July Notes

Oh!Pinion
I have been puzzled at the week-long quiet at Oh!Pinion where my blogging friend, S.W. Anderson, posts political commentary from a thoughtful, calm, progressive, patriotic viewpoint. I have missed it. And I have wondered if there might be a health issue or family emergency that had kept him away from the blogosphere. Also the usual well-organized, easy-to-read look of his blog had vanished, which gave me hope it was merely a technical issue. Today he has gotten the site back up (sort-of) and explained that a combination of family business trips and technical issues had silenced Oh!Pinion temporarily. I wish him good fortune in the outcome of his family matters and in overcoming the technical issues at Oh!Pinion!

Learning in the Great Outdoors
Life has intervened and it has been just impossible to get the time to put together our environmental education carnival in July. I will post a combined July-August edition ASAP. If you would like to host the carnival for one of the remaining months of this year, please let me know. I can empathize with S.W.'s technical woes. I have still not figured out why I can no longer update the Learning in the Great Outdoors home site (as well as my other iWeb sites). Is there a relationship between the problem and the fact that the last posting was on April Fool's Day? I hope to make progress on the iWeb sites this week.

2008-2009 School Year
I began my 29th year of teaching -- there was an 11 year break in the 80s and 90s -- with planning days yesterday and the day before. "Meet the Teacher" night will be Thursday and my 24 students will be in their desks brimming with potential next Friday morning. Here we go again! It is always an exciting and hopeful week as I face those 24 scrubbed-faced nine- and ten-year-olds holding clean slates and great optimism. One of the great advantages of the teaching profession is that fresh start we get each August.

This year I have a student teacher with me already. She is a lovely and enthusiastic young woman who will help me fulltime through the first week. Then she will assist several hours each week through the first semester, fulltime again for a few weeks after Christmas, then parttime again through most of the rest of the school year. I expect that schedule to be an improvement in the student teaching program: she will have a more complete notion of a school year. She will be better prepared for setting up her classroom when she begins her first year as a teacher the next fall. When she begins her "in earnest" teaching after Christmas she and the children will already know each other well. There will be a wedding for her in October -- that may distract her a bit. :-)

I have been remarkably lucky with the student teachers who have been assigned to me over the years. With one exception (about thirty years ago) they have all been very enthusiastic, caring, and competent.

Posting on the Limb

Given the demands of the first few of weeks of school and some added commitments on my shoulders right now, I may not post quite so regularly for the next little while. Please stay tuned.

Weblog Awards

The 2007 Weblog Award season is here. I've taken the liberty of nominating a few of my favorites. Nominations close today. You might want to check it out.

In addition to nominating or "seconding" a bunch of my family's many blogs, (two of my siblings have very highly linked blogs (Beth is number 24 and Carol is number 136!!) I have made these nominations, whadya think?

Best Blog: Brave Humans

Best Liberal Blog: Oh!Pinion

Best Religious Blog: (1) The Questing Parson (2) Irenic Thoughts

Best Education Blog: The Miss Rumphius Effect

Best Literature Blog (I didn't see this new category or I would have put Tricia here to start with): The Miss Rumphius Effect

If I get the time I may nominate a few others from my sidebar, like

History is Elementary (education)
Bookwink (literature)
Russ Ringstat (diarist)

The Limb, lowly insect that it is, is self-nominated among the "rest of the blogs" and is honored that someone felt led to nominate us in the "Liberal Blog" category. I note they've dropped the Moderate Blog category this year. I spose the problem is that we all think "left" and "right" are properly defined from our own vantage points -- we're the ones in the sensible middle.

Anyway, there are a few hours left. Go nominate a good blog.

The Democratic Party Must Advance Democracy

An Educated Public Will Vote Democratic

This article responds to comments by S.W. Anderson, of Oh!pinion, about my previous post concerning forming Democracy Clubs in junior high and senior high schools.

SW, Thanks for your thoughtful analysis. If these ideas don’t track well with you, I imagine that other readers share your misgivings. The fact that I am approaching this idea from several perspectives, adds to the confusion.

The Democratic Party, it seems to me, must center itself on advancing a vision of democracy. At the heart of such a vision must be a plan for a dramatic increase of citizens who have benefited from an effective civic education. To succeed in accomplishing such a huge goal, there must be many approaches. I’m suggesting that we start with one obvious approach: finding a way to help public schools become more effective in their authentic civic education efforts. This idea, about emphasizing civic education, is based on the conviction that a public that has received an effective civic education will eventually favor the positions and outlook of the Democratic Party. I am not defining education as process of partisan indoctrination, but rather, education as a process of individual growth, one leading to independent thought.

