I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
BOO!
HOORAY FOR FREE SPEECH!!!
Uh-oh, Bush might actually see that some people don't like him. That might push him over the edge, and that's not good for America.
Why does our Constitution hate America?
PUSH PUSH PUSH
Are there any cliffs in Crawford?
"Chimp's brushes w/ reality"
I really do think these guys live in their own little Potemkin bubbles. I may have mentioned that my office is about half a block from the Palm. There's a guy who stands across the steet from the Palm and panhandles. He's been there for years and is kind of a neighborhood institution, very harmless, just stands there in the same raincoat -- summer and winter --asks for change, and says, "God bless you," whether you give him anything or not.
One day, I was walking to an appointment and I saw the guard from the office building that this guy stands in front of hassling him, telling him he had to move on "at least for a few hours." I thought it was weird, since, as noted, this guy's been there forever and never harmed or bothered anyone, but really didn't focus on it or anything.
Walking back from my appointment about 4:00 (and, I admit, thinking of an early dip into the Palm for one of their Stoli martinis), I see the restaurant is surrounded by tons of black SUVs, men in suits w/ earpieces, etc. Tons. Could only be Bush or Cheney eating at the Palm and Bush was out of the country that day.
All of a sudden, I had one of those "Doh!" moments and understood what I'd seen earlier. And then I just got incredibly angry. Cheney can't even drive by a panhandler? It would disturb his sensibilities too much on the way to the Palm? This guy's no security threat at all, so the only reason to move him off his regular corner was so that Cheney wouldn't even have to glance at him.
Out of touch with America? I think they are -- and deliberately so.
I remember Republicans screaming at Gore in the VP house when Bush was trying to steal the election.
That's sad Hecate.
Maybe that FEMA worker who was sent back home for wearing an anti Bush t-shirt on July 4th can have her job back.
Most of the entire right wing is out of touch with reality. Pretty sad that 1/2 the nation is living in a fantasy land.
These Godless protestors were trying to intefere with Bush's effort to harvest his crop - The fruit of his hard work. Bush raises brush on his hard tilled ranch. Not cattle, vegetables or other pedestrian fare - he raises brush.
Now you may not think there is much of a market for fresh brush, but you also probably thought Saudi Arabians would see little point in investing in a failed Texas oil co.
Does this mean people can wear t-shirts and carry protest signs within sight distance of Dubya now? Clinton used to banter with hecklers during his speeches. He had respect for the First Amendment.
Don't worry, here in Texas we always have another way of keeping the hippies out of our hair. Crawford will just hit them with a different ordinance next time, and a different one the time after that, etc.
.
Holden - I posted on thread below link and quotes from NYT article on FL list for purge of voters, good stuff, might be worth a post (@ 10:11).
This is OT but did anyone see Chris Matthews this morning?
Cokie Roberts and David Brooks both said that Fahrenheit 9/11 will cost the Dems the election because "regular people" don't like that Michael Moore...Of course, they both admitted they haven't seen the movie.
Matthews, goddess bless him, said he too felt that why until he saw the movie, which he described as "powerful".
Another nasty moment with cokester--Howard Fineman said the the Kerry/Edwards ticket is about the future and moving forward and portraying the Bush/Cheney ticket as the past (and not a good past). Fineman mentioned the Edwards and Kerry kids as symbols of that campaign theme. Cokie rolled her eyes, like she could barely restrain herself from bashing the inclusion of the kids in the campaign.
Why does Cokie Roberts hate cute little children?
damn typo. Should have typed "Matthews said he too felt that way until he saw the movie..."
Why does Cokie Roberts hate cute little children?
Because she's a mean old bitch and she has stupid hair. That's why.
OT:
Is anyone else unable to get Kevin Drum's Washington Monthly Blog to open? I have been getting "site does not exist" for 2 days now. Did the site blow up or are my computers possessed?
TIA
...
Saw this on ABC affiliate this morning:
Kerry's First Job: Selling Encyclopedias door to door and unloading trucks.
GW's Frist Job: West Texas Oil Business.
A woman takes her dog to the vet bacause the dog can't hear. After an exam, the vet determines that the dog's ears are stopped up with hair. The vet gets some Nair, cleans the dog's ears out and the dog can hear fine.
The vet then tells the woman to get some Nair from her drugstore and treat the dog's ears once a week.
The woman goes into the pharmacy and asks the druggist for Nair.
The pharmacist tells her, "When you use the Nair on your underarms, don't use deodorant for 2 or 3 days."
The woman says, "I'm not going to use it on my underarms."
The pharmacist says, "Well, if you use it on your legs you won't need to shave them any more."
