I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
Also, the whole notion of a litigation explosion and an overly litigious society is total 100% nonsense, but nobody ever bothers to look at the data.
See, e.g., http://www.nyu.edu/pages/lawrevi...8/3/
Miller.html
Corporate or divorce lawyers would score lower than trial lawyers.
The fact Edwards made his fortune by sticking it to the man is probably understood by many of those polled...
It's their mistake to imagine that most people share the corporate culture's hatred of due process (for their victums, that is. No one rushes to the court house quicker than a rich jerk who thinks they can profit from it.) Lots of people realize that someday they could be only one lawyer away from total disaster. And the contingency fee system is their only chance to hire one.
Edwards had a couple of very high profile cases that are worthy of Erin Brokovich hype. I wonder of the press will play up the "champion of the little guy" angle.
$5 bucks says Cheney will weasel out of a debate with Edwards simply because the compare and contrast will make Unkle Dick look very petty. (The CEO gleem has most definitely worn away.)
All this shows is that the media hasn't told people yet how much they're supposed to hate trial lawyers.
Hmmm...not sure I'm optimistic even so. There's a difference between "trial lawyers" and "traahhl loohhrs."
Trial lawyers are the people who try civil suits, ensuring that citizens have a civilized means of redress for economic and personal losses. Most people use them at least once in their lives, and since most trial lawyers are competent professionals, most people have no complaints with their trial lawyers.
Traahhl loohhrs, on the other hand, are evil. No good, no 'count, snake in th' grass slick fellers out to make a fast buck on the backs of honest, good-hearted 'Murrikans--why, folks jus' like yew good folks. Oh, they kin talk a spell--like to set a body's head a-spinnin' with their high-falutin' loohhr-talk, but jes' between you an' me, folks, you can't trust 'em hardly any further'n you can throw 'em.
Edwards has done a marvelous job of reminding voters he's a Trial Lawyer. So far. We'll see. Knock on wood. Bush still has a lot of money and a lot of time for slurs.
My trial lawyer and I have been joined at the hip for the last ten years as we work our case thru every level of the civil court system. Nice lawyer, good, good!
It's -corporate- lawyers people have a problem with - not the ones saving we folk from the likes of the Shrubbery. The simple fact that the Shrubbery is unable or unwilling to acknowledge the difference makes it only one more nail in their doomed enterprise.
They just don't have anything like the dirt that they have *generated* on the other guys, do they?
Tsk!
Scorpio
Eccentricity
Repulsicans never mention Bush's target="friv">frivolous lawsuit...
Kevin Bacon passed the bar?
Most people have trouble with lawyers, period. One good reason for that is that there are so many bad lawyers out there.
Some people do have a negative view of plaintiff's lawyers. However, Edwards looks about as far from most peoples' (mis)conception of a plaintiff's attorney that it isn't going to matter. My man Edwards is a fantastic asset to this campaign. He is the perfect foil for Kerry. Edwards is warm, personable and very good looking. Kerry is more aloof and serious. Perfect presidential combination, IMHO.
Some years back I used to give all my lawyer friends the usual crap about having sold out, high and mighty from my self-inflicted poverty grad school perch.
A year living in Russia changed that, and I sent a mea culpa to the friend I had bludgeoned the most: Thank God that we live in a society where lawyers are powerful, it sure beats the alternative ...
I don't think Bushco will simply say, "trial lawyer - bad" vis-a-vis Edwards. Not enough. I think that, among other things, they will attempt to use Edwards as a straw man to make people think that med mal lawsuits are the reason why they don't have healthcare. "Doctors are driven out of their practices by astronomical malpractice premiums because of predatory trial lawyers."
I hope the Dem side is prepared to fight back and tell the truth: "Premiums are out of whack because the insurance companies are a bunch of greedy, corrupt motherfuckers. If we are in bed with trial lawyers - trial lawyers like John Edwards who successfully advocated for everyday Americans - then the GOP is in bed with the insurance companies and multinational corporations."
I hope they do so. (They will probably have to leave the "motherfuckers" part out, though.)
A - Word..
My god, I've never ever needed a lawyer, but have a bunch of friends who do indeed (whisper it) actually PRACTICE LAW! Evil, bottom-feeding tort whores, every last one! (Thanks for clearing that up for me, GOP..)
Doesn't Crazy Ann also have a law degree? Whom would you prefer to fight like hell for an injured child?
I think any poll that is taken on any subject has 25% picking the stupid answer.
I've said it before and will say it again. Everybody loves bashing lawyers till they need a good one. And they're damned lucky if they can afford one. Edwards is the best kind of trial lawyer who puts his ass on the line and his own resources to fight for cases he believes he can win and that have merit. This is not ambulance chasing by a long shot. Nice try, rethugs.
Trial lawyer? I thought John Edwards was the guy who communicated with the dead. So he's not our "Crossing Over" candidate? Shucks.
Ain't it ironik that the dum ass crakers that need lowyers the most are guna beeleve bush and cheeny that theys badins.
Tena! I was thinking of you in particular, our own personal Eschaton tort whore. 
A.
I wonder of the press will play up the "champion of the little guy" angle.
Don't bother.
I'm trying to think of a particular group that Bush courts that may think lawyers are bad...
Maybe with a holier-than-thou attitude that needs to be protected from exposure to scandal and crime...
Possibly tax exempt, but probably an arms length (give or take an elbow) away from the government...
Maybe with wide-spread child molestation throughout their ranks...
BTW, my sister-in-law is one of the finest lawyers and human beings I know!
BTW, the Liberal Caller Of The Day buried Limbaugh the other day by asking him if he had ever sued anybody or hired a lawyer for anything.
Stammering, stuttering and the trademark dodge of going to a commercial and having a different, dittohead caller when they came back ensued.
Heh, I said "sued".
...they will attempt to use Edwards as a straw man to make people think that med mal lawsuits are the reason why they don't have healthcare.
S in Mich:
Just refer to the points made in this article. And repeat them over and over again.
Edwards looks very good.
Bytor
So's you sayin' they's onliest 3.4% of the folks that thanks negatively about Edwards is a trial lawyer?
That's some good new, ain't it, boy?
Pie, that link is phenomenal. Thanks.
I'd like to see someone with the GOP line explain it to me "like I'm a six year old" why being a trial lawyer is bad.
And as for those congress people who "used to be lawyers" -- how many of them have really only abandoned private practice (retaining their bar affiliation)?
And aren't a lot of them affiliated with bars?
I just got back from the Kerry/Edwards rally in Raleigh, NC. First let me say that I’ve never seen that many people on campus before. Estimates during the rally were at 25.000. By comparison, I was able to count all of 10 (news reports say 15) Bush supporters waiting outside. Now a 2,500:1 ratio is nothing to sneeze at.
I’d been impressed with Edwards’ addresses during the primaries, but with his introduction of Kerry he’s starting to reach new heights, and I think his background as a trial lawyer is the key. To put it simply, now Edwards has a client. He’s spent his entire professional career as an advocate, representing other people’s interests to the best of his ability, and he’s damn good at it. I believe that before this whole thing is over his experience is going to prove a benefit, certainly for Kerry personally, and if he can get traction as “an advocate for the average person” maybe as a campaign issue as well.
Athenae - alas, I cannot claim to be a Tort Whore, since I was more of a court-appointment whore. It is a slightly different kind of whoring, in which one sells oneself ostensibly to the judge, but in reality to the court clerk.
"Only 28.4% say being a trial lawyer negatively affects their opinion of Edwards.
This number reflects chimpy's hardcore base, the dittohead/FAUX/Hannity/Savage crowd. These are the people that will vote for him no matter what.
