An Inconvenient Truth

I drove to Stevens Point with a friend today and saw An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's movie on global warming. This is a powerful film and a must see. I can't guarantee that viewers will be entertained, but all will be totally convinced through graphs, charts, Al's photos and other evidence from his travels to both poles and places in betweeen that global warming is a fact which must be faced and dealt with if we and generations after us hope to survive. The movie is at the Campus Cinema through July 13 (or maybe longer) with presentations at 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, and 9:00 p.m. daily.

Friday Open Thread

Just opening up a thread in case anybody wants to rip on anything (or anybody)....

Some interesting happenings:

Both New York State and Georgia Supreme Courts have rendered rulings opposed to Gay Marriage....some call these setbacks....

The Lieberman/Lamont debate went down last night and has some fascinating overtones...(e.g. Lieberman used "Reaganesque tactics"....."there you go again...")

Marshfield News-Herald coverage of the Pittsville 4th of July Parade was....pathetic? If you can find a more demeaning term feel free to use it....
Don't forget to check in with the AirAmerica club site...Joe Roppe is making changes and updating the site every day. I think this is going to be a good movement. I listened to our local radio station this morning and was completely disgusted with the amateurish, juvenile bantering that was taking place (this particular program was broadcast simultaneously to both Rapids and Marshfield). Sometime after noon today, that same station will "treat" us to Bill O'Reilly and then, in quick succession, Sean Hannity....http://www.progressivetalkstevenspoint.com/ ....it's time to make a change.....

Just a short musing......I've always had this fantasy..(NO! not THAT KIND OF FANTASY) of being wealthy enough to purchase my dream machine....and while surfing the web last night I found it....here it is.... 235mph cruise, 3-axis autopilot, six seats, weather radar, GPS...It's a 1962 model but still none better......

As the song from Fiddler on the Roof asks, "..would it spoil some vast, eternal plan, if I were a wealthy man?"



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Ct Bloggers don't take any prisoners

For those of you who didn't see this.... Connecticut Bloggers put a float in a local 4th of July Parade to rip on Joe Lieberman. This is a paper-mache' replica of George W. Bush's famous kiss of Lieberman after the State of the Union address in 2005. The float went on to say "Just Married" and sported tin cans tied to the back of the float.

Here's a link to the video at http://www.firedoglake.com/page/2/

You'll enjoy it.....

just a note: In the video there is a woman walking with two dogs....that happens to be the famous Jane Hamser, founder of firedoglake.com.

I wonder if in the Pittsville 4th of July Parade, there should be a CENTRAL WISCONSIN BLOGGERS float next year? hmmmmmmm..........that could be interesting.......

Over on Democratic Underground.com there was a great post on The Sons of Liberty who organized to fight the "Stamp Act" and contributed to starting the revolution. In that same thread, there are also some fascinating posts about women of the Revolutionary war....maybe The Daughters of Liberty . Quite frankly, I knew about "Molly Pitcher" but not about so many others who are cited in the thread....here's the linky-thing:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/mikelewis/24

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on edit: DON'T FORGET TO KEEP CHECKING BACK AT http://www.progressivetalkstevenspoint.com/ to see what progress is being made on getting AIR AMERICA IN CENTRAL WISCONSIN

Second Update: I know this is "nasty" but rumor has it that one of our favorite AirAmerica Hostesses, Randi Rhodes, has nicknamed the North Korean Missiles as RUSH LIMBUAGH MISSILES....why?

warning, warning warning

Punchline ahead!

Because it only stayed "up" for 45 Seconds!

for all you Lakoff fans.....

http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/research/lakoff/occupation

It is time to tell an inconvenient truth about Iraq: it is an occupation, not a war. In wars, armies fight to dominate land. The US won the war three years ago when Bush said, “Mission Accomplished”. Then the occupation started, and our troops were not trained or equipped for an occupation under predictably hostile circumstances. Finally getting the courage to tell the truth that the US is an occupying force drastically changes the picture in Iraq. You cannot “win” an occupation. “Cut and run” does not apply to an occupation. Occupiers have to leave; the only question is when and how. Progressive Democrats agree that it should be soon; they only disagree on details. Political courage is called for. Truth now!

then, of course there is the Republican framing of the issue....

