Date

No mind, like, left, ummm, behind

barbara — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 10:25:39 -0500

barbara writes

As you have probably noticed, it's being a weekend of light loads at the Clothesline. Even in the midst of an endless barrage of Bush Republican bad news.

For example, I see that the Toxic Texan swaggered into Iraq to pick up a carefully screened sound bite for the coming week. He was undoubtedly safe there because he is the terrorists' dream. They don't have to do anything! BushCo has screwed up and destabilized this country beyond their wildest imaginings. Politically, socially, environmentally, judicially, morally. They can just sit back and watch in slack-jawed amazement at our complicity in our own downfall as BushCo continues to sow the seeds of decline. (Oh. Did I say "light"?) >>Read more.

A weighty matter

barbara — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 08:27:00 -0500

barbara writes

I just inventoried the current crop of candidates (nice alliteration, Barbara) for the U.S. Presidency. Ever since this tedious campaign cycle started in the last millennium, I’ve found myself at a strange remove from all those people. No surprise that the herd of Republicans leaves me queasy. What’s worrisome, though, is that generally speaking, I don’t care a donkey’s rump about any of the Dem candidates either. Okay. John Edwards gave me a big, friendly hug a few years ago when I met him at a political rally. So, we have history, John and I. Apart from that . . . urk. >>Read more.

From Bridges to Hedge Funds

susan — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:51:11 -0500

Susan writes:

On Labor Day I walked across the Mackinac Bridge, a five-mile engineering wonder that connects lower Michigan to the Upper Peninsula, and spans the west end of the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan joins Lake Huron. I was with about 60,000 sturdy Michiganders, some of whom have been doing this since the bridge opened in 1957. It's a Michigan tradition, spawning other bridge walks all over the state, some on dinky little spans over drainage ditches, others on state highway bridges like the one that collapsed into the Mississippi in Minneapolis on August 1. We kept that thought to ourselves.

But it being Labor Day, and the bridge having been built by laborers, and with many walkers proudly sporting labor union T-shirts, and with the steel-mill bound ore boats passing below, I couldn’t help thinking about how the middle class has been left to crumble along with America’s infrastructure.
Read on, hedge funds ahead.

Kicking ass in Bagdhad. Or leaving.

susan — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:47:54 -0500

Susan writes:
Perhaps some of you have been following the blog of "river", a young Iraqi woman who's been chronicling her life in Baghdad for the last four years.

As friend jpricco (h-tip) writes, "If you followed her blog it was the essence of watching a country fall into despair and disarray…"

Below is her most recent entry, written as her family flees to Syria. Yep, we're kicking ass in Iraq.
***
Please read what river writes.

PLCSD: Post-Larry Craig Stress Disorder

barbara — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 12:01:05 -0500

barbara writes

Yesterday, I drove via the Cedar Bridge across the Minnesota River for a business appointment. Not for the first time, I wondered when driving on a bridge will seem normal once again. But that was not even close to the most traumatic part of my expedition. No. When I got to my destination, I realized I needed to, ummm, relieve myself before my meeting.

So it was that I found myself in a public restroom for the first time since Larry Craig’s potty story hit the MSM.

Unlike the MSP International Airport, this was a humble two-holer. One of the stalls was occupied. I was extremely careful to avert my eyes as I passed it to the unoccupied stall. >>Read more + updates.

Another blue sky, another September 11

barbara — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:54:38 -0500

barbara writes

9/11. America’s latter day of infamy. The towers, the deaths and injuries, of course. Images seared into memory. Plumes of acrid smoke. New Yorkers, coated with ash, scrambling to get out of the way without knowing what the way might be. “My Pet Goat.” Bull-horn speeches at Ground Zero. A wall of photos. And the Statue of Liberty overseeing the whole chaotic drama.

9/12, 9/13, etc. Days so fraught with anguish and uncertainty that I actually dug my TV out of the downstairs closet to watch some of it unfold. That little screen was as much as I could manage. And like everyone else, I didn’t have a clue that 9/11 launched America’s abrupt right turn away from representative democracy and ultimately away from the Constitution upon which our nation is built.

