The Great American Going Out of Business Sale*

This report from the Center for American Progress (via Tapped) draws some damning conclusions about the state of class mobility and more importantly, American perspectives on class mobility. Their findings:

• Children from low-income families have only a 1 percent chance of reaching the top 5 percent of the income distribution, versus children of the rich who have about a 22 percent chance.
  
  
• African American children who are born in the bottom quartile are nearly twice as likely to remain there as adults than are white children whose parents had identical incomes, and are four times less likely to attain the top quartile.
  
  
• The difference in mobility for blacks and whites persists even after controlling for a host of parental background factors, children’s education and health, as well as whether the household was female-headed or receiving public assistance.
  
  
• Households whose adult members all worked more than 40 hours per week for two years in a row were more upwardly mobile in 1990-91 and 1997-98 than households who worked fewer hours. Yet this was not true in 2003-04, suggesting that people who work long hours on a consistent basis no longer appear to be able to generate much upward mobility for their families.
  
  
• By international standards, the United States has an unusually low level of intergenerational mobility: our parents’ income is highly predictive of our incomes as adults. Intergenerational mobility in the United States is lower than in France, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Norway and Denmark. Among high-income countries for which comparable estimates are available, only the United Kingdom had a lower rate of mobility than the United States.
  

So what does this mean? The economy's methods of wealth generation are failing for the mass of Americans. The middle class is (by and large) disapearing. It's been noted over and over and over and over that jobs that used to sustain families are gone (and the unions that generated those sustainable incomes are blamed for generating middle-class wealth) and the new jobs that are created don't touch the ones they replaced in terms of wages, benefits, retirement security, and so forth. So what to do?

These folks have an idea.

*D4 fucking rock.

And now presenting...

Ladies and gentlemen, straight from the nation's capital Washtington DC, I bring you--

The Whorehouse of Reprehensibles!

That's right. Actual congressmen getting bribed with actual hookers.

Work has really been a kick in the nuts recently so the lack of posts here can be attributed to this. Not my slack work ethic. Honestly.

We're running past satire

And final-stretch dashing, madly, lungs exploding, straight into surreality.

This is kind of weird, don't you think?

I saw this billboard on Saturday when we went to the Sox destroy the Minnesota Twins. That was my first time at Alltell/US Cellular Field/Comiskey Park/Whatever corporation is shelling out the big $$$ to put their name on the door. Dr. Mrsinallmyyears noticed it, for credit's sake.

I suppose I'm not surprised that Ann Coulter is using the date to shill her crap, either.

The Evolution of a backyard space

This lowly space had been: An above ground pool, then an empty spot of sand and dirt with a ton of gravel, the an empty spot of sand and dirt with no gravel, and finally:
0
This. 1000 lbs of dirt, and 1200 pounds of sod later, this is my backyard. It looks a lot better, don't ya think?

Crikey.

Last week was a rough one, work-wise. It was pretty non-stop, which is why this blog has gone a little dark. 'But Whiskey', you're clearly thinking, 'you had the weekend to deliver us some of your pithy, cynical, and yet hopeful brand of insight.

Alas and alack, I would that it were so. You see faithful reader, this weekend I had sod to contend with. That's right. Sod.

Mrs. Drinallmyyears and I got rid of an above-ground pool late last summer that came with our current dwelling when we bought it. This left a 20' diameter sand hole in my back yard that I finally got the gumption to get my 1000 lbs. of dirt and my 34 rolls fo 2' x 5' preplanted grass to deal with it.

I will put picture up to prove it to you when I get the chance.

Until then...

Here's proof that the Republicans actually spent serious time and resources in the 1990's 'looking for an enemy' because they realized they didn't do as well in the polls when people aren't scared shitless.

I kid you not.

No heroes, no bosses.

One thing that the media traditionally gets wrong about the labor movement is that there's two types of personalities they focus on--one is the hero. Cesar Chavez falls into this category. The second is the union 'boss'. Think Jimmy Hoffa.

But the thing is that for staff representatives who take this very seriously, you know that you're not the one making it happen--your members are. This is crucially important to understand. I help prepare, help organize, help facilitate, help strategize, explain options and other things like that.

But I cannot cause people to care about anything, nor motivate them to fight for something that they're not already willing to fight for. The 'iron rule' of organizing is that you should never, never, never do for others what they should be doing for themselves. I try that out on Mrs. Drinallmyyears, but she doesn't seem to believe it's such an iron rule. More like an iron guideline.

At any rate, in that spirit I bring you this story of Hiram Ruiz, a staff rep with SEIU 11 who has been leading the fight with Unnico, a custodial contractor with the University of Miami. You remember that story, right? Well the Herald piece nails it quite nicely.

Carry on.

It's Easter (or as TBogg would have you believe Zombie Jesus Day) and I'm celebrating with Mrs. Drinallmyyears and Momma Inallmyyears. The DVD versions of both Sky High and Betwitched await us. I will be sneaking booze into my afternoon diet.

I'd also like you to notice the 'local yokels' section of my blogroll. I do this not because I think the bloggers in question are yokels (although being from North Carolina, carrying such a distinction is NOT an insult) but because it's good to throw up some blog goodness from deep within enemy territory, in this case DuPage Co.

Two good stories from their necks of the woods. The first has to do with Christine's endorsement of Duckworth and what the local activists like us have to say about it Ms. Tammy. The second has to do with an experience Tech Teacher had with the Roskam folks. One spare Roskam bumper sticker + one car obviously owned by liberals = sitcom hilarity.

Or at least one very angry liberal. Hey, I'd be pissed too.

And on my own, I'd like to point out that the Naperville bus drivers face outsourcing. One of my colleagues represents them, and is doing his damndest to see that their wages, pensions, benefits and livelihoods aren't stolen from them. He's a good guy, trying to do a tough job.

This editorial to the contrary, outsourcing this kind of public resource is a really bad idea. Private contractors in this sector can absolutely be fly-by-night operations, and once a school district has made a decision to sell off its bus fleet, they'll likely never have the resources to re-purchase one again. Then there's the fact that these kinds of employees are the most likely to live in the community, which further debases the argument that the school district values its connection to the community.

Viva Viagra--a tagline that's sure to pick up my internet traffic.

Kevin Drum has the goods on lawmakers who wish to ban RU-486 for its supposed (and unproven) risks to women yet defend the wang-improving Viagra despite its incidences of inducing death. One thing I'm not very clear on is whether RU-486 is the same thing as emergency contraception or whether it's something different, but the hullaballoo about the 'morning after pill' should be thrown in the mix as well.

Don't look over here.

The class war continues comrades.

And they are kicking our asses.

Catch them thar greasy ol' job-stealin' whatchamacallits

The Republican Penn State University engages in some racist hijinks.

"The College Republicans at Penn State University wanted to enter the debate about the nation's borders by playing a "Catch an Illegal Immigrant Game."

People would be invited to "catch" group members wearing orange shirts symbolizing illegal aliens."

Sounds good to me. Next we'll be taunting them with water bottles while they pretend to die of thirst in the desert. Just some family fun, if you ask me.

"You have to be creative to get students to listen to you," sophomore Chuck Knight wrote in a letter to the editor published recently in the student newspaper, The Daily Collegian. "For that matter, you have to be creative anytime you are trying to raise concern about something."

I couldn't agree more. Next up--a real cake walk to heal the racial divide!

Apprently the same thing went down in Bloomingdale Township

I can't say I'm surprised, but the similarities are eerie (which is a word that never looks like it's spelled correctly).

Please also notice the new link to the right--6th Dems. Yeehaw.

Wow, now I'm depressed.

Billmon has a sobering look at what might happen if we decide to get all medieval on Iran.

