Bush's Iraq War will go down as the single worst foreign policy disaster in American history. And we haven't even seen the end of it. It is going to be one of the worst policy disasters of the last 200 years, mostly because there was no reason for it to have happened at all.
What is possibly unique about it is the way in which the ordinary media was so thoroughly complicit in bringing it about. Hearst's drum-beating for the Spanish-American War has nothing on the ongoing barrage from Fox, Wall Street Journal, etc. They have succeeded in throwing the nation into a catastrophe whose outlines they are now only dimly perceiving.
The media, more than any other interest group in America, slavered over the prospect of war. Years too late, they are finally realizing that actions have consequences. Does a single rah-rah pro-war reporter understand the socio-economic and political ramifications of this opinion piece by Nawaf Obaid? Saudi Arabia is now commanding our elected officials to fly to the Kingdom for orders on what they shall and shall not do.
When the history of Bush's Folly is set down in full, a special corner of hell will be reserved for the media enablers.
Anglachel
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
L is for Loser
In an election year when Democrats were handily defeating well-liked Republicans throughout the Northeast, and with the formal endorsement of the party, plus having a top-flight political advisor on loan from Hillary, Ned Lamont still couldn't pull out a win. What gives?
I suspect that a large portion of the CT electorate A) really didn't think there was that much wrong with Liberman (No accounting for taste...) B) didn't find anything particularly compelling about Lamont, and C) really disliked assholes like Atrios and Jane Hamsher behaving like petulant three year olds and trying to manipulate politics in states other than their own. Lamont, to his discredit, ran a campaign better known for the racist shenanigans of its "netroots" demagogues than for anything of value he had to say.
Mostly what Lamont's campaign did was solidify the neo-Naderite lunatic wing of the left and make otherwise sympathetic people like myself reject them, and their candidates, entirely. I don't like the Rethugs calling me a traitor, and I don't much care for the Naderites doing so, either. I look back at the election and wonder what all that money and media time could have been better spent on. And, of course, there is now a vengeful Joe Lieberman on the loose in the Senate. Nice going, Jane & Duncan!
Anglachel
I suspect that a large portion of the CT electorate A) really didn't think there was that much wrong with Liberman (No accounting for taste...) B) didn't find anything particularly compelling about Lamont, and C) really disliked assholes like Atrios and Jane Hamsher behaving like petulant three year olds and trying to manipulate politics in states other than their own. Lamont, to his discredit, ran a campaign better known for the racist shenanigans of its "netroots" demagogues than for anything of value he had to say.
Mostly what Lamont's campaign did was solidify the neo-Naderite lunatic wing of the left and make otherwise sympathetic people like myself reject them, and their candidates, entirely. I don't like the Rethugs calling me a traitor, and I don't much care for the Naderites doing so, either. I look back at the election and wonder what all that money and media time could have been better spent on. And, of course, there is now a vengeful Joe Lieberman on the loose in the Senate. Nice going, Jane & Duncan!
Anglachel
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Busybodies
I cannot believe this.
Regular readers of my blog know about my cat. I think you can tell that I love my cat and go to great lengths to keep her happy and healthy. In return, she refrains from pissing on the furniture and shredding the drapes. I think it's a good exchange.
Here's a picture of her in one of her favorite poses, being cuddled like a baby by my husband while he cruises the internet on his laptop. You can see the shaved spot on her leg where her IV was attached. This was while she was recovering from her surgery in June.
Some busybody crawled though the shrubbery at the front of my apartment, peered in my window, and saw that Miss Piss had some kind of runny gunk under one eye. She get's this from time to time when she's been trawling for cobwebs under the furniture. I wipe it off with tissue and she's set for a few weeks until she decides it's time to get junk in her eyes again.
This busybody submits an anonymous "tip" to the SPCA that we are absuing our pet because she has some gunk about 3 millimeters across stuck under one eye. No, really. So we are visited by the animal control cop to "evaluate" the situation. On a Saturday night. With threats of arrest if we don't let the bastard confirm there is nothing of substance to the complaint. He demands our vet's name and phone number. Oh, and they will pay follow up visits for as long and as many times as someone anonymously complains.
No fucking joke. A cat with a runny eye is grounds for invading my home at night on a weekend to make sure she isn't suffering abuse. There are children with bruises on their faces and their bones sticking through their shirts who can't get Child Protective Services to give them the time of day, but God help anyone whose pet gets some dust in its eye.
Anglachel
Regular readers of my blog know about my cat. I think you can tell that I love my cat and go to great lengths to keep her happy and healthy. In return, she refrains from pissing on the furniture and shredding the drapes. I think it's a good exchange.
Here's a picture of her in one of her favorite poses, being cuddled like a baby by my husband while he cruises the internet on his laptop. You can see the shaved spot on her leg where her IV was attached. This was while she was recovering from her surgery in June.Some busybody crawled though the shrubbery at the front of my apartment, peered in my window, and saw that Miss Piss had some kind of runny gunk under one eye. She get's this from time to time when she's been trawling for cobwebs under the furniture. I wipe it off with tissue and she's set for a few weeks until she decides it's time to get junk in her eyes again.
This busybody submits an anonymous "tip" to the SPCA that we are absuing our pet because she has some gunk about 3 millimeters across stuck under one eye. No, really. So we are visited by the animal control cop to "evaluate" the situation. On a Saturday night. With threats of arrest if we don't let the bastard confirm there is nothing of substance to the complaint. He demands our vet's name and phone number. Oh, and they will pay follow up visits for as long and as many times as someone anonymously complains.
No fucking joke. A cat with a runny eye is grounds for invading my home at night on a weekend to make sure she isn't suffering abuse. There are children with bruises on their faces and their bones sticking through their shirts who can't get Child Protective Services to give them the time of day, but God help anyone whose pet gets some dust in its eye.
