Date

Merry month of May

barbara — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:39:37 -0500

barbara writes

UPDATE: In the spin-til-you-puke department, John McCain said today that the now-famous May Day "Mission Accomplished" banner is not George W. Bush's fault. I just wanted to clarify that for you. It's what we do here at CLB. See end of this post for late-breaking updates.

The Court of Love / author unknown / 1561

And furth goth all the Court, both most and lest,
To feche the floures fressh, and braunche and blome;
And namly, hawthorn brought both page and grome.
With fressh garlandes, partie blewe and whyte,
And thaim rejoysen in their greet delyt.

May Day. Paean to spring, borrowing from medieval pagans. Boy howdy, does this day ever bring me waaaay back. Simpler times for sure. Grade school. South Minneapolis. Anyone remember May poles? Multiple streamers affixed to the top of a vertical pole. Students took turns grabbing the free end of the streamers. Then with some direction from the teachers, we made up our own dance, weaving in and out out and under and over each other. It was inevitable that some hyper kiddo would get carried away and before long, detached streamers were lying on the playground. We’d be laughing like crazy and a wacked-out teacher would yell, “Children . . . children . . . be nice. Settle down! Stop it! I mean it.” More on May Day.

Chit-chat at the Clothesline

barbara — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:41:23 -0500

barbara and Susan write

(check back as this illuminating exchange grows over the course of the day)

UPDATED: 10:00 pm CDT. Booyah!

barbara says: Hullo, Susan and CLBers. Looks as though spring has finally made its way to MN. For this week, anyway. Booyah! The birdies are ecstatic and so are we. We ate dinner on the deck last night for the first time in 2008. A nice ending to a long day. Showed up at the oncologist’s office at 8:00 a.m. and didn’t get out of there until after 4:00. Crikey.

Found myself tilting southeast this morning. Oh, yeah. The primaries. Hey, everyone know Indiana and North Carolina are having primaries today? Just thought I’d mention it, in case. Predictions, Ms. Susan?

Susan says: Wait, we go from ecstatic to this? To the primaries? This is like going from May in MN back to March. But, as long as you asked, it ain't pretty. (You know the day is off to a bad start when you're agreeing with David Brooks. Read on, Macduff.

A whole new tone

barbara — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:56:39 -0500

barbara borrows poem:

There is nothing so sweet as a bunny
A dear, little, sweet, little bunny
He can hop on his toes
He can wiggle his nose
And his powder puff tail is quite funny.

Big fun on the bayou: Cajun Dem beats swamp-scum Repub

susan — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:23:42 -0500

In the thread following Chit-chat at the Clothesline (before Barb's bunny poem -- a palate cleanser, I presume) there's been talk of how to treat Hillary, now that she's the presumptive non-candidate, with "do unto others" being my theme.
But also some flip-floppin' on my part about whether in fact Hillary has a point when she says she's more well-suited (read, willing to morph into whatever persona the moment demands) to beat John McCain. Can the Dems win without that great body of testosterone known as the working class white male? Or, in Hil's words, the "working, hard working Americans, white Americans . . ." (As opposed to whom, exactly? Don't go there.)
E.J. Dionne Jr. takes that on this morning in the WashPost, citing the recent election of Democrat Don Cazayoux in a race for an open congressional seat in a traditionally (33 years) Republican district. Cazayoux's opponent was long-time Repug state house legislater Woody Jenkins, a solid Christian conservative known for displaying plastic fetuses to gain attention to his strong anti-abortion stance.
More.

More Papal Proof . . .

susan — Sun, 11 May 2008 00:48:12 -0500

. . . that lots of people don't listen to their religious leaders. (A tangential ramble on the road to motherhood.)

The Pope has reiterated the church's ban against artificial birth control as well as its ban on any methods of artificial procreation. For years Catholics have had a wink-wink attitude towards the no birth-control rule made by those who don't play the game, and will continue to do so. But most of them aren't walking out of their churches because they think the Pope's message is -- nuts.

The church also opposes in vitro fertilization. "No mechanical technique can substitute the act of love that two married people exchange as a sign of a greater mystery," Benedict said. So, who's stopping them? It's just that sometimes to get a baby -- which for mysterious reasons doesn't always happen -- some non-divine intervention is required.
Papal nonsense, cont'd.

May Day and then some

barbara — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:28:22 -0500

barbara writes

Just emerging from the cancer thicket (David is my hero!!). And what to our wondering eyes should appear but sunshine! Glorious Minnesota spring sunshine. That and Mayflowers. Forget-me-nots. Vinca. Bloodroot. Perennials are rising and growing measurably every day. David’s cold frame is filled with hundreds of plants he started from seed. Trees and shrubs are leafing out so that soon, we’ll be enclosed in our secret garden(s) once again. Dandelions are rampant and I believe I can hear the crab grass bitching. Read on.

They are America's future!

barbara — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:02:51 -0500

barbara writes

UPDATE: Please see comment from Kim Farris-Berg who coordinates this wonderful program!

Find more videos like this on Students Speak Out

I’m one of those doofus people who tears up at my grands’ choir and band concerts. There’s something so powerful about being present to a gathering of young people making the proverbial joyful noise. And every time I hear about the things they’re learning and, more importantly doing (experiential learning – booyah!) in school, I am totally blown away.

Most recently, one of my grands prepared an oral and visual presentation about Kent State. She’s 13. She didn’t know, but now she does. And she cares. Read more.

Pssst, which side of my mouth should I talk out of now, Joe?

barbara — Mon, 19 May 2008 12:19:06 -0500

barbara writes

Houston, we have a problem. Well, Houston, Denver, LA, both Portlands, Kansas City, Atlanta, New York, Milwaukee, Little Rock, Albuquerque, etc.,etc., etc.

