tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38161582011-11-27T17:32:09.274-06:00<b>"The effect of a good government is to make life more valuable,-- of a bad one, to make it less valuable."</b>-- <i>Henry David Thoreau</i>Lenorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057280296153171740noreply@blogger.comBlogger10891100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-56148848181539939502010-07-06T12:23:00.001-05:002010-07-06T12:26:04.763-05:00

Our newest blogbrother...Tantrums of a Restless Mind...welcome!

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-77891936139048827672010-04-07T13:13:00.011-05:002010-04-09T10:58:43.729-05:00

To those of you who have been directed to this blog by way of the Newsweek piece I'd like to clarify a few details: I spoke with David Remnick last summer during a 30-minute phone call about a gathering at the Ayers/Dohrn home in 1995. It appears that Mr. Remnick conflated two different events, one of which I did not attend. The get-together I attended occurred long after the one where Alice

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-39299287925328953652010-04-07T10:26:00.003-05:002010-04-07T11:49:54.567-05:00

From the letter's section of yesterday's NYTimes To the Editor:Business groups fear that the appointment of Craig Becker, a lawyer for the A.F.L.-C.I.O., to the National Labor Relations Board will promote unionism (“Deadlock Is Ending on Labor Board,” Business Day, April 1). But that is the precise purpose of the Wagner Act of 1935. Section 1 declares that it is “the policy of the United

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-66326972473255643982010-01-31T12:45:00.008-06:002010-02-01T16:06:28.347-06:00

In the hoopla surrounding last week’s State of the Union, we should not overlook the double dose of Duncan—Arne that is—served up in the New Yorker and The Washington Post. Carlo Rotella’s profile of Obama’s Secretary of Education in the New Yorker (the full online article is available only to subscribers, alas), describes Duncan as “firmly on the market-forces side” of the debate on how to

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-85881736434624067532010-01-29T12:27:00.002-06:002010-01-29T12:32:48.429-06:00

From the letters section in today's NYTimes:To the Editor:President Obama’s State of the Union address had a high point when he pledged that anyone with a “better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know.” Thank you, Mr. President. The answer is the reform supported by 65

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-83584987960223224422010-01-28T22:49:00.001-06:002010-01-28T22:52:19.034-06:00

A State of the Union with so many highlights: What about that moment when Obama announced he was issuing an executive order suspending healthcare benefits for all members of Congress until they brought him a bill that provided full healthcare for all US residents, and then we all looked at each other and said,” Can he do that? Woo Hoo BHO!”And then, the way he followed that by announcing he was

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-25812931788356421212010-01-23T14:19:00.007-06:002010-01-23T15:02:40.574-06:00

Any criticism of relief efforts in face of a disaster as unfathomable as the earthquake in Haiti requires caution. Indeed, some aid groups have said the challenges in Haiti are greater than those that followed in the wake of the 2004 Asian tsunami. Nonetheless a couple of observations might be in order: We know that immediately following the earthquake the US military assumed the lead role in

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-28914318461977754972010-01-18T13:56:00.004-06:002010-01-18T14:13:58.460-06:00

David Brooks's Friday column on the Haiti earthquake counts as his most reprehensible in recent memory, if not ever. On the strength of apparently having read one book and an essay on Haiti he feels licensed to charge millions of Haitian parents with systematically neglecting and then abusing their children. As bad is this is, the particulars are less important than what drives this sort of

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-75012889670648843562009-12-20T23:24:00.006-06:002009-12-21T11:51:02.907-06:00

So I woke up this morning thinking about "The Homeless," which is only natural in weather like this, I suppose.The emergence of "homelessness" as an identity category reveals the repugnance of the neoliberal version of social activism at its bluntest. "Homelessness" was invented as a social status—the equivalent of an estate--over the 1980s with the collusion of government agencies, academics,

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-45574366130451395142009-11-11T14:00:00.004-06:002009-11-11T14:11:31.658-06:00

Dean Baker explains:There is a major national ad campaign, funded by the oil industry and other usual suspects, to convince the public that measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and slow global warming will result in massive job loss. This ad campaign warns of slower growth and the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, possibly even millions of jobs, if some variation of the current

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-33723700366842922002009-10-13T17:48:00.001-05:002009-10-13T17:51:39.261-05:00