Anglachel
Friday, November 24, 2006
A Year Ago
A year ago, give or take a few days, I was let go from my much loved job at the hospital due to financial mismanagement by the department head. Refusing to allow his positions to get away from him, he fired people rather than let another department with funding take on the Web support group.
As I was already anticipating my husband's company to fold up its tent at the start of 2006, this was pretty devastating news.
The Republicans were engaging in shameless crime and calling those who objected to them traitors to the nation.
Worse, just after beginning a temp job in January, I got news that my father-in-law was ill. Eight weeks later, he had died of a brain tumor.
Fast-forward a year.
I'm working for another company in a better paid position with a wider range of interesting projects, a much more comfortable work-place environment and a benfits package I didn't think existed anymore. I have a great group of sometimes endearing, sometimes aggravating, always supportive people to work with. I am happier here than at the hospital, which is saying something.
The husband's company staggered on for another year, though it really does look like it won't last past January. On the up-side, the parent company has said Joe has a job with them for as long as he wants one, doing support for the old company's products.
My mother-in-law, a dear and wonderful woman, gave us the house she had shared with her husband for fifteen years, saying she wished to move closer to her family. We sold the house, and are doing what my father-in-law would have wanted us to do - buy a nice house and stop living in an apartment.
The Democrats control Congress and are poised to bring the neocon wet-dream of unfettered markets and projection of military might to a screaming halt.
So, I am thankful that the employment insecurity of last year has resolved itself so well. I would still prefer to hear my father-in-law's voice on his weekly call, "I just wanted to see how you kids were doing," than to own any house. My faith in my country is somewhat restored with the first round of regime change.
And I have great hopes for the coming year.
Anglachel
As I was already anticipating my husband's company to fold up its tent at the start of 2006, this was pretty devastating news.
The Republicans were engaging in shameless crime and calling those who objected to them traitors to the nation.
Worse, just after beginning a temp job in January, I got news that my father-in-law was ill. Eight weeks later, he had died of a brain tumor.
Fast-forward a year.
I'm working for another company in a better paid position with a wider range of interesting projects, a much more comfortable work-place environment and a benfits package I didn't think existed anymore. I have a great group of sometimes endearing, sometimes aggravating, always supportive people to work with. I am happier here than at the hospital, which is saying something.
The husband's company staggered on for another year, though it really does look like it won't last past January. On the up-side, the parent company has said Joe has a job with them for as long as he wants one, doing support for the old company's products.
My mother-in-law, a dear and wonderful woman, gave us the house she had shared with her husband for fifteen years, saying she wished to move closer to her family. We sold the house, and are doing what my father-in-law would have wanted us to do - buy a nice house and stop living in an apartment.
The Democrats control Congress and are poised to bring the neocon wet-dream of unfettered markets and projection of military might to a screaming halt.
So, I am thankful that the employment insecurity of last year has resolved itself so well. I would still prefer to hear my father-in-law's voice on his weekly call, "I just wanted to see how you kids were doing," than to own any house. My faith in my country is somewhat restored with the first round of regime change.
And I have great hopes for the coming year.
Anglachel
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Hotk - Ch. 54: Union
For the fanfiction readers, I have just posted a new chapter for Hands of the King, Ch. 54 - Union Click on the story title to go to the overview, click on the chapter name to go to the chapter.
Third of three Denethor POVs. Mild warning for description of a room after childbirth. Probably a little "Eeeew!" factor, but work safe.
The chapter covers from late July to late December, 2978. The theme for the chapter is union, and has three main events - the impending nuptial union of Wren and Marlong, a consideration of political unity as Denethor and Thorongil talk strategy, and the birth of Boromir, fruit of the union between Denethor and Finduilas.
A major exchange between Thorongil and Denethor, substantial conversations with Finduilas and Wren, plus minor exchanges with many other characters. Can't say exactly who, as that would be a spoiler.
This chapter is offered today as thanks for the wonderful work of my great betas and in appreciation of HotK's many readers.
Anglachel
Third of three Denethor POVs. Mild warning for description of a room after childbirth. Probably a little "Eeeew!" factor, but work safe.
The chapter covers from late July to late December, 2978. The theme for the chapter is union, and has three main events - the impending nuptial union of Wren and Marlong, a consideration of political unity as Denethor and Thorongil talk strategy, and the birth of Boromir, fruit of the union between Denethor and Finduilas.
A major exchange between Thorongil and Denethor, substantial conversations with Finduilas and Wren, plus minor exchanges with many other characters. Can't say exactly who, as that would be a spoiler.
This chapter is offered today as thanks for the wonderful work of my great betas and in appreciation of HotK's many readers.
Anglachel
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Thanksgiving at Chez Anglachel
Celery bisque
Roasted, salt-rubbed turkey
Catalonian sausage and dried fruit stuffing
Port-glazed pearl onions and shallots
Penne gratin (instead of potatoes)
Fresh bread
Reisling before the meal and with the soup
Chianti with the meat
Not sure about dessert, yet
Roasted, salt-rubbed turkey
Catalonian sausage and dried fruit stuffing
Port-glazed pearl onions and shallots
Penne gratin (instead of potatoes)
Fresh bread
Reisling before the meal and with the soup
Chianti with the meat
Not sure about dessert, yet
What a Week
Lots of interesting political stuff since the election, is all I can say. Bush's trip to Vietnam was both satisfying and mortifying. The difference between the rock star reception Clinton got and the anemic "So nice of you to visit, you can go home now" reaction to the Chimperor was sweet. However, as an American, it horrifies me to see this moron stand up in front of his hosts and blather crap about how good it was the US invaded and brutalized their country, and how Vietnam proves we should stay the course in Iraq blah, blah, blah. What a putz.
In the last week, I helped stamp out false plagiarism accusations at HASA, got tail-ended pretty badly on the freeway and put up an offer on a house. Not in that precise order, of course.