I think he's probably right. Prescient even. I predict the following percentages for American reaction to just such a first-nuclear strike on a minor regional power:

15%--Giddy beyond belief. Hey man, the end times are near! Pull up a lawn chair and Foreman Griller! Throw on an extra burger fo' da Lord!

30% --Mildly relieved to see something happen over there. I mean, Those Iranians Sure Are Pricks, Aren't They?

35%-- Mildly concerned about nuclear conflagration in the Middle East. Angry at the 15% below for being too shrill and anti-American in their outrage at the war that's unfolding.

15%--Can we please please impeach these people already? Is it rude at this point to say I told ya so?

5%--Undecided. What is Iran anyway? Is that that, uh, Flock of Seagull's hit from the 80's? I love that song, man.

My Sushi and My $$$ go the Unification Church (and therefor, to the Bush Family)

The Chicago Tribune has a good investigative report up about how one of the premier suppliers of raw fish for Sushi is:

a.) either a front group for the Unification Church itself

or

b.) Not another front group for the Church, but merely part of its empire.

Hey! And click here to learn more about the politicians living large off its coffers, including the Bush family and Chicago's own Danny Davis: Democrat!

Dig this choice quote about True World Food:

But not all of True World's employees are church members. Tuna buyer Eddie Lin recently left True World for Fortune Fish Co., a local rival. Lin said his former workplace was not overtly religious, but he added that as a non-church member he felt his ability to advance was limited. "You can feel the difference between the way they see members and non-members," Lin said.

Sounds like another faith-based iniative to me!

Now this is how you organize!

The Washington Post today has two great stories:

One is how the President (yet again) misrepresented the facts to stretch his case. Whatta guy!

The second, and the one I draw your attention to tells the story of how labor, religious and hispanic groups organized the recent demonstrations against the Sensenbrenner bill. It's a good tale of a lot of thankless work gone right.

The other story I point your way is on the same subject and is also about strategic organizing. It follows up on the piece I posted about earlier--namely that Democrats are for once, out-organizing their Republican counter-parts on this issue. It's also a well-done analysis.

This Guy Would Have Been Shouted Down Last Night.

Which is kind of funny, given his background as a retired Marine Lt. General. He says that Eye-Raq was a mistake he saw coming, and blames the military for not speaking up about what a ginormous clusterf*ck it was so clearly going to be.

Read it and weep.

I should change the name of my blog to read it and weep.

How about some democracy here in DuPage?

Irony is a funny thing. As we're now up to 2,361 dead in a war supposedly fought to bring democracy to the poor benighted people of Iraq, I thought I'd share the evening's events with you.

I just returned from the yearly meeting of York Township. Some of us Cegelis peeps had the notion to put a non-binding resolution on the November ballot calling for the withdrawal of troops from Eye-raq.

Except that the Township elders (and by elders I mean greasy Republican politicos) caught wind of our little plan and called in their chits (by which I mean city and township workers--including the janitor for the building who was present). Their chits showed up in force and hilarity ensued.

Allow me to paint the picture. A motley collection of a few youngsters, lots of little old ladies, and some grey-haired Democratic activists surrounded by a sea of retired white people and large men with slick-backed hair.

A bendediction was held. The lord's name was invoked. Whether his grace moved anyone to act, I'll let you decide.

The pledge of allegiance was invoked, referencing the glory of what the old man mc'ing the ceremony referred to as 'the greatest flag on the whole earth.'

Because if it had been a competition between us and the half-earth flags, that might have been a contest. Luckily for us, we're looking only at whole-earth flags here.

The first vote was on who'd moderate the debate. Our candidate (a worthy man) went up, and so did theirs. By voice vote, we lost. We asked for an actual count, because their voice vote was mostly yelling by large township employees. We took another voice vote (I am shitting you negatively) to determine whether we should use voice vote to select the moderator. You won't be surprised to learn that we lost.

At that point, the smarmy fuck of a moderator took over. Motions were made to skip through the entirety of the agenda, including old business, the reports of the treasury of the township and updates on township business.

Another old lady (and a worthy one) stood up to ask why we couldn't talk about y'know, the stuff the township had been doing and all. She was told printed versions were availble after the gig was over.

A motion was held to close questions to the people who were running the show. Someone stood up, and pointed out that if we're going to voice vote that this would hardly be appropriate.

I stood up, and pointed out that if I'd known it was going to be a voice vote I'd have grabbed my megaphone. I seconded the other dude's idea that we do some other way of counting. At which point the moderator just started talking over me.

Did I mention he was a smarmy fuck?

So we finally got to the portion where our non-binding resolution was to be considered. I was ready. Here was going to be some fireworks! I was totally ready to be called a traitorous scummy hippy commie bad person.

Nope. We introduced an item to amend the agenda to include the non-binding resolution on withdrawal of troops. It went down in defeat. No debate. Nothing. It was over. Please reread that first paragraph again with this in mind.

A benediction was held, which we walked out on. I hope the Lord didn't take it personally.

Mrs. Drinallmyyears and I were talking about it afterwards, and you know, I have to ask: what the fuck were these Republicans scared of exactly? This is DuPage County for Christ's sake. They should have been itching to show just how beloved Dear Leader's war really is. This would be the one place where he'd be assured victory--he sure as hell can't seem to get it in the actual war we avoided having a debate over.

Oh well.

Oh, and the troops that we're protecting from this kind of debate? Five more died today.

Irony is a motherfucker.

Now here's a headline I can live with!

Wal-Mart Hearing Joins Banks, Unions.

It's good to see a little cross-class solidarity against the Beast From Bentonville.

Wow, look at that.

A comprehensive timeline of NOFX history. I'll be damned. And I learned something new:

We needed a police escort from the stage to our bus, and then a police escort out of town. The last thing the bikers said to our crew guy was ‘I’m not going to stab you. I’m going to put a screwdriver through your heart and kill you.’ We are never going back to Scotland.”

And with that attitude, who can blame them?

The hills are alive...

...with the sound of music.

What can I say? I've been inspired by the von trapp experience!

Yesterday was a long day

But it was a good one. I bargained (well, I think) last night, and then Mrs. Drinallmyyears and I went to see The Inside Man.

What a movie. This is a new crime classic. Every moment it was truly a Spike Lee movie, and I was hooked. Great story, amazing script. Amazing shots, and beautifully made.

Plus, Captain von Trapp was in it! Yeah, he's still kickin' around.

And God love him, he actually plays a, well, I wouldn't want to give it away.

Holy crap.

500,000 marched yesterday in DC. It's like a Benneton ad on steroids, and hyped to the umpteenth power.

I wonder if James Sensenbrenner noticed?

Two news hits:

On the one the hand we have a "A staggering collection of misfortunes and failures," according to a longtime Washington hand.

On the other...

Is it too much to suggest impeachment?

Gracious, I'm tired.

Last summer , we got rid of an above-ground pool that came with the house when we bought. There was a nice brown sandy pit about 20' in diameter where once the proud pool stood. No grass, but some sand and lots of gravel. Lots. Lots. Of. Gravel.

7,000 pounds of gravel later (an approximate estimation), plus dinner (macaroni and cheese casarole), plus a trip to the winery for the monthly wine tasting = one tired Mr. Inallmyyears.

The Washington Post confirms it!

Onward Christian soldiers, onward to Tehran. Well, no one can say they didn't know it was coming. You know how they say the sequel is rarely as good as the original? Think about that more a minute. Then weep.

And for extra shits and grins, check out this link to see if the blowhards in question are talking about invading Iraq, or Iran.

Anything's possible, I guess.

A woman who's smarter than I am makes the case that Congressional Democrats are actually pretty well organized and effective, given their current constraints.

Democrats are famously impossible to pin down on certain issues. Just recently, my junior Senator quipped that "People say that Democrats don't stand for anything, but that's not true. We do stand for anything."

