Life vs. death: how can a wingnut tell?

An entirely fresh take on the cell-war debates, from a doctor in the family:

If McCain and Palin believe that life starts at conception when there is but one cell, how do they define death? When someone is dead and their heart stops and they stop breathing and their brain stops working, there are still trillions of functioning cells that are very much alive and carrying out their individual routines, even when they run out of oxygen. And some of these cells are those beloved, protected progenitor cells like stem cells. So is death when all those cells finally die and we are just a big pile of goo? I mean if they are going to use microbiology and biochemistry to define life then the same rule should apply for death! You can't use a strict definition for one and an "arbitrary" one for the other.

Anyway, thought educated minds should be informed!

I'm going to start using this argument wherever I can, because at least it might make people stop and blink. (And wouldn't it be great if voters cared about things like logic and being informed?)

A local (Alaskan) on Palin: "This pick floored me."

This interesting take on Sarah Palin comes from Pete Hauschka, a school principal who has lived in Alaska for ten years. He's the brother of Warner Chabot, a colleague of my husband. Pete requests that we pass his words on "to those who will use them well." Emphasis added by me:

Good evening, lots of friends and relatives have been asking me (as an Alaskan) what I think of Sarah Palin, our Governor and new choice for McCain as a VP candidate.

Here it goes:

This pick floored me. Sarah Palin is a nice person. I've met her, I've even talked to her for a few minutes at a principal's conference a couple of years ago. She has lots going for her superficially. She speaks from the heart, like a spitfire mother; she can even be sort of funny sometimes. She is quite beautiful; athletic, and has that radiant glow of someone who actually spends time doing things outside. Unlike many politicians, she has lived a "real life" and done things that few living and working in DC could ever do....like dipnettin' fish, shootin' stuff and eating it out on the tundra, and havin' 5 kids.

Personally, I'd never vote for her. She has an extremely simple view of the world. I don't even think she has ever been abroad. As governor she has repeatedly shown us that she is unable to grasp the demands of leadership. She is very prone to cronyism of the worst kind. Every cabinet level political appointment she has made she has over-ridden suggestions of our state advisory boards, and instead promoted those who had granted her direct political favors. Not that other politicians don't do this, they do, but most of them are able to balance their appointments to ensure that at least a few people with real skill and experience are running big state agencies.

She also has been unable to pay attention to her Alaskan constituency. Personally, I've written several of our previous gov's and been asked to comment publicly on education policy. All the previous gov's have always acknowledged that contribution, criticism or comment; sometimes by direct reply, or at least by that of a staff member. Palin's office has been a zone of silence. Not I, nor one person I know commenting has ever gotten any sort of reply. Her claim of running an open or transparent government is totally false; the public simply has no role in her administration.

Her previous claim to fame was being mayor of Wasilla, a growing town about 40 minutes from Anchorage of about 15,000 people. Wasilla is a hellhole, even by Alaskan standards, where there are plenty of hellhole towns and villages. Wasilla is an ugly place that shows a complete absence of planning, design, or sense of public vision. Gov't agencies and services are completely overrun in this town; things are so bad that they can't even track their population or build schools in the right place, because most parts of the town don't require building permits, so the only clue about where people are settling are utility receipts. Imagine trying to be an emergency responder in this kind of place: Houses don't just catch on fire in Wasilla, they burn to the ground, because by the time the fire department has figured out which road to take (no signs) or whose house it is (no directory), the place is done for. Palin was mayor this town for at least 2 terms before being elected gov. a year and a half ago.

Her moral sense is simplistic and not inclusive. She is the sort of person who is used to using their "faith" to divide and isolate minority groups of human beings instead of uniting them. To her credit as Gov. she has kept out of this arena pretty well, but when in comfortable company (i.e the Matanuska Valley Republican Women's Club), she lets her moral cat out of the bag.

I will do what I can to ensure her defeat and that of her running mate as well. :) Please share this information with those who can use it well.

Cheers, Pete Hauschka

The Democratic flag

A modest proposal: Between now and election day, let's all fly the American flag proudly alongside our Obama and Tom Allen yard signs. It sends a powerful image. Just check out this picture over at Bag News.