For a sneak preview of what a vice presidential debate between Sen. Edwards and Vice President Cheney might look like, click here
You need to turn on your sound before you click on the link.
Wait until both the Cheney video and the Edwards video load. Edwards speaks first. To hear Cheney's response, click "play" after listening to Edwards.
We get more evidence every day that Rove is anything but a genius.
It's looking more likely that he's just been very *lucky* up to this point.
Perhaps he burned up all his luck getting Nero into the White House... and now he's got nothing left to fight John².
Didn't Bush early on attempt to take someone to court for defamation of character or such. basically someone was critical of his character or such and he attempted a law suit?
Hey, as long as you get paid, Tena. You know I'm just teasing. How's your tooth doing?
A.
We get more evidence every day that Rove is anything but a genius.
Seraphiel, it was "Mission accomplished/Stuffed crotch/Flight suit that clinched it for me.
Based on his previous "success", Rove was under the illusion that He Could Do No Wrong.
What an idiot.
Seraphiel
Regarding Rove: Even the best snake oil salesman has to have some snake oil in the bottle. Bush is an empty vessel.
The Chimpster and Fuck You agree:
Like whores, lawyers work for a fee.
Politicians, we know,
Don't do it for dough.
They will gladly screw us for free.
Bush better watch his mouth, he's gonna need a good lawyer to bail his ass out on the Plame scandal.
Lime Rickey,
Your consistency is amazing.
Kudos.
I posted this link here a few days ago, but I will repeat it, as it is germane: Guess who's behind the tort-reform movement?
Yeah I found it. So Lawyers must be good.
Not sure how to post the link. It is at the Washington Post and the major figure is a web site owner named Exley.
I forgot that Bush even said per the article:
"there ought to be limits to freedom"
I agree with Seraphiel that Rove is not some kind of boy wonder. He's a practiced political slime machine; an old fashioned hit man and meaner and dirtier than opponents could imagine. That doesn't make you a genious, it makes you unethical.
OT? i'm bringing this forward from the previous thread, because i see tena is here, and i think she'll appreciate it (it's something we should all be reading, even though it happened in 2000, they will try it again, and it is a major symptom of one of the ways in which our democracy is broken.) anyone who does not think that minorities, african americans in particular, weren't disenfranchised in FLA in 2000, needs to see the c-span footage--excerpted in moore's F9/11--and read the official transcript (WHERE WAS THE NYT?!)
part 1
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- HOUSE
Saturday, January 6, 2001
07th Congress, 1st Session
47 Cong Rec H 31
REFERENCE: Vol. 147, No. 4
TITLE: COUNTING ELECTORAL VOTES--JOINT SESSION OF THE HOUSE AND SENATE HELD
PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1
SPEAKER: Mr. DEUTSCH; Mr. THOMAS ONE OF THE TELLERS); Mr. FATTAH ONE OF THE
TELLERS); Mr. HASTINGS OF FLORIDA; Mrs. MEEK OF FLORIDA; Ms. BROWN OF FLORIDA;
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON OF TEXAS; Mr. CUMMINGS; Ms. JACKSON-LEE OF TEXAS; Ms.
WATERS; Ms. MCKINNEY; Mrs. MINK OF HAWAII; Mrs. CLAYTON; Mr. FILNER; Mr.
JACKSON
OF ILLINOIS; Mr. MCCONNELL ONE OF THE TELLERS)
TEXT: [*H31]
At 1:02 p.m. the Sergeant at Arms, Wilson Livingood, announced the
Vice President and the Senate of the United States.
The Senate entered the Hall of the House of Representatives, headed
by the Vice President and the Secretary of the Senate, the Members and officers of the House rising to receive them.
The Vice President took his seat as the Presiding Officer of the
joint convention of the two Houses, the Speaker of the House occupying
the chair on his left. Senators took seats to the right of the rostrum
as prescribed by law.
The joint session was called to order by the Vice President.
The VICE PRESIDENT. Mr. Speaker and Members of Congress, the Senate
and the House or Representatives, pursuant to the requirements of the
Constitution and the laws of the United States, are meeting in joint
session for the purpose of opening the certificates and ascertaining
and counting the votes of the electors of the several States for
President and Vice President.
After ascertainment has been had that the certificates are authentic
and correct in form, the tellers will count and make a list of the
votes cast by the electors of the several States.
The tellers on the part of the two Houses will take their places at
the Clerk's desk.
[*H32]
The tellers, Senator Dodd and Senator McConnell on the part of the
Senate, and Mr. Thomas and Mr. Fattah on the part of the House, took
their places at the desk.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The Chair will open the certificates in
alphabetical order and pass to the tellers the certificates showing the
votes of the electors in each State, and the tellers will then read,
count, and announce the result in each State.
point of order--
To put it simply, now Edwards has a client............................................
very,very perceptive.
PART TWO OF TRANSCRIPT:
Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Vice President, I make a point of order.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The gentleman will state his point of order.
Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Vice President, we have just completed the closest election in American history.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The gentleman will suspend.
The Chair is advised by the Parliamentarian that, under section 18 of title 3, United States Code, no debate is allowed in the joint session.
If the gentleman has a point of order, please present the point of
order.
Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Vice President, there are many Americans who still believe that the results we are going to certify today are illegitimate.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The gentleman will suspend.
If the gentleman from Florida has a point of order, he may present
the point of order at this time. Otherwise, the gentleman will suspend.
Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Vice President, I will note the absence of a quorum and respectfully request that we delay the proceedings until a quorum
is present.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The Chair is advised by the Parliamentarian that section 17 of title 3, United States Code, prescribes a single
procedure for resolution of either an objection to a certificate or
other questions arising in the matter. That includes a point of order that a quorum is not present.
The Chair rules, on the advice of the Parliamentarian, that the point
of order that a quorum is not present is subject to the requirement that it be in writing and signed by both a Member of the House of Representatives and a Senator.
Is the point of order in writing and signed not only by a Member of
the House of Representatives but also by a Senator?
Mr. DEUTSCH. It is in writing, but I do not have a Senator.
The VICE PRESIDENT. The point of order may not be received.
FOCUS - 26 of 28 DOCUMENTS
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- HOUSE
Saturday, January 6, 2001
107th Congress, 1st Session
147 Cong Rec H 46
REFERENCE: Vol. 147, No. 4
TITLE: EXPLANATION OF PROCEEDINGS OCCURRING DURING JOINT SESSION
SPEAKER: The Speaker pro tempore Ms. Waters)
TEXT: [*H46]
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the House for 5 minutes to speak
about what took place here in joint session today and to talk
about what has led us to this point.
Today, here in this Chamber, we had a joint session to count the
electoral votes; and, of course, there were some of us, mostly
represented by Members from the Congressional Black Caucus, who chose to come to the floor in an attempt to object to the acceptance of the electoral votes from Florida. We did that, despite the fact we
understood the rules. We knew that in order to object, we had to have in writing the objection, signed by both a House Member and a Member of
OT,
Phunny Photoshop.
From "The best page in the Universe"
http://tinyurl.com/68ja
Eh.. the American public is cynical in general, and lawyers fall into their ire for several reasons that are legitimate when taken into account shallowly. But I honestly haven't known anyone who has a real, personal hatred of lawyers. I do know quite a few people that are pretty hostile to CEOs and oilmen.
Maybe I just hang out with the right people.
We did that, despite the fact we
understood the rules. We knew that in order to object, we had to have in writing the objection, signed by both a House Member and a Member of the Senate.
We did not have one Member of the Senate who had signed any
objection, but we came to the floor of this House and we said to the
Vice President, who presided over the joint session, each time that we
objected we said that, no, we did not have a signature from a United
States Senator, that we only had our signature, we had the signatures of some of our colleagues, and we had the support of our constituents.
