tfdl

But here is what I didn't know. He only was involved in the anti-war movement to punch up his resume on his way to working for McGovern, and to meet girls and get laid (his success there is in question). Huh? Most of the folks I knew were actually trying to end a war. (Imagine that.)

His name-dropping, and inside baseball went a bit far, however. He also spoke of certain inside information he had. (At times it was difficult to tell the difference between his talk on a college campus and daytime TV). At one point he spoke of the many ways people tried to avoid the draft (Chapter 5), including a certain current presidential candidate who got a psychiatric deferment. (It is in the "public record" after all. It's just that most people didn't know about it... now they will.)

You can see the talk here on fora.tv , but no need to suffer through an hour of blather (we did that for you). Just scroll down the channels on the left to Chapter 14, and you can see and hear this rehabilitated liberal out this "presidential candidate", and throw him under the bus.

Posted by Edd at 8:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If the initiative were to pass and be implemented, the electoral college votes would be allocated by congressional district, rather than the current "winner take all" method currently in place. The result - given how the state has been gerrymandered over the years - would mean an electoral vote swing toward the red side of Tim Russert's whiteboard equal to Ohio's votes.

Only one small problem... the US Constitution.

Continue reading "CA Electoral Vote Initiative: A Teapot in a Tempest?" »

Posted by Edd at 7:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yet watching him in conversation with Charlie Rose at New York's 92nd Street Y, leads us to be even more hopeful that some time this fall - when it is late enough in the campaign for him to come in without getting to deeply enmeshed in the orgy of overstatement and succumbing to the pressure to be positioned.

A while back now we went out on a limb (here and again here) to predict that Al Gore would throw his hat over the wall and run for the presidency. And while we are still hopeful for that possibility, it appears less and less likely. He seems to be truly enjoying his position sitting on the lip of the cauldron we call our political system, and commenting both on just how hot it is in there, and how overcooked the whole system seems to be.

Here's hoping... and here is a link to the conversation.

Posted by Edd at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I LOVE MY COUNTRY…

BUT I THINK IT'S TIME WE BEGAN

SEEING OTHER PEOPLE.

Posted by Edd at 7:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Recidivism or Redemption

As a body ages, the arteries often tend to harden. This is especially true for physical bodies that have become sedentary over time. Is the same true for a body politic that has begun to age and ossify? Our culture seems to be hardening by the day. And just as it is so in the physical body, perhaps the hardening of our culture is life threatening as well.

Such thoughts came to mind the other evening during a screening of the Discovery Channel’s documentary, Lock Up, Lock Down, at the offices of the American Friends’ Services Committee (AFSC) in Philadelphia. The film contrasted two prisons – the San Francisco County Jail, and the Ohio State "Supemax" Prison in Youngstown.

In one section of the San Francisco jail there is a dormitory housing sixty inmates. These inmates participate in RSVP (Resolve to Stop Violence Project) anywhere from ten to fourteen hours a day in various types of therapeutic experiences. There are group sessions where inmates have the opportunity to deconstruct their own violent behaviors. Victims of violent crime also come to meet with them to talk about how violence has affected their lives. In a way it is constant, unrelenting “soft time” where these men are immersed in an alien sea of emotions until they can swim for themselves.

Continue reading "Hard Time – Soft Time" »

Posted by Edd at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There are only four commonwealths in the Union. Three - Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Virginia - were part of the original thirteen colonies, and Kentucky was the fifteenth member of the Confederation, as it was called back then.

This bit of historical trivia seems important today in light of what is occurring in one of those commonwealths, notably Pennsylvania, concerning the issue of transportation.

So let’s review. A commonwealth is a state governed for the common good, literally for the common weal, or common well-being.

Now let’s look at what is occurring in the commonwealth’s capital with regard to the transportation issue. In an article in this morning’s Philadelphia Inquirer the governor’s office has said that there will be no “patch” this time to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). No federal highway funds “diverted” to cover the cost overruns in the southeast corner of the state.

But here is the key paragraph:

Legislators representing rural areas of the state, such as Rep. Fred McIlhattan (R., Clarion), said their constituents were reluctant to contribute more money for mass transit, which they saw as benefiting only metropolitan areas.

