A simple white phalaenopsis (moth orchid) from the show last week at the US Botanic Garden, right next to the US Capitol building. Simple, but lovely.
That's it. Enjoy.
JOHN Read More......
Friday, January 27, 2006
Friday Orchid Blogging
A simple white phalaenopsis (moth orchid) from the show last week at the US Botanic Garden, right next to the US Capitol building. Simple, but lovely.
That's it. Enjoy.
JOHN Read More......
Just found out I'm going to Amsterdam (woo woo)
Three days ago I got offered a trip to Amsterdam from the Dutch Tourism Agency. The Dutch were very excited to organize a first-ever trip of bloggers (they invite journalists all the time, but have never invited bloggers). But as it was their trip, I didn't want to scoop them on it by telling you guys on Tuesday. Well, today they told the public about it, so today I'm telling you about it.
Basically, the trip is really an in-kind blog ad buy - they get a month-long ad on the blog (the ones in the right column), and they pay for the ad with a trip instead of cash (the trip is actually valued at much less than the one month cost of the ad on this site). But still, I'd be far less likely to spend the money on a trip had they paid in cash, so I kind of like being nudged into going.
Anyway, it definitely sounds like fun. It'll be 6 days at the end of February. We're not required to blog about the trip or anything, but I will anyway - as my regular readers know, I travel a lot and like to do travel blogging. I've asked the Dutch if they can hook me up with any bloggers over there, and any interesting meetings with local political types etc. I'd also love to meet up with any AMERICAblog readers in the area, if there are any. The trip isn't until the end of February, so we have time.
Of course, as is to be expected, there have already been a few naysayers calling me Jack Abramoff for going on the trip. Yes, you see, I have this secret expose I'm planning on a scandal involving the Amsterdam sewer system and those darn crafty Dutch finally figured out a way to buy me off - pay me LESS than the usual price for an ad on my site! My God, how they didn't take over the world is beyond me.
Anyone seriously worried about me being bought off by the crafty Dutch, talk to the folks at Syriana the movie. They ran an ad on my site, gave me a free ticket to the movie, I went, kind of hated the movie, so I came back and wrote that I didn't like it. They then didn't renew the ad for a second week. Oh well.
I calls 'em like I sees 'em. And in any case, someone is always going to be unhappy with something I do or something I write (hell, I get shit every time I ask for donations). All I can do is charge ahead and have you judge me and the blog by what we strive to accomplish and what we do accomplish. And I'm happy to be judged by that standard any day. (Still the criticism bothers me, thus the long post - though Joe tells me I need a thicker skin :-)
And with that, I am so off to watch Sci-Fi Friday on Tivo. And don't worry, the orchids are coming... Read More......
Basically, the trip is really an in-kind blog ad buy - they get a month-long ad on the blog (the ones in the right column), and they pay for the ad with a trip instead of cash (the trip is actually valued at much less than the one month cost of the ad on this site). But still, I'd be far less likely to spend the money on a trip had they paid in cash, so I kind of like being nudged into going.
Anyway, it definitely sounds like fun. It'll be 6 days at the end of February. We're not required to blog about the trip or anything, but I will anyway - as my regular readers know, I travel a lot and like to do travel blogging. I've asked the Dutch if they can hook me up with any bloggers over there, and any interesting meetings with local political types etc. I'd also love to meet up with any AMERICAblog readers in the area, if there are any. The trip isn't until the end of February, so we have time.
Of course, as is to be expected, there have already been a few naysayers calling me Jack Abramoff for going on the trip. Yes, you see, I have this secret expose I'm planning on a scandal involving the Amsterdam sewer system and those darn crafty Dutch finally figured out a way to buy me off - pay me LESS than the usual price for an ad on my site! My God, how they didn't take over the world is beyond me.
Anyone seriously worried about me being bought off by the crafty Dutch, talk to the folks at Syriana the movie. They ran an ad on my site, gave me a free ticket to the movie, I went, kind of hated the movie, so I came back and wrote that I didn't like it. They then didn't renew the ad for a second week. Oh well.
