FLYOVER COUNTRY

An Off Tuesday

2011-05-04T22:38:00.001-05:00

After a tiring week of Dead Terrorist News, I took a break and went to see Jackson Browne last night. It was one of those "intimate" solo shows, just Jackson and me and several thousand others. It was just like being in his living room with him and a chair and a keyboard and 2 dozen guitars. It was a good show though and it was nice to get away from the news.

During the intermission, Mrs d and I skipped out of the Overture Center and it's long line for over priced beer and ran across the street to the Silver Dollar. Now the Dollar is a cool place. Thirty some years ago when I first went in, it was a shot and a beer joint populated most of the time with local retirees and drunks. Almost all men, but with the occasional women inevitably smoking and with a voice like gravel.
Today the Dollar is a lot hipper but still the kind of place where you can go and sip a beer and not be bothered by a huge, loud crowd.

As expected for a Tuesday night, there was almost no one in the place. A couple laughing at one end of the bar and a single woman at the other end watching the hockey game. Half way through our first beer, Jay Moran and Garbage front man Duke Erickson came in and started playing pool.
It's that kind of place.

A second beer was called for and while enjoying same, I looked at the board above the bar listing beers available. Miller, Miller Lite, Bud, Bud Light, Coors. The usual. There were also some local brews like Spotted Cow and Hopalicious. All normal.

And then I saw it: Old Milwaukee N/A Old Milwaukee N/A? Old Milwaukee N/A!! Christ on a crutch, Old Milwaukee NON ALCOHOLIC?! Why? I mean, geez, I've drunk Old Milwaukee beer. It's been around longer than I have, but it's the kind of beer you buy when you're scrounging around in your pockets for loose change. It's the kind of beer that's always sold in 12 packs or cases because it's cheaper than a 6 pack of real beer. It's the kind of beer you buy when you're short of cash but you really want to get drunk. It's an alcohol delivery system, not a beverage. And there it was, a non-alcohol version of a beer you wouldn't drink if you were sober.

You know, there are times when I wonder if my days as a barfly are over. The great drinking bars are almost a thing of the past and when I run into things like this, it only reinforces the knowledge that they never will return. It's sad really. I pondered this for a moment and then finished my (alcoholic) beer. There was a second set of Jackson Browne to go to.

Priorities

2010-12-22T21:31:00.000-06:00

With less than two weeks before the Republicans take the reins of governance here in WI, one might think that they would be working day and night to hit the ground running to solve the major problems facing the state. I mean gov-elect Walker has said that his first days in office would be dedicated to generating jobs. (We'll forget for the moment that before he has become governor he has already squelched all the jobs tied to the now doomed high speed rail) The economic news is not good. Right there, on page three of Tuesday's Wi State Journal is the the headline: Poverty Rates Up Around The State. South central Wisconsin counties show a 7.5% to 12.3% increase 2005 to 2009. The need for jobs is critical.

This having been said, one merely has to glance below the fold of the same page to get a true idea of the priorities of incoming Republicans: Nass: Let's Repeal Law On Race-Based Mascot Names. Yup, Rep. Steve Nass's first priority is to allow WI schools to rename their sports teams The Indians or The Warriors or perhaps even The Redskins. On a week when ground breaking legislation is signed opening up the military to gays and lesbians, Nass wants to take Wisconsin back forty years in race relations. Never mind that families are sliding deeper and deeper into poverty with some kids pulled out of school because their homes are being foreclosed and others going to school hungry, we damn sure need to make it possible for their school mascot to be able to run around with a feather headdress doing fake war whoops.

Oh well, I guess there will be jobs out there making Indian headdresses.

A Big Harmony Congrats

2010-03-21T01:00:00.002-05:00

The Harmony Bar celebrated it's 20th Anniversary on Sunday. Expecting a crowd somewhat larger than the bar could hold, it was held at the Barrymore Theater. Keith told me he was expecting 600 to 700 hundred people. Thats a pretty damn big crowd for a neighborhood bar. When the Mrs and I arrived, the lobby was already full of ready to party friends. This shot gives you an idea of the turnout.

Music was played, beer was drunk, stories were told, and a great time was had by all.
Keith told me tonight that 1600 people showed up and payed the $5+ admision to the party. All told, $9000 was collected for the Goodman Center. What a fantastic job for a great cause.
How good must it feel to have 1600 friends that will come out for your birthday?
Super Congrats to Keith and Allison and all my wonderful friends at the Harmony Bar!

A Flyover Spring

2010-03-21T00:44:00.000-05:00

Spring is sprung
The grass is ris'
I wonder where
The flowers is

Well certainly Spring in Flyovercountry is well represented in these pictures I took last Thursday. It was a beautiful day, 63 degrees, sun shining, a perfect end to a long winter.

Then, of course, there was this morning.

There is a reason that old people move south. The weather here is nucking futs.

Oh well, it is supposed to be 53 on Monday.

OMG OMG

2010-03-04T13:12:00.001-06:00

I just got a call at work. It was someone conducting a survey for the NRA. (Note here. I am not a member and the only gun I currently own is the 22 my dad gave me when was 12, but I am not "anti gun".)
The call said "We're doing a one question survey". The question?

"Are you against the United Nations move to ban guns in the United States"

Wha!?!? I didn't even know that the UN was coming to get my Springfield Arms single shot bolt action rifle.

I related the story to some friends on line and Brooklyn Girl was kind enough to give me this link to Factcheck.org. Apparently, the wingnut-o-sphere is using a treaty to control international arms trading to stir up the deadenders. They are using no less than John Bolton, a man so crazy that his mustache has a court order against him limiting contact, to flog their insanity.

So, your question has to be "What did you answer?".

Well, I responded that I didn't know if he was with the NRA or just a poor schlub who was trying to make a living (I'm always nice to these people on the assumption they're just minimum wage temps) but my survey answer was: "You are nuts"

Dead air.

I continued "Please write down that my response to the survey is "You are nuts". Would you like me to spell that?"
"Yes, please."
"Y-O-U A-R-E N-U-T-S"
With that, I wished him a nice day and hung up.

The crazy season for elections comes earlier and earlier but I think that the balls-to-the-walls Obama haters are going to make this an off year election like no other. And remember, the SCOTUS has opened the floodgates for the moneyed whack jobs to pour unlimited amounts for or against candidates.
Strap in, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

March Musings

2010-03-01T17:50:00.000-06:00

March is such a tease. I mean it's the start of spring and all, but you never know what you get. Now the average temperature for today is 36 and we actually beat it by a few degrees but I checked and the record high for March first is 62, the record low is -29. That's a spread of 91 degees! Even the last day of March, where the norm is 50, has a record high of 82 and a low of 5. Still a 77 degree spread. There's a heck of a lot of places that never have a 77 degree spread through the whole year. At least January and February are going to be cold and you know it. There's an honesty there.

As the spring month roles in there's still a lot of snow on the ground.

It'll probably be gone by this time next week (there's rain predicted for next weekend) but it sure feels like winter.

There are a few spring-like things going on though. One of my favorite harbingers of spring is the spinach in my cold frame staring to grow with the higher sun.

I should be eating fresh spinach by the first day of spring.

A couple of other plants have brightened my gloomy, end of winter spirits. One is a Bird of Paradise plant. I have three and one is a regular late winter bloomer. It has bloomed in January in the past, but I think it was too cloudy this year. It was waiting for a little more sun.

While I was watering I spotted this little barrel cactus with a beautiful crown of flowers.

I guess everything is hoping for an early spring so we all can get outdoors more. I know I sure am.

Republican Caucus

2010-02-17T11:32:00.001-06:00

I was able to obtain this recording of the Republican Caucus meeting for this week. Apparently they're discussing the President's call for bipartisanship.

Boehner appears to be losing some of his tan.

The Start of a New Series

2010-02-15T09:11:00.001-06:00

Today we are going to start a new series. It's called "Things you never read in Canadian newspapers"

The first in this series is from a story in yesterday's Chicago Tribune. It's a lovely story about a man who has worked for the city of Wheaton IL for almost 20 years. Last week his job was determined to be non-essential to city services, so he was dismissed. Now this would seem to be a non-story as there are millions of people in the same situation right now and even the fact that he was less than 6 months from potential retirement does not make this story particularly newsworthy.
What the kicker is, the thing that makes this worth putting in the first section of a paper like the Trib, is that the man's wife was diagnosed with lymphoma six years ago. The ending of his carrer of almost twenty years also ends the chance that he will be able to continue with the health insurance policy that he (and his ill wife) have been relying on. In six months he could have retired and been able to stay on the policy at a low cost. As it is now, he gets 12 weeks of severance pay and 18 months coverage under COBRA (if he can afford the premiums). After that he is at the mercy (!) of the open health insurance industry. He feels it is going to be tough to find a new carrier who will pick up the tens of thousands of dollars amonth that it takes to keep his wife alive.
You can read the entire story here.

Now, why don't we read heart rendering stories like this in the Canadian newspapers?

Breaking Weather News

2010-02-02T10:58:00.000-06:00

Dateline: Sun Prairie WI

Noted Weather Rodent Jimmy the Goundhog (seen above in an undated picture) came out of his burrow today and DID NOT see his shadow. In a prepared statement, Jimmy declared an early end to winter and a quick transition to spring. Reporters gathered around the furry prognosticator to ask how this forecast jibed with Jimmy's long time disdain for the concept of Global Warming. Before he could answer, a large Redtailed Hawk swept down, grabbing Jimmy in his talons. The hawk had been seen earlier on a lamppost near Hwy 151.
Reporters attempted to contact the hawk but were told that he was at lunch and had no comment.
Mr. Groundhog is survived by his son, Jimmy Jr. When asked by reporters whether he wold continue in the family business, Jimmy Jr answered "Hell no, I'm moving to Florida."
No funeral is planned at this time due to lack of remains but friends say there will be a memorial service to be announced at a later date.

