Author: skippybkroo

cross-posted at skippy as well as a literal cornucopia of other community blogs.

we have wondered elsewhere how long it would take the hardly-ever-right wing to get the vapors over the upcoming film “v for vendetta” starring bald natalie portman and the wonderful hugo weaving (agent smith in the matrix triology).

the answer: not long at all. even before the film has opened, tucker (i hardly knew ‘er) carlson had michael medved on his show to wax self-righteously about this movie.

medved, you will remember, is the man who was right once in his life, but that doesn’t stop him from collecting checks for spouting nonsense on screeching heads cable shows.

we discuss his beady little point of view after the jump:

medved: well, just to give you–to cut to the chase, the film`s climactic scene involves blowing up the houses of parliament, and that`s supposed to be a big, big triumph. and apparently some–a large number of british soldiers are also killed in the process…

the whole theme of the film, v says that blowing up buildings can change the world. is that really a message that we should welcome right now? we`re engaged in a war on terror. there are people who are exposing their bodies and their lives to terrorists every day to try to make us safer.

hollywood has yet to make a film about the heroic role of american counterterrorist activities. and yet they`ve made several films that express sympathy and in this case treat as heroic terrorist activity.

a couple of notes here, michael. we’re not sure, but we think the theme of the film is that people should fight fascism, not that “blowing up buildings can change the world.” of course, we haven’t seen the film yet, so we might be wrong. but we know we aren’t wrong when we point out films hollywood has made about the heroic role of american counterterrorist activities. the superb denzel washington vehicle the seige leaps to mind, as do every movie based on tom clancy’s works.

carlson: well, i suppose it depends what buildings, though. i mean, we were glad to blow up certain buildings in the green zone, now the green zone, in saddam`s compound in baghdad, happy to, you know, level the khmer rouge headquarters in cambodia, had we done that, we didn`t, but should have.

i mean, in other words, isn`t the struggle against illegitimate authority a good thing, something the founders approved of?

medved: well, no. because you see, there`s a difference between resistance and terror. even when you look at the french resistance to the nazis, and this movie suggests that it`s london 20 years from now, and a conservative government has come to power that is very christian. they have a flag that looks like crosses.

even during the nazi period, the french resistance targeted primarily military sources. here is a guy who`s going around murdering civilian leaders and at the same time blowing up buildings at random…

score one for michael. only evil people go after non-military targets.

medved:…and clearly, there are references repeatedly to america`s war in the middle east, america`s war in iraq. and the bad guys are people who served in afghanistan, for instance. one of the people who`s murdered and deserves to get murdered, who`s a right-wing tv commentator. no bowtie, though.

carlson: now, that is offensive. and i`m not one for censorship, but i`m offended.

we admit, we are sure tucker was being jocular. but we’re not so sure about the golden turkey.

cross-posted at skippy and a literal cornucopia of other community blogs.

after reading busy, busy, busy’s report that our own sen. dianne feinstein took no stand on sen. feingold’s call to censure smirky mchitlerburton, but was happy to personally introduce a resolution to censure bill clinton in 1999, we decided to ask her ourselves to explain the differences between the two occasions.

we called her santa monica office, and spoke with a lovely young woman named irene. we asked irene what the senator’s position was on sen. feingold’s resolution to censure president bush for illegally wiretapping american citizens.

[ed. note: tho the policy of this blog is to never refer to awol by name, nor call him president, we doubted that senatorial staff would understand our style sheet, so we used common language and titles to expedite understanding. although we did insist on speaking all in lower case.]

more after the jump:
irene informed us that although senator feinstein has not made any statement regarding her position on the censure resolution, the senator is named to a special inteligence subcommittee to investigate awol’s (our usage) wire-tapping further. irene assured us that sen. feinstein is against any illegal spying of any kind, and has “many questions” about this issue that she intends to ask on the subcommittee.

we then proceeded to point out that sen. feinstein herself introduced a resolution to censure bill clinton in 1999, after the impeachment proceedings. we asked irene what the senator’s position was regarding these two proceedings?

irene, clever girl that she is, told us that the senator hasn’t stated a position on this. we then told irene that, all in all, we’d give sen. feinstein a c+ for this issue: while we were happy that sen. feinstein is against illegal spying on americans and is going to be on the intelligence subcommitttee investigating this further, we were disappointed that she didn’t support sen. feingold’s resolution in light of her own resolution to censure clinton in 1999.

irene thanked us, asked us our zip code (we suppose to make sure we were constituents), and promised to forward our comments to the senator.

