The Liberal DoomsayerThe Liberal DoomsayerMy blog deals primarily with national politics in the U.S. as well as, on occasion, local politics in Pennsylvania. From time to time, I may have something to say about sports and entertainment as well. I try to interpret information that shapes the Articles
Honoring A Sacred Document
2008-09-18 22:02:00 I neglected to mention that yesterday was National Constitution Day, and in that spirit, the following editorial appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer by Nancy Hopkins of the Pennsylvania ACLU (I also thought Matt Stoller at Open Left had some good things to say here)?Americans celebrate Constitution Day today. Although it's not an occasion marked by a day off work or self-induced food comas, it quite literally defines us as Americans.On Sept. 17, 1787, statesmen such as George Washington, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin signed the document that forms the basis of our government. But Constitution Day is not about those men or that day. It is about the rights and freedoms we enjoy every day we go to work, play with our kids, or complain about the government.Most Americans know about the steaming hot summer of 1787 in Philadelphia and about the raging debates among the statesmen assembled there. But this is where memory fades and the story ends for most Americans.The founders, ho... More About: Document , Sacred
The Creekside Conundrum Continues
2008-09-18 22:02:00 The Bucks County Courier Times ran a story today on a protest at the county courthouse in Doylestown over the transfer of the polling station from the Creekside Apartments in Bensalem, PA to the Polanka Hall location approximately a mile away in 2007 (a background post is here).The story tells us the following?The protest was attended by more than a dozen national and county groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizens Coalition, the National Coalition for Jewish Women and Latin American Legal Defense Fund.On one side of the street, they stood with signs that read ?Voting is an act of self defense,? ?Bensalem discriminates against minority voters? and ?Minority voters are Americans too.?On the other side of the road stood Commissioner (Charley ?I Have A Semi-Open Mind?) Martin, who watched ? at times shaking his head.?I think it's pretty interesting that all these people can get up here from Bensalem to Doylestown. But they can't ...
Cómo puedo decir que está mal, Senator McBush?
2008-09-18 22:02:00 (I believe that translates to "How do I say you're wrong," but I'm not positive.)Usually I have to put in some work to refute the typical Friday mess from Christine Flowers in the Philadelphia Daily News, but I had a particularly easy time of it today, I must admit.She attacks Barack Obama since he blamed John W. McBush and Dubya over their party's failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform when they ran Congress and the White House combined (and Obama actually has the affrontery, in Flowers? view, to point that out; in typically propagandistic fashion, Flowers also goes out of her way to drudge up ? pardon the expression ? the infamous ?guns, clinging, bitter? business concerning Obama, statements that, with only a word or two of alteration at the most, any white politician in this country could utter with impunity).And as Flowers actually admits?Neither Bush nor McCain were successful in their efforts because of congressional gridlock brought on by fierce public oppositio... More About: Senator
Today's Housing Lies From Dana Perino
2008-09-18 21:11:00 You can always be assured of a trip through fantasyland with Bushco?s favorite PR snowflake (from here)?Q Well, I want to give you a chance to respond to what Speaker Pelosi is saying, because it really seems like the -- at least the sort of finger-pointing is ratcheting up, accusing Republicans, and it sounded like the White House, of mismanagement of financial-market regulation. It really seems as though there's a accusation that the White House is to blame in some way, or the Bush administration policy is to blame in some way. Your response?MS. PERINO: Well, unfortunately -- unfortunately, I don't think that the reaction of finger-pointing from Democrats to the White House is anything new.I would ask you to go back and look and ask Speaker Pelosi or any of the other Democrats who are pointing fingers, what specific regulation did they want that we blocked? What specific regulation did we eliminate?This may be factually true as nearly as I can determine, but for Perino or any ot... More About: Housing , Lies , Dana Perino
