then I bought half a dozen copies and gave them to family members to read. My 78 year-old father said I convinced him that climate change is real. One of my daughters said it scared her, too. I've continued reading and talking about it since. Climate change is an issue that "turns my crank," as they say. Read on.

Of dogs and ducks and cojones

barbara — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:11:15 -0500

by barbara

I love Paul Krugman. Also Bill Moyers, Frank Rich and Stephen Colbert. But today, mostly, I love Paul Krugman. Reliably credible. Smart. Discerning. He has earned my trust, and I'm sure he'd be thrilled to know that.

Krugman's NY Times column today discusses the phenomenon of the Democratic party's base pointing the way to its leaders. Read more. Please and thank you.

What the hell, therefore?!

barbara — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:35:45 -0500

by barbara

Thirty-two college students and one monster are dead. And by various accounts, dozens more are wounded. It happened at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. You can read about it here and here and likely lots of other places if you can bear it. I imagine television is alive with ghoulies following the action. It's an incomprehensible tragedy. But that's not my point here. Stand by for a full-fledged rant. Read on if you dare.

Blacksburg and Baghdad

susan — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 01:18:51 -0500

by susan
Barbara wrote in the previous post:
"George W. Bush is a disgusting, callous, pathetic excuse for a man." You know, she's always looking for the best in the guy. I wish she'd say what she really feels.
The horror of the shooting in Blacksburg has us all reeling. Yet it also has me thinking about how similar massacres have become an almost daily occurance in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities under the American occupation. It's impossible to imagine such an existence.More.

Hope

barbara — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 22:08:01 -0500

Courtesy of Louisiana State Press
from Alive Together
by Lisel Mueller

Please click here to read the poem in its entirety. It is best that way and thanks. ~B

A Post-Blacksburg Ramble

susan — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:01:45 -0500

Cold turkey on guns and sleaze?

by susan
I'm not thinking this one fully through, but the wrenching heartbreak of Blacksburg seems to be the logical conclusion to an American upbringing. At least, to the American upbringing of the last several decades, where we on the left caved in to a mind-numbing extreme of sleaze, sex and violence on TV, in video games, music, and on the radio, all in the name of free speech. And where those on the right went to an idiotic extreme of encouraging free access to all firearms, even those meant for combat, all in the name of the right to bear arms. What a volatile cocktail we've been feeding our kids. Ramble on.

And the point is . . .

barbara — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:02:10 -0500

by barbara

I got a big smackdown yesterday. I told some folks that I was very disturbed by the Virginia Tech president's press announcement that the shooter there was an Asian male student. My point was this: What earthly difference does it make whether the shooter was Asian or Caucasian or Martian? Where does race fit into this unless/until it is later proved to be a relevant factor in the killings? More.

Pat Robertson's Monica

susan — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 00:01:36 -0500

Note: Due to an editing error, some of you couldn't open this entire post. It's been corrected, please try again. The Slate article is worth it.

by susan
I had heard snippets about Monica Goodling's evangelical fervor and her third rate academic credentials, but had no idea how bad it really was. Before resigning and pleading the fifth, Goodling, 33, was Alberto Gonzales' liason to the White House. Democrats have postponed a vote on granting her immunity in exchange for her testimony until next week. May the caged bird sing. More.

I wannabe a star

barbara — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:10:35 -0500

Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist and ABC consultant, says it is a "social catastrophe" to air the videos of Seung-Hui Cho. Though I haven't seen them myself, I could not agree more wholeheartedly. What is this morbid obsession we have in this country (and elsewhere, perhaps) with graphic focus on aberrant, violent behavior and its grisly aftermath? Click here to continue reading.

The Party's Over

susan — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:42:14 -0500

I read the news today oh boy

by susan
This was the first time in a long time that I could not make it through the morning newspapers. Even the quotes of lard-necked Republicans blasting Alberto what-me-remember Gonzales out of the water, if not out of his job, couldn't lighten the heavy load. It gets worse.

My brother's keeper of hope

barbara — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 09:03:58 -0500

by perhansa

Earlier this week Susan asked what gives us hope. My quick response included great quotes and attempts at dazzling philosophical insights. Afterward, I felt I should have paused and considered the question. The Buddhists say that all beings are our teachers if we will but listen. In a way, Susan was my teacher for a day. I sat in the sunshine eating a pimiento cheese sandwich and tried to meditate on Susan's question. I remembered this from one or another wisdom tradition: "Those who know don't speak, and those who speak don't know." And this phrase kept coming to mind: The luxury of hope. Read on.

There's Hope After All

susan — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 14:16:50 -0500

This just in! Limbo On the Way Out!

by susan
Due my older sister's refusal to set foot in our local public school, for a stretch of my life we were sent to the neighboring Catholic school, Sacred Heart. For me it was an out-of- the-fying-pan- in-to-the-fire sort of experience. Even back then I wasn't terribly happy being told what to do, but the progressive curriculum of the public school allowed me to avoid the things I hated, like math, and speed ahead in the things I loved, like reading, and left me plenty of free time to lounge around with the boys in the woodwork shop. (We're talking 2nd grade here. Don't get the wrong idea.) With the nuns, it was a different story. For more blasphemy, read on.