it was a painless, indeed, pleasant conversation, and we suggest that if any other californians (or americans in any other state) want to call sen. feinstein or their own senators in regard to sen. feingold’s resolution, please be polite. we also suggest you have a copy of the facts in front of you, so you don’t ramble. and remember that the staff of your senators, no matter how empathetic (or hostile) to your point of view, are not the enemy, and deserve your respect.

still, we urge everyone to continue to call and ask for their senators’ official stance. and don’t hesitate to make your opinions known. remember, these jerks work for us.

addendum: thanks to alegre’s” dkos diary, we find moveon.org’s” petition to censure awol.

we’ve heard it before, and we’re hearing it now:

“if the democratic party is going to be attacking the president in a time of war, then we are ready to vote and let’s see what the democratic party says,” frist told reporters right after the floor skirmish.

there are three prongs of logic that defeat the entire “he’s a wartime president, so don’t be mean to him” defense. and they each one depend on which “war” the repubbbs are talking about when they parrot this talking point.

we examine all three after the jump:

• the iraq war: awol started this one his own self, and convinced us all (“all” being the loosest definition possible, certainly not you or us) to attack iraq based on false evidence; at best he is incompetent, at worst he is a liar; in either case he doesn’t get a “king’s x from criticism” out of a war he himself initiated.
• the afghanistan war: this one is a slight corollary to the above. if awol had concentrated on actually finding bin laden, instead of diverting focus, energy, resources and lives into the iraq debacle, we’d most likely have that terrorist sitting in the cell where saddam currently resides, and there would be no war for awol to hide behind.
• the war on “terror”: this one is our favorite, because it’s so incredibly outrageous on its face, that it’s fun to simply state the facts and watch the hardly-ever-rightwing logic melt away, like so many wicked witches of the west after a bucket of water.

  setting aside the impossibility of waging a “war” on a technique (a “war on left flanks!” a “war on garroting!”), rather than an actual recognized political state or country of human enemies, the “war on terror,” if it exists, has been waged by the united states at least since the attack on the marine base in beirut during reagan’s administration.

  by the current definition of “war on terror,” every modern president since the 80’s has been a “wartime president,” including awol’s daddy, as well as (and this is important), bill clinton (witness the the first attack on the wtc and uss cole).

  yes, bill clinton, whom the repubbbs had no problem impeaching for a sexual relationship. we’ll repeat that: bill clinton, a wartime president as defined by the current standards being used now, was impeached by the repubbblican party (and the vichy democrats) for a sexual relationship.

we suggest you continue to call your senators and demand they stand with sen. feingold in his resolution to censure awol for his illegal wire-tapping of american cititzens.

addendum: we discuss the fact (found via busy, busy, busy) that sen. dianne feinstein proposed censure of clinton in 1999 but refuses to <s>support</s&gt state her position on feingold here.

double addendum: we call sen. feinstein’s office ourselves.

cross-posted at skippy and various other places…

you may remember we wrote about the colorado teacher who was suspended on paid administrative leave after a student recorded part of his class (wherein the teacher compared and contrasted awol with hitler, among other things) and then the student shopped the tape around to various right-wing media.

well, the rocky mountain news reports that the teacher will be allowed to return to his class room on monday.

details, and more, after the jump:

overland high school teacher jay bennish will be back in the classroom monday, cherry creek schools superintendent monte moses said today in a press conference.

bennish, 28, has been on paid administrative leave after student sean allen made public a 21-minute, 40-second recording of part of the teacher’s lecture the day after bush’s state of the union speech.

the washpost has more:

officials declined to say whether social studies instructor jay bennish faced disciplinary action. his attorney, david lane, said bennish would be back in the classroom monday “with full pay”…

superintendent monte moses declined to offer specifics of the investigation or its findings, but said administrators and bennish now “have a good understanding”…

bennish later said the lecture was intended to stimulate his students to think critically. he also said he presents balancing viewpoints in class but not always at the same time. lane acknowledged that was a mistake…

bennish said he would continue to try to improve as a teacher and to encourage students to think critically.

