The Progressive Blog Alliance HQ

From P!: So. If you believe and trust the "polls", which I don't, the Democratic Party might take control of the House and has some sort of shot at the Senate. Do not, however, ever, ever, ever underestimate the je ne sais quois of the Repugnicant Rover. I haven't been watching the gubernatorial "contests" and never have been sure what they mean (having lived in Massachusetts with the likes of John Volpe, Ed King, and Mikey Dukakis, and in California with Jerry Brown).

I live in bright red state and neither Senator is up for re-election. My congressman is a middle of the road classic white liberal running against an absolute idiot who also happens to be black.

The November Surprise predicted in the title will be little, if any, surprise at all: the colors of the graphic may change from red to blue in some states, but there will be absolutely no other change. None. Nada. Ne Rien Pas. Nyet.

The black forces, eager to hide the pea under a different shell for awhile, have simply shifted the flow of money. The bucks are no longer funding Republican neoconservatives . . . now they're buying Democratic neoconservatives. The wars will not end. The march to war against other countries will not drop a step. The gap between rich and poor will not narrow. Tax breaks for the rich will not be repealed. Powerful people in Washington and in the churches will continue to put their hands where they shouldn't: in all sorts of forbidden cookie jars, not to mention chemical stashes.

That The Prince of Darkness has repudiated Bush's invasion of Iraq (implementing The prince's policies), that the military media is calling for Rummy's head (or whatever) mean nuttin' hunny.

The MSM has been given permission to refocus the sheep. "24" may not have another season; "Law and Order" may shrink down to "SVU" and "CCP" (Corporate Creep Patrol).

During VietNam, Country Joe sang, "What are fightin' for?" And now I wail, "What are we votin' for?" . . . [more at P!]

From P!:

Oh how I've agonized and remonstrated, wailed and gnashed, shook my poor, tired rhetorical finger in your faceless mugs. If I were to lay awake at night obsessorating (sorry, George) about something, that something would be the dreaded "third party" monster lurking behind the closet door or under the futon.

I actually don't toss and turn about it, but Pliva, Astze, and Wyeth are responsible for that, rather than any left-handed, enlightened political leaders. Um, so maybe they should be our third party? Well, since they and their pharma phriends already own a sizable stable of both elephants and donkies, that ho won't stroll. Sigh.

I'm not, of course, a learned political analyst, 'though I do play one here, so I'm not going to forward a complex and formidable theory as to why we remain stuck, at least at the presidential and congressional level, with just the Dumbocrats and Repugnantcans. Nor will I even mention the argument that these are not really two, but actually only one entity. God forbid. There are really only two factors: stupidity and laziness. How else to explain the Left's reliance on "reforming" the Blue Party through Howard "The Scream" Dean? If you look in the dictionary for the definition of "boondoggle" you get a pic of "Wowie" Howie hiding under a desk with the Illuminati symbol on it. 'Course, this is what the Dumbs have always done best . . . identify and espouse the least effective option, then shoot absolutely everyone involved with it. But I digress. Or do I? [more at P!]

9-11 changed me. 9-11 changed all of us, but 9-11 didn't change everything. Five years later everything that was wrong with the world then is still wrong with the world today-- governments still plan the destruction of other governments, young men and women still die so a greedy few can take what they want, children world over are still starving, AIDs, Malaria, and other infectious diseases still kill millions, endangered species are still endangered, the environment continues to suffer, and entire populations are still duped into believing that God by whatever name they choose to call God, commands us to destroy any who call God by any other name. And the politicians on the left and the right are still fattening themselves at the expense of children that have yet to be born. Fact is: 9-11 didn't change much at all except for the fact that scared Americans became bigger fools than we already were.

The right wing argument might be that it is better to be safe than sorry. Ordinarily I would agree with that statement, however there is something else I like to take into account and it is called the bigger picture. Right wingers, are not without their own bigger picture, but sadly it rarely reaches beyond their own self-interests and preservation of a rather narrowly focused status-quo.

I watch as many people who identify with this group swallow lies whole and glory in their dutifulness to authority in doing so.

In their most private thoughts do they ever question their allegiance? Do their leaders’ cries of wolf always work on them? Or do they accept the economy of truth as a necessary evil? I wonder if one ever really feels safe with a ruthless master. Who knows? I guess only they do.

