Author: Trish

Celebrate TV-Turnoff Week

Trish

Who could forget the scene in Network when Howard Beale urges us all to grab a T.V., go over to the window, yell, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” and hurl? The T.V., that is. Since 1976 when the movie was released, television has gotten relentlessly worse (not to mention heavier and bigger), more violent, dumber, and more negative.

“The one function TV news performs very well is that when there is no news we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were.” — David Brinkley

It’s time to turn off the T.V. Literally. April 24 — 30 is TV Turnoff Week 2006. Visit the web site devoted to this movement for great quotes and alarming facts, including:

“We have reconstructed the Tower of Babel, and it is a television antenna: a thousand voices producing a daily parody of democracy, in which everyone’s opinion is afforded equal weight regardless of substance or merit.” — Ted Koppel

“The remarkable thing about television is that it permits several million people to laugh at the same joke and still feel lonely.” — T.S. Eliot

“Sometimes boys and girls would rather watch TV than read. When your teachers say read, they are giving you pretty damn good advice.” — President George W. Bush to a group of school children

  • Number of violent acts on TV absorbed by the average American child before age 18: 200,000
  • “If it bleeds it leads” news coverage of homicides increased 721% between 1993 and 1996. During that same time period, the actual homicide rate fell by 20%
  • 59% of Americans can name all of the Three Stooges while only 17% can name any three Supreme Court justices
  • 30% of local news broadcast time is devoted to advertising

What will you give up if you turn off the T.V.? You won’t know nearly as much about the Duke Lacrosse team. You’ll have to ask people who Natalee Holloway is, because the name won’t be implanted on your brain. And best of all, by both turning off the T.V. and sticking with liberal blogs online, you will know absolutely nothing about Rep. Cynthia McKinney, (D-Ga.) unless you live in her district. In which case, you have my sympathies.

The human brain was never equipped to process as much death and destruction as we feed ours. Give the T.V. a rest this week. And after that, consider making it permanent.

Republican Congresswoman Takes the Cranky Path of Cheney: Tells Constituent What She Really Thinks

Trish

O.K., it’s obviously a set-up but it’s still pretty funny.

Someone in the office of U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) tacked on a little something extra to a letter from the congresswoman to a constituent appalled by oil industry executives appearing before Congress in February. The letter ended:

i think you’re an asshole.

Since there was extra spacing and a hurriedly typed lowercase “i,” it looks as though the sentiment was added after the Republican personally signed the letter and added her own hand-written postscript apologizing for taking too long to respond. Let’s hope so anyway.

See a PDF of the actual letter.

Florida War Vet Refuses to Swear Support for Government

Trish

A newly elected 76-year-old Korean War veteran in Florida is refusing to take the oath of office because he doesn’t support the current regime.

Basil Dalack is suing Tequesta, near Miami, to rewrite the oath.

… the oath requires him to “support, protect and defend” the government…

Dalack said he believes the U.S. war in Iraq is unjust and “an abomination.” He said he could not sleep at night if he took a pledge implying blanket support for the U.S. government.

“Those dead kids in Iraq, American kids and Iraqi kids, would haunt me,” Dalack said.

Good man.

The Party’s Over Lieberman But He Won’t Go Home

Trish

Independents everywhere might want to give more thought to signing on with one of the two major parties. CBS is reporting that Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman is considering running for re-election as an Independent.

Lieberman isn’t going down alone but plans to take the whole party with him.

“I have not foreclosed the option,” Lieberman said at a news conference at the Capitol. “If I wanted to run as an independent, I would. I’m running as a Democrat. I’ve been a Democrat all my life.”

Well, maybe not quite all his life.

I always wondered what Al Gore was thinking in 2000. It was bad enough to be stuck running against Bush. But to be running with Lieberman? Why?

“I feel very strongly the world is safer without Saddam Hussein in power. We have to complete the job in Iraq,” Lieberman said.

Are they sure Lieberman said that? I know I’ve heard every member of the Bush White House say it too.

Lieberman isn,t going down alone but plans to take the whole party with him. In a year when Democrats finally have a chance at gaining ground in both the Senate and the House, Joe is thinking of himself first, and staying in the race even if “his” party backs someone else.

Ned Lamont, a Democratic activist and anti-war candidate, is challenging Lieberman for the party’s nomination this year. He has been garnering support from some Connecticut Democrats dissatisfied with Lieberman’s stance on Iraq and his perceived closeness with President Bush’s administration…

Paul Streitz, who is seeking the Republican nomination, said he would gain if Lieberman is upended by Lamont and runs as an independent.

“A Republican would win, obviously,” he said. “It would split the Democratic vote.”

I bet Zell Miller is proud. Or jealous.

Santos Would Have Won Florida

Trish

I was surprised to see the folks at NBC award Florida to Vinick in the West Wing presidential election, even before Leo’s untimely death.

This only shows how pervasive the whole red state/blue state stereotypes have become, and how, like most generalizations and simplifications, they are both wrong and self-perpetuating.

Gore won Florida in 2000 – BEELEEVE it! The final result — the absolute best you could say for Bush, even with all the revisionist shenanigans — was 48.8% for Bush to 48.8% for Gore.

This only shows how pervasive the whole red state/blue state stereotypes have become, and how, like most generalizations and simplifications, they are both wrong and self-perpetuating.

In 2004, even with the world’s worst Democratic candidate on the ticket (sorry Jon), for whom I myself could just barely stand to cast my vote, and could only do so by reminding myself repeatedly just how bad Bush was in comparison to Herman Munster-Kerry, a minimum of 47.1% of Floridians were able to force themselves to do the same, depending on whether you believe exit polls or Diebold machines.

