Some observations from the fair

We were a lot busier yesterday than I thought we would be.

LoLo mentioned that she thinks there's a lot of interest in the Democratic Party of Wood County Booth this year....especially true because it's a non-election year. I think she's right.

I cruised by the Repubs booth a couple of times yesterday and didn't see too much activity there....

On the way home (I walked) I was joined by a Republican friend of mine who noted that our booth "seemed busier than usual". He was right. I asked politiely how their booth was going...he said "sort of slow, 'cause, you know, nobody likes Bush". He did allow that the statement was except for "some" in the party.

While this kind of anecdotal evidence is fun to talk about, I wouldn't take it too seriously because we might, I fear, become complacent....and we can't afford that...besides, since when did any of us know the Conservatives to give up without a nasty, dirty, no-holds-barred fight?

Not me....

actually not any of us....get ready for a 2008 BRAWL!

This is getting old.....

It's getting so I'm afraid to open my closet door these days....

....'cause everytime I do, another gay Republican falls out....

I mean, seriously, how many can there be?

The whole Senator Larry ("I am NOT gay!) Craig thing is all over the news. See the story here. And then there's this:

I got a real laugh out of Tboggs description of Florida Representative Bill Allen who tried (unsuccessfully) to talk his way out of being caught "out of the closet". Here's the funniest line:

Allen, R-Merritt Island, is accused of agreeing to
pay $20 to perform oral sex on an undercover police officer July 11 in a public-park restroom.

In the taped statement that was tossed out Monday,
Allen said he was just playing along because he was intimidated by the undercover officer, who he described as a "stocky black guy," and that he thought he was going to be robbed.

snip

When Allen was being placed in a marked patrol car
after his arrest outside Veteran's Memorial Park, he asked whether it "would help" if he was a state legislator, according to a police report.

The officer said he replied, "No."

Police also said Allen indicated he had $800 in his
car.

Allen's attorney, Greg Eisenmenger, said both remarks
should be suppressed because Allen had not been read his Miranda rights by the arresting officer.But Whitaker argued they were made voluntarily and should be admissible.

I think the comment about having $800 in the car may be just a tad prejudicial since it seems that Bob Allen was implying that he had enough cash on hand to blow forty cops at twenty bucks a pop, which, and not be judgmental here, seems kind of slutty. (Tbogg's quote, not mine)

ROFLMAO!!!!!

Yes, I know the mention of the $800 was a stealthy attempt to bribe but TBogg's sense of humor is too good to pass up.

There's something amiss here....though....Republicans protesting gays and leading campaigns against homosexual behavior....is it the Shakespearian "methinks (they) doth protest too much..." ? Hmmmmmm...

Hot news of the day!

Alberto Gonzales has resigned....

"....and there was much rejoicing....."

of course, President Bush didn't appear too happy about it....and blamed it on those mean-spirited, nasty Democrats....

According to Talking Points Memo...some key words were:


His longtime crony Alberto Gonzales remains "a talented honorable person" whose "good name was dragged through the mud" during "months of unfair treatment."


If you want to see the video...look here....


One less incompetent in the Administration....gotta be an improvement right?

Canary? What Canary?

Coffee with Democrats

Hi everybody....

I just wanted to say how much I enjoy getting together with the 'retired dems" for coffee every once in a while....

In the place where we meet, there are two groups of "coffee clubs" that meet...both with prominent businessmen who are obviously from the other party (coughrepublicanscough)....

We seem to have a hell of a lot more fun than they do....

REMINDER

We still need some volunteers for the fair.....if you can make it let us know...call Dave or Loretta Tritz....

My President Will Be.........

gotta just love Russ Feingold....he has a tremendous sense of humor and strength of character too....

Here's his MY PRESIDENT WILL BE... video...enjoy it...I certainly did...

Did you notice?

Somebody said, My President will be...A CHEESEHEAD!

ROFLMAO......

Hidden Message?