The woman says, "I'm not going to use it on my legs. If you must know, I am going to use it on my Schnauzer."
The pharmacist says, "Then don't ride your bike for a week."
You'd have to be an airhead
To mess with the Chimpster's spread.
It's where he makes plans
To rescue our cans,
And fuck with our freedoms instead.
Cokie rolling her eyes would be a spooky god damn thing, indeed, Being that she's a bug-eyed fool, I mean.
She has the perpetual look of someone with a cattle prod up her ass.
Will the Dick and Shrub ever get tired of snatching reality away from The Amurkin Poeple?
Cokie rolled her eyes, like she could barely restrain herself from bashing the inclusion of the kids in the campaign.
I hope everyone remembers these sell out shills when all of this propaganda reaches the tipping point. It reminds me of the Robert Duval scene after he makes the "napalm in the morning" speech. He stoops down and gets that thousand yard stare and says "someday this war will be over". Someday this nightmare will be over and I hope everyone remembers those that let this shit happen.
Is the link down for anybody else?
As much as I get a giggle over the press finally going our way, I don't like the overall idea of them going any way at all. I mean, they got us into a friggin war because they went somebody's way! They need to do their friggin job, not cheerlead for anyone.
Why can't I spell? Too much coffee? Is it noon somewhere yet?
Free speech upheld, an excellent post from Hecate, a totally OT funny joke, and Lime Rickey. This is turning out to be a good day.
Just re-watched 'All the Presidents Men' - a fine tale for these times. If only mass-media reporters were 'hungry' in the naughties like they were in Woodstein's days!
OP-ED COLUMNIST
A Push for Bush
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
"Mr. President, You Need To Lose Cheney"
Was about to suggest that Shrub get lost himself...And for Nick to get off his knees and wipe the shit off his lips - until the slight savings grace of his last paragraph.
Still, why do I get the impression Nick really does like Commander AWOL, and may even actually vote for Turd Blossom's hand puppet?
Ya know, I bet Thug is correct. TX will just pass another cheneyed up
ordinance.
And WTF is up with throwing them in jail overnight? Browshirts.
Er does anyone anyone else think it is odd that protesters still need 7, SEVEN, S-E-V-E-N, days' notice to protest.
What do we want? A protest! When do we want it?! In seven days' time, if the police accept it - oh and if we pay as well!
Land of the free - if you give us enough notice and have a $25 fee for the protest.
Makes you proud eh?
Cokie is an old warmongering bee-hived battle-ass with no sense of journalistic ethics, which is why, of course, she is the perfect guest on any cable news show.
Just re-watched 'All the Presidents Men' - a fine tale for these times. If only mass-media reporters were 'hungry' in the naughties like they were in Woodstein's days!
Going completely OT, but this comment inspired it, I finally saw most of "Three Kings" last night on TNT.
The torture scenes were fascinating, especially in the light of recent events. The Republican Guard soldier who's torturing the American tells him how his wife died: in a bomb blast, under a chunk of concrete that smashed her legs. When the American says that's horrible, he says that wasn't horrible; what was horrible was the death of his one year old in the same bomb blast, from falling debris.
And they have pictures of this: of the American imagining it in an American home (of course, but more powerful visually to an American audience, for that).
And the soldier (Iraqi) explains he learned English from Americans, who came over during the Iran/Iraq war to teach them how to use weapons, conduct interrogations, etc.
And the American speaks of his wife and daughter, and imagines their death in a bomb blast. And the Iraqis show no gleeful pleasure in their torture, although they have clearly learned well what to do.
Incredibly powerful stuff. Line it up with F 9/11, and call it all "shrill," if you want, but it was a realistic portrayal in its own fictional way. Probably could be criticized for "accuracy," as Moore's movie has been; but no less powerful, nonetheless.
Steve, that exact thing caught my eye too. Firts of all, it was only 5 people. We're not exactly talking the million moms march here. This is just thugish, bully tactics.
Kevin Drum has been unavailable for most people for 2 days, but several posts have suggested that it's due to a minor glitch. Atrios and dKos have had out-of-contact periods in recent weeks, too.
When I click on the link, I get dns error...When I type foxnews.com, I get the same...Are they changing the story????
You also have to marvel at a subtle piece of propaganda for the Bush administration on the FOX site about immigration agent border sweeps move inland. The wing nuts will see that and be like, yipee! Go Bush! The dems want illegal immigration so we can't vote for them! What they're too dumb to understand is those "sweeps" mean nothing. The illegals will be right back in a week or two. I hear wing nuts calling in to right-wing radio and over and sounding like a broken record about wanting to stop illegal immigration. Never once have I heard them suggesting that if they heavily fine those small businesses employing them, viola!: end of problem. But, see, that's not what to the dumbasses are taught to think. Blame those who are only trying to make a better life and not those who are making money off them paying them slave wages.
