Pull Up a Chair

.
This morning I've been guest-hosting the Pull Up a Chair thread over at Firedoglake. Here's the link. You, too, can contemplate your inner migrant....

.

Quote of the Day: David Dayen

.
In a blogpost about Evan Bayh's retirement decision and pontifications on the dysfunction that is Washington rule-by-filibuster, David Dayen distills perfectly:

the public, who selects its representatives, has a right to see its will expressed after it delivers a mandate.

.

Loyal-ties

.
Loyalty has been on my mind today, ever since I caught portions of Morning Joe's conversation during the Political Roundtable. Not sure who said it, Joe or Mika or guest Matt Bai or the nonentity from Newsweek, but the consensus seemed to be there is no loyalty anymore...it's cultural these days not just the political quakes we're seeing courtesy the teabaggers and other independents.

No loyalty to party, no loyalty to employees or employers or spouses or....well, you get the idea.

So when I came across this commentary, John Hoeven (Opportunist-ND) for US Senate, at North Dakota's premier political blog, northdecoder.com, I decided to share it with you. Because right now a lot's being said about Governor John Hoeven's inevitability to take the Senate seat long held by Byron Dorgan.

But there's a growing volume of talk about Hoeven's party-hopping, too. Portraying his fealty to loyalty as the political equivalent of corporate values like companies who've gotten all kinds of tax breaks by communities to locate there only to jump borders for cheaper labor, or faux family values like John Edwards or Mark Sanford's concept of loyalty to their wives.

Whaddya think about Chet's posit that Hoeven [and perhaps other minority party novices] would rather switch and be powerful than stay in the far reaches of the minority once reality sets in? And should Democrats accept 'em in the fold? Is there a value to loyalty anymore?
.
crossposted at firedoglake's The Seminal

Prairie's following: FDL Liveblogging

FDL's superb Teddy Partridge is liveblogging today the trial that evidently the judge and the Roberts Supreme Court do not want you to see, hear, or otherwise know about.

You can follow it here.

Because, as a wise ol' guy once said: first they came...and I did nothing.

Becoming informed...that's a start.
.

Question for your Senator or Congressperson....

.
Ask away....

Are you with the predators or the people?
.

See also, Dylan Ratigan at MSNBC and Firedoglake.com

Race Card Politics

.
Ari says it a tad more subtly than I replied to him over at Oxdown--good on ya, Ari, for the screen grab.

My take:

When you choose to play the race card… When you choose the staff who have a history of playing the race card…

You are a racist, John McCain.
.

Ari's got the picture at Firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette... now everybody's got the picture... of John McCain.

9/11

.
Happy Birthday, son.
.
.
.
A milepost to remember.
.
.
.
And this signpost to more remembrance that haunts us still.
.
In a comment appended to her posting at firedoglake, Christy said:

...what could have been and was wasted in terms of unity of purpose from so many disparate sources within this country and around the world.

What could have been. Never forget. Vote.
.

Haiku? Who Knew!

.
Little did I know, when I riffed off a haiku-esque "tribute" entry in Firedoglake's recent nightside "TedFest" that it would lead to the fame and glory of not just finals-ness, but winning in the haiku category for this entry:

Here are the winners:

Haiku:

Ted Stevens glows at midnight.
Son already sunk.
Glaciers calving justice

--- Prairie Sunshine

Well, okay, it's not pure haiku. I already mind-edited that last line to "Glaciers calve justice" ... but who can argue with a little bit o'funshine amid all the gloom'n'doom of real life these days.

And who can argue with an "honoree" going to the extreme length of getting himself indicted right amid the judging process. Is that metaphorific or what.

And as for the purists about the exactitude of the haiku, I revise and extend my response—it's the in-thing to do, some say—and call it "haiku-iness."

If "-iness" is good enough for Stephen, Colbert that is, it's good enough for me.
.

Nancy Takes Off the Gloves

.
Speaking with her most blunt language ever, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lays the blame for the nation's current economic woes right in the laps of the two oil men in the White House.

And as Scarecrow over at FDL reminds this morning, writing on the Al Gore speech...it's all of a piece. The economy, national security, the environment.

Some would say, why limit this conversation to just the economy, national security, and the environment.

There's also the state of our healthcare.


It's all of a piece....

