There are two fascinating posts on Mark Warner's trip to Florida this weekend, one at The Hotline on Call and the other at Warner's Forward Together blog. According to Warner's blogger-in-chief, Jerome Armstrong, "Governor Warner went down yesterday afternoon to Orlando, and...spoke this morning to about 400-500 delegates and officials." According to Jerome, "[t]he trip went great, the Governor's message of a results-oriented approach to governing is exactly what people want from the nation's leadership."Meanwhile, the Hotline has a summary and analysis of Mark Warner's speech. Apparently, Warner hit on his usual themes of good government, "best managed state" in the country, "tax reform," the future vs. the past, competing in more than just "16 states," running on a "positive agenda," and emphasis on Democratic "core values." Sounds good to me! Also, according to the Hotline, the reaction from Democratic strategists and journalists was that, "for a guy two years away from a presidential bid, he has a darn good message." And the audience reaction? Well, Warner was "the only featured meal speaker to get a standing ovation upon introduction. And during the speech." Very impressive.
In sum, it appears that Mark Warner continues to fire on all cylinders. Sure it's early, but if he keeps this up, Virginia's reputation as the "mother of Presidents" could very well be set for an addition to the list come January 2009. But, of course, there's a LONG way to go until the next Presidential election, and plenty of hurdles ahead. Still, Mark Warner has succeeded at just about everything else in his life, so why not this? We'll see...
Before they asked any Virginians to pay more, they cut government waste and streamlined government processes. They got their foundations in order and then set about fixing up the house.
Warner and Tim Kaine achieved all this by working together with a predominantly conservative republican congress.
Jerry Kilgore fought them every step of the way. If he'd been in charge, we'd be broke and the state government would be huge and wasteful.
Say it again and again, to continue with Mark Warner's success we need Tim Kaine.
There are many, many people who believe abortion is wrong, and who are working by the means they believe are the most effective to eliminate it (whether increasing education and public health information about birth control, alleviating poverty, improving health care for women, or many other actions.) They are clearly acting on their convictions, and the fact that they do not believe in fighting to outlaw it does not diminish that.
This is not and never should be considered an issue of choice or a women's right, it is a limit on government and the types of decisions it can make.
So what? 4,000 humans are being slaughtered a day. They've never got to utter a word on their own behalf. What if that was YOU, pal. It's sickening that you can justify murder under the guise of choice. That woman has no constitutional right to slay another human being. You liberals just want a particular voting block. Period.
I think that making the issue black and white, making the candidates give a seemingly clean-cut 'for or against' answer is pretty pointless right now, given that they can't act on the against even if they wanted to.
Maybe in 5-10 years if Roe vs Wade is somehow overturned, yes...but right now I don't think it's a bridge we're even close to yet, so from a pro-life standpoint, Tim has the right call on this one.
Undoubted Abolitionist were imposing there moral/religious views on slave owners despite clear Constitutional protection for slavery.
While I do agree that abortion is protected under the Consitution (although Roe does a poor job of articulating why), that merely begs the question, So What?
If bloggers are posting their opinions on the internet where I can read then they are not private individuals anymore.
I would therefore modify this rule slightly. It should say, insult those who disagree with us in order to shame them into adopting correct opinions.
1. I don't believe it is an ethical requirement to reveal your real identity. If you are affiliated with a candidate or organization, sure, but that's covered in the rest of the section. If you're going to claim to be some kind of authority, such as an economist or a campaign professional, then readers should mock you if you don't have either publications or online writings to support your claim to expertise. But anonymous commentary has a noble history and can be very useful, and it is not unethical to choose to keep one's private life separate from one's "published" persona.
Or, in shorter form, it is unethical to use anonymity to hide one's associations and motivations because it is unethical to hide one's associations and motivations, not because it is unethical to remain anonymous.
"4) Do not attack private individuals, including fellow bloggers. For public officials, make sure that whatever you say is factually based, and avoid making statements that can?t be supported by any evidence or are completely irrelevant to the issue at hand. For private individuals, avoid going ad hominem if at all possible."
Honestly, this is either vague to the point of being meaningless, or enforced blandness. What does "attack" mean? If it just means what the second sentence says, then "attack" is way too broad a term -- most people would understand it to include criticism and debate, however well-founded. It could also be construed to mean that you can't point out if someone is lying, for example. And "if at all possible"? When do you have no choice but an ad hominem attack?
I was going to try to write an alternate version of this point that incorporated the sentiments of the second sentence, while still being narrowly focused enough to be useful, but I'm not sure I can, because I'm not sure this is an ethical matter at all. Ad hominem attacks on public *or* private officials, as well as various other attack tactics, undermine reasoned debate and are counterproductive, but unethical? I guess I don't see it.
I kid you not. Swear. And unbelievable.
Yeah, this is really sad. Just another example of how Jerry has abandoned Southwest Virginia.
Kind of ironic that UVa-Wise is where Kaine selected to start his campaign and now Jerry will not even agree to a debate there, but did agree to one in West Virginia. Typical Kilgore.
First we need to define wether it is a constitutional issue. If it is, we need to determine whose right's superceed the other individual's right. The argument that a woman should have the right to slay her unborn baby for her convience is a HUGE LIE. Justice Blackmun writing for the majority wrote that the right to an abortion is found in the right to privacy...then later wrote that no right to privacy exist. Totally illogical. If you believe that life begins at conception, personhood has been established and the unborn child is protected under the 14th amendment.
Why can't you drop it? You all don't complain when Rick Boucher won't debate his opponents. Yes, he debated Kevin Triplett once, but refused countless others including an invitation at UVa-Wise.
BE CONSISTENT IF YOU'RE GOING TO COMPLAIN!!!!
Robert: The issue here is whether Russ Potts should be allowed to debate. I'm just curious, did you favor excluding Ross Perot from the 1992 and 1996 Presidential debates? How about Jesse Ventura in Minnesota gubernatorial debates? Ralph Nader in 2000? If your answer to all of these cases isn't "yes, I favored excluding them," then you're not being "consistent."
But a statewide race for Governor is a little more high profile that the 13th re election bid of a rural Congressman. Virginians deserve to watch on television a debate for leader of our state.
This is a national disgrace of historic proporations, this guy William Brown needs to be jailed for life.
The people Bush has put in place are completly incompetent. Would Kilgore (bush mini-me) do any different? again... Hell no!
Chertoff didn't even know that people were IN the Superdome! Who are these idiots!?
Pat Robertson never said that! Criticize him for things he said, not things he did not say.
I know I am right about this. Pat Robertson did not say that. Another Baptist minister did.
Apparently, Jerry needs more than just 5 Weasels - remember this is Kilgore!
This warrants another weasel - perhaps two!
That would mean Bush brought the guitar with him!
Odds that Bush happened to meet a guy with a guitar with the Presidential Seal too slim.
So Bush brought props!
These people want and NEED food and water, not a bad concert!
I thought at first that the guitar belonged to the guy in the picture.
