Worst Headline of the Day

"Ex-Firefighter Gets 10 Years In Blaze"

Wouldn't that be considered cruel and unusual punishment?

Arianna to Kerry: For Once, Ignore the Focus Groups' Advice

I'm still pissed at Arianna Huffington for her stunt of pulling out of the California recall election - after I had sent in my absentee ballot. But she does have some credible suggestions for John Kerry (snippet):

....Strike a new bargain with the American people. Tell them, "Let's put an end to the tyranny of low expectations. You can expect a lot more of me, and I will ask a lot more of you." President Bush has used Sept. 11 to divide us — and as a handy visual for his new campaign ads. Imagine how different our country would be if he had used it instead to call on the American people not to go shopping but to commit themselves to a large, collective purpose. Believe in us enough to ask us to confront both the horrors wrought by terrorists and the horrors wrought by random violence in our inner cities, and by woefully inadequate health care, education and housing. Believe in us enough to ask us to share in the sacrifices necessary to build a country of real opportunity for all and a sturdy social safety net. The values and spirit that emerged on Sept. 11 — generosity, selflessness, courage — are still very much part of who we are. After years of being pandered to and lied to, we are longing for a leader who will speak straight to us and challenge us to live up to those intangible qualities that make our nation great. You can be that leader, but only if you ignore all those who tell you that's not the way you win elections. Indeed, that's the only way you'll win this one.

Read the entire column. It's unusually sobering and less acrid than ususal for her.

HERE is the transcript from this morning's Democracy Now! interview with exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Seriously

Tom Brokaw for VP? (snippet:)

....Mickey Kaus of Slate reported last year that Mr. Brokaw remains intensely interested in politics and has thought about running for president. John Thune, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Mr. Brokaw's home state of South Dakota, agrees. He says Mr. Brokaw has been intrigued by politics ever since his days at the University of South Dakota. "It would be a fascinating out of the box choice," he told me. A South Dakota Democratic state legislator assures me that Mr. Brokaw would be a good ideological fit for Mr. Kerry, with the added advantage that "no one thinks of him as a liberal." Most Americans have respect, even affection, for Mr. Brokaw. More than one TV critic commented on his performance as moderator of a Democratic presidential debate last November by suggesting the debate would have been livened up if he had been one of the candidates. The Weekly Standard says he has mastered the technique of appearing on television as "a thoughtful fellow, caught in unhurried rumination." His book on World War II veterans, "The Greatest Generation," sold more than 4.1 million copies in 1999 and was followed up by three subsequent bestsellers. Even his ideological adversaries give him his due....

Bill Cosby: Let's Clean Out the Junk

Bill Cosby addesses the winner of the November, 2004 election:

Dear President-to-Be, I'm looking at the junkiest room I've ever seen. It is a classroom in an American public school; it is public education in America today. A child did not make the room junky; generations of litterers — legislators, school board members, superintendents, principals, taxpayers, teachers and presidents did. Given the mess, it is a wonder that our children are able to do even as well as they do. We must be grateful that there always have been talented and determined teachers who find their way through the maze of rules and special interests and do what they became teachers to do: help their students shine. Our neighborhood schools are cluttered and crumbling. Of course, I'm assuming that anyone applying to be president probably never went to a poor and neglected public school where books have missing pages, walls have peeling paint and children have nothing to write with. Wealthy people comfort themselves that money is not the issue. But nothing dear to America was ever maintained without it. We need money to secure great teachers, money to update teaching methods, money for technology and supplies, and money for time. Time is a precious commodity and teachers need it to plan lessons and meet with students, parents and administrators. When the junk is cleaned out of that junky room, its structure is sound: Public education is a good foundation on which to build a better life for each of us. And if we want to prove to these children who never made the mess in the first place that education is worth the trouble, our schools have to inspire them so they can do what they ought to do. A young teacher, returning to college to hone her skills, asks herself why she wants to teach children who do not have a safe environment to learn in and who lack resources and support from administrators and family. Besides her intrinsic love for teaching, we need to give her a reason to stay. We must make firm commitments to educators who can show us the way, and learn from the many clear examples of their success. The media constantly focus our attention on the very worst schools when we should really have before us, like shining examples, these school success stories. Why do we accept failure as an example when we can demand that the successes be made visible? School leaders have to be seen to be heard and to be supported. And we ought to pay them livable salaries, at least enough to afford the chalk and crayons and countless other supplies they buy out of their own pockets. I invite you to look into this room. You can say to our nation, "We must begin — we cannot wait for someone else to clear out the mess."

"There's many ways to victimize people. The most insidious is to convince them that they're victims." ----Tom Robbins

VOTERS Webring

If you have a moment, visit the VOTERS webring and check out some of the excellent sites maintained by its members. The currently featured site, PioneerGrrrl, is a long-time Kerry supporter:

As a feminist, I support Kerry because of his ground breaking record on gender equity issues. In 1971, he marched for the Equal Rights Amendment when this movement was (and still is in some circles) incorrectly stigmatized as "anti-male" and/or "extremist". Kerry continued his social justice passion while working at the district attorney’s office because he instituted critical rape investigation reforms that took blame off of the victim---now a common practice expected throughout the country. His first Senate floor speech affirmed Roe v. Wade and he refused to support homophobia with the Defense of Marriage Act (becoming only one of a few brave senators to vote against the measure unfortunately supported by former President Clinton). Kerry proactively knows that gender issues are everybody’s issues and cannot be separated from ‘real’ politics.

