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. |
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Articles from The Liberal Doomsayer |
"No Credit" Cohen And Dubya's Disconnect
2007-09-10 10:41:00
This morning’s pundit convolutions come to us courtesy of Roger Cohen of the New York Times, in a column that initially starts off as a profile of Army Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli…The dread (that Chiarelli felt about his return to this country from Baghdad) related to the loss of 160 men and women from his division. A sign outside his headquarters read: “Complacency kills — don’t become a statistic.” Chiarelli knew he’d carry the cruel statistics back to Fort Hood, Tex., and face the bereaved.“The hardest thing is going home and facing those parents and wives and loved ones,” he said, looking me in the eye with tears in his. Chiarelli, now the senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, is a thoughtful, decent officer who has absorbed his share of the military’s post-9/11 hurt.All well and good so far, but…“Much of our government and interagency seem to be in a state of denial about the requirements needed to adapt to modern warfare,” Chiarelli s ...
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Halftime Repug Hijinks
2007-09-09 13:35:00
Just to remind everyone, Ed Snider contributed to the people who created this garbage ad in which Freedom Crock praised Dem turncoat Brian Baird, the congressman who did a 360-degree turn and supported "the splurge" in Iraq (anyone who wants to get in on this can still let me know if they want).Now, for the reality.Also, before too many Repug sympathizers gush overtly over Fred Thompson's "manliness" or whatever (bleaugh!), take a look at this.Hat tips to The Daily Kos for both videos (and I think "The Smirking Chimp" site would file this one under the category of "brain dead media" - h/t kos once again). ...
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Saturday Videos
2007-09-08 23:09:00
Too lazy to post, so here are some more videos; The Pixies ("Here Comes Your Man")......Happy Birthday to Aimee Mann ("That's Just What You Are" - not sure if the lip synch is supposed to be off on purpose or not, and no, I wasn't going for a joke based on the last video)......I forgot to wish a Happy 78th birthday to the "button-down mind" himself, Bob Newhart (here is an excerpt from his '70s show as the psychologist - the 35th reunion sounded like fun)......and Patsy Cline would have been 75 today ("Three Cigarettes In An Ashtray," obviously recorded before the surgeon general's warning - a timeless talent whose songs will endure in any age and any idiom; she transcended country as far as I was concerned).More videos are available from the WeShow home page link. ...
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Friday Videos
2007-09-07 23:10:00
Happy Birthday to keyboardist Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Don't Come Around Here No More"; always loved this one, with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics on sitar, though the very end is missed)......Happy Birthday also to tenor sax legend Sonny Rollins, the subject of this neat little jazz video podcast by Bret Primack......Happy belated birthday as well to Pai Waaktaar-Savoy of a-ha ("Take On Me"; lower case, ever so artsy, and the name hyphenation fits that also - hey, it's Friday, so you know what that means, I hope)......and Yeah Yeah Yeahs ("Turn Into").For more videos, check out the WeShow link from the home page. ...
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A South Of The Border Success Story
2007-09-07 17:20:00
This takes you to a recent story on the expansion of the Panama Canal, attended by Jimmy Carter and Panamanian president Martin Torrijos. Today also marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the so-called Panama Canal Treaty which took place in the Carter administration.Yes, I’ve heard the argument too; we built it when other countries tried and couldn’t pull it off, including France, and yes, that is an accomplishment for which we should be proud. However, since the canal isn’t located in this country, we were perceived as occupiers (and it isn’t like we haven’t intervened in Central and South America enough as it is over time). Besides, during the off-again, on-again negotiations over transferring ownership of the canal, we had every opportunity to secure trade advantages for ourselves (which, again, is fair because we built it), so it’s not as if Carter gave it away for nothing. However, I’m sure Carter's alleged "failure" here will live on forever as a freeper tal ...
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Chertoff Strikes Again
2007-09-07 16:26:00
(Sorry again for that truly disturbing pic.)Another glowing report on DHS here, from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office…In a 320-page report, the GAO identified 171 performance expectations and found the department achieved fewer than half since it formed four years ago. Experts, including auditors, have said it would take a department this large five years to seven years to come together.Auditors also noted that the Defense Department, created after World War II, still faces serious management challenges. “I'm confident DHS can do better faster,” Walker said.They’d better; somehow I don’t think al Qaeda is as concerned with trying to blow up office buildings or military hardware as they are with actual people…Auditors found DHS has not made adequate progress in these areas:Identifying the spots where people illegally cross the border into the country.Removing criminal aliens and establishing a strategy to prevent human smuggling.Setting standards and procedu ...