I was mighty glad to see the Democratic opposition to Social Security grind the President dead in his privatization tracks. I was happy to see them call out the current leadership on the NSA business (to the small extent that they did). And it's true that when Democrats do put forth their ideas, that the mainstream press ignores them for the most part (when they collide with the convenient media narrative).

I was also glad to see Sullivan point out the following:

When in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Bush quietly suspended the Davis-Bacon Act in order to allow federal contractors to avoid paying the prevailing wage to workers involved in clean-up efforts, Miller led Democrats in handing the president a rare defeat. Appalled that “the President has exploited a national tragedy to cut workers' wages,” Miller unearthed a little-used provision of a 1976 law that allows Congress to countermand the president's authority to suspend laws after a national emergency. While it is usually nearly impossible for Democrats to get bills through the all-powerful House Rules Committee, Miller's maneuver would have bypassed that step and guaranteed an automatic vote by the full House. Bush, faced with a vote he was sure to lose, reversed his earlier action and reinstated Davis-Bacon.

This was a particularly shameful episode in the wake of the Hurricane That Ate Bush's Presidency, and it was quite nice to see Bush eat a nice shit sandwich (served up hot)from a California Democrat over his erstwhile attempt to rob government workers out of a prevailing wage.

The following passage certainly gave me food for thought:

So it is that Democrats can be “hopelessly divided” while voting together 88 percent of the time, according to Congressional Quarterly; just one percentage point lower than the vaunted lock-step Republican caucus. They can be “pathetically ineffective” while dealing a humiliating defeat to the president's biggest domestic policy effort. They can be deemed “weak” and “timid” while setting the terms of the debate for pulling troops out of Iraq.

Huh.

I think I've seen this movie before.

Don't you?

And as I recall, it sucked.

You're kidding me.

My wife has this song as her default ring on her cell phone. I hope she never gets a cab ride from this guy.

Denver Transit Workers on Strike

Here's a good on the ground look at another 'illegal' strike.

More here. Apparently top managers got raises of $40K and $50K. Must be nice.

I'm off to go bargain myself. Then tonight, bargaining preparations until 7 p.m. or so.

Exciting!

Of course!

He's Piggy from Lord of the flies. Why didn't I see it before?

My favorite piece:

The media's defense has been that it can function only within the prescribed information structure. How can we know when the White House is prevaricating, dissembling, not being straight with us, even outright lying to us?

McClellan destroys this line of defense. His inability to finesse the administration line, to tickle its logic, to prettify it, to seem smart about it in the least—and with virtually every one of his prevaricating and dissembling and truth-avoiding utterances becoming the morsels of the daily blog diet—means the media has to struggle even more to justify how it ever believed these num--skulls.

Indeed. How in the world these people ever got taken seriously in the first place should be chapters of 'how not to...' in journalism texts across this great land. Of course, that won't happen.

The case for a just God

Unbeknownst to all of you, I've recently started the process of being confirmed in the Episcopal church. It's the church Dr. Mrsinallmyyears grew up in, and I like their social message. Recently, I've been feeling the need to go in this direction. I've been searching for the proof a just and loving God that actually cares about the affairs of a species (s)he by all rights should long ago have given up on. And myself, I had believed that this is exactly what had happened.

Proof positive for the love of the Lord.

Gimme five Jesus!

And as for little Tom, remember that not too long ago, it was a conspiracy among Nancy Pelosi and Ronnie Earle, the prosecutor who'd been on his ass.

Tom, tonight I drink to your (dis)honor.

I'm becoming a Human Resources Director!

Late April Fool's Day. In other news, I found this link to a PETA website focused on worker rights in the slaughter industry. Now, I normally abhor PETA. Their publicity strategy seems to go something like this: "Is it offensive? If yes, how offensive?"

I honestly cannot understand their strategy at all. So I give the props where the props is due.

Does anyone in this administration ever get fired? Ever? What do you have to do? Seriously.

I give you the following:

Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, cautioned other White House aides in the summer of 2003 that Bush's 2004 re-election prospects would be severely damaged if it was publicly disclosed that he had been personally warned that a key rationale for going to war had been challenged within the administration.
...
The White House was largely successful in defusing the Niger controversy because there was no evidence that Bush was aware that his claims about the uranium were based on faulty intelligence. Then-CIA Director George Tenet swiftly and publicly took the blame for the entire episode, saying that he and the CIA were at fault for not warning Bush and his aides that the information might be untrue.
...
"Presidential knowledge was the ball game," says a former senior government official outside the White House who was personally familiar with the damage-control effort. "The mission was to insulate the president. It was about making it appear that he wasn't in the know. You could do that on Niger. You couldn't do that with the tubes." A Republican political appointee involved in the process, who thought the Bush administration had a constitutional obligation to be more open with Congress, said: "This was about getting past the election."
...
Only two months before Wilson went public with his allegations, the Iraq war was being viewed as one of the greatest achievements of Bush's presidency. Rove, whom Bush would later call the "architect" of his re-election campaign, was determined to exploit the war for the president's electoral success. On May 1, 2003, Bush made a dramatic landing on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln to announce to the nation the cessation of major combat operations in Iraq. Dressed in a military flight suit, the president emerged from a four-seat Navy S-3B Viking with the words "George W. Bush Commander-in-Chief" painted just below the cockpit window.
...

Because the Bush administration was able to control what information would remain classified, however, reporters did not know that Bush had received the President's Summary that informed him that both State's INR and the Energy Department doubted that the aluminum tubes were to be used for a nuclear-related purpose.

(Ironically, at one point, before he had reviewed the one-page summary, Hadley considered declassifying it because it said nothing about the Niger intelligence information being untrue. However, after reviewing the summary and realizing that it would have disclosed presidential knowledge that INR and DOE had doubts about the tubes, senior Bush administration officials became preoccupied with ensuring that the text of the document remained classified, according to an account provided by an administration official.)

I'm going to fix a strong drink. That's what modern life is doing to me.

The lights are on again.

I know it seems like I only deliver bad news, and hey, that's pretty much true. But I still feel obligated to pass on to you this most recent documentation of the fact that not only are we all headed to hell, but that the skids are apparently getting greased with the blood of innocents. As usual.

Read more here.

Also, Christine lost. Tammy Duckworth won. Congratulations, Rahm.

Fucker.

I'll still vote for Tammy, but my ability to get and bust my hump for her will depend quite largely on how she comes across in person to her own volunteers. I hope she inspires more confidence than she has thus far.

Archpundit has his rundown.

The light of reason and hope that is In All My Years will go dim this week.

See below for more details.



(I'm going on a cruise.)

See ya Sunday.

Donna's kids

Donna's kids.

You know, the ones who clean up dorm rooms, classes, facilities. Can you imagine cleaning up after the students at UM? Would you want to? I wouldn't.

Here's the latest on their walkout.

From one of their own.

It's hard to believe people this incompetent keep their jobs. Or: That Darn Librul Media Vol. XXXVIII

It must be their union, galldarn unions keep dead weight from gettin' fired, that's all they do.