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-85998267953885205032009-10-12T05:47:00.000-05:002009-10-13T17:48:19.196-05:00

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-9296334727782361472009-08-26T17:41:00.009-05:002009-08-29T23:19:07.062-05:00

The words aren't flowing today so I'll paraphrase someone who was intimately acquainted with loss:Edward Kennedy "need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him...pray that what he was to us and

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-2203350257574151792009-08-18T11:55:00.000-05:002009-08-18T11:56:05.277-05:00

Lest we forget...The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cHeadlines - Richard Clarkwww.thedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorSpinal Tap Performance

Lenorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057280296153171740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-26028595008523228242009-08-12T09:23:00.003-05:002009-08-12T12:37:03.321-05:00

From Campbell Brown to Jon Stewart to Barack Obama himself, the recent recipe for dealing with the crazies and operatives who’ve dominated the coverage of the health care debate appears to be as follows: Separate the fear mongering about death panels and such nonsense from the “legitimate” concerns about cost, being able to keep one’s current insurance, etc. Then, having sorted one from the

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-26735969043970903002009-08-10T09:22:00.008-05:002009-08-10T12:25:28.467-05:00

When the makers of the animated film The Incredibles wanted a visceral symbol for our society’s moral turpitude they knew exactly what to do: depict an insurance company executive--single-minded in the pursuit of profit and lacking even the slightest glimmer of sympathy for his fellow humans. The message was so clear that a four-year-old could get it: the only way that insurers make money is by

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-46670976607963673652009-07-31T12:41:00.002-05:002009-07-31T12:45:04.517-05:00

Finally warm enough to take him to the lake and let him play in the water. I can't believe I just wrote that on the last day of July in Chicago. What happened to summer?

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-19078790841336527182009-07-11T12:50:00.014-05:002009-07-15T13:05:14.014-05:00

If you were wondering how wealth, income, and power have been, and still are, distributed in the USA than have a look-see at an article by Professor G. William Domhoff, available at the Sociology Dept. at UC Santa Cruz. I've excerpted some of the more upsetting paragraphs, tables, and figures below.In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2004, the top

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-77787150976090148802009-07-04T08:37:00.001-05:002009-07-07T12:10:16.607-05:00

Watching The Fog of War for the second time around, I couldn't help but wonder: is this watery-eyed man in Rumsfield's future? Twenty, or so years, down the road will he subject himself to hours of interviews on his many errors in the Iraq war?As of today confirmed deaths in the Iraq War stand at just over 4,300, a far cry from the over 25,000 who died during McNamara's seven-year term as

Lenorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057280296153171740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-36612515577522670742009-07-03T17:32:00.003-05:002009-07-03T22:56:32.754-05:00

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-35380523651558320802009-06-19T13:12:00.002-05:002009-06-19T13:14:32.906-05:00

Ian Frazier says it best. O my children, you are disobedient. For when I tell you what you must do, you argue and dispute hotly even to the littlest detail; and when I do not accede, you cry out, and hit and kick. Yes, and even sometimes do you spit, and shout "stupid-head" and other blasphemies, and hit and kick the wall and the molding thereof when you are sent to the corner. And though the

Lenorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057280296153171740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-70379447196398126802009-06-05T14:34:00.004-05:002009-06-06T12:08:07.340-05:00

...is always open.When David Horowitz is complimenting you, it's way past time to trash the preferences and uninstall the software.Michael Smith at Stop Me Before I Vote Again describes Obama's Cairo speech as an "...emetic concoction of falsehood, sanctimony, and hypocrisy..." The whole sick-making performance is like this -- Parson Obama, master of the drone aircraft and the cluster bomb for

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-23188136237720178222009-05-22T17:32:00.002-05:002009-05-22T17:41:49.620-05:00

It's always heartening to find that there are many who are not hoodwinked by the rhetoric:Mr. Obama, You are a fine speechmaker and have helped the government and people of the U.S.A. generally feel a more sincere and positive connection to the civilized world than they have had a right to feel in recent years. However, to name a few of what I honestly feel are dangerously misguided positions of

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-13614202582429016902009-05-22T17:23:00.003-05:002009-05-22T17:27:00.236-05:00