Hoar Frost

2010-01-18T23:15:00.000-06:00

Freezing fog the last two mornings.

These shots were taken at 9AM as the sun was coming out. All gone by 10.

Topics in Healthcare

2010-01-18T23:03:00.001-06:00

The local fishwrap had a lovely article Sunday about the anti-abortion crowd protesting UW Hospital offering 2nd trimster abortions at it's new surgery center. It had the usual suspects: Hospital officials explaining the need for the center and ~~bearded Taliban members ranting about their religion~~ local protestors explaining how Jesus hates abortions. Pretty routine stuff.
What always amazes me about these stories is that there is never a mention of health care in gereral. I mean if these people really cared about all those unborn babies why the hell aren't they out in front of their local Republican Party office demanding that they help put together a healthcare reform that would cover the prenatal care for every expectant mother? Why aren't they running around with pictures of real live babies that are in dire need of urgent medical care but their parents are too poor to obtain it? With the US infant mortality rate in there with some third world countries, one would think that might be a more important use of their time and energy. But alas, socialized medicine does not appear to be anywhere in the bible so god is either against it or at least ambivilent. For as much press as these loonies get, you think just once someone might ask them about that.

Just in case you might think I'm a little hard on this crowd, here is a little bio (one of three in a sidebar) of one of the protestors. Tell me this guy isn't certfiable.

Amend This

2009-11-11T21:00:00.003-06:00

Since Rep. Bart Stupak has introduced an amendment to the House bill on health insurance reform limiting insurance programs associated with any government sponsored insurance from offering any abortion services, he has taken a great deal of heat from the left. The most mainstream of these offer links to blogs offering links to Planned Parenthood for donations in Stupak's name. The more radical blogs have offered contests to make his name synonymous with some nasty biological function ala santorum.
I'll let others define why this amendment is so vile. What I want to point out is that this is the Stupak-Pitts amendment. Joe Pitts (R-Family) is a paid-in-full member of the looney right wing C-Street crowd. They are the ones laying out this medieval design on women's rights. Stupak deserves every bit of venom aimed his way, but don't miss the point that he's a stalking horse for the real enemy.
As far as I'm concerned, shoot the messenger. Just don't miss who sent him.

Fete De Marquette

2009-07-17T22:09:00.010-05:00

The Fete De Marquette benefit for the Wilmar Neighborhood Center has had to move around a bit over the last few years but it has not suffered for the relocations. Once again the fine music line up has made it the closest successor to the late lamented Madison Blues Fest, if not in the breadth of the acts, at least in the joyousness of celebrating musical genres. Here's a couple of shots of the music.

Tab Benoit Friday night.

The Radiators on Sunday night.

A great time was had by all. Make sure that you don't miss it next year.

2009-03-20T22:17:00.003-05:00

My habit of reading the local fishwrap every morning goes back decades and has descended into ritual rather that any real attempt at gathering anything more than local gossip. Of course if you follow the blind squirrel philosophy, you occasionally find the requisite acorn. Or acorns.
I read three articles today that seemed to follow a common thread. The theme became apparent by the third story, but I think I'll relate them in reverse order.

Third headline: Many Iraqis Held By US Will Go Free This Summer.
As we wind down the active occupation of Iraq, we will release thousands of prisoners that are being held with no charges and little or no proof of wrong doing. The US has admitted to detaining over 100,000, but that figure is undoubtedly low. The prisoners were to be screened for prosecution but only 129 of the over 13,000 still in custody are slated for trial. Mostly this has been classic concentration camp internment with fores into depravity like Abu Graib.

Second headline: Unit Returns Home From Gitmo.
A digest story about the return of 13 Wisconsin National Guard members who are returning from a year long stint of public relations from Guantonamo Bay.
"Unit members escorted about 400 journalists on tours of the detention facility and wrote articles on the military commissions for dissemination by military radio stations and publications. Members also took official photographs of dignitaries who visited."
Capt. Kim Kleiman was quoted as saying, "We were able to affect world opinion on Gitmo"

First headline: Ex-Nazi Guard, Living Here, Sent Back To Austria.
Josias Kumpf, now 83, was drafted at age 17 into the SSDeath's Head guard forces in 1942 and went on to oversee prisoners at camps in Poland and France. Kumpf's lawyer maintained that he never actually killed anyone but was present when killings occurred. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that "...he presided over and witnessed the torture and murder of helpless people."

Three stories. Three different places. Three unconnected events. I wonder if Capt. Kleiman or one of the US troops who guarded Iraqis prisoners will find themselves somewhere outside of the US, maybe even 40 years from now, and will have to explain just what they were doing in 2009. I guess I won't be reading the morning fishwrap by then.

Justice

2009-02-27T12:51:00.002-06:00

The best thing I've read on line this week:

"Michael Vick goes to jail, loses millions, and now is on house arrest for torturing and killing a few dogs. George Bush tortures thousands, kills a million, loots the treasury and retires to a gated community in Dallas."

One of my great hopes for the future is that I will be able to come back and amend this post.

Fallout

2008-12-10T22:32:00.002-06:00

In the wake of the recent arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich there appears to be a number of people who my also be losers in this scandal. Number one on the Republican hopeful list is , of course, President Elect Barack Obama. The Rethug machine is already trying to put Obama in the Blago camp. "Tarred" as you will, with the taint of Illinois politics in general. Jesse Jackson Jr. has been outed as Senate Hopeful #5 and has had a presser where he insisted he had no designs to buy the Senate seat.
There is one person who has no direct connection with Blogo's corruption but is the one who is going to get the biggest screwing out of it: Former Illinois Governor George Ryan. Ryan was convicted of corruption several years ago and has been in prison since 2007. He currently resides in a federal correction institution in Terre Haute. He has been prominently listed as one of Bush's number one pardon choices. No less than Dem Senator Dick Durbin has pushed for George's release. Some how it seems unlikely that even the increasingly out-of-touch Bush White House would be tone deaf enough to pardon the previous Felonious Governor in the wake of his own Justice Dept trying to send the current Gov to the same big house.
So, it would seem, Ryan will take it on the chin. Or, considering his current living situation, lower.

Joe Hill rolls over

2008-11-27T19:56:00.003-06:00

The ever idiotic Doughy Pantload hit his usual stride today with a column on schools. The topic was on the Obama girls going to a private school but of course the real topic was bashing the left. His target? Teachers unions. Once again the left is the direct off-spring Hitler, as we see in this quote:

The main reason politicians adopt a policy of malign neglect: teachers unions, arguably the single worst mainstream institution in our country today.

It seems amazing than any children get educated with the evil teachers unions strangling the life out of public schools.
The thing to remember here is not the attack against the teachers' unions, but that the right and all the supporters thereof are ramping up their pogrom against all unions. The number one target right now is the UAW. The talk of bailout for the big three auto makers is bringing out the meme that it's the labor costs that are causing their failure. The big lie this week is that auto workers receive $70 plus dollars an hour for their work. In reality the figure is about $28. (If that sounds like a lot, remember that's about $56000 a year for a 40 hour week/50 week year) While the right remains quite quiet about the white collar sharks getting millions (sometimes billions) in pay from companies that get bailout money, they can not talk enough about how the union worker is dragging the same companies down.
The real need in this country is not fewer unions but universal health care. It's the health care costs that are driving up the labor portion of auto making (the other costs are materials, debt service, and management pay) and it's not going into the workers pocket. The one good thing about the economic collapse is that maybe major manufacturers will finally jump on to the Universal Healthcare bandwagon. We can only hope. (And, of course, lobby your congress critter)

All the news that fits

2008-11-26T23:40:00.005-06:00

I saw this in my local fishwrap yesterday. In case you don't find the economic news grim enough. Wasn't ther a war goin on a couple of months ago? (Click title for photo)

Oh Oh!

2008-09-06T11:14:00.004-05:00

Three months ago to the day, I wrote about VP selection and suggested that the real powers behind the Bush administration would go to a dark horse. I said at that time they might look for a Bush-like politician to set up for another run at securing both the election and a second shot of fulfilling the NeoCon agenda. When Caribou Barbie came up as the choice I thought initially I was wrong and that they were going for the Hail Mary just to maybe save the election.
After a few days of Alaska watch, I started to think maybe I wasn't so far off to begin with. Her style of governance bears a striking resemblance to the Bush Whitehouse. The moment you get in office you demand total loyalty to Dear Leader. Anyone who doesn't start fawning from day one either gets the boot or is marginalized. Her speech at the Convention was a study in Rovian obfuscation. Attack your opponent, lie about your record, and keep repeating whatever line of crap you want your followers to mimic. Jeff Yang at Salon yesterday had a great article that spells it out much better than I ever could.
I'm getting a sinking feeling that this election could be a lot tougher for Obama and the Dems to win then many people think. Palin doesn't have to be bright or a great politician. She has others to do that for her. If the Rethugs can continue the story line of her being the fresh new reformer and with her fundie cred bringing in the Christian wingnuts, she might just be capable swinging the election in McStain's favor. I think the next few weeks will be some of the most interesting politicking you've ever seen.
Oh, and by the way: Grampy, if you do win in Nov, I'd be real careful around all the staircases in the Whitehouse. You never know when the Moose killer is behind you.

Who's Watching Your Back?