Wednesday Stuff
2008-09-18 05:33:00 This is the sound of leadership, my friends...(And by the way, there aren't too many writers at HuffPo that I seek out on a regular basis, but Bob Cesca is one of them, and this post is brilliant - his question at the end nails it.)...Hey Vermonters, get out and support Charlotte Dennett for Attorney General; if she wins, what Bugliosi is talking about here will come to fruition......K.O. and author (and convicted criminal) Allen Raymond give us a primer on "caging" voters on "Countdown"......Local H ("Bound For The Floor"; if Bushco has a theme song, I think this may be it). More About: Stuff , Wednesday
John W. McBush's Greatest Flip-Flops
2008-09-18 00:21:00 Another hat tip goes out to Michael Morrill for this...On "The View" (last Monday), McCain challenged Joy Behar to name an issue he's flip-flopped on. ThinkProgress found 42 (from here).The flip-flop document notes that McCain has changed his position even on the four areas he cited ? spending, climate change, the war in Iraq, and torture of prisoners:SPENDING: The McCain campaign has said that it will balance the budget by the end of McCain?s first time. But chief economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin said McCain would balance the budget by the end of his second term.CLIMATE CHANGE: In 1999, McCain opposed lifting the ban on offshore drilling, saying that it was just the ?special interests in Washington? that advocated it. In 2008, McCain announced that ?there are areas off our coasts that should be open to exploration and exploitation.?IRAQ CONDUCT: He said in 2004 that Donald Rumsfeld was doing ?a fine job? and was ?an honorable man.? But by 2008, McCain was arguing that he was ?... More About: John , Flip , Flip-flops , Greatest
How Change Starts
2008-09-17 23:58:00 The latest from the Obama campaign...You'd be surprised how many people you know aren't registered to vote.Registration deadlines are coming up soon, and we need every single vote we can get to win this election.Tell your friends, family, and neighbors to check out our new one-stop voter registration website.Just forward this message.VoteforChange .com makes it easier than ever to register. Instead of tracking down the right forms, all you need to do is answer a few basic questions and you'll be ready to vote. You can also:Confirm your existing registrationApply to vote absenteeFind your polling placeIf you don't know your own registration status or you'd like to learn more, take a minute to visit the site right now.This race is too close and too important to stay home on Election Day.If you take the time to register and vote -- and make sure everyone you know is registered as well -- we'll be able to turn the tide of the past eight years.It's people just like you who will tra...
Assorted John W. McBush/"Governor Hottie" Lowlights
2008-09-17 23:09:00 Lots to catch up on, so here goes (I'm not above stealing the pic either)...In case you missed it, check out the top clips we captured this week at McCain town hall meetings:McCain Falsely Claims Palin's Negotiated Natural Gas Pipeline Will Bring "Clean Energy" (here).McCain Leads The Crowd: "Drill Baby Drill" (here).Palin Makes First Gaffe, Indicates Fannie and Freddie Are Publicly Owned (here).McCain Lies, Says Palin Sold Plane On eBay? For A Profit! (here).McCain Criticizes Obama For Wanting to Slow FCS Development (Which McCain Once Also Advocated - here).McCain Exhorts: "Change Is Coming!" (x3) (but not in the way he thinks; my note - here).Palin: VP Choice Says Lots About Pres. Nominee, And You Can't Call Biden An "Agent Of Change" (here).Crowd Interrupts McCain With "Straight Talk" Chant (McCain Responds "That Sounded Rehearsed" - naaah! Ya' think? - here).McCain: Palin Is "Right On National Security? She Understands Those Issues," Contrasts Her "Record" With Obama (here)... More About: John , Governor , Hottie
Another Slick Repug Oil Scam
2008-09-17 20:39:00 The Murdoch Street Journal never disappoints when it comes to seeking out reality-challenged commentary; this piece published today was written by House Repug John Shadegg of Arizona, one of the leading ?Drill, Baby, Drill? proponents (as you can see from here, that $119K buys a lot of influence)?The Democratic proposal (which recently passed, by the way; my note) is not a death-bed conversion, it's designed to solve their political problem. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her members in August that they can say they are in favor of drilling, but that she wouldn't allow a vote on a drilling bill. Now that she has been forced to, she knows her environmental allies will block new drilling from going forward.?Indeed, incessant legal and administrative challenges make true the Democrat claim that oil from newly opened areas will not reach the market for years. These groups make use of a wide range of laws and regulations to challenge development. And they will make sure that the Democ... More About: Scam