Finally warm enough to drink water with two feet. He kept batting at the reflection of himself, or something, in the water. I couldn't get a pic of that. Maybe next time.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-63081156950211835992009-05-18T09:56:00.003-05:002009-05-18T10:02:30.773-05:00

(click on image for a larger version)From the Center for Economic and Policy ResearchThis report finds that the U.S. is the only country among 22 countries ranked highly in terms of economic and human development that does not guarantee that workers receive paid sick days or paid sick leave. Under current U.S. labor law, employers are not required to provide short-term paid sick days or

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-72035129785185003082009-05-15T09:37:00.001-05:002009-05-15T09:41:25.867-05:00

He's very sweet after a long walk by the lake, otherwise he's cranky.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-50942500268841704662009-05-14T22:58:00.004-05:002009-05-14T23:43:05.949-05:00

...or as Maurice White would say "Can I get a right-on?"

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-43217425843449530512009-05-09T16:18:00.007-05:002009-05-09T18:24:30.845-05:00

So what has struck me most about the Miss California thing is what it says about that strain of Protestantism. There's nothing special about the fact that she did the softcore photos; that hardly registers on the hypocrisy scale any more -- not after legions of Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader prayer leaders, dope fiend anti-drug crusaders, barely closeted gay ministersdenouncing homosexuality, etc.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-18846055620887447692009-05-03T14:29:00.011-05:002009-05-05T16:21:14.588-05:00

Last week Georgia Governor, Sonny "chickenshit" Perdue signed into law a bill permanently designating that:every April “shall be set aside to celebrate the Confederate States of America, its history, those who served in its armed forces and government,” and all those who contributed “to the cause which they held so dear.”I would think that this news would cause more than a ripple of interest and

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-69130915967304146592009-04-25T17:55:00.011-05:002009-05-05T16:20:44.557-05:00

I think that the current NAFTA regime lacks the worker and environmental protections that are necessary for the long-term prosperity of both America and its trading partners. I would therefore favor, at minimum, a significant renegotiation of NAFTA and the terms of the President’s fast track authority.Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday he is ``delighted'' the administration of U.S.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-25331671703473712592009-04-25T10:56:00.005-05:002009-04-25T11:03:42.443-05:00

Ominous news from the Army Times:U.S. European Command has deployed to Israel a high-powered X-band radar and the supporting people and equipment needed for coordinated defense against Iranian missile attack, marking the first permanent U.S. military presence on Israeli soil....EuCom has repeatedly deployed troops and Patriot air defense batteries for joint exercises and Iraq-related wartime

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-17117513915446845522009-04-24T12:42:00.002-05:002009-04-24T12:44:53.931-05:00

Spring has sprung, but not Kodi.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-54961903664382230042009-04-20T10:05:00.003-05:002009-04-20T10:15:31.780-05:00

We're adding emptywheel to our home remedies. Marcy Wheeler, welcome!

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-61141943691458201522009-04-18T13:29:00.006-05:002009-04-18T14:12:27.000-05:00

...of public schools and teachers unions?Here's Morning Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan, and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty talking about education reform:Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy• Privatization of public schools?• Freeing teachers and principals "from the burdens of contracts" -- i.e. union busting?• using D.C. as a national model?Is this really what's

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-37399903130785973672009-04-11T18:13:00.010-05:002009-04-11T19:00:01.375-05:00

Here's part of Barack's Floor Statement on the Habeas Corpus Amendment on September 27, 2006: We don't need to imprison innocent people to win this war. For people who are guilty, we have the procedures in place to lock them up. That is who we are as a people. We do things right, and we do things fair.But a funny thing happened on the way to the White House. Glenn Greenwald breaks it down in

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-43881244408022746202009-04-04T10:33:00.004-05:002009-04-04T11:18:59.071-05:00

... and all we got was Barack Obama.Here's a really succinct observation from an East Coast union activist:I am glad we put the struggle on hold so we can elect a guy to give the bankers a trillion tax payer dollars so we can refinance our own debt with our own money, send 50K more combat troops to Afghanistan to win a war that no military authority says can be won with guns and is a land that

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-90148946938006023022009-03-24T12:22:00.010-05:002009-03-24T13:09:24.570-05:00

