Displaying 1,801 To 1,830 Of 5,146 Comments Morning, KQ – thank you for posting this as a constant reminder of the tired and fallacious meme of some demented left folks. I heard this through the 60s and 70s from DSoc folks who were alternating between taking over the Democratic Party and radicalizing it, or “letting it all collapse” and THEN taking over. Someone who ought to know better said after the Lame Duck agreement (that was so good for ordinary people even if it let the Bush tax cuts run another two years) that “we should let it all collapse and then we’ll put it back togethr right.” This, of course, came on the heels of the GOP 2010 victory and the loss by two very critical “progressives”, Alan Grayson and Russ Feingold. My snotty mental reply was, “Whaddya mean “we”, white man?” So I went to the congressional web pages and looked at who is in the Progressive Caucus. The total percentage of progressives in Congress is today 14.9%. “WE”????? The Baggers out-number us! How are “we” going to “take it over”???? The root problem that the progressives won’t face is that the nation overall is not with them. Yes – historically people support progressive measures when they are well done. But it’s incremental, it requires huge education, and it takes time to get buy in from the insurance salesman in Dubuque. The old saw, “Will it play in Peoria?” has resonance today – the ordinary working stiff, blue or white collar, needs TIME to mull these things over and get used to them. They need to see, feel, smell, taste, and touch how change will impact them. And progressives rarely do that work. One positive step was the movement, mostly around Fresno, of GLBT couples going door to door to introduce themselves to those same ordinary people, to be present in front of them and let their lives be seen as loving and non-threatening. It’s working! It’s a very difficult – and potentially dangerous, yes – way of meeting people and defusing fear, but it’s WORKING. That kind of work is never put in by progressives on other issues (save for faith groups that do the same things congregation by congregation which ALSO works.) Rather than spend these past 40 years sitting around waiting for “our moment” as if wishing would make it so, we could have been building something powerful. We did not. The religious right did the work – and look where they are. Scary powerful. We have to do the same rather than hoping for a collapse we can build upon. Because – every disaster can also be a moment for the Right who outnumber us, who outspend us, who now have Citizens United to out-political advertise us. “We” won’t take over if we let it fall apart. The Right will, as they have done time after time. We need to do what the Right did – and we don’t have a moment to waste. We may get through 2012 well – but the Right is gearing up for 2016, and we’re not thinking that far ahead. Nope – don’t let it collapse, don’t encourage its collapse, don’t try to MAKE it collapse because what progressives will get is buried. » Posted By choicelady On January 6, 2012 @ 6:51 am LOL!!!! That’s Perry’s view, OK. See? He just wanted to be patriotic and not run to be prez of a foreign country. OMG – that is just TOO funny! Thank you , kes. PERFECT! » Posted By choicelady On January 5, 2012 @ 1:27 pm Yeah – I can see the once-proud CEOs now all sitting in the gutters of America, hats in hand, begging for spare change. Awful. Just awful. Repubs STILL want the auto industry to go bankrupt – capital will not suffer, but it will kill off the UAW. Can’t have those uppity workers speaking for themselves, now can we? Terrible when America moves toward greater equality. How will we create a permanent aristocracy if THAT keeps on happening? Wow. So sad for capitalists. Poor babies. » Posted By choicelady On January 5, 2012 @ 11:56 am I have reverted to hoping Texas DOES secede from the union. Did anyone notice when Perry more or less withdrew that he said he was happy to have been representing Texas in this campaign? He quickly added, as an afterthought, “Oh, and America, too.” PRIME reason he’s unqualified to run – he can’t get his head or heart out of Texas long enough to remember a president is for ALL states, and ALL people. I nominate him King of Texas. Texas: an independent, bankrupt, drought-ridden, poverty-afflicted principality, but Perry’s own fiefdom. Works for me. » Posted By choicelady On January 5, 2012 @ 11:44 am But, but, but – where’s the FUN now? None of the others are nearly that dazzling in their Chootz-pah. I will miss her. Her lunatic policies and programs, no. Her wild eyed fanaticism – definitely! » Posted By choicelady On January 4, 2012 @ 2:32 pm Priceless!!!! Worst thing – I think some in Iowa would vote for him… » Posted By choicelady On January 2, 2012 @ 7:00 pm While this may not be blatantly illegal, it totally depends on whether said pastors take their support into the pulpit or merely act as individuals. One WORD inside their congregations? ILLEGAL. If the Christian liberals cannot do it (All Saints Episcopal came under attack by the IRS for one pastor’s sermon saying that issues of PEACE need to trump everything else – even though he excoriated both Kerry and Bush – and that was seen as “code” for a Kerry vote advocacy. The case was dumped for stupidity) then the RIGHT may not do it! Enough already with the churches practicing politics. I’ve had a belly full of this stupidity. The law is clear – you cannot use tax deductible donated money for politics. Obey the law or lose your tax exempt status. My organization toes the line. We do