My conviction is that, right now, neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party is all that much focused on advancing democracy -- but rather, these major parties are focused on marketing products. Marketing requires massive amounts of money, and so the central focus of political parties is on raising money for marketing efforts.

It is the damaged vision of our political parties -- that in practice says that winning is everything -- that accounts for much cynicism within the citizenry. A political party that could show, through its actions, that it has a vision that is centered on advancing democracy, that seeks, as I wrote, “to empower the grassroots to effectively participate in their democracy,” I believe, would gain support from voters. I think many voters or potential voters would be attracted to a political party that takes seriously its responsibility to advance democracy.

I am envisioning, maybe "hoping for" is a better term, a big shift in the philosophy and actions of the Democratic Party. Such a shift will take time and much effort -- even in a very small scale such as the Democratic Party in Montgomery County. Eventually, I believe, the public will demand that our society become more democratic and the party that has sees democracy as its purpose will have a big advantage. The shift I am hoping for is all about education and one place to start with the education process is to find a way to help make public education more effective. I wrote, “The idea would be to design a Democracy Club so that it could become the power source for authentic dialogue within the entire school and, in fact, within the entire community that supports the school. Such a Club would need to be designed so as to command the compelling interest of a least a significant subset of the school community.” (Talk about setting the bar high.)

This thinking about Democracy Clubs comes from a general contemplation of how to vitalize the grassroots. My conclusion is that vitalizing the grassroots is synonymous with vitalizing our democracy, and that the Democratic Party should embrace the vitalization of our democracy as central to its mission. I am wanting to write a plan for Democracy Clubs this week -- so I need to get to work.

The Cindy Sheehan Flameout

SW Anderson is an astute observer and has the most insightful words I have heard on Cindy Sheehan's decision to retire from the field of battle.

There is an important role for the maverick in American politics. But we also need statesmen/women who can govern reasonably in the real world of multiple factions and multitudinous factors. Long range success in politics often requires shortterm half-measures and disappointments.

Those of us who want to see the errors of the Bush years put behind us should be careful not to form a circular firing squad.

In 1980 it was disunity among Democrats that assured the election of Ronald Reagan.
In 1994 it was disunity among Democrats that allowed Newt his "revolution".

Barack O'Bama

As Oh!Pinion and Cold Flute have noted, Barack Obama opened his campaign for President with a speech reminiscent of John or Bobby Kennedy. He may have earned an apostrophe for his name with this speech. I'm gonna go a little overboard here and just give you whole thing, taken from his campaign website. Here it is:

Full Text of Senator Barack Obama's Announcement for President

 

Springfield, IL | February 10, 2007

 

Let me begin by saying thanks to all you who've traveled, from far and wide, to brave the cold today. We all made this journey for a reason. It's humbling, but in my heart I know you didn't come here just for me, you came here because you believe in what this country can be. In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope.

 

In the face of a politics that's shut you out, that's told you to settle, that's divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building that more perfect union. That's the journey we're on today. But let me tell you how I came to be here. As most of you know, I am not a native of this great state.

 

I moved to Illinois over two decades ago. I was a young man then, just a year out of college; I knew no one in Chicago, was without money or family connections. But a group of churches had offered me a job as a community organizer for $13,000 a year. And I accepted the job, sight unseen, motivated then by a single, simple, powerful idea - that I might play a small part in building a better America. My work took me to some of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods. I joined with pastors and lay-people to deal with communities that had been ravaged by plant closings. I saw that the problems people faced weren't simply local in nature - that the decision to close a steel mill was made by distant executives; that the lack of textbooks and computers in schools could be traced to the skewed priorities of politicians a thousand miles away; and that when a child turns to violence, there's a hole in his heart no government could ever fill.