WOW! I am amazed yet again!
I see your point about giving now and dealing with politics later. My point is, this is the moment. This is the proof, here, at home, that the priorities of this nation are wrong and must be changed. This is the proof that the American Conservative movement fails the reality test in protecting Americans.
In the past we've sat back and let the radical right wing ideologues run ripshod over common sense. Anybody who wants to donate can donate, anybody who needs a link to do so can go to the Tim Kaine web site and make it so.
This blog, this group, this place is better suited for coordinating the powerful message of this historic moment. It is better suited for helping Virginians turn the tide away from the "people last" republican party.
If you want to do something, make sure we give control of our government back to the people so that we will have a government that is run by people who care about what happens to those of us who aren't billionaires.
Your heart is in the right place Genevieve. In fact, you're completely right. We must give, but also, WE MUST FIGHT!
So when Bush appeared no relief choppers could fly for security reasons?
We knew last Thursday that this was going to be a huge disaster. Bush clearly had no plan. FEMA had no plan. Homeland Security had no plan.
I gave Bush the benefit of the doubt after 9/11. Look were that got us?
This was supposed to be the Presidency that made us SAFER. What if we didn't have warning here? What if this had been a dirty bomb and instead of 100,000 stranded, we had half a million dead and dying? Is the complete lack of planning, the complete lack of preparedness lost on us?
There were two disasters in the Gulf. One was natural, one was man-made. While we may not be able to hold Bush responsible for Katrina, we can't let ourselves get away with forgiving this incompetence.
Where does the buck stop?
Where is the plan?
Where is the power of the federal government in its responsibility to maintain order?
I'm sorry, Genevieve, there's no excuse for this massive failure of leadership.
Bush strummed while New Orleans drowned, and burned, and rioted, and slowly miserably died.
Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee
but the levee was?gone
And good 'ol [frat] boys [like Bush] were drinking whiskey and rye
Singing this will be the day that [other people] die
This will be the day that [other people] die.
New Orleans Drowned, and I don't Care.
New Orleans Burned, and I don't Care.
New Orleans Riots, and I don't Caaaaare,
'cause it's Vacation daaaay!
THe thing that people are not realizing about getting aid to the area is that it takes time. It takes time to get floating hospitals down there, to fly and drop food/water, get the money, get the supplies and finally get it to people. Yeah, Bush played the guitar on Tuesday. Ok. He's also going down to New Orleans now, massive aid from the gov't and private organizations, as well as other nations is coming in, and for a little bit of time, he relaxed. Yes, he looks dumb in that picture. Yes, I don't agree with anything he's ever done. But let's get some reality- he can't exacty sweep down there in an instant and make everything better. These things take time, and if he takes half an hour, an hour, whatever, after setting these things in motion- which they have been, and are helping at this very moment- good for him. Cut him some slack.
Lowell, what exactly do you want him to be doing? Should he be swimming the streets of New Orleans- and then wind up getting shot at? I can't believe I"m sitting here typing this, but it's not like he doens't care about those hurt by Hurricane Katrina- Bush is trying, we all are trying. Estimates are that it's going to take 10+ years to get New Orleans back to the way it was- do you want him down there with a hammer and some nails?
Anybody who could have been out of the coast on Tuesday should have been, and it's not like Bush has done nothing but sit around and play guitar while other suffer.
For example, I notice you didn't add this link:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/hurricane/ anywhere.
Everyone else, please, as we all know, it is a mess on the Gulf Coast. People have nothing, literally, nothing, Many of them haven't eaten a good meal in days, and even those who evacuated have no homes to go to. The Red Cross and Salvation Army, as well as other organizations are looking for volunteers and donations. If you're willing and able, they need your help.
Of course that's my choice, but if anyone wanted something other than Red Cross and hadn't heard of Catholic Charities, it's a group to research.
thus
c) If the Supreme Court overturned Roe-vs. Wade
and
d) The GOP controlled legislature passed a bill banning abortion in virginia
then
e) Tim Kaine would be elated because since he personally opposes abortion as a devout Roman Catholic he would be able to sign a law that he truly believes in (banning abortion)since he has such a great respect for the Church and the rule of law.
right?
You might need to explain it real slow again so I understand.
None of those are quotes. Does the Koolaid kill braincells or do you just not know the difference?
If your gonna whine about things, at least whine about them without misquoting.
This isn't just the fault of George Bush. It's the fault of an entire belief system that thinks it's civilized to leave people to rot while giving our future away to freeloading billionaires. I think that's your belief system. Anyway. You can quote me on that.
Gotta love leftist open debate in action. Too funny!
My above post will indubitably be stricken from the site due to its "mean-spirited" tone. (Unlike all the purely intellectual discourse about Barbare Bush, Jerry Kilgore, and conservatives in general.)
Thanks for the laughs. It's even funnier considering how you lambasted Behan for similar censorship at CC. Hypocrites on all sides, apparently.
But who knows... maybe you'll surprise me. ;-)
a) correct, Kaine personally opposes abortion
b) correct, Kaine respects the rule of law (AND the limits of governmental power, AND the unintended consquences of well-meaning actions - see below)
c) correct, if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade that would throw abortion back to the states (each of which would make its own abortion laws, with likely HUGE variation between places like California and New York on the one hand, and Alabama or Utah on the other)
and
d) correct, the Virginia state legislature could potentially pass a bill banning abortion in Virginia, although this would depend on the exact wording of the Supreme Court decision
So far, your reasoning is basically sound, with a few important caveats, however. Unfortunately, I believe you go seriously astray in "e," due to the issues I raised in "b" and "c." Specifically, people like Tim Kaine understand that there are limits to state power when it comes to regulating personal behavior. So, while people like Tim Kaine might personally believe that abortion is a bad thing and would prefer that there weren't any abortions -- as pretty much all of us would agree, by the way! -- my guess is that the Tim Kaines of the world would like to see abortion reduced through education, personal faith, respect for life, and individual choices made by individual women (in consultation with their doctors, husbands, parents, spiritual leaders, etc.) rather than by blunt governmental fiat (such as an outright ban).
In part, this is because Tim Kaine understands that our society is a complicated place, and that there are often unintended consequences to even well-intentioned actions. In the case of Virginia banning abortion, for example, one can easily envision well-to-do people simply traveling to other states and countries with looser abortion laws (and, most probably, thriving abortion industries).
At the same time, one can easily picture poor people being forced into nasty back alley abortions, which most of ust thought we had left behind decades earlier. This, of course, would lead to terrible and tragic outcomes for the poorest among us -- including the terrible deaths of mothers and babies, and not many fewer abortions either! Certainly, such an outcome would not be acceptable under just about any system of morality or religion. Which is exactly why we need to proceed SLOWLY, CAREFULLY, and THOUGHTFULLY on a life-and-death issue like abortion.