(And while you're at it, check out the rest of their excellent work.)

Closing Daou's Triangle

Netroots alone lack the critical mass to change a media narrative, both because we're small and because we're not yet legitimate. We need established opinion-makers to pick up and continue any buzz that we start. We did this with the Trent Lott/Strom Thurmond story and then again with the Plame case and the attorney general firings scandal. But we failed in lots of other cases (the Downing Street Memo comes to mind).

Now with McCain's housing gaffe story, Paul Rosenberg thinks we're at last starting to close Daou's Triangle, creating a powerful synergy between blogs, traditional media, and the political establishment. We're just at the beginning of this task, but the prospect of building a functional progressive message machine is hugely important and exciting.

Next up on our agenda: overplaying the POW card.

UPDATE: Eric Boehlert discusses smackdown power and why swift-boating isn't what it used to be.

UPDATE 2: Writing from the Big Tent in Denver, thereisnospoon says that Goliath is beginning to notice David.

OMG the comments (Wonkette edition)

I have friends that, for whatever reason ( "It's too mean!" "It's too evil!") still don't read Wonkette. But oh my god the comments. The names alone - dogless liberal, speakerblowupdoll (with tiny Newt icon!), ronaldpagan, MoodProcessor, NoWireHangers, neitscheprojectile, The Incomparable Tiny Valdez - bring sunshine to my day. Not to mention the wit and the pithy, pithy, insidery insight.

Here are a few selections regarding McCain's latest whine memo on Obama's popularity with the elite:

• SayItWith Wookies: John McCain eats fried squirrel and olive stones. And frequently gums them.
• AxmxZ: So Hopey is hot, sexy, beloved by the world, eats well, keeps in rockin’ shape, - and is therefore unelectable?
• Larry McAwful: Ben, moi aussi, j’aime bien la forêt noire. Je me suis promèné là-bas souvent quand j’habitais Strasbourg… Alors! Est-ce que je suis élitiste moi-même? Passe-moi l’arugula!
• sezme: I’m elitist for worrying about the price of Arugula? WHY? It’s fucking expensive! Here I am scrounging for Japanese Knotweed, purlane and dandelions in the back alley because they’re free (and bitter!) but unless I eat iceberg lettuce from Yuma picked by some migrant worker for $50/hr (John McCain wages) I’m elitist.
• capt. tim: I looked up arugala. I totally eat that all the time, just never knew what it was called.
• El Bombastico: Motherfucker, your candidate is wearing $520 Salvatore Ferragamo loafers! WITH BUCKLES!

Read Wonkette. You know you want to.

UPDATE 7-31-08. Special bonus comment from today's story on Lanny Davis:

• Obfuscator: I can’t listen to Lanny Davis interviews unless he’s constantly being drowned out by the sound of metal folding chairs.

I am very tired of polling Democrats who plan to support Susan Collins

Here, courtesy of Collins Watch, is a list of key Bush initiatives she supported:

• Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq
  
• Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001
  
• Defeating withdrawal time lines in Iraq supplementals--multiple votes
  
• Military Commissions Act of 2006
  
• Confirmation of Samuel A. Alito to the Supreme Court
  
• Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003
• Legalizing warantless wiretapping via Protect America Act of 2007
  
• Medicare Part 'D'
  
• No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
  
• Energy Policy Act of 2005
  
• Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005
• Retroactive legal immunity for telecom companies
• Confirmation of John Roberts to the Supreme Court

She voted with Bush 81% of the time overall, and when the stakes were highest she was with him 100%. Tom Allen should be kicking her hind end all over the state with a story like this. Instead, Dems, Greens, and Unenrolled are telling pollsters like me they're going for Collins, Undecided, or (boding worst of all for their intelligence) Hoffman.

I'm told not to worry because the DSCC has budgeted a huge ad buy here. That is good news. But when do we start seeing a change in the "Collins is doing a good job" narrative?

We're #12! We're # 12!