 

 

It was in these neighborhoods that I received the best education I ever had, and where I learned the true meaning of my Christian faith. After three years of this work, I went to law school, because I wanted to understand how the law should work for those in need. I became a civil rights lawyer, and taught constitutional law, and after a time, I came to understand that our cherished rights of liberty and equality depend on the active participation of an awakened electorate. It was with these ideas in mind that I arrived in this capital city as a state Senator. It was here, in Springfield, where I saw all that is America converge - farmers and teachers, businessmen and laborers, all of them with a story to tell, all of them seeking a seat at the table, all of them clamoring to be heard. I made lasting friendships here - friends that I see in the audience today. It was here we learned to disagree without being disagreeable - that it's possible to compromise so long as you know those principles that can never be compromised; and that so long as we're willing to listen to each other, we can assume the best in people instead of the worst. That's why we were able to reform a death penalty system that was broken. That's why we were able to give health insurance to children in need. That's why we made the tax system more fair and just for working families, and that's why we passed ethics reforms that the cynics said could never, ever be passed.

 

It was here, in Springfield, where North, South, East and West come together that I was reminded of the essential decency of the American people - where I came to believe that through this decency, we can build a more hopeful America.

 

 

And that is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States. I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness - a certain audacity - to this announcement. I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.

 

The genius of our founders is that they designed a system of government that can be changed. And we should take heart, because we've changed this country before. In the face of tyranny, a band of patriots brought an Empire to its knees. In the face of secession, we unified a nation and set the captives free. In the face of Depression, we put people back to work and lifted millions out of poverty. We welcomed immigrants to our shores, we opened railroads to the west, we landed a man on the moon, and we heard a King's call to let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what's needed to be done.

 

Today we are called once more - and it is time for our generation to answer that call.

For that is our unyielding faith - that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it. That's what Abraham Lincoln understood. He had his doubts. He had his defeats. He had his setbacks. But through his will and his words, he moved a nation and helped free a people. It is because of the millions who rallied to his cause that we are no longer divided, North and South, slave and free.

 

It is because men and women of every race, from every walk of life, continued to march for freedom long after Lincoln was laid to rest, that today we have the chance to face the challenges of this millennium together, as one people - as Americans. All of us know what those challenges are today - a war with no end, a dependence on oil that threatens our future, schools where too many children aren't learning, and families struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can.

 

We know the challenges. We've heard them. We've talked about them for years. What's stopped us from meeting these challenges is not the absence of sound policies and sensible plans. What's stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics - the ease with which we're distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems.

 

 

For the last six years we've been told that our mounting debts don't matter, we've been told that the anxiety Americans feel about rising health care costs and stagnant wages are an illusion, we've been told that climate change is a hoax, and that tough talk and an ill-conceived war can replace diplomacy, and strategy, and foresight. And when all else fails, when Katrina happens, or the death toll in Iraq mounts, we've been told that our crises are somebody else's fault. We're distracted from our real failures, and told to blame the other party, or gay people, or immigrants.

 

And as people have looked away in disillusionment and frustration, we know what's filled the void. The cynics, and the lobbyists, and the special interests who've turned our government into a game only they can afford to play. They write the checks and you get stuck with the bills, they get the access while you get to write a letter, they think they own this government, but we're here today to take it back. The time for that politics is over. It's time to turn the page. We've made some progress already. I was proud to help lead the fight in Congress that led to the most sweeping ethics reform since Watergate.

 

But Washington has a long way to go. And it won't be easy. That's why we'll have to set priorities. We'll have to make hard choices. And although government will play a crucial role in bringing about the changes we need, more money and programs alone will not get us where we need to go. Each of us, in our own lives, will have to accept responsibility - for instilling an ethic of achievement in our children, for adapting to a more competitive economy, for strengthening our communities, and sharing some measure of sacrifice.

 

So let us begin. Let us begin this hard work together. Let us transform this nation.

 

Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. Let's set high standards for our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed. Let's recruit a new army of teachers, and give them better pay and more support in exchange for more accountability. Let's make college more affordable, and let's invest in scientific research, and let's lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America.

 

And as our economy changes, let's be the generation that ensures our nation's workers are sharing in our prosperity. Let's protect the hard-earned benefits their companies have promised. Let's make it possible for hardworking Americans to save for retirement. And let's allow our unions and their organizers to lift up this country's middle-class again.

 

Let's be the generation that ends poverty in America. Every single person willing to work should be able to get job training that leads to a job, and earn a living wage that can pay the bills, and afford child care so their kids have a safe place to go when they work. Let's do this.

 

Let's be the generation that finally tackles our health care crisis. We can control costs by focusing on prevention, by providing better treatment to the chronically ill, and using technology to cut the bureaucracy. Let's be the generation that says right here, right now, that we will have universal health care in America by the end of the next president's first term.