Some choicest quotes from the wayback machine:

Now that the combat phase of the war in Iraq is officially over, what begins is a debate throughout the entire U.S. government over America's unrivaled power and how best to use it."
(CBS reporter Joie Chen, 5/4/03)

"Tommy Franks and the coalition forces have demonstrated the old axiom that boldness on the battlefield produces swift and relatively bloodless victory. The three-week swing through Iraq has utterly shattered skeptics' complaints."
(Fox News Channel's Tony Snow, 4/27/03)

We're all neo-cons now."
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 4/9/03)

"The war winds down, politics heats up.... Picture perfect. Part Spider-Man, part Tom Cruise, part Ronald Reagan. The president seizes the moment on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific."
(PBS's Gwen Ifill, 5/2/03, on George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech)

We're proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who's physical, who's not a complicated guy like Clinton or even like Dukakis or Mondale, all those guys, McGovern. They want a guy who's president. Women like a guy who's president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It's simple. We're not like the Brits."
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 5/1/03)


"He looked like an alternatively commander in chief, rock star, movie star, and one of the guys."
(CNN's Lou Dobbs, on Bush's 'Mission Accomplished' speech, 5/1/03)

"Well, the hot story of the week is victory.... The Tommy Franks-Don Rumsfeld battle plan, war plan, worked brilliantly, a three-week war with mercifully few American deaths or Iraqi civilian deaths.... There is a lot of work yet to do, but all the naysayers have been humiliated so far.... The final word on this is, hooray."
(Fox News Channel's Morton Kondracke, 4/12/03)

The final word is what again?

More here. Someone can surely easily explain to me why we keep these boobs on the air.

Jesus Christ. Please take me home, Lord.

I bring you the following. Read it and weep. Weep aloud if you voted for this clod because you were put off by John Kerry's effete frenchness, your dislike of his wife, or some other such piece of trivia that has nothing to do with anyone's ability to actually run a government. Read this, for it's your legacy as much as his.

President Bush has decided to stay out of the lion's share of decisions made by his administration.

Sources close to the administration said that over the last year, Mr. Bush has chosen to focus on two issues, leaving the rest to be decided by Cabinet members and senior aides. They said the issues are Iraq and the Republican congressional campaign in the 2006 elections.

"Lots of important issues that deal with national security are never brought to the president because he doesn't want to deal with them," a source familiar with the White House said. "In some cases, this has resulted in chaos."

Read the rest here.

Eric Boehlert is smarter than me

And he proves it here. I thought the port deal was a such a shitstorm because the karmic rubber band that is the collective sin and wrongdoing of these fucking people finally snapped.

Oopsie.

I'm pro-censureship

Finally, someone in the Senate is doing something, anything about the President's warrantless spy program. You know, the one he admitted to, and said he'd keep up doing? Well, I called my Senators today, and urged both of them to sign on the articles of censure, and neither one of them has an official position.

Typical.

Meanwhile, the White House is tired. I'm tired too.

For more on the issue, let's go to Michael In Chicago

Michael has the real scoop on the fundraising numbers for Tammy vs. Christine, and what it all means. The short of it is that Tammy did outraise our candidate, but that her 'burn rate' was exceedingly high. 61% to 96% higher.

What's a burn rate? It kinda means the amount of dough a candidate blows through to keep their operations up and running. A candidate with a low burn rate raises good money and spends very little of it. A candidate with a high burn rate is spending like a drunken sailor.

Much had been made of Christine's 'high' burn rate earlier (as a sign of a weak campaign) by some prominent Illinois political blogs, so this is why I'm pointing it out.

The most telling figure is this one:

Itemized Contributions from District:
1.5% Duckworth
64% Cegelis

Duckworth: $4,350 from 8 residents
Cegelis: $25,704 from 85 residents

That pretty much says it all.

Nice coverage for Christine

Here in the Suburban Daily Herald. Yesterday while canvassing with Christine, a photographer from the paper tagged along and the paper version has a nice photo of Christine chatting it up with a local voter.

All in all, the best piece I've seen in a little while. It's also notable that Christine got the endorsement of Dick Simpson, a noted local journalist who's death on the Chicago Machine.

It was a good weekend. Yesterday canvassing, today working a coffee in Streamwood. I had no idea the district was this large. Tonight, dog behavior classes. Tomorrow, the world.

The last one today, I swear to God.

I was at this thing Thursday and Friday, and I met some interesting people.

Members of the Boilermakers Local 484 from Meredosia, IL have been locked out of their place of employment by Celanese Corp., after the employer asked for 33% in wage cuts and the union asked for more time and information.

Members from Local 484 were at the IEA RA (hosted by us at a table with Jobs with Justice) to tell their story to individual members of my union, who are mostly teachers but also school support staff and college facutly.

The guys I met reminded me of nearly every one of the blue-collar workers I grew up with in North Carolina. They were polite, kind of rednecks, but (unlike the folks from my childhood) fiercely determined to win this thing with their employer. So far, only five of the union members have crossed the picket line to go back to work. One of them was a cousin of one of the guys at the RA.

I said that probably was going to make for an uncomfortable Thanksgiving dinner. He agreed.

A dear friend of mine from Urbana was trying to hook them up with Lisa Madigan, who is the Attorney General of Illinois. It seems the local Sheriff is harassing the strikers with his squad cars.

This is one in a long line of tragedies that represent the destruction of working class life. But it was a pleasure to meet those guys.

So, how did that Sikorsky rally go?

Pretty well, I'd say.

what I'm up to.

This weekend I'll be canvassing again for Christine. Thursday night I attended a coffee for Christine in Elmhurst and met the guy who was the head of Jimmy Carter's Presidential campaign in Illinois in 1976 and 1980.

No shit. He apparently ran for congress in this district in 1972 as well. He was a pretty nice guy.

Because I'm too lazy to do any original writing...

I bring you the hard work of others. It's a blog round-up!

Via the Huffpost, I bring you...

A Bush aide arrested for shoplifting. Okay, that's not entirely fair. He apparently resigned and then got arrested.

Via the Dailykos, I bring you...

Wrinkled Forehead Penis Man (Joe Scarborough) admitting his disgust at being a Republican! I'm with you Joe! I'd be disgusted too!

Via Jonathan Tasini, I bring you...

A well-written and thoughtful post about why card check has not a snowballs chance in hell of ever passing in the next two decades. But also about how unions are using it anyway.

Via The American Prospect Online, I bring you...

Yet another example of our President being resolute and determined until he isn't and pretends his change of mind was how he felt all along.

Via feministing I bring you...

The Mexican government's attempts to battle sexism in the workplace by creating ads that use blow-up dolls. Why would I make that up?

So there. I hope this satisfies your unnatural cravings for what I think are interesting and important stories and issues.

Oh crap.

Things are bad for workers right now. People are hurting all over. Some of them seek professional counseling to deal with the issues that can seem honestly overwhelming. Professional counseling is a good thing. We should encourage people to seek it out when they feel it is necessary.

One group who has dealt with more than its share of woe are pilots--and the FAA puts them on some kind of list if they do seek counseling.

So here they are, reeling from givebacks, raids on their pensions, their industry is in crisis--and they aren't seeking counseling for fear of reprisal.

I'm flying somewhere soon for vacation. I'm worried.

More on the Sikorsky strike

Apparently the largest labor rally in New England history is being planned to aid the folks on strike against Sikorsky, the company that makes Black Hawk helicopters.

A development to keep your eye on.

It looks like things are moving toward a national strike in the hotel industry. Possibly as soon as this summer.

Update: This Bloomberg piece lays out much more detail on this looming story.

My favorite quote comes from the Hilton spokesman who says that the union's real goal is membership growth, and how that's unfair to the employees. I agree. It's totally unfair to the employees to have a voice at the table. Why, without one, they can take it or they can leave it. Now that's fair!

The Problem with 'Rebellion'

The NYT has an article up today about how the vote yesterday in the House to nix the Dubai Port deal (over a threatened Bush veto) constitutes out and out rebellion.

They also cite Senatorial squeamishness with the warrantless wiretapping program as further proof of a Republican revolt over Bush's signature issue--security.

Here's the problem with this analysis: it's full of shite.

There is no proof that any congressional Republican anguish over any Bush-led anything has resulted in any actual oversight or control.

Remember the Medicare Drug Coverage debacle? Did you hear about any penalties for the open bribery held on the floor, or the three-hour vote that it took to pass the damn thing? Surely you jest.