But what if Bush saying Boo is not enough anymore for the rest of us?

I know I am but what are you.

It’s a playground classic. Accuse your adversary of the very thing you are guilty of.

Fascism is fascism is fascism no matter where it comes from or how it is wrapped. The unbounded greed of corporate America, invading the world one economy at a time. The Christian fundamentalist breaking down the separation of church and state. The Islamic jihadist blowing themselves and others up for Allah. They all want the same thing.

Power.

The power to control the lives and resources of others for their own benefit.

In America we have called it:

Indian Reservations. Slavery. Immanent Domain. Spreading democracy. National Security. The War on Terror. Foreign policy.

Roy Edroso pointed out that Peggy Noonan hurled the worst possible insult she can at Shrub:

"This week's column is a question, a brief one addressed with honest curiosity to Republicans. It is: When George W. Bush first came on the scene in 2000, did you understand him to be a liberal in terms of spending?"

Wash your mouth out with soap Crazy Jesus Lady. This is the classic move Digby describes (sorry don't have the link) where the conservatives lavish praise on their leaders' conservative principles, until those leaders clearly shit the bed, then they call them liberals. So we have had the loons over at the Corner start to jump ship about the Iraq war and now CJL from the WSJ is bailing on the economic policy. I said back in December that it felt like the elite powers were starting to turn on Bush the lesser. Now we are seeing a steady stream of the conservative noise makers stating that this or that aspect of the president is problematic. We will see a continued increase in this noise as they start paint GW as the monkey he is (should be easy as they don't acually have to make anything up, the truth will suffice), and they will start to groom the white knight to replace him (McCain, Clinton?). Whoever it is, one thing you can be certain of, s/he will be no friend of anyone but the corporations.

Cross posted at Really Small Fish

Crossposted at tannishblog....
In Buddhist teachings on learns that we only have the present moment. this eternal dot in time, as it were, is always with us. The future is but a dream, the past is gone. All there is, is now. In light of this thought, it seems that now is the correct time to widen the ideological devide in this country by pressing on with fudamentalist views on one of our nations hottest topics: abortion. Indeed, now is all we have.Now, South Dakota throws the gauntlet down and attempts to wrest state control of women's wombs from the women themselves. Now, we get to test the mettle of the right-leaning supreme court as politics get up close and personal.

In late September of last year, I came upon a post by Cernig (An Argument for a Coalition of the Left) in which he argues for some an American political movement, using Poland's Solidarity Union as a template. Over the next several days, he further fleshed out the concept (Dinosaur Democrats; American Solidarity - Time To Stand Up). Suffice it to say, I rather liked the idea (and expanded on some of my initial thoughts near the end of the first week of October). Other bloggers around the same time really dug the idea: Comments from Left Field, Shakespeare's Sister, P!, etc. We have an American Solidarity blogroll that weighs in at about a dozen bloggers from that initial spark. Not exactly huge, but memes take time to spread.

It's time to get very serious, folks. I humbly submit the following. I encourage you to send it to anyone and everyone you can think of, friend or foe alike. You may distribute it at will. I don't care if you refer to P!. You may turn it into a petition, if you like. You may, if you wish, "sign" it here by leaving a comment. Suggestions for additions or amendments are gratefully accepted. Be at peace. ..................................

I/we, the undersigned, pledge to support in any and all public elections, only candidates who pledge to hold unwaiveringly to the following positions if elected:

• the United States government shall immediately withdraw all troops from the sovereign State of Iraq and shall transfer its military bases and assets to the Iraqi people;
• the United States government shall renounce any and all present and future military actions in and/or against all foreign countries, especially including Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and Bolivia;
• the United States government will transfer all prisoners currently held in military or military-affiliated captivity to criminal courts either in their own countries or in the United States, to be tried in fair and open trials with adequate defense;
• the United States government will renounce forever the use of nuclear weapons and/or other weapons of mass destruction, unilaterally destroying any and all such weapons in its possession and/or under its influence;
• the United States government and other state and local governments in the United States, will legally protect the rights of all persons to autonomy and self-determination with respect to reproduction and sexual/social partnership;
• the United States government and state and local governments shall implement immediately and continuously methods and programs to redistribute wealth among its citizens, so that there shall be no more than a 10% gap between its wealthiest and poorest citizens. These methods and programs must include full, free access to quality health care, public education, and social welfare programs;
• the United States government, foremost the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, will prohibit any and all financial contributions by both private and public entities to the campaigns, offices, or persons of any candidates for public office, while providing equal financial support to all candidates for the office of the President, Senate, or House through public taxes. No candidate shall be allowed to use personal funds in a campaign for any elected office. All candidates must be afforded absolutely equal time and resources to present their views on national, regional, and local media;
• the United States government, specifically the Executive branch, will create a Department of Peace and Reconciliation at the Cabinet level, which shall work to establish effective, non-violent, non-military avenues to world peace;
• the United States government and state and local governments will make laws to significantly restrict the personal ownership of all firearms; these goverments will also make laws to prohibit the creation and existence of private military/security entities operating either within the domestic borders or in foreign countries;
• the United States government will significantly open itself to the critical scrutiny of all of its citizens, curtailing the use of its secrecy apparati and submitting all planned domestic and foreign policies and actions to public scrutiny.

Originally posted at P!

[Ghost of Adam S]	Welcome to the Thursday Morning meeting of Imperialists Anonymous. My name is Adam and I am an Imperialist.
[All]	Hello Adam.
[Ghost of Adam S]	Will somebody be so kind as to read "Who"?
[Ghost of Winston C]	My name is Winston and I am an Imperialist.
[All]	Hello Winston.
[Ghost of Winston C]	Who is an Imperialist? Most of us do not have to think twice about this question, we know! Our whole life and thinking was centred in domination in one form or another: the getting and using of resources and finding ways and means to monopolise more. We lived to dominate and dominated to live.

For reasons of possible copyright infringement, we'll leave this meeting of IA, but it continues here.

War Against Conservativism

Let us see then if we cannot in fact eff the ineffable ~ Douglas Adams RIP

Disreputable Lazy Aliens

Prepare to enter The Liberal Zone with Modem Butterfly and Carnival of the Liberals #5. Modem Butterfly deserves a lot of recognition for putting together an outstanding edition of the blogosphere's only liberal blog carnival.

So, the Disillusioned kid points up another of Dubya's (oxy)moronicisms:

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."

This whilst addressing the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, check it. Orwellian certainly, but i'm no longer surprised by the neo-cons contempt for the possibility of accountability.

What never ceases to amaze me though is how he gets away with spouting such utterly transparent rhetoric. This time he even refered to how it's done: education. As if his meaning of indoctrination wasn't plain enough, he then told us clearly how it will be reinforced: "faith groups" "educating" poor Americans about home ownership.

What do we call a system of beliefs which has millions of adherents, it's own meta-language, proscribed behaviour, ritual, seeks to spread it's influence at the expense of other belief structures, often causing war, and maintains it's tenets in the face of evidence to the contrary?

Religion, right?

1. I am the The Holy Market, who bringeth thee out of bondage. No form of interaction shalt thou haveth outside me. Nor Virtuous shalt thou considereth anything not for Sale, neither anything which Falsely preventeth Holy Sale.
2. Thou shalt associateth not the name of The Holy Market with disaster: for The Holy Market shalt holdeth him guilty who denigrateth Its Holy Name.
3. Observeth the Sabbath day, to keepeth it Holy, as The Holy Market commandeth thee. Six days shalt most of thee Labour, and do all Work thine; but the seventh day a Sabbath is to The Holy Market whenst must thou spendeth thy Surplus in Worship of The Holy Market.
4. Honoreth thy Father and thy Mother, as The Holy Market commandeth thee; that thy Business may be Profitable and thy Righteousness prolonged in Children thine.
5. Thou shalt not Murder thy Customers.
6. Neither shalt thou Adultery committeth; an Abomination it is the Holy Commerce of Marriage to undermineth.
7. Stealing shalt thou not be caught at.
8. Nor discovered in False Witness without Holy Profit shalt thou be.
9. Neither shalt thou ceaseth thy Neighbour's Estate to coveteth.
10. In all things shalt thou planeth, plotteth, schemeth and, failing these Holy Trinity Three, worketh the Goods of the World to Own, in accordance with The Holy Market.

