Archive for January, 2007

01 9th, 2007

 

I really need to write about theoconspiracy. I’m hanging on to that one more day. One more day. I’ll use two tidbits to lead in.

Today, I just want to offer the fake Weekly Radio Address, in which “George W. Bush” hopes Congress will give him the tools he needs, and he mentions the tools he already has–veto, signing statements, ignore, and make believe. I admit that I still miss That’s My Bush, but this makes me feel a tiny bit better.

And, I want to offer one article that is worth reading thoroughly, including the comments: “Will Bush Provoke a Constitutional Crisis?” This is part of the ongoing thinking ALL of us need to do about the STILL CREEPING FASCISM. The comments (OK, most of the comments) reassure me that we really are aware and active enough as a people to see and prevent the worst of what is possible. What has to happen before the Congress calls these criminals on what they are doing? Will they try to use ignore and make believe to deal with Congress when called?

Hold the executive branch accountable. That’s all I’m asking. No pardons.



01 8th, 2007

 

I have a week to decide, which freak show should I follow: Sundance or the Utah State Legislature?

The Sundance Film Festival runs January 18 - 28 in Salt Lake City, Odgen, Park City, and, of course, Sundance Resort. Ticket sales for Locals Only ended yesterday.

The Utah State Legislature meets January 15 - Februrary 28 in Salt Lake City. Watch the Utah Democratic Party and Utah Democratic Progressive Caucus websites for news of what happens during the session. Good luck finding a non-Republican play-by-play site to follow what happens. I hear rumors that the Democratic Senators are planning something interesting.

I may follow Mitt Romney and grab a diet Coke so I can keep my eyes on both. But, don’t expect me to write about them (much). There is so much going on nationally and globally that it’s tough to keep one’s eyes on one’s own paper.



01 7th, 2007

 

I get tired of evangelical Christians’s idea of left behind. I get tired of hearing how much money other evangelical Christians make off the idea, too. I think, “Just leave me behind already.” It’s what I like to think of as Left Out Front. I don’t buy into their reality anyway, so I anticipate quite a nice world without that particular influence. Maybe not a world without problems, but let’s deal with one thing at a time.

I figured that just to show I know it’s Sunday, I’ll mention This Week in God, a segment from the Daily Show. Rob Corddray’s (formerly Stephen Colbert’s) God Machine landed on a left behind video game in which righteous Christians blow up unbelievers (minus one point) and save others (plus two points). In an Alternet review of the game, you will find all sorts of fun prayer requests from the makers of the game–as well as hundreds of hostile comments, many with local Utah relevance. Remember that violence is cool as long as the Right people come out on top, way up top, soaring into their clouds.

It is any wonder that self-declared righteous are so eager to get their hands on real guns then find and kill an enemy? Their virtual realities prepare them to believe and participate in their other realities. Or maybe their virtual realities make them crave realities that they have to create in order to find that deep satisfaction in this nasty material world.

Happy Sunday.



Rocky Anderson, Again

Author: admin
01 6th, 2007

 

I’m aware that not all leftie Salt Lakers (let alone those other Salt Lakers) adore Rocky Anderson. Yes, he has a large ego (as well as “enormous balls,” according to some). I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing–I mean the ego. Or either. I know there are many more complaints. I just want to say this before I launch into the love letter I’m about to write.

  • I would vote for Rocky Anderson as Mayor.
  • I would vote for Rocky Anderson as Governor.
  • I would vote for Rocky Anderson as President.

I want someone who thinks and speaks like Rocky Anderson to represent me and my family to the larger organizations that claim to govern us.

  • I want someone who isn’t always being diplomatic and taking important points off the table.
  • I want someone who sees big issues like climate change and connects to those issues on a local level.
  • I want someone who isn’t afraid to hear what is on the minds of people who elected him.

Rocky Anderson on the cover of The NationFor exactly the reasons so many Utahns hate and fear Rocky Anderson, I admire him. I agree with him. How often does that happen? Not very–especially when one lives in one of the most reliably red districts of one of the most reliably red states. I’m not alone.

Sasha Abramsky has written another article on Rocky Anderson for The Nation. The cover is scary, but the article is great. This creates more national exposure for the oasis that is Salt Lake City. An article on “Blue-ing the West” will appear in the next issue.

It’s time to listen to the Rocky Anderson mix of “Soul Singing” (by Jon Fox of 12th Harmonic) again. Get your soul singing. Then wonder what he was thinking when he endorsed a Republican to replace him. Wha?



Tears of Joy

Author: admin
01 5th, 2007

 

I just want to say that listening to the announcement of the vote electing Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House brought me to tears–big, sobbing, crocodile tears. Seeing her take the gavel didn’t do it for me–it was listening to the announcement of the vote and the voice of the clerk announcing the vote.  Don’t just listen, watch the announement of the vote 1:30 minutes into the Democracy Now Headlines.  I didn’t think it would be that moving to me, but here she is, in my lifetime, a woman so powerful in the U.S. government.

I was young enough when Sandra Day O’Connor joined the Supreme Court that I didn’t pay a lot of attention or feel the weight of the occasional, but I imagine it might have been a similar moment.

As a child, I wasn’t aware of the lack. It wasn’t until my mother and her friends, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, talked about what they had to deal with in their professional lives from men who didn’t want to see women in power. I sat quietly listening to their whispered conversations, and I absorbed their truths.

I may not be a second-wave feminist, but I thank them from the bottom of my heart for what they’ve done to bring choices to women’s lives that seemed out of reach in previous generations. I believe I will continue to see big changes in my life and my daughter will see bigger changes in hers. She will live in interesting times.



 
Connecting the dots of political news stories that whip me into a screaming frenzy, while fighting the rise of extremism and reinforcing the necessity of community.