I'm still shaking my head at the utter idiocy of pv (short for "Poor Victim" in her own deluded brain, no doubt) and why in the name of all that is holy she decided to claim that I had stolen some penny ante scene from her. I have a half-million word novel on line (with another 250K written and in beta review right now), two other short novel length works completed, am a widley read (and intensely scrutinized) author, and it doesn't occur to her that just maybe it's a Bad Idea to say I stole something from her, without bothering to establish little things like how I plausibly came across her work, why I might want to plagiarize, and such? I had never heard of this person before (HASA has hundreds of active members and thousands of inactive ones, and I don't really bother to keep track) but rest assured I know about her now. Indeed, I will never forget her and her Gollum-ish cry of "Thief, thief, thief!"
The car will be out of repair sometime tomorrow, I've been told, just in time for Thanksgiving. I'm a little bruised, but none the worse for wear. As for the house, we'll see. It's a nice place, if a little over priced.
In the next few days, I will have a new chapter of HotK ready to post.
Anglachel
In the last week, I helped stamp out false plagiarism accusations at HASA, got tail-ended pretty badly on the freeway and put up an offer on a house. Not in that precise order, of course.
I'm still shaking my head at the utter idiocy of pv (short for "Poor Victim" in her own deluded brain, no doubt) and why in the name of all that is holy she decided to claim that I had stolen some penny ante scene from her. I have a half-million word novel on line (with another 250K written and in beta review right now), two other short novel length works completed, am a widley read (and intensely scrutinized) author, and it doesn't occur to her that just maybe it's a Bad Idea to say I stole something from her, without bothering to establish little things like how I plausibly came across her work, why I might want to plagiarize, and such? I had never heard of this person before (HASA has hundreds of active members and thousands of inactive ones, and I don't really bother to keep track) but rest assured I know about her now. Indeed, I will never forget her and her Gollum-ish cry of "Thief, thief, thief!"
The car will be out of repair sometime tomorrow, I've been told, just in time for Thanksgiving. I'm a little bruised, but none the worse for wear. As for the house, we'll see. It's a nice place, if a little over priced.
In the next few days, I will have a new chapter of HotK ready to post.
Anglachel
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Getting Rid of Murtha?
Hmm. Nancy Pelosi sends Murtha a big valentine - Will you be my Majority Leader? Murtha is shooting his mouth off about ethics, his ABSCAM involvement is coming to light, and the bloom is coming off the rose.
Did Pelosi do this to get rid of Murtha? Shining a sharp light on a netroots darling to expose what this guy is really about? Doesn't make my heart go pitter-pat for Steny Hoyer, mind you, but this is just too odd.
Anglachel
Did Pelosi do this to get rid of Murtha? Shining a sharp light on a netroots darling to expose what this guy is really about? Doesn't make my heart go pitter-pat for Steny Hoyer, mind you, but this is just too odd.
Anglachel
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Just who was Carville after?
I think that the blogospheric knee-jerk that James Carville was after Howard Dean at the behest of Rahm Emanuel/the DLC ended up doing exactly what the Ragin' Cajun intended - attack his enemy.
Carville is a clever political strategist, and as ruthless in his own way as his nemesis, Lee Atwater. What he did the other day, suggesting Harold Ford replace Howard Dean, made no sense to me until I read the LA Times this morning.
Ryan Lizza played right along with the "Some big name Democrats want to oust DNC Chairman Howard Dean" schtick on Friday. The DLC haters of the whack-job blogosphere fell all over themselves to provide the missing part of the argument - "some" Democrats *must* mean more than Carville, and that some must mean Rahm Emanuel and all the other "DLC" people we hate!
And so was launched two days of blogospheric invective against the Evil Emanuel and the DLC Thieves™. Jimmy Carville sat back in his chair and grinned.
Then comes the Sunday LA Times article with this opening:
You gullible fools. This is how your obsessive hatred of this fantasy beast "the DLC" is being used to jerk you around. You are like the fundamentalist Xtians you like to ridicule, being led around by the nose by the cynical operatives who have their own agenda. It's not even a reflection of reality anymore. Ed Kilgore patiently explains to you over and over that you are ignorant of history and, more dangerously, building up a boogey man that will be pulled out of the closet whenever someone wants you to start slobbering and snarling.
Carville was settling scores against Emanuel, and probably against Dean, too. These guys go way back and have grudges andd scores you can't imagine. You folks got played, big time. Try not to be such easy marks in the future, OK?
Anglachel
Carville is a clever political strategist, and as ruthless in his own way as his nemesis, Lee Atwater. What he did the other day, suggesting Harold Ford replace Howard Dean, made no sense to me until I read the LA Times this morning.
Ryan Lizza played right along with the "Some big name Democrats want to oust DNC Chairman Howard Dean" schtick on Friday. The DLC haters of the whack-job blogosphere fell all over themselves to provide the missing part of the argument - "some" Democrats *must* mean more than Carville, and that some must mean Rahm Emanuel and all the other "DLC" people we hate!
And so was launched two days of blogospheric invective against the Evil Emanuel and the DLC Thieves™. Jimmy Carville sat back in his chair and grinned.
Then comes the Sunday LA Times article with this opening:
Rahm Emanuel was seething.And all the lights went on in my head. James Carville rat-fucked both Howard Dean and Rahm Emanuel with his words to Lizza, tossing a lighted match into the paranoid conspiracy theory obsessives of the blogosphere who were already pissed off at the ostensible snubbing of their hero, Dr. Dean. You guys did Carville's dirty work for him, turning a momentary ego collision (which was on its way to being resolved) into an alleged purge.
The head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was hurtling down an asphalt road in upstate New York on the 47th trip of his ferocious effort to win control of the House. A lecture, even from political consultant James Carville, was the last thing he needed.