Lookback to 2001?

Top administration officials believe bin Laden may begin to feel the heat from the troops now hunting him and might start to move. "We are putting the pieces in place to throw the net over him," one official told CNN. Among the devices that will be in place within days are U-2 spy planes flying at 70,000 feet, taking pictures, using radar and intercepting communications. Unmanned Predator drones, flying closer at 25,000 feet, are equipped with cameras that can spot vehicles and people and special radar that can operate through clouds. Some of the Predators may also carry Hellfire missiles. Ground sensors may also be placed along mountain passes to listen for vehicles. Data from the planes and sensors will be sent via satellite to analysts for quick action. The U.S. military has bought up satellite transmission capacity in the region, to ensure it can respond quickly. But none of the measures are being acknowledged officially. "Of course you've heard and seen in the press that Osama bin Laden is surrounded, we have him cornered and we know where he is, etc., etc. And of course, we don't know that," said Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the U.S. Central Command, in an interview with PBS' Jim Lehrer. Abizaid added that there are no U.S. troops on Pakistani soil, and said U.S. efforts with the Pakistanis are focused on cooperation and coordination. When asked if he thought bin Laden would be captured this year, the general said he had no way of knowing. But, he said, "I think that we will make it very painful for al Qaeda between now and the end of the year."

This is from CNN in October, 2001, as the U.S. initiated the steps to capture Osama bin Laden?

WRONG!

Thank you for being a Bush Volunteer.

I just signed up as a volunteer for Bush/Cheney '04:

By signing up today as a Bush Volunteer, you’ll join the most important part of the 2004 election: the grassroots team to reelect President Bush. You’ll also receive the latest inside information, news of upcoming visits, emails from the campaign trail, and special campaign mementos!

No, I'm not going nuts. This will be a good way to get a first-hand look at some propaganda of the Right, and I hope some good post-worthy stuff.

Friday Reading

Former law dean Herma Hill Kay examines same-sex marriage.
A marriage, gay or straight, is first a civil union
Rules of law: Let states decide - By John Yoo (former law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas)

Democracy begins at home, chides billionaire philanthropist George Soros

Bush Exploits Photo of Dead Bodies, Despite Ban

So Just Where IS That Hellmouth?

Well, it's been almost a month now since S.F. started marrying gays. Mark Morford (and the rest of us) are still waiting for the other shoe to drop (snippet):

...So, here we are. Approaching a full month after the first of S.F.'s marriage ceremonies, and nothing. The universe is smiling madly. The world is shrugging. Anonymous supporters from all over the nation have sent flowers to hundreds of loving gay and lesbian couples. As of this writing, there is no scathing hellfire. No fanged demons of destruction (Lynne Cheney excepted). No meltdown whatsoever. I would know, right? I mean, wouldn't the power go out, or something? Maybe it's still to come. Maybe total screaming misery and unspeakable sociocultural collapse coupled with wanton bestiality and incest and the giving away of free anal beads to innocent teenagers takes more than a month. Maybe I'm just a little impatient. Maybe Satan is taking his sweet time to marshal his leather-clad armies, watching as other U.S. cities get in on the same-sex-marriage act, listening as mayors and governors all chime in their support and say what's the big deal. Maybe Beelzebub is waiting for a big moment so as to really leverage the coming news flash, the special report, the sudden activation of the Emergency Broadcast System. Something like: "This just in: Earthquakes rocked the globe today as giant fire-breathing bees of death swarmed the countryside, feasting on fat white heterosexual babies mostly from Texas and Colorado Springs and Utah and Idaho, as the institution of hetero marriage careened around the mad vortex of space-time like a savage drunken pinball high on black-tar heroin, just like the Christian Right predicted. "Horrors bled into the streets, terrorists were spawned by thousands, presidents openly lied so as to lead a nation into bloody violent unwinnable wars, thousands of Catholic priests sexually molested tens of thousands of children over a 50-year period without the slightest punishment, the environment teetered on the brink due to heartless government rollbacks as air quality and water quality and food sources were ravaged in the name of corporate profiteering, the economy crumbled like Jenna Bush after her 10th beer bong as hate and fear and bogus Orange Alerts ruled the land. Oh wait. That was all before the same-sex-marriage thing. My bad.

FRIDAY FUN

Heroes of New Zealand
Hit the Penguin (latest variation, using snowballs)
Huh?
Juggler
Matchhead Sculptures
Movie Alphabet Game (first one is "Apocalypse Now")
Not My Kid
ShakeItBabe (window pusher; then enter site and click along snake)
Summarize a Novel in 25 words (or less)

And don't forget the FRIDAY FUN Archives, where you can revisit your old favorites.