It was important for us to do this. It was important because we have
just experienced one of the most traumatizing and devastating
elections, particularly as it played out in Florida, that this country
has ever been involved with.
I would like to cite to you some of what happened in Florida that has
caused us so much concern. I am going to quote from an article that was done by Laura Flanders. I will not be quoting all of the article, but I
will be submitting the rest of this for inclusion in the Record.
On day one after the election, there was a story in the Florida papers about an unauthorized police roadblock, stopping cars not a mile from a black church-turned-polling-
booth. NAACP volunteers reported being swamped with
complaints from registered voters who found it impossible to
vote. They heard stories of intimidation at and around
polling places; demands for superfluous ID; people complained
about a pattern of singling out black men and youth for
criminal background checks, and in call after call, would-be
voters complained they had been denied language
interpretation and other help at the polls.
By now it is clear that overwhelmed election workers made a mass of mistakes, but those mistakes were laced through with
some clear intent to suppress some votes.
A full 3 weeks after the election, The New York Times
finally took a serious look and reported that, anticipating a
large turnout in a tight race, Florida election officials had
given laptop computers to precinct workers so they would have direct access to the State's voter rolls, but the computers
only went to some precincts and only one went to a precinct
whose people were predominantly black. The technology gap in the no-laptop precincts forced the workers there to rely on a few phone lines to the head office. Voters whose names did not appear on the rolls were held up, while workers tried to
get through on the phone, for hours, or until they gave up.
For those who voted, there was another technology glitch.
Mr. Speaker, 185,000 Floridians cast votes that did not
count. Theirs were the ballots that had been punched too few
or too many times, or were otherwise fla
For those who voted, there was another technology glitch.
Mr. Speaker, 185,000 Floridians cast votes that did not
count. Theirs were the ballots that had been punched too few
or too many times, or were otherwise flawed. Flaws too, seem
to have followed race lines. In an election that turned on a
few hundred votes, Floridians whose ballots failed to
register a mark for President were much more likely to have
voted with computer punch cards than optical scanning
machines. In Miami Dade, the county with the most votes cast,
predominantly black precincts saw their votes thrown out at 4
times the rate of white precincts. According to the Times,
one out of 11 ballots in predominantly black precincts were
rejected, a total of 9,904.
Urban, multi-racial Palm Beach, home of the infamous
butterfly ballot and Duval, where candidates' names were
spread across 2 pages despite what the published ballot had
shown, produced 31 percent of Florida's discarded ballots,
but only 12 percent of the total votes cast in Duval, which
has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the Nation, more
than 26,000 votes were rejected, 9,000 from precincts that
were predominantly black.
Many Floridians who found themselves "scrubbed'' off the
voting rolls were not purged accidentally, reports Gregory
Palast for Salon.com. Florida Secretary of State Katherine
Harris paid a private firm, ChoicePoint, $4 million to
cleanse the voting rolls, and the firm used the State's
felon-ban to exclude 8,000 voters who had never committed a
felony. ChoicePoint is a Republican outfit. Board members
include former New York Police Commissioner Howard Safir, and
billionaire Ken Langone, chair of the fund-raising committee
for Mayor Giuliani's aborted New York Senate bid.
I cannot complete all of what I would like to share, but I will be
submitting this for the Record. Let the record show that we were here
today, that we participated and we voiced our objection, and the fight
will continue for justice and equality. People were disenfranchised,
and that must be stopped and corrected.
The erroneous data wasn't their doing, ChoicePoint
complains, the names came, raw, from the state of Texas. They
were supposed to be reviewed locally, but they were
distributed un-reviewed. African Americans dominate. (The
8,000 wrong names were "a minor glitch'' ChoicePoint told
Palast; a glitch fifteen times the size of the Texas
Governor's lead.)
As for that election morning police checkpoint, near
Tallahassee, Robert Chamber, a Black resident, told the
Guardian UK he knew what it was about: "putting fear in
people's hearts... '' The Florida panhandle is home to
th
and here's a timely cartoon from today's boston globe by dan wasserman:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe...torial_opinion/
"putting fear in
people's hearts... '' The Florida panhandle is home to
the largest concentration of neo-confederate white
supremacist groups in the US. But this problem is no neo-nazi
plot--it's racism of the institutional, not the exceptional
kind, and even more devastating than the statistics has been
Democratic leadership's silence. While African Americans in
huge numbers know there was massive voter fraud, harassment
and intimidation a la Jim Crow, the Democratic Party's white
top-dogs have resolutely refused to talk about voting rights,
race or racism--Why? For fear it will hurt them in the court
of public opinion? Among white swing voters and southern
Democrats? Already hurting in all of those places, they're
trifling with one of the few solid voting blocks they've got
left, (Blacks, Latinos, Jews.)
The NAACP came out strong, the weekend after the election,
holding public hearings and gathering 300 pages of legally
sworn testimony from 486 people who say they were denied
their right to vote. With the Congressional Black Caucus the
NAACP wrote to Janet Reno seeking a Justice Department
investigation into possible violations of the Voting
Rights Act. That was back on November 14th. Since then,
the Gore campaign has filed dozens of lawsuits--not one
deals with violations of voting rights. The Justice
Department has initiated what officials go out of their
way to characterize as a preliminary inquiry, not an
investigation. (Alligator-wrestler Reno is scared to stir
he waters in her home-state, where she's hoping to retire
any day now, some say.)
The Gore team has chosen to try to eke some votes out of
three counties with manual counts, and to make much of
butterflies and chards, but nothing of race. (Recently, Gore
told a reporter he was "very troubled'' by the "serious
allegations.'' That's it.) His racist denial of the
seriousness of racism makes nonsense out of US politics.
The Electoral College is a tool of racism. As Yale's Akhil
Reed Amar wrote in the New York Times, "the College was
designed at
[*H47]
the founding of the country to help one group--white Southern
males--and this year, it has apparently done just that.''
In the years after the forced-end of slavery, former slave
states like Florida imposed those felon-disenfranchisement
laws, precisely to disempower freed-but-impoverished Blacks.
The political parties crafted the statewide primary system
into what amounted to a white-man's private club to keep the
newly enfranchised under the old establishment's control.
Then came literacy tests and poll taxes--voters had to keep
their tax-receipts
Librarian,
Could you just provide a link, please? Sorry, but this multiple disjointed cut and paste is kind of tiresome.
Then came literacy tests and poll taxes--voters had to keep
their tax-receipts on file--anything to keep electoral power
in white hands. For an idea of what those tackling literacy
tests faced, consider: under Jim Crow, Florida required that
textbooks used by the public school children of one race be
kept separate from those used by the other--even in storage.
After the 1965 Act was passed, states did everything they
could to dilute Black influence. Winner-take-all systems, or
absolute majority vote requirements were embraced to keep
black candidates from winning over split fields of white
candidates in local races--in just the same way as winner-
take-all works in the presidential contest. More offices were
filled by appointment. Legislative and congressional district
lines were redrawn to keep black voting strength submerged.
None of this requires looking back very far: the same House
Speaker, Tim Feeney, who wants the Florida legislature to
select a Bush slate of Electors no matter what the vote-
counters count, suggested reintroducing literacy tests just
two weeks ago: "Voter confusion is not a reason for whining
or crying or having a revote,'' said Feeney. "It may be a
reason to require literacy tests.'' (Palm Beach Post, 11/16.)
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who may well be the
final arbiter of which votes get counted and which (white)
man gets the White House, is William Rehnquist, a
segregationist from way back.