2008-08-18T22:07:00.003-05:00

Buried on the bottom of the eighth page of the Sunday Chicago Tribune is an article entitled U.S. proposes to ease domestic spying rules.I caught the story as a blurb on MSN's online news on Saturday and thought that it would drop into obscurity like most of these sorta dry administrative manoeuvres. The Times story was a slightly more informative than MSN, but below the fold on page eight does not a raise even a ripple.
The gist of the story is that The Bush administration has redefined the role of local police departments in the Global War On Terror. Now, any local police department that receives federal aid (over 18000 state and local) will be allowed to collect intelligence on groups and individuals that they believe to be engaged in terrorism or supporting any group that helps terrorists. This information will be held for up to ten years and forwarded to Homeland Security. Effectively, local police departments will be required to spy on citizens on the basis of any type of suspicion. Not since the sixties and seventies have we had the spectre of local police becoming "Red Squads" and combing the activities of anti-government groups and individuals. Except today we have "Enemy Combatants" and Gitmo.
As I was mentally composing this post, Keith Olbermann on Countdown covered this story. I was glad that it is getting wider distribution, but both KO and the Trib believe that this is a move by the Bushies to institutionalize domestic spying. Certainly you can't have a hard time believing that the administration that wipes it's butt with the constitution would have any compunction against wider domestic spying but I have one little problem: There appears to be a very good chance that the next President of the United States is going to be a colored guy named Barack.
I somehow have this really tough time imagining that the Bush handlers really want to leave this police state to a Democrat. Particularly this Democrat. So what does this lead you to believe? That the Rethugs think (or worse, know) that they are going to win in November.
Occam's razor says that this is just another of this crowds' ongoing movement towards the police state and that it's just part of the momentum that's been built up over the last seven years but I just can't shake the fear that this election is going to make the last two look fair. Only November will tell.

I Solemnly Swear...

2008-08-13T23:45:00.003-05:00

I viewed a recording yesterday of Nancy Pelosi at a book event in California. This was a pay-to -get-into event which should have been filled with the faithful and of little notice the world at large. What made it noteworthy was that about thirty protesters attended the event along with the supporters. As protesters, this group broke the pattern of chanting and disrupting the event and went right to the heart of the matter and demanded that Pelosi justify her position vis-a-vis the prosecution of crimes by the executive branch. At one point Pelosi states: "I take an oath of office to uphold the constitution of the United States and don't tell me that I don't do that,” A fuller account can be seen at Democraticunderground

I will pause here to offer this: The oath Nancy Pelosi swore to when she took office as a member of the House of Representatives.

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."

The central, nay only, requirement of this oath is the preservation of the rule of law, to defend the constitution of the United States. This is what Americans have fought and died for since it's ratification. And note that it includes domestic enemies, a phrase that was added after the civil war to remind members that not just foreigners can endanger the liberties that the constitution promises us all.

As long as Nancy Pelosi hold the office of Speaker of the House, every time she appears in public someone needs to stand before her and say:

Madame Speaker, The President of the United States and the Vice-President of the United States have, by their own admission, broken the laws of the United States to a level which may be construed as Treason. They have admitted to actions which the world has deemed War Crimes. Why have you not followed the oath of office to which you swore, and brought these crimes before the body of which you are leader? Why have you shirked your duty and ignored your oath and not sought the impeachment of these officials as is required by the Constitution? Why have you stated that you will not even consider impeachment even though the oath you swore requires you to? How can you stand before the people of the United States and the world and refuse to do that to which you swore?

If Nancy Pelosi finds that she can not appear in public without someone asking her these simple questions maybe the time will come where she actually has to answer these questions.

Sign of the times

2008-06-25T21:45:00.003-05:00

I saw an ad tonight on MSNBC. I assume it is running elsewhere but it particularly struck me that it was on a supposed liberal news show. The ad was for American Express Card. The gist of the ad was a man going to an airline counter to purchase a ticket to San Francisco. He goes to pay for the ticket with a card that has kittens on it. The agent looks annoyed and the next shot is two TSA people standing behind him putting on latex gloves and telling the traveler that they need to question him. The next person uses an Am Ex card and sails through.

I watch enough (too much?) TV to get all the references and the ad does exactly what it was targeted to do: Make you think that AM EX has credibility that other cards do not. What frosts me is that it we are so conditioned to this constant state of war that we believe this is a normal way for people to behave. If there is the slightest hint of anything that low-level functionaries don't like or even if there is no rational at all, then an ordinary citizen is subject to the most demeaning treatments you can imagine. Treatment that 8 years ago would have gotten these minimum wage Brownshirts a punch in the nose to the applause of other travelers. To attempt that today would get you a minimum of two days in a TSA sweat box with hand and leg irons and most likely some time in a real prison.

You could not have written a story about this happening to America 8 years ago and sold it anyone. They would have laughed you out of the room. And yet 8 years later we accept it so completely that it becomes a "cute" ad. With my perspective of 50 some years, this stands out to me but imagine a young person just coming to voting age. This has been how things are done for all of their adult life! I only hope that in the upcoming election we can bring some sensibility back to this country and maybe spend the next 8 years fixing some of what we have broken. If we don't, all I can say is "Show me your papers!".

Some things just aren't funy

2008-06-10T23:51:00.002-05:00

I really like Jon Stewart and the Daily Show. It's usually a must watch for me and Mrs. d. Sometimes I find the bits a little boring but he usually has a great comedic sense and some of his interviews are fantastic. Tonight, though, I think he went to a place where comedy shouldn't go.
The opening bit had a Muppet like hand puppet called Gitmo. Gitmo was, of course, a prisoner of Guantanamo Bay. Stewart worked in numerous torture references and even did a take-off of the ventriloquist trick of drinking a glass of water. Water boarding of course. It was clever. It just wasn't funny.

I like comedians that work blue. I like comedy that pushes the boundaries of good taste. But I just can't laugh at this on the week where we are starting the show trials (one of which is for a man who was 15 when we dragged his half way around the world and tortured him for 5 years) and when the Bush War Criminals are getting ready to use the execution chamber they built there.

Somehow I don't think Jon would do a bit about the Birkenau Easy-Bake Oven, but then there's concentration camp humor and then there's concentration camp humor.

Article XX

2008-06-10T23:15:00.002-05:00

Rep Dennis Kucinich spent five hours last night reading a 35 count article of impeachment against President Bush. It's a 63 page document that details the high crimes and misdemeanors of the most dangerous threat to America since the Civil War. The crimes include lying us into war, misuse of funds, torture, illegal wire tap, and failure to sufficiently supply troops in combat. It's like a laundry list of how this administration has abused the power with which the people of America had entrusted them.

Reading through them you find yourself nodding and agreeing. Some of them are heinous, others almost petty. Until you reach Article XX. It has the shortest heading of the entire document.

ARTICLE XX: Imprisoning Children

Imprisoning children. Imprisoning children. The mind boggles at the thought that people with the American flag on their shoulder bind, blindfold, drug, interrogate and hold for years without hope for release, children! And remember: This is being done in your name.

The saddest part of the whole thing is that Rep. Kucinich's efforts will come to nil. His bill was introduced to almost no notice within the mainstream press. Most Americans don't even know it happened and those that do hear about it are told it's another move by that goofy guy who ran for President. For those of you who do care, I can only say call your Congressperson and ask them to support Dennis's bill. It won't help, but at least you can say you tried and I recommend that you look at who does support him and that will tell you who you can trust in this Congress.

And the winner is.......

2008-06-06T22:49:00.002-05:00

With Obama finally getting enough delegates to clinch the nomination the debate goes to who's going to be the vice-presidential candidate. No this is not about Hillery. I think the great overlooked question is who will be McCains VP running mate. On the face of it it seems pretty mundane. Do you pick Mitt who was a strong competitor to McCain? Maybe Bobby Jindal to off-set Obama's ethnicity. Or you could pull someone less known who will bring a swing state?

My take is that the powers that be are going to do this more like it was done for GW. Cheney was originally the head of the search for the vice-presidential candidate for the 2000 election. I think midway through he realized that GW was an OK candidate in terms of electability but there needed to be a real manager behind him. Hence the Cheney vice-PRESIDENCY. Many have written of their fears that this administration will not leave office willingly and believe that some non-constitutional trickery is afoot but I think that the real powers behind the throne will find a VP who will be waiting in the wings. The smart bet is that McCain doesn't have two terms in him and possibly not even one. Look for the dark horse VP candidate to be the real inheritor of the Bush Neo-Con power play. These guys are tricky and really, really hate to lose.

Anyone got any bets on who it's gonna be?

Plug The Meter

2008-06-04T22:10:00.002-05:00

I seem to be focused on the CrapTimes lately. Weird article tonight about Baltimore converting old parking meters to "homeless meters". The idea is that you will give your spare change to the meters rather than to panhandlers. The money is given to Homeless Health Services. The take appears to be about $100 a month. Tom Yeager, vice president of clean and safe programs at Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc. (I love the title), says:

"People love it... because it is not degrading to the homeless and it's anti-panhandling. It also educates the public to put their money where it can make change. So, it's not about money- it's a message."

Why do I suddenly have a vision of Papal Indulgences? You know, where you gave the church money so that you could go ahead and sin? Throw a few coins in the old meter and you can walk by that beggar knowing that you have helped to save him. It's a great idea and dog knows it's perfect for State St. Needless to say Mayor Dave is already on it.

All I can say is that I feel like I should go buy a case of 40's and drop them off at Peace Park.
To quote the late great State St regular Brian "Gotta quarter?".

