http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12149545…

The Wall Street Journal notices what we noticed too:

Bush’s Third Term
July 2, 2008; Page A12

“We’re beginning to understand why Barack Obama keeps protesting so vigorously against the prospect of “George Bush’s third term.” Maybe he’s worried that someone will notice that he’s the candidate who’s running for it.”

Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog.

Two good pieces on Al Qaeda landed in my Newsreader this week and they both point in the same direction, albeit in different terms. The first one is from Tony Karon who questions the current relevance of Al Qaeda as the big post-9/11 bogeyman. For Karon, Al Qaeda is irrelevant and always was. In this respect, Al Qaeda is comparable to Trotsky… Huh? How does the comparison apply?

"Al-Qaeda is irrelevant, and yet U.S. hegemony in the Middle East is facing an unprecedented challenge from Islamist-nationalist groups. To understand the link between al-Qaeda’s weakness and the greatly expanded strength of groups such as Hamas, Hizballah, the Muslim Brotherhood and, of course, Iran, over the past seven years, it’s worth turning to the 20th century precedent: Leon Trotsky and his followers vs. the larger, nationally-focused parties of the left in the mid 20th century.

Trotsky rejected pragmatism and compromise by nationally-based leftist movements and insisted, instead, that they subordinate their specific national interests and objectives to the fantasy of “world revolution.” And as a result, long before his murder by Stalin, he found himself holed up in Mexico City, manically firing off communiques denouncing all compromise, and being largely ignored by the more substantial parties of the left world-wide. He had become an irrelevant chatterbox, caught up in a frenzy of his own rhetoric while world events simply passed him by. The same can be said of Bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri — it is not al-Qaeda, but the likes of Iran, Hamas, Hizballah, and the Muslim Brotherhood that represent the future of the nationalist-Islamist challenge to Western power in the Middle East."

What makes Al Qaeda seemingly powerful are two factors: the one mentioned by Karon, that is, the fact that the United States treats Al Qaeda as this omnipresent threat of global proportion and reacts to every action as if it were the beginnings of a terrorist apocalypse. The second one, which I think is relevant here and contributes to the first, is that fact that Al Qaeda, being a non-state group, articulates itself opportunistically to nation-based movements (Algeria, Philippines, Indonesia, or Iraq).  Read more 

It’s really true that the full moon brings out the Crazy in people. And completely unrelated to that point, JimmyJeff Gannon runs a blog for the National Press Club. If that’s not a Zen moment of truth about our times, I don’t know what is.  Read more 

No pics and just a short one from me today, as it’s too durn pretty outside to stay on the machine for long. But: in case you don’t know, many vegetable plants only require 30-90 days of growth before harvest. And many are very easy to grow; lettuce and chard and potatoes and even tomatoes. There are many foods that freeze well, or can be stored dry.

Why am I reminding you of this? Because the flooding in the Midwest is going to utterly ruin a lot of our corporate farms, the farms that we still rely upon for our system of cheap and readily available food. No, I don’t predict starvation and food shortages, but yes, I do predict a rise in the price of food starting this fall or sooner, an even more dramatic rise than is already coming due to inflation and energy prices.

Spade up some grass. Fill a couple of pots. Head over to a community plot, or just create one on some unused land in your ’hood. It’s not too late.

Today is an interesting and important day to remember, especially this season:

On June 12, 1967, the United States Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a married couple named Loving – he was white, she was black. They lived in Virginia and had violated the southern state’s law against inter-racial marriage. The high court’s decision made interracial marriage legal in all 50 states. Today, the Loving decision is celebrated as an important victory for multi-culturalism and democracy.

With temperatures topping 35 degrees centigrade, it wasn’t just the music that was hot at the 5th annual New York City Loving Day Celebration, one of several such events around the country.

Kathleen and David and their two cocoa-colored children were among the estimated 1000 people gathered under a big tent along New York’s East River. The group included many interracial couples like them.

Kathleen and Dave Graham, and their children Max and Miles are a healthy interracial family. Kathleen says she is grateful that the Lovings helped pave the way for their freedom
“There are a lot of people who had to fight really hard so we can be legally married,” says Kathleen. “We can own property, we can have the kids and we don’t get hassled about it. We’re normal now.”  Read more 

What is the rush to end this thing? Why the hurry to have it over? What, exactly, are so many people concerned about? All the wrong things, apparently. There are more and better reasons for her to persist than not.