 

Let's be the generation that finally frees America from the tyranny of oil. We can harness homegrown, alternative fuels like ethanol and spur the production of more fuel-efficient cars. We can set up a system for capping greenhouse gases. We can turn this crisis of global warming into a moment of opportunity for innovation, and job creation, and an incentive for businesses that will serve as a model for the world.

 

Let's be the generation that makes future generations proud of what we did here. Most of all, let's be the generation that never forgets what happened on that September day and confront the terrorists with everything we've got.

 

Politics doesn't have to divide us on this anymore - we can work together to keep our country safe. I've worked with Republican Senator Dick Lugar to pass a law that will secure and destroy some of the world's deadliest, unguarded weapons. We can work together to track terrorists down with a stronger military, we can tighten the net around their finances, and we can improve our intelligence capabilities. But let us also understand that ultimate victory against our enemies will come only by rebuilding our alliances and exporting those ideals that bring hope and opportunity to millions around the globe.

 

But all of this cannot come to pass until we bring an end to this war in Iraq. Most of you know I opposed this war from the start. I thought it was a tragic mistake. Today we grieve for the families who have lost loved ones, the hearts that have been broken, and the young lives that could have been. America, it's time to start bringing our troops home. It's time to admit that no amount of American lives can resolve the political disagreement that lies at the heart of someone else's civil war. That's why I have a plan that will bring our combat troops home by March of 2008. Letting the Iraqis know that we will not be there forever is our last, best hope to pressure the Sunni and Shia to come to the table and find peace.

 

 

Finally, there is one other thing that is not too late to get right about this war - and that is the homecoming of the men and women - our veterans - who have sacrificed the most. Let us honor their valor by providing the care they need and rebuilding the military they love. Let us be the generation that begins this work.

 

I know there are those who don't believe we can do all these things. I understand the skepticism. After all, every four years, candidates from both parties make similar promises, and I expect this year will be no different. All of us running for president will travel around the country offering ten-point plans and making grand speeches; all of us will trumpet those qualities we believe make us uniquely qualified to lead the country. But too many times, after the election is over, and the confetti is swept away, all those promises fade from memory, and the lobbyists and the special interests move in, and people turn away, disappointed as before, left to struggle on their own.

 

That is why this campaign can't only be about me. It must be about us - it must be about what we can do together. This campaign must be the occasion, the vehicle, of your hopes, and your dreams. It will take your time, your energy, and your advice - to push us forward when we're doing right, and to let us know when we're not.

 

This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change. By ourselves, this change will not happen. Divided, we are bound to fail.

 

But the life of a tall, gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer tells us that a different future is possible. He tells us that there is power in words. He tells us that there is power in conviction. That beneath all the differences of race and region, faith and station, we are one people. He tells us that there is power in hope. As Lincoln organized the forces arrayed against slavery, he was heard to say: "Of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought to battle through."

 

That is our purpose here today. That's why I'm in this race. Not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation. I want to win that next battle - for justice and opportunity. I want to win that next battle - for better schools, and better jobs, and health care for all. I want us to take up the unfinished business of perfecting our union, and building a better America.

 

And if you will join me in this improbable quest, if you feel destiny calling, and see as I see, a future of endless possibility stretching before us; if you sense, as I sense, that the time is now to shake off our slumber, and slough off our fear, and make good on the debt we owe past and future generations, then I'm ready to take up the cause, and march with you, and work with you.

 

Together, starting today, let us finish the work that needs to be done, and usher in a new birth of freedom on this Earth.

I am not ready to promise my vote -- like that other Springfield lawyer in 1860, Obama's national experience is thin: he's only got a couple of years in the Senate. But...

• He would represent a clear passing of the torch, like Kennedy. (Despite my admiration for several of the 50- and 60-something candidates there might be some advantage to our national unity in getting beyond my baby boom generation.)
• He can use the English language.
• He is a charismatic figure.
• He passes my "comfort in his own skin" test.
• He has a vision.
• His is a vision I largely share.

I'm listening.

After the fan gets dirty...

I don't mean to make the Limb merely a signpost pointing the way to Oh!Pinion but I so enjoy S.W.'s use of the language and his insight, that I have to frequently holler, "Look at that!" Today he has an artfully worded warning for those who have hitched their wagons to the current denizen of the Executive Mansion:

...in particularly toxic Republican administrations, second- and third-tier White House staffers tend to get the worst of it after the fan gets dirty...