A Look Back

Remember THIS?

Testimony Prepared for Hearings on Iraq Policy - Senate Foreign Relations Committee 31 July 2002 by Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies Nelson Mandela was right when he said that attacking Iraq would be "a disaster." A U.S. invasion of Iraq would risk the lives of U.S. military personnel and inevitably kill thousands of Iraqi civilians; it is not surprising that many U.S. military officers, including some within the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are publicly opposed to a new war against Iraq. Such an attack would violate international law and the UN Charter, and isolate us from our friends and allies around the world. An invasion would prevent the future return of UN arms inspectors, and will cost billions of dollars urgently needed at home. And at the end of the day, an invasion will not insure stability, let alone democracy, in Iraq or the rest of the volatile Middle East region, and will put American civilians at greater risk of hatred and perhaps terrorist attacks than they are today. ....And whoever is installed in Baghdad by victorious U.S. troops, it is certain that a long and likely bloody occupation would follow. The price would be high; Iraqis know better than we do how their government has systematically denied them civil and political rights. But they hold us responsible for stripping them of economic and social rights -- the right to sufficient food, clean water, education, medical care -- that together form the other side of the human rights equation. Economic sanctions have devastated Iraqi society -- and among other effects, the sanctions have made the U.S. responsible for the immiseration of most of the entire Iraqi population. After twelve years, those in Washington who believe that Iraqis accept the popular inside-the-Beltway mantra that "sanctions aren't responsible, Saddam Hussein is responsible" for hunger and deprivation in Iraq, are engaged in wishful thinking. The notion that everyone in Iraq will welcome as "liberators" those whom most Iraqis hold responsible for 12 years of crippling sanctions is simply naive. Basing a military strategy on such wishful speculation becomes very dangerous -- in particular for U.S. troops themselves.

Today's Quote

"Even if you don't have health insurance, you are still taken care of in America. That certainly could be defined as universal coverage." ----Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson

Yes, of course. Oh, and the economy is improving, the air and water are much cleaner, education is better, and Iraq and Afghanistan (and Haiti) are now models of peace and democracy. Long live the Republican revolution.

Howdy from Kerry

Received this John Kerry message via e-mail this afternoon from the DNC:

"Will we let the Bush campaign define this election, distorting his record and mine in the process? Or will we carry the momentum of yesterday's enormous victory forward with energy and enthusiasm? You and I both know the answer. Together, we have to fight for every vote and answer every challenge. Let's roll up our sleeves and go to work. I am confident that, working side by side, we can take on any challenge and win."

How goddam lame is that? If this is the energy and spirit the Democrats are planning for the next 7 months, you can kiss the White House goodbye. "Let's roll up our sleeves..." Aww, jeez leweez. If any Democrat is reading this, they've GOT to be a little bit scared and raging mad at the spineless, careless and thoughtless manner the "good" party is approaching the single most-defining moment for the future of all mankind.

Don't these people care in the least that a band of lawless, truly evil and completely dispassionate humanoids are on the verge of destroying my life, their lives and our future on this increasingly pissed-off planet? Has anyone, including Republicans, REALLY stopped to think about how our social, political and scientific advances of the past few centuries are on the verge of permanent evanescence due to the incessant, amoral actions of a virtual handful of old, white, frail frat boys? If we all don't wake up soon, then I'm cashing in my life insurance and stocks and taking a long, permanent vacation from this rapidly growing hellhole we keep insisting is a place where we can "crown our good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea". I'm really scared, people, and I'm beginning to think I don't belong to this species; it's just getting too crazy out there, and almost no one seems to have a clue.

Before you tell me that I'm off my rocker and way overreacting, clear your head and really think. Could you have ever imagined, in your worst dreams four years ago, that things could possibly be the way they are today? Of course not. It's just not rational. Now, think how much worse it can get. It's impossible to imagine, and yet that's the direction in which we are headed. Right now. Do you really think these people are going to roll over and die if we "fight for every vote and answer every challenge"? It's lame. It's just lame, and sad, and I'm frightened.

Results

HERE is the updated delegate count for the Democratic candidates.

HERE are the California primary results, including state propositions.

This Week's Quote

"Aristide's mistake was to fail to see who his real enemy was. The one good thing that has come out of the attempted coup in Venezuela and the kidnapping in Haiti is that all the peoples of the Caribbean and Central and South America now know that the United States is an enemy of democracy and human rights, and will act ruthlessly to continue its exploitation." ----Xymphora

Why Kucinich?

All you voters in California and the other states voting tomorrow, March 2, remember to vote with your heart in the primaries, and with your mind in the November election. If you like Kucinich but are caught up in the "he's not electible thus I shouldn't waste my vote on him" web, your vote for him will increase his delegate count, and thus his influence in the formulation of the national convention's platform. Therefore, you can have a greater impact on the influence of the progressive movement in the Democratic Party by voting for Kucinich rather than Kerry/Edwards.