In 1962, Republican activist William (then "Bill'')
Rehnquist was the leader of Operation Eagle Eye, a flying
squad of GOP lawyers that swept through polling places in
south Phoenix to question the right of minority voters to
cast their ballots. As Dave Wagner reported in the Arizona
Republic last year, Rehnquist defended keeping African
Americans out of stores and restaurants in Phoenix. In 1964,
at the Bethune Precinct, (which was 40 percent Hispanic
and 90 percent Democratic) Rehnquist and Operation Eagle
Eye activists challenged every Black and Mexican voter's
ability to read the Constitution of the United States in
the English language (then a requirement.)
The result, according to one witness, was "a line a half-
block long, four abreast... They wanted people to become
frustrated and leave.'' In his testimony to a US Senate
hearing on his appointment to the Supreme Court, Rehnquist
denied that he officially challenged anyone's right to vote.
Just as today's defenders of Bush, argue that voter error,
not bias, disproportionately shrank the counted vote,
Rehnquist argued that he broke no rules, he was just
following the law.
Trying to wage poli
Rehnquist argued that he broke no rules, he was just
following the law.
Trying to wage politics in the US while tiptoing around
racism is like sidestepping an elephant. It's dangerous, it's
not smart, and it won't work, What suppresses the Black and
minority vote suppresses the Democratic and liberal-
progressive vote. The majority of white male voters haven't
pooled Democratic since 1964 and only women of color create
the gender gap for Gore. Yet the unequal distribution of
resources and bias that created a practically apartheid
voting system in Florida was sustained by the Democratic
Party--who approved of the process, try as they might to
blame the Governor's cronies. And Democratic pro-drug war,
pro-death penalty, pro-felon disenfranchisement policies
stoked the racist atmosphere in which this election was held.
The conditions are ripe for a pro-democracy movement. A
moment, at least: this is it. Some things have changed in the
nation since 1964, and when the pubic has heard (or seen on
CSPAN) the witnesses who gave the NAACP testimony, they have
been shocked. Voter protests in Florida have built a multi-
racial coalition, that is advocating the kind of electoral
reform the whole nation could get behind. Among their
demands: a non-partisan election commission, standardized
voting procedures and federal enforcement of the Voting
Rights Act. Add to that, the longer-term structural changes
some advocate: instant run off voting, or some form of
proportional representation, so that small parties (and
minority constituencies) could build support for their issues
without throwing elections to their foes.
The public has seen the Electoral College in its worst
light: for the first time, the tyranny of a minority may
contradict the popular will. Perhaps something will come of
the shared experience of disenfranchisement. But not if we
don't talk about what's at the root of it: racism. Not "the
system,'' but this particular, racist one. And those who've
been marginalized must occupy the center. People of color are
central to why our electoral system is set up this way;
likewise, they must be at the heart of any movement for real
democracy. We can get rid of the racism, but only if we all
shove that elephant out at once.
END
(sorry for length, there's more--you can look it up, the people need to know about this...they will do it again this year, no doubt, if we don't get the word out now. -librarian)
My friends and I are getting together for a little drinking game during the Presidential debate.
Every time you hear the phrase...
"Massachusetts liberal" - take a shot
"wealthy trial lawyer" - chug a beer
"terrorist threat" - two shots
I expect to be hammered ten minutes into the debate.
*also*
I set up my blog yesterday, check it out if you want, it's still getting started.
Gee, if they go all-out against Edwards being a trial lawyer, he'll have no choice other than to bring out some of his clients.
Would RoveBush really want to go up against cute crippled children?
i apologize again for the length and lack of link (it's lexis-nexis and you can't link in unless you have a paid account.) i know how annoying it is, but i'm just so upset! people don't know, and they NEED to know, and if they DID know, they'd do something! and midnight on a saturday on a blog is hardly the best way to get the news out, but i don't know what else to do!
sorry again,
librarian
OT, BUT DAMN IMPORTANT: Our Broken System
On Tuesday, July 6, 2004, Judge Reggie Walton made a decision and ruled on my case. Under his ruling, I, an American citizen, am not entitled to pursue my 1st and 5th Amendment rights guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States. The vague reasoning cited, without any explanation, is to protect "certain diplomatic relations for national security."
by Sibel Edmonds
Sibel Edmonds FBI translator who blew the whistle on the 9/11 coverup Info retroactively classifyied classifyied While, things she talks about like President Bush's uncle Jonathan Bush and the Riggs Bank $25 million fine for a "willful, systemic" violation of anti-money-laundering laws are underreported but like the BCCI scandal YOU CAN STILL Follow the Money
HAIL JOHN EDWARDS
OUR OWN TOM SAWYER
EVEN GEORGE BUSH
COULD USE A GOOD LAWYER
MOTION TO DISMISS SNUBYA!
+++
scorpio post at 10:50 cool site, select smart,never looked at it before very interesting!!!
Abraham Lincoln was a trial lawyer. Why do Republicans hate Abe?
i apologize again for the length and lack of link (it's lexis-nexis and you can't link in unless you have a paid account.) i know how annoying it is, but i'm just so upset! people don't know, and they NEED to know, and if they DID know, they'd do something! and midnight on a saturday on a blog is hardly the best way to get the news out, but i don't know what else to do!
sorry again,
librarian
The day John Edwards was selected as running mate, I saw a pic of Kerry and Edwards alongside a pic of Chimpy and Grumpy, on CNN. Chimpy and Grumpy looked like a pair of goofy Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters. I feel that they have already lost this election.
GEORGE BUSH, LEADER
SHOW YOUR FURY!
WHEN YOU APPEAR
BEFORE A GRAND JURY
DRINK A FIFTH AND PLEAD IT TOO!
+++
Librarian, I also have access to lexis-nexis and have no problem giving the login and password out. If anybody is interested let me know. Fuck the information war against "the people".
I've been away for awhile.
I don't recognize these commenters.
The commenters I remember are now Atrios bloggers.
Wait! I'm drunk on my ass! That's it!
I better go now.
Hey, and everybody should love Harvey Birdman too.
WILL GEORGE AND DICK
GET THEIR DAY IN COURT?
WILL THEY DEMAND
REFORMS OF TORT?
BUSH CAN GO CHENEY HIMSELF!
+++
Librarian, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but the ultra long posts are very tiresome. Chop it down or start your own blog. Really, I'm on your side but make shorter posts. We want to hear from lots of people.
MJS,
Kudos to you too,
Love,
Off Topic, but relevant to today, I feel.
Pamphlets of The White Rose, a group of German students who organized to resist the rise and domination of the Nazi Party.
They lasted 18 months before they were all caught and executed.
Read these pamphlets and feel the same shock of recognition that I did.
THUNDER, LIGHTNING
HAIL AND RAIN
INVADE IRAQ?
GEORGE: PLEAD INSANE!
SEE YOU AT THE DARWIN AWARDS!
+++
Chris Tucker -
Powerful stuff, and scary too. Thanks, and mind if I think of myself as a "white rose democrat"?
I have read the white rose pamphlets and know about them well.
I did a paper on them a few sems back.
Thats' one of the reasons I have no problem giving my login and password out to lexis-nexis or any other buffer they want to use to block info... we are in an information war and I we die on my feet not my knees!
I believe in copyleft!
" Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. "
-H.L. Mencken
Chris
I just read two of them and I have this feeling I just want to go to bed, put a pillow over my head and pretend they didn't exist. I am not sure I want to read more. Permit me my five minutes of escapism because that is about all reality permits.
Too lazy to navigate the green graphics at this point, but I surely don't trust the Bush brownshirts with any personal info. (they'll steal it anyway) However, I'm going all out to publicly decry this admin. and their lying, decietful tactics.
