Frivolous Friday Open Thread

16 Comments

1. 

   BooMan on October 30, 2009 at 3:18 pm

   Curious.  I get called by OFA about three times a month asking me to donate time on health care.  The press wont report it, but OFA recently did 315,023 phone calls to Congress in a single day.  Just words, I suppose.

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     RustyPipes on October 30, 2009 at 6:04 pm

     Did you hear Glenn Greenwald on Democracy Now this morning?

     GLENN GREENWALD: Well, I think one of the most significant issues of the Obama administration has been what role progressives–the progressive infrastructure has played in applying pressure on the Obama administration. One of the very first things that the Obama administration did–and Rahm Emanuel has specialized in trying to control and silence the left; I mean, that’s how he built his power base–in the House of Representatives was, they created these weekly meetings called Unity ’09 and Common Purpose, where members of all of the allegedly progressive groups devoted to progressive causes meet every week on Tuesday, often with members of the White House communications team, including oftentimes Rahm Emanuel, and they coordinate their messaging. So, instead of being devoted to, for example, pressuring the administration on issues relating to labor or to choice or to gay issues or to war, instead they’re coordinating their messaging to insure that their real allegiance is to serve the interest and the agenda of the Obama administration. And it’s really enabled the Obama administration to annex large aspects of the progressive infrastructure and to remove what ought to be an important pressure point.

     I think they’ve done the same with lots of progressive pundits, who aren’t necessarily attending these meetings, but who have voluntarily ceded their role in the progressive world and in progressive opinion making and activism. And you see this conflict more and more, I think. For example, the Huffington Post had an article critical of the Obama administration, reporting, for example, that they were working behind the scenes, in contrast to what Obama was saying, to sabotage the public option. And you saw in various places, on Daily Kos and others, suddenly declarations that the Huffington Post was suspect, and they were right wing, and they were the enemy, because anyone who reflects negatively on Obama has to be discredited. And I think you see that conflict, and I hope it will continue to grow, because it’s healthier than having progressives devote themselves to cheerleading for the President.

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       bogenrim on October 30, 2009 at 6:13 pm

       Nice to see some progressive Christian voices finally in the mix. I grew up in the Episcopal church, and stepped away when the uproar over homosexuals in the clergy blew up. I grew tired of Christianity being hijacked as a branch of the republican party, but I am hopeful that is changing, albeit slowly.

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       bogenrim on October 30, 2009 at 6:21 pm

       I submit that the public option would have been scuttled long ago had it not been for the persistence of the progressives. It’s certainly not everything we wanted (personally, I say go universal single payer), but our voices were heard, nonetheless!

       My only gripe with certain critics on the left is when they start with the “Obama is a war criminal just like Bush” drumbeat, which accomplishes nothing other than to fracture progressives as a whole.

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     bogenrim on October 30, 2009 at 6:08 pm

     This stuff adds up when done en masse, which I suppose is the point of the whole exercise. Wingnut groups have been doing this for years. Showing up to vote on election day usually helps, too (the “the system sucks so I’ll show ’em by just not voting” crowd really pisses me off, too)! Just sayin’…

2. 

   BooMan on October 30, 2009 at 3:25 pm

   I gotta say, I like the Underdog shirt.

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     bogenrim on October 30, 2009 at 6:02 pm

     Lynchburg, VA?  The guy’s probably considered a flaming liberal in that part of VA. Go figger…

3. 

   Man Eegee on October 30, 2009 at 3:28 pm

   dj’ing a halloween wedding.  haven’t decided if I’m going in costume yet.

4. 

   Real History Lisa on October 30, 2009 at 3:38 pm

   Hiking in costume, if I can pull something together quickly tonight…

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     dada on October 30, 2009 at 4:02 pm

     heh…you could always join the NPR…other than a punkin’ head, no costume required.

5. 

   Brendan Skwire on October 30, 2009 at 5:16 pm

   this weekend, i pick and drink. like every weekend.

6. 

   robertdsc on October 30, 2009 at 7:45 pm

   Working. Continuing to dial in my new laptop. Paying off my pre-order and getting ready for Modern Warfare 2 on PS3 in 11 days.

7. 

   bogenrim on October 30, 2009 at 7:59 pm

   Weekend trip to Denver to see David Gray concert on Sunday…

8. 

   on October 30, 2009 at 8:55 pm

   This weekend? My friend who went to Woodstock with me is coming up with his wife for brunch on Sunday. And I’ll be eating the Reese’s peanut butter cups that we don’t give away on Saturday night.

9. 

   on October 30, 2009 at 9:16 pm

   1. Will be seeing my wife for my 2x a month wifely visits.  She lives in IL, I live in SD.  While the separation is not fun, it is doubly nice to see wife when I do.

   2. We will have Halloween on Signal Hill Blvd in Belleville. On this street, we get between 800-1200 kids in a 2 hour period.  Since Halloween is Saturday, I expect 1400.  I am not making this up, folks.  At times on Halloween night, there is a line of 20-30 kids waiting for candy.  We get this many since we are the “rich street” when many in our area are poor.

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     Indianadem on October 31, 2009 at 9:31 am

     Wow, you’ll be busy! We only get about 80 kids at our house, since we live on the edge of a retail business district where most buildings are empty at night. There’s a wealthier neighborhood not far from us where the police block off the street for a few hours for kid safety that has a much greater volume of trick or treaters, but nothing like the numbers you have.