In just 12 days, his campaign would end either in a historic victory — a triumph that almost no one believed possible when he took the job nearly two years ago — or in colossal failure.
And here were Carville and pollster Stan Greenberg telling him he had to make each of his handpicked candidates shift from attack mode and strike a conciliatory note in their final campaign ads.
"James. No, James, YOU LISTEN," Illinois Rep. Emanuel barked into a cellphone before releasing a string of profane invectives more intense than usual. "Can you listen for one … minute? I'm working these campaigns all the time. The campaigns all have different textures."
His wiry body tensed, his voice breaking with stress. Emanuel shouted, "If you don't like what you see, I highly recommend you pick up the … phone and do it yourself."
You gullible fools. This is how your obsessive hatred of this fantasy beast "the DLC" is being used to jerk you around. You are like the fundamentalist Xtians you like to ridicule, being led around by the nose by the cynical operatives who have their own agenda. It's not even a reflection of reality anymore. Ed Kilgore patiently explains to you over and over that you are ignorant of history and, more dangerously, building up a boogey man that will be pulled out of the closet whenever someone wants you to start slobbering and snarling.
Carville was settling scores against Emanuel, and probably against Dean, too. These guys go way back and have grudges andd scores you can't imagine. You folks got played, big time. Try not to be such easy marks in the future, OK?
Anglachel
Doonesbury - the best political and war commentary around
This was the strip for Veteran's Day.
In just four panels, Garry Trudeau says more about Iraq, the deep psychosis of the Bush administration, and the cost of war than a year's worth of bloviating across the blogosphere could ever hope to do.
Bring Ray and Torres home. I'm talking to you Madame Speaker Pelosi and you Majority Leader Reid. You may not get a chance until January 2009, but you better have a plan.
Anglachel
Like We Care?
So the darling of the blogosphere, Russ Feingold, has decided he won't run for preznit.
Whoop-de-do.
Someone with no standing outside of the politically moronic circles of the outer extremes of left blogistan has manfully declared that he will forego patting himself on the back on the campaign in order to concentrate on patting himself on the back in the Senate.
Color me unimpressed. More to the point, color me unwilling to lend any support or to take seriously someone so popular with the foaming-at-the-mouth hysterics at FDL.
Is that clear? Candidates who aggressively pursue the approval of "netroots" big names whose claim to fame is accusing Democrats of being traitors to liberalism and advocating voting against the party will NOT get money or support from me.
Politics means balancing different constituencies. If you go after the leftwing equivalent of Limbaugh's dittoheads, you're going to lose more moderate (but no less determined) supporters.
Anglachel
Whoop-de-do.
Someone with no standing outside of the politically moronic circles of the outer extremes of left blogistan has manfully declared that he will forego patting himself on the back on the campaign in order to concentrate on patting himself on the back in the Senate.
Color me unimpressed. More to the point, color me unwilling to lend any support or to take seriously someone so popular with the foaming-at-the-mouth hysterics at FDL.
Is that clear? Candidates who aggressively pursue the approval of "netroots" big names whose claim to fame is accusing Democrats of being traitors to liberalism and advocating voting against the party will NOT get money or support from me.
Politics means balancing different constituencies. If you go after the leftwing equivalent of Limbaugh's dittoheads, you're going to lose more moderate (but no less determined) supporters.
Anglachel
Friday, November 10, 2006
On to 2008
After this weekend, it is time to put up the party hats and buckle down to serious politics.
We can take for granted that the Cheney Whitehouse will grab every scrap of power and money it can before it is ignomiously ousted in two years, destroy all evidence of its malfeasance, and try very hard to ruin everything it touches to make it almost impossible for the next administration to get anything done. The only countervailing force we have within the WH itself is the extremely self-interested lackeys of Bush pere, who are trying to keep Junior from ruining up Carlyle Group's long term Middle east prospects.
That means whomever walks in to the Oval Office in January 2009 had better be able to work with a Democratic Congress to do unheard of amounts of work repairing America's reputation abroad and its security within. We cannot take a breather on building the local connections - better staffed and funded party offices, more outreach to community groups and local political elites, and lots of new candidate recruitment. For example, San Diego has exactly shit for a viable local Democratic operation and Califonia as a whole frantically needs good candidates who are not part of the usual Sacramento gang. The gains we made on Tuesday have to be held and expanded in 2008.
Then comes our presidential candidate. My heart belongs to Al Gore because he is simply the most qualified person on the face of the planet to take on the wasteland Cheney & Co. will leave behind. But I have also sadly realized that he will not subject himself to the idiocy of another presidential try. (If you change your mind, Al, you have my vote). So, who's left?
I like Hillary Clinton, not having any axe to grind with one of the finest public servants in the country and more than happy to mark the ballot for her, but I think the extremists within the democratic party are out to get her. Besides, I like the idea of Hillary becoming President of the Senate and getting her health care reform through. Kerry? A good man, better than his detractors would have you think, but he had his chance. John Edwards? I still don't know what he stands for and have yet to see him perform for the party the way others have. Barak Obama? I am not subject to the racist and anti-religious fevor that stalks Eschaton, FDL and DKos, but I don't think he is ready yet. Vilsack? Don't make me laugh. Biden? Eewww, I think I just threw up a little. I honestly can't think of another name to add to that list. I'm just as glad that old Chicklet Teeth (aka, Mark Warner) dropped out before wasting our time with nebbishy "policy" mumbo jumbo. We already have John Edwards for that. Maybe Warner can go retake a Virginia Senate seat and do some good.
We need a candidate who is not mired in DC beltway shenanigans, who can speak authoritatively about national security on a number of levels, and who is absolutely a powerhouse asset to the party as an organization. We need international experience, someone who is already well received in Washington, a dedicated and proven "party animal" who will be unstinting in lending his coattails to local candidates, and who can present a progressive policy mix under a clear and compelling rubric - national security.