A friend writes: As if it weren't already clear, The Nation has dropped all pretense to critical integrity or political and intellectual standards.Here's Melissa Harris-Lacewell on how her friends pull themselves up by their bootstraps in these difficult economic times: I have a good friend who has decided to get rid of their family's second car. Though she and her husband work 30 minutes in

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-33459302533083295712009-03-20T13:11:00.002-05:002009-03-20T16:32:39.547-05:00

...and he made a buttload of cash, too.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-55883951704689339422009-03-13T13:28:00.006-05:002009-03-13T15:21:52.291-05:00

It was deeply satisfying to see Jon Stewart putting it to Jim Cramer on last night’s Daily Show. Cramer deserved no quarter and Stewart gave him none. And it’ll be interesting to see whether the handshake at the show’s close does result in CNBC’s trashing the “In Cramer We Trust” promos. But let's face it, at the end of the day, asking CNBC to step up its investigative reporting of the

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-25702596762843691462009-03-09T11:42:00.006-05:002009-03-10T11:53:19.531-05:00

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, at 90, is no fool.You know, just because he is black, everyone thought he was a revolutionary. He's no revolutionary. Obama is a centrist. And as far as any on the left who thought he was a revolutionary, I think the air is going out of his revolutionary balloon daily.One sad chunk of fallout from the last eight years is that Obama's centrist moves look radical and will be

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-59360651626786389272009-03-04T23:15:00.003-06:002009-03-04T23:40:46.655-06:00

Apparently as a result of criticism raised by the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Health Care (LCS-P), the Obama administration finally invited Congressman John Conyers, who introduced HR 676 (the "Expanded and Improved Medicare for All," which establishes the federal government as the "single payer" of everyone's medical bills), and Physicians for a National Health Program (a major advocate

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-1273144500763561542009-03-02T15:11:00.002-06:002009-03-02T15:22:17.109-06:00

As I noted in an earlier post, Democratic Party effectiveness will require that they get past the false notion that without a filibuster-proof majority they can't get things done. David E. RePass in an op-ed in today's Times argues eloquently to the contrary:[F]ixing the problem would not require any change in Senate rules. The phantom filibuster could be done away with overnight by the Senate

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-50375190091879028662009-02-28T18:55:00.003-06:002009-03-01T10:39:28.621-06:00

Having observed a week ago that Obama appeared to be listening more to the voice of David Brooks and his ilk than to the Paul Krugmans of the world, I have to be heartened that Krugman’s response to the President’s Budget Proposal Plan was largely positive. Quoth Krugman:President Obama’s new budget represents a huge break, not just with the policies of the past eight years, but with policy

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-5417687207869942042009-02-20T18:26:00.003-06:002009-02-20T18:32:03.496-06:00

A boy and his dog...orTwo peas in a pod.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-57159573790857460732009-02-14T20:19:00.006-06:002009-02-14T21:12:15.087-06:00

If anything recommends bipartisanship to us (and frankly I think the entire approach is a pile of shit) it would presumably be its expressed commitment to engaging problems as they come without asking first whether or not a proposal advances or compromises party interests. The goal would be to de-calcify political thinking by focusing on solutions.But wouldn’t it be a deep irony of the moment if

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-70707447244160358852009-02-07T08:39:00.008-06:002009-02-10T22:33:23.029-06:00

Well, hey folks, I’m back. (I haven’t really gone anywhere, just sitting back and seeing how the Obama era begins to unfold.) It comes as no surprise to readers of this blog that my expectations are not high, but under the circumstances it’s hard not to hope for the best. Yet, alas, signs are not particularly good.Imagine, if you will the Friday, NYTimes op-ed page, bookended by Paul Krugman’s

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-45224713358181600542009-01-20T20:15:00.002-06:002009-02-13T15:52:25.763-06:00

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-21883323059057703912008-12-14T23:18:00.002-06:002008-12-14T23:22:27.755-06:00

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaI guess the Secret Service is a bit rusty on their shoe interception techniques. I understand Dana Perino got a black eye in the ensuing kerfuffle, so it wasn't a total loss.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-11047779060602159432008-12-13T11:45:00.005-06:002008-12-13T12:27:30.112-06:00