Tuesday Stuff
2008-09-17 04:51:00 I hope to be back posting tomorrow here at Blogger (if it cooperates and they get rid of that stupid word verification for posts - I feel for commenters out there, but I have to do it, particularly given Blogger's ridiculous ultra-policing of spam these days) and probably Wordpress also; some last-minute stuff came up today....OK...soo, it apparently is OK for "Governor Hottie" to take up space in Alaska for about half a term, a reason for her (or so she thinks) to crow about how Senators Obama and Biden don't have "executive level experience" (and by extension, that applies to John W. McBush also), but it isn't necessary that she possess the skill set to run a Fortune 500 company? So, "Senate is bad, Fortune 500 is bad, but governor of a state with a population the size of Memphis, TN for two years is good?" Are you as confused about this as I am (here)?And by the way, please keep this in mind about Carly Fiorina......and OMG, forget about AIG and Lehman for a minute: THIS is th... More About: Stuff , Tuesday
Monday Stuff
2008-09-16 05:40:00 "The Pap Attack" gives us some "straight talk we can believe in" on the economy, my friends (I'm waiting to hear more of that "angry roar" myself; I don't see it in the polling numbers yet, but hopefully I will)......God, I thought this was hilarious; a Fox Noise trifecta on K.O.'s "Worst Persons," with Hannity, Orally and Rupert Murdoch hisself (aaarrrrggghhh!)......doing a "180" here; if His Fraudulency were any kind of a man, he'd meet with Mr. Scripsick and Mr. Henthorn (but we know he's nothing more than a lying opportunist, of course)......and yeah, I'd like to hit Bob DeMoss and Mark Whitlock with something a little heavier and more destructive than a spatula, if you want to know the truth (though, again, I officially don't advocate the violence that conservatives would happily inflict upon liberals)....Backdoor Slam ("Outside Woman Blues"; God, these guys knock me out)......and as a tribute to Richard Wright of Pink Floyd, here's "Run Like Hell" (also live) from 1980. More About: Stuff , Monday
That's Using Your Head...Not!
2008-09-15 23:20:00 This story in today?s New York Times tells us about a court ruling in India, in which a woman was sentenced to life in prison under the following circumstances?The woman, Aditi Sharma, was accused of killing her former fiancé, Udit Bharati. They were living in Pune when Ms. Sharma met another man and eloped with him to Delhi. Later Ms. Sharma returned to Pune and, according to prosecutors, asked Mr. (Udit) Bharati to meet her at a McDonald?s. She was accused of poisoning him with arsenic-laced food.Ms. Sharma, 24, agreed to take a Brain Electrical Oscillations Signature (BEOS) test in Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra. (Suspects may be tested only with their consent, but forensic investigators say many agree because they assume it will spare them an aggressive police interrogation.)After placing 32 electrodes on Ms. Sharma?s head, investigators said, they read aloud their version of events, speaking in the first person (?I bought arsenic?; ?I met Udit at McDonald?s?), along with ne... More About: Head
Sunday Stuff
2008-09-15 06:11:00 (And once more, as a reminder, I'll be spending most of my time here.)Every American should watch this; as far as I'm concerned, as bad as Governor Gidget's lies are (along with McBush also, of course), consider the very real possibility that, were the Repugs to win the White House again in November (God help us), Palin would be president in a very short period of time......Kaiser Chiefs ("I Heard It Through The Grapevine"). More About: Stuff , Sunday
My New "House," Again
2008-09-13 18:56:00 Fortunately, this looks like a keeper - more to come.http://liberaldoomsayer.wordpress.co m/ More About: House , New House
More Changes Coming
2008-09-13 00:07:00 Hopefully this will all be settled soon and I can get back to actual posting as opposed to playing with web-based interfaces all day and hacking around with HTML code - I'll keep you posted, as they say.