...in human development, that is, as measured by health, education, and income. The BBC reports on Oxfam's American Human Development Project:

• Americans live shorter lives than citizens of almost every other developed nation.
• The US ranked 42nd in the world for life expectancy despite spending more on health care per person than any other country.
• Overall, the American Human Development Report ranked the world's richest country 12th for human development.
• Of the world's richest nations, the US has the most children (15%) living in poverty.
• Of the OECD nations, the US has the most people in prison - as a percentage and in absolute numbers.
• 25% of 15-year-old students performed at or below the lowest level in an international math test - worse than Canada, France, Germany and Japan.

Those dirty effing hippies at Oxfam! Why don't they do something useful instead of digging up stupid America-hating facts? Incidentally, I wonder how much coverage we'll see of this study in our own national press? (Hat tip: Don M.)

The policies behind the bad news

They add up to neofeudalism, and it's time to push back:

Growth means 'more billionaires'. Progress means 'less taxes' and 'lower wages'. Freedom means anything that brings "growth" and "progress."

Five kinds of stupid

Collect the whole set:

1. sheer ignorance: Ignorance of critical facts about important events in the news, and ignorance of how our government functions and who's in charge.
   
2. negligence: The disinclination to seek reliable sources of information about important news events.
   
3. wooden-headedness: The inclination to believe what we want to believe regardless of the facts.
   
4. shortsightedness: The support of public policies that are mutually contradictory, or contrary to the country's long-term interests.
5. bone-headedness: The susceptibility to meaningless phrases, stereotypes, irrational biases, and simplistic diagnoses and solutions that play on our hopes and fears.

Which would help explain why during poll calls, when voters tell me that "energy & the environment" is their top concern this election cycle, they're voting a straight Republican ticket.

Hegemony is the enemy

At the National Conference for Media Reform, Bill Moyers is sparking, as always, incredible dialog on the media's responsibility for our current political situation. Now comes Paul Rosenberg to say that Republicans are not the enemy in November (they're "a pathetic wreck"). It's hegemony, led by the corporate media:

In the 1990s, the media led the charge to depose Bill Clinton. As Gene Lyons meticulously documented in Fools for Scandal: How the Media Invented Whitewater, the New York Times and Washington Post persistently, repeatedly, and egregiously misreported virtually every major aspect of the so-called "Whitewater scandal." When that failed, and the Monica Lewinsky scandal emerged in its place, dozens of leading newspapers editorialized that Clinton should resign. Sixty percent of the American people disagreed, but they couldn't get a word in edgewise-which is where, when and how MoveOn.org was founded.

In contrast, George W. Bush has not merely subverted the most central aspects of our constitutional order with his dictatorial theories of unchecked executive power, he has shredded the Magna Charta as well as the Constitution, and yet the media persists in lying that only the "loonie left" thinks that there's anything amiss.

That's hegemony for you.

Read the whole thing here. And don't miss the great aikido ambush journalism video at Crooks & Liars.

Why we liked Ike

Steve Clemons at The Washington Note has published a collection of Eisenhower quotes so thoughtful it makes you almost long for the 50s... Very worthwhile reading. Go here for the full set. Here's a sample:

If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking. . . is freedom.

-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

In most communities it is illegal to cry "fire" in a crowded assembly. Should it not be considered serious international misconduct to manufacture a general war scare in an effort to achieve local political aims?

-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.

-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Only Americans can hurt America.

-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.

-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war.

-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Suggestion

UPDATE:
Senator Clinton writes to say, "Thank you for your message. I have received thousands of emails from people all over the country. Your comments are very important to me and I am excited that so many people are joining our conversation about how to change the direction of the country." She suggests that I volunteer, donate, become a Hillraiser, or otherwise get involved in the campaign. She thanks me again for my interest.

To which I answer:

I'm not interested in joining Team Hillary. You obviously didn't read my comments. I want Senator Clinton to drop out of the race - gracefully and now, please - before she does any more harm to the Democratic Party. Don't send me chirpy emails. Just do what's right and fold up this campaign immediately.

Signed,
A Disgusted Former Hillary Apologist

Senator Clinton, I am a white woman over 50, a loyal Democrat, who has defended and admired you for years. But because of the campaign you have run, I now despise you. This latest musing about RFK's assassination is merely the latest outrage in a long line of slurs, innuendo, personal attacks, vote suppression tactics, and whining. So here's my suggestion:

WITHDRAW FROM THE RACE. GRACEFULLY.