Sometimes the history of a word can tell us a lot. Take “decimate” for instance. Originally, designating the Roman practice of punishing mutinous troops by killing every tenth member of a legion, the word is now generally accepted (albeit by only 61 percent of the usage panel for the American Heritage Dictionary) as indicating the killing of a large portion of a group. On this one, I’m with

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-61431944871192476952008-12-09T08:15:00.001-06:002008-12-09T10:20:01.159-06:00

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in a statement that “the breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering.”And just like that Illinois goes from being in a state of pride to being in a state of embarrassment.Ahhh...tainted politicians in the morning... smells like Chicago.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-63695283890170638592008-11-11T13:52:00.004-06:002008-11-11T13:55:13.677-06:00

Kodi loves avocados...even in plant form. Or the pot is nice and cool for his furry head.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-90235429801260117602008-11-08T17:28:00.001-06:002008-11-08T17:29:23.393-06:00

The good life @ Yahoo! Video

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-61351704714949462182008-11-07T14:00:00.002-06:002008-11-07T14:17:37.962-06:00

OK, I shamelessly stole this image from bartcop because it made me happy, and right now I find myself adding up the silver linings. Most of them, realistically, could do with a bit of buffing.We here at Ms&Ms are working on a more cogent response that we can all get behind. So stay tuned...

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-77629408955758988342008-10-30T22:39:00.004-05:002008-10-31T08:38:47.440-05:00

Has Bill Kristol been right about fucking anything?NO.

Lenorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057280296153171740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-40014577549512151812008-10-27T11:37:00.002-05:002008-10-27T11:38:33.004-05:00

He's found the bed again.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-80713732329225661002008-10-26T13:04:00.011-05:002008-10-27T11:27:20.651-05:00

Where is the Democratic leadership on this offensive, divisive piece of execrable legislation?Regardless of how you feel about the issue, we should not eliminate fundamental rights for ANY Californians. Please vote NO on Prop 8.ht to magyarok_saman for the link to the video

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-22460829591851166012008-10-23T12:47:00.006-05:002008-10-23T14:29:12.113-05:00

We get mail:Well, it appears that Palin and her family arrived for the convention with very little in the way of clothes and certainly not ready for the glare of the national stage. Bristol's boyfriend's hair, for example, was such a mess that he basically had dread locks. After a 10-minute, high-level discussion it was decided he must get a haircut (I believe the RNC picked up the tab for that

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-74180364494238938232008-10-23T10:40:00.012-05:002008-10-23T17:26:22.539-05:00

Silveradept, in comments, asked for links to a study or report ranking post-WWII U.S. presidents that would bear out the list posted below. I asked John at Progressive Involvement who said he posted an email he received and had no links to share. I did a little digging and found the tables below.According to Forbes, Bill Clinton ranks first among the 10 postwar presidents overall, with LBJ and

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-91183690911866832642008-10-21T13:47:00.006-05:002008-10-21T14:00:35.836-05:00

The other day a bunny frolicked in the yard for a good couple of hours. Kodi was beside himself. This is the least blurry photo of the afternoon.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-87526048805098483352008-10-21T10:23:00.003-05:002008-10-21T10:31:18.440-05:00

John Petty over at Progressive Involvement checks the record from WWII to the present: 1. The largest growth in domestic product – Truman 2. The highest growth in jobs – Clinton 3. The largest increase in personal disposable income after taxes – Lyndon Johnson 4. The highest growth in industrial production – John F. Kennedy 5. The highest growth in hourly

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-87850151926761297062008-10-20T11:30:00.010-05:002008-10-20T12:16:45.662-05:00

Jeez! The howls of indignation. Grow up, people. Yes, it's gone; that oh-so-exciting post that people can't seem to get enough of. We know deleting doesn't erase it from memory. Like so much urine in a swimming pool, trace elements will remain.For those of you trolling this site for dirt on Obama and Ayers, please look elsewhere. Red Rabbit and the rest of us have said our piece which doesn't

Lenorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057280296153171740noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-9179860924020102362008-10-17T11:18:00.007-05:002008-10-17T11:44:07.538-05:00

It looks like the Republicans will be out in the streets with their sheets and nooses before this election is over. The illustration above appeared in a GOP newsletter in San Bernadino, CA this month.Diane Fedele, president of the group, said she had no racist intent. "I never connected," she told the newspaper. "It was just food to me. It didn't mean anything else."But what else did we expect

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-49143757002819211352008-10-15T23:01:00.005-05:002008-10-15T23:09:54.515-05:00

An animation of the sun, seen by NASA's Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) over the course of 6 days, starting June 27, 2005. (Courtesy of SOHO/EIT consortium) #

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-65889365811125010152008-10-13T11:12:00.004-05:002008-10-13T11:19:25.978-05:00

Way to go Professor Krugman! Hmmm...Secretary of the Treasury has a nice ring to it. Are you paying attention Barack?