I sort of chuckled at this post from Bill at Portland Maine over at Kos this morning.





He's quoting from a book called Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey. There are some great quotes from it but this one tops my list of favorites:





The future of civilization: I hope if dogs ever take over the world, and they choose a king, they don't just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with some good ideas.





Chihuahuas with good ideas? Now which one of the Democratic Candidates for President could he be talking about? Hmmmmmmm let me see.....

What I consider amusing is how many of my fellow liberals/progressives have said to me "You know, I LIKE what Dennis is saying, I just wish he wasn't so Insert your own here: unelectable/short/idealistic/vocal."

There is also a small, inside-the-family joke here....in our household we have admired Dennis' persistence and have occasionally referred to him as a "little ankle-biter who just refuses to go away." He is. And he won't go away.

QUOTE OF THE DAY...ACTUALLY CENTURY!

Thanks to Melisam for forwarding this quote....

From Taegan Goddard's Political Wire -

"A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne're-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida. The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work."--

Ronald Reagan in his recently published diaries, May 17, 1986

More on All Politics, all the time.

That just happens to be the title of the relevant post by Josh Micah Marshall in Talking Points Memo, but it sheds even more light on the M. O. of the Bush Administration under Karl Rove.

This TPM post focuses more on the possible violations of The Hatch Act than other posts. (*Link to Wiki for your convenience)

I have had to enforce Hatch Act Provisions in my career and the Compliance Officers to whom I reported were so strict, so ethical that I can't imagine how anybody could violate those provisions so wanton....but apparently they did...here is a snippet or a few....

With a few details we haven't seen before, the Post explained that Rove
established an "asset deployment" team in the White House early in Bush's first
term that was responsible for coordinating official announcements,
high-visibility administration trips, and declarations of federal grants based
on Republican congressional candidates in need of a boost.

and quoted from "The Washington Post" front page article.....

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel and the House Government Reform and
Oversight Committee are investigating whether any of the meetings violated the
Hatch Act, which prohibits government employees from using federal resources for election activities. They also want to know whether any Bush appointees
pressured government for favorable actions such as grants to help GOP electoral
chances.

"What we are seeing is the tip of a whole effort to make the
federal government a subsidiary of the Republican Party. It was all politics,
all the time," Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the oversight
committee, said last week.

For those of you who have not worked in Government before, this kind of
information is breathtaking. Over the years, our governments at all levels have
passed laws and regulations to keep Government resources from being used to
benefit individual political careers, or, the benefit of a single political
party. Those provisions have been, at best, bypassed, and quite possibly openly
ignored by the Bush Machine.

Add comments if you like....I may riff on it over at "the other blog" in a bit...

scribe....

So they finally get it.....

Remember when Paul O'Neill left the White House and wrote his book, "The Price of Loyalty"? He said, among other things, that he never saw a "white paper" in the Bush Whitehouse....that is there were no debates about policy (usually expressed in a "White Paper") ...all discussions ...about taxes...about national defense...about war and peace...all issues were discussed in terms of "politics"....specifically whether they would help or hinder in creating what Karl Rove was beginning to term "a permanent Republican majority"

So why should John Avarosis over at Americablog be surprised about this?

sniP

Karl Rove made the rounds of the Sunday shows. Basically the same old spin and blatant lies from Bush's brain. More interesting was McCain's analysis of Rove, which he made on "Face the Nation":

Senator John McCain of Arizona, a Republican presidential candidate who followed Mr. Rove on “Face the Nation,” said that history would decide whether Mr. Rove had been “good or bad for American politics,” and that the assessment would depend largely on the outcome of the Iraq war.

Get that? The judgment of Rove's role in politics depends on Iraq. That's because Rove was key to Bush's Iraq strategy. And, that's because for Bush, Iraq has been all about politics and public relations. McCain confirmed it today -- and he should know. The Senator from Arizona fully supports the Bush/Rove "stay the course" in Iraq strategy.

