The Liberal Doomsayer My blog deals primarily with national politics in the U.S. as well as, on occasion, local politics in Pennsylvania. From time to time, I may have something to say about sports and entertainment as well. I try to interpret information that shapes the news and provide context to current events. I am definitely left of center politically, but as far as I'm concerned, neither major party is perfect. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 33 0 106 4211

Articles from The Liberal Doomsayer

A "Nightmare" Of A Candidate 2008-01-24 15:56:00 So “Senator Honor And Virtue” is telling everyone in his latest T.V. ad that he’s “The Democrats’ Worst Nightmare,” is he?Well, this tells us that the race has tightened up between McCain and a Democratic opponent, I’ll admit, but I would point out two things first: 1) They aren’t running head to head yet (and I like all three of our front runners better than any of the Repugs, though I’m partial of course), and 2) It’s not assured by any means that McCain will end up winning the Republican nomination.Besides, all one has to do to find out what’s going on with “The Straight Talk Express” is to read here about his Baghdad photo-op, among other missteps (with too many of the American sheeple apparently lulled into the notion that Iraq is just hunky dory right now if The Almighty Petraeus says so) and his unflinching Bushco orthodoxy (and what “good company” he keeps also, as you can see here; D’Amato is a stooge, but Phil Gramm is one of the authors of our ...

Howling At The "Bush Dogs" 2008-01-24 15:30:00 The only reason I’m linking to this column from Froma Harrop of the Providence Journal, which extols the supposed virtues of the Blue Dog Democrats, is to refute it by linking to this Matt Stoller Open Left post which explains what these people are, for the most part, really all about, including this excerpt from Stoller’s Q&A…Why are you doing this? Why are you criticizing Democrats from conservative districts?!? You're a bad Democrat!First of all, the 'I've voting my district' argument (concerning the Iraq War) doesn't hold. There are basically no districts where the war is popular, and warrantless wiretapping as an electoral issue moved numbers against Republicans last cycle. These members are not voting their districts, they are just conservatives. There are also a number of districts represented by a Bush Dog Democrat, such as Dan Lipinski's in Illinois and Leonard Boswell's in Iowa, which lean Democratic.Second of all, Bush Dog Democrats are dragging down the res ...

Rummy's Back To Catapult More Propaganda 2008-01-24 14:06:00 I guess terminal egomania would be the only explanation for the recent return to the national spotlight of Don (“The Former Defense Secretary We Had,” recalling that quote to Pitts and Wilson when they asked him about their armor, just as a reminder) by calling for (as noted here)……a “21st-century agency for global communications.” Such an agency would respond to the media attacks leveled at the United States by Islamic radicals, using everything “from blogs to online social-networking sites to talk radio,” The Air Force Times said.The Times story also notes that Rummy envisions that this agency will “tell the story of a nation that was carved from the wilderness and conceived in freedom.” Yeah, well, I don’t think any suicide bomber candidates in Mosul (like the one who perpetrated this) are going to be real receptive to hearing the Currier and Ives version of our country’s history, so I think that one is a “non-starter,” as they say.And if Rummy is serious ...

There Is No "Good" War 2008-01-24 11:29:00 This Times of London story tells us that David M. Satterfield, currently our co-ordinator for Iraq (a lot more benign-sounding of a title than “czar” or “viceroy,” as Paul Bremer was called when he headed the Coalition Provisional Authority in that country), said recently that "Iraq may turn out to be America’s 'good war' while Afghanistan goes 'bad'."Well, to date, we have sustained 3,931 casualties in Iraq, Mr. Satterfield (as noted here). And if that constitutes your definition of “good,” then I don’t want to imagine what you would consider to be “bad” (and I’m going to ignore the other “smoke and mirrors” stuff here implying that the Iraqi government may actually get its act together – looong past the time for that to happen).And this Wikipedia article tells us the following about Satterfield…In the indictment: U.S. v. Lawrence Anthony Franklin, Steven J. Rosen, Keith Weissman, USGO-2 is mentioned, and in a New York Times article: David Satterfield ...

