I started Liberal Angst: the blog. I'd been sitting on the site for eight months trying to figure out what to do with it. I tried coding entries/articles myself and that was too time consuming. I'd left it pretty much untouched, when suddenly I came across a few websites that inspired me to try out this weblog stuff, in particular Daily Kos and Talk Left. Since that time I've made two other blogs:

Primary04, following the democratic primary from late December up through the end of March. This blog also served as the central tool of a class I took on Presidential primaries and documented our trips to New Hampshire during the campaigning.

Codswallop is my newly minted personal blog which is still in the development stages. I haven't worked out what I'm going to do with Codswallop exactly, but given that it took Liberal Angst so long to get off the ground, I'm sure it will find it's niche sooner or later.

I've also had two friends start up their own blogs and I'd like to think I had a little somthing to do with getting them interested. A-manda.net and allbutdelusional.net are fine additions to the blogging world and I'm proud of both of them.

Thanks to anyone and everyone that's read my blog, be it regularly or by accident. This has been a great investment and I hope to continue for a long time to come.

Here's the entry from that first day. It's funny how much attitudes change.

I'm really getting fed up with Zell Miller. First he came out for Bush and took criticism of his own party to whole new level. Then he wrote his book, A National Party No More. I'm not posting a link. If you want to buy it, you'll have to look it up for yourself. Did he ever caucus with the Republicans? He might as well. Anyway, now he's speaking at the Republican Convention, and get this...he's the keynote. Give me a break. If you love George W. Bush so much, why don't you marry him? Oh wait, if you have your way, that marriage would be unconsitutional.

I love the Gadflyer. It's easily one of my favorite webzines. A lot of sites are just too dense to even begin to read all the material. The Gadflyer has a bevy of interesting articles and commentaries in a format that you can actually get through. Anyway, I meant to post this link yesterday and didn't get around to it. One of my favorite points for discussion is the rise of conservative groups on college campuses and the ridiculous amounts of support they receive from off-campus organizations. The right has been waging a war on campuses to recruit the next generation of ideological henchmen a la Hannity and Coulter. Well, Joshua Holland has written up a well-done article about the trend and warns us to get in the game before they win the battle and sabotage higher education in the process. If you have a minute, the article is worth a look.

Who would have thought I'd be posting a link to Sports Illustrated on Liberal Angst? Kos ran across this article from SI today. Bush is using images of the Iraq and Afghanistan soccer teams from this year's Olympics, more or less taking credit for their ability to compete. There may be a grain of truth to it, but the Iraqi soccer team is not gung-ho about being used as props for Bush's re-election campaign.

It must be tough running for re-election when no one wants to be associated with you, not even the people that you claim to have "liberated."

I said just the other day that THE question was going to be flat out whether or not John Kerry would have sent troops into Iraq. Bush is hammering at Kerry on the campaign trail. In his flailing attempts to draw a distinction on decisiveness, he's inadvertantly shooting himself in the foot by actually drawing attention to his own thoughtlessness and stubborness. Sure, he makes split-second decisions, but given that he does so with little to no real consideration of the circumstances, his refusal to reconsider leaves us in a precarious situation. Being decisive is only a virtue when those decisions are often the right ones. Running headlong into a conflict requires careful aforethough. I'm gonna quote Elvis folks: "Only fools rush in."

I said that Kerry should make that point and emphatically state that Iraq was a mistake. No more tiptoeing around it. Well, Kos posted that Rep. Doug Bereuter (a Nebraska republican no less) has already figured that out. Today he publically apologized to his district for voting to give Bush the authority to go to war, calling it a "mistake." Here's the story from the Omaha World Herald. The big quotes floating around the net today from the story:

Bereuter was not some do-nothing congressman, but rather in a position to be one of the most well-informed members prior to the war. He was a senior member of the House International Relations Committee and vice chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Bush often criticizes Kerry for voting for the war, stating that Kerry was well-informed. This is already getting picked up by the big dailies and maybe network news tonight or tomorrow? I wonder who's making the midnight run for Maalox at the White House tonight?