The bottom line is that we need to do everything possible to make abortion "safe, legal and rare" in this country. We need to avoid doing anything - like an outright ban -- that allows only those with money to get legal and safe abortions while making it "unsafe, illegal, and only slightly-less-rare" for everyone else. Luckily, people like Tim Kaine understand that. Having said that, I seriously wonder whether people like Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling, or Jerry Kilgore "get it" on this issue. Even worse, I worry that those men DO "get it" but just don't care about the consequences - to women and poor people, not to THEM, I would point out. On this issue, as on so many others, I'd be far, FAR more comfortable with Tim Kaine at the helm of our state than with rigid ideologues and extremists like the aforementioned trio.
Now, what does your boy, Jerry Kilgore, believe about abortion? Seems like he's not so clear on that issue...or on Confederate History and Heritage Month, or on the tax "pledge," or on how he'd pay for his proposals, or on a million other things. Ah yes, but he "trust the people." Except he's afraid to appear in front of them. Ahhhhhhh.....
These folks like Jerry Kilgore (and, yes, G. W. Bush) are not really Republican, although they call themselves Republicans and run on the ballot as Republicans. The "old" Republican Party is gone, gone, gone.
And Democrats today are different, too: I have found out that it is the Dems who are the pro-small business moderates, the fiscally responsible, socially responsible, and internationally responsible party that believes in the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights.
Bite the bullet, moderates-- until the right wing loses a few elections, you're never going to "take back" your GOP from these reactionary zealots like Kilgore et al. Vote Democratic!
I wonder what Dorsett would say?
it's called PR. WAKE UP!
I wait with baited breath to read of your exorbitant compassion and good works to relieve the anguish in the disaster area.
Santorum (on Pittsburgh TV) says those who stayed behind perhaps should be punished.
"I mean, you have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving."
What encourages selfishness, racial cultural and sexual bigotry, classicism, aristocracy, cruelty, and social darwinism, while simultaneously promising religious absolution, world domination, pride and priviledge for the happy wealthy few?
What robs from the poor to give to the rich?
What gives a president enough support to take more vacations than any other in history, while leaving one of the nation's most beautiful, historic cities to drown, burn, rot, and die?
give up?
I'll give you a hint:
It rhymes with the Radical Conservative Bloovement.
As far as couldn't get the manpower to help with the signs...BULL!!! Jerry has signs all over the state I have traveled from VA Beach to far Southwest Va and they are everywhere.
That is just the kind of man Jerry is, he saw the need for the money somewhere else and sent it.
Way to go JERRY!
All I have to say is - way too little way too late.
The "no taxes" trolls who now rule our nation are the ones who have failed to fulfill the responsibilities of government and left New Orleans to drown.
$5000 from Jerry Kilgore when he's fought ever bit of legilsation that would ever or could ever help the needy is just an insult and plainly disgusting to anyone with eyes to see.
If Jerry Kilgore and his ken gave a red damn about people, he'd have been fighting for their interests and not for the interests of corporate lobbyists for his whole career.
The days of irresponsible government ended in Virginia when Mark Waner and Tim Kaine came into office, and nobody wants to go back.
If Jerry wants some applause, he should take a stand for government to fulfill its responsibilities. Until then he's a joke as are the schills like you who mouth their PR points.
As long as Jerry Kilgore breathes a breath, the spirit of Marie Antoinette lives.
And we've got to enact Rep. Conyer's katrina victims exemption from the "wage slave" act.
18) The federal government needs to work with local and state governments of at-risk areas to develop emergency evacuation programs, including sending Guard down early, using public transportation systems to get people out, and having it be mandatory for nearby states to allow a certain number of people in before the storm hits.
19) Let's try to stop pollutioning (not a word, I know. I know. But it has a nice ring to it) and messing up the environment. Global warming-mmmm....
20) Never, EVER elect anyone with the last name "Bush," or anyone with any sort of relation, blood or marriage, to the family of Bush, to any sort of public office again. Ever. Ever ever. To the infinite power. :D
god forbid Jerry Kilgore not getting into a socioeconomic argument with a reporter when asked about a natural distaster.
god forbid jerry kilgore put his money where his mouth is and make a donation to the victims
and I find it hard to believe that if I took the time to sift through the quotes that Nagin, Blanco, Landrieu, Reid et al didn't make any misstatements on this thing. Get over it lowell
BELLACIAO - New Orleans tragedy: The 17th street levee was bombed - Boin
maybe a dailykos diary is in order.
Freep this debate!
Here's the email to recommend programming to CSPAN:
events@c-span.org
Here's some suggested text. Let's try to inundate C-SPAN. It would be great to get them there.
Dear Sirs:
I am writing to recommend that you broadcast the Virginia Gubernatorial Debate between Tim Kaine and Jerry Kilgore on Tuesday, September 13 in Tyson's Corner Virginia.
As you may know, there are only two Gubernaorial elections this year, and the potential impact on the future of Virginia cannot be overstated.
This race will determine whether Virginia continues along the strong fiscally responsible path set by Governor, and likely Presidential candidate Mark Warner.
If you were to contact Ryan Hughes at (703) 720-2600 ext.114 or by email at ryan.hughes@vavictory2005.org, from the Tim Kaine campaign, I'm sure he could help you coordinate logistics for the broadcast.
Please consider broadcasting this event. It is of critical importance to the Commonwealth and the nation.
Best Regards,
[name], [location]
Personally, I've donated what money I can, given blood, and spent the weekend helping get the DC Armory ready for hurricane evacuees. But gosh, maybe that's not "enough" to allow me to criticize a public figure who squanders her main asset, her public position and influence, by using it to denigrate those she's supposed to be "helping." Maybe it isn't enough to *allow* me to question the basic human decency of someone who, despite having traveled the world and met a huge variety of people, is so lacking in compassion and understanding of what it means to be poor that she believes that losing your home, most of your posessions and possibly some of your family, and living in unspeakable conditions for days in order to go from being "underprivileged" to being given a cot and mass meals and maybe being allowed to move to a new city is "working out pretty well."
But I guess in some people's eyes, doing a photo op and giving some hugs is "doing something" enough to be let off the hook for that kind of crap.
Why did Kaine run commercials saying Jerry should speak for himself? Was it because he used announcers? No--that, can't be it, they are using professional announcers in their commericals where Tim Kaine doesn't speak for HIMself.
Perhaps it's beacuse they want to highlight...his ACCENT!
The second debate, and the first in Virginia, is this ocming Tuesday, also in the morning but this time on a weekday and televised only by the cable "NewsChannel8," which only will reach a small percentage of Virginia viewers. Also, once again, Kilgore refused to debate BOTH his opponents -- Tim Kaine and Russ Potts. Hmmmm...
Finally, there's supposed to be a televised debate on Oct. 9 in Richmond, although again Potts' participation is uncertain.
The bottom line is that Jerry Kilgore has been dragged kicking and screaming to 3 debates -- one in WEST Virginia when nobody would see it, one on a Tuesday morning televised only by a cable news channel (and without one of the candidates), and one in October...again without all 3 candidates. Wow.