“i will be back in the classroom on monday, and i am excited to continue to teach,” he said.

unfortunately, the new approach will apparently now conform to faux news malarky:

“jay’s teaching style will perhaps be, as some would say, a little more fair and balanced on a minute-to-minute basis,” lane said. “when you put out one side, put out the other then and there.”

for people too stupid to keep track themselves.

the cherry creek school district reiterates:

despite the disagreements that surround the incident, virtually everyone believes that controversial subjects should be taught in our schools, but always in a professional and objective way.

also, they are ready to “assist” the student who recorded the seminar “in making a positive re-entry into school, whether it be at overland or another school.”

whoops! sounds like the kid may not be welcome back at his old alma mater!

presidential candidate for the libertarian party harry browne died of lou gehrig’s disease at age 72.  nytimes:

mr. browne, an author and investment adviser, received 485,134 votes for president in 1996 and 384,431 in 2000. he never held elective office, mr. babka said.

more, and our personal connection to mr. browne, after the jump:

mr. browne wrote 12 books, which sold more than two million copies in total, the party said in a news release. they included “why government doesn’t work,” “how i found freedom in an unfree world” and “fail-safe investing.”

survivors include his wife, pamela, and a daughter.

the reason we bring up the death of the libertarian candidate is that we know autumn browne, his daughter, tho until we received the following email from her, did not have any idea that her father was that harry browne:

dear friends,

some of you may know that last wednesday evening (march 1st) my father passed peacefully away. i never expected the overwhelming amount of press, and the outpouring of remembrances posted on blogs nationwide.

the first time i head him speak publicly, i prayed that great oratory skills would be an inherited trait. what a gifted speaker! my father was a powerful debater and shone brilliantly when on television. he was a professional on the radio, and a complete loon in the living room. he was handsome, classy, and very presidential, even when talking about his favorite food! he would get teary when listening to music, and dissolve into laughter trying to get through a joke. in my eyes he had it all: a great job, an immense enjoyment of life, and a beautiful wife.

i became a member of the libertarian party in 1995. it was wonderful to discover a political party that reflected my beliefs for the direction of this great country. after working on my father’s presidential campaign in 1996, i was inspired to run for office myself–if only to provide a choice for others who were dissatisfied with the existing “single-party system”. one of my favorite memories is being in the voting booth, november 2000, and seeing both our names on the ballot. how many kids can say that?!  

his radio and tv shows spread a great message. i was so proud of him, and what he was accomplishing. i am grateful for the lessons of personal responsibility that i learned.

pamela and i have become close friends, and are able to laugh along with the tears. we are relieved that this awful disease did not drag on. and wherever harry browne is today, he is enjoying a glass of wine along with steak and french fries, listening to opera, surrounded by the animals he loved throughout his life.

i will miss him dearly, and so will the cause of liberty.

autumn
www.autumnbrowne.com

we are saddened for our friend’s loss, and must commend mr. browne posthumously, for his commitment to the democratic process.  would that we all had the fire and determination to make it all the way to 50 ballots in an election.  that is what america really is all about.

oh it’s hard out here for a ‘roo
with the server and the hosting payment due
but you never can know why and who
awol’s administration’s gonna screw
– three 6 koala

this piece is cross-posted at various other community blogs, as well as our own.

on the day after the evening during which hollywood celebrates itself even more so than the other 364 indulgent egotistical diva-navel gazing nights of its self-involved year, we (being marginally in show business ourselves) feel the need to defend our star-studded industry against the most recent hardly-ever-right wing meme currently making the media rounds.

that meme, of course, is how out of touch with america hollywood is. because after all, say the pundits who know everything, the movies up for awards this year have made so little money. and that proves that the people who toil in this town of lalaland are either stupid or have their own agendas. or both. or are godless. or both.

we discuss this after the jump:
other bloggers – including taylor, digby, pam at pandagon, atrios, and especially tbogg (be sure to note the part about foreign receipts), – have dissected the rightists’ arguments much more adroitly than we ever could (meaning they took the time to research the box office numbers, and we didn’t). but we continue unabaited, and unabashed.

the first thing that pops into our minds is, if $$ = connecting to america, what about the adult film industry?

as one of adult entertainment’s largest film studios, vivid already generates an estimated $100 million a year in revenue, cranking out 60 films per year and selling them in video stores, hotel rooms, on cable systems and on the internet. the company sells vivid-branded merchandise, such as condoms, snowboards, apparel and sexually explicit comic books.

that’s one mighty big studio! (that’s what she said!)

but this is actually not the point we want to make, tho it’s always nice to trip up the opposition just by stating the obvious. no, what we want to say is, as usual, the hardly-ever-right wing is once again using two of the very familiar weapons in their media arsenal; that is, changing the subject, and simply accusing the left of the very actions they themselves are guilty of.

and this time, those very actions are “being out of touch with america.” let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that poll numbers are the currency of political favor the way that, well, currency is the currency of hollywood. in that case, let’s look at the political box office:

66% of america wants out of iraq;

66% of americans think awol is doing badly;

only one out of two americans think bin laden will be caught or killed;

less than one out of two americans think awol is handling the war on terrorism well.