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-16492017267467008862008-10-05T19:42:00.002-05:002008-10-05T19:56:07.789-05:00

On a recent trip to For Dog's Sake, in search of healthy chews for Kodi, Marcía the owner, talked us into getting him a bull penis. He loved it. He may no longer have cojones, but he now has a bully stick.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-37152550858765185832008-09-29T12:11:00.000-05:002008-09-29T12:13:41.805-05:00

It's working!You know that e-mail everyone's been sending around, encouraging people to donate to Planned Parenthood in the name of Sarah Palin? So far, it has yielded $802,678 in donations from over 31,000 people, from all 50 states, two-thirds of whom are first-time donors. Thank-you notes to Palin, care of the McCain campaign headquarters, will begin going out next week.Keep 'em coming.

Lenorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057280296153171740noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-56189742152679584612008-09-27T17:38:00.004-05:002008-09-27T21:31:16.870-05:00

With broken hearts we note the passing of one of our favorites. Paul Newman was one of those rare actors who never struck a false note, and I suspect it was the same in his real life.Favorite films: Hombre, Hud, and Road to PerditionFavorite quote: 'Necessity is the motherfucker of invention.'Favorite little known characteristic that I shared with him: He was color-blind. (I still am)

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-79444067799111091052008-09-26T11:18:00.006-05:002008-09-27T17:59:55.783-05:00

ALJAZEERA ENGLISH aired this two-part program on September 13 asking what are Obama's policies and how would they change the country? It includes straightforward critiques of Barack Obama's positions by our good friend, Adolph Reed, Jr., professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania; and Glen Ford, editor of Black Agenda Report.Part 1Part 2Quite timely, given today's report in

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-91798154729867182822008-09-23T18:31:00.004-05:002008-09-23T23:22:46.741-05:00

Kate over at Broken Windows posted a great idea:Instead of (in addition to?) us all sending around more emails about how horrible Palin is, let’s all make a donation to Planned Parenthood in Sarah Palin’s name. And here’s the good part: when you make a donation to PP in her name, they’ll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor. Here’s the link to the Planned

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-31022327419940415222008-09-20T09:53:00.000-05:002008-09-20T10:49:15.111-05:00

Don't let the photo fool you...he may seem alert here but yesterday a black and white cat ambled through the back yard as Kodi slept obliviously on the deck...

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-10901051884601463972008-09-18T11:42:00.000-05:002008-09-18T12:10:29.886-05:00

Although for many of us Hurricane Katrina now represents the Bush Administration’s colossal ineptitude and criminal neglect of its duties, it is useful to remember that in the hurricane’s immediate aftermath, many saw the mass of people awaiting rescue in the Superdome as living proof that dependence on the government produces individuals who fail to take personal responsibility for their

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-61895925297730119272008-09-14T11:13:00.002-05:002008-09-14T18:00:19.135-05:00

To start off, I’m not sure that Obama’s ass is worth saving. Even if he does win, which is looking less and less likely with each passing day, the Republican alternative four years hence is going to be no more palatable than it is now, meaning that a hopelessly compromised left will only be asked once again to suck it up for the sake of preserving a presidency that will become less and less

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-18373099151438139132008-09-13T11:24:00.003-05:002008-09-13T11:27:08.649-05:00

A little rawhide chew...a big cow knuckle...because nobody really wants to brush his teeth.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-22836438067228170742008-09-08T22:01:00.004-05:002008-09-08T22:10:33.014-05:00