For Your 4th

.
Whatever you have on tap for this holiday weekend, take a little time out to give thought to what you can do to truly "support the troops" who don't have a choice between the usual holiday at the resort, or the beach, or the national park, or even "staycation."

Men and women are putting their lives on the line each and every day for us...in Iraq and Afghanistan...on the fire line in Big Sur...at home, ready if the call for first responders goes out.

We talk a lot here and throughout the blogosphere, and one of the things we've talked a lot about is Congress and oversight. Why, we ask, haven't the now in control Democrats put the brakes on the runaway freight train about to careen off the side of the mountaintop that is the Bush Administration?

We talk a lot...but what are we doing? How many have sought out our Senators or Congressperson to say, listen to US. Listen to America. Don't listen and vote for the special interests on K Street, like the telco's who just had their way with the House of Representatives while doling out a paltry few thousands of campaign dollars.

I'm thinking that works because the Congresscritters are tellin' themselves, if I don't vote AT&T's way, then maybe Corp X, Y and Z would see that they might not get their "money's worth" and turn off the campaign contribution spigot, too.

A screwed-up system.

On the Imus Show this week, Tom Friedman, the man who put the "FU" in friedman unit, opined, as though by a timely cosmic revelation, we've got to fix our democracy here, we've got to fix our country.*

Well no shit, Sherlock.

Welcome to reality, pal. While you've been busy furthering the friedman unit, the rest of us out here in the real world have been dealing with the consequences of the Village's blithe bolstering of the gut of Bush. And it ain't pretty. So put down that plate of cocktail wienies, step away from the RNC blast o'the hour, let go of the self-indulgent claptrap, grab your media-darling cronies, and say, hey, maybe it's about time we stopped treating this as some kind of theatre of the absurd, pushing people around like pawns—a few thousand layoffs here, a few thousand layoffs there, a few hundred thousand casualties over there, pretty soon it adds up to real yadda, yadda.

Because oversight belongs to all of us. Congress. The media. And you. And me.

So this Fourth of July, between the wienies and the fireworks, ask yourself...what am I putting on the line?
.
. Need a jump start? Christy's got some great ideas and tools over at firedoglake.

* my paraphrase, because WABC hasn't put the interview up on their website for linkage and exactitude as of this writing...not that that ever stopped the BBQ Media from runaway adoration of St. Mc and distortion of whatever they feel like distorting on any given day.

Prairie's Reading: FISA & Brandeis

.
The words of Justice Brandeis echo down thru the decades...via McJoan at Kos. And Christy's keepin' us on our toes, what a patriot looks like, over at firedoglake. FISA matters, precisely because of Brandeis' words:

If the government becomes a law breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that in the administration of the criminal law the end justifies the means 'to declare that the government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminal' would bring terrible retribution.
[From dissenting opinion in Olmstead vs. United States, in which the court upheld the use of wiretaps in a case involving an investigation of bootlegging. Brandeis strongly defended the individual right to privacy from government intrusion.] -Louis D. Brandeis, 1928

"Dodd's Speech"

.
Remember when Senators stood up on principle and said "enough"?

Nope, me neither, unless I happen to stumble across an ol' uncolorized Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Well, brace yerself and take a look at this. Because Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd has taken the floor to remind his colleagues and all of us what Democracy is supposed to look like.

Christy has commentary at Firedoglake, you'll find links there to other bloggers as well. Because reporting on the vote on FISA and telco immunity—for actions to peek into every American's privacy that began before 9/11 and have continued for years...without warrants and in defiance of the Constitution— is too important to trust to the Very Self-Important Media and its all infauxtainment alla time.
.

Fatherhood: Teachable Moments and Uncomfortable Truths, Part 1–Sportsmanship

.
We saw a trifecta of teachable moments provided by larger-than-life figures in their own fields this weekend. And the plan is to talk about each of them in coming days. I suspect you can readily name which public figures I'll be writing about, but just in case, they are: Tiger Woods, Barack Obama, and Tim Russert.

Or rather, since a gazillion words and videominutes have been devoted to Mr. Russert already in all quarters, the lesson of the Friends of Tim.

Sunday, Tiger Woods played familiar ground in the U.S. Open, but it was ground that had been altered. The course "toughened up" to challenge all the players, not just Woods. Tiger had been "toughened up" too—walking the course on a surgery-ed knee that some said was not yet ready for the rigors of a championship game.