And to me this is indicative of much that is happening not just in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but also in the nation as a whole. If the “wifum question” (What’s in it for me?) does not have an immediate and concrete answer, many of us Americans just say no. Rural is more and more pitted against urban, with suburbanites squeezed in the middle.

Unless we return to conversations about the common good, the common well being of all our citizens – urban, rural, rich, poor and middle-class, children and seniors – then there is little hope that either our standards of living or the quality of our lives will stay the same let alone improve.

Right now "well-being in common" seems less like a platitude, and more like a good way to live, and perhaps the only way we will survive.

Posted by Edd at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Of the many arguments for our timely exit from Iraq, one that is rarely (or insufficiently) mentioned is the degree of moral degradation that occurs to an occupying force over time. Members of the Israeli army are well aware of this. We Americans seem slower to master this learning curve. We still see Abu Ghraib and other atrocities through the lens of the “bad apples” metaphor.
Here is a clip of some American soldiers amusing themselves by leading Iraqi children in a chant saying “Fuck Iraq”.

Just another sign of how much we have lost our way.

Posted by Edd at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I cast my ballot… Barbara Lee still speaks for me, the irrepressible Jerry Brown may become Attorney General of California – I think Jerry will eventually run for a seat on the rent stabilization board!

But here is the best bit. I got to vote on the following resolution:

"Shall the City of Berkeley call upon the United States House of Representatives to initiate proceedings for the impeachment and removal from office of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney, call upon the California State Legislature to submit a Resolution in support of impeachment to the United States House of Representatives, and establish a Temporary Task Force on Impeachment?"

Sweet!

Posted by Edd at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Swift-truthing ABC

Evidently, ABC-TV executives are beginning to feel the heat following their decision to air the deeply flawed “docudrama”, Path to 9-11, this Sunday and Monday on the fifth anniversary of the attacks. There have been some 40,000 e-mail messages sent to them in just the last two days. Here is a copy of our contribution; it is a letter to George Mitchell, the current Chairman of Disney, ABC’s parent company.

Dear Mr. Mitchell,

By now you are well aware that many Americans have serious concerns about how events related to the attacks on 9-11 will be portrayed on the ABC program “Path to 9-11” slated to air this Sunday and Monday evenings. That attack has been seared into the collective consciousness of all Americans, and so any depiction of events leading up to that fateful day is a delicate subject to say the least.

Apparently, your colleagues at ABC have chosen to fictionalize some of this “path” and fabricate key elements of the story line for either dramatic effect, or more nefarious purposes. In any event my concern is that, because of these fabrications, significant historical inaccuracies may be introduced into the national conversation – inaccuracies that may well lead to further polarization in an already polarized nation.

Mr. Mitchell, like all Americans I have a personal stake in making sure that this history is writ well and writ large. And as I have followed your career since you left the Senate, I am sure you have personal experience in mediating between parties who have vastly different views on their shared histories. We in America can ill afford to go down that path in these particularly troubling times.

I urge you to heed President Clinton’s request that you insist that the inaccuracies be corrected, or withdraw the film until it can be revised to portray an honest and unbiased narrative about a national tragedy.

If you feel compelled to add your comments (and we hope you do), here is the path to ThinkProgress.org with all the contact information you might need. Please remember, though, that Mr. Mitchell is usually on the side of the angels. Be nice, but be direct. This film must be re-edited, or pulled.

Posted by Edd at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is an interesting question posed by WaPo columnist Richard Cohen, and pondered by Andrew Glass of The Hill: Is Israel a mistake?
Cohen said that Israel

“… is an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable, but the idea of creating a nation of European Jews in an area of Arab Muslims (and some Christians) has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing now.”

Posted by Edd at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A wide range of conservatives are calling for the removal of Condi Rice from the cabinet and into an advisory role. It is probably the right thing to do, but this president seems to reward loyalty at the expense of competence. Removing Condi may be good news to some, but many of these same conservatives want James Baker back in the saddle. Yup, that James Baker. Here is the article in Insight Magazine

Posted by Edd at 9:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)