Author: Indianadem

Make of this what you will.

The editorial board of The New York Times is endorsing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination and Senator John McCain as the Republican nominee.

Hil

This generally is the stage of a campaign when Democrats have to work hard to get excited about whichever candidate seems most likely to outlast an uninspiring pack. That is not remotely the case this year.
The early primaries produced two powerful main contenders: Hillary Clinton, the brilliant if at times harsh-sounding senator from New York; and Barack Obama, the incandescent if still undefined senator from Illinois. The remaining long shot, John Edwards, has enlivened the race with his own brand of raw populism.

and McCain

We have strong disagreements with all the Republicans running for president. The leading candidates have no plan for getting American troops out of Iraq. They are too wedded to discredited economic theories and unwilling even now to break with the legacy of President Bush. We disagree with them strongly on what makes a good Supreme Court justice.
Still, there is a choice to be made, and it is an easy one. Senator John McCain of Arizona is the only Republican who promises to end the George Bush style of governing from and on behalf of a small, angry fringe. With a record of working across the aisle to develop sound bipartisan legislation, he would offer a choice to a broader range of Americans than the rest of the Republican field.

I can only say AAACCCCKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!

Once in a while I like to lurk by some of the state progressive blogs just to see what’s happening around the region. Today Blue Indiana facilitated my wanderings by posting a convenient list of links to several state blogs and as I clicked into BlueGrassRoots, here’s this great story about Mitch McConnell’s confrontation with activist 12 year old Heaven and her vet mom Heather. We may be seeing the birth of the next Cindy Sheehan!

From “A Day in the Life of a Crazed KY Dem”

Finally, our opportunity!  “Senator, I want to talk to you about the war in Iraq.  It will just take a minute of your time”.  Heaven’s screaming, “Do you want my dad to die?  Should I start training for war?”  Holy crap, my heart is going to come out of my chest!  The goon security man yells at my daughter, “We won’t have any of that!” to which I replied, “What are you going to do?  This is free speech!”  Then we resume asking the Senator for a minute of his time.  Vrrrrooooommm – his rented SUV halls ass out of my alley – presumably for the first and last time.

In retaliation for this horrendous 1st Amendment assault, Mitch is apparently threatening to dump all his Paducah earmarks into the toilet. Also, mom’s job is in jeopardy.

The elation from last night has since turned to trepidation and perhaps a tinge of outright fear.  Little did I know the firestorm that was about to ensue.  Apparently, yours truly, “The Little Vet Who Could”, and her pre-teen daughter “The Little Girl Who Did”, rattled the Senator to such a degree that we were the subject of great discussion during Senator McConnell’s exclusive fund-raising event in Western Kentucky, towards which he laid rubber out of my theater’s alley to attend.  Yet, the fun didn’t stop there.  Little did I know, we were also the topic of discussion at many other emergency meetings throughout this tiny town of 25,000 on this cold, blustery Paducah day, January 16, 2008.

Within the past 24 hours, tens of millions of dollars in funding for all programs previously promised from the Federal Government to our fair city’s River Front Revitalization Program have suddenly been moved into the “uncertain column”; at least until the city fathers can prove that crazy rabble rouser “Heather Ryan” is not associated with their programs/organizations.  That’s right ladies and gentlemen, in no uncertain terms, I’ve been informed that my little “escapade” in videotaping the Senate Minority Leader has suddenly put Paducah Pork on the chopping block in Mr. McConnell’s book should me and my silly little girl remain in the forefront of Paducah Politics.  Last night, at a dinner attended by my superior, myself, my husband, and my daughter Heaven, I was informed that if I did not cease my political activities in Paducah I would LOSE MY JOB.

h/t to cubswin39 at the orange place and briansmith at BlueGrassRoots  

There are some real gems scattered around the smaller blogs out there. Here’s one from my home state that will be on my reading list from now on. It’s obvious Robert has poured a lot of energy into Left Of Centrist from his extensive YouTube selections and Blog World Report.

Here’s a holiday tribute from the blogmaster himself. You go Robert!

With morons like these around, its no wonder we’re in the shape we’re in. Do you suppose they vote?

Thanks to Bryan Zepp Jamieson of MyTown for the tip.

Helen Thomas hails Dorothy Thompson as one of “The Greatest American Journalists Of Our Times” in her latest book Watchdogs Of Democracy?.

Dorothy Thompson, who was born in 1894 in Lancaster, New York, and died in 1961 in Portugal, was viewed as one of the two most influential women in America along with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1939 when war was breaking out in Europe. Ms. Thompson took controversial stands and backed the underdog. She wrote a column, “On The Record,” three times a week and appeared as a magazine writer and commentator on NBC radio.

Ms. Thompson became head of the Berlin Bureau of the New York Evening Post in 1925. She was expelled from Nazi Germany in 1934 when she infuriated Adolf Hitler with her dispatches warning Americans against the rise of Nazism.

Her wisdom from over seventy years ago seems eerily appropriate today.

She also declared in 1935, “No people ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument of Incorporated National Will…. When our dictator turns up, you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American. And nobody will ever say Heil to him, nor will they call him ‘Fuhrer’ or ‘Duce’ (Mussolini’s title). But they will greet him with one great big universal, democratic, sheeplike bleat of ‘Okay, Chief!'”

Since we’re headed into a new year with a new (hopefully much improved) congress for 2007, I’d like to start with a new sig line, too. I thought another Thompson quote would be a good reminder to myself about the attitude I’d like to maintain.

“Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.”

If you’re passionate about media reform and net neutrality, check out the details for the National Conference for Media Reform taking place in Memphis Jan. 12- 14.

MoveOn is offering a reduced rate.

A partial speaker lineup:

Speeches by Academy Award winners Geena Davis and Jane Fonda, and actor Danny Glover.
Insider perspectives from PBS’s Bill Moyers, Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman, famed White House correspondent Helen Thomas, filmmaker Robert Greenwald, and The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel.
Policy discussions with Sen.-elect Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), and FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, and activism discussions MoveOn’s Noah Winer and Adam Green.
Over 100 forums, including: “Inside Corporate Media: Can It Tell The Truth?,” “Media Policy Is A Civil Rights Issue,” “Activism In A Wired World,” “Hip Hop Activism,” and “Saving The Internet.”

I’d go just to hear Bill Moyers and I’ve been a Helen Thomas fan ever since the Colbert video. Unfortunately, I have a new job beginning Jan. 1 and won’t be traveling far for a while.