woah! if awol were a studio exec, he’d be fired by now! or at least kicked downstairs to a specialty division that only made independent, intimate “tiffany” wars.

basically, things are going down the drain for the administration. so, what does the chattering class do? change the subject: “oh no, films about boys kissing! hollywood is completely out of touch with america!”

and by accusing the left, as represented by the movie industry, of having a huge disconnect with the country, the right hopes that nobody notices that they themselves not only have a bigger disconnect, but are actually creating real life problems because of it.

like the so-called “war on christmas,” this imaginary gap between the film industry and america is a made-up problem, created by the rightist punditry in the hopes that nobody will actually talk about what’s really wrong with this country.

once again, the right changes the subject, and point fingers away from themselves by blaming someone else of doing exactly what they are guilty of.

gee, where have we heard that before?

scripps howard news service: time to impeach bush…

those blasphemously “liberal” media outlets have once again deprived the american public of widespread coverage of nothing less than startling poll results. the non-partisan polling firm zogby international last month found that by a margin of 52 percent to 43 percent, americans want congress to consider impeaching president bush “if he wiretapped american citizens without a judge’s approval”…

yes, the poll results have been reported on a few web sites. but they have not exactly been trumpeted by the blow hard boys on the fox news channel, nor even “front-paged” on the new york times. nor have they appeared as the lead story on any of the evening newscasts. from the right to the left, this poll has been ignored _ as has a recent gallup poll showing a majority of americans consider the bush presidency to be a failure. why? because it’s seen as risky…

more after the jump:

but grassroots passion for impeachment prompted by this president’s circumvention of congress and the constitution is what’s driving growing public support. and america’s transition from “bush fan” to “bush foe” is being ignored by the mainstream media.

surprisingly, the media did anything but ignore the republican-led impeachment movement against former president clinton, even when the public was decidedly more supportive of that president than it is of the current one

in december 1998, after the house voted to send articles of impeachment to the u.s. senate, 59 percent of americans told washington post/abc news pollsters they disapproved of the house action. a minority of 40 percent said they favored it. and that followed months and months of nonstop, primetime, mainstream media coverage of clinton’s lie. if anything, the constant chorus of conservative calls for clinton’s ouster coupled with unending coverage of same should have pushed the public into a more solidly pro-impeachment stand. it did not. but the media did not relent. (for the record, i wrote at the time that clinton should step down.)

it’s nice to see someone in the corporate top-down media say what blogtopia (yes! we coined that phrase!) has been saying for months now.

and here’s an article from the brattleboro reformer showing grassroots at work:

a newfane resident’s call for the impeachment of president george bush is echoing in rockingham.

maya costley, who lives in saxtons river, heard about newfane selectboard member dan dewalt’s town meeting article asking rep. bernard sanders, i-vt., to open impeachment hearings against the president.

if newfane voters approve the article, dewalt is going to send sanders a letter asking the washington politician to open the impeachment hearings.

“i was inspired when i heard about that,” costley said about dewalt’s push. “a light turned on and i said ‘this is what we need to do.'”

costley was too late to have the topic debated at rockingham’s town meeting this year. she wants to gather enough signatures to call a special election.

she said she is also raising enough money so that the town will not have to fund the special election.

democracy at work.

trying to keep this diebold story on the front page of blogtopia (a phrase which yes!  we coined!) skippy called the office of bruce macpherson, the california secretary of state this morning.

skippy used the number (916-653-6814) found on the sec. of state contact page.

at this point in our narrative, we will direct you through the short phone menu, to save you frustration (after the jump):
if you call, press #6 for other departments, and then press #3 for elections (skippy was lucky, he guessed the correct digits to press the first time out).

a lady answered the phone, and skippy told her who he was, and that he was calling to express disappointment with sec. of state macpherson for his decision to certify diebold voting machines last week, and that skippy hoped mr. macpherson would de-certify the machines.

the lady, after listening to skippy, said, “hold on, ma’am, let me transfer you to someone who can take your call.”

skippy was a bit nonplussed at being mistaken for a woman, but this is california, we are not anything if not flexible.

another nice lady answered the phone, and skippy repeated his statement.  the woman said thank you very much, she would take the message.

before she hung up, skippy asked her name, which was marsha.  skippy asked if she had gotten other phone calls, and she said “a lot.”  skippy asked if she could guess how many agreed with skippy’s position, and marsha said “all of them.”

so you are all doing good work out there, but more needs to be done.

call macpherson.  and call or email (or visit in person) the 5 senators on the rules committee.  and it doesn’t hurt to write letters to the editor.