Mr. Sunshine reminded me of a time when Tiger's father reminisced about the hours they played together when Tiger was a boy, how he'd drop things just as Tiger was about to swing or putt, or make noise. And when Tiger complained, he'd tell him that nobody else would be better prepared to play, when the time came, than Tiger.

That showed in Sunday afternoon's play, in the moments when sports announcers muttered darkly about why did he aim that way, what happened to that swing...and even the moment when Tiger's own temper was on full display as he smashed down a club.

And yet, he played on, red-shirt dogged with the drive of competition.

He was behind Rocco Mediate at the 18th Hole. Rocco already in the clubhouse watching on teevee.

And yet, the character of a true champion resonated with each swing as Tiger showed a living lesson in playing through pain, in striving for excellence, in never giving up, in being an athlete showing all who seek to emulate him what true sportsmanship is, in being a new father giving his own child a worthy role model on Father's Day.

And then he made that last putt, a birdie, to tie up the game, set up today's playoff. He knew it was going in and the exuberance, the celebration, was itself an act of beauty. Already a winner, always a champion.

UPDATE—and it's almost anticlimactic, isn't it: Tiger Woods wins the U.S. Open sudden death playoff on a birdie.

*****

Until the next time, some thoughts worth your time:
On Barack Obama, by scarecrow at firedoglake.
On Tim Russert, by egregious.

And I'll have more to say, as well.

Contempt

.
In yet another example of George W. Bush's total contempt for this nation and other nations, today he used the moment of an assembly in Israel in honor of that country's 60th anniversary to lash out with a partisan political attack on Barack Obama, calling the Senator's advocacy of diplomacy over guns "appeasement."

According to CNN, the White House has confirmed that even though he didn't name Obama, his "some" is indeed a direct reference to the Senator and likely Democratic presidential nominee.

We've long since learned that this president thinks with something somewhere south of his brain—I believe he took pains to emphasize it on the Mission Accomplished carrier.

We've long since learned that this president is quick to taunt and bluster and bravado with the lives, limbs and spirits of other Americans' sons and daughters...while he "gives up" golf.

We've long since learned that in the furtherance of Big Oil and the neocons' warmongering agenda this president is willing to wreck the rest of the American economy, our infrastructure, our homes, the food on our table, our healthcare, our "educational" system....

We've long since learned that this president is incapable of truth and feels neither remorse nor shame.

We've long since learned his return to the David Koresh wellspring of rural Waco is a fitting place that he cannot return to soon enough.

Just in case you don't already have it bookmarked: Barack Obama dot com

UPDATE: What about John McCain? At the same time as media are broadcasting Bush's intemperate attack on Barack Obama and diplomacy while outside the country in Israel, McCain is speechifying, decrying the "hyperpartisanship" of Washington.

We know that McCain's campaign staff consults daily with the Bush White House. That McCain had to get pre-approved his harsh words about BushCo's handling post-Katrina. So, did McCain know Bush was going to make these bombastic comments from Israel? Did McCain approve? Will he stop using Karl Rove as a campaign advisor?

Will McCain reject and denounce these remarks by Bush?

And if he does, will it all be part of a carefully orchestrated phony separation from Bush?

After all, "polls say" Bush is even more of an albatross around McCain's neck than you-know-who around Obama's.

UPDATE 2: Don't miss further thoughts from emptywheel, via firedoglake, on the grandson of the Nazi enabler and his intemperate remarks in Israel.

UPDATE 3: And there's this from Logan Murphy at Crooks and Liars.

UPDATE 4: And Atrios links to this article from the Guardian UK: How Bush's Grandfather Helped Hitler's Rise to Power

UPDATE 5: And ThinkProgress gives further info on Bush's historic reference to a Senator who would have talked to Hitler...a Republican senator from Idaho.

So watch your media in the hours to come. There's plenty of information out there. Will the press report? Or steno?

If It's Tuesday...

.
Another Tuesday, another primary....

Today it's West Virginia, where the vote for Clinton is expected to dwarf that for Obama. Lots of chatter around the edges about Hillary's base, those "hard working Americans." Christy over at firedoglake, herself a native West Virginian, gives a context and texture to the WV primary that the soundbite media doesn't pause to do between their Very Important Punditry and their commercials boosted by the enduring pace of the Democratic primary season.

