Blog roundup

I haven't done one of these in a long time....

The truth is, I found so much good stuff on the blogs this morning I couldn't decide what to share with you. So here are a few of my favorites:

On Bush’s press conference yesterday, the Rude one writes:

No matter how many times his plans have failed, you have to give his latest Iraq plan a chance to work. It's sort of like having your mom insist that you hire your just-released-from-prison pyromaniac brother to work in your fireworks factory. See, just because he burned down three houses and two giant warehouses doesn't mean he'll do it again. Give him a chance.

The Rude Pundit
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

So now because there is more danger in Afghanistan, somehow it’s NATO’S responsibility..as Kos writes:

Bush screws up Afghanistan by turning his attention to Iraq when we had the Taliban, Osama Bin Laden, and Al Qaida on the run. Now, five years later, having screwed up not just Iraq, but also a war we should've won relatively easily years ago, Bush is demanding that other NATO countries bail him out.

Kos
http://www.dailykos.com/

This is sort of neat. It's the headline from this morning's New York Times and for the first time, in a long time, they got it just about right! The article does a great job on the live blogging that was done by Jane Hamser, Jerylyn Merrit, Marcy Wheeler, Swopa,and Christy Hardin Smith at the Libby trial. It rightly pointed out how professional these bloggers were; how knowledgeable they were and how they added credibility to the whole proceeding. I need to add my congratulations to Jane and the whole firedoglake crew for the incredible job they've done at the Libby trial AND their podcasts from Plame House. By the way, by clicking on the link you can see the Politics TV blogcast from Plame House

For Liberal Bloggers, Libby Trial Is Fun and Fodder

Congratulations to Jane Hamsher and her merry team of bloggers at firedoglake both for the stellar work they've done on the Libby trial and also for making the front page of the New York Times. And the headline describes perfectly what blogging is about:

and

One final thing about that headline. Jane, and by extension, our larger patch of the blogosphere has been - will wonders never cease? - accurately described. We are liberal bloggers, and the Times knows this, resisting the use of a more prejudicial and inaccurate adjective with the same number of letters that would please the rightwingers (can u guess what it is?). While the Times, disgracefully, still permits its reporters to take dictation from Bush and print it as reporting, this is a refreshing, and hopeful sign. It wasn't too long ago that the Times, under Raines, would provide creationists free advertising on their front page. It's not much of a step forward to describe Jane as a liberal blogger and not, inaccurately, as a _____, but it is a step.

Tristero on Digby’s
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/

Tbogg had a link to a story that involved both Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Miller, but the link to the Miller part of the article didn't work so I won' inflict it here......

Then my favorite over at Last Chance Democracy Cafe, it's "Ask Winston day". And somebody writes in this:

Am I wrong to be terrified about what Bush may do in Iran? I just can’t get over the thought that if he decides he wants to bomb there, no power on earth will be able to stop him. And everyone with any expertise at all on the subject seems to agree that attacking Iran would prove to be a disaster for our country.

to which Winston answers (in part):

Without a doubt, the next two years are going to be among the most dangerous in the history of the republic. We have a president who worships the aggressive use of military force as devoutly as Bill O’Reilly worships the sound of his own voice. War has become both a sacrament to him and the ultimate proof of his manhood. And as with many true believers, he seems incapable of hearing any music except that coming from his own choir.


Letters to Winston at
http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com/blog/

and who is Winston?
http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com/?page_id=8

and scroll down….

Enjoy....there's a lot to read there.....

Zippedy Do Da!

The first cut of the Web site is up...

You can visit the site here...

I'm screaming at the top of my lungs....

A couple of other Bloggers (actually prominent bloggers) have been rightfully outraged over the media attention to the kerfluffle (for lack of a better term) over Edwards hiring two bloggers who, in the past, had used foul language in their blog posts, and, one of which, was critical of the Catholic Church and their respective policies on birth control, abortion and condoms.

Keith Olbermann took on a piece of it earlier this week by naming William Donahue as at least the Worser person in the world in his nightly Worse, Worser, Worst Person in the World Segment by noting that Donahue had used similar ...er....intemperate ... (yeah, right) language in describing "Hollywood" in the very recent past.

Digby and Attaturk had riffed on the "double standard" of excoriating Liberal Blogger and columnists while giving Conservative Bloggers and Columnists a pass. I'm going to add to this....

Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory (which has moved up to Salon) gets into the most egregious example to date. He cites Frank Gaffney's column in today's Washington Times (owned by the Moonies no less)

Frank Gaffney, one of the country's most influential and well-connected neoconservatives, has a column in today's Washington Times in which he argues that the debate taking place in Congress over the war in Iraq constitutes treason. Gaffney specifically argues that the condemnations of Douglas Feith from Sen. Rockefeller "really should be a hanging offense."

Gaffney begins his column by purporting to quote Abraham Lincoln. Gaffney claims that Lincoln said:
Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged.