The Crap Times

2008-05-31T21:19:00.002-05:00

It's been a couple of weeks now since the once venerable and later venial Captital Times abandoned it's six day-a-week format to become an "on-line" news source. It's online presence is forgettable at best. It has broken no new ground for web news and is out shined by several other local sources like WISC-TV's Channel 3000.
The daily paper has been replaced by two tabloid sized editions distributed through the execrable Wisconsin State Journal and certainly they are more interesting than the web version. Wednesday's version is the front page section and it really seems to have coalesced all that had made the old version a weak imitation of the early Cap Times. Feature stories fleshed out by page sized pictures, a few local sports stories, and the most vapid call-in and letters-to-the-editor section imaginable make up the bulk of the paper and even John Nichols, usually a reliable editorialist, phones it in. They even brought the embarrassing "Human Cost of the Iraq War" box with it's listing of Iraqi casualties at 87'800. Only off by a factor of 10.
Surprisingly, the Thursday feature section is a far better production. It's had mostly interesting, well written articles by staff members. They seem to have sifted out those that were interesting and got rid of the worst of the old paper. I'd hoped that they would cut loose the amazingly unappetising Michael Muckian (if I never read "choice of starch" again it will be a better world) but at least he only reviews wine and beer. Samara Kalk-Derby is a far better writer and has a better feel for restaurant reviewing.
All in all the new format has a somewhat broader range than it's obvious competitor, The Isthmus, but Isthmus has had a better track record of late in doing real reporting. It'll be fun to see what shakes out.

Crazy Preachers

2008-03-27T22:22:00.003-05:00

It appears that the media is trying it's best to keep the Rev. Wright/Obama story on the front burner. Polls are suggesting that the Wright controversy hasn't hurt Obama but some people seem to think that if it is pushed long enough it might some traction. Interestingly, only a few blogs have tied the story to the February endorsement of McCain by Pastor John Hagee. Hagee is a fundamentalist preacher with a large church in Texas. And while Wright has definitely said some provocative things in his sermons, Hagee is part of the Doomsday Crowd that are continually pushing for an expansion of hostilities in the Middle East.

Writer Robert Weitzel has done a great job of tying Hagge, McCain, the Christian right, and the Republican party together and showing how this "end of time" crowd is helping to kill children today and possibly bring the entire world into a war not that far in the future. It is a piece that everyone should read.

I dare you to read Palestinian, Israeli kids are cannon fodder for the Rapture and not fear radical Christianity every bit as much as radical Islam.

Easter Story

2008-03-24T23:07:00.003-05:00

Six Iraq war protesters were arrested on Sunday after disrupting the Easter Mass of Cardinal Francis George. The protesters shouted that the Pope called for peace and squirted fake blood on themselves. One angry Mass goer yelled at the group "Are you happy with yourselves? There were little kids in there. You scared little kids with your selfish acts"

Umm, small children dragged into church being told about someone being nailed to a cross by an old man wearing a dress? How could you tell what scared them?

Marking Time... Part 2

2008-03-24T19:42:00.004-05:00

Just after passing the five year mark for this awful war (is there any other kind?) we reach another milestone: the 4000th dead serviceman. The number has been used by both sides. The anti-war people hoping that the enormity of 4000 dead might stir the seemingly complacent populace into joining the with the vocal opponents. The administration once again claiming to feel the pain of the families.

On Nov 12th Sgt. James W McDonald died. The US Military said 37 service members died in November from wounds suffered in Iraq. Sgt. McDonald was not one of the the 37. Because he was wounded in May and had returned to the US and because there was no determination of the exact cause of death, his death is not one of the 4000. His mother Joan McDonald is not so ambiguous about whether John's death was war related.
"If my son was not at the war, he would not be dead, plain and simple. He was a strong and healthy boy. Don't tell me it was unrelated to the war. I will never accept that" said Mrs. McDonald

4000. It's a good round number. It's a milepost. It helps understand the horror of war. And it's a lie. Joan McDonald and hundreds of others know it.

Dont Let The Door Hit You....

2008-03-20T22:09:00.002-05:00

Getting closer and closer to the last day as a real newspaper, The Crap Times has pushed itself into over-drive to destroy what ever it has left of it's legacy as a "progressive" voice. Buried on page four of it's Thursday edition was it's only story of the day about anti-war protests in Wisconsin. At least it was above the fold. Along with the usual quotes from a few protesters and the listing of several near arrests for trying to get elected officials to actually talk to them, there was these wonderful two paragraphs:

When contacted about the demonstrations, Mark Jefferson, executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party, called the protesters extremists.

" If we were to cut and run at this point, we would lose a lot of credibility round the world," Jefferson said. "I think people realize that"

There are so many things wrong with this that I'm having trouble lining them up.
First, when polls consistently show that over 60% of America thinks that it was a mistake to enter this war, how the hell can war protesters be "extremist"
Secondly, we have not had any respect around the world for five years.
Finally how the fuck do you decide to ask the head of the Rethuglicans about war protests at all! This walking piece of human excrement is one of the morons responsible for the mess we're in. His hands are bloody. This is like asking a murderer why he thinks there is so much violence today.
I can only mourn the Capital Times of old when maybe there would have been someone there to point out their own foolishness.

Once In Lifetime

2008-03-20T22:02:00.002-05:00

For the first, and I suspect the only, time I beat an A list Blogger to the punch. Atrios this morning posted about Patricia Kelly's letter to the New York Times. I guess getting the Times for the Wednesday food section has finally paid off.

Dancing With The Stars

2008-03-19T23:29:00.002-05:00

A couple of days ago Maureen Dowd wrote in her column that GW "has turned into Gene Kelly" referring of course to the pres's little soft-shoe in front of the press while waiting for Uncle Fester to show up and be anointed as his successor. Little did MoDo realize that this seemingly innocuous turn of words would elicit a response from none other than Gene's widow.
It seems that the Widow Kelly does not believe that her esteemed late husband would be a fan of the doofus-in-chief. In fact it appears that the late hoofer would be aghast at the very idea. Patricia Ward Kelly writes:

When Gene was compared to the grace and agility of Jack Dempsey, Wayne Gretzky and Willie Mays, he was delighted. But to be linked with a clunker — particularly one he would consider inept and demoralizing — would have sent him reeling.
Graduated with a degree in economics from Pitt, Gene was not only a gifted dancer, director and choreographer, he was also a most civilized man. He spoke multiple languages; wrote poetry; studied history; understood the projections of Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes. He did the Sunday Times crossword in ink. Exceedingly articulate, Gene often conveyed more through movement than others manage with words.
Sadly, President Bush fails to communicate meaningfully with either. For George Bush to become Gene Kelly would require impossible leaps in creativity, erudition and humility.

I can only add to this the comment that in more ways than one Bush is truly a lame duck.

Marking Time

2008-03-19T22:39:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring and today marks the end of the fifth year of this horrendous war. Spring, of course, is the season of new beginnings and war, of course, is the season of endings.

First and foremost it is the ending of life. Four thousand of our best and brightest cut down in their prime. Wives and husbands, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers gone, not in some glorious crusade, but in an increasingly ignored and ever more expensive and worthless quest for goals never truly spoken by those that would have us continue down this road that has no apparent end.

War is also the ending of innocence. Nineteen year old boys who should be deciding between careers or schools or between girls are forced to decide between life or death. For themselves, or their comrades, or for people living thousands of miles away from their homes and families. Choices which may well haunt them until the end of their days. It is also the end of the innocence of the nation. The exuberant Nineties gives way to the grim and foreboding 21st century where the America of economic and moral leadership has become a tired and fearful place. Where outsiders are to be distrusted and the idea that we can do anything is replaced by arguments about whether we should do anything at all.

It's been a long Winter. I can't remember a harder one and I've seen plenty. But with Spring comes the hope, no, the knowledge, that longer, sunnier, warmer days are ahead. I also have some hope that this country is ready for a change in direction. The political season has not brought the public scrutiny of our policies, both home and abroad, that I might have hoped for, but there is still time for America to examine what needs to change. And to select the people who might actually effect that change. As I said, with Spring comes hope.

Who Are The Terrorists?

2008-03-16T18:06:00.004-05:00

Often when I go to post, either here or other sites, I find that I ask myself whether my comments may go too far. Even though I may want to say that certain members of the administration are on track for capitol punishment, I usually temper my attack.
The Flyover Journal today has an article which suggests that I may be right if I want to avoid the interests of the long arm of homeland security wannabees.

A Blogger who goes by the name of John Adams has come under the scrutiny of his home town police chief. Chief James Coan of Whitewater WI has initiated an investigation of Adams in order to determine who he is. Adams has been critical of the police department's attitude towards the UW Students and personal and the growing Hispanic population. The WSJ article says: According to Whitewater Police Department e-mails obtained by Adams under the state's open records law, Coan involved at least two detectives, the city's director of public works, its information technology officer and the city clerk — all working on city time and using taxpayer-funded resources — to find the identity of a man described as a "suspect" but who had not committed a crime.
Another individual, who had been incorrectly identified as the blogger, was visited in his home by police and warned against voicing anti-government opinions. You can read this dangerous screed at freewhitewater.com..

I grew up in small town America and often witnessed the administrations of local-yokel police departments, but Whitewater isn't rural Wisconsin. It's a University town with over 12000 well educated students and faculty. When you see this sort of vicious attack on free speech, I can only believe the current governmental disregard of our 1st amendment rights is dripping down to the local level.

Finally

2008-03-14T18:40:00.002-05:00

Back in December I posted about the legislature (and even some republicans) getting their act together and passing the Compassionate Care Bill. The legislation requires hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims. It seems to be a no brainer, but that is never a phrase that should be used about the state lege.
Well Thursday, almost 3 months to the day after I wrote about it, Gov. Doyle signed the bill into law. I would love to look back and say that this was the day that Wisconsin started to bring public discourse about sex, women's' rights, and reproduction into the 21st Century but I suspect that the troglodytes are merely regrouping for the next moronic outburst.

