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About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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Recent Posts
- Day 14: Louisiana Senator Approvingly Compares Trump to Stalin
- Day 13: Elon Musk Flexes His Muscles
- Day 12: While Elon Musk Takes Over, We Podcast With Driftglass and Blue Gal
- Day 11: Harm of Fascist Regime’s Foreign Aid Freeze Comes Into View
- Day 10: The Fascist Regime Blames a Plane Crash on Nonwhite People
I posted this in the cafe but thought I’d repost it here so you all don’t think I’ve been “disappeared”:
I’m moving at the end of this week, so in case you don’t see me around much you’ll all know why. No idea when the internet will be connected at the new place yet (hopefully, I won’t have to go through much withdrawal).
Hope you’re all having a great Sunday!
Catnip, we will certainly miss you around these parts. Just hurry up and get the change made so we do not have to do much frettin here. YOu do such a great job in your diaries. Take great care and stay well and safe. HUGS
Thanks for the warning! I would’ve worried that you were disappearing as before, and I’m getting as reliant on our catnip as my kitties are on theirs!
I hope your move goes smoothly (now there’s a sentence that can’t be uttered without a certain flavor of irony).
Flattery will get you everywhere. lol
This is just another blip on the radar screen of life. I’m looking forward to the fresh start.
kind of the color of the green font here, but it has turned out way too bright. I’m about to go hold the hairdryer to it to make it the subdued color on the can.
Please make my wall stop screaming. A subdued murmur would be best.
“My nipples…it’s cold out there.”
Norm: Cheers
Peace
“Cattan you’re doing a heckuva job!” Or, how the US bungled purchases of helicopters and armored vehicles in Iraq.
Mr. Cattan explains his problem: “Before, I sold water, flowers, shoes, cars — but not weapons,” said Cattan, who signed most of the 89 military contracts worth nearly $1.3 billion to equip Iraqi security forces, according to the documents. “We didn’t know anything about weapons.” Yahoo News
Sound familiar? Like being in charge of judges for Arabian Horse Shows? Wonder why the Iraqi security forces are having such a hard time getting up to speed?
Iraqi officials believe that as much as $500 million has been wasted. They say that Iraqi soldiers are unable to fight effectively and are at greater risk because they lack good-quality weapons, armored vehicles and other supplies as a result of the questionable purchases. More than 2,000 Iraqi soldiers and police officers have died this year.
Cattan gets the International Brownie Award?
I heard Bill Clinton’s speech (the MPLS one) last night on NPR. For the most part it all sounded “OK”, but what I’d like enlightenment on is this;
Bill, in a negative tone, called Hugo Chavez a “demi-god,” and then mentioned that Chavez wouldn’t be so,__ (I forget the word, but bellicose/belligerent would cover the meaning)without his oil money.
Rather than consult webster on “demi-god” would anyone care to illuminate the above, as such exotic terminology is not in common use in these here parts.
I’m going to guess Bill called Chavez a “demagogue,” (pronouced demi-gog) a leader who comes to power by appealing to the emotions and prejudices of his followers. Examples: Huey Long, George Wallace, Strom Thurmond, you get the idea… Loud-mouthed, red-faced, impassioned dudes that pander to fear and intolerance.
I think you’ve guessed correctly. And I appreciate the clarification. I have heard “demagogue” used, just not recently.
Do you think I be correct in assuming by his comment that Clinton would be on the side of the oil corporations vs. Chavez, which would account for that comment?
Definitely, Bill supports rich US oil companies instead of poor South Americans. After I posted, I realized I should have included Castro in the list of examples instead of focusing exclusively on Southern racists. Any political figure who gets angry in public usually gets slapped with this label. If Dean had been more successful in his run for the presidency, I’m sure Howard Fineman would have eventually called him a demagogue. Hmmm… maybe he did and I’ve forgotten. LOL!
that sounds to me like a good description of Geedub
I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but we’ve has an honest to god congressional candidate who’s started posting, and commenting on comments in his posts here at Booman.
Barry Welsh is running against Mike Pence, the despicable prick behind Operation Offset subtitle, Stealing from the elderly isn’t just for young Republicans any more.
Barry did a good thing. A very good thing.
The problem with politics today isn’t what’s being said, it a refusal to allow the people to be heard. Politicans need to learn that sometimes they need to not talk, and listen.
Barry put up a diary asking us to tell him what we care about. Call this the power of blogs, it isn’t about vertical communication it’s about horizontal comminication, it’s part of the drive to peer to peer networks that’s changing this country and can do so much more.
But we have to take this to the next level. As I told Barry it’s only a start to listen here at Booman, more must be done. Netroots candidates have to take the peer to peer model off its netroots base and out into the world. That means if you want to run for office, you need to get a good pair of shoes.