The absolutely horrid response to Katrina. Get real.

What about the several billion dollars missing in Iraq. Yeah right.

Even the 'outrage' over the wiretapping issue has completely and utterly melted away.

I mean, you could go on and on and on and on and on and, well you get the point. Nothing ever comes out of Republican outrage. Except for more cover for the white house. And there are some Democrats who absolutely aid and abet this, but if there were solid majorities in one or the other house, we'd be looking at impeachment articles by now.

She sounds like quite a lady.

Anne Braden led an exemplary life. Read about her and honor her work.

Blogging officially sucks.

This just in. Wal-mart caught blogging about itself while conspicuously trying to make it look like some random dude was saying nice things about the company.

Jeesus Cheesus.

Christine happenings

I went to church (don't laugh, I know I can't come across as the religious type) on Sunday and had an interesting experience. The Boy Scouts were holding a table in the back of the church for a pancake dinner or some such, and one of their troop leaders asked me if I had any more Christine Cegelis buttons. I gave him mine, and told him if he were interested I had some yard signs in my car. He was excited to get one, and went on to tell me how hard he was pulling for Christine to win.

It's nice when things like this happen to you. I don't imagine they happen that often to Tammy Duckworth's folks. I could be wrong.

One of my fellow precinct activists went to the Duckworth rally which was held at the same time on Saturday as Christine's. I'd post a link to her website's coverage of the event if there were any mention of it there. She reported that even with two sitting senators as a draw that at the most there were ninety or so people there.

She was also told to quit distributing Christine's literature there. I love my fellow activists.

We had around 150 at our rally at the Machinists' hall in Des Plaines on Saturday. Not to compare or anything. And not that we had any prominent rock star politicians shouting or praises. We still managed to pull almost twice as many people in.

Ahem.

Take a gander

At this.

Let's hope she's right. Although Jesus would have bolted long ago.

From the "You Can't Make This Shit Up." Dept...

From the "You Can't Make This Shit Up." Department here at "I Get Tired of Reposting These Goddamn Farces and Tragedies Intl., LLC".

When you come to think about it, LLC is a perfect acronym for the Bush administration. Limited. Liability. Corporation.

Kinda fits, no?

All apologies to Jonathan Schwartz for maiming his joke.

Remember Donna Shalala?

She's dealing with a growing strike over the custodial pay issue. Hey lady, dont' say I didn't tell ya so.

Nathan Newman has Donna's office number up. I called it, and politely told a nice young lady that Donna should do the right thing.

You should too.

(305) 284-5155

Cook Co. Nurses Set to Strike

I think this is the first time they're bargaining since they switched from the Illinois Nurses Association to the National Nurses Organizing Committee.

I know it sounds weird to hear that nurses would strike over something like staffing levels (as opposed to just pay and benefits), but these kinds of issue that affect the public that the strikers serve as well as the strikers themselves are quite common. Nurses are affected as workers by not having enough coverage on their floors, having to run around to increasing numbers of patients, and a general feeling that they're being overwhelmed. I don't probably need to tell you how this affects the people using the hospital's services.

Well put.

Says atrios:

The simplest and most obvious lesson I've learned in the past few years is that the American press has an incredible bias in favor of whatever our foreign policy happens to be that day. Whoever the government deems as "friends" are the good guys and whoever they deem as "enemies" are the bad guys. The form of government, freedoms, human rights abuses, suffrage, etc... are entirely irrelevant.

There are plenty of good reasons to be concerned about the UAE port deal. There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about the failure of the Bush administration to follow the law and conduct the appropriate investigation.

It's not racist to object to us cozying up with truly shitty governments. I imagine the people of the UAE might be fine people. But the people who run the country are just a bunch of shitty human rights abusing suffrage opposing terrorist hanging out with assholes. The relevant question is whether these people should be running significant port operations.

Update on Petunia's medical condition

It's not Thursday Night Bassett Blogging, but I have the following for your consideration:















The patient, in recovery.















The contents of that bag actually came out of the dog's intestine. I know that it looks like a class I controlled substance, but it's actually just a chewed up blanket.



















The skilled hands of Dr. Mrsinallmyyears.

Hey, Donna Shalala:

Seriously, fuck you. Wow, a promise to 'look' into the wages of 900 contracted workers? Wow, I promise to look into not picking my nose in public any more. While I'm at it, I'm going to look into not kicking my dog. Seriously. I'll take a look into it.

When you're done looking into it, maybe you can take some time away from your precious villa and sit down to bargain with your damned employees.

Don't you have to 'work' to retire?

I mean, I'm glad to hear Cheney's going to be going soon and all, but if I got to retire after doing what he's been doing for the past five years, I don't know how loudly I'd be bragging about it.

Then again, he is the most powerful vice-president in American history. Maybe he's been putting in extra hour declassifying and classifying information, meeting with Halliburton executives, authorizing leaks of CIA operatives, etc. and etc. and etc.

The only question really remaining is, would it be possible for the President to find someone worse than Cheney? Is this the promotion that Rumsfeld has been dreaming of? I bet Condi Rice would to get in vice-president's office, and indeed, it would be a good thing to have a black woman in that office. Of course, it would be better to have a fundamentally decent and competent black woman in there, but hey, I digress.

You can't have it all. Or even anything, in this case.

This week.

Tonight is my first round of bargaining this season, which should be fun. And by fun, I mean no fun at all. Tuesday night I drive down to Carbondale to help out in an organizing campaign, and by Friday I'm back.

We had basset hound health concerns last night. It seems they'll eat anything that doesn't eat them first.

Here's to hoping Petunia has a better day than yesterday. She's at least in good hands. Dr. Mrsinallmyyears is a practitioner of veterinary scientific medicine.

My Cegelis Weekend

I spent this afternoon canvassing in my hood, and succeeding in getting two people to put out yard signs.

I takes 'em where I can gets 'em.

That makes a Coffee on Friday night, all day yesterday organizing and canvassing, and today canvassing.

Or, about 20 hours this weekend.

Wow.

President Bush cannot apparently ride a bike, wave, and speak at the same time.

I'm speechless. But only because I'm also riding a bike and waving at someone. Hey, I'm no dummy. If the President can't do it, probably neither can I.

Man, this is a good idea.

A southern Indian state passed a law admitting pregnant women free access to public transit--making it easier for them to get to the doctor.

We could do it here, but doubtless we'd be regaled by tall tales of minorities hiding basketballs under their shirts to get free bus rides.

Don Knotts joins John Ritter in that bachelor pad in the sky.

Knotts, you'll be missed.

It's official: Iraq is a fuckin' disaster

When Howard Dean said it, he was a traitor to the nation. When conservative goodfather William F. Buckley, Jr. (who looks more lizardlike as the years progress) says it, Howard Dean is a traitor to the nation.

How I spent my cold Saturday afternoon

I spent it canvassing here in Lombard for Christine, going door-to-door and trying to catch folks. Most weren't home, but I had some good conversations with folks. Last night I worked a neighborhood coffee in nearby Wheaton, and we garnered several volunteers out of the deal. She can almost instantly build relationships with folks in a living room talking about the issues of the day. It's really something to behold.

Tomorrow I'll be working my own precinct.

I'm a glutton for chapped, cracked lips.

Now if those had been Iraqis being sexually degraded on that video, that'd be OK.

Do we really have so many soldiers on hand that we can afford to prosecute seven paratroopers for making a gay porn video together?

Seriously.

Burned by the flames he lit and stoked.