Another "Every Four Years" Horror Story
2008-09-11 21:24:00 Just read the following comment in an Americablog post about this (echo chamber time again)...I've been listening to Air America this morning. Specifically to Thom Hartmann's substitute host. He's been pursuing leads in regard to attempts by the McCain camp and the GOP to set the groundwork for targeted, massive electoral fraud. Calls have been pouring in from Democratic and Independent voters, in key Purple states, such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida, reporting that they have received return postage paid absentee ballots form the McCain campaign or its surrogates. Some of the callers have been spouses of active military, who have either moved recently or have had a spouse deployed overseas. Smells like an attempt to get these filled out ballots sent back to addresses that will ensure that they are disqualified, and in the case of recently moved voters or military voters, an attempt to CAGE these voters and get them disqualifed before Election Day.If any one who reads this ha... More About: Horror , Story , Years
Thursday AM Videos
2008-09-11 15:02:00 Again, while I get my new ?house? ready, here are two more videos.First, kudos to Matt Damon for this - the predictable outcry from those on the right who are so grievously offended will begin in a moment; really, why aren't more people calling her candidacy the bald-faced, politically motivated sham that it truly is?......and here is more on yet another scurrilous McBush campaign ad, probably the worst yet (a bit late with this, I know; good comeback by the Obama team). More About: Videos , Thursday
Lose Your House, Lose Your Vote
2008-09-11 02:41:00 The latest GOP dirty tricks in Michigan - they're utterly unrepentant scum for this (hat tip to Michael Morrill at Keystone Progress). More About: House , Vote
Why Our Discourse Is Stupid
2008-09-10 18:07:00 Note: I?ll still post here from time to time while I get my new ?house? ready.(Atrios usually weighs in with this stuff but I?m going to take a shot; I?m groveling in homage as I type this ? snark.)The conservative mediocracy generates narratives in concert with Republican talking points to emphasize fictions such as John W. McBush?s ?maverickyness? and foreign policy expertise, the opposition of ?Governor Hottie? to the ?Bridge To Nowhere? in Alaska here, the supposed controversy about Barack Obama?s patriotism, etc. (on these points, Drudge, Flush Limbore, Savage et al are frequently indistinguishable from CNN, the Washington Post, the AP, etc.).Individuals such as your humble narrator work tirelessly to disprove this nonsense (though I don?t put myself in the same league as Greenwald, I should emphasize), with barely an acknowledgment from the so-called ?respectable? media sources; if anything, these sources deride our efforts, dismissing us as ?the left,? the generic ?liberals,?... More About: Stupid
An Update
2008-09-10 00:27:00 I'm posting here now, just to let you know (click here)...http://liberaldoomsayer.typepad.c om/ More About: Update
A Palin We Can Believe In!
2008-09-08 23:16:00 Hat tip to The Daily Kos for this (and I guess I was incorrect here).
Something The Dems Forgot
2008-09-08 18:40:00 I just came across this ?New Rules? segment on ?Real Time? a week ago (not the most recent show), and I wanted to take note of his final rule in particular; again, I disowned the ?messenger? because of the lies, though the ?message? is no less important (and for that reason, I disagree with Maher ? keeping Edwards out was the right thing to do).