Wes Clark
I was impressed by this post election statement:
I liked him in 2004 and like him even better now.
Anglachel
We can take for granted that the Cheney Whitehouse will grab every scrap of power and money it can before it is ignomiously ousted in two years, destroy all evidence of its malfeasance, and try very hard to ruin everything it touches to make it almost impossible for the next administration to get anything done. The only countervailing force we have within the WH itself is the extremely self-interested lackeys of Bush pere, who are trying to keep Junior from ruining up Carlyle Group's long term Middle east prospects.
That means whomever walks in to the Oval Office in January 2009 had better be able to work with a Democratic Congress to do unheard of amounts of work repairing America's reputation abroad and its security within. We cannot take a breather on building the local connections - better staffed and funded party offices, more outreach to community groups and local political elites, and lots of new candidate recruitment. For example, San Diego has exactly shit for a viable local Democratic operation and Califonia as a whole frantically needs good candidates who are not part of the usual Sacramento gang. The gains we made on Tuesday have to be held and expanded in 2008.
Then comes our presidential candidate. My heart belongs to Al Gore because he is simply the most qualified person on the face of the planet to take on the wasteland Cheney & Co. will leave behind. But I have also sadly realized that he will not subject himself to the idiocy of another presidential try. (If you change your mind, Al, you have my vote). So, who's left?
I like Hillary Clinton, not having any axe to grind with one of the finest public servants in the country and more than happy to mark the ballot for her, but I think the extremists within the democratic party are out to get her. Besides, I like the idea of Hillary becoming President of the Senate and getting her health care reform through. Kerry? A good man, better than his detractors would have you think, but he had his chance. John Edwards? I still don't know what he stands for and have yet to see him perform for the party the way others have. Barak Obama? I am not subject to the racist and anti-religious fevor that stalks Eschaton, FDL and DKos, but I don't think he is ready yet. Vilsack? Don't make me laugh. Biden? Eewww, I think I just threw up a little. I honestly can't think of another name to add to that list. I'm just as glad that old Chicklet Teeth (aka, Mark Warner) dropped out before wasting our time with nebbishy "policy" mumbo jumbo. We already have John Edwards for that. Maybe Warner can go retake a Virginia Senate seat and do some good.
We need a candidate who is not mired in DC beltway shenanigans, who can speak authoritatively about national security on a number of levels, and who is absolutely a powerhouse asset to the party as an organization. We need international experience, someone who is already well received in Washington, a dedicated and proven "party animal" who will be unstinting in lending his coattails to local candidates, and who can present a progressive policy mix under a clear and compelling rubric - national security.
Wes Clark
I was impressed by this post election statement:
It is a mistake for Democrats to celebrate rather than understand the meaning of yesterday's election. America is looking for leadership right away, and Democrats should push forward a 3-point plan to address the crisis in Iraq and refocus our national security efforts:A lot of virtual ink is spilled in the blogosphere about trying to convince America that Democrats are to be trusted with natioanl security. Take a page out of Clark's book and simply start stating that this is so. Then put your money where your mouth is and show that you know what you're talking about. Here is the candidate that has already staked out the winning position.
- Change the course in Iraq. Democrats must pressure George W. Bush to listen to the generals on the ground and the whole range of experts -- not just the GOP -- on how to change the course in Iraq. We must work with regional powers, promote gradual transformation and stability, and regain the 'strategic consent' for the long-term U.S. influence in the region. We must use the situation in Iraq to propel us toward this larger goal, and in doing so, we will also find the right way to wind down our deployment there.
- Rebuilding alliances to address the real national security threats. We must bring our allies into the reconstruction of Iraq to ensure shared responsibility for the ongoing stability of Iraq itself and the region as a whole. We must provide real oversight on government contracts in Iraq; we cannot continue to allow no-bid contracts to Halliburton. And by bringing our allies together, we can finish the job in Afghanistan, and more effectively hunt down Osama Bin Laden and contain Iran and North Korea.
- Address energy independence and global warming as national security issues. We must put a policy in place to lead us to energy independence and away from the volatile and conflict-ridden regions where, today, the "geostrategic risk premium" is adding billions of dollars to the costs imposed on the American people. Our reliance on oil also impacts global climate change. As I have stated before, global warming has serious national security risks: stretching our military resources to deal with catastrophes (like Katrina) and increasing the potential for conflicts due to the displacement of people, competition for scarce resources, and adverse effects on agriculture.
I liked him in 2004 and like him even better now.
Anglachel
End of the Party of Lincoln
Two days after losing a bid for a second term in an election seen as a referendum on President Bush and the Republican Party, Sen. Lincoln Chafee said he was unsure whether he'd remain a Republican.
"I haven't made any decisions. I just haven't even thought about where my place is," Chafee said at a news conference Thursday when asked whether he would stick with the Republican Party or switch to be an independent or Democrat.When asked if his comments meant he thought he might not belong in the Republican Party, he replied: "That's fair."
In an ironic turn, the Republican Party loses its last connection to its foundation and history with the electoral loss of a modern day Lincoln. The Republican Party began when it was no longer possible to find common ground between America and an extremist minority. It has ended with the party becoming that same deluded band of extremists.
This election bears out the predictions of Mark Schmidt, who has spoken of the culmination of a multi-generational realignment of the American body politic, a shift set into irrevocable motion by FDR with his New Deal and sealed with the transposition of the Republicans and the Democrats in their geographical and ideological strongholds of a century before. There remains a party of the old slave-holding south, but now it bears the name "Republican." It is majority white, hypocritical Xtian, male-dominated, fascistic in its style, patriachal in its attitude, and reviled by civilized people around the world.
