Keith Olbermann, whose sin is being on MSNBC, delivered a biting commentary last night on President Bush's Friday Rose Garden press conference. Watching it last night I was held in quiet awe of the force with which Olbermann delivered his comments.
I love Keith Olbermann. Now if only he were on the network and not its shoddy cable companion.
From Crooks and Liars: Bush Owes Nation An Apology
Best part: quoting this from Jefferson...
"Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government…"
September 19, 2006
September 12, 2006
Breaking News... (?)
On this morning's Lanigan and Malone show, talk show host Montel Williams (pictured below) announced his intention to run for governor of Maryland.
Stay tuned for edits...
September 11, 2006
11 September 2001 - 11 September 2006
There have been very few good things to result from the events of 11 September. We've gone from being a society with little cares to one being obsessed with security. Political polarization has increased; politicians suck more than ever. Ideology stands in the face of practicality and pragmatism. For those of you who don't remember what it is, pragmatism used to be this little thing called the middle ground. Republicans have moved to the right and used security as justification. Democrats have been lame with their thumbs up their asses, not providing any reasonable alternative to the awful, awful ideas that the wingnuts have spewn.
And why am I a Democrat?
Who knows, but I digress...
One good thing is that we discovered, if only for a brief moment, something within ourselves that made us take pause. We re-evaluated our lives... and then most allowed themselves to be taken up in the mindless flag-waving jingoism that followed. Suddenly it became a competition to see who was most patriotic. And it was because I didn't wear my country on my sleeve that I was deemed to be unpatriotic. Forget that every day I pledged allegiance to my country. Forget that my heart was always in the spirit of the country every single moment leading up to 11 September. Forget that I didn't threaten to move to Canada following that bumbling election of 2000. Forget that when I was in 3rd and 4th grade, singing the national anthem moved me to tears.
Forget all that.
No, just call me unpatriotic because I was mad that our flag, our country, being (ab)used. Call me unpatriotic because W's response to the tragedy was to tell us to keep the economy moving: go out and buy stuff. Call me unpatriotic, hell unAmerican, for being angry that companies then used the flag to appeal to people and make it seem patriotic to buy their goods! GOD BLESS AMERICA! BUY GOODS FROM ME! (Made in China.)
It was disgusting and it still is.
So here we are: the Republicans in power took the opportunity to make some good and punted it. Schenked the punt pretty badly, too. In the name of fighting terrorism, we've since gone on a rampaging war of errors. Afghanistan wasn't secured; Iraq... oy. Wonderful that Saddam is out... but what does that do when he was the glue that held that country together? It seems a mess.
But I don't know... it was a very sad day. It took that stone cold hard sobering to knock us out of our complacent "everything is fine with the status quo" mindset. A lot of maturation occurred on that day. As a nation, we all saw evil in its most base form... but something we never did was bother to understand the evil. Our government and myriad people chose to ignore it... decided to blame everything and everyone who stood in their way of opening up a crate of whomp-ass.
Maybe now, five years removed, we can learn something. My hope is there.
My doubts are stronger.
-rsl
And why am I a Democrat?
Who knows, but I digress...
One good thing is that we discovered, if only for a brief moment, something within ourselves that made us take pause. We re-evaluated our lives... and then most allowed themselves to be taken up in the mindless flag-waving jingoism that followed. Suddenly it became a competition to see who was most patriotic. And it was because I didn't wear my country on my sleeve that I was deemed to be unpatriotic. Forget that every day I pledged allegiance to my country. Forget that my heart was always in the spirit of the country every single moment leading up to 11 September. Forget that I didn't threaten to move to Canada following that bumbling election of 2000. Forget that when I was in 3rd and 4th grade, singing the national anthem moved me to tears.
Forget all that.
No, just call me unpatriotic because I was mad that our flag, our country, being (ab)used. Call me unpatriotic because W's response to the tragedy was to tell us to keep the economy moving: go out and buy stuff. Call me unpatriotic, hell unAmerican, for being angry that companies then used the flag to appeal to people and make it seem patriotic to buy their goods! GOD BLESS AMERICA! BUY GOODS FROM ME! (Made in China.)
It was disgusting and it still is.
So here we are: the Republicans in power took the opportunity to make some good and punted it. Schenked the punt pretty badly, too. In the name of fighting terrorism, we've since gone on a rampaging war of errors. Afghanistan wasn't secured; Iraq... oy. Wonderful that Saddam is out... but what does that do when he was the glue that held that country together? It seems a mess.