Enough talk of Obama paying off Hillary's campaign debts. The media should. They were the ones who whipped up and sustained this horserace to the benefit of their own bottom line. Heck, $20 mil would be chump change for Rupert and GE and the Mouse. [We won't include CBS since they may well have their own upstart woman to settle up with sooner rather than later.]

On-the-ground reporting and context has been in short supply in many quarters this campaign season. So much more fun to bloviate amongst yourselves, VIPs. So much easier for getting back to the cocktail wienie Washington salons if you only need to gather in DeeCee teevee studios rather than actually go out and, ewwww, mingle with the locals.

So, although the subject matter is a troubling one—the brushes with racism that Obama's campaign field staff and volunteers have had to deal with from time to time—the Washington Post has done both due diligence and contextual reporting that we should see more of, instead of the cliched crowd shots and rope lines and.... crowd shots and rope lines....

In this year of change, we're seeing the best and worst of what America can be. And as we shift gears from the primary season to the general election, the contrasts between what the Democratic Party and the Republican Party offer the country and all of us could not be more stark.

My first political experience was similar to those I read about in the Post article...suspending college in order to work for Eugene McCarthy's campaign. First working stop: Indiana. And first memory [besides getting lost driving the Chicago interstate system] was the news of the assassination of Martin Luther King.

It's been a long time for the ugly stew of racism to keep on simmering in some hearts, fed by predatory fearmongering preachers of hate and their opportunistic political brethren. Long past time we put the fire out and build a stronger America together.

Musts

.
Spring cleaning time in Prairie Country, so we'll probably be light on content hereabouts. But we do want to steer you to some "musts" this weekend.

Bob Herbert's column in today's New York Times on what Jon Stewart dubbed the Reverending Story. Herbert's pretty pointed: can't we get back to the issues?!? Would that the Sunday morning punditocracy actually reads and heeds, because Herbert speaks for a lot of us who are absolutely fed up to the hair follicles with the push-pastoring. Enough.

Arianna Huffington visits Firedoglake 's Book Salon this afternoon to discuss her new book, Right Is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe. [5 pm ET to 7 pm ET] If you've never "met" Arianna or visited Firedoglake, what better time to start.

And we've learned that 60 Minutes will be reporting on the Pat Tillman story this Sunday night. Mary Tillman speaks out, saying the government still has not told the truth about her son's death. 60 Minutes has been bringing their A game of late to reporting. We'll definitely be watching.

Oh, and have we mentioned that Senator Obama will spend an hour with Tim Russert Sunday morning live on Meet the Press? We'll be watching. Won't take long to tell whether Russert's read Herbert's column...or just the McCarthyist screeds from Blumenthal and the Clintonistas and McCainiacs.

UPDATE:
Snuffy will be questioning Hillary Clinton Sunday morning. We saw his idea of "tough, but fair" in the ABC-sponsored debate. We'll be looking for "tough, but fair" when he questions Hillary. Substance, not shiny objects. And tough but fair follow-ups, too.

We'll be watching.

How Many More Years?

.
Minutes ago, I posted this as a comment to a blog post by looseheadprop over at firedoglake. I hope you'll stop by FDL and read LHP's posting that prompted me to write:

...today on local radio they are marking the return of the remains of an 18-year-old soldier from Wahpeton, to the south of Fargo. The Patriot Guard motorcycle group will accompany him from the Fargo airport 60 miles or so down the highway, past the grade school and high school sites he left behind long ago.

He was 18. He was MIA. He died in Korea.

How long must this war’s families of soldiers bear such burdens? When is enough enough?

This war grinds on, and wears us down. I remember another soldier's return with such an escort for this war early on. We lament, we blog, we comment, we rail, we weep.

And still the war goes on.

And those in positions of leadership and power seem caught in some kind of stasis that keeps them from bringing our men and women home. Groundhog Day. Twightlight Zone. Mission Accomplished writ large this 5th anniversary--a shocking word to describe the passage of time and this event, for there is no celebration in such an occasion.

Just posturing and pontificating and pointing fingers. And slip-slidin' away from "The Buck Stops Here...."

And still the war goes on.

Last Sunday I heard Barack Obama respond to Chris Wallace how much he misses hugging his little girls. And I thought of the troops, so many parents among them, serving tours of duty, long and multiplied. And how much they must miss hugging their little boys and girls.

And as much of a grind as it is...this campaign season, it seems to me, must have one outcome. Because I see only one candidate who understands what it means to be away so long and wanting to be home to hug his little girls.


