herding cats

The right wing's media advantage is strengthened by the fact that they know how to stay on message. We on the left unfortunately have the tendency to eat our own. Many are masters of making the perfect the enemy of the good. From the internecine food fights between Randi Rhodes and Ed Schultz (progressive talk radio hosts) to the blue blogosphere where it's more important to be right than to defeat the right, left wing media has been clipping its own wings.

Moore Eats Wolf

Michael Moore gave a hard hitting interview today on CNN's The Situation Room.

"[Michael Moore's] more of a left wing promoter than Hugo Chavez for crying out loud" Lou Dobbs, July 8, 2007

Edwards Cut

John Edwards Cut Short by Hair Stylist

Unbelievable! It looks like the media had decided to make John Edwards' hairdo his albatros. No doubt the right wing noise machine has spun the spurned stylist's story into this perfect storm in a tea cup. Edwards now has his macaca moment and he won't be able to shake it.

By keeping the Libby cover-up scandal on the front burner until even the corporate media can no longer deny the groundswell of opposition to this band of thieves occupying the White House, Thom Hartmann and other progressive media types are helping We the People snatch justice out of the claws of injustice. The sooner we experience regime change, the sooner we can end our senseless and costly occupation in Iraq and make true and lasting progress on the great issues of the day here at Home. Any and every time Libby or Cheney or Bush is mentioned, words like treason and traitor must be part of the conversation. And always ask the question, why are the Republicans covering up these criminals.

Impeachment Enigma

wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in mystery...

Let me get this straight... After the revelations that the Bush administration was in violation of the US Constitution by conducting warrantless wiretapping on Americans, a group of citizens sought remedy in the courts. After a judge (who must have paid attention during Civics 101) struck down the illegal program, the fight went on to the federal court of appeals where 2 of the 3 judges ruled the litigants had "no legal standing" to challenge the veracity of the charges since they could not prove in advance they were the actual targets of the government espionage. With the case thus dismissed, the original order demanding the halt to this domestic spying has been lifted and the government is again "free" to break the law.

If the People can no longer rely on the judiciary, it will be up to Congress to rectify this injustice and that means impeachment! Friends, checks and balances still can work. If this People's House and Senate won't do the right thing then we may have to change the leadership of the Legislative branch even as we bring regime change to the White House.

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Fourth Ammendment, US Constitution

Scooter Skates

Should Scooter toot? You must commute!

Bush and Cheney are on the mats, and we need to use events like the Libby get-out-of-jail-free card to keep punching the administration while it's down. Moments like this can become iconic. It's frustrating though that the Dems in the past have let such opportunities slip through their fingers. The Repubs have taken the Chicago strategy of "vote early and vote often" and twisted it into a message of mass destruction. They know how to use their media to stay on message: "Kerry flip flop" "Slick Willy". Every day since Bush taunted the terrorists with "Bring'em on" that quote should have been played over and over followed by the daily casualty count (DoD Confirmation List).

Immigration Dead

They are reporting that immigration reform is dead until after the '08 election. Do you really want to wait until 2009 to begin the next attempt to resolve this issue? What's especially psychotic is the breakdown of the votes. The Senate is essentially equally divided if not tilted slightly in favor of the GOP when you count Sen. Bernie Sanders (Socialist from Vermont) among the Democrats and toss Joe "the Schmo" Lieberman in with the Republicans. With Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) sidelined since December with a brain hemorrhage, he does not vote and so the GOP benefits from a 50-49 advantage.

The immigration bill needed three fifths of the Senate (60 votes) to proceed. It didn't even get a simple majority (43 yea, 56 nay). This is being reported as a defeat for Bush, who supported gittin'er done with the immigration bill. He was joined by a majority of the Democrats however, including such stars as Clinton, Kennedy, Kerry, Obama and Oregon's own Ron Wyden. A majority of the Senate Republicans (including Gordon Smith, R-OR) however opposed the bill and they were joined by several significant Dems including the "Dean" of the Senate, Bob Byrd and rising star freshmen Jon Tester (D-MT) and Jim Webb (D-VA), not to mention the Socialist, Sanders. (Lieberman voted not surprisingly with Bush).

Is your head spinning yet?

Reasons for supporting or rejecting the legislation are as varied and contradictory as the Senators casting their votes. Many championed the "comprehensive" nature of the bill, filled with everything for money for border fences and a crackdown on illegal employers. Though no senator would admit it, some oppose a wall because it would dry up the cheap labor enjoyed by their corporate donors. It is also possible that some equate border security with xenophobia. Certainly there are doughy eyed "give me your huddled masses" Dems in the rank and file (or is it forest and meadow) who oppose any restrictions on immigration and anything resembling a wall.

The bill also set forth a pathway to citizenship for millions of presently undocumented workers as well as a program for "guest workers." These were poison pills for many on both sides of the isle. Most Republicans consider it "amnesty" to grant citizenship to any illegal immigrant, despite the fees/fines imposed and English language requirements. Many liberals consider a guest worker program a formula for eternal second class citizenship. (In fact, it makes no provision for citizenship at all) and therefore believe that the bill wouldn't end the current exploitation of the estimated 12 million undocumented workers in the US.

Coultergeist

Several years ago, i coined the following nickname for Ann Coulter, right wing spokesmodel:

"that cynical hairy chested cunt"

Mostly, i just wanted to insult her. I still do.

Some background... It's long been Ann "the man" Coulter's stock and trade to make her money by vilifying all left of center politicians and all who support them. In the '04 presidential campaign Ms. Ann O. Rexia accused John Edwards of using his son's death to score political points, writing in her column that Edwards had bumper stickers with the message: "Ask me about my son's death in a horrific car accident." In recent months, she called Edwards a "faggot". Now that her newest diatribe has gone into paperback, she's doing the talk show circuit. This week, she tried to make light of her hyperbolic bile on Good Morning America:

"I've learned my lesson. If I have anything to say about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish that he had been killed in a terrorist attack."

There's a saying in journalism, if it bleeds - it leads... so it's no wonder this walking vaginal discharge is being pandered to by the media. Chris Matthews had the Coultergeist yesterday on Hardball as his invited guest for the entire hour. What nobody expected was the live phone call from Elizabeth Edwards, wife of the presidential candidate and mother to Wade Edwards who died in a car accident. Watch the video!