I calls 'em like I sees 'em. And in any case, someone is always going to be unhappy with something I do or something I write (hell, I get shit every time I ask for donations). All I can do is charge ahead and have you judge me and the blog by what we strive to accomplish and what we do accomplish. And I'm happy to be judged by that standard any day. (Still the criticism bothers me, thus the long post - though Joe tells me I need a thicker skin :-)
And with that, I am so off to watch Sci-Fi Friday on Tivo. And don't worry, the orchids are coming... Read More......
Un-American Jailing of Wives of Insurgents in Iraq
I'm not usually one to question the tactics of the military - they are on the ground, I'm not. This, however, just can't be defended in any way. From AP via Yahoo:
"The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of 'leveraging' their husbands into surrender, U.S. military documents show.This tactic is un-American and should be rejected by both Democrats and Republicans with equal disgust. Read More......
In one case, a secretive task force locked up the young mother of a nursing baby, a U.S. intelligence officer reported. In the case of a second detainee, one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking a note to the family's door telling him 'to come get his wife.'
The issue of female detentions in Iraq has taken on a higher profile since kidnappers seized American journalist Jill Carroll on Jan. 7 and threatened to kill her unless all Iraqi women detainees are freed."
Friday PM Open Thread
It's been a long week! I'm home watching today's Oprah with Jake and Heath on TiVo. Anyone else catch it?
Open thread away! Read More......
Open thread away! Read More......
Cliff's Corner
Another week. More preposterousness to report.
Chris Matthews, who sits home in his Jack Abramoff underoos while replaying videos of George W. Bush’s tight flight suit adventure to ensure he can still get his flag up to full mast, finally stepped over a line this past week. Actually, he has hurdled over the Checkpoint Charlie of decency in the past, but many mired in “reality-based” thinking have now decided enough is really enough.
The irrepressible Mr. Matthews, whose voluptuous head is so empty that D.C. squatters use it for shelter, has shown himself to be pathetically enamored with George W. Bush’s “maleness” in the past (although it doesn’t stop him from making “fag” jokes on Imus) and often makes political pronouncements so stupid Jessica Simpson thought of them first.
Recently, Mr. Matthews compared Osama bin Laden to Michael Moore, even though the Bush Administration can actually find Michael Moore. And Moore and Osama would have to strain to have anything in common, being that Moore, like any sentient being, detests Bush for his constant lying. Meanwhile bin Laden loves Bush for the wonderful recruiting possibilities he has opened up for Al Qaeda with his abject failure to succeed in any phase of being a “war-time president” or “decision-maker.” I assume Bush meant the latter, "decision-maker," as in, should I use Captain Morgan’s or Cruzan for that Cuba Libre next time I go off the wagon?
Well, sick of the right-wing noise machine and the falafel-using, hillbilly-heroine ingesting, Abramoff-licking, Jeff Gannon-Guckert hiring, maladjusted, paranoid cranks who now inhabit the GOP and the ranks of its media apologists, many have finally decided enough is enough. Chris Matthews likes to parade his Bill Bennett physique around out television sets harrumphing about this or that while pretending to be an objective journalist, when he has been nothing but a vibrator in the right-wing echo chamber for the better part of a decade now. So many sick of the charade are now giving Matthews what this walking jack-in-the-box has deserved for a while.
A boycott of his advertisers until he apologizes for his sebum-stained attack on Moore as a terrorist.
This is made all the more interesting by the fact that Karl Rove came out of his rat-hole this past week to do much the same maligning of Democrats. And sadly, even though this oversized excrement piñata certainly couldn’t miss his own shadow, there appears to be no hope that he might crawl back from whence he came. Rove supports religious zealotry, is anti-choice, anti-gay, against the separation of church and state, believes his political opponents are traitors to be destroyed and is particularly repulsive looking, all things that would dictate that HE is the one with the common dreams of Osama (not that I'm comparing the two).