Aside from the debate issue, the "duck" recording is of Kilgore's actual voice, whining in a high-pitched, let's-just-say "funny" voice (and NOT because of any "accent," that's for sure!) to Tim Kaine that he has "no duty to you, Mr. Lieutenant Governor." Just go listen to that tape a few times and tell us honestly what you hear. I mean, if that had been a DEMOCRAT, what would you be saying? I can just imagine...
Scott Howell is the national GOP's premiere smearmeister. By brining him in, Kilgore has imported national sleeze and we'll watch it ooze out of the Kilgore camp all the way through the election.
If he can make us afraid, keep us separate, and encourage all of our most base urges, you can be sure Scott Howell will find a way to shine it up and sell it with Madison Avenue pizazz!
Kilgore's campaign for governor ended the day Scott Howell signed on. Now, Kilgore is on a campaign against our higher nature.
Watch out for the ooze, you might step in it.
As everyone knows, Virginia is only one of two states with statewide elections.
Possibly both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates for '08 will be from Virginia.
Moreover, the November election is truly a barometer of where the country is going.
Much like the special election in Ohio's second district, this race is of monumental importance.
Time is of the essence; so please write and do it quickly!
C-SPAN's e-mail address is: events@c-span.org.
We could mount a massive blitzkrieg into Iraq in short order, but we couldn't get zilch into Louisiana for four days or more. Where is Shock & Awe when you really need it, eh? It's utterly impossible to get these neo-cons to understand that Dark Ages battle-axe solutions do not solve everything, in fact solve nothing. And, here again, Bushies proved unable to think more than one move ahead and, in the case of Katrina, not even the first move in a non-military crisis... but remember, Iraq wasn't a military crisis, either, until Bush turned it into one.
NO EXIT PLAN. Not the foggiest idea of prior planning beyond blaming some one else for Bush-folk's own deficiencies, and then turning it over to public relations. Disgusting. Disgusting. I"ve seen some other people scraping off their Bush bumper stickers.
On a side note Wes Clark will be in Virginia on October 11th on the behalf of Tim Kaine.
Juan Carlos Zarate. FORGING DEMOCRACY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF US FOREIGN POLICY ON CENTRAL AMERICAN DEMOCRATIZATION. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1994. Notes, index; 161 pp..
As far as the Zarate speech, I mentioned Mohammed Atta in my DailyKos version of this article, but forgot to mention it here. D'oh! Anyway, I'll add it. In the meantime, you can watch his pathetic excuse for a speech here. Enjoy!
Mr. Zarate is a magna laude graduate of Harvard University, where he was awarded the John P. Reardon award for the best student-athlete. Mr. Zarate is also a laude graduate of the Harvard Law School and studied as a Rotary International Fellow at the Universidad de Salamanca, Spain.
Mr. Zarate has authored a book about U.S. foreign policy in Central America, entitled Forging Democracy, and published a seminal law review article in the Stanford Journal of International Law, entitled ?The Emergence of a New Dog of War,? about the growing use of private international military companies by countries. Mr. Zarate also authored the Department of Justice?s guide to federal prosecutors regarding the restoration of civil rights in firearms cases.
Mr. Zarate was born and raised in Santa Ana, California, and he is a member of the California Bar. He is a member of Mater Dei High School?s Ring of Honor, its honorary hall of fame.
whatever happened to "liberal" tolerance...
oh yeah it never existed in the first place...resorting to violence suggests weaker intellectual arguments
joshuabgood
Can any of you even imagine that if these were the remains of white people, they would be lying on the streets, floating in the water, or even remain trapped in houses?
NOLA is in the process of becoming an American military reserve. Residents who have managed to survive on their own are being told they have to leave "or else." Or else what? Is this an experiment to see if American troops will shoot their fellow citizens when they are ordered to do so? Who are the terrorists now? And please don't tell me it's for their own safety. The Red Cross has been trying to enter the city for over a week and remains barred. They would set up feeding stations, medical units and provide the basic sanitation supplies necessary to permit people to remain in their homes until they are prepared to leave. Please watch the news reports carefully. All of these survivors are black, disabled, and/or poor. Some are elderly. What grit. What determination. What incredible resourcefulness thay have exhibited. If Katrina could not dislodge them from their beloved homes and pets, what sort of force do think it will take to move them now?
Earlier this evening my husband watched a History Channel program about Spartacus. When he and his slave army were finally defeated, after humiliating the Roman generals for two years, the 6000 survivors of Spartacus's army were nailed to crosses lining the road for miles and left to rot for months. This was to be a lesson to anyone contemplating rebellion. White America, always seeking to blame someone else for their fears and defeats, blames Black Americans for the poverty in which so many are trapped, their indomitable persistence in existing and even thriving in many ways, their dominance in sports and music, their growing economic power, their influence on popular culture and particularly white children...and now they sit quietly in front of their TV sets mesmerized by the sight of black corpses floating in the oily water lapping at the foundations of a great and historica American city. Nearly half of them still support the President who is responsible for this ongoing catastrophe. They are not asleep, but they are dreaming.
I am not a Black American. I am an American. I've been fighting this regime as a member of the community of citizens investigating and pubicizing election fraud for over two years. There is only one way we are going to get rid of this criminal cabal and that is through overwhelming civil disobedience and overwhelming majorities in elections. We have a rapidly shrinking window of opportunity here. If you are not yet an activist, please find others in your community and start to work.
I have a suggestion. The next time a scuzzball like Zarate shows contempt for the audience at a New America foundation conference, the audience should return the favor. This way, these people will become separated from the assumption that they can lie in complete safety.
When they are isolated, they have no power. If a clown like Zarate shows no respect, then he deserves none. Yell at him. Call him names. Tell him to shut up. Openly laugh at him. And tell him to go back to North Korea (or whatever hole he came from) and don't come back.
The abandonment of people in Louisiana and New Orleans was DELIBERATE ! ! !
(First, my heart goes out to all my fellow U.S. citizens in Louisiana who were betrayed by George W. Bush, his worthless family and his worthless political cronies).
What if Bush did something even more evil than usual in what people are describing as his inept, incompetent handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster?
Remember, the Bushites reward their loyal allies and punish anyone who's not.
Could this have happened in regards to the federal response to Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana?
From a NY times article (9-7-05) about two Navy helicopter pilots who were reprimanded for saving over a hundred people's lives in New Orleans:
----Flying over Biloxi and Gulfport and other areas of Mississippi, they could see rescue personnel on the ground, Lieutenant Udkow said, but he noticed that there were few rescue units around the flooded city of New Orleans, on the ground or in the air. "It was shocking," he said.----
Do you understand now?
What the Bush administration did was deliberate!!!!
The Bush administration was punishing Louisiana, with it's Democratic governor, it's Democratic legislature and, concerning New Orleans, it's Democratic mayor.
This is the real scandal.