Hillary should continue her pursuit of the Democratic nomination because:  Read more 

Well, you can’t say I don’t know when to Be There. What an entertaining week it’s been for me, here in the old hometown. CD got her Chitown on, and it’s just got my brains a-stirrin. Heh, there haven’t been any riots between supporters of the two hometown candidates now that it’s all over (nevermind that ’convention’ thingee) and for the most part, people seem genial and happy that One of Ours is going to go all the way. Seriously- outside of these evil, hateful wars we have in the blogosphere, Dems I spoke with this week seemed pretty happy and satisfied; some even hopeful that the “Dream Ticket” is still possible, some happy that the SB finally Q (which I guess I missed, but anyway). Heh, I kept my cards close to the vest all week; I wanted to listen and perceive. Biggest thing I noticed: even here, in the Windy City for which Da Mayor has slaughtered many enemies to economically buttress and protect, the Recession is here. That’s one thing I really hate about our gummint today: you just can’t trust anything they tell us about “the economy” and are often reduced to anecdotes and personal impressions. So let’s reduce.  Read more 

Edited and revised from a comment I left at the Confluence this morning.

Chicago Dyke is right to point out that sometimes when everyone in the room is in loud agreement, even if the points being made are valid and the emotions displayed are sincere and civil, the room can still start to sound like an echo chamber. It’s not that dissent is unwelcome here at Corrente — Leah, ChiDy, Xan, Xenophon and other top-shelf posters have written several vigorously discussed pieces recently. The danger to a site like this is that we become boring. We repeat ourselves. We get used to the sound of our own voices, and as virtual alliances and sympathies bond us together we begin to self-edit and become timid about being bold thinkers and commenters.  Read more 

[Much shortened version of a much longer post I accidentally destroyed by hitting a wrong key but am too lazy to rewrite.]

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there was a Canadian Prime Minister named Jean Chrétien from the Liberal Party who took over when the Conservative Party was weakest and proceeded to hold his political enemies at bay for more than a decade. He did so because he had no compunction about seeing politics as war, and never accomodated his opponents for high-fallutin’ reasons of unity. No Unity Ponies for him!  Read more 

Remember this?

I have to apologize. To You, Gentle Reader. To my Blogmates, past and present. To America, lost and wounded. I am so sorry. as a sop, I’ll offer some pics of the gardens very soon, honest to Chuy I’ve been in them 12-15hrs/day for the last month and just too fucking tired to blog.

I love you. I really do. Love is easy for me; it’s why I have such a hard time in life, people who love to love are often those who do poorly in “business” or with money or things that “matter” in our society. But I’m not sorry; if I were religious, I’d consider it a ’gift from gawd.’ The ability to feel love for people is one that I wish more people could nuture; indeed I believe they can, and so I write this now.

Bottom line: the candidates, all of them, have little more than contempt, derision, and mockery for you, Little Person. If you’re not writing a 000000$ check, believe me, they aren’t thinking about you, let alone worrying about what you say, for whom you pull a lever, etc. This isn’t a “democracy” anymore, you’ve noticed that I’m sure. “Superdelagates” will decide who is to be our Next Leader; Iraq will slog on; none of us will enjoy universal health care or cheap gas any time soon/ever. No Bush Administration crony will go to jail for a long, deserved time, and the rich are going to get richer, at least until the Revolution comes. I hope you all know how I have used that term ironically and with black humor. Life for the Progressive is always hard, and we always fail to acheive our objectives…until the day we don’t.

But that day won’t come by fighting each other. Go ahead, mock me for being Missy Kumbaya. I can hack it. I will still love you, fellow progressive. And I will still love you one year from now, when these arguments are forgotten and President Gore/Obama/Hillary/McCentury is in charge, and our economy is still tanking, and the environment is still dying, and global warming is even more pressing…do you understand my point?

I am weeping, true and bitter tears, to learn and understand that the people I love and respect most in this world still succumb to the media game that is designed to keep us all down. Fight for your candidate! Yes! Be Nasty, be dirty, say untrue things, even…this is the age of the Bush Republican. I believe in “The Chicago Way;” if your enemy kicks you in the balls, you knife him in the back, send his to the morgue, etc. But not within the family. Goddess no. No, it’s just not worth it. Kerry/Dean/Clarke, anyone? Doesn’t anyone remember what that was like, or how little that all matters now? Please, try.

Like it or not, progressives like us, and I mean *you,* we’re all Family. If you were all Black or Brown people from poor circumstance, you’d know exactly what I’m trying to say here. Sticks and Stones… Blood is Thicker…A Rolling Stone… Or let me end on a brutal note:

While we all tear each other apart, millions are dying, millions more are going to die, for no good reason. As an American, like it or not, you have an incredible responsibility to do what you can to make sure your power isn’t used for evil, oppressive reasons. Turn off the TV, goddammit. Stop reading the Wanker of the Day’s latest bullshit. Reach out your hand to those who are on the side of Good. Learn to say, “I’m sorry. Let’s get down to business.”

Or, not. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. If you do the work of the Evil for them, you have no one but yourself to blame.  Read more 

Now, tell me. What could I possibly add to this?