But this quote is completely invented. Lincoln never said it. This "quote" was first attributed to Lincoln by J. Michael Waller in Insight Magazine, in a 2003 article revealingly entitled: Democrats Usher in an Age of Treason. But as Waller himself now admits, the quote attributed to Lincoln is completely fraudulent. Waller wrote in an e-mail to FactCheck.org (h/t William Wolfrum):

The supposed quote in question is not a quote at all, and I never intended it to be construed as one. It was my lead sentence in the article that a copy editor mistakenly turned into a quote by incorrectly inserting quotation marks.

Of course, that doesn't stop Gaffney from building an entire column around the quote and using it to suggest that Congressmen who dare debate this issue on the floor of the House of Representatives are guilty of TREASON.

Here's what steams me:

Aside from Glenn's excellent article, nobody else is talking about this, especially in that lofty realm we sometimes refer to as The MainStream Media (MSM).

We don't see Chris Matthews talking about it. We don't see him breathlessly (I think he does everything "breathlessly") pounding on Gaffney saying, "Is DISSENT TREASON? Yes or No?....Yes or No?"

We certainly don't see the Bill O'Reilly (isn't he supposed to be the one "Watching out for you?) wagging his finger or putting Gaffney "on notice" for his anti-American article.

We don't see anybody taking them to task for inventing a quote for Lincoln...

Instead we're letting them get away with fomenting hatred and dissent and galvanizing intolerance for any opinion other than their own.

This is ridiculous...................

Back to the "grown-up" stuff.

If you're an avid follower of most of the blogs of the Kingdom of Left Blogsylvania, then you know that Time's Joe Klein is not one of our most favored persons. First, he wrote that terrible hit piece on the Clintons called Primary Colors, and then, as a frequent talking head on Network and Cable news shows, he claims to be a "liberal" or Democrat and then proceeds to bash the living crap out of us, often reinforcing or fueling the fires of Republican talking points.

Most recently, Mr Klein has taken on the folk of Left Blogsylvania as his cause celeb...he has been extremely critical of us for our "anger" and our "incivility". (Hmmmm "anger and incivility"? Weren't those two key elements of the Republican campaigns in 04?)

But Joe Klein has seen the light....

As TRex over at firedoglake writes so beautifully:

Klein:As a newcomer to this blogging business, I've been interested in the Edwards dust-up. As readers know, I've been critical of the tone of the left-wing blogosphere in the past.

TRex: We understand that, Joe. It's because we hate America and all. But we're willing to look past that long enough for you to impart this critical knowledge that you have recently obtained, oh bold and intrepid purveyor of truthiness:

Klein: But I think that Yglesias raises an important point here and anyone reading the comments section of any Swampland post knows that troglyditic right-wing cavedwellers fester there, in a vomitously vile manner, too.

TRex: What? There are brainless attack-morons on the Right? You don't say!

And then, Klein discovers Marconi's fabulous invention: RADIO!

Klein: And I'd add this: Radio. I was driving into Springfield, Ill last night for the Obama festivities and caught the ever-vile Sean Hannity "interviewing" the even-more-vile Dick Morris about Hillary. Just disgraceful…and they were mild compared to the crap I've heard from Rush and others over the years.

No Kidding, Joe!

I'll let you read the whole article for yourself but there is an important point to be made here. Later in the article Klein points out several reasons why Democrats are angry....not just angry, FURIOUS! JUSTIFIABLY FURIOUS...here are his three reasons:


Klein:It's also a product of the times: There's a whole generation of people who believe that serious political discourse consists of Pat Buchanan and Eleanor Clift screaming at each other. The intemperance on the left has three other sources
(1) justifiable fury over the Bush administration

TRex: Yes!

Klein: (2) justifiable fury over the way the media treated Clinton and, to a certain extent, Bush

TRex: Yes, yes!

Klein: and (3) ideologues of any sort tend to be obnoxious.

Finally Klein "gets it"....Democrats are outraged over the obnoxious, heavy-handed and downright mean treatment they have received from the right wing for the past twenty years.

AND

WE ARE JUSTIFIABLY PISSED....because we've been lied into an unnecessary war, had habeus corpus taken away, been spied on, let torture take place and had our patriotism questioned.

I think a little INCIVILITY IS IN ORDER HERE!

Ow! that's gonna leave a scar!

In good news though....

Congratulations to THE DIXIE CHICKS.....if not for their music alone, then at least for their perserverance and just plain guts!

No, I didn't forget.....

Sometimes I get engrossed in some of the Nationally prominent issues and forget about our own, State-wide issues and our STATE ELECTED OFFICIALS.... Well, here they are:

Senator Julie Lassa

Assembly Person Marlin Schneider

Assembly person Amy Sue Vruwink

Honestly...I'm working on it...

I'm still working on our website....it's a matter of time AND learning curve...I spent about three hours on it this afternoon...it's coming along...

trust me....