Updated w/ reply: Fred Phelps didn't go to Blacksburg today
Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 03:51:00 PM PDT
and Mike Gallagher is to thank for that.
This isn't a typical dkos diary - it's going to have links to FAUX News Corp. and appreciation for a right wing shock jock. While I'm aware of the argument that Gallagher played into the hands of Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church, I can't help but to appreciate that he was willing to throw himself on the grenade to protect the campus community at Virginia Tech.
more below...
pig shit: outstanding Rolling Stone story in time for Christmas dinner *updated*
Mon Dec 18, 2006 at 09:40:07 AM PDT
I don't write many diaries. It's not the style of writing in which I excel, and I find that the issues I'm highly concerned with are more thoroughly covered, and more expertly analyzed by others. Plus, after I read and comment I have very little time to actually, like, work.
With those caveats, and although this topic has been covered (see below), it's such an important issue that I'm sticking this up. Really, really important - and timely too. So please: skip my half-assed diary and just click the link to the story below. I promise that no matter what your political niche, it connects.
rec'd diaries & optimism: wingers taking flight (& time for acid eyewash, with poll!)
Wed Apr 26, 2006 at 10:11:37 PM PDT
I'm usually invigorated by the quality and strength of analysis offered here at dkos. In the past week, I've noticed a considerable uptick in momentum - more action oriented ideas, more rallying around strategy. When I logged in on Saturday I was overwhelmed - instead of the typical slow weekend, the diaries were chock-ful of news that kept my synapses firing. On the weekend! Oy!
While observing this seachange - what we might call a 'bifurcation point' in group & org comm - I started to wonder: If we're feeling so good, so full of promise, like the moment might finally be right, how're they coping?
Scrolling around tonight, it appears that the demise and fall of the GOP has been forcast. By no less venerable prognosticators than the good folks at Red State.
Currently occupying the top diary list there is proof of an emerging Democratic majority and the fundamental optimism of our political persuasion:
campus politics - on facebook (w/ poll)
Tue Mar 21, 2006 at 01:28:55 PM PDT
From previous diaries, including Aaron's recent, outstanding skewering of David Horowitz, I've gathered that there are a large number of folks here in education - faculty, staff, students, at all levels.
You may have noticed that facebook.com has added a new feature called "pulse". It automatically tracks the top 10s of all users favorites (movies, music, whatever). You can compare your school to all facebook users, which is what I was doing when I found out that (oh, the suspense of 'below the flip'):
Hatch: "9 - zip: That's our goal"
Tue Jan 10, 2006 at 05:47:40 PM PDT
NPR's coverage of the Alito confiramtion hearings today included a surprising confirmation of the radical right's real agenda for the courts, and especially for the SCOTUS: Orrin Hatch's confirmation that the GOP seeks to stack the Supreme Court with ideologues.
Help build a blue playground in the Gulf
Fri Jan 06, 2006 at 09:14:00 AM PDT
I received an email from the Young Democrats of America that I think is worth exposing to a larger audience. It's a small investment ($10) but a significant, symbolic gesture. Details below:
Unauthorized Reproduction: This time it's VA (with poll)
Wed Jan 04, 2006 at 06:39:20 PM PDT
A diary a little bit down the recent diary list reports, a little belatedly, that Indiana is planning to restrict artificial contraception services to married women. (
http://www.dailykos.com/...)
Right theme, right analysis -- wrong state. It's Virginia - home of the mandatory miscarriage police report attempt, doing their durnest to make sure Rick Santorum stays put to mow his yard once he's unemployed.
The bill below:
union busting at NYU (with poll)
Tue Dec 06, 2005 at 06:30:11 AM PDT
Union membership is nearly as much a part of my DNA as my eye color. My greatgrandfather was a mason, my grandfather a steel worker, my parents teachers - all union members.
When I was a graduate student and a teaching assistant our Graduate Forum engaged in an outreach to union organizers. The efforts were not well received, and brought a number of threats from the University administration.