First lady Laura Bush on Monday said the United States stands ready to pump more aid into Myanmar to help its recovery from a cyclone so devastating the death toll could top 10,000. But that help is conditioned, she said, on a U.S. disaster response team being allowed into the country.

Mrs. Bush also rebuked Myanmar’s ruling junta on other fronts in a rare appearance at the White House press briefing room. She faulted the junta for proceeding with a May 10 constitutional referendum that she described as a sham, and criticized government leaders for not warning citizens about the storm.

“We know already that they are very inept,” she said.

With these people, sometimes the irony affects the magnetic poles.

Today is not the first time the New York Times has urged elites to step in and stop people from destroying the country by voting. From the 1915 New York Times Editorial on the proposal to give women the vote:  Read more 

Offered without comment:

All of this might make some sense if McCain didn’t have this ridiculously cozy relationship with the press that’s been solid as a rock for more than a decade. He is going to be terribly difficult to redefine. It will take everything they have to do it. And if they don’t do it, he could very well win this thing even if he is as old as Methuselah and has the campaign style of a pet rock.

I was talking to a staunchly liberal friend of mine over the week-end who told me that he really didn’t worry about the primary because if the party is damaged and McCain wins, it will probably be ok. The reason: he’s not stupid like Bush or crazy like Cheney. After I picked up my brains from the floor and put them back in my head, still reeling from the explosion, I tried to explain how that was wrong. It was pulling teeth and I don’t think I succeeded. He just likes the guy and doesn’t believe he’s really capable of being as bad as Bush because he “thinks for himself” and isn’t a GOP lackey.

The Democrats had better get themselves together. The Republicans picked the only candidate in the entire country who could elicit that kind of praise from my pal and others like him. He’s the only one who could possibly win, and win he may very well do if just let this congenial image continue without challenge.

To know her is to love her:

Cheney’s memory is a great fallacy that haunts us today, just as the misbegotten Iraq war will haunt us 30 years from now. It was a huge mistake to pardon Richard Nixon and I say that as someone who thought it was the right thing to do at the time. I was very young and had a soft heart and thought that it was gratuitous to punish him more after his terrible humiliation and that it would be good for the country to “move on.”

Allowing Nixon to get away with his crimes while his fellow Republicans angrily stewed over the injustice of his downfall is what led to the ongoing usurpation of the constitution under Republican rule. They believe the president is above the law and the constitution. Why wouldn’t they? They do these things and there’s no accountability so they do it again the first chance they get, always upping the ante. When they finally lose an election and take a breather from illegal wars and pillaging and shredding the constitution, the Democrats are so busy beating back political attacks and trying to clean up the mess that they decide accountability isn’t worth it. They “bind up the wounds” allowing the infection to fester until the next time it happens.  Read more 

Watching this whole primary campaign take place, I am seeing some haunting similarities to the events of the 2000 Presidential campaign.
In 2000:
Bush, or “Dubya” came down off the mountain, never said all that much, spoke in generalities and platitudes.
In 2008:
Obama comes out of nowhere, speaks in generalities and platitudes, and adds fainting adoring crowd members for extra good measure.

In 2000:
The press was gushing and fawning in their coverage of this new Emperor, he could do no wrong. His campaign events were described in almost messianic tones. I remember an MSNBC reporter saying that “the atmosphere was positivly electric..people were hanging from the rafters, and couldn’t wait to vote for “W”.  Read more 

From the Fort-Worth Star Telegram:

The Texas Democratic Party is warning that its March 4 caucuses could be delayed or disrupted after aides to White House hopeful Hillary Clinton raised the specter of an “imminent” lawsuit over its complicated delegate selection process, officials said Thursday night.

… Democratic sources said representatives from each campaign had made it clear they are keeping all their options open but that the Clinton campaign in particular had warned of an impending lawsuit.

Perhaps we can call in the 2000 Supreme Court and Catherine Harris to sort this one out…

You prolly saw this already but it pissed me off and I need to blog on it. Goodwin can suck it; isn’t this how the SA got started? Or at least, there’s some rhyming going on here. It’s never a good thing when an entrenched power rounds up bored, underemployed young men and stands them up in opposition to populists and progressives.

Comcast Blocking: First the Internet — Now the Public
February 25th, 2008 by jstearns
There was huge turnout at today’s public hearing in Boston on the future of the Internet. Hundreds of concerned citizens arrived to speak out on the importance of an open Internet. Many took the day off from work — standing outside in the Boston cold — to see the FCC Commissioners. But when they reach the door, they’re told they couldn’t come in.

The size of the crowd is evidence that many Americans don’t want giant corporations like Comcast and Verzion to decide what we can do and where we can go on the Internet.
But will the FCC hear these voices? For many people who showed up on time for the hearing, apparently not.