It seems that John McBush is a little confused. See for yourself at the above video that comes via Cliff Schechter's post at FDL.

Moreover, it seems that the MSM are reliably keeping a lid on McBush's McGaffes. So it's up to us. Share this broadly, will you? Read some more.

The Kennedys

susan — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:27:48 -0500

There is a such a Kennedy-esque frisson to Barack Obama that my spirits are soaring almost as high as my fears. His speech tonight in Iowa hit all the right notes. He has his mojo back.

So it's an especially sad irony that we get the news of Ted Kennedy's brain tumor on the same day that Obama wins the majority of pledged delegates. And it has a truly creepy book-ends feel to it -- the emergence of a young, Harvard-brainy presidential long-shot into the fading light of the Lion of the Senate, the last surviving brother of a family stalked by murder and early death.
More.

The Kennedys, part 2

susan — Sat, 24 May 2008 12:44:42 -0500

Can we be mad at Hillary for saying what we've all been thinking? Yes we can, not because she thought it, but in the context that she used the thought -- to justify her refusal to drop out with grace. The "I need to stay in the race because you never know, Barack might get shot." justification.
This coming on top of the sad news of Ted Kennedy's brain tumor is surely a gaff she regrets. This may just be her "bitter and cling" moment, something said while short on sleep, a sort of thinking out loud deal, but because her campaign has been so full of these subtle digs and racial jabs, it doesn't feel like a simple misstatement, as she now claims. It feels like one more desperate grab by someone who cannot believe that she is, indeed, drowning, that the shore is slipping farther away.
Read on.

Remembering forward

barbara — Sun, 25 May 2008 22:24:05 -0500

barbara writes

I’ve been half-heartedly Googling this weekend, trying to find a particular photo dating back to my childhood. Even now, I can’t decide whether I really want to find it.

My family used to spend part of each summer at a rented cabin in northern Minnesota. My father was with us each weekend, commuting back and forth from the Twin Cities where he worked.

When he arrived on Friday evenings, we ate together, the four of us. My little brother would hit the sack early. As the elder kinder, I got to stay up on Friday night until I voluntarily retired myself. So while my parents busied themselves at the oilcloth-covered table in the kitchen, swatting mosquitoes, chatting and sucking up a few old fashioneds, I hunkered down to sort through the week’s mail from home.

There was rarely anything for me, but I had right of first refusal of all my parents' magazines. McCall’s, Ladies Home Journal, Life, Look, Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s. (Did I mention that I’m old as dirt? I thought not.) Those, and my kid magazine, Jack and Jill.

One of those summer Friday nights, I was lying on my belly in the living room, flipping the pages of Look Magazine. Part-way into it, there was a multi-page feature about the Korean War. Grown-up stuff. I was supremely naïve about war, even though my father had served in the South Pacific in WW II. And as I began thumbing through the Korean War photo essay, I had not the faintest premonition about what photos of war might reveal. Read on.

Moving on

susan — Wed, 28 May 2008 08:35:32 -0500

Barb and I are very busy people. Okay, Barb is. I'm just one of those people who feels very busy.
I'm in a post Memorial day slump. All that flag wavin' about dying for the good old red white and blue in wars with no purpose leaves me tuckered out.
And I'm in Michigan where it's very very cold, frost on the roof last night and no heat in this house. And no news. Ahhh.
Except the occasional snippet which I catch online before the service cuts out.
Today's snippet was yesterday's column by Bob Herbert about Joe Biden. Herbert cites Biden's defense of Barack Obama: “I refuse to sit back like we did in 2000 and 2004. This administration is the worst administration in American foreign policy in modern history — maybe ever. The idea that they are competent to continue to conduct our foreign policy, to make us more secure and make Israel secure, is preposterous. ... Every single thing they’ve touched has been a near-disaster.”
Amen Joe.
More.

The wit and wisdom of John McCain

barbara — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:55:37 -0500

barbara writes

Be sure to catch Jane Hamsher's post at Firedoglake. She lays out a strategery for giving our friend John McCain a lot of Google exposure that he likely would not have chosen for himself. You can help!

Jane has posted embedded hyperlinks (posted for you below as the Clothesline's contribution to upping the ante). The links steer Googlers to articles that tell the truth (gasp!) about McCain's policies and BushCo ties.

Help us raise the Google ranking of the following links. Jane says:

You can blogroll them, put them in your sig, add them in comments, or link one every time you use McCain's name. Or his "huggy bear" image.

Here's a link to OpenLeft for more particulars about how to do this.

Digg Jane's post, too, would you? It's a great way to increase readership of important information. In the absence of a responsible press, it's up to us!

1--McCain: US economic woes 'psychological'
2--McCain housing policy shaped by lobbyist
3--Bush, McCain plug Social Security
4--McCain blasts Obama's and Clinton's attacks on NAFTA
5--McCain in NH: Would Be "Fine" To Keep Troops in Iraq for "A Hundred Years"
6--McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion
7--Senate passes expanded GI bill despite Bush, McCain opposition
8--McCain says overturn the law that legalized abortion
9--McCain Defends Bush's Iraq Strategy

BTW, it's estimated that this project could cost McCain 1% of the vote. Booyah!

Count down on Florida and Michigan

susan — Sat, 31 May 2008 12:56:30 -0500

As I write, the DNC rules committee is deciding what to do with the Michigan and Florida delegates. How could it have come to this? I don't mean that they'll hand down a bogus decision, a la supreme court in 2000, because I think they are all smart enough to know that they have to present a nicely trussed bird, stuffed with just enough delegates to keep everyone happy. (Except Hillary, and the woman in this photo.)
More.