We are one less

2008-02-27T21:10:00.002-06:00

I thought I'd mention the passing of a truely great American. Percy Julian died two days ago and while most people don't know his name, he was one of the people who spent their life making this a better country. He spent his life defending the constituition and more importantly the citizens it was written for. If you would like to learn a little more, please scroll down to his obit here. He was a great man and made one hell of a key lime pie.

Yaaawn

2008-02-27T21:08:00.001-06:00

I've been hibernating. As the sun gets higher, I feel the need to post again. Hopefully, I actually have something to say.

Friday Cat Blogging

2008-01-04T21:41:00.001-06:00

This is for Rorschach at No Capital. Moe and Gracie say "Baskets? Meh!"

Texas Tea

2008-01-03T16:43:00.000-06:00

A little late for christmas, but the perfect gift for the economy that has everything, our New Years treat is $100 a barrel oil. Just when you thought you could afford to drive to the job that may or may not be there, bang, up goes the price of gas. For those who are in the throes of poverty or those on the edge, increased gas prices, increased food prices, and the harsh winter weather over much of the country means that existence here in the Home Of The Brave And The Land Of The Free will become just that much harder in the coming months.
The next time a republican friend complains about gas prices, make sure you remind them about a certain Energy Task Force meeting in 2001. You know, the one between Darth Cheney and the major oil producers? Remind them that oil was $20 a barrel until the Bush Crime Cartel came into power. Oh, and one last thing, the oil in Iraq was going to pay the war costs. Then ask them real quick "Who ya gonna vote for?".

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T19:05:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Being an atheist, I obviously don't celebrate the Holy Day just the holiday. Some, I know, reject all the trappings of the season but I have no problem in enjoying the non-religious aspects. Just as the Romans stole many of the traditions of the Pagan religions to overlay them on Christianity, so do we non-believers adopt the parts which fit into our lives. I have a christmas tree every year and love that symbol of the rebirth of the land without believing in any religious rebirth. And I'm sorry, but only Scrooge doesn't like to give and receive gifts regardless of the season.
So anyway as we crawl out of the trenches of the no man's land of the WAR ON CHRISTMAS (TM Fox), I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and have a cold (or hot) beverage on me!

Dixie

2007-12-17T22:06:00.000-06:00

I missed the original story on Nov 11th when someone defaced the Confederate Monument in Montgomery Alabama. It seems the hands and faces of the Confederate soldiers depicted were painted black and "N.T. 11 13 31" was scrawled on the base. Freedom fighter Nat Turner was hanged on Nov 11,1831. As a Northerner (whose family fought in the Union army) I've always had a certain disdain for the Southern penchant for memorializing secessionists. I mean in most civilized countries people who display the battle flag of the losing side in a civil war are hung, but we here in America have always treated the south like an uncle who drinks a little too much. Obnoxious, but what the hell he's family.
Now this would appear to be the work of African Americans upset over a monument to those that fought for slavery, and who could blame them? I mean one really can't expect American Blacks to celebrate their enslavers. The interesting take on this story is that three white teenagers were arrested on Dec 14th for the vandalism. Now I guess my days of cheering on militant acts against are over, but I just can't help feeling that this could be a good thing. It might be that the white teens were really provocateurs trying to stir up resentment between the races but I would like to believe that the youth of Alabama have come so far beyond their Jim Crow past as to feel shame over these outdated monuments to oppression. It'll be worth following the story to find what the motivation really was.

Lies, damned lies, and statisics

2007-12-12T22:35:00.000-06:00

The Flyover Times (Your PROGRESSIVE Newspaper) has, as it has done every Wednesday for several years, published on it's front page the Human Cost Of The Iraq War. This consists of the number of US deaths (3886), wounded in action (28661), and estimated Iraq civilian deaths (81717). The first two figures are pretty much accurate without question but it boggles the mind that a "progressive" newspaper would use the absolute lowest figure they could find for our carnage in Iraq. Two years ago respected analysts in England put the figure somewhere between 500,000 and 800,000. Just looking at the numbers of car bomb and execution victims that have been in the papers for the last two years makes the 81,000 figure absurd. I guess that if we, as a people, were responsible for a milliom deaths we might have to launch a campaign to remove everyone who had sent us into this immoral and illegal war. Nah, might not play well with the advertisers.

Finally

2007-12-12T22:06:00.000-06:00

Six years after it was first proposed and after months of wrangling with the current legislature the Compassionate Care For Rape Victims was passed last night. The Republican State Journal reported this morning that the bill was dead, but just before midnight the Assembly passed the act 56 to 41. Apparently this was after the bedtime of the WSJ reporter. Kudos to Rep. Terry Mussser, R-Human Race for his co-authoring of this much needed bill.
If you are not familiar with this bill, it requires hospitals to offer emergency contraception to sexual assault victims. "Plan B" is essentially a high dose of birth control pills which will prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours after intercourse. Radical members of the American Taliban oppose this because women might get even more uppity than they already are.
The Rethuglican party of course had to get one last bit of obstruction in and blocked reading of the bill which stops signing of the legislation until the Assembly re-convenes in January. This benefits the Rethugs because they believe the unwanted products of conception due to rape almost always grow up to vote for them.
Now if only we can get that "Holiday Tree" renamed.

2007-12-10T21:49:00.000-06:00

For those of you who don't watch TV you are missing the time of your life. For example last night I saw an Ad for {I shit you not} H.O.P.E., the Hummer Owners Prepared for Emergencies. The Ad depicted hummer owners driving through horrendous weather to save lives. Just when you thought that hummer owners were selfish eco-saboteurs, you find out that they're really working for Fatherland Security. I've never felt safer.

2007-10-31T00:08:00.000-05:00

Blank Slate of Fear

2007-10-20T23:42:00.000-05:00

I didn't bother to watch the Bill Maher show clip where he was heckled by 9/11 Truthers. I don't like Maher much and I really don't care about conspiracy nuts. Way too often the important aspects of an issue are obscured by trying to bring everyone from god to Santa Claus in on the crime. The right wing assholes love the 9/11 crowd because it's another way to make the Left look looney and out of touch. Honestly at this point I don't give a rat's ass who killed the Kennedys.
Having said that, it's time for me to don my tinfoil cheesehead.
I have lately become more and more convinced that the neocon extremists were aware of the plot that we now simply call 9/11. Maybe not to the extent that they for saw or necessarily wanted the massive destruction and loss of life on that day, nor certainly with any collusion with bin Laden other the support we had given him for years in Afghanistan, but certainly to the level that they knew an action was being planed and when it was going to happen. The look on Chimpy's face as he read My Pet Goat was not that of shock that an attack had happened but that the attack was so devastating. The dismissal of the aide that briefed him before the attack with "you've covered your ass, now get out of here" makes much more sense in this light. For years this crowd was looking for a "Pearl Harbor like event" on which to drape the fabric of the New American Century. Somehow I can see them salivating for another incident like the first Trade Center bombings. Lots of smoke, a few dead and the perfect reason to institute the draconian measures they love so much. It's revealed now that they were setting up the Telecoms for eavesdropping long before September 2001, why would we believe that they didn't have other ideas as well?
Unlike most conspiracy theories that require a cast of thousands, this could have happened with just the knowledge of a few intelligence personnel (notoriously tight lipped when involved with illegal ops) and some in the White House (even more notoriously tight lipped). Once the deed was done, I could imagine how they would view it as the biggest windfall of all time. A blank slate of fear on which they would write a new way of doing business in America.
Maybe I'm wrong. Way off base. Maybe they were just so bumbling that all the facts that were laid at their feet didn't click and they just missed this enormous crime. Maybe but I don't think so.

MAX RELAX

2007-10-05T22:21:00.000-05:00

2007-10-03T22:36:00.000-05:00

Interesting article hidden away in the NY Times today. Celia Dugger writes about the striking reduction in the amount of food aid in the Third World this year. The gist of the article is not that the US is cutting back on it's commitment in terms of dollars, but that those dollars buy 35% less food then they did in 2006. Her sources suggest that there will be a similar drop in buying power over the next two years.

This is yet another domino in the global food cost inctrease being driven by high oil prices and probably more quickly by the rapidly increasing cost of corn on the world market. The corn price increase is of course due to the drive in the US to use corn for fuel instead of food.

Couple this with the US insistance that American farm products be shipped over-seas and then sold to finance the buying of food relief supplies, and you have a recipe for increased world hunger rather than hunger relief. The entire article can be read here.

2007-09-20T00:11:00.000-05:00

The Kerry lecture at F.U. shows just how much the Dems differ from the Rethugs. The Rethugs have protest areas miles away from the event and never let anyone who is un-vetted near the speaker. The Dems give you a full two minutes to rant and then have you Tazered.

COMPUTER KITTIES

2007-09-04T23:53:00.000-05:00

Fact checker Kangaroo

My editor Moe

Kill Your TV Not!

2007-08-28T23:04:00.000-05:00

Recently I was following a thread on another blog when someone posted a link to pictures of Amy Winehouse after her latest reason to go to rehab. Now, I'm not a fan of Winehouse, but following her spiral into oblivion has a certain fascination. Much like the need to slow for a car wreck. The thing that interested me was when someone else asked who Winehouse was. When informed that she was the singer of that "rehab song" that was all over the airwaves, the asker replied "I never listen to commercial radio or TV".
I run across this attitude seemingly more often all the time. I am always amazed when I hear someone call into a talk radio show and say "I don't own a television". And of course the prevalence of the Kill Your Television bumper stickers. Now I certainly don't want to force anyone to listen to or view anything they don't wish to, but I'm at a loss to know how you can even start to gage the mood and the prevailing feelings of the majority of Americans who use the airwaves to gain the bulk of their (admittedly limited) knowledge of the world around them.
I don't want to hear about how the MSM is nothing but crap and you can't use it for real information. The fact is most Americans do. If you don't gain a feel for the dis-information that that they are being fed, then you will be just as misinformed as they, are albeit in a different manner. If you care about what is happening in this country, then you should call bull-shit when you see it and that includes calling the media when they are at their worst. Every single person should write their local paper when they print nonsense and call them on it. Imagine what would happen if thousands and thousands of Americans called NBC or CBS or ABC and said "The occupation of Iraq is the most important story you can report on. Why do you spend 30 seconds a day on it and never have any real reporting of what it's really like on the ground?" That kind of pressure would have real effects on what Joe Six Pack sees every day.