Wednesday Videos 2008-01-23 21:42:00 The Postal Service ("Nothing Better"; I believe this is a fan video that actually ends at about 3:45, and can't tell ya' what's going on there with the numbers - guess it means that they're just so compatible and like that)......I missed some birthdays so now it's makeup time - hope it was a good one for Duncan Sheik ("She Runs Away")......Edwin Starr would have been 66 on Monday ("Stop The War Now," a fan vid for this follow-up tune to "War"; both hits were released in 1970)......and to commemorate the 81st birthday of stylish diva extraordinaire Eartha Kitt last week, here's "Just An Old Fashioned Girl" recorded live as Kaskad in 1962 (that's all I know about this). ...

A “Paean” For Some Forgotten Heroes 2008-01-23 16:48:00 We’re going to be commemorating a few 40th anniversaries this year, so we might as well begin with this one, and that would be the seizure of the U.S.S. Pueblo by North Korea on this date in 1968.This Wikipedia article tells us that the issue of whether or not the ship was in international waters at the time it was seized or whether it had strayed across the border briefly into North Korea may never be resolved (not an uncommon practice if it had strayed, actually). Also, the Seventh Fleet apparently knew of the threat the Pueblo faced, but either no one sought authorization for attacking the North Korean vessels or was only able to obtain it after the Pueblo had already been captured.The incidents of starving our troops as well as subjecting them to coercion, including beatings, grew harsher after the North Koreans realized our people were giving them “the finger” in propaganda photos, to the point where Cmdr. Lloyd Bucher (pictured) was put through a mock firing squad to make h ...

Another Bushco Climate Crisis Co-Conspirator 2008-01-23 14:14:00 This New York Times story tells us…WASHINGTON — A new international ranking of environmental performance puts the United States at the bottom of the Group of 8 industrialized nations and 39th among the 149 countries on the list.…The United States, with a score of 81.0, he noted, “is slipping down,” both because of low scores on three different analyses of greenhouse gas emissions and a pervasive problem with smog. The country’s performance on a new indicator that measures regional smog, he said, “is at the bottom of the world right now.”He added, “The U.S. continues to have a bottom-tier performance in greenhouse gas emissions.”But not to worry; our government leapt into action immediately to communicate some truly outrageous lies for our media stenographers.James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the problem with ozone, which is formed by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen, volatile organic compounds and sunl ...

More "Clucking Around" On Edwards 2008-01-23 11:51:00 First we Markos calling John Edwards “an ass” for calling out Barack Obama on his invocation of the Republicans as “the party of ideas” and Obama's praise of Ronald Reagan (here).Next, we have Julian Epstein telling us that Edwards should do the “honorable thing” and drop out of the Democratic primary if he does poorly in South Carolina on Saturday (here, and of course, Glenn Greenwald’s information here about Edwards’ recent trending in the polls was dutifully ignored).Now, we have Dick Polman in the Philadelphia Inquirer today referring to Edwards as a “headless chicken” here (and how funny is it to read Polman pile on assumption after assumption – possibly correct, but we’ll see – about Edwards, but then chide others who do the same thing regarding St. McCain?).(Oh, and by the way, Polman and the Inky, you might want to take a look at this survey today from Editor and Publisher telling us that philly.com’s readership dropped 63.8 percent from December 20 ...

Tuesday Videos 2008-01-22 23:02:00 I'm going to try and combine a couple of items here; first, until the tragic death of actor Heath Ledger, the big show business news was that Ringo Starr wouldn't perform on "Live With Regis and Kelly" because the two hosts wouldn't cut short their idiotic gabbing at the top of the show to allow Starr enough time to perform his song, and second, today is the 40th anniversary of the debut of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in" (quintessential '60s escapist fluff), so here's Ringo from back in the day promoting that incredibly strange movie (and just remember - as we know, "losers get Bushes")......and here's Atreyu ("Becoming The Bull"). ...

Tuesday Political Stuff 2008-01-22 22:44:00 I think this is appropriate given the departure of Grandpa Fred today (noted here - to be honest, though, the Kos video really is a bit much)......and "The Pap Attack" takes on our "snake-bit" preznit. ...