NO partisan advocacy and do NON partisan advocacy with a 501-c-4 that does not permit tax deductions for our very small donations. So if we can do it, so must the RW conservatives. » Posted By choicelady On January 2, 2012 @ 6:57 pm Oh good for YOU. All I got was some pro-Newt person. I blocked him. At least yours is interesting! » Posted By choicelady On January 1, 2012 @ 7:25 pm He upholds the Articles of Confederation more than the Constitution. I’m not totally against that, but he should at least come clean. His drum pounding for property rights cannot be sustained in reading the Constitution that NEVER says one damn thing about the right to property – only it’s protection IF you have it from unlawful searches and seizures and compensation for takings under eminent domain. Two small sentences, NO property rights guarantees at ALL, and out of this Paul makes a whole philosophy????? Bogus. The man is absolutely bogus. » Posted By choicelady On December 30, 2011 @ 6:21 pm Even if he did not look like that, he’d be far too great a threat to the status quo. Pharisees never like upstarts. Jesus must die, now as well as then. » Posted By choicelady On December 30, 2011 @ 6:16 pm I lived in TN when MLK, Jr. was assassinated. I was devastated. My first thought was – did we do it again? Since I never believed Jesus was superhuman, I am all too ready to believe that any great person who challenges the power and status quo is likely to be killed. And MLK, Jr. was certainly in that mix. If Jesus DID come back and WAS superhuman, it will make no difference. His “followers” will make sure he dies a wretched death because they don’t listen to his original teachings NOW, so why would they if he appeared on earth? He’d be such a threat to their smug self righteousness he would have to be removed. » Posted By choicelady On December 30, 2011 @ 6:15 pm Thank you! They aren’t Girl Scouts. Probably from Myanmar or something. Who wears SOCKS with dresses? In fact – who wears dresses? » Posted By choicelady On December 30, 2011 @ 6:09 pm Girl Scouts ARE liberal. So freaking what? They have always been inclusive, pushed girls into becoming independent minded women. Gasp! Horrors! BTW – these are NOT Girl Scoutsin the photo – GS uniforms are GREEN, and NO one wears them anymore especially skirts. And if you could get that many Girl Scouts to conform in march order, you’d be a freaking genius – we were and are rowdy, bloody minded, and anti-militaristic. Even back in the day when I was one, it was the antithesis of militarism, and I lived in a rock-ribbed Christian conservative town. Girl Scouts have always promoted really positive values and honored diversity and independent thinking. Rock on, Juliette! (You have to have been a GS to get that…) » Posted By choicelady On December 30, 2011 @ 6:08 pm Adonai – what is so pathetic about this is that almost nothing dumped had any “exposure” qualities to it at all. He dumped stuff from the current administration, and not one damned thing was a violation of law or even morality. There was ONE item about two Republican Senators who influenced Spanish officials NOT to pursue war crimes matters against (I think) Bush and/or Cheney. The two Senators were in violation of the Logan Act in so doing, and the pity is, nothing got done to them. That was the only “smoking gun” in the pack so far as I’ve been able to determine. What DID get exposed were the identities of pro-democracy people in oppressive lands. Some of them have ‘disappeared’. That is the reason I detest what Manning did – the ‘dump’ had serious consequences for real people without producing one damn thing that was actionable about government misconduct. I do feel sorry for Manning since he, not Assange, will bear the brunt of these actions and the consequences. I also think Manning is not wrapped too tightly and was used and abused by Assange – only now to face, alone, the impacts of the actions. I hope the court shows him mercy. He’s a dupe and a fool, not a traitor. Too bad another gormless person bites the dust. » Posted By choicelady On December 30, 2011 @ 8:35 am Khirad – I have to add, as the resident “churchlady” that I find Maher offensive but irrelevant. He does not make my work easier, but he doesn’t make it harder either. THAT comes form the religious right itself with whom we are always paired. Had one bright thing tell me that unless and until the progressive faith people stand up to the right, we are complicit in their actions. Maher has nothing to do with that incorrect assumption, so while he peeves me no end, I do agree that he’s pretty irrelevant to the overall poisoning of the waters about faith in general. Pat Robertson and the Christian Coalition have done the most harm. Maher does not matter much. » Posted By choicelady On December 28, 2011 @ 8:53 am LOL!!! » Posted By choicelady On December 28, 2011 @ 8:46 am Will this mean the Right wants to invade Finland for dissing Israel? » Posted By choicelady On December 26, 2011 @ 4:08 pm Adonai – what was “pretty bad”? Obviously every interpretation is subjective. But one problem that is the scourge of “change” today is the abject failure of people promoting change to have a freaking CLUE what is involved, thoughts about whom it affects, and an understanding of basic democratic process. To my total horror, this week on Rachel Maddow she designated all presidential signing statements as some form of evasion of Congressional law. Nothing could be further from the truth. Only three presidents since Monroe have done that – Reagan, Bush and Bush. That’s it. Signing