2007-08-26T23:13:00.000-05:00

I didn't have much time to watch the talking heads this morning but I did listen to Meet The Press on the radio on the way to work. I caught some of Senator Warner with Timmeh. Most of it was the predictable rethuglican "I'm trying to distance myself from Iraq without saying anything bad about Bush" but one thing he said struck me so much I had to go back and read the transcripts. After telling about how sad chimpy was at Arlington Cemetery he emphasised that the Senate had no desire to override the president. His next line floored me. He stated "—we’re an independent branch of our government, co-equal in many respects with authority and responsibility—". Now I'm no constitutional scholar, but it seems to me that the basic concept of our government was that the three branches of government were wholly equal and that while each had its duties, none was subservient to the other except in specific areas clearly spelled out within the constitution. That a Senator believes that his own house is in some way beneath the executive branch goes a long way in explaining just how we got intotheconstitutional crisis that we are in today. If you woud like to read the quote in situ you can link here.

One Nation.......With Liberty And Justice For All

2007-08-17T23:13:00.000-05:00

Well the jury is in and Jose Padilla has been found guilty. Just not for what he was arrested for. The charges put before the court were that he conspired to murder, kidnap and maim. Just who he was planning on murdering or kidnapping or maiming is not quite clear. Americans in general I guess. Oddly enough, I have no idea if Padilla really planned on doing these heinous crimes or not. Neither did the jury that convicted him. The main evidence against him was a job application to join the Taliban, complete with his fingerprints on it. One would think that a man facing up to twenty years in prison would try to put up a defense against such thin evidence but Padilla offered almost no help to his lawyers in fighting these charges. Therein lies the greater crime committed here.

Padilla was arrested in May of 2002 coming back into this country and subsequently charged as an enemy combatant. Under this status he was the first American to be held solely on the basis of anti-terrorism laws without recourse to lawyers or law. He was held in a Navy Brig without access to council for two years. The lack of basic rights was bad enough but the conditions of his imprisonment are more than horrendous. He was kept in a 7 by 10 foot concrete cell with no window. The lights were on 24 hours a day. The cell had a toilet, a concrete slab and a concrete bed with no pillow, mattress or even a sheet. His meals were passed to him through a slot in the door. No radio, no tv, nothing even to read including the Koran. The only people he ever spoke with were his interrogators and when he left this cell he was cuffed, chained, blindfolded, and his ears were covered. There were also accusations that he was given mind altering drugs.

By the time he was given access to legal council his mind was so deranged that he refused to tell them of his interrogation because it was "classified". His lawyers have stated that he was terrified of being found innocent because then he would have to go back to the Brig. If he was found guilty he could go to a regular jail! Of course his jury was never told of any of this.

James Oliphant of the Chicago Tribune writes today that the conviction was a "victory in the Bush administration's campaign against terrorism" and that "The conviction could also help to moderate criticism of the way Padilla was handled by the government." One wonders how this could be until one reads the entire article and realizes that the MSM is mostly skipping over the three and one half years of torture that got them here. Even the Flyover Times (with the banner "Your Progressive Newspaper" over the masthead) buried the story on page seven with nary a mention of impropriety by our government!

The next time someone says to you "I can't understand how the people of Germany allowed Hitler to do all those awful things", think back to Jose Padilla. If you look in the mirror you will see Herr Schmidt or Herr Johannas who voted National Socialist Workers Party because they promised Fatherland security. I titled this post with the end of the Pledge of Allegiance. Perhaps it is time to go back to the roots of this pledge over one hundred years ago. It was originally supposed to be recited with arm outstretched, palm down.

2007-08-08T22:35:00.000-05:00

I just got a new cell phone this week. Actually it is the same as the old one which I lost. (Very disconcerting. For a week I kept calling it in the vain hope I might hear it ring and find it. Almost like I was lost!) I waited a couple of days because my cell phone guy, Jay, was up in Minneapolis at a wedding.
When I went in I asked him if he was there when the bridge went down. He told me was at the Metrodome for the Twinkies game when it happened. His niece's boyfriend had walked across the adjoining bridge just as it fell and was in a cloud of dust but never knew the bridge fell! One other person at the wedding was literally feet away from being on the bridge when it went down and his daughter was in the car behind him.
I think that people outside of flyover country don,t realize just how close this tragedy was to being hugely worse. I have not spoken with one person since it happened that has not said to me "Oh, I was there a week (day, month, two months) ago." There were literally thousands of people on, around or under that bridge every day. I still can,t believe the death toll wasn't one hundred times what is being projected.

2007-08-07T22:42:00.000-05:00

I have felt very bi-polar this week. On Saturday night I was reading another blog when word came through that the Congress had passed the FISA court changes. Others on the blog felt that the world (or at least America) had come to an end. I must say I felt very discouraged myself.

Come Sunday, apparently, the world had righted itself as not one of the Sunday talking heads appeared to even have noticed. The only mention was a passing comment as to how the Dems were protecting themselves from bad press.

Sunday night and I'm reading posts from people who are saying they think they want to leave the US.

Monday it had become old news.

I can't help but feeling that this is not a watershed moment, but just another milestone on a slow downward spiral. With just over 500 days left (I hope) of this criminal administration, I can only continue to believe that America will live through this.

2007-08-01T21:47:00.000-05:00

I just saw the disaster in Minneapolis. I've not been in the area in quite a few years, but I have been over that bridge. I know that the Response Services in the Cities are up to the task and that the medical services are second to none. I can not but think about all the loved ones who are looking and worried about the missing.
There will be plenty of time in the future to determine what caused this disaster, but right away we can look at the horrendous state of the infrastructure of the United States. While the general loss of infrastructure dates back much further than the current administration, the Bush Crime Family has accelerated it immensely. Remember this crowd believes in transferring all public functions to private companies, letting them loot the treasury, and then complaining that Government can't help you. I doubt that this tragedy can be directly linked to Bushco, but prepare yourself for more of these events in the future. Remember real Americans don't rely on government help!

2007-07-29T22:49:00.000-05:00

It will be interesting to see what happens this week. This Sunday has been a day completely away from the MSM drivel. Temps in the mid 80's with no humidity. Sunny skies. A beautifully perfect summer day. I barely read the Sunday papers and couldn't bring my self to really watch the day's talking heads on TV.
The next week could be exciting, but I fear it will be another week of consolidation in the Congress and another week of stonewalling from the administration. Unfortunately, it will also be a week of 100+ temps in Iraq and another week of dead and injured service people. It continues to amaze me that the American public lets this go week by week by week.
One of these weeks maybe the people will finally decide that this is the week it has to stop.

2007-07-26T23:43:00.001-05:00

The Flyover legislature is fighting over the budget. The Dems and the Repugs are light years apart and we may not see a budget for a while. One of the things on the table is an expansion of health care into the middle class. Guess who's for it and who's agin' it.

My greatest hope is that the business community begins to realize that universal health care is in the long run, a boon for business. The US is behind most other industrialized countries right off the bat because the cost of manufactured goods in the US is instantly higher because the manufacturer has to factor in the cost of health care into the price of their product. In other countries this is spread over the entire country and costs substantially less. This alone should have major companies clamoring for a change. Secondly while health care is good for the upper portion of the public, it is exceedingly expensive in the US. We pay way to much for the care we get compared to other countries, and yet almost all of them show better health statistics.
Thirdly preventive medicine, especially prenatal and early cancer detection save millions over trying cure the problems after they develop. The last factor is that we already have universal health care for the poor: it's called the emergency room. Can you even begin to imagine a less efficient, more expensive way to deliver health care?

Oh, and by the way just to keep up my bleeding-heart-liberal creds: IT"S THE RIGHT THING TO DO!

2007-07-21T22:53:00.000-05:00

I had a short online exchange with a social studies teacher today. We both agreed that today's students receive an abysmal education in History. I also opined that they receive almost no education in the traditional social studies. He brought up the fact that there is almost no civics education today. This country is unique in the world in that we spend almost no time in educating our youngest citizens into the concept of being a citizen. When I talk with my younger employees, I find almost 100 per cent of them do not have the slightest idea of how our political system works. Not nationally, not statewide or even on the most basic of local levels. They have no idea of who any of their representatives are, or what the do. Unfortunately, most parents are only interested in their children's grade point and give no thought as to whether their their little darlings will ever become educated as citizens. This may be the most dangerous trend in America today. I implore any parent to make sure that their children learn that being a good citizen more than paying taxes and not avoiding jury duty.

2007-07-21T22:37:00.000-05:00

SPECIAL REPORT

Doctors today report that after the special rectal brain scan of the President today that they found no evidence of grey matter in the President's colon. Doctors were surprised as the President has had his head up his ass for over twenty years. Subsequent review of previous colo-rectal examinations revealed that the tiny amount of Presidential Grey Matter that had been there was removed eight years ago mistakenly believed to be polyps. Luckily the President has been able to live semi-normally as Karl Rove has essentially served as Bush's brain for years. Doctors believe that the President will be able to continue his normal duties as they really consist of nodding to vicePresident Cheney.