Monday Note
2008-09-08 16:45:00 Yours truly is in sick bay at the moment, and also Blogger apparently doesn't feel like trying to resolve my tech support issue (sorry, but this site isn't worth a lot if I can't view it), so I don't believe there will be any posting today.In the meantime, upon reading the news that Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews were dumped as election coverage anchors from MSNBC because they were too "opinionated" (read: too liberal, though, as we know, IOKIYAR; Tweety can defend himself, though), I'm sure some kind of a reprimand will also be in store for David Wright of ABC for trying to manufacture a quote from Barack Obama that he was wrong to oppose the surge (here, and I hasten to emphasize that Obama never said that), as well as a punishment for Tom Brokaw for his "reporting" that Oprah Winfrey hosted Obama while he was a presidential candidate (here). More About: Note , Monday
Sunday Stuff
2008-09-08 05:43:00 It took a few minutes of back-and-forth happy talk before they got down to business, but I thought this was a good interview on "Real Time" with Bill Maher and Jeffrey Toobin a couple of days ago......and yeah, Rachel, that's what I call it also (and I hope Clarence Page is wrong, but I don't think he is)......and speaking of the Illinois senator, here's the story on what happened with that background mixup during John W. McBush's speech last Thursday (snark)......P.O.D. ("Youth Of The Nation") More About: Stuff , Sunday
Saturday Stuff
2008-09-07 06:19:00 Come to think of it, I'm kind of in the mood for a beer myself (at least one, given the stuff in the last post - h/t The Daily Kos)......Nada Surf ("Whose Authority"). More About: Stuff , Saturday
A Love Note To Blogger Tech Support
2008-09-07 05:54:00 Time for more boring "blogger meta" stuff...I posted last week about the fact that I could not view the site from my daytime location because I received an error message telling me that Internet Explorer 6 couldn't load it, so the operation was aborted. I thought the issue lied with my daytime provider, but the issue has now replicated itself on my home PC, so I now know that the fault lies with Blogger . This has been going on since at least Wednesday, and to say that I'm PO'ed about Blogger's inaction on this (despite three posts to the Blogger help(less) group) is a huge understatement.What this means to you, dear reader, is that, in addition to possibly encountering this issue yourself since it seems to be replicating, I will not be able to reply to comments since I can only do so in view mode, and again, when I try to access the view, I get the IE error and it crashes. And I know this is occurring with other IBC blogs.I read a post on a discussion forum that this may be some... More About: Love , Tech , Note , Support
Returning To PA-08 Once More
2008-09-06 18:43:00 I know I haven't had much to say about the 8th District PA Congressional race between incumbent Dem Patrick Murphy and Repug challenger Tom Manion for a little while, and that is because Manion hasn't really done anything to generate news coverage as far as I can determine, though a debate has been scheduled for October 17th (and I had to search to find that out, and in the process, I came across this link; it turns out that Manion has been meeting riders at the Cornwells Heights, PA train station to determine their concerns, or something: 1) Isn't it a little late to still be trying to determine what the concerns of the voters are? and 2) Meeting the voters at train stations sounds just a little familiar, though I know no party has a monopoly on that tactic).Well anyway, just to remind us of how important it is to support Patrick, here's his speech at the Democratic National Convention (and to reward good behavior, click here).
Friday Stuff
2008-09-06 06:16:00 Give 'em hell, Joe, whether they know that's what it is or not (h/t The Daily Kos - the volume gets louder about halfway through; dag, he was right down the street from me, more or less)......now first, here is the 9/11 "tribute" video shown at the Repug National Amnesia Festival ("tribute" to whom, I wonder? Utterly contemptible - "a president who knows how," or whatever? Too afraid to come right out and plug McBush?)......and, as usual, K.O. hits the perfect tone in his response......and I realize that it gets a bit pointless and stupid at times to keep noting that Fox Noise is the media operation for the Rethuglican Party masquerading as a news organization, but we do what we must......and as a tribute to Bill Melendez, here is the final six minutes or so of "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"......and to take us into the weekend with style, here's Chris Isaak ("Diddley Daddy," on "Soundstage"; I have no clue about his politics, but I just like his music). More About: Stuff , Friday
Echoes Of Dubya From John W. McBush
More articles from this author:2008-09-06 00:30:00 Believe it or not, there?s still more from Michael Morrill at Keystone Progress that I didn?t get to previously?Like McCain, Bush Promised Bipartisanship1999: Bush Bragged He "Worked Closely With Both Parties." At a speech given to the Latin Business Association Luncheon, George W. Bush said, "This reform movement also requires a different mindset in politics. Education is too important to have a strategy of divide and conquer. Unless parents and principals, teachers and academics, Republicans and Democrats can find common purposes, reform will fail. I have worked closely with both parties in my state, because I know that if we set out to score partisan points, we will never solve problems. If we do not share credit for progress, all of us deserve the blame for failure." ["No Child Left Behind" speech, via Project Vote Smart, 9/2/99, emphasis added]2008: McCain Bragged About Working "With Members Of Both Parties." In his acceptance speech at the Republican Convention, McCain said, "... More About: John , Dubya , Echoes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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