Kerry lost Hispanic votes nationwide, and I think that had less to do with Bush’s appeal than with Kerry’s awkward, New England Yankee elitism. It’s the same reason all those people said they would rather quaff a beer with Bush — Kerry just wasn’t one of us.

But the fictional Santos is, and despite slanted redistricting, real-life Republicans aren’t a slam dunk in the Sunshine State. And even though in the 2000 census only 2.3% of the total 16.8% of Floridian Latinos were Mexican-American, you can depend on Florida to line up behind a legitimate Latino/Hispano/Cubano/and even Mexicano candidate.

Santos would have won Florida. I hope in 2008 we have a real choice again, and I am proven right. And Diebold is out of the picture.

Wipe That Giddy Grin Off Your Face and Get to Work

Trish

How important is this year’s election? According to the Boston Globe, it’s the whole ball of wax.

“We’ve lost every advantage we’ve ever had,” GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio said. “The good news is Democrats don’t have much of a plan.”

A Democratic-led Congress could bury the last vestiges of Bush’s legislative agenda and subject the administration to high-profile investigations of the Iraq war, the CIA leak case, warrantless eavesdropping and other matters.

Tom DeLay felt the same way, and it’s one reason he decided not to run again. The point of the Globe story is how bad Bush’s numbers are now that people are getting sworn court documents that show he’s a vindictive (alert: sexist slang ahead) prick. But it also underscores how much our side has to lose if we don’t get our act together.

The AP-Ipsos survey is loaded with grim election-year news for a party struggling to stay in power. Nearly 70 percent of Americans believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction — the largest percentage during the Bush presidency and up 13 points from a year ago.

“These numbers are scary. We’ve lost every advantage we’ve ever had,” GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio said. “The good news is Democrats don’t have much of a plan.”

The thought of Howard Dean leading the charge for our team isn’t that reassuring to me. And the saying, “the election is his to lose” doesn’t help. If anyone can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, it’s Dr. Dean.

So what are we going to do? Let’s start with getting ourselves an education. There are some great books out there on what we need to do differently. “Start Making Sense” by the editors of Alternet; “Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots and the Rise of People-Powered Politics” by Jerome Armstrong, strategist for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, and Daily Kos’ Markos Moulitas Zuniga; “Gods Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It,” by Jim Wallis; “Take It Back: Our Party, Our Country, Our Future” by James Carville and Paul Begala are just a few, and most of them are available at Buzzflash and other sites.

Next, if you’ve volunteered in a political campaign before, do it again. If not, make this the year you start. Look around and pick the non-Republican candidate you think has the best shot and throw your support (money, time, influence) to that person.

Yes, it’s an off-year. No, we’re not voting for a president this time. But something tells me the presidency is still at stake in this election, in a personal way for the current occupant of the position, and in a larger sense for our country. Don’t sit on the sidelines.

Leaker of the Free World

Trish

Words escape me, except to compare and contrast, for the nine-hundred-eighty-four-thousand-millionth time what would be happening in the country right now if an aide of Al Gore’s said that Bill Clinton authorized him to leak the identity of a CIA agent because he felt snitty toward the person’s spouse. OMIGOD.

P.S. Maybe that impeachment idea isn’t so bad after all. Please, please, let’s all work to put Democrats back in office this year. Thanks.

Buh-bye Tom. Hello to the New Jack Abramoff

Trish

While I applaud Tom DeLay’s decision to resign the House of Representatives, his threat to find new ways to save the world from Democrats bothers me.

“My love for the Republican Party has played no small part in this decision,” he said.

I predict Tom will be the new Jack Abramoff. Older, uglier, and more obnoxious maybe, but just as rotten to the core.

Democrats retaking Congress, he said, would be disastrous, replete with tax hikes, a cut-and-run stance in the war on terror and antics such as a presidential impeachment gambit.

See what I mean? Much as I’d like to rejoice with abandon, I’m afraid we haven’t heard the last of Tom.

“After many weeks of personal, prayerful thinking and analysis, I have come to the conclusion that it is time to close this public service chapter of my life,” DeLay said.

“It’s time to begin opening new chapters and pursuing new opportunities to engage in the important cultural and political battles of our day from outside the arena of the United States House of Representatives,” said DeLay.

Hmmm. You know he took long enough from all that “prayerful thinking” to include a little “planning and scheming thinking” in there too.

Now that Tommy will no longer be a public “servant,” he will be free of many of those cumbersome restrictions on accepting and using the funds raised for his PAC to run the DeLay household and pay off his allies. Big Pharma and foreign governments, start making those withdrawals! I predict Tom will be the new Jack Abramoff. Older, uglier, and more obnoxious maybe, but just as rotten to the core.

Yes indeed, the sky’s the limit. No wonder Tom’s future is so bright he’s gotta wear shades.

…I’m excited about the future, which holds as always America’s brightest days and mine, too. Thank you and may God bless you all. He has certainly blessed me.”

Or maybe you’re just living proof that nice guys finish last.

It’s Time to Play “What’s Under Bush’s Shirt” Again

Trish

Hey kids! Remember during the 2004 presidential debates, when we were all trying to figure out the squarish object(s) that appeared under Mr. Blinky Eyes’ jacket? Well, it’s time for another round of “What’s Under Bush’s Shirt”!

Take your best guess as to what that is under Bush’s shirt in this recent picture posted by Lou Dobbs on CNN. It shows Bush with Pres. Vicente Fox of Mexico and Prime Minister of Stephen Harper of Canada discussing how to best to restrict the flow of each other’s citizens across the borders, while maximizing the flow of their money in the same direction.

So far, P.R. Editor Jon is going for a box of Cuban cigars. I’m thinking it’s more likely Bush’s battery pack, which has to be charged every few hours or he gets cranky. What do you think it is?