If you want to thank and congratulate the Congressman on his bold and forthright announcement, here is his contact info: Who knows, if he gets a warm reception, maybe others will be emboldened to speak out. If Bush appears to be sinking, you can bet there will be some major repositioning going on in the GOP and everyone will want to be ahead of the curve.

The Honorable Doug Beureter
2184 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2701
(202) 225-4806
http://www.house.gov/bereuter/

I just can't resist this little tid-bit. U.S. Senator Jim Bunning from my beloved homestate of Kentucky has asked for additional security when he visits Paducah tomorrow. Apparently the Senate Seargent-at-Arms sent out a memo that al-Qaida may be targeting members of congress. Now I'm not saying that it's ludicrous to think that al-Qaida would attack Bunning in Paducah...no wait, I am saying that. First of all, Bunning has to be one of the least known and least effective Senators and second, Paducah?!

I love this response from Bunning's opponent:

Paducah will not be reimbursed for the cost. Perhaps it is necessary, but with targets like Majority Leaders, Whips, and other high-profile members (Kennedy, Clinton, Schumer, Corzine, Feinstein, anyone else you can name) I find it hard to believe that Bunning is in grave danger. Better safe than sorry you say? Have you ever been to Paducah? No jets fly into Paducah, and believe me, silent men of middle-eastern decent would stand out. We've heard over and over that al-Qaida doesn't like to mess around. They like grand, catastrophic attacks. I'm sure an attack on Bunning by al-Qaida would get headlines, but so would an al-Qaida attack on me, or anyone else. This sounds like self-aggrandizement to me.

Don't be so sure. Paul Krugman (whose unofficial archive will get a link on here this week if I don't forget it for the umpteenth time) has a column out today in the NYT called Save the Vote warning us about more shadiness coming to a Floridian precinct near you. In addition to creating another list of felons (that again turned out to be disproportionately filled with african-americans who actually may vote), the electronic voting machines may quell chad-counting, but probably not the controversy. Independent analysts who "examined the programming code are appalled at the security flaws." This time we won't have any pesky paper trail to argue over, only results from electronic voting machines whose producer has vowed to do everything in his power to re-elect Bush.

Krugman also mentions this piece from Bob Herbert about Florida Law Enforcement interrogating leaders of african-american voting leagues under the funny-smelling auspices of fraud investigation.

Heaven help us all. If it's another all-night nail-biter in Florida and we wind up with the president of Diebold and Jeb Bush assuring that yes, George W. did infact win Florida....well, I'm moving to Canada. Ok, not really, but I will be severely depressed.

I'm ordering a copy of Outfoxed, the film from Moveon.org after a mighty fine recommendation from the mad dissertator. I'm a big fan of the documentary in general, but one lampooning the ever-aggravating Fox network gets a special nod of curiosity. It happens that there are a number of documentaries making their way into theaters and homes this year. The Political Animal, Kevin Drum, thinks this may be our answer to talk radio. I hope we don't overdo it, but this is a good way to strike back against the propaganda coming out of the "fair and balanced" (gag) network.
Drum points out some other films coming down the pike. Many of these have been on my radar for a while now, but I'll also pass along the links.

• Bush's Brain
  
• The Hunting of the President
  
• Control Room
  
• Uncovered: The War on Iraq
  
• The Corporation
  

All of these movies deservea look, but I'm especially excited about The Corporation and The Hunting of the President.

According to a Reuter's piece, analysts predict that the response to Hurricane Charley could make a difference in the November elections. If aid arrives quickly and efficiently then it could be a boon to Bush, but if FEMA drags its feet, then Bush would be a good target. Guess SW Florida had better brace itself. First it endured a hurricane, but now a flood cash will be on the way if this is true. Bush has to hold Florida, and he'll make sure the hurricane aftermath is handled, and if it does not go well? It will be the FEMA director's fault of course!

I hope the hurricane victims get all the assistance possible, but whoa...Florida is completely divided, and this could really make a difference. Seriously, wouldn't it just plainly suck if after attacking affirmative action, women's reproductive rights, gltbt people, misleading us into a war, bungling the hunt for bin Laden, and losing the most jobs since Herbert Hoover, it could all come down to FEMA's response to a hurricane in southern Florida?