2007-07-19T22:35:00.000-05:00

The Flyover Times has shocked me! The day after I complained about their inability to write the F-word (filibuster) they used it in an op-ed! Twice! I'd love to think it was me but that would truly be delusional. They also ran a piece on the importance of net-neutrality.

Net-neutrality is a subject that either gets you a "wha?" look or a yawn. Unless you are part of the net-roots. Then it's a question of life or death, at least for bloggers. The concept of equal access to the net is the life blood of the diversity of the Internet. This may on first blush look like a matter that is important only to the few that blog or read blogs, but I contend that it goes much deeper.

It the 1770's political fever was stirred up by a dedicated group of citizens who wrote tracts and had them printed up at small print shops by like minded printers. Not that many years before this would have been unthinkable because printing was too expensive and the presses were tightly controlled in other countries. These tracts would be passed out on village greens and taverns (think Drinking Liberally). They would work their way to small villages by travellers. Often one writer's pamphlet would draw a response from another. These transfer of thoughts were instrumental in fomenting the revolution. The British authorities did little to stop this because they believed there was no way this was a danger to their rule.

Jump forward to the 21st Century and we find that the press is almost entirely in the hands of Big Money and there is no real access there. Certainly I or anyone else could go to the print shop and run up a thousand broadsheets and hand them out, but where is the Village Green that allows you to contact thousands? That Village Green is now the Internet. For the price of a cheap computer and an Internet connection or even access to a Public Library, today's Broadsheet writer can reach millions. This brings us back to net-neutrality. If the money interests have their way, the cheap printing presses will be taken away from the masses. Now I don't suggest that the net-roots should be fomenting revolution, but certainly this is a valid route to change the way that large groups of people think about things. Not through propaganda but through discourse (even with the Trolls about). It is critical that as a group we talk to the "Wha?ers and the yawners to let them know that is about their world too.

2007-07-18T21:36:00.000-05:00

It appears as if the MSM has abandoned the F-Word. It was well used several years ago but it seems as if has become the word-that-can't-be-uttered. Luckily there are euphemisms to replace it that won't offend the reader/viewer. You know like time wasting, grandstanding, and the popular Democrat stunt. God knows that the Repugs would never do anything to stop an up or down vote! Oh wait the Repugs staged a fili***ter. Don't they want an up or down vote?
Even the newly redesigned Flyover Times, that heralded progressive newspaper couldn't bring it's self to use the dreaded word. Of course their progressive credentials are based on the fact that they supported The Original Progressive 100 years ago. That and that over 50 years ago they pulled a stunt where local flyover citizens were asked to sign a statement comprised of parts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Of course the McCarthy fearing crowd wisely refused to have anything to do with something that smelled of politics. Since then their progesiveness has consisted of endorsing Democrats at election time and weeky (weakly?) listing the number of deaths in Iraq. The civilian figure is the one given out by the government and right now is around 35000. You wouldn't want to use the leftist British Lancet figures of more than 600,000. So goes the vaunted left wing media.

2007-07-17T21:57:00.000-05:00

Harry Reid goes for the filibuster, Harriet Meier refuses to appear before Congress, what-will-happen reports are all over about Iraq, it's hard to tell if we are getting ahead or spining our wheels. I'd love to think that we are seeing the beginning of the end of this merry band of fools. The filibuster hopefully will start to show the people that the congressional gridlock is the fault of the Rethuglicans and the recent after action report suggests that a three state Iraq is possible after a withdrawal of American troops. What I really hope for is a legal confrontation with the Bush junta. The Meier situation may well be the turning point. It's one thing to go before Congress and refuse to testify, but to refuse to show up is unheard of. It will have to be seen if John Conyers and other D leaders have the goods and the balls to take this thing where it can go. The scary thing is these fights can end up in the Supreme Court. As we have seen the odds are stacked badly in that arena.

2007-07-16T22:33:00.000-05:00

Breaking news. Senator Vitter has met with press in his home district to let them know that he plans on returning to the Senate this week and has no plans to quit politics. At his side was his wife, Wendy. Wendy commented that her husband has "come home to Mama". No word on whether Mama will diaper him.

2007-07-15T22:41:00.000-05:00

We spent the afternoon on a pontoon boat on the largest of four lakes surrounding the capitol of Flyover Country. The weather was beautiful and it couldn't have been a better time. The owner (and captain for the day) of the boat is a full time Army Guard member. He served 9 months in Kuwait in 2002. His unit is responsible for copter maintenance. I've known him for years but don't have the slightest idea what his politics are. I've always felt that for the sake of our friendship it was best to not ask. When ever I've asked him about chances for redeployment, he laughs and says that his unit has been so stripped to supply the regular Army that there is no way they can possibly go into a combat zone any time soon. I've meet friends of his who are in the reserves. It seems like they are all getting out. Reserve members can be called up for replacement in existing units while guardsmen stay with their own outfits. Again I don't discuss politics (or the war) with these people but my feeling is they have no support for the mess-o-potamia. I don't mean for a minute to suggest that any of these guys wouldn't suit up and be back in the fray in a second if they felt our country needed them, but there seems to be a feeling of malaise about the war (occupation) .

2007-07-15T22:34:00.000-05:00

Senator Webb on Meet The Press showed once again what a real stand up guy he is this morning. When Timmy asked him about the war, his reply was that the war was over years ago and what we are in is an occupation. Of course Timmy's next question was "Should the congress run the war?" completely ignoring Jim's point. The best part was Jim doing a slap down on that weasel Lindsey Graham. I really thought he was goin to bitch slap the little prick.

2007-07-14T12:29:00.000-05:00

The protest by Christian Extremists in the Senate this week highlights the real motives of the nutty christian right. By trying to disrupt the opening prayer being done by a Buddhist priest they show just how much they are the American Taliban. The only thing President Chimpy had right about Osama was that they hate us for our freedoms. They do. They hate that America doesn't force it's citizens to live a non-secular life. It's not so much that we're not Muslim, but that we're not a Christian State. If we forced people to church, made women subservient to men, taught prayer in our schools and had a religious litmus test for all office holders, I'm sure they would find a way to overlook that Jeebus thing. Luckily for us the Constitution (that's the thing hanging on the paper dispenser in Chimpy's office bathroom) specifically protects us from that insanity. At least for a little while longer.

2007-07-09T23:30:00.000-05:00

The Army missed it's recruitment goals for June. It also missed for March. The military's response to this is to lower standards once again. I remember back to the Vietnam days when the Army took everyone who passed the physical. This was not the high point of the Armed Forces. The military was swamped with people who couldn't figure out how to not get drafted.
I absolutely do not want to disparage anyone who is willing to serve his (or her) country but the situation with the Army today is indicative of what the Bush Administration has done to the country as a whole.
Five years ago the US military was the absolute best fighting force the world has ever seen. All volunteer with high standards, well equipped with the best equipment, and ready to be deployed to anywhere in the world that they were needed.
Today the Army and Marines are under-manned poorly equipped for the job they are being asked to do and in many cases demoralized by repeated deployments. They are having trouble filling the holes caused by 30000 casualties in Iraq and the loss of desire by the best and the brightest to become part of the military.
This ruining of our military is just one more part of the Bush Administrtion's ongoing destruction of what has made America great.

2007-07-07T22:34:00.000-05:00

Road Trip! Actually we went south from Fylovercountry to the Flatlands. It is hot as hell. The drive was very nice though. The corn and soybean fields look as good as I've ever seen them. I only hope they go for food as opposed to fuel. Either way good crops are a good thing.
The trip was actually to go a wedding. The wife's niece was getting hitched. Very nice wedding and the dresses all looked good! Key thing as the wife does bridal gowns for a living.
The drive back was beautiful as the sun set over the very green fields. As it darkened, we became aware of massive amounts of fireflys in the fields and along the road side. It seemed that there were alot this year in the yard, but obviously this is a bumper crop every where.
As we drove, the occasional strike on the windshield would result in a small flash of light. Very surreal. We by-passed the highway for a couple of miles at the end of the drive and looked out over the fields. The light show was fantastic and we could have driven for miles watching. As it was the road home came to quickly and the drive ended too soon.

2007-07-04T22:26:00.001-05:00

I just watched the PBS Ken Burns documentary about the Statue of Liberty. I love these docus from Ken. Sometimes they can be a little over the top but this was very entertaining. I know the story of the statue pretty well, but the photos from the construction were really neat.
The interview that I really liked was ex-New York Governor Mario Cuomo paraphrasing his mother's interview at Ellis Island. Husband? ditch-digger, money? none, prospects? my son will become Governor of New York. Certainly a little over the top, but very indicative of what the immigrant experience has been to America.
This brings us to horrendous immigration problem in the US today. Millions of Mexicans rushing across the border to take all the po folks jobs and suck social security to death!
I'm am compelled to look at the history of immigration in this country to get a little perspective. In the 1880's thousands of Chinese were brought in to the US mainly to work on the construction of the intercontinental railroad. As these immigrants moved out of the railroad market and into other areas the US forbade them from becoming US citizens. San Francisco's China Town is a well known remnant of this influx. (I won't get into the Japanese internment camps. Left overs of the anti Asian sentiment of the turn of the century.) Later we saw large numbers of Italian, Irish and German immigrants at the turn of the century. All of these immigrants were looked at as a pox on this country. (Side note: All my HO-Chunk friends have T-Shirts with Geronimo's picture. Caption: Home Land Security Since 1492) Where I'm going here is, the immigration situation in the US is little different then what it was 100 years ago.
"They won't learn English" In Milwaukee in the first quarter of this century there were neighborhoods where you couldn't buy a loaf of bread with out speaking German, or Polish, or Lithuanian. Nana barely spoke any English, Mom and Dad spoke it with a thick accent and spoke their native language at home, the kids speak English and appease the family with a few words of the "Mother Tongue" here and there. What we need to understand here is that this country has been built on the the labor of immigrant groups and this has not destroyed us in the past and won't in the future.

