Hope from "the Cafe'"

Yeah.....

Steven Day does it again.....fills me with unbelieveable sadness and, remarkably, simultaneously, hope.....

Here's the Latest episode of The Last Chance Democracy Cafe'

and a snippet or two....

Has there ever been another monument in all of human history so perfect? So fitting to the historical setting? The long black wall, staggeringly beautiful in its simplicity, with the names of over 58,000 American martyrs chiseled into the granite: all are equal regardless of rank, each name spelled out with the same five-inch-high letters. High ranking officers and the lowest ranking privates, all standing witness together.

58,000 stories, each one screaming out to be heard: 58,000 potentially bright futures forever lost. Oh, my God. The awful silence: all the books never written, the children’s voices never heard and the joys never expressed. The waste. The lies. The unspeakable betrayal.

snip

Today, of course, we face another great betrayal. And a new progressive grassroots political movement, this time built to a significant degree around the Internet, is blowing across the land, as public anger over Iraq keeps growing stronger. Meanwhile, “respectable” Beltway opinion stands baffled by the forces at play.

The opportunity for fundamental change, not only in ending this miserable war, but in building a more just society is considerable, but far from inevitable. It will take hard work, but also patience. It will take toughness, but the smart sort of tough that doesn’t offend people just for the sheer joy of offending them.

read it all....but here's a hint.....bring tissue....

Cuppa Coffee and a few grins...

Mostly courtesy of DU, but funny nonetheless....

This quote on a thread:

response #11 by tecelote: When evolution is outlawed......only outlaws will evolve!

You know, I kinda think that would make a good bumper sticker.

On the death of Marcel Marceau.

Marcel Marceau has died

response #1 by The Straight Story: His silence has been silenced RIP

response #2 by MethuenProgressive: .......................................................................

response #4 by lateo: A moment of silence please

response #6 by gratuitous: And his last words were . . . .

response #8 by spirit of wine: Will he be buried in a glass coffin? just to keep on with his theme.

response #11 by SeattleVet: I understand he went quietly. It is unknown at this time if there were any final gestures. Please join us in a moment of noise in his memory!

response #18 by soothsayer: You don't say?

On a thread about a survey taken of NASCAR drivers....

NASCAR Drivers: 59 % Republican, 0 % Democratic...

I'm not saying that we should like/dislike a sport because of its participants political leanings. But it's quite hard for me to care about a sport where no driver will admit, in a private survey, to being a Democrat...

response #4 by GreatCaesarsGhost: republicans like going around in circles really fast and getting nowhere.

response #22 by Lastlaughin08: They call it the "Iraq 500" - except the finish line keeps moving away

response #35 by The Gunslinger: But they sure turn left a lot............ .................. ...... nt

Thanks to JeffR for his weekly DUzy Awards....they're hilarious!

rofl

If there's anything that captures the.....the....ahem ...DEPTH of the intellectual foundation of the Republican party.....THIS has to be it.....Republican Presidential hopeful Fred Thompson and "Larry the Cable Guy"....two bastions of intellectual power....

Thanks to our buddy, Attaturk for this....and the appropriate caption:

giterdumb!

A dreaded Xpost

Hi everybody....

As those of you who know my activities locally are aware...it's been BUSY! for a week or two...but at least or efforts didn't go up in smoke...pun intended....

Next week will be worse because I will be in Madison on Monday and then in Milwaukee for (practically) the rest of the week....I'll be at a convention hobnobing with my fellow wizards and warlocks....and...and....lets just leave it there.

Here's the dreaded Xpost:

http://mwprogressive.blogspot.com/

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT

Military parlance, of course and to make it more obvious (and bring it squarely into the world of Left Blogsylvania), try this:

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

It comes from this article in Mother Jones Magazine by Ted Genoways....here's a snippet that causes you to ponder: "Do I laugh or cry?"

At least Chayes can claim to have been misled; no such justification can be offered in defense of Fox News, according to a stunning new book, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (forthcoming from University of Chicago Press in November), by Iraq war photographer and reporter Ashley Gilbertson. Gilbertson describes how he and another reporter were nearly blown to pieces by an errant Air Force bomb in northern Iraq in the late days of the American invasion. They finally withdrew from the front because, as Gilbertson himself concedes, "The risk was too high, the payoff too low." And yet when he returned to his hotel in Erbil, he switched on the television and found Fox's correspondent "crouching in front of sandbags, wearing a flak jacket and a helmet. He was supposedly on the front lines, reporting via a scratchy video phone. He had to whisper, he said." But as Gilbertson studied the screen, he could discern, over the correspondent's shoulder and above the sandbags, the "distinctive architecture of our hotel." Fox's man in the field was reporting live from a foxhole he had built in his hotel room. The outraged Gilbertson dialed the correspondent's in-house phone and then hung up, allowing just enough time to send a single ring over the airwaves

We don't demand nearly enough from our "journalists", do we?

Click the linky-thing and read the whole article.

Best Democrats I ever met...

I couldn't be at the meeting last night because of other commitments.

Generally, that's no big deal but last night it was.

It was because I missed a tribute paid by the local party to two of the best Democrats I've ever met...

Norm and Loretta Tritz

Norm and Loretta were responsible for getting me active in the local party organization and I will be forever grateful to them for making sure that I got involved.

The truly special thing about Norm and Loretta is how QUIET they are. They do tons of actual work for the party and for local candidates but they are never in the limelight themselves. They're never "out front" but always in the background doing whatever organizing needs to be done.

Do you think that the Democratic Party Float just magically appears? Do you think the organization of the booth for the State Fair just happens automatically? Where do you think the tickets come from?

That's all because of Norm and Loretta and most of us don't even see them (well, we DO see Norm pulling the float behind his truck) most of the time.

I'm so happy the party decided to recognize these two outstanding Democrats last night...I understand that there was a plaque...there were flowers...and a personally autographed book by Dave Obey.....I have personal knowledge that Norm and Loretta have been big boosters of our favorite Congresscritter for many, many years. Among those saying Thanks to Norm and Loretta were Assemblyman Marlin Schneider, Senator Julie Lassa, Chairman Dave Willie and the whole party.....

Loretta....Norm...I'm so sorry I couldn't be there last night to say THANK YOU! along with everybody else....but please know that it is my distinct pleasure to know you and count you among my most admired friends.

Love.

Ed

...about cooperating with Republicans....

it's not smart....

it's not even politically expedient...

it's dumb...

here's what Scarecrow at firedoglake has to say about yesterday' MoveOn vote in the Senate:

The 22 Democrats who betrayed their party and its supporters by voting to condemn MoveOn probably thought voting for a Republican stunt would shield them from further Republican smears. For the umpteenth time, they were wrong.

Their delusions were shattered again when President Bush used his bullying pulpit to smear the entire “Democrat” party, claiming most of them are “more afraid of irritating a left-wing group like Moveon.org . . . than they are of irritating the United States military.”

and....

Had enough, Senators? You were set up, again. As Jane keeps explaining, never support Republican talking points or attacks on Democratic allies. Never. And just in case you’ve forgotten what’s important here, I left a few reminders.

I keep telling our local officials that compromising with the Republicans on their issues is, just exactly as Newt Gingrich called it, DATE RAPE!