statements are just commentary, nothing more, in the hands of presidents who obey the law. To label them as anything else is to give aid and comfort to the Right who wish to impeach this president, and to perpetuate falsehoods about our democracy. But we blather on – pundits who ought to know better – because it would hardly be a story without uproar. So your idea of “pretty bad” might not be the same as other people’s. Can you provide examples? I can’t think of any. » Posted By choicelady On December 26, 2011 @ 3:56 pm So what is the high that makes this worth these horrid consequences? I can’t fathom anything desirable enough to want to look like THAT! Cops raiding meth labs have DIED just from exposure to the chemicals. It’s like swallowing rat poison for some promised nirvana. Who’d be THAT stupid? But people apparently ARE. Yikes. » Posted By choicelady On December 26, 2011 @ 11:47 am Did you see the story in the NY Times and on the sidebar to the right here this morning that Paul is getting huge support from the white supremacists, anti-Semites, and survivalists? Who thought we’d have a presidential candidate who is STILL waiting for the Black Helicopters from Y2K? Who believes in a global conspiracy? Who runs screaming from the “white buses” expecting a UN invasion? Who panders to the most hateful and ignorant among us? Wow. Years ago when one of Nixon’s Supreme Court justice nominees was jettisoned, NE Senator Roman Hruska said (supposedly as a joke) “Mediocrity deserves representation, too.” I thought THAT was bad. Paul, however, is apparently no different from David Duke save that he seems indifferent to dressing in white sheets. Other than sartorial displays, he shares the philosophy much as he wishes to distance himself for appearances sake. Wow again. » Posted By choicelady On December 26, 2011 @ 8:50 am BOOMER! We’ve MISSED you, and it’s super fine to see you again! Back in ’72 in CA I had a McGovern sticker and got my car vandalized, so… Rather than use your plates that could get stolen, I’d recommend a sticker. Someone defaces or steals that, it’s replaceable. NEVER underestimate the numbers of pathologically stupid, cruel people in the world. Yes – make a statement. No – don’t do it with something irreplaceable, would be my best suggestion. Please stay in touch – we’ve missed you a lot. Happy New Year to you and yours. And your daughter is right to be looking out after you! » Posted By choicelady On December 26, 2011 @ 8:43 am The REctor who brought this story is James Richardson, and old friend of mine and my husband’s. He used to be a reporter for the Sacramento Bee, then went to divinity school and came back to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral where he proceeded to upset a lot of conventions and make real changes in our city. Then he became the chaplain of the state Senate (his prayers tended to peeve the religious right a LOT) before moving back east to take up this position. So thank you, Cher (Aka Feliz Navidad) for posting this – for me it has HUGE resonance! » Posted By choicelady On December 25, 2011 @ 8:19 pm Well of course it did. We coulda told you that. Look who’s purveying it? » Posted By choicelady On December 25, 2011 @ 8:13 pm Merry Christmas, Caru! Thank you for the original – I have AdLib’s Newt Before Christmas stuck in MY head. Good to clean it out! » Posted By choicelady On December 25, 2011 @ 8:10 pm Methinks Jimbo LIKES a philosophy of utter selfishness. The issue of voluntary sacrifice is not only NOT the province of tyrants but is a principle of all religion and humanistic consideration of balance between self and others. Rand was utterly focused on self to the total detriment of society. Her legatees – the Pauls – go a step further in wanting their interests paid for by tax breaks and incentives from the rest of us. What’s that tyrant thingy? » Posted By choicelady On December 25, 2011 @ 8:09 pm That, Zenith, is SPECTACULAR! Thank you! It just evokes the feeling of the day. Lovely gift to us all, and we thank you for it! » Posted By choicelady On December 25, 2011 @ 7:59 pm What in all the world is the MATTER with Republican people? Those photos of the Prez actually doing his own shopping and paying for it with his own money? Right up the GOP alley – unless it’s Obama. Everyone goes to Pet Smart with their dog – rarely a cat – so what’s the big deal? All this proves – and here is the problem – is that this president is human, acts like ordinary people, and stays in touch with what the economy is doing. I’d like to know how many GOPers know the price of a Big Bone at PetSmart – or the price of a loaf of bread for that matter. If Santa is good, the GOP WILL learn the cost of a lump of coal… » Posted By choicelady On December 22, 2011 @ 8:15 pm I LOVE this, foodchain! Magnificent expression of the turning of the season. May I offer one suggestion, however – if you really are at the Arctic Circle – please don’t dance in the buff. Too damn cold! Other than that – this is exuberent and wonderful! To the darkest day with the lengthening days to come. Revel in it! » Posted By choicelady On December 21, 2011 @ 11:12 pm Only person who could afford 500K in bling is Newt or Callista. Doubt they’d want the site after all this! » Posted By choicelady On December 21, 2011 @ 11:08 pm Ahhh – I LIKE it. But it should stay as it is and keep sending up stories about Newt that are unflattering. It’s just wonderful stuff! » Posted By choicelady On December 21, 2011 @ 11:06 pmComments Posted By choicelady
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