So they finally, after four years they understand that there isn't any genius involved in the Bush/Rove administration....it's all about politics and ....fund raising...

oopsies!

The caption showed up but not the picture....

anyway...here's Bill....

Oh yeah....and here's two of the best Democrats I've ever met....Norm and Loretta!

Picnic Pictures

Good to see you all again...here are some nice pictures...


Bill "holds court".....while Shirley looks on....














Dede, Gary, Shirley and "the Harley Man"










Dean and his undisputable "better half" (nice to finally meet you!)













"Call me anything but late for dinner...."












Lois and Dede seach for the "green stuff".

Heh Heh Heh

good one.....

PICNIC!!!!

Just a quick reminder about the Monthly meeting tomorrow night....In Chair Dave Wille's very own words:

Here's the agenda for the August meeting on Thursday. As a reminder, it is a picnic meeting at Pittsville Riverside Park. Next month we return to Legion Hall. See you Thursday.

The picnic starts at 5:30.

The agenda:

I. Secretary’s report (Dede)
II. Treasurer’s report (Deane)
III. Chairman’s report (Dave)
IV. Special reports (Elected officials and their reps)
V. Committee reports (chairs)
A. Standing committees
B. Ad hoc committee
1. Parade review and fair preview (Norm)
2. Brochure (Dede)
VI. Fathers rights issue developments (Carole)
VII. Other issues???
VIII. Solve all of the world’s problems in 120 seconds (Two minutes by anyone, on anything)
Our September Meeting will be at the Legion Hall in Pittsville.

Sooooooooooooooo who's bringing the "green stuff"? Can't have a picnic in Wisconsin unless somebody brings the "green stuff".

And yes, I'm ranting over here again....

http://mwprogressive.blogspot.com/

More on those (liberal) Hawks

Atrios does a fine job of documenting the before and after justifications for the war in Iraq by some allegedly "liberal" pundits, think-tankers and bloggers....and then wraps them up in a nice, neat package with a bow on it...

Here's the whole post...

And here's my favorite quote:

They wanted war. They'd constructed a little world in which that made sense, and most weren't above invoking the specter of weapons of mass destruction, which reasonable people consider a "threat," directly or indirectly. They may not have being saying "we must invade Iraq before Saddam nukes us!" but they were certainly invoking those weapons. And the rubes heard them loud and clear.

There are a couple of points that deeply disturb me....

first, from the pre-war justifications of these authors and the post-war rationalizations, it becomes absolutely clear that they are either suffering from mass amnesia or they knew...let me rephrase that...they ABSOLUTELY KNEW that their pre-war arguments were BULLSHIT. If the latter is true then the dishonest manipulation of the public (that would be us "rubes" out in the hinterlands) is nothing short of criminal.

I think it IS CRIMINAL.

The second point is the one Christy and Jane have been hammering away on for a couple of months now. There is a group of "insider" pundits (the "Dean" of which is David Broder) who believe it is their responsibility to support the status quo at any cost and convince the rest of the nation that they are out of step. This media elite is equally responsible for dragging us into Iraq.

a couple of

P.Ss

Atrios post was NOT about KKKarl Rove...thank god.

The Monthly meeting is going to be a PICNIC IN THE PARK on the 16th....I'll post more tomorrow.

Today is going to get hectic so I probably won't have time to post much more today.

GONG ...XPOST...GONG

Shameless self-promoting cross-posting....

I should be ashamed.....

really

I should

but click here anyway..

Get Yer (Right Wing) Talking Points right Here!

Roger Simon believes in Gay rights...and a few other "liberal" causes...as far as the gang over at Pajamas media is concerned, this makes him a Liberal too....so it's no doubt they crow loudly when such an avowed liberal picks up on their theme, riffs on it, and makes it his own.Our friend Glenn Greenwald introduces us to one such (alleged) liberal writer today....