My new apartment is two blocks south of the World Trade Center site. Tonight they turned on the memorial lights to mark the anniversary on Thursday. I always thought the lights were projected from the site but it turns out to be slightly south of where I live. The picture doesn't quite do it justice, but it's a pretty impressive view from where I am . Later this week I'll hopefully get something

Lenorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057280296153171740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-42645381989337089562008-09-07T10:30:00.000-05:002008-09-07T10:35:01.775-05:00

What a difference a week makes. Last weekend at a decidedly pro-Obama social gathering, the consensus was that McCain had stumbled badly in selecting Sarah Palin as his VP nominee. The news about her daughter’s pregnancy had just broken, along with revelations about Palin’s being investigated for abuse of her gubernatorial power. By contrast the Obama campaign had gotten big props for drawing

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-25180634732721824482008-09-06T11:08:00.003-05:002008-09-06T11:24:13.864-05:00

From the archives...when Kodi made our bed his number one spot to spend the day...

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-76483649210259994112008-09-03T13:50:00.000-05:002008-09-03T13:52:07.197-05:00

*...unless, of course, you’re poor . . . and blackThe Obama campaign responded to the news that, Bristol, the 17-year-old daughter of Republican Vice Presidential nominee (and proud NRA member) Sarah’s Packin’, is five months pregnant by telling everyone to “back off.” As reported in the New York Times, Mr. Obama said the pregnancy “has no relevance to Governor Palin’s performance as a

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-44053959228392821982008-09-03T13:46:00.003-05:002008-09-03T13:48:10.181-05:00

...**unless, of course, you're a RepublicanWe should probably thank Mother Nature for cutting the US Gulf Coast a little slack by diminishing the strength of Gustav before the storm made landfall earlier this week (‘wish she’d taken it a little easier on the various islands Gustav traversed along the way). Had Gustav hit shore as the slow-moving category 3 or 4 storm it might have been, the story

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-24219356637737103262008-09-01T13:01:00.006-05:002008-09-01T14:44:32.563-05:00

Striking resemblance, dontcha think?ADDED: I can guess at what the likes of Malkin, Dobson, et. al. would be saying if this story broke out about a Democrat's daughter. Somehow I doubt praise for "choosing life in this difficult situation" would come up.

Lenorahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057280296153171740noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-68014548129079334382008-08-30T18:20:00.009-05:002008-08-30T20:10:25.140-05:00

Since last I posted so much has happened: The John Edwards road-not-taken turned out to have been a lover’s lane to nowhere. I suppose I should feel relieved the Dems didn’t waltz down the aisle with him (a helluva convention that would have been), but in truth the only loss was to John’s rep and future career, neither of which have any major political implications. We weren’t backing him

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-34580042506997645882008-08-22T14:43:00.001-05:002008-08-22T14:45:14.773-05:00

The George Bush chew toy just bit the dust.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-76813868682901652982008-08-04T13:59:00.010-05:002008-08-04T14:46:05.577-05:00

Dear friends on the left,Hobgoblins, small minds and stupid consistency go together, as Emerson reminded us, so I suppose it shouldn't have come as a surprise that a cast of "progressive leaders" has again assembled locust-like at the waning stages of the electoral cycle to "urge me to listen to the voice of the people" and not "to retreat from the stands that have been the signature of (my)

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-34013026250090044302008-07-29T18:51:00.002-05:002008-07-29T18:57:09.957-05:00

That is, the public beat-down of the black poor goes on. Last week, against what we know was our better judgment red rabbit and I watched considerable chunks of Soledad O’Brien’s CNN special on being Black in America, and I have to say Sistah Soledad did not disappoint, delivering, in the poor disguise of an in-depth journalistic report, a finger-wagging, self-righteous lecture to downtrodden

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-5420017750584659482008-07-28T12:20:00.001-05:002008-07-28T12:23:05.014-05:00

Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy...