I hate what they've done to my country. HA! They call us un-American? They don't understand the concept.
BEST & MOST PERCEPTIVE POST ON THREAD
I’d been impressed with Edwards’ addresses during the primaries, but with his introduction of Kerry he’s starting to reach new heights, and I think his background as a trial lawyer is the key. To put it simply, now Edwards has a client. He’s spent his entire professional career as an advocate, representing other people’s interests to the best of his ability, and he’s damn good at it. I believe that before this whole thing is over his experience is going to prove a benefit, certainly for Kerry personally, and if he can get traction as “an advocate for the average person” maybe as a campaign issue as well.
Mr Saturday | Email | Homepage | 07.10.04 - 11:11 pm | #
Chris Tucker,
History DOES repeat itself.
Thanks for the link, I guess.
(I Don't want to shoot the messenger.)
I remember the days when I was ignorant and happy.
I guess it's true, you can't go home.
I have another question, since there are so many people around here that have some amazing insight and background. After World War II, what groundwork was put into place for the German populace to at least attempt to ensure the people were a bit more immune to a charismatic figure such as Hitler and his concepts?
I am beginning to grasp through threads such as this one how apathetic or at least helpless the general population feels in light of politics and the effect it has on their welfare.
"Premiums are out of whack because the insurance companies are a bunch of greedy, corrupt motherfuckers.
So true. They got tort reform in texas and guess what? premiums have gone up.
MJS, you're rocking tonight. Lime Ricky, you too.
I'm glad to see there are some people of intellect and good cheer left at least on this board.
Uncle $cam, I'll read your pamphlets tomorrow- if I do it tonight I might be tempted to get violent.
I am beginning to grasp through threads such as this one how apathetic or at least helpless the general population feels in light of politics and the effect it has on their welfare.
Make no mistake: this has been a very carefully crafted sense of helplessness.
The Bush regime and their apologists have gone to great lengths to convince the Average American that brown people are coming to eat their souls, and only the might of George Christ Bush can protect them.
The fear and patriotism of good people (like Lila Lipscomb, for example) have been obscenely exploited, to buy shallow support for a series of reprehensible, illegal acts.
We can only hope that the rest of America will wake up before it's too late.
Yes, Harvey Birdman is the protector of those that are denied more than just their civil rights/liberties....poor looney toon litigants aren't even given reality!
ooooooweeeeee-eeeeeeee-ooooohhhh.
I'm mind-taking. Everyone's AFDB on?
Sorry, I went nuts.
Seraphiel
I keep thinking about a young man I know. He is in his own way brilliant. He has listened to several us discuss all these issues many times. He doesn't care. His view is it is all the same. Nothing horrible is going on, just business as usual. The little guy gets screwed over and it doesn't matter who wins or loses. He almost revels in his apathy as a counter point to tin foil hatters like us. We cannot get to him even to take a tack for the conservative side. Sometimes he simply falls on his faith and indicates that in the long run, it doesn't matter because his higher authority shows him his fate. (My words not his). This drives me insane, a good mind that permits itself to be exploited and ultimately abused. Unfortunately, I think he has way too much company. I suspect some of this denial of real problems is what permitted the German folk to be swayed so radically.
A last bit of business for a saturday night in july: i posted the following at corrente in response to a commenter who (having seen F9/11) was sickened to learn that not one US senator would come to the aid of the Black caucus...
I read the paper for escape
I go to movies to learn the truth
I hide my head in a sandbox
Made in Iraq
Iraw
Iran
I die
Love the suit, Senator
Love the suit
Shake your fist
Ain't nobody gonna come
Ain't no Lone Rangers
Among the One Hundred
Senators
Stentators
Sententious orators
Ain't no Superman
Batman
Spiderman
Moral man
Africa has always been on its own
When the whips get to cracking
Millions will vote for Bush
Their votes will cascade like piss
Onto the graves of the returning dead
Of the native dead in Iraq
Of limbs gone to god, dear survivors
The living have minds like glass
Glass, when heated, seeks the old volcanoes
'night.
+++
We can only hope that the rest of America will wake up before it's too late.
I fear it's already too late:
Executive Order l2333
"The President has the power to seize property, organize and control the means of production, seize commodities, assign military forces domestic and abroad, call reserve forces amounting to 2 1/2 million men to duty, institute martial law, seize and control all means of transportation, regulate all private enterprise, restrict travel, and in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of all Americans...
Most [of these laws] remain a a potential source of virtually unlimited power for a President should he choose to activate them. It is possible that some future President could exercise this vast authority in an attempt to place the United States under authoritarian rule.
I believe he will. System analysis Research shows that once given powers they are always used.
I know this is late, and meaningless in the scheme of things, in the direction this thread has taken, and in the fact that my wife and I had too much vino, causing her to crash before, well, I could 'cast my ballot' tonight, but, I would like to say that my Republican friends are all fans of John Edwards.
They ALL had hoped that he would get the Dem nod, so that they could support a Dem, without it bothering their (collective) consciences. To each and every one of them, it isn't an issue that he is an attorney. What is an issue is that he made something of himself, after coming from modest beginnings.
This, along with some promising poll numbers, and, some excellent wine on a Saturday night, gives me hope.
We can only hope that the rest of America will wake up before it's too late.
I fear it's already too late:
Executive Order l2333
"The President has the power to seize property, organize and control the means of production, seize commodities, assign military forces domestic and abroad, call reserve forces amounting to 2 1/2 million men to duty, institute martial law, seize and control all means of transportation, regulate all private enterprise, restrict travel, and in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of all Americans...
Most [of these laws] remain a a potential source of virtually unlimited power for a President should he choose to activate them. It is possible that some future President could exercise this vast authority in an attempt to place the United States under authoritarian rule.
I believe he will. System analysis Research shows that once given powers they are always used.
Wyatt Urp
I wish there was a site that we could all 'testify' to those we have seen make the jump. It would be encouraging to see it in mass.
EkCenTrik, I suspect your young friend will have a come to Jesus moment when something terrible happens either to him or to someone he loves- he'll wake up and go "what the fuck!!"
Right now everything is still abstract to him.
I guess I'm remembering how stupid and uninterested in politics I was at 20. I blush to remember.
Hey, but look at me now! a full blown card-carrying tin foil hat sporting crazee just like the rest of you fine folks. Who says things don't ever change for the better? 
fourlegsgood
Wait a second. There is an ID card?
Damn I am always behind the times.
Dude, email me, I'll get you one.
You gotta make your own tin foil hat, but we give out points for creativity.
fourlegsgood
I am not sure if that moment will come for him until it is way too late. Another factor in there is pride, he never fails to surprise us with his ability to avoid some realities so his ego can stay intact. Pride is a pretty heft poison to carry around.
Oh well ... but we keep trying. At least we can say I told you so at some point in the future.
I will say one thing on an up point, For a while some folks were calling me Mel due to the Conspiracy Theory movie. That seems to be dying a quick death. I could enjoy the joke, but the sad part is in many instances confirmation of what I was communicating either showed up in the paper or were a few mouse clicks away. I have to admit some it sounded on face value pretty wild, but fact is stranger than fiction with the current administration.
Fourlegsgood I got a good chuckle out of your disclaimer under your contact section on your site.
Oh well nite folks... I have a mutant lawn to attack at dawn. The damn grass just keeps growing. I regret the fertilizer big time. Sometimes I hate products that actually work. Go figure.
(feebly attempted humor)- So we have a view that politicians "prostitute" themselves to get elected; if that is the case, what do you really want, a bush and dick that will screw you any way they can, every opportunity they have, or two rich johns that will deliver what they say they will ? sorry, been playing with this attempt at word play for awhile, I promise to let it go now. thanks, goodnight.