That's how William Grieder sees this whole Dubai port-owning business, and he makes a good point. We've been living in the post 9/11 world (whatever the fuck that means) and Bush is by his own admission, the 'war president'. So having stoked these fears and shoved the coals into the furnace of the popular imagination, Bush is somehow surprised when people are taken aback that a country with actual ties to the 9/11 hijackers and Al-Qaeda might take an owning control of a major portion of our infrastructure.

Bush, meet pitard. You built it. Prepare to be hoisted upon it.

Update: If you want to see the silliness of the White House's response to this whole damn thing, look no further than here. It seems that on the one hand the White House is actually saying that those who are alarmed by the port deal are harming national security, and on the other hand they're saying they wouldn't be opposed to delaying the deal.

I know consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, but this is a little much.

Hey Donna Shalala:

Fuck You.



















Reason #2,123 that Clinton Democrats can really suck. And why they can really suck it.

Potemkin City Limits of Debate

I recently received this album for my birthday:






I know the picture is teeny, but it's Propagandhi's latest album Potemkin City Limits. I like Propagandhi, a lot, but this album is really disappointing. Not musically, it kicks ass musically. The premise of the album is that folks who work within the system are worse than fools, they're part of the problem. The band specifically calls out the Rock against Bush comps in the ditty "Rock for Sustainable Capitalism," and lays the shit into Fat Mike, who put the comps and subsequent tours together. He also started punkvoter.com, which was an attempt to get the notoriously apathetic young set aware and registered to vote.

Of course his (and our) sin was that the choice to vote Bush out meant an implicit vote for John Kerry. A Democrat.

Here's the thing. I don't like the fact that John Kerry was my only real choice in the last election. I realize that in lots of ways he's not that different from George Bush. I know this. But y'know what? In lots of ways he's not. And even if the consequences of those differences are small in theory, in real world terms, they mean huge outcome changes.

Is Kerry that different than Bush on the Palestinian question? Probably not. But I bet he wouldn't stacked FEMA with cronies rendering the agency nothing more than a farm league for political career hacks. Ask the folks in New Orleans if that would have changed the outcome of any recent events.

What about corporate control of the media? C'mon. You know Kerry isn't breaking any new ground there. But he would have raised the minimum wage slightly, and that would have directly benefited millions of people. He probably would have pushed for Medicaid and Medicare to be adequately funded, which has HUGE real world consequences for old and poor people. He might have raised taxes on the wealthiest among us (and by among us I mean secluded in their gated communities and fortressed high-rise condos). He might have protected high-paying jobs, and actually enforced labor laws on employers. He probably wouldn't have been the radical progressive that I am.

I don't like the shit, but the point is that sometimes I eat what's in front of me while recognizing it for what it is and working to change the options. For me to sit on my high and mighty activist throne and throw away an option because it's not the best option isn't just strategically a bad idea (though it is)--it's immoral.

The progressive response to our problems can never be to sit it out.

Ever. Even if your choices suck, which they too frequently do.

The alternative would be something like what these folks are up to. They're not content to sit and take it on the chin over and over again while waiting for some other folks to swoop in and save us. They're doing it on their own, without anyone's permission. Even if they're just expanding the cage that we all live in, we have to recognize that this means better outcomes for people with shitty options in the present.

UPS Workers Have Dignity--this just in

This MSNBC piece goes a long way toward explaining how nearly 90,000 US workers have actual pay with benefits in an era of shrinking worker purchasing power.

It's a good read.

Good News!

It happens so rarely, y'know?

Well, Christine netted the endorsement of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) who represent most of the airline workers at O'Hare and have lots of ties within the 6th district.

My favorite tag line:

"We’re tired of middle-of-the-road, get-along, compromise kind of political decision-making in Washington.” He continued, “We need people who understand what’s happening to working families, and who have the courage and the ideas to change that. Christine is one of those people, and we’ll do everything we can to get her elected."

Yup. No thanks to Rahm, Christine continues to earn the respect of progressives everywhere. More democratic activists lay it on the line for Christine--she won the endorsement of Democracy For America, the national arm of the Dean campaign, Dean For America.

"Howard Dean’s support was extremely helpful two years ago because it gave credibility to a bona fide grassroots campaign that was mobilizing and energizing Democrats who were being under-served and under-represented by the leaders of their own party,” said Cegelis. “This time, the Democratic leadership is still going in another direction, which gives additional value and importance to the DFA endorsement. It’s the everyday Democratic voters and Independents in this District who will make the decision, not the party leadership, and DFA represents the values and the hopes of those voters, just as I do. ”

But that's not all! She also garnered the endorsements of the Mexican-American Political Coalition and the Italian-American Political Coalition.

Way to go Christine.

Sikorsky workers on strike

Okay look. If the most heavily government subsidized industry in modern times can't afford to provide benefits to its workers, it's seriously time to make this a nationalized program. The fact that the Teamsters were forced out on strike over this is a hugely underreported story. Forget mom and pops stores. Forget school districts like the ones I deal with. Forget Wal-Mart.

This is a fabulously wealthy sector of the economy, which owes its existence to the federal government. And it still doesn't want to provide the basic option for its workers to protect their families without going into penury.

Jesus.

And on that note, one of the founders of the Teamsters passed away this weekend.

More on el Presidente and the Prime Minister of Malaysia

I recently posted a little note about how the prime minister of Malaysia had apparently ponied up the serious dough (to the tune of $1.2 million) for a meeting with Mr. George.

Today, I bring you the hilarious understanding of our political system by an anti-semtic dictator:

“They talked me into meeting Bush because they said I would be able to influence him in some way regarding US policies. "

Ha! How'd that work out for ya?

“I did not touch the money. But, I think somebody paid. That is their practice,” he said. “That is their system. It is not corruption at all. It is very open.”

Nope, it's not corruption at all. It's just the cost of doing bid'ness.

"When the Malays feel less fearful of being overwhelmed economically by non-Malays and compete openly and succeed when they reduce their fears, the policy can be achieved,” he said.

Huh? I got nothing there.

via dailykos.

James Wolcott ist smart man.

As I recover from last night's birthday festivities (and I am grateful to my friends who chose to spend a night at the end of a long week with me and Dr. Mrsinallyyears) I came across this:

In the brouhahahahaha (ha!) over the recent misadventures with Dick and Buckshot I noticed some discussion of the canned hunt, a term which brought back memories. There was some liberal chatter about how while I don't have anything against hunters in general canned hunting is particularly grotesque and not manly, blah blah blah. I think I even said the same sorta thing.

James Wolcott's piece snapped me back to my damn senses. Hunting is an unnecessary blood sport whose exercise proves two things: bullets are indeed tougher than the outer skin of lots of animals and, men engage in this ritual to manifest themselves as mini-gods, with the final say on who lives and who dies.

Wolcott is one of the absolute bestest writers on the blogonets. I'll leave you with this snippet.

Rich guys pretending to be Jeremiah Johnson is one of the many fascimile editions of rawhide authenticity being successfully peddled in the media with no one willing to stop and say that inflicting unnecessary pain and suffering on animals should be a source of sin and shame, and that the decent thing to do would be to break Cheney's shotgun in two before anyone or anything else is harmed by his buffoonery.

Cold weather is cool. Not really, but stuff like this helps suffering through it.

These are some neat things that happened around the house when it snowed recently, and the weather warmed to about 37 degrees or so.















My hammock gets snowy!















Our patio furniture gets snowy!

My War

I knew he was a throaty punk rocker guy, but threat to society? Not since '82-'83 or so.

Henry Rollins--you are on the TSA's shit list!

Who're you gonna believe, me or your lyin' eyes?

Last week, Dan Bartlett (who makes his living shilling for a boob) told the nation that there were nooooooooo ties betwixt his booby boss and high-priced lobbyin' ho Jack Abramoff.