Hey, I love Latin American culture but I like our culture better and want it to stay mostly the way it is.
Just re-watched 'All the Presidents Men' - a fine tale for these times. If only mass-media reporters were 'hungry' in the naughties like they were in Woodstein's days!
But it's worth noting how much dissent there was about covering the Watergate story, even within the Post itself. I've come to think that even then, the way the Post treated that story was exceptional.
Woodward and Bernstein were young reporters from the Metro section, not national political reporters -- who, it's pretty clear, would likely have buried the story at White House command.
It reminds me of the Robert Duval scene after he makes the "napalm in the morning" speech. He stoops down and gets that thousand yard stare and says "someday this war will be over". Someday this nightmare will be over and I hope everyone remembers those that let this shit happen.
Chauncey Gardner
I thought he said something in that scene about being sad it would eventually be over.
I was rolling my eyes because my pussy was itchy.
Put some Nair on that schnauzer, Cokie!
I thought he said something in that scene about being sad it would eventually be over.
I could have one of those Marshall McLuhan, Woody Alan moments right now, but that would be way OT.
Er does anyone anyone else think it is odd that protesters still need 7, SEVEN, S-E-V-E-N, days' notice to protest.--Steve UK
As I read the linked article, the dismissal of the charges against the protesters isn't directly connected to the change in the ordinance from 14 to 7 days; the change had already been made by the time the judge ruled in the case.
But the protesters weren't even protesting when they were thrown in jail. The ordinance shouldn't have applied to them in the first place.
The judge ruled the ordinance unconstitutional on the grounds that it was "overly broad," but the article doesn't say in what respect, so it's not clear whether the change from 14 to 7 days would make any difference. The judge might well rule the same way if folks are arrested in the future under the amended ordinance. We'd need more details to know exactly what was involved.
Here's an essay that amplifies the actual details of the case:
http://tinyurl.com/2zvln
Written before this latest decision, but note the FOX/AP spin-doctoring once placed in the actual context of what happened (previously known as 'the news').
--
Never once have I heard them suggesting that if they heavily fine those small businesses employing them, viola!: end of problem. But, see, that's not what to the dumbasses are taught to think. Blame those who are only trying to make a better life and not those who are making money off them paying them slave wages.
Incognito
Not just small businesses -- don't forget Wal-Mart, which seems to have escaped paying any sort of penalty for hiring illegal immigrants and paying them starvation wages.
But your point is well taken. Business is sacrosanct, period. Only individuals who are not of the managerial class or higher are to be held responsible for their actions. "The market" is infinite in its wisdom.
It's beyond me how the wingers assume that if someone's motive is to make as much money as possible, it "proves" that he or she is above reproach.
Some Nair needs to be applied to Bush's schnauzer.
Nair/Bush '04!
OT - Posted Yesterday:
STATUS REPORT....Quick note: the Washington Monthly site has been up and down for the past few hours. Some people can get to it and some people can't. For me, it was down this morning and then came back up around 11 o'clock. Other people report that they haven't been able to bring up the site since last night.
It probably doesn't do much good to post about this, since the people who can't reach the site aren't going to see it, but, um, I'm doing it anyway. This is probably all caused by some kind of DNS problem out in the vast reaches of the internet, and hopefully our host will resolve it shortly.
UPDATE: Yeah, it was a DNS problem. Apparently our DNS provider decided to stop providing DNS to us, but we didn't get the message and last night they pulled the plug. We're back on the air now, just waiting for everything to propagate fully. Everything should be OK by Saturday.
—Kevin Drum 3:29 PM
When the HELL is a Federal judge going to declare "Free Speech Zones/First Amendment Zones" unconstitutional?
You can't petition the government for redress of grievences IF THE TARGET of your petition, i.e., the president, et al, never see your protest?
Cokie Roberts... hmm... hasn't she advocated for internet censorship in the past? Anyway, she always sets off the HATE alarm in my brain...
Just when did Cokie go around the bend like this? I seem to remember her not being so bad years ago. Was it during the Clinton years that she started drinking the kool-aid?
They're not going to cure the Constitutional problem by changing the number of days of advance warning that are needed. Overly broad means that it's overly broad, that it restricts protected speech more than it should. It doesn't mean you required them to wait too long; it means you stomped too hard on the core values of the Amendment.
But they'll find that out, too.