The traditional party of Dixie, the Democrats, now run the Northeast, command strong support in the midwest and far west, and are fully contenders for the indecisive plains and mountains, those same places where slavery tried to expand into. Democrats are the political and economic liberals - and I mean that in the formal political science sense. They are for representative, rules-based government, substantive equality before the law, protections from arbitrary state power, the independence of the civil society from monarchic, aristocratic or theocratic structures, and a moderately regulated market economy. It is a centrist party with an emphasis on moderating social and economic extremes to reinforce a stable middle ground.
The Republicans have squandered the legacy of 152 years. They are a party of class warfare, racism, sexism, imperial expansion and greed. They blame their electoral losses on not being corrupt enough to simply stuff the ballot boxes and tell the public to go Cheney themselves. Decent people are no longer welcome in it. Minorities are as long as they play faithful servants. (Does anyone besides me see the appointment of Michael Steele as the next RNC head a way to blame a black man for the inevitable bloodbath and Republican losses of the next electoral round?) They are a party re-founded on crime (corruption, payola, kick-backs, pedophilia, war crimes, torture, electoral fraud, corporate crime, etc.) and held together with lies that bind them back to their criminal origins. It is odd to see many of the same passions that undergirded the Civil War still alive and kicking today in the Republican Party, as exemplified in (soon to be ex-) Sen. Allen, that revolting combination of religious and racial bigotry driven on by unscupulous greed.
In a number of places around the web, it is noted that "Southern" states get far more from the federal government than they pay in, even as they are the worst about abusing the government. That is an artifact of the fascist stain in the body politic and its peculiar journey between the parties. Since FDR, it is the element that provided the margin of victory to the majority party. This is the core of Nixon's infamous "Southern Strategy," which was a battle to seize a psychological geography as much as one to seize the physical states. Since the New Deal, the battleground of the American body politic has been that poisoned, perverse, pathetic patch of the American soul.
Thus, this election is a watershed in more ways than one. It is not just that the Democrats regained control, but that they have done so without the Southern Stain. They are a clear and strong majority party, but did not need to incorporate or accommodate the fascist element in order to do so. I know it disappoints ideological leftists to have to cohabitate with socio-economic moderates (and this portion of the party bears watching because of their proximity to the Southern Stain), but we have achieved victory without people like Zell Miller or any other Dixiecrat turn-coat.
The Party of Lincoln gladly absorbed into itself every element of society that Abraham Lincoln rejected as unworthy of the republic. Lincoln himself would vote Democrat if he could see what has become of his party.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
You Both Risked the Election, You Jerks
So the navel-gazing stupidity du jour in the blogosphere is whether the recent Democratic victory is due to the "netroots" or the "party insiders". The web side says the netroots did it, the more conventional punditocracy says the insiders desrve the praise, while the dead armadillos in the middle of the road say "No, no, you *both* helped!"
Oh, please, give me a fucking break.
The carping and backstabbing done by both sides probably caused us to lose the Tennessee Senate seat and a big chunk of the really close house seats. The conflict between netroots and establishment allowed Joe Lieberman to return to the Senate by keeping the party from uniting to smite that lying little rat bastard. Yes, Atrios, YOU helped re-elect Joe Lieberman by making his defeat a referendum on your personal enemies in the world of Democratic operators. Of which you are one, no matter how much you pull your Butterfly McQueen "I don't know nuthin' 'bout bein' no popular blogger" crap. You are not grassroots - you are part of a competing power center among the left political elites.
The "netroots" is more to fault for our heart-breaking losses because their attacks were more personal and deliberately aimed to inflame, as well as coming from people who have little more than a blog or column to risk. They attacked candidates directly and told people not to vote for candidates who weren't annointed by their blogs. Politics is not just money - it is relationships and deals. It is projecting an image of power, and being able to deliver a smack-down. The personal rancor of the demagogic left is no less than that of the right and it serves to undermine our leadership. It doesn't change minds in the middle. Most who end up joining the blogosphere are already inflamed. It doesn't encourage the left to vote or turn out. It encourages the fringe to stay home and refuse to vote for "tainted" candidates, too caught up in displaced moral outrage to engage in cold-blooded politics.
The victory on Tuesday was delivered by people who don't even know who Rahm Emmanual is, let alone Markos. It was delivered by the call center worker pictured with Claire McCaskill. It was delivered by people who said "Enough is enough, y'know?" It was delivered by people who don't own computers and who listen to Fox News. It was delivered by people who love Bill Clinton to pieces because he really, honestly gave a damn about them and appeals to their better angels. It was delivered by single working mothers who never went to college and will never read or listen to a word written by Bradford J. DeLong, Ph.D. (or even by Paul Krugman), and are scared for their children.
It was NOT delivered by people who post comments on blogs (or, worse, have their own) because we are already counted and committed. The only thing we can do is act as know-it-all, holier-than-thou spoilers. The Democrats who voted for Lieberman or refused to vote for Duckworth are equally reprehensible. They probably read blogs and know the difference between the DNC, the DLC, the DCCC and the DSCC. They were using candidates as proxies for their own ideological infighting.
Anyone who is actively engaged in political debate at the level delivered on, say, TPM Cafe, is not an average voter. Regular posters and columnists are simply part of the elite punditocracy, no matter how often they say "fuck." What the last year's blogospheric ins and outs have done to me is make me less likely to read blogs, less likely to try to stay up with the breathless "Who is selling out the left *this* week!" screeds, less likely to give a flying fuck who is backing which candidate. What has become very clear to me is that people like Arianna Huffington and Markos and Jane Hamsher are trying to develop cults of personality and derive political power from it. Not by winning office, but by managing candidates and campaigns. These are the back-room power brokers of the next round. Or so they like to think.