sen. bowen’s office responded to our email with the following:

last friday afternoon, as millions of californians were preparing for their presidents’ day holiday weekend, secretary of state bruce mcpherson quietly re-certified diebold electronic voting machines for the 2006 elections.

to rush through this re-certification, the secretary of state had to go back on his word — twice — and violate federal and state law in the process. compounding this travesty is that the re-certification is based solely on the views and recommendations of people on the secretary’s payroll.

this is unacceptable!

more after the jump:

urge secretary of state mcpherson to reverse his decision on diebold — email him today!

the secretary of state based his decision on what he called an “independent audit” — which was really a review of the diebold machines conducted by a board that he appointed himself. the results of this study were kept secret from you and every other california voter until after the secretary made his decision to give diebold the green light.

there was absolutely zero public review or input before this decision was made. that’s not how you restore public confidence in california elections.

why is secretary mcpherson so intent to rush through this diebold certification?

where are the results of tests conducted by the federal “independent testing authorities?” mcpherson told us last december that he wouldn’t even consider diebold’s application until those tests were done.

and why didn’t mcpherson allow experts and the general public to review and comment on this latest report before he decided to flip-flop on the issue and re-certify these diebold machines?

urge the secretary of state to reverse his decision to re-certify the diebold machines — and schedule a public hearing to independently review new and damaging information about diebold’s machines!

this report determined that “there are serious vulnerabilities” with the diebold machines “that go beyond what was previously known.”

don’t you think that californians deserve voting systems without “serious vulnerabilities?”

urge secretary of state mcpherson to stop the re-certification of these diebold machines until we know the facts — send him an email today!

so, just to recap the facts here:

• the secretary of state’s own rushed secret study points out “serious vulnerabilities… that go beyond what was previously known,” yet the secretary decided to re-certify the machines.
• there has been absolutely no opportunity for public comment or review on these latest findings.
• the secretary of state told us he would wait for test results from the federal “independent testing authorities” before acting on diebold’s request to re-certify its machines. he didn’t do that.
• the secretary of state said any voting machine in california would have to meet all federal laws, rules, and regulations. these diebold machines fail that test — especially by using “interpreted code” that is banned by the election assistance commission.
• the secretary of state said any voting machine in california would have to meet state law. these diebold machines violate state law because they don’t provide an audible “read-back” of the machines’ auditable paper trail for blind and visually-impaired voters.

what could secretary of state mcpherson possibly be thinking?

tell secretary of state mcpherson to put his decision to re-certify the diebold machines on hold now!

thanks so much for your help on this critical issue. the integrity of california’s state elections system is at stake.

sincerely,

debra bowen
california state senator

p.s. i’m pursuing many other actions as well, including compelling voting machine vendors and the secretary of state to appear before the state senate. but right now it’s important for secretary of state mcpherson to hear from all of us directly, since it was his decision on friday to certify diebold’s machines — and it is his responsibility to hear the facts and comply with the law.

you can use the letter sen. bowen has on her site, or use the california secretary of state home page to contact mr. macpherson.

here is our letter to the 5 california senators on the state rules committee, asking for investigations into the workings of digital election machines, as called for by ms. in la (reported by us here):

we write to you to urge you in the strongest possible terms to issue subpoenas to individuals involved in the election voting machine industry and certification insiders, forcing them to report actual workings of the voting machines to the election committee.

(more after the jump)

so many reports have documented the fallibility of digital voting machines, including the recent uc berkeley report which states:

      “harri hursti’s attack does work: mr. hursti’s attack on the av-os (optical scanner)is definitely real. he was indeed able to change the election results by doing nothing more than modifying the contents of a memory card.  he needed no passwords, no cryptographic keys, and no access to any other part of the voting system, including the gems election management server.”

      …and:

      “interpreted code is contrary to standards: interpreted code in general is prohibited by the 2002 fec voluntary voting system standards, and also by the successor standard, the eac’s voluntary voting system guidelines due to take effect in two years. in order for the diebold software architecture to be in compliance, it would appear that either the accubasic language and interpreter have to be removed, or the standard will have to be changed.

        california can only run software certified by the federal ita process, by state law. the “berkeley team” is saying flat-out that such certification was not done correctly, therefore the entire diebold product line is illegal under state law.”  (emphasis ours).

 we urge you to do everything in your power to force the officials of this industry to comply with an investigation into the feasibility of using these machines without fear of possible and easily-obtained election fraud.

sincerely,

etc.

if you are a resident of california, we suggest you write (or call) the 5 senators whose numbers are listed here.