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-57266908717345326022008-07-22T11:12:00.009-05:002008-07-22T14:17:15.127-05:00

(Brooks and Obama, that is)Although as a self-deluded Republican Party hack, David Brooks would never actually vote for Obama (Brooks’ long-standing delusion is to think of himself as a disinterested social analyst rather than an inveterate apologist for the ruling class), his Tuesday Times column on the mortgage crisis exemplifies the Obamista social vision to which I refer in the previous post,

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-86711147920843942462008-07-22T00:06:00.002-05:002008-07-22T00:54:51.183-05:00

It bears repeating that one clear effect of the Obama campaign has been to re-license victim-blaming as cutting edge social analysis and policy. Harvard’s Larry Bobo concludes a recent piece supporting Obama by writing:The next stages of this struggle will call for new strategies, new ideas and almost certainly a larger dose of self-help and self-assertion from within black America itself.

the professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04513527011479688937noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-84256111897951109042008-07-16T11:59:00.006-05:002008-07-16T20:32:39.345-05:00

... and the Obasms are but a memory...You there, on the left...You look like you could use a stiff shot of reality. Adolph Reed serves it up over at Black Agenda Report. And it isn't pretty. The point is that we need to approach this presidential election stuff, and not just this time around, with no illusions about the trade-offs involved and recognize that it's not even as simple a matter as

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-1865049852215624782008-07-08T13:40:00.002-05:002008-08-29T15:20:02.936-05:00

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-28405527791437117942008-07-05T22:13:00.001-05:002008-07-05T22:17:28.088-05:00

HT to Michael Kwiatkowski at Smirking Chimp.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-22694249491235994012008-06-28T13:19:00.003-05:002008-06-30T11:27:00.185-05:00

He needs a good brushing.The Professor was cleaning up the backyard when he found Kodi’s stick collection (stashed behind the raised flower bed). Kodi barked indignantly from the dining room window while the prof. put the sticks in a trash bag.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-24037646955642802008-06-28T12:34:00.000-05:002008-06-28T12:49:05.358-05:00

The following is a blog post I was working up in May in response to a column Ehrenreich posted at Huffington Post. Well, lo and behold, the same column just arrived in this month's Progressive. Recycling is a good thing, right?Barbara Ehrenreich says:It's important -- even kind of exhilarating -- for women to embrace their inner bitch...So Barbara does just that in a post over at HuffPo,

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-70756364942465307942008-06-25T10:40:00.003-05:002008-06-26T10:47:56.375-05:00

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-77179804822809770342008-06-21T11:32:00.007-05:002008-06-21T11:48:41.088-05:00

...from the archives

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-5352565266173633722008-06-19T12:26:00.002-05:002008-06-19T12:59:21.268-05:00

So it turns out the invasion of Iraq was about oil, after all.Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power. Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company — along with Chevron and a

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-19692681123050126632008-06-18T17:25:00.002-05:002008-06-19T12:23:10.448-05:00

Anybody else sick of the "Tim Russert was the best journalist ever" fantasia? It appears that Chris Matthews, grief-stricken and possibly drunk, divulged that Tim was just a big, fat, frightened patriot, really, who didn't do his job in regard to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. At least Tim claimed to believe the sky was falling in the form of a nuclear bomb in Saddam's twitchy little hands, and later

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-15215701488234077412008-06-16T12:38:00.005-05:002008-06-16T12:51:59.554-05:00

MSNBC really knows how to sweet talk the ladies:'It was, like, you meet a guy and you fall in love with him, and he’s funny and he’s clever and he’s witty, and he’s all these great things,' Griffin said of the relationship between Olbermann and the Clinton supporters among his viewers. 'And then you commit yourself to him, and he turns out to be a jerk and difficult and brutal. And that is how

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-25340007915934438062008-06-10T10:37:00.004-05:002008-06-14T10:06:53.213-05:00

Welcome to John Petty and progressive involvement, Anglachel's Journal, and Astarte's Circus. Welcome to our humble little blog.

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-66921077776877948962008-06-06T17:46:00.001-05:002008-06-06T17:48:22.054-05:00

Watching the game...

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-14010101788992291812008-06-06T13:35:00.002-05:002008-06-06T13:46:02.210-05:00

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816158.post-14064973248601350262008-06-06T11:34:00.002-05:002008-06-06T11:43:53.146-05:00

Well respected astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, has a very interesting Op-ed in the NYTimes today....If the general election were held today, Mr. Obama would win 252 electoral votes as the Democratic nominee, while Mrs. Clinton would win 295. In other words, Barack Obama is losing to John McCain, and Hillary Clinton is beating him....Two questions arise in the face of this result. Whom

red rabbitnoreply@blogger.com4