What they don't see, because they are too caught up in their own egos, is that, to a schmoe like me, they look, sound and act like Rahm the Prick. My way or the highway. They honestly do not perceive that the choice they offer is not between netroots and insiders, but between the current faction of insiders and those who want to take their place. *That is how you appear.* When Jane Hamsher decides that my senator, Barbara Boxer, is not worthy to represent California because she is *gasp* friends with Joe Lieberman, that's when I tell the bitch to take a hike and go back to stalking Quentin Tarantino.
Howard Dean is a distinct outsider to both groups, in an odd way. He uses both as necessary, with less success dealing with the entrenched power elite who (rightly) see him as a threat to their dominance than with the up-and-comers, who look upon the good Doctor as a stepping stone for their own ambitions. Mind you, Chair Dean is establishing his own considerable power base that is not contiguous with either of the others. I rather like Dr. Dean's way of doing things, as it is inherently more democratic, which is better for the Democrats.
We are up against fascists. Yeah, Rahm's preening pisses me off. He's a prick. So what? That doesn't make him a Republican. It does give us more control of the government. Spend less time trying to "bring down the DLC" and more time leaving your keyboards behind and volunteering at the local party headquarters. You know, supporting Howard Dean? To the degree that the Democratic political elites are more interested in fighting each other than beating the Republicans, I say pox on all your houses.
Anglachel
Oh, please, give me a fucking break.
The carping and backstabbing done by both sides probably caused us to lose the Tennessee Senate seat and a big chunk of the really close house seats. The conflict between netroots and establishment allowed Joe Lieberman to return to the Senate by keeping the party from uniting to smite that lying little rat bastard. Yes, Atrios, YOU helped re-elect Joe Lieberman by making his defeat a referendum on your personal enemies in the world of Democratic operators. Of which you are one, no matter how much you pull your Butterfly McQueen "I don't know nuthin' 'bout bein' no popular blogger" crap. You are not grassroots - you are part of a competing power center among the left political elites.
The "netroots" is more to fault for our heart-breaking losses because their attacks were more personal and deliberately aimed to inflame, as well as coming from people who have little more than a blog or column to risk. They attacked candidates directly and told people not to vote for candidates who weren't annointed by their blogs. Politics is not just money - it is relationships and deals. It is projecting an image of power, and being able to deliver a smack-down. The personal rancor of the demagogic left is no less than that of the right and it serves to undermine our leadership. It doesn't change minds in the middle. Most who end up joining the blogosphere are already inflamed. It doesn't encourage the left to vote or turn out. It encourages the fringe to stay home and refuse to vote for "tainted" candidates, too caught up in displaced moral outrage to engage in cold-blooded politics.
The victory on Tuesday was delivered by people who don't even know who Rahm Emmanual is, let alone Markos. It was delivered by the call center worker pictured with Claire McCaskill. It was delivered by people who said "Enough is enough, y'know?" It was delivered by people who don't own computers and who listen to Fox News. It was delivered by people who love Bill Clinton to pieces because he really, honestly gave a damn about them and appeals to their better angels. It was delivered by single working mothers who never went to college and will never read or listen to a word written by Bradford J. DeLong, Ph.D. (or even by Paul Krugman), and are scared for their children.
It was NOT delivered by people who post comments on blogs (or, worse, have their own) because we are already counted and committed. The only thing we can do is act as know-it-all, holier-than-thou spoilers. The Democrats who voted for Lieberman or refused to vote for Duckworth are equally reprehensible. They probably read blogs and know the difference between the DNC, the DLC, the DCCC and the DSCC. They were using candidates as proxies for their own ideological infighting.
Anyone who is actively engaged in political debate at the level delivered on, say, TPM Cafe, is not an average voter. Regular posters and columnists are simply part of the elite punditocracy, no matter how often they say "fuck." What the last year's blogospheric ins and outs have done to me is make me less likely to read blogs, less likely to try to stay up with the breathless "Who is selling out the left *this* week!" screeds, less likely to give a flying fuck who is backing which candidate. What has become very clear to me is that people like Arianna Huffington and Markos and Jane Hamsher are trying to develop cults of personality and derive political power from it. Not by winning office, but by managing candidates and campaigns. These are the back-room power brokers of the next round. Or so they like to think.
What they don't see, because they are too caught up in their own egos, is that, to a schmoe like me, they look, sound and act like Rahm the Prick. My way or the highway. They honestly do not perceive that the choice they offer is not between netroots and insiders, but between the current faction of insiders and those who want to take their place. *That is how you appear.* When Jane Hamsher decides that my senator, Barbara Boxer, is not worthy to represent California because she is *gasp* friends with Joe Lieberman, that's when I tell the bitch to take a hike and go back to stalking Quentin Tarantino.
Howard Dean is a distinct outsider to both groups, in an odd way. He uses both as necessary, with less success dealing with the entrenched power elite who (rightly) see him as a threat to their dominance than with the up-and-comers, who look upon the good Doctor as a stepping stone for their own ambitions. Mind you, Chair Dean is establishing his own considerable power base that is not contiguous with either of the others. I rather like Dr. Dean's way of doing things, as it is inherently more democratic, which is better for the Democrats.
We are up against fascists. Yeah, Rahm's preening pisses me off. He's a prick. So what? That doesn't make him a Republican. It does give us more control of the government. Spend less time trying to "bring down the DLC" and more time leaving your keyboards behind and volunteering at the local party headquarters. You know, supporting Howard Dean? To the degree that the Democratic political elites are more interested in fighting each other than beating the Republicans, I say pox on all your houses.
Anglachel
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Turn Out the Protection
It comes down to Webb in Virginia.
Every Democratic lawyer on the eastern seaboard had better be offering their services to contest every dirty trick.
Every Democratic intern and office staffer had better be at the election commission's offices, ready to defend the recount from the Rethuglican brownshirts.
Every Democratic candidate who has a nickle left in their warchest had better be sending it over to pay whatever it takes to protect the vote.
Webb won. Don't let them rob us again, like they did to Gore.