Comcast — or someone who really, really likes Comcast — evidently bused in its own crowd. These seat-warmers, were paid to fill the room, a move that kept others from taking part.

[Update: Comcast admits to paying people to stack the room in their favor. Read the report.]  Read more 

It says a lot about us as a society that this show even exists. There is something truly vulgar and horrid about a people who accept pedophilia as entertainment. OTOH, it’s nothing new and pedophilia is endemic in our culture; it’s only that when people like me start pointing it out we’re labeled as ’crazy feminazis’ and ’overly sensitive freedom haters’ or somesuch. It appears no one in this story is on the side of the “good guys,” and the dollar amount guarantees that the perversion will continue, abated by our “justice” system. Meanwhile, child abuse and sex slavery are real, unaddressed issues in our society; they are horrors perpetrated by corporations, gangs and our government alike. But most of us ignore those ugly truths, in favor of self-gratifying titillation like this show. The more I think about it, the more I think this moment in American culture sums up almost everything that’s wrong with our society. We have a deep, deep sickness and it’s called “denial.” Ersatz solutions to our problems won’t help anything, and in terms of real numbers/the bottom line, they often make things worse. In this case, all this attention only encourages would-be and practicing pedophiles. In the case of things like the environment, the monetary/market meltdown or the occupation/war, the “solutions” proposed by popular politicians guarantee that we put off and also increase the price we will ultimately pay, for our current folly of unwillingness to face the full scope of those problems.

SP is doing his best to sound like a cranky 30something bitching about how much Kidz today suck. But this struck me:

I was scrolling around iTunes today just listening to some of the new ’alternative’ (never mind the irony that they are all mainstream) artists and it occurred to me that there is very, very little original music therein. Most of it is either a cross of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Green Day and Sarah MacLachlan. I guess when there are but a few companies that dominate the mainstream music publishing business pathbreakers and innovators aren’t marketable. In the past there seemed to be, at least once every decade, a breakthrough band—or town—that changed the calculus. But music today and for the last several years has remained very stale.

I was in the car the other day on a long drive with no CDs, and I wasn’t in the mood for Newz. Skipping around metro area stations (I was near the airport) I was sort of shocked by how much the stations I knew sounded, well, exactly the same as they did over 10 years ago, when I last lived in the area. Not just alike, but really, the same. It was sort of creepy.  Read more 

Let’s hope this is a sign of things to come:

ALBANY — In a major victory for Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his party, a Democratic assemblyman won a stunning upset in a State Senate election on Tuesday in a district that has been in Republican hands for a century.

The win reduces the Republicans’ majority to one seat and will intensify pressure on the majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, as he tries to maintain his party’s grip on the Senate, which it has controlled for more than 40 years.

The Democrat, Darrel J. Aubertine, a dairy farmer, leaned heavily on Mr. Spitzer’s media consultant and the state Democrats’ money as he waged a costly campaign against the Republican, William A. Barclay, a lawyer and an assemblyman whose father once held the Senate seat.

Mr. Aubertine won 52 percent of the vote to 48 percent for Mr. Barclay, according to unofficial results. Republicans outnumber Democrats 78,454 to 46,824 in the north country district, and Mr. Barclay had been favored to win.

“I think it has to send shivers up their spines,” said the state Democratic chairwoman, June O’Neill, about the Republicans, as whoops and hollers erupted around her at a victory party for Mr. Aubertine at an Italian-American civic club in Watertown.

She added: “The Democratic Party can meet and beat the Republican machine anywhere. If we can do it here, we can do it anywhere.”

Link  Read more 

What the fuck? What the hell kind of chicken shit outfit are they running in Dallas? This is one Kennedy analogy we really don’t need. If you don’t know how to properly secure a venue, call me. Jack Douglas of the Star Telegram:

Security details at Barack Obama’s rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena. The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.
Link

Come on protect the man!!

We have kewl kommentorz here, and someone directed me to this list of the “top 100” moments in American political rhetoric. Nifty! And look how many of those great speakers have been Dems! Again, nifty. Just thought it makes a nice resource for people thinking “where have I heard that before?” more often these days.

This post isn’t about Obama. But I sincerely hope his supporters read it. Not this post per se, but the links contained. First, watch this video, courtesy of Skippy:

Wow, that’s the only word I could come up with, other than a sudden need to vomit into my mouth a little. How do you spell “soulless schmaltz?” Or perhaps better “utterly fake feeling.” How quickly if goes from having “The Feeling!” to the need to express “oh my god, where is the pepto-bismol?” How quickly indeed…

Now, I urge you to take some time to read the following. Each are well worth it, and balanced. Start with Gossip from the Village. For once, it turned out to be useful and so