Can anyone say sexed-up? I think it's time to bring it back.
I love how the Dems signed that thing saying it was the CIA but then when answering questions they say it was the WH, makes me smile.
Ekcentric- that's not my site, that's our good buddy Scooter's site. (just trying to give his blog some action ya know)
I've never had a rhubarb pie in my life.
If I did have a blog however, I'd probably mercilessly and cruelly ridicule people too.
off-topic, but important:
please read this,
and this Bob Harris post.
alright, i'm guessing this election is nowhere near as close as it's being made out to be. things are messed up, but people should see it.
if nobody sees it, then what? strikes? brain drain? complacency?
i'm no stinking lawyer but have regretfully known a few (through the petty crimes and misdemeanors dept) and can honestly say that this is the first lawyer i'd willingly hire in good conscience.
Just a quick comment - not really on topic for anything.
I just saw former NY Governor Mario Cuomo on Tim Russet (don't know how old the episode was - might be a repeat). Russet has never impressed me. He seems pretty simple - little intellect, no REAL curiosity. Seems to be just waiting to make his next "research point".
Also,I had never heard Cuomo over an extended period of time, talking about a multitude of subjects. But tonight I did...and the man blew me away...EXTREMELY articulate, obviously in possession of a superior intellect...thoughtful, questioning, easily understood, a powerful, truthful and effective speaker.
Russet tried numerous times to "catch" him with his typical grade school debating tactics, only to be slapped back to stunned silence by Cuomo's sharp, concise and powerfully stated responses. Russet was truly out of his league.
Cuomo is the best I've heard in many, many years. And believe me, I've heard a lot. This man needs to be heard by as many Americans as possible. Kerry needs to get him out there. He's an unbelievable campaign asset.Use him.
At least 45,000 Arab Muslims killed in Afganistan and Iraq since 911. That 911 report says NORAD could have stopped the planes if the phones had been working right between the FAA and NORAD/NSA!
*remember none of it was about oil, but revenge and security.
*the economy was tanking, Wall steet was down over 900 pts. between the fucked up election and Sept 01
*OMB worked for the CIA during the Afgan/Russian War.
*what's that saying about the mob and the CIA? Once your in, you never get out?
I happen to think that a War Profiteering chicken hawk is way worse than a trial lawyer.
You know, I bet if Richard Clark wasn't around being a loud mouth about the threat of Al Queda, AshCross would have blamed some Iraqi patsies.
*OBL not OMB, I think they were a 80's new wave band.
I happen to think that a War Profiteering chicken hawk is way worse than a trial lawyer.
I agree and a WPCH that only makes in-bred racists proud.
* I can say that cause I am one, except for that racist part.
Oooh. Taguba interviews suddenly available:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/iss.../
19prison.b.htm
Much to read.
Some good news about the November elections...
...The little guy gets screwed over and it doesn't matter who wins or loses. He almost revels in his apathy as a counter point to tin foil hatters like us....--EkCenTrik
If he doesn't take action, he can't be blamed if the action fails. That's the mindset you have to overcome. Remind him of the "good Germans" and convince him that if he doesn't take action and it all goes down the tubes, he'll be even more to blame. There's no neutral territory here.
To put it simply, now Edwards has a client.--Mr. Saturday
In the mother of all class-action suits.
Waynorth, I saw that same interview with Russert and Cuomo. Cuomo is obviously slowing down. His contortionate attempts at bringing Lincoln into every question were painful to watch.
I've even fisked a little of it, just so you can know how weak his "arguments" were. "Terrorism is not a threat to this nation's survival" is among the more irresponsible of his views.
Cuomo is one of the most overrated politicians of our lifetime. And, now, he's just a shill for the anti-American Michael Moore's film distributors. What's next? Is Cuomo going to start representing Hezbollah?
"I'm more impressed with Kerry now that he chose Edwards," said Republican voter Robin Smith, 45, a teacher from Summerville, S.C. "I look at Kerry and I don't trust him, but he's got Edwards, who's more middle-of-the-road, a strong speaker, more able to reach the common man." some repug twit, in some article i read.
i know many like edwards, and i don't really have a problem with him, but i think miss twit has it bass ackwards. kerry has more integrity and has stood for what he believes in for, well all his life. if edwards wasn't a rich successful trial lawyer (which i don't begrudge him at all) he would be a used car salesman, or a politician-- oops. at any rate, edwards will be president one day, unless bush steals the election again, and usurps all power on to himself. see Uncle $cams post @ 1:54am. my repug brother says it couldn't happen, but i know, things change, and it could happen.
"I'm the commander - see, I don't need to explain - I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."
Could someone else look at this cool graphic from NASA and tell me I'm wrong about Toutatis and Mars, please.
Cuomo is obviously slowing down. His contortionate attempts at ZZZZZZZZZZZzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....
Trolby Putzold, do us a favor, go choke on an old preztel.
It's cool, you can move the solar system around and stuff...I was looking at it cause some think it might pass too close to earth but, it shows it's path crossing right on Mars!
OH forget it, I figured how to move the planets...the planes intersect but Mars will be out of the way, sorry, too early.
It does pass very close to earth though! 
:-O
Maybe this why we needed to steal the oil????
waynorth, 2:58, I saw the same interview between Russert and Cuomo and was equally impressed. What a broad and deeply nuanced mind (Cuomo, NOT Russert!)
Will someone inform me why Cuomo has not been a presidential candidate? He's one of those politicians who doesn't sound like a calculating politician. Does Cuomo have skeletons? if so, any ideas what they are?
Yes, kudos and gratitude to Kerry/Edwards if they take down the evil Bushies--which I think they can/will.
And yes, Edwards seems like a real decent, intelligent and affable man. And yes he is easy on the eyes. But as a NC-ian who has watched his career (FOR Patriot Act, FOR Iraq War, FOR a Bush tax cut, FOR John "death squad" Negroponte, ABSTAINED from Leahy's anti-war profiteering bill, etc...) I sure hope we see some walk to his populist talk come 1/05, cuz we sure haven't seen it in his short senate term.
Cuomo has not been a candidate because the people live south and also west of new york...
the right-wing steers the debate and the geeky-left is so focused they dont realize its a shenanigan!
same argument that makes me know what wall street does everyday? why would I want to know? I aint rich! neither are 90% of the sheeple in this country...
lawyers are bad - that one is tougher to sell to the sheep - the sheep do well with lawyers - winning cases against negligence and evil corporations.
OT: To the Five Boroughs - Beastie Boys:
"I think it's time we impeach tex"
"columbine bowling...we need gun controlling"
"we have a president we didn't elect"
a caller challenged Rush on this issue last week, though I was surprised to hear the call continue as long as it did without Rush pulling the plug. He asked Rush if hehad initiated litigation against anyone over the past few years, stating that if he did so, Rush was part of the problem he was highlighting to bash Edwards. It was very funny to hear Fatso hem and haw finally saying he "couldn't recall" whether he sued anyone recently...
Will someone inform me why Cuomo has not been a presidential candidate? He's one of those politicians who doesn't sound like a calculating politician.
think you just answered your own question. having said that, he was a politician, probably calculated he couldn't win, or worse yet, he could. as has been said, you don't really want anyone who wants the job (president), some others have taken this route, george mitchell, sam nunn. the idiotic devisiveness in our political discourse has, i believe, greivously injured the political process. who do i blame, reagan. i came of age during his tenure, maybe i don't see the whole scope of political history which i know has been fraught with these tensions, but reagans empty, twisted, rhetoric gave rise to the religious right, and their redneck, useful idiots, and has ultimately culminated, in a religious zealot, who pretends to be redneck (tho he is dumber than most renecks i have known), occupying the white house. pretty scary, huh.