- S.W. Anderson

My response to what has come to light, so far, in the Bush/Libby scandal:

Isn't it interesting to see that during a time when you would have expected a statesman President and all his aides to be concentrated on pacifying Iraq, finding an outstanding and diverse Iraqi leadership group, making his adventure actually work to the national good, this President's team may have been preoccupied with squashing American dissent.

Kinda reminds me of an earlier presidency with a very filthy fan.

This Terrible Price

SW Anderson at Oh!Pinion commented on the Brave Humans post immediately below. As usual SW is articulate, eloquent, and right on:

It’s good that you call attention to this terrible price. That you challenge people to not let these lives being sacrificed at a steady trickle become a mere statistic, an abstraction to which people need not relate personally and emotionally.

Click here to read the complete comment.

Hitting the Nail on Its Head

Peggy Noonan and other apologists for the neo-con/Republican disaster of the last six years point to the verbal gaffes, inelegant vocabulary, and tortured speech patterns of the President as the cause of the remarkable lack of positive response in the public to his much ballyhooed speech last week. That's hogwash in the well-expressed Oh!Pinion of our blogosphere friend SW Anderson:

"Bush’s communication failure and inability to persuade have nothing to do with awkwardness in expressing himself. Rather, the problem is Bush’s record of dishonesty, lack of candor, [and] disrespect for facts..."

I read Oh!Pinion! every day for SW's clear, creative, incisive prose and his well considered analysis. He strikes the nail squarely on the head today.

SW, if you ever make it from (Is it Iowa?) to Rome, Georgia, I hope you will stop by and let Sheila and me treat you to some sweet tea and a good meal.

Democratic Support for Bush

Bush's numbers

from Oh!Pinion

...a recent CBS News poll asked 993 people, “Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling the situation with Iraq?” Respondents made it clear they’ve got The Decider’s number (all in percents):

Overall: approve, 23; disapprove, 72; unsure, 5.

Republicans: approve, 51; disapprove, 42, unsure, 7.

Democrats: approve, 6; disapprove, 93, unsure, 3.

Independents: approve, 18; disapprove, 77, unsure, 5.

6%!!! OK, Zell Miller, but who the heck are those other Democrats?

A Great Moderate-to-Progressive Blogger

I've managed to hang onto the Limb for ten months, now. My readership is very small -- mostly my own family, most of whom are appalled with my political views. On the other hand can it be only coincidence that the country, as a whole, has moved toward my positions during these months? (wink)

Somehow, however, the Limb has attracted the attention of a few excellent bloggers of a similar bent. One of my favorites, and my most frequent commenter, is S.W. Anderson of Oh!pinion. S.W. has very strong opinions, but always presents them in thoughtful, reasonable, terms. My thinking has been enriched by his often succinct comments on my blog. I thought I would pick a few to share, and , as I am wont to do, got carried away. If you’ve missed any of S.W.’s comments at the Limb, here are a bunch of them:


Amen! to this response to my post on warrentless surveillance:

In a very real and deeply disturbing sense, Bush's action in this matter reveals him as someone who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

On Tony Snow’s conclusion that OBL was “led” to the 2001 attacks by the perception of American weakness displayed when Bush Sr “walked away” in 1991.

I notice Snow doesn't mention conclusions bin Laden might've drawn from withdrawal of our troops in Lebanon following the Khobar Towers attack. Maybe that's because Ronald Reagan ordered that withwdrawal.

This is just another iteration of the White House-GOP false-choice propaganda line: anything that deviates from The Decider's definition of staying the course is cutting and running.

As for Poppy Bush, I think he's so tickled pink his boy is president and so annoyed that so many fail to appreciate his boy's sterling qualities that he's in complete denial about George W.'s execrable performance in office.

I love this one on a Neo-Con bragging in 2003: “This war is over”.

Perfect case of chickenhawks counting their eggs before they're through laying them.

When I reacted to Cruella Ann Coulter’s vile comments:

Ah, but saying shocking, incendiary, acid, insulting, shrewish, attention-getting things is Coulter's schtick. She thus generates buzz, sells books and gets booked on Fox and elsewhere, so she can perpetuate the cycle.

Red-meat vendors like Fox keep hold of the eyeballs of right-wing hard cases through her appearances. Supposedly middle-of-road vendors like CNN have her on, then tut-tut and say ooh, what she said in mock shock after having thus made a bid for the eyeballs of right-wing hard cases.