He doesn’t have a personal relationship with him,” White House counselor Dan Bartlett said of Bush and Abramoff, who recently pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from his lobbying practices and has pledged to cooperate with government prosecutors. “We acknowledge he (Abramoff) attended some Hannukuah celebrations,” Bartlett said in an appearance on
NBC’s “Today” show. “Any suggestions by critics or anyone else to suggest the president is doing something nefarious with Abramoff is absurd.”

Turns out, not so much the case. And I love the tie-in the 2004 Kerry campaign. Klassic Karl.

When the government of Malaysia sought to repair its tarnished image in the U.S. by arranging a meeting between President Bush and its controversial prime minister in 2002, it followed the same strategy as many other well-heeled interests in Washington: It called on lobbyist Jack Abramoff for help.It was a tall order. The then-prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, had been chastised by the Clinton administration for repeated anti-Semitic statements and for jailing political opponents. But it was important to the Malaysians, according to a former Abramoff associate who attended meetings with the Malaysian mbassador
and the lobbyist.
...
Mahathir later emerged as an issue in Bush's reelection campaign, as Republicans aggressively courted Jewish voters. One such GOP outreach featured Mahathir pictured beside Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John F. Kerry and
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat above a Kerry quote in which he said "foreign leaders" wanted him to win the election. The campaign mailer suggested Mahathir and Arafat, "renowned for their hatred of the Jewish people," supported Kerry. On one occasion, Abramoff — an orthodox Jew and a supporter of Israel — was asked whether he was comfortable representing a
country led by a man known for anti-Semitic omments.Abramoff responded, "They pay their bills on time."

Pork Plant Union: Never say Die!

The NYT has a great article on the most recent round of organizing efforts by the UFCW in Tar Heel, NC. The world's largest pork processing plant is non-union, and its working conditions are brutal, as you might expect. The UFCW held a vote for representation nine years ago. Two years ago, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that the vote count should be thrown out, because Smithfield foods (among other things) had a union leader beaten up the night of the vote count.

Think about that. Can you imagine if it took seven years to process regular assault cases in criminal court? People would take to the streets, demanding justice in some other form. And that's pretty much what the union is doing, pressuring the company to remain neutral (that is, respect the rights of employees) during the organizing process. Of course, this isn't news up here in Chicago, it's common practice. But in North Carolina, (my home state) this is groundbreaking.

Full disclosure: In college I used to hang out with some punk rock kids whose families worked at the plant, and they didn't have much good to say about it.

Dick Cheney, you are an indefensibly bad man.

Not because you shot some guy on a hunting trip. God knows, hunting accidents happen. It's one reason not to hunt, in fact. Nope, the reason(s) you are indefensibly bad in this escapde are because of two things:

1) You like canned hunting;
2) Your press people tried to blame the poor sap you shot.

There's only one punishment appropriate for you. I don't relish doing this, but here you go.

Up on Brokeback

It was a good film, but the sex scene just made me laugh. The rest of the story was overwhelming, moving, powerful. The scenery was beautiful. The characters were really well developed (and I don't mean endowed!). There was definitely a lot there going on, especially among the wives of the man characters, Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar.

Republicans aren't cracking down on dissent, really.

Really:

It was Sept. 14, 2004, just months before the presidential election, and this was a carefully orchestrated Bush-Cheney campaign rally in a hangar leased by Monaco Coach on Eugene Airport property. Attendees had gotten their free tickets from discriminating volunteers at the Lane County Republican Party headquarters; dissidents were screened out. The VP, dressed cowboy casual and seeming at ease with the crowd, had just finished saying, "Our accomplishments over the last four years have made America stronger, safer and better."

A magical time, I remember it well.

"The word 'no' just came out of my mouth," Patterson recounted later. "I was at that moment visualizing women in different war scenes around the world screaming out for mercy. And I actually felt like my voice didn't come out, because nobody around me was reacting. That's when the men in black came up behind me and took me by the elbows."

Uh-oh. This no loookee so good.

A year and a half later, Patterson faces a charge of second-degree criminal trespass, which could carry a penalty of $500 and 30 days in jail. Municipal Court Judge Alan Leiman had moved to dismiss the charge in September 2005, but city prosecutor Mark Haight appealed the ruling.

Well damn, talk about thin-skinned. And yet again, we see a woman paying a penalty for saying no to Dick. When will the violence against our women end? When Lord?

Just checking in

How are you doing? I'm fine, thanks for (not) asking.

Things continue apace. Work continues to consume more of my soul than it should, but there ya go. I'm slowly getting used to living a world where facts simply don't matter and one's definition of normal slowly degrades to meaningless. And by slowly, I mean just this: holy shit the country has gone straight to hell and so quickly it takes your breath away.

But, in other news, I married an incredible woman who depth of compassion, kindness and high regard for her obviously good looking and mostly well-intentioned husband must be witnessed to be believed.

A prediction for 2006

This year, more people will die in Iraq.

Like this guy.

Here's another prediction: Upon hearing this, I will feel sad. Congress will further cut veterans' benefits, citing the need to restrict government growth. The apparent irony of such an action by the supposed party of strong national defense will yet again, go unnoticed.

Assholes like myself will screech about the unfairness of this, changing nothing.

A few more predictions: Twenty years from now, the two children of this guy who actually bother to register and vote will most certainly vote Republican, citing their abiding faith, the memory of their slain veteran father, and a desire to win (the still ongoing) war on terror.

Assholes like myself will screech about the unfairness of this, changing nothing.

I'm sick of people getting killed.

The 50 most loathsome people in the nation.

So right. For so many reasons.

Update:

And from 2004's list my favorite loathsome person; you.

3. You
Crimes: You gaze idly at the carnage around you, sigh, and go calmly back to your coffee and your People magazine. You can’t stop buying useless crap, though you’re drowning in a deepening pool of debt. You think you’re an activist because you bitch all day on the internet, but you reelect the same gangsters at a 99% rate. You consider yourself informed because you waste a significant portion of your life watching the same three news stories cycle over and over again on your gargantuan, aerodynamic television set while you eat processed food. You really thought everything would be okay if Kerry won. Not
only do you believe in an invisible man who magically farted out the universe, you also excoriate and marginalize those who disagree. You have a poorer understanding of your country’s foreign policy history than a third world peasant, but you can’t wait to see what Julia Roberts will be wearing at the Oscars. You cheer as Ukrainians challenge an election based on exit poll data, but keep waiting around for someone else to fix your problems. You can’t think, you can’t organize and you won’t act. This is all your fault.

Smoking Gun: You’re fat.

Punishment: You’re soaking in it.

What he says.

Digby does it gooder than me do it:

They are going to the 9/11 well again. They say that Democrats are sending talking points to Osama and giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Rove says we don't believe that the government should monitor al Qaeda's telephone calls. The next several months will be spent fending off accusations that if we don't let the president do anything he damned well pleases we are all going to die.

I don't know if it will work again. But I also don't know if I can take this campaign one more time. Five years of hearing the same thing over and over again and watching American sheeple fall for it over and over again is just too depressing. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to January 20, 2009 (and I'm of an age where rushing the future is no longer wise.) The day I no longer have to listen to one more word from this immoral, dishonest, incompetent, delusional prick will be the best day of my life.

That just about sums it up. I'm so sick of the unfettered arrogance, the absolute willingness to turn yesterday's talking points into today's 'we never said that' that I'm beyond screaming. Beyond pummeling my fists into a wall. It's just hard to believe in democracy when people are willing to just extend the benefit of the doubt to someone who shows zero compunction about twisting the facts to suit their own purpose time and again. And to call them on it is treason. And I know I am not saying anything I haven't read ten thousand times, but sometimes the scope of it all is just breathtaking.

Or, as Against me! puts it:

"When an invasion can give a country its freedom,
When unconsciousness is true happiness,
No, no I don't know what to say."