Let’s see, whose beliefs were Eric Rudolph and Timothy McVeigh espousing when they committed terrorist acts on American soil that left hundreds of our countrymen dead? Why Karl Rove’s of course. And who has failed to catch Osama, Mullah Omar, Al Zwahiri, Al Zarqawi, exposed the identity of an undercover CIA agent, has smaller testicles than Karen Hughes, failed to achieve anything resembling victory in Iraq, lied about WMD, has not protected our troops with body armor and failed this nation in possibly every conceivable way during his time serving The Boy?
Why Karl Rove: traitor, budget-buster and terrorist enabler.
Now we find out that Rove, Matthews and the rest of this band of lying right-wing shills for the most impotent individual next to Bob Dole and an empty Viagra bottle has again misunderestimated the truth. It turns out that the Bush Administration objected to expanding the powers of the FISA Court for wiretaps in 2002, claiming they were unconstitutional. They then secretly did things that much worse. So, the rationale that their DOMESTIC SPYING is constitutional is belied by their own claims, which begs the question once again, who and what would they have needed to break the law to spy on? Jenna and the other twin? Indian tribes? Anyone wanting to report the truth about their criminal behavior? Ken Mehlman’s dance parties? The political opposition?
Are the impeachment bells ringing yet? In a sane political culture they would be. But in the meantime, how about just getting Verizon, Toyota and Intuit/TurboTax to stop financially sponsoring the ever-delirious Chris Matthews. Read More......
Chris Matthews, who sits home in his Jack Abramoff underoos while replaying videos of George W. Bush’s tight flight suit adventure to ensure he can still get his flag up to full mast, finally stepped over a line this past week. Actually, he has hurdled over the Checkpoint Charlie of decency in the past, but many mired in “reality-based” thinking have now decided enough is really enough.
The irrepressible Mr. Matthews, whose voluptuous head is so empty that D.C. squatters use it for shelter, has shown himself to be pathetically enamored with George W. Bush’s “maleness” in the past (although it doesn’t stop him from making “fag” jokes on Imus) and often makes political pronouncements so stupid Jessica Simpson thought of them first.
Recently, Mr. Matthews compared Osama bin Laden to Michael Moore, even though the Bush Administration can actually find Michael Moore. And Moore and Osama would have to strain to have anything in common, being that Moore, like any sentient being, detests Bush for his constant lying. Meanwhile bin Laden loves Bush for the wonderful recruiting possibilities he has opened up for Al Qaeda with his abject failure to succeed in any phase of being a “war-time president” or “decision-maker.” I assume Bush meant the latter, "decision-maker," as in, should I use Captain Morgan’s or Cruzan for that Cuba Libre next time I go off the wagon?
Well, sick of the right-wing noise machine and the falafel-using, hillbilly-heroine ingesting, Abramoff-licking, Jeff Gannon-Guckert hiring, maladjusted, paranoid cranks who now inhabit the GOP and the ranks of its media apologists, many have finally decided enough is enough. Chris Matthews likes to parade his Bill Bennett physique around out television sets harrumphing about this or that while pretending to be an objective journalist, when he has been nothing but a vibrator in the right-wing echo chamber for the better part of a decade now. So many sick of the charade are now giving Matthews what this walking jack-in-the-box has deserved for a while.
A boycott of his advertisers until he apologizes for his sebum-stained attack on Moore as a terrorist.
This is made all the more interesting by the fact that Karl Rove came out of his rat-hole this past week to do much the same maligning of Democrats. And sadly, even though this oversized excrement piñata certainly couldn’t miss his own shadow, there appears to be no hope that he might crawl back from whence he came. Rove supports religious zealotry, is anti-choice, anti-gay, against the separation of church and state, believes his political opponents are traitors to be destroyed and is particularly repulsive looking, all things that would dictate that HE is the one with the common dreams of Osama (not that I'm comparing the two).
Let’s see, whose beliefs were Eric Rudolph and Timothy McVeigh espousing when they committed terrorist acts on American soil that left hundreds of our countrymen dead? Why Karl Rove’s of course. And who has failed to catch Osama, Mullah Omar, Al Zwahiri, Al Zarqawi, exposed the identity of an undercover CIA agent, has smaller testicles than Karen Hughes, failed to achieve anything resembling victory in Iraq, lied about WMD, has not protected our troops with body armor and failed this nation in possibly every conceivable way during his time serving The Boy?