Cuomo, I think, is too smart to be immediately accessible for a lot of people. I remember hearing a commentator say "When he speaks, you can hear the semi-colons," which I still consider the mark of a great orator. I have no idea why he never ran for national office--his son, Andrew, worked for the Clinton Administration, though.
And I'll give him a pass on the Lincoln thing. Russert would never have him on just to talk politics (you know what those liberals will say...), so he's using his book tour as a way to make his points in a national forum. But the K/E campaign should be watching this carefully--he'd be an amazing asset.
Unfortunately, Andrew Cuomo is no Mario.
OT
Another pro-war PM to bite the dust?
I make no claims for Andrew Cuomo. But his father, I think, is a genuine intellect rare in political life. And as his gentle but decisive answers to Russert show, he manages to do it without looking like an asshole. I was thinking (apropos of somthing completely different) about the Gore-Bush debate in the 2000 election--the "fuzzy math" debate--where Gore was treated by the media as though mentioning that Shrub's plan wouldn't work was tantamount to picking on a special ed kid. "Just because he's dumb doesn't make you better, mister smarty-pants" seemed to be the press line.
Anyway, that anti-intellectual bias seems to me to be a really serious problem in this country, and may be what placed real brakes on M. Cuomo's political career. I'm pretty smart, and you know what? I want my president to be smarter than me, so we don't end up, well, where we are now. Someone earlier on said this started with Reagan, and that may be true. But I think smart people should be running the country, sorry. Guess I'm just one of those Northeastern elitists.
Someone earlier on said this started with Reagan, and that may be true. But I think smart people should be running the country, sorry. Guess I'm just one of those Northeastern elitists.
Anti-intellectualism is as American as apple pie. Tracing its roots would require an investigation into the Scots-Irish settlers, who had good reason to distrust and despise the "educated" British who ruled them, and reminded them at every turn that the British were their superiors in education, breeding, intelligence, etc.
The theme is a bit of a paradox, considering the geniuses like Thomas Jefferson who founded this country and whom we idolize (every American child grows up learning Abe Lincoln grew up in a log cabin and learned to read by lamplight. An attempt to combine the two traditions: common-man with education). Like Lincoln, we like to focus on Jefferson's ideas, not his "Bible" or his devotion to Paris, etc., etc. We want to keep him "common" in some way.
But the latest aversion to "the best and the brightest" probably comes from our Vietnam experience. Kennedy had the intellectual elite on his side, and the cowed Johnson into plunging deeper into Vietnam (according to David Halberstam's reading of history).
I prefer smart presidents, too, but there is always the problem of: "I'm smarter than you, and I know better than you." That one doesn't win many adherents beyond the class of people who think they are as smart as the candidate.
The opposite idea, though, that somebody dumb as a post can do the job, is even more damaging, as we have seen.
yeah, i said that, about reagan. i'm not that smart. i used to think i was, but i just am not. however, i'm a hell of a lot smarter than chimpy, and that is just frightening (see, i don't even know if i've mispelled this word) but no matter, because i know i am no where near qualified to be president. a dumb guy can fill the post, reagan, but when the chips fall, you want a smart guy in there. we(the nation), were very unfortunate that al gore lost.
hopefully, we can fix it (tho much greivous damage has been done and can never be undone). john kerry is smart, and he isn't a complete dufus like gore. can't wait for the debates.
I remember reading that Cuomo refused to run for higher offices for 'family reasons'.
And it's very true about the anti-intellectual bias in this country. It's actually pretty astonishing that the worst thing you can possibly be is smart. Clinton was so good at covering his intelligence under all that good ole boy exterior, otherwise he would never have been elected.
No time to read all comments yet, so sorry if this has been brought up.
Just wanted to say I'd seen somewhere on the blogs that the Republicans, based on their bashing of Edwards, will have to repudiate Lincoln--trial lawyer, remember? No executive government experience, etc.
We Dems will gladly claim him. Appropriately so as today's Republicans do not resemble Lincoln in any way or manner. And our guy is tall and lanky.
Like I said--hard to do without seeming mean-spirited. I wonder how much the New England vs. Southern accent has to do with the perception of snotty intellectualism? This may be one of the things Edwards brings to the party, though...
bush is dumb but he did figure out how to circumvent the law ya just take the show on the road
One of the things a sovereign (albeit hand-picked) government of Iraq can do, which under international law an occupying army can't do, is sell off Iraq's public resources. That's what's now under way. The Bush Administration has an ambitious plan, unprecedented among underdeveloped countries, to privatize virtually every agency ever run under the umbrella of the government of Iraq. It's a fire sale to pyromaniacs, and aside from the fact that Iraq's public resources will be sold off to mostly foreign, mostly American bidders at pennies on the dollar, the contracts that they in turn let are likely to set new standards for corruption and cost-plus accounting...
oh yeah, it ends, Crime pays. You just have to know who to rob.
It's not easy to be the honcho.
The Smirk and the Sneer tell us so.
It seems that Fuck You
Is the best we can do,
So Edwards should stay in escrow.
I prefer smart presidents, too, but there is always the problem of: "I'm smarter than you, and I know better than you." That one doesn't win many adherents beyond the class of people who think they are as smart as the candidate.
I was thinking along those lines last night. Another reason why the wing nuts, who are generally stupid as shit is because of genetics and/or laziness, fiercely defend dumbass Bush, is because they have been hurt by intellectual liberal policies which have sought to equalize opportunities for all Americans. In the past, even the most dumbass white wing nut was king and had institutionalized preferential treatment and thus most opportunities. So that's their idealized past. Something like the forced superficial conformity of the 50s when everyone was white, male and heterosexual. Would you believe that some of them resent me because of the perception, because I'm gay, that I'm somehow smarter than they are? In many instances, at least with the non-fundie wing nuts, that's why they fight gay rights. They want to keep that one remaining, firmly intact, institutionalized advantage in a competitive society for themselves. Shows you the caliber of people they are. Of course, that's not the only reason but it's just another shade of it.
Which is another sort of a weird bigoted paradox of heterosexual wing nuts. They oppose affirmative action for blacks with the phase, "let the best qualified get the job" because they believe they're innately smarter. But then oppose gays rights because they feel innately intellectually inferior.
I've met heterosexual straights on these blogs and read their posts who are vastly more intelligent than me so, clearly, they're dumbasses.
MJS: Your poem is so incredibly moving. I love it.
EkCenTrik: Your friend actually sounds like he might be depressed.
Sometimes I feel like a lot of us are in sort of a collective "depression" over the 2000 elections, followed by 9/11, followed by...well, you know the rest. I think people can only take so much. I think that's why people seem apathetic or bewildered or whatever. But there is a great new groundswell of hope, I think. I feel the distant trembling. Reading these weblogs & comments from intellingent, thoughtful people has given me the impetus to care, to hope, to believe. So F**k Dana Milbank and others who think bloggers aren't serious. The countrly is going to be "shocked and awed" at the effects these sites have.
My 2 cents.
Incognito,
Does this mean that Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is actually institutionalizing anti-gay prejudice. Interesting....
I have to confess, the resistance to equality for gays in every aspect of public (and more crucially, legal and financial) life confuses me. Guess I'm not as smart as I think I am. But I like your read on this.
My experience (being poised between a working class family and a professional degree and job) is that people feel about homosexuals the way they feel about trial attorneys: "well, my (sibling/uncle/aunt/cousin)is okay, but the rest of them! Sheesh!"
I've met heterosexual straights on these blogs and read their posts who are vastly more intelligent than me so, clearly, they're dumbasses.