I been Un Lazy Bastardo

Here's some good stories.

Bolivia elects a left-leaning leader, further adding toward south America's social revolution.

This is a good article on values, Democrats, and the state of affairs.

Here's a piece on UNITE HERE's attempts to negotiate a national union contract for hotel workers.

Fuck a bunch of Chris Matthews.

Illinois AFL-CIO says, "Hey! We really liked the way the Melissa Bean treated us after we endorsed her, let's do that again!"

Here's a great (and late) site on where the late, great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was when he met the business end of an assassin's bullet.



That is all.

I wasn't gonna do this, but...

I hadn't felt much like posting recently. With the brutal onslaught of an impending Alito ascension to the Supreme Court (motto: making shit up since 1789), let's say I've been getting the party started to welcome in the apocalypse.

Or, I could tell you the truth, that I've been sick, busy, reading, enjoying life, etc. etc. Plus, the internets are a scary place. Case in point.

If this guy didn't exist, The Onion or the The Daily Show would have to create him.

Today is the greatest

Today I go to downtown Chicago to let Mr. George know my heart. I'll have pictures up, I promise. Till then, I leave you with these two posts by Atrios, both of which deserve your 40 seconds.

Pat Robertson is a fraud.

What's wrong with Tom Delay summed up in one conversation

Doug Thompson recalls a sunny meeting with the Prince of Darkness his own bad self.

Fuck the law indeed.

Tonight I met Tammy Duckworth

Tonight I had my monthly meeting with the other Democrats in York Township, and for the first time since I've been attending, Christine's challenger Tammy Duckworth was on the scene.

She came across as very credible, a good candidate, but she really had a hard time answering the questions about her status as a resident in the 8th congressional district (the hated Melissa Bean's district). Her answer as to why she's running in the 6th is essentially that she can beat Pete Roskam, and she has friends here. Part of her hometown (Hoffman Estates) is in the 6th, part is not.

I asked her two questions that she handled pretty well. My first was whether she'd vote for CAFTA, she said no. My second was whether she'd support the bankruptcy bill that passed last year (and that punishes peopl for filing for bankruptcy for medical bills). I made sure to mention that 'her' representative voted for both of those pieces of heinous legislation, the former at the urging of Rahm Emanuel.

Afterwards, Christine got up and did a very good job presenting herself, saying that she knew most of the people in the room (ahem, Ms. Duckworth), that she forgot to introduce her campaign manager because she'd been running all around the district to so many events, etc. etc.

I wish that Tammy had run against Melissa Bean in the Democratic primary. She seems like a fine lady, certainly one with a compelling personal story. I'd probably have given her money. She's a fine candidate, but she isn't the issue. The way that the DCCC handled this is.

Friday I'm going here.

Since I didn't get my paperwork in on time to be a voted in candidate for precinct committeeman, I have to do so by write-in instead, so I'm getting that shit together. The contract I was wrapping up really took up a lot of my time in early December. Ahem.

A bad time to be a miner

It's horrible what's happened to the miners whose cave collapsed on them. Condolences are clearly not sufficient for their families, but it's the only equipment I have to deal with a tragedy like this.

People shouldn't be exposed to regular danger as a part of their livelihoods, but that's the world we live in.

I think something has been missing in the media coverage of all that's gone down--the perspective of the United Mine Workers of America. Wouldn't you think that the official voice of actual miners would have something relevant to say on the matter?

Greg Saunders over at TMW has an appropos point on the way the print media use the same photos to make two different statements--one about relief and the other about overwhelming loss. He's also right about the atrocious headline the Boston Herald tagged on to their coverage ("Miner Miracle--God Answers America's Prayers!).

The editor should be fired alone for that goddamnawful pun. When people die is not, as a rule, the most appropriate time to showcase your sense of humor.

Just sayin'.

Matt Yglesias Nails It.

To the wall.

"To my eyes, insofar as DeLay is involved, I don't see how one can minimize this, even though I don't actually find the caper all that interesting as such. DeLay has, for years, been the leading figure in the House Republican caucus. To the extent that he's corrupted, all his henchmen are corrupt too, even if they weren't so clever as to personally pocket any cash. The point, after all, of the Russia/IMF bribes wasn't to get DeLay to vote for the appropriation; it was to get DeLay to get the Republicans to vote for it. DeLay's great strength as a congressional leader has been the discipline with which he's led his troops. He said "jump" and they asked "how high?" As a consequence, all the troops are tarnished by their leader's sins."

Yep. Delay staked his reputation on his ability to get the republicans in Congress to fall in line with his orders. Even if they didn't take any money, as a whole they bear some responsibility in this sad affair.

Transit Strike Rundown

Josh Eidelson has more on the fallou from the transit strike. I think he about hits it on the head. The one thing I don't think most people appreciate is the inherent danger in bargaining a two-tiered contract, with different benefits and wages for future and current employees. It's like signing your own death sentence. It's the quickest way to increase resentment among young and old workers I can think of.

Andy Stern Bio in the WaPo

The Washington Post has a piece on Andy Stern, the President of the Service Employees International Union. It's lengthy, and a fairly psychoanalytical article that focuses on how the death of his daughter helped push in to the point where he led the SEIU out of the AFL-CIO this summer.

There's much that's useful in it, but it suffers from what is common about labor coverage-focusing on labor leaders as the movement itself, which they most certainly are not. This piece from Arizona focuses on their organizing strategies there, and lays off the 'union-boss' bent.

I myself go back and forth about my feelings with regard to the SEIU. I think that their service model kind of sucks (that's the way in which union members receive assistance from the union when they have a problem). They also have a bad reputation when it comes to internal union democracy.

On the other hand, they can absolutely organize the shit of some exploited workers. They excel at it. They're the only union with a focus on private-sector organizing to grow their membership. So clearly, they're doing something right. Unlike my union, I think they've also been successful 'branding' themselves with workers around a few key issues--key among them health care and privatization, Wal-Mart, and public funding for services. They're an issues union.

And they can raise the standard of living from those they represent. That's where I think they shine strongest--bringing a sort of rough justice for a wide group of people whom the economy has largely left behind, and whose interests would never be addressed without representation from a union.

They're the only other union I would consider seriously going to work for, warts and all.

More on Abramoff-Delay

This Washington Post story nicely details the way Abramoff took money from Russian energy tycoons and pumped into American electoral politics. Mostly for Tom Delay through an outfit called the US Family Network which existed primarily on paper.

Please visit TalkingPointsMemo, because they're going to be on this shit faster than white on rice. They're talking about up to 20 lawmakers and staffers going down, and there's apparently some talk that Abramoff will try and take a Democrat down with him, just to keep things bi-partisan.

That would be pretty funny, given his history as a reactionary apparatchik.

Dammit, turn your back for a minute...

And Jack Abramoff pleads guilty.

I remember when he was innocent, innocent I tells ya.

Happy new beer!

We jetted out of town down to the outer banks of North Cackalacka for New Year's, which explains an absence of posts.

And the fact that no one reads this explains the utter lack of emails I got questioning when will I post again.

Yesterday was the travel day from hell, we got stuck at an airport (and a shitty regional one at that) for over 8 hours and I didn't hit my pillow until 1 a.m. I should have been back by five. Ugh.

One highlight of the day's events was when the flight attendant got bonked in the head by a seriously wasted passenger attempting to enter the lavatory. He started crying. The flight attendant, I mean. He called for the captain, I suppose to enforce some kind of discipline on the guy, but by that point we'd landed, so I'm not sure what he intended to do the drunkard in question. I later noticed that this same drunkard got to baggage before we did, so I suppose no harsh sentence was meted out.

If I were the flight attendant, I'd be crying over my gutted pension. Maybe he was crying over both, I dunno.