A Review For "Movie Monday" 2008-01-22 16:49:00 With the announcement of the Academy Award nominations in mind (one day I’ll be able to watch the films again in actual theaters as opposed to home DVDs when the most viewed channel in our house isn’t Nickelodeon), I just wanted to take note of the film “Redacted” by Brian De Palma that I was able to watch over last weekend.If you want to find out more about it as they say, this link provides more information (more info here). There are also a whole bunch of reviewer comments at the IMDB link that take De Palma and the film apart for a variety of reasons, including the criticism that, in one scene, a U.S. soldier is holding a rifle and then, a moment or two later, he’s holding a rocket launcher (there are about a trillion little continuity errors like that a year in movies; I don’t think your enjoyment of a film should be based on that alone), as well as some of the film’s incidental music (the aria "e lucevan le stelle" is one of hope, see, and this film is tragedy from ...

Mikey Lowers The Bar 2008-01-22 15:43:00 So it looks like Saint Mikey will have to content himself with competing for the PA state house, since he has declared himself as a candidate to run against Dem Rep. Chris King of PA’s 142nd District.I don’t live in that district so I won’t be able to comment as authoritatively on it as I might about my own (PA-31; our rep is the departing Dave Steil, and I have a feeling I’ll be posting on this also with Steve Santarsiero and Mike Diamond both competing for the Democratic party nod here). Also, I have a feeling Chris is going to get tag teamed with both Mikey and Matt Wright making noise from the sidelines.And I just love this quote from Mikey about why he chose to run (and I wonder if he could have waited much later to declare, by the way?)…“I intend to change the way business is done in Harrisburg,” said Fitzpatrick, who lives with his family in the Snowball Gate section of Levittown in Middletown. “We need to control the growth of spending in government, expand econ ...

The Inky Weighs In On The Economy 2008-01-22 11:41:00 I have to remind myself not to devote so much time and attention to the Philadelphia Inquirer, especially when they produce a lede like this in one of their editorials today on the “tax cut, more debt” smoke and mirrors gimmick from Bushco in response to the nose dive our markets are currently performing, bringing other world markets down right along with it.You don't need a degree in economics to know where Congress should send rebates to stave off a recession: to people who will spend the money faster than Paris Hilton in a shoe store.I think that speaks volumes about what the paper thinks of its audience.What is truly bizarre about this column is that the Inquirer actually gives Democrats credit for trying to provide rebates “for working families who don’t earn enough to pay federal payroll taxes.”I should back up for a minute, though, and say something about the farcical notion that some cosmetic, one-time gift of cash to people in this country who have been hosed every ...

Leadership Amidst The Nonsense 2008-01-22 10:26:00 The following endorsement was received by the John Edwards campaign…January 20, 2008The Honorable John R. Edwards410 Market StreetSuite 400Chapel Hill, NC 27516Dear Senator Edwards:It was good meeting with you yesterday and discussing my father's legacy. On the day when the nation will honor my father, I wanted to follow up with a personal note.There has been, and will continue to be, a lot of back and forth in the political arena over my father's legacy. It is a commentary on the breadth and depth of his impact that so many people want to claim his legacy. I am concerned that we do not blur the lines and obscure the truth about what he stood for: speaking up for justice for those who have no voice.I appreciate that on the major issues of health care, the environment, and the economy, you have framed the issues for what they are - a struggle for justice. And, you have almost single-handedly made poverty an issue in this election.You know as well as anyone that the 37 million people ...

Monday Political Stuff 2008-01-21 23:25:00 I'll be honest with you; I can't keep track of whether or not the Clintons are mad at Obama or Obama is mad at the Clintons or all three are mad at each other at the moment. All I know is that everyone involved had better knock it the hell off and start acting like grownups.I think it all started with the words from Hillary Clinton that Bill Moyers talks about so eloquently in this clip, but I'm not sure (and by the way, what Digby sez - h/t Atrios)......and "The Pap Attack" takes on our "patch and pray" (no lie) infrastructure. ...