Our one nation under George had absolutely no idea how far-reaching and horrifying the events of 9/11 would be for America and for the world. But George knew. >>Read on.

When will we ever learn . . . ?

barbara — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:35:09 -0500

barbara writes

Every so often something comes down the pike that makes me say, “I can’t possibly improve on that.”

I was just browsing at Smirking Chimp, which brought me to a Stephen Pizzo post. Pizzo gives us an advance peek at the Toxic Texan’s speech tonight, wherein he will wax rhapsodic over Petraeus (and, to a lesser extent, Crocker). We all have a vague idea how Junior’s speech will play out. But Pizzo gives us the particulars. Here's his edited-for-length version. It's long. Read it anyway. Then compare and contrast with tonight's version.

President Nixon's Speech on "Vietnamization"
November 3, 1969
(Edited for Length)

Good evening, my fellow Americans:

Tonight I want to talk to you on a subject of deep concern to all Americans and to many people in all parts of the world the war in Vietnam. I believe that one of the reasons for the deep division about Vietnam is that many Americans have lost confidence in what their Government has told them about our policy.

The American people cannot and should not be asked to support a policy which involves the overriding issues of war and peace unless they know the truth about that policy. Tonight, therefore, I would like to answer some of the questions that I know are on the minds of many of you listening to me. >>Read on

read more

If you believe in anything . . .

barbara — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 21:29:53 -0500

barbara writes

The Toxic Texan spoke from the Oval Office tonight. Whatever. Here’s a link to his speech if you care to have at it.

Here’s what Harry Reid had to say about it, followed by my insightful analysis:

"Tonight President Bush announced his plan to keep at least 130,000 troops in Iraq indefinitely, demonstrating that he is trying to run out the clock on his failed strategy and leave the hard decisions to the next president.

>>Read on and weigh in with your ideas.

read more

No more stalling

barbara — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:41:10 -0500

barbara writes

Did you think we’d gone away forever? No such luck! Bad Penny here, back in the game. Been waiting for something important to write about.

Likely you have seen news of this already. As usual, we’re a little late to the party since one of us doesn’t watch TV and the other is gone (but not forgotten). As is our wont here at the Clothesline, we eventually get around to hanging up stories for in-depth scrutiny and analysis. It’s our special niche.

You thought you knew what’s important to follow these days? Pfaw, I say. In the same news cycle as:

Sally “goddamn war” Fields
O.J. “mother f**ker” Simpson
Richard “leave no evidence” Cheney
Michael Mukasey, possible successor to Alberto “I don’t recall” Gonzales
Alan “six years too late” Greenspan

I give you (fanfare) Larry “wide stance” Craig, revisited in a particularly weird new way.

Yes, folks, people are flocking to the men’s loo made famous by Senator Larry Craig. Is this a great country or what?! Oh, keep reading; it’s good for you.

Tasering Habeas Corpus

susan — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:52:53 -0500

The writ of habeas corpus is "the fundamental instrument for safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary and lawless state action." Harris v. Nelson, 394 U.S. 286, 290-91 (1969)

"The truth is that casting aside the time-honored protection of habeas corpus makes us more vulnerable as a nation because it leads us away from our core American values. It calls into question our historic roll as a defender of human rights around the world." Senator Patrick Leahy, September 19, 2007

This one's gonna sting, but here goes.

I'm not all that upset by the tasering of U of Florida student Andrew Meyer.

I'm much more freaked out that 43 Republican senators voted against restoring habeas corpus to detainees in George Bush's so called war.

The failure of nearly half of those in the US Senate to support the rights they're asking our troops to die for, is on a scale way beyond the damage a few campus cops could ever inflict on us.

It's hardly news that cops can screw up. Sometimes it's adrenaline or lousy training or an honest mistake that makes a routine arrest go seriously wrong. Sometimes it's racism or an inner bully that takes over. Talk to friends who've been pulled over for a DWI, (Driving While Indian) or Rodney "Can't-we-all-just-get-along?" King. Or the handcuffed Latino kid, beaten by the LAPD last fall, and thousands of other people of color who have been beaten, tasered and worse.
~~More

Dobson Disses Thompson

susan — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:42:22 -0500

Who's it gonna be for the quaking defenders of marriage now? It just keeps getting better. However, even with the Repugs all singing out of tune, I still think it's well within the reach of the Dems to snatch presidential defeat from the maw of victory one more time. They just seem to have a knack for it, and practice makes perfect. Slouching toward November, 2008. 487 days.