The very first edition of the new year of the blogosphere's only liberal blog carnival is up at Science and Politics! coturnix has posted CotL early so you can get a jump on some of the best liberal blogging to be found on the web.

Grindstaff Chronicles

Rich and poor sitting at the same table? Over their collective dead bodies, say the republicans. The poor deserve an empty table, because it's their own fault for being poor, and the rich deserve to be even richer.

Read the entire Grindstaff Chronicles Newsletter.

Grindstaff Chronicles

"He Has Committed Every Crime That Does Not Require Courage"
Well, maybe we just ought to work through the night instead of gathering to talk about the putrescent acts committed, now, on a daily basis by this criminally irresponsible government, or what passes for a government. Notwithstanding our desire to avoid unpleasant subjects, we know that sometimes, if the Gods favor us, We The People can raise enough of a ruckus to make a difference, so, doggedly, we continue to exchange ideas and share them with you in hopes of turning course.

Tonight Liz and Schuyler prepared our cocktails. The alcoholic drink for tonight was a Green Dragon, made with Stolichnaya vodka and Chartreuse, and served with the caveat: drink it slowly, or go lie down. For others who didn't want an alcoholic cocktail, Schuyler made a pitcher of Scarlet Ladies.

Crossposted from The Republic of T.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Conservatives/Republicans think that the poor — even those who find themselves in the path of a hurricane, with no escape — generally deserve whatever they get. Most conservaties won’t come right out and say it. Some will express a thinly veiled contempt for the poor (working or not), but only a handful will come close to saying "good on ‘em" and "maybe it’ll learn ‘em something."

Say what you will about George Lakoff and his theories. He’s dead on about this one. These folks equate wealth and well-being (basically being middle class and up) with virtue. Quite simply, if you have the right values, you will have enough wealth to provide for your well-being, and that of your family; perhaps more. If you don’t, then you won’t. It’s really that simple.

What’s Right about Nebraska: How the Democrats Lost the Heartland of American Populism

This article is both old and fresh—especially, given the fact that the Democrats attempted (but miserably failed) to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in Ohio in the special congressional election (August, 2005). We used to do that when I played football . . . underdogs by 5 TDs and we only lost by a field goal—hey, we actually won—given the fact our loss was an embarrassment to the other team, right? So, gleefully the Dems. jump on the Dean bandwagon of interpolation and witness a sea change in the American body politic—that’s like saying we went to Iraq to spread democracy and freedom. Frankly, when Dr. Dean wakes up, after just missing the ferry (nice jump, though), the Dems. will do another revisionism of history and we’ll take a deep breath, sigh of relief, as the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Mothers vs. Fathers

I was listening to a political analysis on the radio yesterday and one of the speakers offered another analogy of the Left vs. Right political conflict our country faces today. The speaker told us that the Right represents paternal family values while the left represents maternal family values. So, both parties actually do represent family values, but the radical right would have you believe that the only family values worth anything were paternal family values.

Of course this whole analogy depends on your vision of what paternal and maternal family values are anyway. Traditionally paternal family values have been associated with creating rules and enforcing them. The father should preach the need to follow the rules and insist on pointing out the reward for following the rules. Traditional maternal family values are more nurturing. The mother should recognize when someone in the family has problems and assist them to get them back up to speed.

The use of testimonials is probably one the most overt and therefore one of the easiest propaganda tools to identify. The use of a testimonial is a way a propagandist builds credibility for his message. A testimonial tries to attach the emotional component of a trusted life figure to build creditability and acceptance for the non-logical, non-intuitive messages of propaganda. Trusted life figures are religious leaders, entertainment celebrities, sports stars and high profile social or political leaders. A trusted life figure has a high degree of emotionally based credibility that adds a powerful component to the propagandist's message. The GOP and current administration's propaganda machine use testimonials on both the national and local level with calculated precision. They are particularly effective in their use of fundamentalist religious leaders in combination with single-issue, fear orientated propaganda messages. The use of testimonials was instrumental in the vast mobilization of the Christian Right in the last election. Many a devout Christian was told by their pastors or their church elders that a vote for the Democrats was a vote for gay marriage or abortion. The Karl Rove propaganda machine had to only produce the tailored messages of deception, which were then repeated hundreds of times in churches across American.