Incognito
The wing nuts are "dumbasses." Not the vastly more intelligent posting heterosexuals.
I try.
Following Incognito's lead, let's veer off into this swamp a minute:
Just heard a story on NPR about an aborted school shooting in Maryland. Another asocial white kid with a gun going on a shooting spree. Fortunately, no one was shot and he was disarmed.
But they mentioned, in the story, that these incidents occur in suburban and rural settings, and the perpetrators are almost always white males. That the shootings are almost always random (the shooter usually doesn't learn who he shot until days later). Oh, and that they almost always tell fellow students what they're planning, before they do it. (In a school in Alaska, the kids were called the night before and told to "gather round." One showed up with a video camera. No one told an adult. The principal and two others were killed.)
I know this isn't exactly breaking news anymore, but still: what gives with white boys? "Self-hating whites," maybe? (Irony intended.) If gay marriage and welfare and trial lawyers are undermining American society, why are white adolescent males taking up arms and firing wildly into crowded places full of people they know, or at least see on a daily basis?
I should complete my thoughts before hitting "Okay."
If all those factors were actually undermining American society (and no, I don't think they are), are they tied to school shootings? Or is it more likely the real problem is at home, among all the whites who are so offended at affirmative action or "welfare queens" or gay marriage, or even "gay rights"?
Obviously, I think it's the latter. What's really wrong with our society that children (the kid in Maryland is 12, the same age as my daughter) want to take up weapons and kill anyone they can fire at?
Am I supposed to believe banning gay marriage will fix this? Lower taxes? Invading Iraq? Stopping "frivolous law suits"(to veer back closer to the topic)?
And which, frankly, is the more serious issue? How many lawyers it takes to tie up a court system? Whether or not Saddam Hussein is still in power? Or how many kids it takes to threaten my child's life?
this may have been said upthread, so if it has please ignore -- but not all corporate lawyers are evil. many end up doing corporate law b/c of the huge law school debt they're carrying when they come out. some corporate lawyers are even (gasp) liberal democrats. again, when yer facing $100K+ in law school debt to be paid, going to work for a top 250 law firm doesn't seem like such a bad thing (if you have the grades to get into such places, that is).
"Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon"
Mmmmnn... bacon
Robert,
See, you're not *supposed* to be worrying about your daughter's (possibly) heavily armed schoolmates. You're supposed to worry about Saddam (but not OBL), tort reform (The poor insurance companies), and gay marriage. I believe, anyway, that these are tempests in a collective teacup--problems, yes, but not day-to-day concerns for most people. What 9/11 did was give the Bushies a chance to tie the PNAC worldview to a personal issue--dangerous, dangerous.
What has to happen to convince folks that gay marriage is a nonissue (it will happen, and everyone will wonder what the big deal was about), that we're the ones stirring the hornet's nest in OPEC-land, that their insurance rates have little to do with trial attorneys (see! got it in!) and lots to do with perverse corporate profits--all the issues that matter? Like you, I'm a parent, and I'd be happy with an assurance that my kids are safe at school, but who can give that to me?
For an interesting historical moment, it's worth considering the fight to exclude firearms from consumer protection laws--a proud moment in American history.
In the minyan I attend are two lawyers and another guy in law school. Of course I know a lot of lawyers, but I always assumed that was because I'm Jewish?
I agree with the posters who think Mario Cuomo should be used on the campaign trail this season. I have long been an admirer of Cuomo, and have little respect for George Pataki, who ousted Cuomo as governor (after suing Cuomo for not getting the New York State budget on time, Pataki has been guilty of the same thing or worse, a fact which causes me to emit low, mordant chuckles). At one point (1992?), Cuomo was the Richard of York of the Democratic party: if he'd just said yes, he might have been the Presidential candidate, but he hesitated and the season passed him by.
He's an intelligent, eloquent man, a fabulous speaker and someone who knows how to play upon the common chords that unite Americans. I think he would be a major asset this year and I hope to see lots of him.
Just a note--the New York State budget is due April 1. It's now July 11, and no budget. This is, I believe, the latest it has ever been. As a state employee, married to a state employee, trust me, this is a serious fucking problem. But they're on vacation, so it's okay...
The rumor is Pataki is banking on the B/C ticket and turning his performance after 9/11 into some kind of federal post. God knows he doesn't care about what's going on around here....
Jeffers, we've got to understand what's going on. In the mean time, when society totally breaks down which is where we're headed, doesn't the government have, like, these huge caves filled with processed cheese? They buy up from farmers, or some shit? To distribute in times of hunger? Or is that just another big lie?
I make a mean jalapenos and cheese nachos. That's all....
Don't mean to seem flip, but what?....
Only slightly OT, I think the "mistake" on the part of Murdoch's NY Post was a setup from the start.
The Post is no friend of Kerry, so it is good strategy to reduce their credibility. What better way than to let them run a huge mistake as a headline? Now whenever the Post says something nasty about Kerry, he can always say, well yeah, but look who's talking, the guys who tried to choose my Veep for me.
Perhaps the Kerry camp has identified a "mole" in their organization, or perhaps they found a good backchannel to feed the leak to Murdoch, but it was (IMHO) a deliberate act to embarrass Murdoch. And it worked perfectly.
I think there is a conscious strategy to employ the Republican fondness for "dirty tricks" against them, and I would BET that there is a person in the campaign whose only job is to find ways to do so.
The Kerry campaign is displaying hallmarks of an intelligence operation, a sound strategy since they know one will be used against them. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for the Thugs to rile up Joe Wilson.
It's cool, you can move the solar system around and stuff...I was looking at it cause some think it might pass too close to earth but, it shows it's path crossing right on Mars!
There's a very cool 3D one of those on sourceforge.net called "Celestia".... go over there and search for it.
Neat stuff.
tinfoil hattie
I would say from knowing other aspects of this person's life that you are very much correct.
I had to stop and think about that for a moment. I had not included the state of his home life, finances etc as affecting his political mind set. He very much has reason to be depressed and it has made him antagonistic. He will strike out when things are really going into a slump, so his apathy may be related as well. The sad part is there are those of us who gave him extremely sound and good advice and all we got was a 'I can handle it' back. Everything hit the fan afterwards since he totally discounted what we had to say.
So since I tend to be long winded, best to say [Good Point!]
Why is Cuomo's client lying about having embraced and met with Tom Daschle? Who's lying?
MaryNY, I think your guess about Pataki is probably a good one. I live in the town where Pataki grew up, and where he started his political career. Around here the CW is that Pataki never lost an election, and that he has had his eyes on the White House all along. It's a CW that scares me, frankly, though I sincerely doubt that even George Elmer Pataki could be worse than those lying criminal scumbags who infest the White House now.
And you're right about the budget; the part I like best is the irony of Pataki's presiding over the latest one in NY history after having sued Cuomo (when Pataki was an Assemblyman) for his dereliction of duty in not getting the budget passed by April 1.
simply ask bushCo supporters:
"do you support the trial lawters
whom Bush hired in the plame case?"
that and the point that:
"lawyers and cops both enforce the law, you wouldnt smear all cops would you?"
Wasn't Kevin Bacon in a movie about being wrongfully accused?
Cuomo says that terrorists are not a threat to this nation's survival? Balderdash! Unless you give me infinite powers to jail anybody I want, look at everybody's library records, and examine every underware drawer, why, the terrorists shall slaughter each and every American with their aweful Weapons of Mass Destruction (which we can't find at the moment, but they're out there, they really are!).
So remember, vote Bush in November. Or the terrorists will kill us all! There won't be anything left of America but a crater unless you vote Bush!
-- The Attorney General of the Untied States of America
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