The Democratic Party is not only faced with the terrorist threat of Al Qaeda (and some loons in the Christian Coalition) but also face what amount to terrorist acts by the Bush administration against any Democrat holding public office...and their constituencies, both Democrats And Republicans in their districts.
Alabama and Mississippi got almost immediate assistance from the Bush administration, while the Bush administration could have cared less what happened to the Louisianans, and their damn (as they view them) Democratic Party leaders. In other words, while people in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana were dying horrible deaths, the Bush people sent federal relief into Alabama and Mississippi first, two states with Republican governors. And I think Republican Gov. Haley Barbour knows what happened and it has made even him sick at the utter evil this represents.
And now do you understand why House Speaker Rep. Hastert cancelled the hearings he initially called for into the Hurricane Katrina disaster response by the Bush administration? Any questioning would expose the blatantly partisan response to the disaster by the Bushites. And we can't have that, can we? No matter how many people needlessly died because of the deliberate delay in providing federal assistance to Louisiana and New Orleans.
Therefore, it wasn't just incompetence. It was mean-spirited, utterly evil Republican Party politics. And I have come across several other articles in the past several days indicating that this is exactly what happened.
Sincerely.......OUTRAGED!!!!!
I can't believe that they can't impeach Bush and his administration for all kinds of otrocities that have happened, no one seems to have the balls to stand up for america. In fact I'm sad I live in this country with the moron we have running it.
How many of us have to die horrible unnecessary deaths before we throw them out, and anyone who won't help throw them out gets thrown out too.
Why haven't we risen up and said NO MORE?
They are never going to quit willingly.
They will ne ver give up their power and wealth willingly.
When will we stop them?
A couple of comments made by Zarate were not mentioned above. He gave credit for killing Mohamed Atta to the Bush actions!
He also mentioned that they destroyed al Quaida training camps in Afghanistan, while failing to mention that they created a much better training facility in Iraq!
He seems to think that the Taliban no longer controls Afghanistan! Yes, they only control 3/4 of the country while the Mayor of Kabul controls the center of Kabul. (If he is accompanied by American soldiers!
You need to listen to this speech!
Mere incompetence could not possibly possibly explain why:
1. Offers of foreign aid have been refused.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050902/ts_nm/weather_katrina_reaction_dc
2. Offers of domestic aid have been refused.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/hurricane/cst-nws-daley03.html
3. FEMA HAS DONE NOTHING
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/24989/
4. 4 days to mobilize National Guard
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR2005090202170.html?nav=rss_nation
5. 40% LA's National Guard in Iraq
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0509010009sep01,1,6491327.story?coll=chi-news-hed
6. LA's National Guard's high water vehicles in Iraq
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0509010009sep01,1,6491327.story?coll=chi-news-hed
7. No food drops in NOLA. (WHY? FEMA HAS NOT ORDERED THEM)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR2005090200670_2.html
6. Levee reinforcement/rebuilding project purposefully underfunded
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050901/pl_nm/weather_katrina_funding_dc
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0902-26.htm
8. Blacks portrayed by corporate advertising and marketing media as lawless animals; whites acting same (per Locke, reduced to a state of "nature") portrayed as "struggling to survive" -- White guilt being played by contending those left behind stayed "by choice"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050831/ap_on_re_us/katrina_looting_hk1 (for instance)
9. Red Cross BANNED FROM ENTERING NOLA
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/pp/05246/565143.stm
10. Stockpiled emergency supplies UNUSED
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/03/katrina.unusedgear/index.html
It's not just happening here.
Think about it. The genocide in Darfur ("arabs") running africans off the land. Not just killing them, mind you, but off the land altogether. Why? SOMEONE ELSE WANTS IT.
Africa is the single resource-richest continent on Earth.
Think about it. Hundreds of thousands of poor Indonesians wiped off the Indonesian coast.
Think about it. Thousands of poor blacks wiped off the Gulf coast.
Think about it. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis murdered by U.S. soldiers and bombs.
Think about it. Bankruptcy act; Patriot Act; Real I.D.; Detentions without due process.
The world is being "cleansed" of minorities so that the white population can have it all.
The surviving human population will all be branded like cattle with RFID chips; enslaved by debt; and forget about "ownership" of anything...YOU are the one who will be owned.
Think about it.
Novus ordo seculorum.
Welcome to the New World Order.
Check out this article (and related ones) to prove it to yourself.
People need to start fighting back. No more saying "okay" and turning off the cameras. Fight back. Say HELL NO (like the Sheriff in New Orleans).
No more getting tossed out of tax-payer funded Republican events. If they touch you, it's assault. Warn them, then start breaking arms and legs if you have to.
No more using cheating elecrtonic voting machines. In the next election, we need to go in and start smashing them, demanding ballots.
They are killing us by the thousands. We can't afford to fuck around any more. It's time to fight back. Hard.
I, _____(Josh - 4/4/2006 11:28:03 PM)
I, ____________, pledge to the taxpayers of the _____ district of the State of _________ and to all the people of this state, that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.
Any representative who would sign or has signed this pledge is dedicated to irresponsible government and therefore must be removed from office.
Jerry Kilgore may not have signed it in practice, but his opposition to the Mark Warner/ Tim Kaine tax plan shows him to be opposed to responsible government.
He deserves not a single vote.
WASHINGTON -- In less enlightened times, there was no catastrophe independent of human agency. When the plague or some other natural disaster struck, witches were burned, Jews were massacred and all felt better (except the witches and Jews).
A few centuries later, our progressive thinkers have progressed not an inch. No fall of a sparrow on this planet is not attributed to sin and human perfidy. The three current favorites are: (1) global warming, (2) the war in Iraq and (3) tax cuts. Katrina hits and the unholy trinity is immediately invoked to d*mn sinner-in-chief George W. Bush.
This kind of stupidity merits no attention whatsoever, but I'll give it a paragraph. There is no relationship between global warming and the frequency and intensity of Atlantic hurricanes. Period. The problem with the evacuation of New Orleans is not that National Guardsmen in Iraq could not get to New Orleans, but that National Guardsmen in Louisiana did not get to New Orleans. As for the Bush tax cuts, administration budget requests for New Orleans flood control during the five Bush years exceed that of the five preceding Clinton years. The notion that the allegedly missing revenues would have been spent wisely by Congress, targeted precisely to the levees of New Orleans, and reconstruction would have been completed in time, is a threefold fallacy. The argument ends when you realize that, as The Washington Post notes, ``the levees that failed were already completed projects."
Let's be clear. The author of this calamity was, first and foremost, Nature (or if you prefer, Nature's God). The suffering was augmented, aided and abetted in descending order of culpability by the following:
1. The mayor of New Orleans. He knows the city. He knows the danger. He knows that during Hurricane Georges in 1998, the use of the Superdome was a disaster and fully two-thirds of the residents never got out of the city. Nothing was done. He declared a mandatory evacuation only 24 hours before Hurricane Katrina hit. He did not even declare a voluntary evacuation until the day before that, at 5 p.m. At that time, he explained that he needed to study his legal authority to call a mandatory evacuation and was hesitating to do so lest the city be sued by hotels and other businesses.