UPDATE: The good folks at FDL helped me track back to this comment about another soldier coming home. April 3, 2007, Christy at FDL blogged A Requiem at Twilight:

Prairie Sunshine left a comment a couple of nights ago that I want to elevate today, so that everyone will have a chance to read it. It is a poignant reminder that in the small towns, and rural farms, and urban landscapes -- wherever it is that we each live, there is a high probability that someone near you has been touched by the cost of conflict. And once in a while, something brings that very personal, very difficult cost home for the rest of us:

Had a really poignant drive into town. Turned on the Fargo radio for weather and road reports. Right at the freeze mark and rainy dismal white-knuckle driving all the way back. Then the radio mentioned a motorcade for the Frazee soldier’s remains which were arriving in Fargo and asked people to come out to honor him. Just west of Hawley we started seeing pickups and SUVs at the ends of driveways. Flags flying in front yards. By Dilworth, the fire dept trucks were all out along the road. As we drove into Moorhead, the police escort led the way for their group. My God, I had tears running down my cheeks. Flashing our lights seemed such a small gesture. All those fatheads on the Sunday shows and cable news with their strolls and photo-ops and posturing. And it’s all about this. One 28-year-old kid coming home for the last time.

And still the war goes on....

Prairie Postcard: The "R" Word

This morning Don Imus asked: are we in recession?
Jim Cramer replied: Yes, of course we are.

There you go. We all know it. Pretending won't make it go away. Now, we can deal with it. And, as Cramer added, it will be hard.

Weird thing about life. It gets hard sometimes. The first step to solving a problem, to dealing with an addiction, is admitting you have it.

They went on to discuss the subprime market, Imus asking for a simple explanation, and Cramer supplied it. Pretty much all comes down to "skin in the game"--and haven't we heard that before. Those naughty homeowners who had no skin in the game--got those 100% loans with no money down and no ability to repay in many cases.

Except, wait, somebody else had no skin in the game either. And that's the first lender, because First Lender turns right around and sells the loan bundled with a whole bunch of others and finally they end up on the desks of places like Citicorp and... well, how long do you think it will be before these guys go whining to the government for a bailout because they're so vital to the economy....

Seems to me a little kitchen table economics--call it the "Get Real Principle"-- needs to be exercised every step of the way. Starting with common sense regulations for the lending industry so the parasites and pirates don't screw things up for everybody from the homeowner to the global economy.

PS's PS: Speaking of Get Real Principles--principles, how's that for a concept!--it doesn't get more real than 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammed Yunus and his microcredit program. You can learn more about that on Saturday afternoon when Firedoglake hosts a Book Salon conversation with Mr. Yunus about Creating a World without Poverty. Whether you lurk or participate, I promise you will be enriched. Don't miss it!

Citizen Activism: for democracy

Senator Chris Dodd will be giving a lesson in Democracy 101 as he stands up against the FISA bill. For too long, Congress has abrogated too many responsibilities for oversight and leadership. You can learn more from Jane over at firedoglake.com. Please at the very least, learn about what civil liberties have been eroded from all of us. Tell Senator Dodd you support his effort. Jane makes it easy, here. First thing Monday, contact your Senators and ask them to support the foundations of American democracy, support the filibuster of Chris Dodd.

Some are the times for kickin' back and taking life easy. Now is the time for joining the vital battle for rule of law, the Constitution, and restoring our rights. Please join in.

Citizen Activism: for writers

As a writer in many venues, I strongly support the WGA writers' effort to gain fair share for writers of new media revenues. Jane and the folks at firedoglake.com, along with other bloggers, have launched an easy way you can contact the producers of your favorite shows to express your support. You can, too, here.

Mr. Sunshine and I each picked out our TOP THREE faves and we've sent this quick note:

"Our middle class Middle America household considers your show one of our TOP THREE faves. We support the WGA writers' effort and hope you will, too.

"Please tell the AMPTP to bargain fairly and in good faith and support fair share for all new media for your writers.

"Thank you for this opportunity to tell you we appreciate your show and hope you'll invest wisely for long term creativity, rather than short term corporate plundering."

Whether you compose your own note, or use the talking points suggested, it's easy to do, an opportunity to be a citizen activist. Give it a go.

And we'll see you here tomorrow with fresh produce/food for thought from Prairie. Have an activist day!