Why Karl Rove: traitor, budget-buster and terrorist enabler.
Now we find out that Rove, Matthews and the rest of this band of lying right-wing shills for the most impotent individual next to Bob Dole and an empty Viagra bottle has again misunderestimated the truth. It turns out that the Bush Administration objected to expanding the powers of the FISA Court for wiretaps in 2002, claiming they were unconstitutional. They then secretly did things that much worse. So, the rationale that their DOMESTIC SPYING is constitutional is belied by their own claims, which begs the question once again, who and what would they have needed to break the law to spy on? Jenna and the other twin? Indian tribes? Anyone wanting to report the truth about their criminal behavior? Ken Mehlman’s dance parties? The political opposition?
Are the impeachment bells ringing yet? In a sane political culture they would be. But in the meantime, how about just getting Verizon, Toyota and Intuit/TurboTax to stop financially sponsoring the ever-delirious Chris Matthews. Read More......
BREAKING NEWS: Washington state gay rights bill passes both houses, on the way to governor for signature (which has been promised)
Amazing. This is truly amazing, and decades in coming. You'll recall this was the bill that got killed last year after Microsoft pulled its support. Well, this year Microsoft didn't just support the bill, but the local Republican rep from Redmond (Microsoft's home) changed his vote from a no to a yes, and the bill passed 25-23 in the state Senate today.
This is really great news. And kudos to all those in Washington state who have fought for so long - decades, really - to get this passed. And thanks to Microsoft and all the other companies who publicly supported the legislation as good for business and good for America.
There's hope yet for our country. Read More......
This is really great news. And kudos to all those in Washington state who have fought for so long - decades, really - to get this passed. And thanks to Microsoft and all the other companies who publicly supported the legislation as good for business and good for America.
There's hope yet for our country. Read More......
Weird anti-gay move by game-maker Blizzard
Their heart is in the right place, maybe, but this is just weird. And wrong. Someone with half a brain needs to step in and fix this now.
Read More......
If you're wondering who Chris Matthews has insulted lately...
...It's Latinos. Wonder how many customers Verizon, Toyota and TurboTax are willing to tick off before they get the picture?
Read More......
The Alito filibuster - Yes, but...
The Republicans want the Alito vote on Tuesday, conveniently right before the State of the Union.
As for the filibuster, here are my thoughts.
I support a filibuster of Alito IF - IF, IF, IF, IF, IF - the multi-million dollar liberal non-profits and the Democratic and moderate Republican Senators organize a true CAMPAIGN to convince the American public that a filibuster is necessary and good.
To date, I haven't seen that campaign.
What I have seen is Democratic Senators doing what they do best. Finally taking the right position on an issue, but doing nothing to build public support FOR that position. In politics both are crucial. It's not enough for a politician to do the right thing. He/she (and the big non-profits) have to devise the public relations campaign (online, offline, grassroots, media, etc.) to create the buzz in their favor. Otherwise, the public will slam them for what they're doing, the effort will be a failure, and the members of Congress in question will face a harder time getting re-elected.
That is not to suggest that politicians should become wimps like Democrat Bob Casey in Pennsylvania who's running against Santorum and thinks he needs to be a Republican in order to win. No, it's possible to remain a Democrat and win, but you can't just vote the right way, you have to create an environment in which the public agrees with and supports your vote.
Unfortunately, that didn't, and isn't, happening with this Alito confirmation. The big non-profits got millions, and what do we have to show for it? The Democratic Senators held a week of hearings, and other than Joe Biden's chance to bloviate as usual in front of the cameras, what did they accomplish?