Anglachel
Update - So, Allen conceded. I guess they knew they couldn't pull this one off. Get used to it. You're going to lose even bigger next round.
Every Democratic lawyer on the eastern seaboard had better be offering their services to contest every dirty trick.
Every Democratic intern and office staffer had better be at the election commission's offices, ready to defend the recount from the Rethuglican brownshirts.
Every Democratic candidate who has a nickle left in their warchest had better be sending it over to pay whatever it takes to protect the vote.
Webb won. Don't let them rob us again, like they did to Gore.
Anglachel
Update - So, Allen conceded. I guess they knew they couldn't pull this one off. Get used to it. You're going to lose even bigger next round.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
HotK - Ch. 53 - Smoke
For the fanfiction readers, I have just posted a new chapter for Hands of the King, Ch. 53 - Smoke Click on the story title to go to the overview, click on the chapter name to go to the chapter.
Second of three Denethor POVs. No warnings, though there is an oblique description of a corpse at the very end.
The chapter takes place over early and mid July . The immediate euphoria over Finduilas's pregnancy is wearing off, though Denethor is still very happy. Larger and darker concerns have to be addressed, and once again someone says what should not be mentioned. A strange alliance becomes stronger, and an old dog learns a new trick. Extensive conversations with Thorongil, and substantial scenes with Finduilas, Ecthelion, Halmir, Beregar, and Laanga.
Anglachel
Second of three Denethor POVs. No warnings, though there is an oblique description of a corpse at the very end.
The chapter takes place over early and mid July . The immediate euphoria over Finduilas's pregnancy is wearing off, though Denethor is still very happy. Larger and darker concerns have to be addressed, and once again someone says what should not be mentioned. A strange alliance becomes stronger, and an old dog learns a new trick. Extensive conversations with Thorongil, and substantial scenes with Finduilas, Ecthelion, Halmir, Beregar, and Laanga.
Anglachel
Bilbray *is* under grand jury investigation
It turns out that Bilbray is lying his ass off out here in San Diego. He's under Grand Jury investigation for perjury on his candidate registration info for the 50th district. As I said in an earlier post, Bilbray claims as his primary residence his mother's house in Oceanside, which is in hte 50th district. The problem is that he claims his house in Imperial Beach (other end of the county) as his legal residence, too, for California state tax purposes. Oh, and his house in Virginia. He says that's his legal residence in order to claim in-state college tuition for his kids.
When challenged by Francine Busby, the Democrat running against him, to come clean on whether he was Grand Jury investigation, he said no. Another big lie, as one of the grand jury witnesses has stated publicly that it's true.
So, he has lied about being investigated and he is lying about living in Oceanside. Here's the irony of the entire matter. A representative does not have to live in the geographic boundaries of his or her district. The person only has to live in the state. It is tradition that leads us to expect the person lives in the district.
Bilbray lied about living in his mother's house to try to bullshit residents of the 50th district that he lived there when he never had to make the claim at all. Talk about pathetic.
He'll probably squeak through, but I think his days are numbered. Once convicted for perjury, he'll be off to the clink, just like Cunningham, the Rethuglican criminal who previously held the seat.
Anglachel
When challenged by Francine Busby, the Democrat running against him, to come clean on whether he was Grand Jury investigation, he said no. Another big lie, as one of the grand jury witnesses has stated publicly that it's true.
So, he has lied about being investigated and he is lying about living in Oceanside. Here's the irony of the entire matter. A representative does not have to live in the geographic boundaries of his or her district. The person only has to live in the state. It is tradition that leads us to expect the person lives in the district.
Bilbray lied about living in his mother's house to try to bullshit residents of the 50th district that he lived there when he never had to make the claim at all. Talk about pathetic.
He'll probably squeak through, but I think his days are numbered. Once convicted for perjury, he'll be off to the clink, just like Cunningham, the Rethuglican criminal who previously held the seat.
Anglachel
The Rude One Nails It
Polls look good for the Democrats, but we've got Diebold and dirty Rethuglican vote suppression tricks to deal with, so I expect gains and potentially a sliver of a majority in the House, but not much else. Lieberman will side with whomever gets a majority, of course.
I'm with the Rude Pundit on this election:
You people who vote for these criminals and amoral bastards, do you really enjoy being a bunch of brainless patsies whose political figures lie, rob and screw their way through their not-short-enough periods in office? Your grandchildren will one day ask about what you did during the fascist period, and you will look at the darlings and LIE, LIE, LIE that you never voted for them.
Anglachel
I'm with the Rude Pundit on this election:
Fuck them for trying to make us believe that America's acts of mass destruction, its bumblings into conflagration and apocalypse, in Iraq are actually just speed bumps, commas, if you will, on the road to a peaceful world of democratic nations bowing down to blow the cock of American hegemony.
Fuck them for holding themselves up as arbiters of morality and when they were confronted with a simple moral equation, they cast their lot with savages and genocidal maniacs. No, not the embryonic stem cell research vote, you backwards ass anti-science fundamentalist fucks. On torture and judicial rights, where even those who proclaimed themselves defenders of the detained and imprisoned ended up dancing like slut marionettes on a puppet pole in the Oval Office when it came down to actually, say, defending the detained and imprisoned.
Fuck them for making Americans fucking hated around the world, as if we're all ex-Nazis or, maybe more accurately, members of Pinochet's Chilean army back in the day, squandering the real triumph of America as a beacon of rights and fairness. However unreal that image was, it's better than being "that big ass country that tortures innocent people."
You people who vote for these criminals and amoral bastards, do you really enjoy being a bunch of brainless patsies whose political figures lie, rob and screw their way through their not-short-enough periods in office? Your grandchildren will one day ask about what you did during the fascist period, and you will look at the darlings and LIE, LIE, LIE that you never voted for them.
Anglachel
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)