Honor Your Mother

susan — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 11:40:45 -0500

In honor of Earth Day, we're turning off the computers and heading outside to listen.

What we've got here is failure to communicate

barbara — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 11:40:02 -0500

by barbara

By now, you've probably read some version of the Sheryl Crow/Karl Rove encounter. It happened Saturday night at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Not for the first time, I'm reminded that some people deemed "brilliant," e.g., Rove, are actually little dim bulbs. Read on.

Bush Fatigue

susan — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 12:51:33 -0500

With a coda on Queen Barbara

by susan
Well, Poppy Bush called it. The nation may be experiencing "Bush fatigue" he told CNN's Larry King, in an interview scheduled to run tonight. Otherwise, he says, Jeb would be the front-runner for the presidency in '08.
Oh. That sort of Bush fatigue, as in, "Let someone else have a turn," a sort of WASP-ish graciousness, a token gesture to rotate off for a cycle that an 8th grade teacher might impose on a popular class president.
Not the kind of Sisyphean Bush fatigue we're all experiencing as we drag our sad souls back up to the surface, day after day, for a gulp of hope which isn't there. Slog on.

Bully pulpit bushwah

barbara — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 23:10:52 -0500

by barbara

All righty. In this corner, we have Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid. In the other, Dick and George, the BushCo tag team. In what is today's best black pot and kettle thing, Bush and Cheney are accusing Democrats of "political opportunism in forging ahead with a $124 billion measure that sets a timetable for leaving Iraq." Oh, there's more!

Compare and contrast

barbara — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 08:38:17 -0500

by barbara

Today, Laura Bush told Americans that no one suffers more than she and their president on account of the war in Iraq. You can see the clip here. I must tell you that I have cruelly misjudged the Bushes. Who knew that George W. Bush is the First Sufferer and steadfast Laura the First Sufferagette? All this time, I have believed them to be shallow, callous people pretending to be human. I am so ashamed. Click here for further enlightenment.

From Guernica to Baghdad

susan — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:30:02 -0500

Have we learned anything?

by susan
Today is the 70th anniversary of the fire-bombing of the Spanish market town of Guernica, which killed 1600 people, injured 800 more, and left standing only a tiny fringe of buildings around the perimeter of the small Basque village.
It was at the peak of the Spanish Civil War, and although Guernica was not on the front lines, Franco and his Nationalists wanted to deal a blow to the morale of the Basques and the Republican army. More.

Free to be the press

barbara — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 09:26:58 -0500

by barbara

I learned a lot watching Bill Moyers' exceptional program Wednesday night. Moyers went pica pica with the pathetic state of U.S. journalism since Bush seized control of the country and the press. Do not miss the Moyers video and/or the Moyers transcript. Full disclosure: I am now enrolled in the online Pat Robertson School of Cherry-Picked, Bush-Administration-fed Information-Spewing and French Cooking. Today's mixed load reflects my new-found learning about how to take a fragment of truth and craft a story that is marketable, that is good for the bottom line of one's newspaper, radio or TV employer. Here are my scoops du jour with a half twist: Of course there's more!

A Wolf in Wolfie's Clothing

susan — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 13:41:02 -0500

Too glorious a day to post. So, in case you missed this op-ed by Joe Conason, columnist for Slate, in the Minneapolis Star Trib, here's another chance. If spring has contributed to your already short attention span, as it has to mine, here's his conclusion:
"With its endless procession of tawdry scandals and buffoonish antics, the Bush administration often looks and sounds like a sitcom. In retrospect, as America and the world confront terror, disease, poverty and environmental peril, it will be recognized as a tragedy."
Read on, it's worth it.

WWTD (What Would Thoreau Do?)

susan — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 10:48:48 -0500

A Meditation on Nature and All the Rest of It
by Perhansa, Clothesline regular

26 April, 2007
Brighton, England
I sit at the desk of my hotel room where Charles Dickens once stayed. To my left is an open window through which I can see the Brighton Seafront and the English Channel as the sun sets. I've been here a few days teaching for a client, and while away, I've been following the events back in the Motherland from the Grand-Motherland. They seem both surreal and infuriatingly absurd. Time and distance hath given thee a new perspective.Ponder on.

Toodles

barbara — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 06:53:33 -0500

by barbara

And so another Monday morning rolls around. What'll it be today for something different? I know! I'll go to Scotland! Why not? Well, apart from the fact that the exchange rate stinks, gas there is roughly double what it is here and everyone thinks the U.S.A. is an incompetent bully, fueled by greed . . . . Still and all, a perfect day for an adventure. So Scotland and Ireland, here we come. Read on for an extended Minnesota goodbye.

BushCo's House of Scandal

susan — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:40:01 -0500

Scandal A state of affairs regarded as wrong or reprehensible and causing general public outrage or anger.

by susan
Last week, the boys at the Powerlineblog.com (remember, we're just a little ole clothesline) took on Eleanor Clift of Newsweek for saying that the Bush administration is rife with scandal. Actually, the Power boys intone, "The truth is that the Bush administration has been extraordinarily scandal-free."
The Clothesline rarely takes on such deluded claims, but, fueled by an overdose of coffee and a quick perusal of the morning news, I can't resist. Rage on.