2. The Louisiana governor. It's her job to call up the National Guard and get it to where it has to go. Where the Guard was in the first few days is a mystery. Indeed, she issued an authorization for the National Guard to commandeer school buses to evacuate people on Wednesday afternoon -- more than two days after the hurricane hit and after much of the fleet had already drowned in its parking lots.
Where do we send DR. Roemelt a contribution? I'd like to remind people that we have a tough race here in the 37th, too. A self-proclaimed "moderate" Republican (Mason) against David Bulova, Democrat, for Chap Petersen's seat. There is no guarantee ANY Republican, moderate or not, will not fall in line with Republican Party discipline and vote as told to by the right wingnut no-tax crowd that largely controls the Assembly. After that outrageous performance by the no-tax crowd in last Assembly, there is no way we can risk sending any Republican down to Richmond. David Bulova will also be a "wall" against attempts to dismantle the Warner-Kaine achievements. Moreover, Bulova's background in environmental problems is supremely important for Virginia this coming session, given the push by the Bush Administration to start drilling for oil off Virginia's wetlands... (look at what happened to Louisiana after the oil and chemical companies raped their wetlands, bringing the Gulf 20 miles closer to New Orleans, destroying their buffer against hurricanes). Moreover, David has a strong concern for education and transportation, which pretty well trumps Mr. Mason's experience in regional transportation (what, exactly, did Mason accomplish in all those years?). Please get the word out here, too: we need Bulova in the 37th!
It was proven yesterday.
Turns out he sucks at talking and at thinking! The basic skills generally called upon in a debate. I like his way better!
Lowell: You all are doing a great job here! Thanks for all you do! P.S. More Weasels!!! Pretty Please with sugar & a cherry!
Pat Robertson doesnt have a criminal record , they do.
He is a Christian Minister, who has done alot for the state of Virginia.
Let's get over it.
Is he ju(Hans Mast - 4/4/2006 11:28:04 PM)
Is he just going to unilaterally end the inheritance tax, a tax that helps breed idiots like our President?
Inheritance tax helps breed idiots like our president? I think either you messed up in the writing of your comment or you have some really interesting logic about which I would like some more details.
Btw, what the HELL does same day voter registration have to do with anything. If you want to compare voter fraud stories how about a fun little ditty about a county in Ohio where 200% of the eligible voters registered.
Matt: lol... I'm gonna use that.
But I did drive through Fairfax today and... wow... it was like:
Kilgore sign
(6 inches later) Kilgore sign
(3 inches later) 2 kilgore signs next to each other
(2 feet later)- One lonely Russ Potts sign (only one I've seen yet!)
(scattered in a slightly more rational pattern, meaning... every 18 inches or so...) Kaine sign
Dear sign war people:
STOP!!! It's irritating as hell, plus you never ever clean up all your signs. Really... you don't need signs every 12 inches. I promise.
I guess the other major objective is to get the name out. But they'll see your name even if you dont't have 800 signs per acre.
If it sounds like a lie and looks like a lie, it must be a ... Republican?
As far as Jerry the Duck's donation, ALL campaign contributions and expenses are reported.
So if a check went to the Red Cross from the campaign we would be able to find it. Unless of course, Jerry sent it to Operation Blessing. In which case we would then find, I am sure, a contribution from a related shell company contibuting an amount equal to or greater than the initial donation to Jerry Kilgore, or to the Friends of Jerry Kilgore or some right wing PAC who then sent it to Jerry Kilgore.
I really want to see more about this later, Lowell :)
As far as the signs are concerned - sorry to say, it will only get worse in the coming weeks and months. Kilgore signs cause nausea, and Tim Kaine signs bring on the smile :)
I woulda snapped a pic, but I was kind of...driving. :) I'll try and go back later.
19) Kilg(Hans Mast - 4/4/2006 11:28:04 PM)
19) Kilgore opposes ?mandat[ing]? a paper trail for electronic voting. He also opposes same-day voter registration. Now what?s THAT all about?
Maybe because the receipts are just unnecessary encumberances that actually retard the accuracy of the voting process? Maybe because Democrats are using same-day voter registration to "vote" using dead people's identities? (See Oregon)
Remember Gates County?? Proves a paper trail of any form can cause trouble for those who intend to commit election fraud, or not prosecute election fraud. Jerry knows that with paper an election is honest - he is a LIAR! I move we vote Jerry off the island!
I am not sure I can take 18 more of these. Makes my head spin that ANYONE would even consider him.
Fortunately (I suppose) even the neo-conservative and extreme right leaning WFHG sponsors a weekday morning talk show that Virginia residents can telephone into toll free to discuss (Live and on-air) the Kilgore meth issue and his campaign's addiction to the Gregory drug money:.
"The Marc Bernier Show"
10:00 AM to 12:00 NOON EST
1-800-469-0098
http://www.marcberniershow.com/
This WFHG talk radio program is also streammed on the internet if you hove the stomach to actually listen to these Bushities.
The rules:
One call per person per week;
a screener will take your first name and city that from where you are calling "The Marc Bernier Show", and;
possibly what subject you are calling about.
Listeners of the "The Marc Bernier Show" direct the subject topic of this radio show with their calls, so you have a whole lot of power with your toll-free phone call to put the truth about Kilgore out there in soutwest Virginia .
Check out the following blog for a Northeast Tennessee perspective of the influence of Gregory money within elections in that state:
Hill Boy's Deception
http://impeachmatthewhill.blogspot.com/
#1. Smithfield Donations all dates
Republican: $287,243 (71%)
Democrat: $119,000 (29%)
#2. This post was about the utter hypocrisy of Jerry Kilgore blasting illegal immigration (which the state has no control over, regardless), while at the same time gladly accepting $50,000 from a company that hires illegal immigrants.
Yes, this is all absolutely hilarious. Yes, I've called for Tim Kaine to return the relatively small $10,000 he's received from Smithfield. And yes, I've been a Democrat for over 20 years now, ever since the right-wing radicals took over the party in the early 1980s. Pained as I am to admit it, before that I was a Lowell Weicker Republican.
Kilgore opened up this can of worms. He likes playing hardball, but as we saw on Tuesday, he doesn't seem able to handle it.
Standard weak-kneed aristocratic stuff from Kilgore: Don't ask questions, just accept what you're told, sit down, shut up, and let your betters redefine reality to suit our needs.
If Kilgore actually wanted to address the issue of immigration, and not just score some political points, he might have some credibility here. As it is, Lowell's little bit of research is the pinprick to pop his little red baloon.
I wonder if he'll cry.
It is of note is that Smithfield gave identical gifts of $10k to both Kaine and Kilgore on 12/30/04. That was 3 months before Kaine even announced he was running for Governor.
Smithfield gave Kilgore $25k and 6 weeks later Kilgore comes out with his new hallmark issue.