Some day Democrats will learn what Republicans have long known. It takes a campaign to win an issue. When the Democrats and their traditional million-dollar non-profits learn that lesson, and implement it, then I'll be all in favor of a filibuster. But a filibuster without the campaign will not only fail, it will convince already spineless Democrats that the filibuster itself was a mistake because it was a filibuster, not because the filibuster wasn't supported with a real public relations campaign. Democrats will learn the wrong lesson from their failure, and they'll end up even wimpier/Caseyer/Liebermaner next time.
So, yes. I'm all for the filibuster. But if someone doesn't come up with a brilliant PR campaign, online and offline, to support this filibuster - and fast - it's going to fail and we're going to pay for a price for that failure. Read More......
As for the filibuster, here are my thoughts.
I support a filibuster of Alito IF - IF, IF, IF, IF, IF - the multi-million dollar liberal non-profits and the Democratic and moderate Republican Senators organize a true CAMPAIGN to convince the American public that a filibuster is necessary and good.
To date, I haven't seen that campaign.
What I have seen is Democratic Senators doing what they do best. Finally taking the right position on an issue, but doing nothing to build public support FOR that position. In politics both are crucial. It's not enough for a politician to do the right thing. He/she (and the big non-profits) have to devise the public relations campaign (online, offline, grassroots, media, etc.) to create the buzz in their favor. Otherwise, the public will slam them for what they're doing, the effort will be a failure, and the members of Congress in question will face a harder time getting re-elected.
That is not to suggest that politicians should become wimps like Democrat Bob Casey in Pennsylvania who's running against Santorum and thinks he needs to be a Republican in order to win. No, it's possible to remain a Democrat and win, but you can't just vote the right way, you have to create an environment in which the public agrees with and supports your vote.
Unfortunately, that didn't, and isn't, happening with this Alito confirmation. The big non-profits got millions, and what do we have to show for it? The Democratic Senators held a week of hearings, and other than Joe Biden's chance to bloviate as usual in front of the cameras, what did they accomplish?
Some day Democrats will learn what Republicans have long known. It takes a campaign to win an issue. When the Democrats and their traditional million-dollar non-profits learn that lesson, and implement it, then I'll be all in favor of a filibuster. But a filibuster without the campaign will not only fail, it will convince already spineless Democrats that the filibuster itself was a mistake because it was a filibuster, not because the filibuster wasn't supported with a real public relations campaign. Democrats will learn the wrong lesson from their failure, and they'll end up even wimpier/Caseyer/Liebermaner next time.
So, yes. I'm all for the filibuster. But if someone doesn't come up with a brilliant PR campaign, online and offline, to support this filibuster - and fast - it's going to fail and we're going to pay for a price for that failure. Read More......
US economy barely moved in Q4
1.1% growth is pretty dangerous, especially with the real estate market being so flat. Now that Greenspan is finally leaving, maybe somebody can remind him of his ridiculous comments about high energy costs not negatively impacting the economy. The former superstar sure has looked bad over the past five years and his energy remarks rank right down there with his support for the tax cuts.
Read More......
Americans think the Bush/Abramoff links are relevant
Yesterday, during his press conference, Bush was dismissive answering questions about Jack Abramoff. His talking point for that issue was "not relevant." Today, the Washington Post/ABC News poll shows that for most Americans, the Bush/Abramoff connection is quite relevant:
A strong bipartisan majority of the public believes President Bush should release records of meetings between disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and White House staffers despite administration claims that media requests for details about those contacts amount to a "fishing expedition," according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.By refusing to release records and photos, the White House looks like they are hiding something. They probably are. Read More......
The survey found that three in four--76 percent--of all Americans said Bush should disclose contacts between aides and Abramoff while 18 percent disagreed. Two in three Republicans joined with eight in 10 Democrats and political independents in favoring disclosure, according to the poll.
Pork spending goes wild under GOP control
Talk about out of control! The GOP has tripled the number of projects and almost doubled the spending since they took control of the House. I guess when you make so many promises to wealthy donors there's going to be a price and the bill is left with the American taxpayer. I always hear about the fiscal conservatives in the GOP but they sure as hell don't seem to be around.
Read More......
Secondhand smoke a toxic air pollutant
...according to the California Air Resources Board. I couldn't agree any more.
Read More......
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