A Kossack who formerly had my ear has written a diary with a premise straight out of Jr. High that says, essentially, "Barack Obama talked to Fox so he isn't my friend anymore." Never mind that Obama did a fantastic job, and says clearly at every opportunity that he intends to listen and speak to all Americans. Actually ALL Americans! I am more disgusted by this diary than I have been by anything I have seen Fox do; after all, we expect them to be mendacious second stringers.
And my fantasy baseball team hit 3/33 yesterday. That really cheeses me off too. I'm managing my imaginary HEART OUT for freak's sake, and this is the best they can do? I'm putting only brown M&Ms in the dugout until something changes.
By request (in today's EdScan diary) I made a Grok The "EdKu" design for CafePress, and put it on TShirts, tote bags, buttons and stickers for all of us EdScan fans. I used a Star Trekky Heinleiny kind of font. Show your EdKuliciousness in time for Austin.
http://www.cafepress.com/... (Scroll down past Liam and Evan's Exploding Productions Before and After Bomb Stuff to see the EdKu.)
Heck, maybe a hundred. We weren't exactly an overflow crowd, but yes, that's right, Barack Obama has won the coveted endorsement of the great Stan Ridgway. Stan was the lead singer with the band Wall Of Voodoo, who did Mexican Radio, and a killer cover of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire.
Tonight was his birthday, and he celebrated by playing a gig at the Hotel Congress here in Tucson, where he wowed the crowd not only with his wit, charm, and excellent music, but his sound political judgment, as he exhorted the crowd to embrace the change that was sweeping our country and get out there and vote for someone "sensible" for a change.
After the show I asked him if that was his long-awaited, coveted endorsement for Obama, and he said well, he guessed it was. Congratulations, Barack, another great American on your team.
I am pleased to report that George Bush received a hearty number of "boos" just now as he tossed out the first pitch at Nationals stadium. There were enough boos to hear over the ass-kissing of the announcers, who said, "well, many Presidents have done it, but none so well as this one!"
Thanks Al Rodgers for the vid-
Boo!!!
BOOOO!!!
Update: 9:04 ET: I am watching Bush in the booth right now, talking with the announcers, and he seems drugged, or something. He is very slow to speak and kind of staring out of the booth. Whassup with that?
Update #2: Congrats to the Nationals, at the end of the game, after a walkoff homer by Ryan Zimmerman, you can hear what a stadium full of cheering sounds like.
For three beautiful hours today, I didn't think about the primaries, the judiciary, John McCain, my deadlines, my taxes, or Ralph Nader. I felt like a kid, fresh as a daisy and warm as toast in the 81 degree weather at the ballpark.
I'm lucky enough to live in Tucson, Arizona, and we have three teams that Spring Train here- the Diamondbacks, the Rockies, and the White Sox. And all of the other teams in the Cactus League show up here off and on throughout the month of March. You can see a game every day here, for 32 days. Today, at 1:00 in the afternoon, the offseason ended for me when our mayor stepped up to home plate, read a Proclamation that basically said "Whereas, Baseball Kicks Ass and Tucson loves it and here we go!"
And he stepped up on the mound, threw a lame-ass pitch that didn't make it to home plate, we all cheered like fools because we love him, and bang! Winter's over! Baseball's begun!
There is a lot of discussion on the site right now about what to do about diary swarming- diaries getting to the top of the Rec list not as a function of their excellence, timeliness, or import, but simply because a group of people jump on them immediately to rec them up. I've even seen this advice given to would-be Swarmers: "You know the drill, Rec first, read second. You can always Unrec it later if it's crap."
Last night, high on the Rec list was another SYFPH diary. RIght now, as I type this, topping the Rec list is a diary entitled "I Am A Superdelegate." Both are funny, I guess, but are they really our recommended reading? On the eve of three hugely important primaries, the joke diary "I Am A Superdelegate" is what we think no one should miss?
Every day things shoot to the top of our heap that may not reflect our best efforts, and there isn't any community check/balance system to offset it.
I almost never write diaries on DKos. I read, and comment, but rarely feel the need to pile into the crashing sea of words with essays of my own. I write this one for myself, really, because I am weary of seeing my own previous diary criticizing Barack Obama's candidacy at the head of my page. I want to see a new block of words there, and one that reflects the hope and strength of commitment rising in my soul. I want to see words that embrace hope, rather than question it skeptically.
I lost my mother, four years ago, to a system that was built to throw her away. In her mid-60's, she became ill, she became clinically depressed as a result of her illness (which was not properly diagnosed by her inadequate access to professional care under her insufficient medical coverage) and she was prescribed anti-depressants. The anti-depressants didn't suit her system. She was miserable. She became suicidal, and ended up taking her life in a remote, beautiful area in the Catalina mountains in Tucson. So remote, in fact, that her body was not found until this week, after four long years. The fresh nature of my grief over her death, and part of the reason my mother gave up prompt me to speak up about the very nature of what she lost- hope.
It seems clear now that Howard Dean will be the new Chair of the DNC. This is great news. I couldn't ask for a more dedicated, positive leader of our party at this critical time in American history.
It's a damned shame that we have lost the White House, the Senate, the House, and are in danger of a fundie Judiciary, but we have to face facts, and it's time to focus on getting a verifiable vote (with a real paper trail) in place before the 2006 elections, and on retaking the Senate.
Many of us have never given a dime to the DNC, preferring instead to give our money where we thought it would do the most good. I know that this will be my first contribution.
What a NARROW ESCAPE we are having at the Bush Inauguration.
Just think, what if they had decided to scale back the parties, spend a million bucks instead of 40 or 60 million, and donate the rest to humanitarian aid efforts?
They could have made a statement about this being a difficult time for so many people. It's a time of war and of natural disaster. A time when our leaders need to show responsibility and compassion. They could have made it about Christian values, about fiscal responsibility, and about how one can both prosecute a war and provide for its innocent victims.
I have a problem. I have lost the ability to negotiate with the other side. I can no longer engage in personal relationships or philosophical discussions with Bush voters or war supporters. Where are you at? Take the poll.