Now, is that 7 business days? Are federal holidays included? May I have a recipt for the $25 fee? Where do I go to register before I protest...You say it's closed on Sundays? May I wear an anti-Bush t-shirt in line as I wait to get my stub? What? You say there's no line? Oh, the office has been closed for lunch...From 10-2?
But I can get a fishing/hunting license at Walmart?
I'm afraid I'll have to protest this.
Now, is that 7 buiness days...
wait...one can get a hand gun in 24 hours....But a protestor's license in 7 days.
I'm afraid they caught on to my type B behavior that will prevent me from being organized 7 days in advance.
I got a bit riled about free speech zones myself. Went out this week and got a package of plain white t-shirts and some fabric paint. Now I have 2 shirts with a blue outline of the contiguous 48 states; inside in red block letters FREE SPEECH ZONE. I'll paint the third when the paper stencil is dry. One's for me, one for my older sister, one for a friend.
This is my first post here after several weeks of lurking. The intelligent and articulate level of discourse continues to give me hope. Except, of course, for the trolls. They can go Dick Cheney.
If I were Kerry, I think I'd start to make a point of walking over and chatting with protestors, shaking their hands, at least listening to what they have to say for a few minutes at every rally. Smile, be pleasant, say he'd like their vote in November, but hopes they'll remember to vote either way.
Just because I think it would make such a nice contrast.
Ahianne,
If you start marketing those more widely, let us know!
"Is the link down for anybody else?"
I haven't been able to access Kevin's site since Thursday night. He must be having some serious troll troubles! (Just kidding!)
Hecate, good idea. I can't think of any President in my lifetime who was more afraid of seeing protestors. Even Nixon would have gone whining about "Why don't you like me?" to them, and Reagan (whom I loathed at the time and still loathe) would joke with them, to say nothing of what Clinton used to do. Anything that reminds us of what American Presidents should be like in the face of political opposition is a good thing.
It's truly amazing how loudly the Rs scream about the two Johns having money. Anyone who's rich and white and isn't a Republican is a hypocrite. Pushing that tired class warfare gambit as far as it will stretch.
Hecate- I'm not planning on marketing these. I did them by hand on my kitchen table and they look like the amateur productions that they are. If anyone wants to use this idea, fine by me. I'm going to have to duck out again now-thunder is getting louder.
And is anyone as sickened as I am by the name "free speech zone" being aplied to what is clearly a censorship zone? Think about it: Censorship is free speech. Occupation is liberation. What next? Poverty is wealth? Freedom is slavery? Down is up?
There is much to be learned, IMO, from Poland during the days of Solidarity. Remember, these people had very extreme experiences of repression, but we are heading down the same road, so let's look at some of what they did to protest.
There was no right to assemble in groups of more than three, IIRC. So what did they do to show their displeasure? Every night at the same time, perhaps six or maybe seven o'clock the nightly state news was on television. And every evening at that moment on the dot, everyone left their homes and went for a walk, up and down, around the block, hither and yon. But in groups no larger than three. Everyone did it. The entire population of a city or a town was out on the streets at the same time, legally, peaceably walking. And they returned to their homes, precisely on the dot, when the news finished.
Now when the entire population of a city or town goes for a walk at exactly the same time, officials notice. The country's press (such as it is) notices. The foreign press staying there notices. Foreign diplomats notice.
Too bad I only began to remember this recently; it was a piece I read in a magazine quite a few years ago. I would have forwarded a suggestion to activist groups in NYC -- Since polls say the vast majority of New Yawkers resent the RNC convention, wouldn't it be great if every person who opposed it, during the time of the convention, went about their normal business on the streets on Manhattan wearing a simple shirt with a *very large* universal circle/slash prohibition symbol -- with the letter "B" or perhaps "B/C" on the front.
If huge numbers of people were to wear such a shirt all at once, not at a protest, but simply obvious everywhere on the streets, the media couldn't NOT feature it. And, to boot, no one in theory could be arrested anywhere in Manhattan -- when approached by a thug, you just say that you are no longer fond of the letters "B" and "C" and believe that they should be stricken from the English language, and from all civilized discourse.
Well, anyway, that's a current fantasy of mine. But I do think that reading up on what the Polish people did -- they had many, many tricks up their sleeves -- as well as the Serbs who got Milosevic out of power as a result of huge, creative demonstrations, and the East Germans right before the wall came down, etc. There's a man who studied and catalogued the history of all creative non-violent techniques for opposing oppression of all sorts. His name's Gene Sharp. Google him. If you've not heard of him before, IMO you'll be glad you did.
Ooops. Meant to say "But I do think reading up on...IS A GREAT IDEA."
gee, are they saying the government acted like fascists?
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