First, a snippet from Simon's post:

I never cease to be amazed –- and perhaps it is my own myopia – that my former colleagues on the Left can be blind to this situation. They act as if the threat is not real and is only a blip caused by a post 9/11 overreaction by George Bush, thus ignoring virtually all of Western history since the year 800, not to mention the overwhelming demographic changes of recent decades. (John Edwards –- interestingly an opponent of gay marriage -- recently called the "War on Terror" a bumper sticker. At least, he’s consistent.).

The theme is, of course, Liberals (and Democrats in particular) don't take the GWOT (republicanese for GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR) seriously.

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like.....victory"

Glenn has a few "choice comments" on that meme:

Every now and then, it is worth noting that substantial portions of the right-wing political movement in the United States -- the Pajamas Media/right-wing-blogosphere/Fox News/Michelle Malkin/Rush-Limbaugh-listener strain -- actually believe that Islamists are going to take over the U.S. and impose sharia law on all of us. And then we will have to be Muslims and "our women" will be forced into burkas and there will be no more music or gay bars or churches or blogs. This is an actual fear that they have -- not a theoretical fear but one that is pressing, urgent, at the forefront of their worldview.

snippet

They actually think this is going to happen ("read Zawahiri's speeches about the Plan for Caliphate!!") and believe that we must do everything in our power -- without limits -- to stop it. And there are a lot of them who think this. In recommending this essay, the most-read right-wing blogger today described it as: "ROGER SIMON has thoughts on gay marriage and the War on Terror."

The rest of the post is quite interesting...go see for yourself.... here's the linky-thing

"...hast thou slain the jaberwock, my Son?"

"Oh frabjous day!

Calooo

Calaaa"

From Jaberwoky, by Robert Lewis Stevenson

In case you haven't heard, KKKarl Rove has resigned and will leave the White House at the end of this month...

Speculation is running rampant.....and so is the rumor mill as to why satan...er...ah...Rove chose this particular time and means to leave office....

I'm guessing that several well-funded Republican Presidential Nominee Candidates are beating a path for his door even as we speak.

The Jaberwok has not been slain....he's just moved to another cave....

Good thoughts from Atrios

If you get a chance to bop on over to Eschaton today, please do so...although I can't resist quoting him for your enjoyment.

As has been the case for some many things these
past years the choices were never "nothing" or "Pony plan." The choices were
always "nothing" or "George Bush's plan." The failure to comprehend that simple
fact has prevented members of our very serious crowd of pundits from listening
to or admitting to the validity of criticism of so many things. Years later,
opponents of the Iraq invasion are almost entirely absent from our mainstream
our discourse even though they were the ones who were pointing out what was
going wrong in real time even as the Weekly Standard cheerleaders were simply
telling us that hope was a plan and that clapping louder was the best thing we
could do.



For years it's been a verbal tic of many Iraq
war opponents to assert "I supported the war in Afghanistan..." as a necessary
prophylactic to charges of "unserious peacenik dirty fucking hippie!" The
question is dangling, however... "should you have?" At the very least, shouldn't
you have tried to open the door to critics who were less than supportive, not
because they hate America, but because they were concerned that George Bush
would fuck the whole thing up? Because it was hard to imagine that they'd
actually go in and rebuild the place?

A lot of the denizens of Left Blogsylvania are speaking the (openly) the truths that most of us have felt since 2002, 2003 and maybe even earlier....It's good to hear these things and maybe if enough people hear them we will reach some kind of public "critical mass" and make REAL CHANGE happen..

Have a good Sunday...

Ride 'em (existentialist) Cowboy!!

WoooooHooooo!

That's the kind of talk I like to see coming out of Democrats...the truth...with all it's warts and uglies...being spoken plainly and directly....Here's a snippet from our good friend (or at least he SHOULD be our good friend) THE EXISTENTIALIST COWBOY!

Some quick notes: Barack Obama is the most shallow, non-descript, boring politician to ever come down the pike --an intellectual lightweight whose soul has been coached out of him by media consultants. In Barack Obama, I find the vacuous echoes of Ronald Reagan, a previous lightweight who had mastered the art of reading buzzwords off a cue card. My skin crawls.