There is a war against evil that must be fought. Fighting requires courage and bravery. Those fully committed to the cause are brave. Those who "cut and run" are motivated by self-interest; they are only interested in saving their own skins, not in the moral cause. They are cowards. And since those fighting for the cause need all the support they can get, anyone who decides to “cut and run” endangers both the moral cause and the lives of those brave people who are fighting for it. Those who have courage and conviction should stand and fight.

Be sure to read the whole article to understand how to escape the frame trap and also to avoid "self-interest" framing.....

Lakoff is giving some good advice. I read Lakoff's book, Don't Think about the elephant!, TWICE. On the second reading I noticed that his points and his doctrine of framing was a technique to be used but something to dwell upon.

To be perfectly honest, I haven't integrated framing into my rhetorical portfolio yet but I'm working on it.

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Lakoff post....lost to Blogger errors...

I'll try again....after this test.....

It's been bothering me...

for a couple of days now....

Almost everywhere I look, the 4th of July is all about "Celebrating the troops"...the Pittsville parade today..the theme was, "The Home of the Free Because of the Brave" Would someone like to tell me WHEN this happened? When did we quit celebrating our independence and turn this into another Memorial Day?

and then there's tonight....we'll be seeing fireworks displays on tv and also live ..."bombs bursting in-air" to martial music...a pseudo celebration of war? When the pyro-technic ground display lights up a flaming replica of the flag, will the spectators chant "US-A, US-A, US-A"?

Personally I'd prefer to celebrate the day learning of the struggles of Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin in shaping their vision of freedom. But if it must be a "martial" celebration, I think Kurt Vonnegut had it right...(by way of THE RUDE PUNDIT)

"I do not mean to be ungrateful for the fine, martial show we are about to see – and a thrilling show it really will be…"He looked each of us in the eye, and then he commented very softly, throwing it away, "And hooray I say for thrilling shows.

"We had to strain our ears to hear what Minton said next."But if today is really in honor of a hundred children murdered in war," he said, "is today a day for a thrilling show?

"The answer is yes, on one condition: that we, the celebrants are working consciously and tirelessly to reduce the stupidity and viciousness of ourselves and all mankind


Thank you Rude Pundit....that actually made my 4th of July

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on edit: the above picture is actually of Ft Sumter during the Civil War but I thought it was a pretty patriotic picture of what lengths men have gone through to "preserve the Union"....enjoy

Air America in Central Wisconsin?

It could become a reality.

Just last week the first meeting of the Central Wisconsin Air America Club took place in Stevens Point and a core group was formed to help bring Progressive talk radio to our area. It is an off-shoot from the effort going forward in Milwaukee right now which is being led by our old buddy "Classwarrior" from the DU boards. Locally it is being organized by long-time central Wisconsin radio personality , Joe Roppe. The format will include normal Air America Programming PLUS LOCAL PROGRAMMING FOR PROGRESSIVES IN CENTRAL WISCONSIN.

The business plan is pretty straight forward, the founders of AAR will purchase stations as they become available in the target areas BUT THERE MUST BE LOCAL OWNERSHIP ALSO! To accomplish this, they're utilizing the "buy a pixel" technique that has worked on the web before. Here's how it works.

On the website http://www.progressivetalkstevenspoint.com/, there will be a pixel page. (It's not completed yet.) Each pixel is worth $1.00 but to get a link to an ad (good for two years ) for your organization or county party web site or ....whatever...you need to buy a 10 x 10 block for $100.00. All the money from pixel purchase will be made by paypal and go directly to the broadcasting company...there will be no local treasurer involved. This is the identical business plan being utilized in Milwaukee.

There will be events scheduled over the summer and fall to promote the "pixel site" and I'll keep you informed as things go along.

(pssssst.....the juiciest rumor on the local radio front is that a broker representing "unknown parties" has already made inquiries in Point, Rapids and Marshfield.....)

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