Candidates have to spend way to much time raising money, and it’s killing out country, because they need to be spending more time talking to voters finding out what’s important to them and less time on the phone with donors. And by donors I mean all you guys here on Booman and dkos and the rest.
You’re right, nothing beats shoe-leather express for communicating with potential voters. One state legislator I know skipped his home township one year, and lost there, where he’d won before, even though he won overall. The locals were irritated that he hadn’t come by for a chat and to ask for their vote.
I went to see “Jarhead” last night and don’t recommend it; no new material there. They did present a rather balanced view of Gulf War one through one soldier’s perspective. They did raise the spectre of faulty equipment, gulf-war syndrome causing pills, the oil imperative, and did bring the audience to “the highway of death”, and finished with a nice double entendre about the desert.
There was a trailer for Munich, of course. I initially cringed at the trailer which began by barking “Palestinian Terrorists,” [I thought of this trailer playing across the country and everyone immediately associating Palestinians with Terrorism, shades of Sharon & NetanYAHOO’s comments post-9/11] but was pleased to see that Speilberg went on to present an nuanced view and attempt to show the effects of perpetrating terror in response to terror. In bracing myself for another Arab boogeyman movie, I was pleasantly surprised that Speilberg would take this considerable risk and draw the implicit analogy to the US repsponse to terror.
However, in a cursory search through cable TV last night I still found 3 Arab demonizing propagandistic movies. Hollywood still has a long way to go in presenting a balanced view.
.
It started as a comment to Patrick Lang’s diary —
Norman J. Pattiz – Chairman BBG Middle East Committee
A view on Hariri killing —
Hariri Assassination By Suicide Truck Bomb ¶ Mitsubishi Stolen in Japan
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
I just read that the Dali Lama agrees with you about Iraq, we must face it and handle it properly. Can’t do that though with these asses in office. We sit on the cusp of having one Osama or 100 Osamas. Are multiple Osamas called Osami?
…of “Osama” would be “Osamata.”
As in, “Osamata you?”
Okay, I’ll duck now.
I have observed that the farther one travels from a major metropolitan area the farther back in time it seems to be. Moving from metro Atlanta to Lynchburg was like going back to 1995, all the computer hardware where Hubby works is that old. Most of the people here have the mindset that their town is bursting with prosperity and unlimited expansion. Instead of the dot.com bubble, they’re enjoying a real estate bubble and believe it will never pop.
I have just returned from Dixie, circa 1955, the remote outback of northeastern NC. It’s a shabby, dusty stretch of land that people from Raleigh drive thru at 75 mph on their way to Nag’s Head and the Outer Banks. Vast fields of cotton stretch off into the distance. Because it is the middle of harvest time, the highways are littered with puffs of cottonballs that blow off the trucks taking them to market. We couldn’t resist stopping by the expressway and I gathered great gobs of fluff tangled with pine wood chips, chicken feathers and handfuls of dry peanuts. That just about sums up the entire economy of the area.
Everyone works for Weyerhauser, Purdue, and Tyson or grows cotton and/or peanuts.
There were 12 different flavors of Baptist churches in the telephone directory but the Catholics and Episcopalians only had one church each. There were no synagogues. Go google the town of Roper, NC, if you can stand it, and prepare to be astounded by the complete theocratic domination of the local government. It’s even more shocking in person.
In the town of Williamston, we could find only two restaurants. Everything else was take-out or fast food. The answer to this dearth of tourist hospitality appeared to be simple racism. At the one restaurant where we ate dinner, the hostess actually sat black customers in a back, side room where they could not be seen by others. I was deeply saddened and disturbed by the apparent acceptance of this treatment by those who were being segregated. It would seem that in a place where the big annual celebration is a re-enactment of a Confederate Civil War victory, everyone has accepted their separate, but equal, poverty.
Pray for me, brothers and sisters, pray that my husband finds a job someone else.
Funny that you mention the dichotomy between major cities and small towns outside of them. Several years ago a friend of mine moved from NY metro area to Atlanta for a new job. While visiting him there on a business trip he toured me around the city. I was impressed and told him Atlanta seemed like a really good place to live. He replied, “Yeah, Atlanta is a really great place to live – the only problem is – when you leave, you’re in Georgia!”. (opps – don’t mean to offend – I’m just quoting)
Your friend’s quote is absolutely right on. As someone who has spent most of my life in Atlanta — and boy has it changed thru the decades — I can say that this has always been so. Since the early 50’s, there has been a war between the residents of the state and the inhabitants of its capital. Basically, the city votes for progress and the country votes for status quo or even regression in some cases. This is a generalization, of course, and frought with contradictions and exceptions… But, it does give some insight into the way things are.
or at least the latest Bush coverup that at least a few people in the press are paying attention to. Frank Rich lays it out here
Pat Tillman, the football star who left his career behind to join the army was apparently killed by “friendly fire” and the Bush regime knew that but orchestrated this whole glorious hero story, complete with a made-up story about how he died.