SNIP....

More quick notes: I wish John Edwards were uglier. Hillary Clinton is damaged goods. Ron Paul, still a Republican, has many more scales to shed before he can change his repitil..uh...Republican skin.

God help us --the only intelligent politician in the field is Dennis Kucinich who has only a snow ball's chance in hell of ever becoming President. It's our loss. Watching Democrats is akin to medieval debate about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

God help us is right....

I am sick to death of being given hand-picked choices from the media and being told to pick any one of them because "they're all good"...in other words it doesn't make any difference which one you pick because they're virtually ALL ALIKE!

The Cowboy also tells us something that should be perfectly obvious to all of us Democrats but apparently nobody dares speak it.....does this sound familiar to you?

Political rhetoric is just more of the same when, in fact, nothing is the same. How could the Democrats have missed the sea change that has taken place, the fundamental challenges to Constitutional government? What are the implications? Simply, the Bush junta has challenged not only the Constitution but almost 1,000 years of progress. Principles mouthed by Bush simply fly in the face of the Magna Carta, the English Petition of Right, the Mayflower Compact, The Virginia Declaration of Rights, The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and the Bill of Rights, The Nuremberg Principles, and every US Supreme Court decision that has upheld the right of persons to be free of arbitary rule, to be secure in their homes, to be free of unreasonable arrest in the absence of probable cause that a crime has been committed.

I'm telling you...this is important stuff and maybe it's time to take a stand...on principles if nothing else...

You should probably make the Cowboy's site a regular stop...he's sometimes pretty "deep" but that's the kind of thinking we need these days!

Potpouri

I'll get back to the State-wide politics in a second but I' ve wrapped up my summary of the trip here

Amy Sue had a piece in today's Marshfield News-Herald about the proposed Cable Franchising bill.....and in that article I think she gives away her stance on the Governor's proposed State-Wide Smoking ban....read it here...tell me what you think...When I was in Madison on 7/25 she was still undecided.

I suppose we should be getting ready for the County/State Fair. Anybody signing up to work yet? Who has the sign-up sheet?

Things seem to be pretty quiet right now....got anything you want to argue about?

The Democratic Candidates Debate(s)....personally I think it's a bit EARLY to even be doing this...

Just for fun....I'm posting a picture of me, the food nazi and our favorite State Senator, Julie Lassa.

I'm baaaaaaaaacccccckkkkkk!

Got back from the "Sunshine State" yesterday and went into committee meetings immediately...

More meetings this afternoon...gonna be busy, busy, busy...

I know we think it's hot up here right now but compared to the 104 degree heat index yesterday and the 110 degree heat index today in Tallahassee, Florida, this is heaven.

The trip home was very smooth...we were apparently among the luckier passengers on "that" airline who weren't delayed or cancelled coming out of Atlanta yesterday...

I'll catch up on things over the next few days or so...in the meantime....

:Hail to thee our Alma Mater....

(note: singers RUN in my family.....as fast as they can)

on edit: I should be ashamed to admit this but I never knew the founder of Florida State University was the GRANDSON OF THOMAS JEFFERSON! Here's a statute of Francis Wayles Epps on Westcott Square...

More later....

Liquid sunshine....

I'm looking out of my hotel room window in the fables "sunshine state" (with free high speed wifi no less) and notice that the sunshine seems to come in liquid form too.....matter of fact, it's coming down in buckets....

Yesterday turned out to be a 21 hour long ordeal for us....a great deal of it was spent in an airport terminal watching three....that's right, count 'em....THREE connecting flights to our destination get cancelled by an airline that simple doesn't care.....we ended up getting "diverted" (another term of art which airlines like to use) to an airport 100 miles from our destination and being "shuttled" to our destination.

Our 2 PM arrival ended up being midnight....and then finding food was like foraging in a desert...but we found it....

more later....

d