Jerry Kilgore is basing his campaign on this "nativist" stuff. "Blatant hypocrisy" is too kind a term.
It's all grandstanding, paranoia and stupidity. A comprehensive review of immigration law at the NATIONAL level is what's necessary. After Jerry Kilgore's dim-witted performance at Tuesday's debate, I don't think he could comprehensively review a dinner menu.
You look stupid on this one. It's time to back down.
I agree, Kaine should return the money from Smithfield Foods. This company is really, really bad news. Having said that, I would point out that this “lousy company†has given 84% ($92,333) of its political contributions to Republicans for 2005, and 71% ($287,243) for “all years.†Smithfield has not given Tim Kaine any money in 2005, although it did give him $10,000 at the end of 2004. I would also point out that the issue I raised is illegal immigration, and the bottom line is that Kilgore rails against it yet takes large sums of money from a company that practices it (and exploits the workers). That is incredible hypocrisy on Kilgore’s part, on top of the fact that Kilgore has taken 5 times as much money as Kaine from this “lousy company.â€
Lowell
Does Jerry's trail of B.S. ever end?
It's my understanding that Kilgore is trying to blame Kaine for the fact that not all of Richmond's schools met the Americans with Disabilities Act standards for things like wheelchair ramps. However, Kaine improved those problems as Mayor, and Kilgore is only raising that point to try to cover his own terrible record on the ADA.
This post: http://www.raisingkaine.com/847 has some good info on how Kilgore tried to throw out the ADA entirely.
But like Lowell said, tell us what Kilgore is saying, and we'll try to answer point by point. Thanks.
When you consider Kaine's work experience, it becomes clear that every action is informed by his ethical beliefs. Tim's service in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, work as a lawyer and then life in public service--all reflect a personal mission to serve the community.
From what I can see, public life is an extremely tough vocation. The work is hard, the salaries stink and the partisan attacks are personal and nasty. I am so impressed by all public servants--but exceptionally impressed at Tim's long record of service (serving every role to its FULL term!). Kaine really walks the talk.
Please encourage people to volunteer to be poll workers so we can keep an eye on this one and make everyone be honest.
The fact that, Kaine's favorables are clearly better, and his name recognition is still lower is good news and bad news.
First, why is it bad news? Even though Kilgore's favorables are not that great, it demonstrates that even though his numbers are not so good, he is still holding onto his base of support and they are still likely to show up to vote. Plus, with Kaine's name recognition lower than Kilgores, it means that Kilgore will still have a chance to define Kaine to those few voeters who still don't know him. That could worsen Kaine's situation, and drive up his negatives.
The good bnews is that Kaine also has more room for growth than Kilgore does. Kilgore can only grow by tearing Kaine down, while Kaine can grow by building himself up as well as pulling Kilgore's pants down. What this means is that Kaine is going to be able to run a campaign with a bit more variety, including a lot of positive idea driven ads. Kilgore can only go negative and hope Virginia's conservative leanings will pull through for him in the end.
And in fact, that seems to be exactly what is happening.
They and the conservative media (don't anyone tell you it's a liberal media), would have Americans believe that Republicans are more likely to be people of faith. In fact, the biggest study on the issue has really been oversimplified and distorted by the media. The longitudinal Pew studies actually found that there's little difference between parties, except at the extreme ends of the population, those who attend church more than two or more times a week vs. those who never do. The extreme 2% is not reflective of the fact that there's little difference between the rest of Americans in terms of religious faith, attendance, or practice. I've poured over these studies and found that most reporters have vastly misrepresented the findings. And the way it's been reported and used reveals an underlying agenda.
Still, the theocrats would have it that unless we see things their way (or the highway), we are "immoral," "don't know anything about faith," etc. Isn't it about time to put such bigotry aside? That's been said by a blogger commenting as recently as this weekend over at Commonwealth Conservative. It's amazing that in 2005 they still going around doing this. America may have made progress over the centuries, but sometimes, it's really hard to believe there is such nastiness on spiritual matters. It should go without saying that we accept without criticism another's faith. The one exception to this is if an individual tries to ram a partiular faith or beliefs down our throats and/or that the same person doesn't practice what he preaches. Then I reserve the right to comment. But Tim Kaine is no such person. Never has been. Never will be.
If these folks ever got off their sopboxes long enough to really hear any of us, they'd know better. Instead, they draaw up decidedly irreligious commentary, while flaunting thier presumed "moral superiority."
We would be fortunate to have a self-less person, whose spent his life trying to good for others. Timm Kaine is such aa person. But what he gets is the abuse of the Kilgore Republicans. Let no good deed go unpunished. It's bad for Virginia and America.
The staffer (hopefully?) who is reviewing these should take this to the campaign manager.
Rather than write a check or place a bumper sticker on my car, I think the best thing I can do is offer free and candid advice.
Don't let Mr. Kilgore win the rhetorical war on transportation issues in N. VA. While it is clear to me that Mr. Kaine is the better candidate (smarter, better overall policies, decisive), THIS WILL BE A MOOT POINT COME ELECTION TIMEwith more specific and reasonable policies. This will be irrelevant if Northern Virginias such as myself don't perceive any substance in the and valuable feedback.
on fascism, the danger isn't with fascism, it is with greed. most democrats and republicans i know equally cringe at the idea of national police and the tearing down of federalist principles. the problem as that liberal democracy and unrestrained capitalism (which is inherently poisonous if not regulated) have substantial conflicts of interest. the former is a nice concept where the people rule, and the latter is a nice concept for one to enrich themselves with material things at the expense of others (anti-democratic).
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
Since 95% of school vouchers would go to religious day schools, it sounds to me like you're in support of Government moneys supporting relious study.
There's a little document called the Constitution. As a lawyer, I'm sure you've heard of it. There's a little piece of it called "The First Amendment" that separates church and state.
Voters Repeatedly Reject VouchersVoters, for the last 30 years, have rejected vouchers every time they've been proposed.
Location Year Yes No
Maryland 1972 45% 55%
Michigan 1978 26% 74%
Colorado 1992 33% 67%
California 1993 30% 70%
Washington 1996 36% 64%
Michigan 2000 31% 69%
California 2000 29% 71%
No wonder you hate the NEA: they support the founding principles of the United States of America. http://www.nea.org/vouchers/index.html
Heaven forbid we should actually support the Constitution.
This is the % drop in approval since the elecction.
Virginia is down by almost 14% points.
Yeah, you're on the right side here.