I might have done some temporary damage to my otherwise very cheerrful attitude by watchibng about an hour and a half’s worth of this morning’s talking-head blowhard cacophany. It is amazing how little these hacks and flacks have to say and how much time it takes them to say it.
But here’s the one thing that came to mind listening to these jerks. The wingnut refrain that says that basically, “since Fitzgerald didn’t indict Libby for the originally suspected crimes of illegally outing a covert agent that this indicates that no serious crime was committed and that all the outrage from Dems about this was mere politics”; this meme went completely unchallenged on every show. Not one media mannequin moderator hack challenged this absurd contention by pointing out the simple fact that it has been Libby’s, (and others’), lies that have obstructed the ability of the prosecutor to get to the truth about whether those more fundamental crimes were in fact committed or not.
In short, the proximate cause of Fitzgerald’s inability to get to the truth has been obstructed by the lies of Libby, et. al. And the talking point spin by the wingers that the indictments for perjury and obstruction indicate that the more serious crimes were not committed is irrational and absurd, clever sophjistry at it’s worst.
I would like to hear or read even one mainstream journalist challenge even one of these rightwing propagandists on this issue.
Blitzer or Russert or Stephanopoulos could have easily challenged their respective blowhards on this point by saying something like;
“Since the purpose of lying is to deceive or conceal facts or evidence, doesn’t it follow that the fact Libby was indicted for lying actually supports the idea that the greater crime of violating national security by outing Plame was in fact committed?”
Not “sophjistry”, “sophistry”.
And, I’m sending an email to all the talking head show hosts about this very thing. (I won’t hold my breath for results, but at least I feel good participating by pressing these shameless and supine hacks to do their damned jobs.
Digging a hole? The GOP tried running the Perjury isn’t Important line up the flag pole but that didn’t wave very well. That Libby didn’t get indicted for the big one therefore it didn’t happen line might be the fall back position? The chattering ones from the GOP contact lists will do anything to avoid quoting the actual indictment.
What I’m wondering is what do these empty suits say if Rove is indicted? When Safavian comes up for trial? When the grand jury hands down indictments in the Abramoff investigation? When the indictments come in for Duke Cunningham? If they’re going to stick to this line, then is it likely that the chorus is going to get old?
What will they say when there are more indictments; when more regime criminals are dragged into the light?
They’ll say it’s time to stop all the partisan politics and put all the recriminations behind us for the good of the country. Thgey’ll remind us that we’re at war and we need to be unified in our support of the troops.
They will not ever acknowledge that their pals have committed real crimes and that holding them accountable through effective punishment is good for the country.
I think I heard a little bit of this already? Wasn’t there some GOP banter/whining not too long ago that if the Libby Investigation “weakened the White House” then it would be bad for the country? It might have been Gergen, but I’m not sure.
You’re right! For a bunch of candidates who ran on “decency–integrity—honesty—accountability, they haven’t managed any of these and I agree with your assessment, they likely never will.
I know several people have commented elsewhere about CNN ditching Aaron Brown and giving his spot to Wolfie and Cooper, but I’m just so confused about CNN management’s obsession with Wolfie.
I haven’t watched him much because I don’t get home from work in time to see the “Situation Room” and on Sundays I prefer the McLaughlin Report to his show (does this guy EVER take a day off?!!)
But today I watched a clip of Wolfie on the Daily Show. What an idiot he is!! John Stewart was doing his masterful job of questioning Wolfie about how the press missed the problem with Bushco’s lead-up to the war. First of all, Wolfie mostly sat there in ignorant silence as Stewart went off over and over again. And the one thing he did say was that the CIA got it wrong!! Nothing about Bushco misusing intelligence.
Anyway, I just see an empty head parroting whatever is fed to him. What does management see that prompts them to give him half of their airtime every day? Are they really serious that they are going to build the credibility of their network on his shoulders?
Here is a clue to Blitzer…click the link.
other day when Booman wrote something about Watergate and it sounded like an extremely educated analysis. I was in fourth grade during Watergate. I was raised in a radically Democrat family. I didn’t believe that girls should openly fart in public but my cousin did and then she would say, “there goes Nixon” and we would laugh hysterically. I am older than Booman and I was ten then and that was an extremely educated analysis of Watergate to me! The question that won’t leave my brain alone is What kind of five year old was Booman? Was he like a political Jimmy Neutron or something?
I treated myself to breakfast in a local diner today and the charming old lady who sat down next to me at the counter farted numerous times throught her meal. We had a nice chat, but I wish I’d known that “Nixon” line you speak of during this barrage.
Nixon by himself was never funny, but when juxtaposed with public farting, he becomes hilarious.