It's a racket all the way around.

I ran a wonderful RJ Matson cartoon that skewered the right-wing disdain for the courts:

That is a good cartoon.

I tend to think right wingers have it in for judges because, unlike officials who serve in other branches, judges are nearly impossible to influence or control. Few belong to or identify with a political party. They're not subject to lobbying and most don't have their hand out for campaign money.

Judges are also relatively hard to intimidate by having Limbaugh, Hannity, Boortz and the rest of the noise machine go after them.

On an essay by the Questing Parson about the “myth of redemptive violence”:

It behooves warmaking countries to frequently countentance calls to conscience from third parties and from people opposed to all wars. Not necessarily that countries at war can or should be immobilized or even shamed by what they hear from dissident voices. But they should maintain awareness that when hostilities end there will usually be an accounting and sometimes even a reckoning.

If nothing else, it's worth remembering war is so terrible it takes a toll on victors as well as the vanquished, whether or not the victors realize in the short run that this is so.

On the lowering of military standards that have resulted from Bush’s policies, S.W., an old military guy himself, said:

How ironic this is, because a big feature of our all-volunteer force has been higher-quality, better-motivated recruits.

If there's one kind of person our military never needs or has any business accepting, it's thugs.

Integrity, discipline, grit and a sense of purpose about something greater than self and "what I want now" are keys to successful soldiering. Thugs by definition lack those attributes. Consequently, they are huge liabilities to other troops and to the mission.

On a quote by Edmund Burke about the perils of empire:

Excellent advice, of course. Nevertheless, as Bush has told us, he hears the voices but he's the president, so he gets to decide.

Sort of like a kid telling his pals that since he bought the box of Cracker Jacks, he gets to play with the prize.

Heaven help us all.

On Al Gore’s movie: An Inconvenient Truth:

Plain old common sense should be enough to convince any thinking person that two or three centuries of massive, escalating alteration of the atmosphere is bound to have negative consequences.
Add to global warming the combination of burgeoning world demand for energy — mostly fossil fuels — and predictions about "peak oil," meaning the time when we've maxed out what's economically feasible to extact, and it's not hard to see there are really big crises up ahead. Not that far up ahead, at that.

Consider how many people now live in places that require vehicular transportation to get to and fro. Consider how many people live and work in places where high summer heat and humidity and/or bitter winter cold mean they inevitably require lots of energy just so their homes will be habitable and their workplaces will be bearable.

Right now, it's as though we're all on an airliner with a brain-dead pilot. We had better start facing facts and developing ways to deal with these problems. We can't afford the luxury of electing dolts or people hellbent on enjoying the political rewards of denial.

On my prayer for the long life of Justice John Paul Stevens:

As for Stevens, I too am with The Man on the Limb. One or two more like Thomas and Scalia, and this country's in for some rough sledding — for very long time.

When I lamented that both sides in the fight over the separation of church and state often get it wrong:

I think much of what strikes you as efforts to pretend religion doesn't exist or to deny or ignore the importance of the Judeo-Christian tradition are manifestations of a natural, inevitable phenomenon in our democracy: countervailing pressure.

That is, when you have people going on cable squawk shows and people such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity insisting America was founded as a Christian nation, has been a Christian nation all along, is a Christian nation now, and you have people calling in to talk shows presenting those notions as a given, inevitably, people who aren't religious, aren't Christian and even Christians who have a clue, will push back.

The more pushy the Christian-nation folks get, the more push-back they're going to generate.

And of course, the resulting hubbub will encourage the hottest heads and meanest mouths on both sides to ratchet up the intensity from time to time, especially when lawyers and the media get involved in a flashpoint situation.

Times were better and the level of respect shown was greater when it was considered good form among people of faith to let their religious beliefs work at the level of conscience and character building, internally, when they were taking care of the people's business in various branches of government.

Nowadays, I suspect, even people who'd prefer to operate that way fear they'll lose ground politically, especially in red states, if they don't at least match those who engage in conspicuous Bible thumping and wear their faith on their shoulders, like a chip.

When Congress finally had a bit of debate on the War in Iraq:

Given that it didn't appear until an election year in which the public has turned sour on the war, this sudden appearance of dissension in the ranks of congressional Republicans rings hollow.