Below are snips from an AP story on Dobson's displeasure with Thompson from the
Rocky Mountain Times. (Hat tip, HD) Read snips.
***

Let there be peace somewhere, somehow, maybe . . . or not . . . whatever

barbara — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:34:31 -0500

barbara writes

I trotted my ample butt to a peace rally yesterday. A peace rally in Minnesota, the former heart of blueness. You know – the only state that went for the utterly capable Walter Mondale over Ronald “Bedtime for Bonzo” Reagan.

The fantasy: As you might expect in Minnesota, there were thousands of people at the rally. Police directed traffic at all the nearby intersections. The grassy commons spreading out from the Capitol steps toward the Cathedral on the hill was packed clear to the street and beyond. Hundreds of signs rose high in the hands of orderly but visibly fed-up individuals.

The governor was there. Our congressional reps and senators were there. Clergy from every denomination. Young people – children, high schoolers, college students in vast numbers. The energy was palpable. Lots of music. Current stuff that I don’t know, but it was perfect for the day. We had gathered to say, “Enough! No more occupation! Bring our people home alive and whole!” You probably read about the rally on the front page of the Star Tribune today. Above the fold.

Okay. Enough. Read what really happened.

Iraq: The amazing faces of normalcy

barbara — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 10:25:57 -0500

(Wherein Barbara compares and contrasts the breathless blathering of a BushCo rep pimping the party line on Iraq with the observations of one who lives Iraq all day, every day.)

I lament here from time to time that I have no representative in Congress. It's absolutely true. The man occupying my district’s congressional seat (MN-CD2) is John Kline (R-MN). Make that R-MN, because The Colonel (as he likes to be called) has marched and voted in lockstep with Bush throughout his singularly undistinguished congressional tenure.

Kline recently graced the Iraqis with his fifth visit to their war-shattered nation. Those poor folks must be so tired of the steady parade of U.S. photo-oppers wandering in and out and requiring maximum security for their “how I spent my summer vacation” moment. Crikey, the Iraqis see more of Kline than his constituents do. Read more!

Taking the Bait

susan — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:10:41 -0500

Susan writes:

Folks, they've done it again. The Repugs have distracted us and divided us with the MoveOn flap. We are beating up our own for their votes on this ad, while ignoring their many good votes, and letting the Repugs off the hook for their ongoing rubberstamping of the lamest-duck and most congenitally inept and immoral president in our history as he barrels us beyond the quagmire and into the abyss of Iran.

On birdies and biffies, breasts and bombs

barbara — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 10:53:40 -0500

barbara laments

I’m in my annual spate of deep autumnal mourning. The hummingbirds are gone. I love those little dudes and dudettes. As the summer unfolds, they become less and less nerky about having humans in their space. Emboldened by the knowledge that we would never even think about harming them, they chirp and whirr ever closer, affording us a, ummm, bird's eye view of their impossibly wee bodies and ruby throats. I read somewhere that hummers beat their tiny wings 55 times per second. Fly at 25 mph. Yeah, I’m that hooked. I have hummingbird data in my memory bank.

Now, without warning, they’ve disappeared again. Gone for the winter. Smart. They’d never survive here. Probably Republicans have tried to legislate them out of existence. Rationale? They’re somewhat dependent on feeders and flora provided by bird lovers. Well, we like to believe they need us. But unless we declare them as dependents on our taxes, it’s a benign symbiosis.

Anyway, my sorrow drove me to plop disconsolately into my swivel rocker, wherein I began to read this morning’s Star Tribune. And talk about distraction. Remember that old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times”? We are so there!

For starters, the lead story (LEAD STORY, top of fold, top of page) is that two Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport restrooms will be revamped on the heels (well, actually, the toes) of the Larry Craig caper. More on fine minds at work.