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He Was There
2007-09-07 15:56:00
The latest from MoveOn...I'm John Bruhns and I served in Baghdad as an army sergeant for the first year of the war. Within my first days there, I realized that so much of what I had been told—about weapons of mass destruction, connections to 9/11—was just White House spin to sell the war.I'm seeing the same thing all over again now. Even with this being the bloodiest summer for US troops in Iraq, even with Iraqi casualties running at twice the pace of last year, and even with 15 of 18 of President Bush's own benchmarks unmet, the White House is at it again. They're telling us that black is white, up is down, and things in Iraq are going just great thanks to the troop "surge."This month Congress is going to vote on war policy for the next year—and Bush is hoping all this "progress" talk will scare Congress away from voting for withdrawal. We can't let that happen. Almost 4,000 US troops have died. We've spent half a trillion dollars in Iraq. Every day you turn on the news an ...
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The ABCs Of Fixing NCLB
2007-09-07 15:23:00
The New York Times reported yesterday that Margaret Spellings was at it again, criticizing the efforts of Congress to try and fix NCLB.In a speech before a business group and at a news conference, Ms. Spellings said that a series of proposals in draft legislation circulated by Democrats and Republicans on the House education committee, taken together, would allow states to remove children from testing regimes and tutoring services, and would make it too difficult for parents to know whether students and schools are making progress.To me, the first clue that something is wrong is the fact that she’s meeting with a business group and the media instead of a roomful of parents.Well, fortunately for us in the 8th U.S. congressional district, Patrick Murphy has…(Murphy), a Democrat who represents Bucks County and parts of Montgomery County and Philadelphia, credits the law with setting some standards. A federal study analyzing the law shows that students are making improvements, and achi ...
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Thursday Videos
2007-09-06 22:57:00
Him ("Wings Of A Butterfly"; the preceding is the opinion of the artist only and not necessarily the site proprietor, blah blah blah)......I missed the birthday earlier this week of drummer Martin Chambers of The Pretenders ("Human," with footage of the TV series with the same name as the band).For more videos, check out the WeShow link from the home page (and I'm not sure about posting activity for tomorrow, by the way). ...
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The Turf He Knows
2007-09-06 17:07:00
So Frederick of Hollywood decided to blow off the Repug candidates debate in New Hampshire last night to announce on Jay Leno that, yes, finally, at long, looooong last, he was really, officially and, like, for sure, announcing that he was running for president!!Can I bear the drama?I’ll tell you what, Fred – we’ll call it even for this bit of fluffery if you commit ASAP to this appearance (as Atrios and others have pointed it, it should be hilarious – whoever can prostate himself before The Sainted Ronnie R the most wins automatically, I guess).And get ready for questions and assorted rants from people such as this individual. ...
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Clap Louder, Bremer!
2007-09-06 16:31:00
The New York Times also published a column today from L. Paul (“Jerry”) Bremer III, the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq from 2003 to 2004. Bremer defends himself against the charge that he disbanded the Iraqi military (which kick-started the insurgency that our military is fighting to this day) after the fall of Saddam Hussein, saying that that came from Washington.I actually think he’s right. However, he should have stood up to Bushco and told them that it reflected monstrous stupidity that has resulted in the present horrific consequences (but, like all of the other prominent players in this tragedy, he refused to do so).The beginning of the crisis after the military was disbanded was noted in this prior post based on “State of Denial” by Bob Woodward, particularly this excerpt…In the days after the order disbanding the military, vehicles traveling the road between Baghdad and the airport started coming under attack more regularly. Crowds began ...
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Toying With Our Kids
2007-09-06 15:26:00
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today on the third toy recall issued by Mattel Inc. of Chinese-made toys with excessive amounts of lead paint over a period of about the last month (this excerpt provides more information)…The recall covers 675,000 units of various Barbie accessory toys that were manufactured between Sept. 30, 2006, and Aug. 20, 2007. The action also involves 90,000 units of Geo Trax Locomotive Toys and 8,900 Big Big World 6-in-1 Bongo Band toys, both from the company's Fisher-Price Inc. brand. The Big Big World products were sold at retailers nationwide from July through August this year, while the Geo Trax toys were sold from September 2006 through August.And this New York Times editorial today takes note of the endemic problems within the Consumer Products Safety Commission (threadbare budget, not enough staff to do the job – one employee to test defective toys; one! – a “fox running the hen house”…this is a Bushco recording), as well as Mattel’s arr ...
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Riposa In Pace
2007-09-06 06:22:00
Pavarotti performs "Nessun Dorma," from a Paris concert in 1998... ...
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K.O.'s Special Comment On "Withdrawal"
2007-09-05 22:09:00
Just caught it from yesterday - Olbermann picks up on something I missed, in particular the "playing" remark into October and November ("moving the goal posts" again for "The Splurge").Update 9/8: I don't have a problem with this headline from Dan Froomkin, since I know he means it out of utter exasperation as opposed to misguided freeper triumphalism (registration is probably required). ...
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