Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Well-Oiled Machine
Via our blogger friend Karol at Alarming News, we find out about Charlie Rangel’s alleged plan — ravings — to resign his seat if Democrats don’t take back the House this fall.
“Charles Rangel, the dean of New York’s congressional delegation, said yesterday he’d resign his seat if Democrats don’t take control of the House in November.”
Update: Rangel’s remark was first reported in this Washington Post story, which doesn’t quote him.
Huh. Okay, so we click open the Washington Post story, and we get this nugget. Learn something new every day.
Top Democrats are increasingly concerned that they lack an effective plan to turn out voters this fall, creating tension among party leaders and prompting House Democrats to launch a fundraising effort aimed exclusively at mobilizing Democratic partisans.
At a meeting last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) criticized Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean for not spending enough party resources on get-out-the-vote efforts in the most competitive House and Senate races, according to congressional aides who were briefed on the exchange. Pelosi — echoing a complaint common among Democratic lawmakers and operatives — has warned privately that Democrats are at risk of going into the November midterm elections with a voter-mobilization plan that is underfunded and inferior to the proven turnout machine run by national Republicans.
The Senate and House campaign committees are creating their own get-out-the-vote operations instead, using money that otherwise would fund television advertising and other election-year efforts. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) — who no longer speaks to Dean because of their strategic differences — is planning to ask lawmakers and donors to help fund a new turnout program run by House Democrats. He recruited Michael Whouley, a specialist in Democratic turnout, to help oversee it. [emphasis mine]
Isn’t it odd that some things get talked about a whole lot, and other things get talked about not-very-much-at-all?
Someone is deciding that stuff, and whoever that someone is, wants Democrats to win.
The Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman no longer talks to the Party Chairman. Zowee. Well gee, I was going to invite them both over to dinner this weekend and seat them next to each other, but I suppose that plan’s out.
I find this really hard to believe. Personally, I have seen people in fairly awesome positions of power, get all pissy at other people in fairly awesome positions of power. But, then, somehow, work things out. I’ve never seen it turn into a Brady Bunch episode in which Marcia says “Peter, can you please ask Jan to pass the butter, since I can’t do it myself, because she’s not talking to me and I’m not talking to her.” I haven’t actually seen that with grown-ups. But, then again, we are talking about Democrats here.
I want to know more. Frankly, I would have to wonder about someone who could read that little tidbit, and not want to know more.
It’s a little strange that the WaPo didn’t actually say a little bit more.
Remember that scene in “Life of Brian” (1979) where they’re getting ready to crucify Brian? The scene around the table where the Apostles, under the direction of John Cleese, repeatedly pounded the table and said things like “Yes, it’s time to stop this pointless discussion, and take immediate action! Right, so let’s get going! It’s time for deeds, not words!” And then they kept on doing it. The first half of the WaPo article reads just like that.
These guys want to run the country.
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Just out of total curosity, would you say the republicans have done a excellent, great, average, or poor job of things these last few years, and why?
- Dohnaughtbreeth | 08/05/2006 @ 01:59There’s an awful lot going on and an awful lot of Republicans running it all. But if I’m going to bottom-line it, I will have to say they’ve done a poor job.
They spend money like it’s going out of style, increasing the rate of growth about the same as the Democrats always did, and it’s clear it’s for the same purpose: To camouflage the internal workings of a government that refuses to conduct itself the way all businesses & households conduct themselves.
Over a long stretch of time, what Congress ends up doing, is deciding the debates we will have about the right thing to do. As a result of the poor performance of many congresses, our debates are so phony. Appeasement vs. aggression; supply-side economics vs. progressive taxation. There is no “real” reason to be arguing about these things because some of them have solid winning-streaks, and the rest are running oh-for-whatever. But after putting them into practice, Congress always has a way of muddying the waters.
Actually, that dovetails into the one thing I can say the Republicans have done well, to the point where the rest of us can learn from what they did. The 2003 tax cuts. On that issue, the fault for things remaining unclear, belongs to The People. Tax rate cut, revenues increase as a result; on the question of whether such a thing is possible, let no more arguing be done ever again. And yet…it certainly will be.
Budget deficit is ballooning, even though the revenues are expanding. And so, the Laffer Curve will be “discredited” once again. What it comes down to lately, is it’s a repeat of the 1980’s.
The pattern holds that the media retitles Republican successes as failures — and then, the Republicans let them get away with it, sometimes even supporting them in this effort. Saddam Hussein is a great example. That was a success, an Accomplished Mission, and it was before President Bush stepped on the aircraft carrier with that now-notorious banner in the background. Success: Hussein IS GONE. And yet, the Government-Entertainment Complex directs us to think about it another way…and so we comply. We pride ourselves as bright, capable, independent thinkers — and then we think whatever the Complex tells us to think.
Can’t blame the Republican Congress for that one. But I do blame them for not standing up for themselves, and the President. And (as explained in the FAQ) the President for spending so much money, and going all wobbly on the illegal-alien issue. Which, here, I’ll leave untouched.
Sorry about the length of this post. I’m afraid I still have not done an adequate servicing to the question you asked. But, of course you must realize, what you are asking about encompasses a great deal of stuff.
- mkfreeberg | 08/05/2006 @ 07:22