It's enough to make me wonder, if the November election turns into a landslide loss for the GOP, will we see neopacifist Republicans donning love beads and showing the peace sign in '08?

On a post about Coulter’s “Fair Game” comment:

Coulter and Hannity, together. Perfect match.

Add O'Reilly to this vacuum for truth and decency, and you'd have enough concentrated evil to fuel a sequel to "The Exorcist."

On another post about Coulter and my daughter’s suggestion that the Republicans “excommunicate her”:

Excommunicate her?

Not as long as she stokes their fires and money can be made off of her hatefulness.

Know their values not by what they say their values are, but by what they demonstrate their values are.

On the potential for another Gore candidacy:

Gore has maintained he would be amenable to a draft but doesn't plan to run.

If he does get drafted (unlikely) or decides to run, I hope he'll swear off political consultants, campaign wizards and anyone else who tries to shape the image he projects. If he wants advice on that, he should listen to Tipper and to his extremely bright and articulate daughter, period.

Gore is a good, capable, experienced man. He has a lot to offer. He doesn't need to come forth as a new Al Gore, just a steady, consistent Al Gore.

On our addiction to oil:

We most certainly could do plenty to improve our situation. What's needed is solid, sensible leadership. We need policy wonks who know a lot, care a lot, do their homework, then look and plan ahead. We need leaders who know what the people are capable of if summoned and challenged to do their best.

What we've got is cardboard cutouts labeled "leader."

On my lament that Republicans seem to rarely get beyond ad hominem attacks to any real discussion of the issues:

Your conclusion is dead on target. Just try it and see what right wingers and their noise machine do with thoughtful, intelligent attempts at discussion.

A favorite tactic I've run into is that they routinely reject out of hand any complaints or criticisms, saying "you're just a Bush hater, so what else could we expect?" That charge is supposed to invalidate the critic and criticism in one economical put down.

Then they feel the matter is settled, no further discussion needed.

On a group of quotes from unlikely sources critical of Bush’s policies:

That's an excellent and eye-opening set of quotes. I wish everyone could read them and then stop and think.
I'll toss in this additional food for thought.

It doesn't take a Z-big or Henry the K to figure out that a big reason Iranians elected Ahmedinejad and support his nuclear aspirations is because they feel threatened.

Iran has grudges against the U.S. that go back decades: our ousting of the country's democratically elected leader in the 1950s, our long support for the shah and our support of Saddam in the horrendous Iran-Iraq War. All that on top of the close U.S. alliance with Israel.

So, Bush brilliantly sends an army to invade the country next door, in an act of naked aggression.

Anyone who puts himself or herself in Iran's position would feel threatened and want nukes too.

Bush and his cronies are ignorant and extremely foolish. To paraphrase Rumsfeld, they don't even know what they don't know.

God help us all if their seemingly limitless willingness and ability to do the exactly wrong thing results in a war of aggression against Iran.

Well, S.W., thanks for dropping by the Limb so often. It was good to review your thoughtful comments. You and I share an intense anger at the boneheaded policies of our president. We both occasionally let him have it. But you are a patriot who does not let the vitriol smother reason. Thanks for helping to express, in reasonable and constructive terms, our righteous anger at this divisive administration. With the body count reaching new highs every day, the government using unwarranted surveillance, and the VP and Sec. of Defense comparing us to "Nazi appeasers" it is difficult to avoid the vitriol.

The Oh!pinion post today is another good one.

The Obscenity of a Painless War

"Let's Whup Up on Those Dirty Islamofascists --
But I, um, 'Gave at the Office'"

We have lamented previously (here and here) the obscenity of conducting a war that is virtually painless to the average citizen. We are spending gazillions of dollars and considerable blood for a cause our president proclaims noble. Meanwhile, however, he calls for more tax rollbacks. The financial burden of the war, therefore, falls on our children and grandchildren.


Rick DeMent in a comment at Oh!Pinion seems to share my disgust for the conduct and financing of Bush's war:

I just wish that all of those people who “support the troops” by putting little yellow ribbon magnets on their SUVs would be willing to “support the troops” by ponying up some more cash in the form of a tax increase or maybe a check box on their income tax forms that said, yes I am willing to support the “cost of freedom by including XXX over and above my tax bill” I wonder how many people would actually contribute voluntarily?

"tax cuts" "Iraq War" "George W. Bush" "Republican Congress" "right-wing bloggers" "Cost of War" taxes