State Kerry Bush DIS APP VRI
----- ----------- ------- ------
SD 38.44 59.91 55 44 -15.91
KS 36.62 62.00 50 47 -15.00
OK 34.43 65.57 46 51 -14.57
WY 29.07 68.86 44 55 -13.86
OH 48.71 50.81 61 37 -13.81
VA 45.48 53.68 58 40 -13.68
AL 36.84 62.46 48 49 -13.46
MO 46.10 53.30 59 40 -13.30
NJ 52.92 46.24 63 33 -13.24
FL 47.09 52.10 58 39 -13.10
IN 39.26 59.94 50 47 -12.94
KY 39.69 59.55 50 47 -12.55
PA 50.92 48.42 61 36 -12.42
OR 51.35 47.19 63 35 -12.19
WV 43.20 56.06 52 44 -12.06
ND 35.50 62.86 46 51 -11.86
DE 53.35 45.75 63 34 -11.75
ID 30.26 68.38 40 57 -11.38
ME 49.00 44.00 64 33 -11.00
SC 40.90 57.98 51 47 -10.98
GA 41.34 57.93 51 47 -10.93
NE 32.68 65.90 42 55 -10.90
AZ 44.37 54.83 53 44 -10.83
TN 42.35 56.80 51 46 -10.80
NV 47.88 50.47 56 40 -10.47
CA 54.31 44.36 64 34 -10.36
AK 35.52 61.07 44 51 -10.07
MT 38.56 59.07 48 49 -10.07
NC 43.58 56.02 51 46 -10.02
IA 49.23 49.90 57 40 -9.90
NM 49.05 49.84 56 40 -9.84
MI 51.23 47.81 59 38 -9.81
CO 47.02 51.69 56 42 -9.69
WA 52.77 45.60 62 36 -9.60
TX 38.22 61.09 45 52 -9.09
NH 50.24 48.87 58 40 -8.87
RI 59.42 38.67 69 30 -8.67
UT 26.00 71.54 36 63 -8.54
NY 58.37 40.08 66 32 -8.08
CT 54.31 43.95 62 36 -7.95
MN 51.09 47.61 59 40 -7.61
AR 47.00 48.00 57 41 -7.00
IL 54.82 44.48 61 38 -6.48
LA 42.22 56.72 46 51 -5.72
MD 53.00 42.00 61 37 -5.00
MS 39.75 59.44 43 55 -4.44
HI 54.01 45.26 54 41 -4.26
WI 44.00 45.00 57 41 -4.00
MA 61.94 36.78 66 33 -3.78
VT 56.00 31.00 69 29 -2.00
DC 89.18 9.34 89 9 -0.34
I visit Daily Kos every day. It is a window to my world. Threads of people complaining about International Answer and the non-Iraq related focus of rally last Saturday (e.g., Mumia, Palestine, Venezuela, Corazon Aquino, Haiti and the "Cuba 5") had hundreds of posters. They far outnumbered the march defenders.
Some of the people actually attended the march, some watched the rally on C-SPAN. Many expressed the view that it was a good thing that Hurricane Rita hogged all the news coverage and kept images of the speeches at the rally to a minimum.
When you alienate a sympathetic crowd like the people at Daily Kos you do more harm than good.
One poster put it succinctly. "These people are scum" he wrote of International Answer, who co-sponsored the rally and selected most of the rally speakers. This individual said that not only should Kossacks refuse to attend International Answer sponsored rallies but they should try and see to it that no one else attends either.
Not all was good cheer and bonhomie when it came to the rally. If you are happy with it, fine. You had a good time there and that is what matters, right?
By brother's friend, who attended and liked the march but not the rally, said that people were yelling "Shut up! Start the march!" at the speakers. He went to where people were lined up getting ready to march in order to avoid the tedium.
There were, for instance, four separate podium speakers berating Mrs. Aquino. What does that have to do with Iraq?
My view is that people who attended this rally allowed themselves to become a captive audience for Marxist propaganda and were, therefore, chumps.
It was immoral to attend.
You might say, better a chump of International Answer than of George Bush. But why be a chump of anyone? Why attend rallies where the purpose of the rally is adulterated with speeches from the podium about Marxist-Leninist drivel?
You can't marginalize the Majority.
Especially if you cherry-pick them to find your preferred point of view. There were plenty of positive posts on Kos as well.
On behalf of the 100,000 people I marched past the White House with, including the many people I talked to who had never been in a protest before, who garnered a Sunday front-page story in the Washington Post about a huge anti-war rally, let me convey how much we appreciate your taking the time to sit back, read some blog posts, find some participants you object to, and declare it to be "not much."
That's certainly the spirit that makes America great.
While some of the other papers you cite may have been worse, I don't think word count can quite capture it -- there's a certain minimum "overhead" of words just to convey that something happened. It wouldn't have been accurate not to report on the counter-protest, and I think the Post used close to the minimum amount of text possible to cover it.
I was just compelled to remind you of that one.
Jonathan: I am a moderate/progressive Democrat (and former moderate Republican back in the late 1970s), and certainly no fan of International ANSWER -- to put it mildly! In fact, I am no fan of many of the elements who were at that rally. For instance, I am strongly opposed to people who demonize Israel -- the only real, pro-American Democracy in the Middle East -- especially when they fail to criticize the Arab states and the Palestinians for their own actions. Having said all that, I would point out that there were more than 100,000 people at the rally, and I can all but guarantee you that most of them were not International ANSWER members, Marxists, Socialists or whatever. Frankly, lobbing charges like that is simply a way for the right wing to delegitimze people protesting Bush's disastrous Iraq War and the lies that got us there in the first place.
Anyway, I was there handing out "Defeat Bush in 2005" flyers to receptive Democrats. I can assure you that the International ANSWER types, anarchists, Marxists and other far-left-wingers at the rally were not interested in Tim Kaine - a moderate, Mark Warner/Wes Clark Democrat like myself. In fact, the few (unpleasant) conversations I had with those people quickly degenerated into futile, pointless arguments, given that we disagreed with each other about as much as James Young and I disagree. In other words, on just about everything! :)
Two groups sponsored the rally and march. One was International Answer, a Marxist-Leninist group.
A poster on DailyKos describes how he knew that the ANSWER people would be trouble and tried to avoid them. However, he eventually wandered up to the podium. He described someone on the podium with a cellphone who claimed to be talking to someone in Venezuela. This person was trying to lead the crowd in a chant of Chavez Si, Bush No!
That was not the purpose of the rally as people described it to me. I thought it was a rally against the Iraq War.
The Daily Kos poster said that he then passed a very weird sign whose contents I do not remember, except that it was unrelated to the Iraq War. He then passed an Israeli flag dripping in blood. At that point, the poster said, he decided to call it a day and go home.
Another Daily Kos poster described marching next to people carrying a banner calling on workers of the world to unite against capitalism. The Daily Kos poster asked those carrying the banner why they were carrying it in a rally against the Iraq War. They answered that they were carrying it because they believed in socialism.
I understand that some people who attended last Saturday's rally experienced good vibes from being there, but a lot of people didn't.
The Post's coverage was much more positive than Daily Kos's, let alone Little Green Footballs.
If bloggers tell it like it is then this rally wasn't much.
The facts speak for themselves. The rally had an anti-war rally; a few show up and they get time they didn't dserve.
The next day was their day of glory. Of course, their numbers spoke volunes.