But I don't know... it was a very sad day. It took that stone cold hard sobering to knock us out of our complacent "everything is fine with the status quo" mindset. A lot of maturation occurred on that day. As a nation, we all saw evil in its most base form... but something we never did was bother to understand the evil. Our government and myriad people chose to ignore it... decided to blame everything and everyone who stood in their way of opening up a crate of whomp-ass.
Maybe now, five years removed, we can learn something. My hope is there.
My doubts are stronger.
-rsl
September 6, 2006
Facebook = teh suck (redux)
NOTE: If you've been living under a stone, in a cave or at the site of a nuclear holocaust, your ignorance in the following matter is excusable... otherwise, well, um... no.
This might be the 2nd post I've done on Facebook on the blog, but I don't recall. Facebook is a networking site, not too much unlike MySpace, that is/was mainly geared towards college students. (I tossed the is/was in there for a specific reason: Facebook opened membership to high school students earlier this year.) On Facebook one can do a variety of "social" activities: list friends (not unlike the MySpace concept), join groups, send out invites to parties, "poke" friends, et cetera.
Yesterday morning, Facebook reached a totally new level of creepy (yes, perhaps beyond MySpace): introduced were quasi-RSS feeds from "friends" to appear on a user's main page. Obviously in this case RSS stands for "Really Stalkerish Syndication" as one can now keep tabs on anything a Facebook friend does, has done or plans to do.
These purported improvements have already generated a massive backlash, with Facebook groups against the new design appearing quickly. Time will tell (probably by the end of the week) whether or not Facebook developers will listen. Internet gods willing, they just might.
-rl
This might be the 2nd post I've done on Facebook on the blog, but I don't recall. Facebook is a networking site, not too much unlike MySpace, that is/was mainly geared towards college students. (I tossed the is/was in there for a specific reason: Facebook opened membership to high school students earlier this year.) On Facebook one can do a variety of "social" activities: list friends (not unlike the MySpace concept), join groups, send out invites to parties, "poke" friends, et cetera.
Yesterday morning, Facebook reached a totally new level of creepy (yes, perhaps beyond MySpace): introduced were quasi-RSS feeds from "friends" to appear on a user's main page. Obviously in this case RSS stands for "Really Stalkerish Syndication" as one can now keep tabs on anything a Facebook friend does, has done or plans to do.
These purported improvements have already generated a massive backlash, with Facebook groups against the new design appearing quickly. Time will tell (probably by the end of the week) whether or not Facebook developers will listen. Internet gods willing, they just might.
-rl
September 1, 2006
Polls: Ohio Senate - Brown (D) up 6% on DeWine (R)
A poll released by USAToday/Gallup shows Democratic US Senate candidate Sherrod Brown up 6% on incumbent Mike DeWine among likely voters. That lead is only two percent when the question is limited to registered voters.
Among likely voters:
BROWN: 46%
DEWINE: 40%
Undecided: 14%
Unfortunately, the crosstabs are not up on the site.
Ted Strickland (D) currently continues to thump Ken Blackwell (R) - leading in the poll among likely voters by 16%. No word on registered voters.
And a question: which is the larger sample: registered voters or likely voters? I pose the question because simply being registered to vote does not necessarily make you any more likely to vote. I'm not sure which numbers should be taken with more credence because of my relative greenness to this entire poll-parsing thing.
So... with that said...
Is anybody looking to hire a fresh, young progressive who wants to make Ohio turn blue (but not in the face)? Contact me at ryanneedsajob@i'monlykidding(kinda).com.
Er, yeah.
-rl
Among likely voters:
BROWN: 46%
DEWINE: 40%
Undecided: 14%
Unfortunately, the crosstabs are not up on the site.
Ted Strickland (D) currently continues to thump Ken Blackwell (R) - leading in the poll among likely voters by 16%. No word on registered voters.
And a question: which is the larger sample: registered voters or likely voters? I pose the question because simply being registered to vote does not necessarily make you any more likely to vote. I'm not sure which numbers should be taken with more credence because of my relative greenness to this entire poll-parsing thing.
So... with that said...
Is anybody looking to hire a fresh, young progressive who wants to make Ohio turn blue (but not in the face)? Contact me at ryanneedsajob@i'monlykidding(kinda).com.
Er, yeah.
-rl
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