2007-07-04T22:00:00.000-05:00

I really want this to be my last post on Scooter, but I'm so disgusted that I have to go at it one last time. Bush says that he only made his decision after much deliberation and consultation with others in his administration.
Its too bad that he didn't have the same consideration about the 157 prisoners he had executed while he was governor of Texas. This includes Karla Tucker the first women executed in Texas since statehood and the execution of a man so retarded that he asked the guards to save his desert from his last dinner until he returned. The standard for the Bush clemency appeal was a short precise from Gonzo, and 30 minutes for consideration from Herr Bush. The affidavit for the severely retarded man did not mention his retardation or the fact that his defense lawyer was not allowed to bring it up to the jury.
No suprise tht 3000 Americans died on 9/11 because he was too preoccupied and that 20000 Americans are casualties of his inattention and that America is responsible for the deaths of another 500000 people in Iraq. Attention to detail is a bitch.

2007-07-03T22:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I thought the first post was lost. As I look at them both, they both make sense.

2007-07-03T21:54:00.000-05:00

I have to rethink my previous post about ScooterGate. Many have suggested that the commutaion keeps Scooter from having to come clean as long as the appeal process continues. This fits in with the Sopranos theory of how the Bush Crime Family works. You serve the Don and you are taken care of. Hopefully the congress will eventually break through the code of " omerta"

2007-07-03T21:36:00.000-05:00

My second look at ScooterGate makes me rethink that there is no difference between commuting and a pardon. It has been suggested that a pardon would leave him open to having to testify against the rest of the Bush administration with no fear of prosecution while commuting leaves the appeal open. I leave no ulterior motive unturned with this administration, and I have to believe in the Sopranos theory- you take the fall for the Don and let them figure out what is best for you. I await the American Public rising up in righteous indignation!

2007-07-02T21:05:00.000-05:00

No real surprise from the Scooter Libby commutation. The only question was when. My money was a little later and a full pardon. Commuting the sentence achieved the same thing, as the prison sentence was the only real punishment. The fine will be paid by the "Friends of Scooter" crowd and the loss of his law license means nothing since the practice of law is only a means to make money. The Law and Justice are foreign concepts to this mercenary crew.
The lefty pundits are suggesting this will not play well with the public (I just watched Olbermann) but here in Flyovercountry the Libby case never struck the chord many thought it would. I fear the lying under oath case was too removed from the possible treason case that engendered it. The only thing left to wait for is the inevitable right wing response of (lets all say it together!) "but Bill Clinton didn't go to jail!"

2007-06-30T21:49:00.000-05:00

Last week the University of Flyovercountry received a 100 million dollar plus grant from the Dept of Energy to research turning biomass into energy. While I'm always happy to see the rare occasion of Federal tax dollars flowing back to Flyovercountry, I have reservations about the rush to generate energy from Ag products. There is a cascade of effects from this that seem to be overlooked by many involved.
The first problem is the same as the rush to drill in Alaska and the Gulf, it tends to obscure the fact that conservation is far more effective in reducing dependence on foreign oil imports.
Far more troubling is the disruption in the food market. The US is used to a surplus of low priced food products and this has helped to keep inflation low. The enormous shift of corn to fuel production has done almost nothing to lower fuel costs, but has already raised the price of corn markedly. Don't think that this means sweet corn is now a buck an ear. (Bad old Flyovercountry pun) This mean beef is more expensive (corn fed). This means chicken is more expensive(corn fed again). Almost any processed food you eat used corn sweeteners. I think I'll have refreshing soft drink and ponder this, oops corn sweeteners again.
The one plus should be that farmers are making a lot more, but Ag prices are not set like other products in this world. Farmers can not sit on their products and sell to the highest bidder. Ag prices are set in the commodity markets. Markets controlled by the huge Ag mega- businesses like Acrcher-Daniels-Midland. The farmer sees little of the increase and loses most of the gains to the huge increase in fuel and fertilizer prices. (Fertilizer is made from oil!)
The final cascade effect I worry about, is the trend of these Ag businesses to use food as an economic tool. NAFTA has allowed these companies to flood Mexico with corn grown in the US. This flood has caused many local Mexican farmers to quit growing corn and leaving them with no alternative crop. The loss of farm related jobs increases the immigrant pressure in the US. Within the last year corn prices in Mexico have risen to the point that poor people are unable to afford tortillas. This does not mean no "Taco Tuesday". This means children go hungry! The Mexican government has had to subsidize tortilla prices.
The bottom line here is that people need to examine the effects of simple or easy solutions to dificult problems.

2007-06-06T22:42:00.001-05:00

The MSN is of course all over the Scooter Libby sentencing. It is the lead story in the Bushco Treasongate saga, but I find the story of the military judges dismissing charges against two Gitmo prisoners far more telling in the Neo-con administration's long slow slide into total disarray. It's not the fact that the officers dismissed charges against an Afghanni who was fifteen when he was impressed into the Taliban and was targeted by our side because he was driving Osama around nor is it because they found the Pentagon's designation of them as Enemy Combatants insufficient under the Military Commissions Act. The key factor here is that mid-level officers in the Army are beginning to resist the criminal actions of this government.
Numerous General Staff personel have already started to speak out against this administration's illegal actvities, but they can easily move on to high paying civilian jobs. When you start to see Majors risking their careers, you know there is an under-current of dissent within the regular army.
The Army, in all but revolutionary states, is by nature a very conservative group. In the US it is strongly supportive of the Republic Party. They perceive the Republicans as more likely to provide funding for the armed services and therefore are likely to vote for them. It will be interesting to see if there is weather change in the prevailing feelings amoung the officer corps.
An even deeper question is do some officers feel they need to protect themselves from an invitation to testify at the Hague?

2007-06-06T22:42:00.000-05:00

On Flyover Country home front news, the local school board is back-pedaling furiously on the decision to name an elementary school after the recently arrested Hmong military leader Vang Pao. This proves the theory that you never want to look to closely at the actual lives of revolutionaries or resistance leaders. They are always better viewed from afar. If war is a dirty business, insurgency is truely ugly.
This also brings back my desire to see the school named after Eugene Parks. Gene was a fiery orator, a leader of the early civil rights movement in Flyover Country, one of the first Black elective officials, and an enormous irritant of the body politic. American children could well use an example that the powers-that-be need to be poked, prodded, and needled as often as possible.

2007-06-03T00:15:00.000-05:00

I went to an event a week ago tha featured Stephanie Miller. She is, as you no doubt know, host of a nation-wide morning radio show. She is on the local Air America affiliate here in Flyover Country. The event was to honor the local activists that had saved the station from changing to a sports format. The local lefties had picketed, protested, and started an on-line petition to save 92 Themike from a fate worse than easy listening. It didn't hurt the cause that 92 is owned by Clear Channel Radio, octopus of the airwaves. The evening was complete with a video documentary of the activists endeavors and interviews with all involved. The air was rife with the sound of one hand clapping (Thats the sound of people patting themselves on the back).

The interesting thing about this whole story is that Clear Channel announced the format change in October of 2006. The change was to happen in December. Now I am not intimately familiar with the practices of radio broadcasting, but its been my experience that the way format changes are usually done is that they most often fire everyone at 5:00 PM Friday, play easy listening music all weekend, and then open Monday morning with "The Big Sound In The Big Town". Even more interesting is that the ratings for 92 were quite good, a fact that was repeated often by those dedicated to saving the station but that revenues were weak. The under current of the evening was that Right Wing Clear Channel was ending the format to censor the Left. By the end of the program everyone was being exhorted to advertise with 92 or buy the products advertised there and to let everyone know that you were.

The lesson of this whole episode is that while I applaud the Lefties for organizing and grass roots work, this a classic case of confusing Politics with Capitalism. While Clear Channel owners have consistantly supported the Repugs and the Bushies, they have shown their true capitalist side by not really caring what airs on their stations, right wing or left wing, if it makes them money. They don't really believe the content matters one way or the other. Their maneuver here cost them nothing and energised the political base to go out and generate revenue for them.

Oh, and by the way you got to love Stephanie. Rush is right she is a Babe!

whence Flyover Country

2007-06-02T23:08:00.000-05:00

Many, many Boomer years ago when I was a Freshman at University of FLYOVER, I was conversing with an Out-Of-State Student (this was then the code for Jewish from New York), when I happened to mention Saks Fifth Avenue ( of what this conversation was actually about I have absolutely no recollection). My friend, the OOSS, pulled back, gave me a "who is this?" look, and asked "How do YOU know about Saks?". At the time I thought "Who doesn't know what Saks Fifth Avenue is?" It took a little time before it dawned on me that I was born into a world that is viewed by both the East and West Coast Trend Setters and Newsmakers as just an adjunct to the "Real World". You know, the part you fly over to get to somewhere else that matters.

This feeling came back to me in 2002-2003 into the lead-up to the Iraq invasion. It seemed to me (and most of my friends) that there was plenty of evidence in the public domain to show that Iraq was of no immediate danger to the US, and yet, the Wise Men of the MSN told us this was not so and we were in imminent peril. My imaginary OOSS here is Hillary Clinton "How did YOU know ther were no WMD's?" The answer here is the same as it was 30 plus years ago: There is plenty of information out there to learn what' s real in the world if you are willing to look for it and care enough to sift the truth from the lies.

The bottom line here is I hope to winnow a few grains of truth from the incredible amount of BS that fed to us daily. Hopefully we can have some fun along the way and all learn a bit more today then what we knew yeaterday.