You will not be the nominee. You will not be selected as VP. 2012 is now out of reach for you. Stop tearing down Senator Obama to no purpose and hardening your supporters' opposition to him. We can all see through your desperation. The country is ashamed for you. Salvage what little reputation you have left.

WITHDRAW FROM THE RACE. GRACEFULLY, AND NOW.

Thank you.

"The future does not belong to those who are content with today"

Ted Kennedy, on the death of his brother, Robert:

The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American Society.

I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling sad today.

Dear Maine superdelegates

Your indecision has a cost.

• You are permitting a candidate who cannot possibly win to tear down our presumptive nominee for no purpose.
• As you sit idle, Clinton supporters are hardening their opposition to Obama, and weakening him in the eyes of the general electorate.
• You are giving John McCain a clear field to consolidate his support among disparate groups, make conflicting promises, and issue misstatements of fact – all with zero press attention.
• You are denying Obama a chance to rest and regroup before the general election.
• You are starving Congressional races of money and attention and alienating potential donors. This is particularly true of lower tier races and long shot challengers.

The time and goodwill you waste cannot be recovered. In the words of opinion writer David Broder, “history shows that the earlier a candidate nails down his nomination, the better his chances of winning.” Broder cogently spells out the political costs of delay in decision making by those of you who remain uncommitted. Please read this column carefully.

Moreover, your fellow citizens are losing respect for you. Here’s Broder quoting Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin on the topic of uncommitted superdelegates:

"They want to avoid hard votes," Durbin told me at midweek, referring to his colleagues. "They want to be spared controversy. Most of them are looking for certainty, for inevitability, before they commit."

It is past time for you to act. Your decision could determine whether or not John McCain becomes our next president and keeps us in Iraq for the next half-century!

Sincerely,
Mr. & Mrs. Alna Dem

Historian-Americans smarter than regular Americans

This just out: Professional historians weigh in again on the Bush Administration and 98.2% say it's a failure (up from 81% four years ago). Sixty-one percent further judge Bush as the worst American president of all time (up sharply from 11.6% four years ago). By contrast, 28% of the American public still think Bush is A-okay.

The poll, conducted by History News Network, includes responses from 109 historians. It is admittedly nonscientific and almost certainly premature in that history has a way of taking its time to mature. I don’t care. The quotes are hypnotizing:

“Glib, contemptuous, ignorant, incurious, a dupe of anyone who humors his deluded belief in his heroic self, he has bankrupted the country with his disastrous war and his tax breaks for the rich, trampled on the Bill of Rights, appointed foxes in every henhouse, compounded the terrorist threat, turned a blind eye to torture and corruption and a looming ecological disaster, and squandered the rest of the world’s goodwill. In short, no other president’s faults have had so deleterious an effect on not only the country but the world at large.”

“When future historians look back to identify the moment at which the United States began to lose its position of world leadership, they will point—rightly—to the Bush presidency. Thanks to his policies, it is now easy to see America losing out to its competitors in any number of areas: China is rapidly becoming the manufacturing powerhouse of the next century, India the high tech and services leader, and Europe the region with the best quality of life.”

“[T]he paranoia of Nixon, the ethics of Harding and the good sense of Herbert Hoover. . . . . God willing, this will go down as the nadir of American politics.”

“He is not a conservative, nor a Christian, just an immoral man . . . .”

“[Bush’s] denial of any personal responsibility can only be described as silly.”

“His domestic policies have had the cumulative effect of shoring up a semi-permanent aristocracy of capital that dwarfs the aristocracy of land against which the founding fathers rebelled; of encouraging a mindless retreat from science and rationalism; and of crippling the nation’s economic base.”

“George Bush has combined mediocrity with malevolent policies and has thus seriously damaged the welfare and standing of the United States.”

And my personal favorite:

“Bush does only two things well. He knows how to make the very rich very much richer, and he has an amazing talent for f**king up everything else he even approaches. His administration has been the most reckless, dangerous, irresponsible, mendacious, arrogant, self-righteous, incompetent, and deeply corrupt one in all of American history.”