That was back around the time that Temple University grad students were organizing. I thought that things may have improved for graduate assistants since, but the letter on the flip indicates otherwise:
hoohaism
Mon Nov 28, 2005 at 08:39:08 AM PDT
It's always rewarding and vindicating when a confirmed Republican goes public with criticism of the administration and its lackies. This article starts off with a bang:
"Shrew" is a word I never thought fit any female until I found it as the only "clean" adjective I could apply to U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, and her reprehensible act of calling Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Johnstown, a coward.
Murtha is no coward, but Schmidt is.
and keeps going:
an inmate, a liver, and a winger with a mic =/ "culture of life"
Sat May 21, 2005 at 08:05:53 PM PDT
I ran some errands this evening, and drove home with the radio tuned to an am station that carries Ed Schultz ... and Tammy Bruce. For most of the 15 minutes she was ranting about a perceived injustice brought against her by Delta. But then she said something that made me actually listen:
"The sister has non alcoholic cirrohsis of the liver. And the parole board rejected Gregory Scott Johnson's appeal for clemency in order to donate his liver to his sister."
the canned applause was followed by:
new filibuster deal?
Thu May 19, 2005 at 11:40:20 PM PDT
looks like Frist still hasn't managed to herd all of the cats.
hey, mainstream media: you're up
Wed Apr 27, 2005 at 10:35:02 PM PDT
So guys, you've found yourself playing catch up on the major stories. You've been lambasted from the right, left, and center, derided for cozying up to those whom you cover, and have seen your potency dwindle as bloggers take center stage. Your own have turned on you. In a few flashes of insight you've acknowledged your own impotency, lack of skepticism, and dearth of investigative activity. And even the least astute observer has concluded that you, like Tucker Carlson, should go to a journalism school.
And now ... you're up. Just this once, could you prove that you're worthy of being called the Fourth Estate and granted the use of the public airwaves?
lunacy in SC - cockfighting, domestic violence, and deranged lawmakers
Wed Apr 20, 2005 at 11:12:26 AM PDT
The SC state legislature took up two bills this week. Both were poised to change the classification of crimes from misdemeanors to felonies. One dealt with cockfighting. The other with domestic violence.
guess which one passed ......... and which one was rejected on the basis of soundbites like this:
"I think this bill is probably drafted out of an abundance of ignorance."
newsflash: Santorum is not a zealot ... with voting record info
Sat Apr 02, 2005 at 12:13:34 AM PDT
hey, I'm as surprised as you are:
In fact, a close look at the record suggests that his confrontational style and conservative rhetoric conceals more than it reveals. Too much attention has been spent on Santorum the cultural ideologue and not enough on his pragmatism and political opportunism; inside this raging bull of a conservative is a pragmatist for whom getting re-elected always trumps ideology, which may not make him any different than other politicians.
The facts are indisputable: according to the National Journal's analysis of key U.S. Senate votes last year, Santorum has the least conservative voting record among the Republican leadership. He is not even among the 15 most conservative senators; in fact, 32 of his Republican colleagues had a more conservative voting record than his own.
http://politicspa.com/FEATURES/uncorrected.htm
there's more...
FMLA under attack (like we didn't see that one coming)
Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 08:19:23 PM PDT
FMLA under attack
The DOL has announced an open comment period on FMLA. At the current time, DOL is considering changes in regulations that would:
*redefine a "serious medical condition" (in otherwords, remove many health conditions from the qualifying list)
*require employees to take FMLA time in blocks of time not less than 4 hours (even if you only need to leave work 1 hour early to transport a child or elderly parent to a doctor's appointment)
On the industrialized world stage FMLA isn't much, but for many people it is the difference between paying the bills and collecting unemployment when a family member falls ill or a new baby is born.
Changes in regulations could be announced as early as March.
Take action: http://www.nationalpartnership.org/Default.aspx?tabid=140
framing, strategy, & the press: are we finally getting it?
Tue Mar 08, 2005 at 07:54:16 AM PDT
The story on the defeat of the minimum wage proposal will be greeted as bad news -- as well it should. Americans deserve a living wage, and to the extent that an increase in the minimum wage would be a step in that direction Democrats rightfully have advanced that goal.
But what's more interesting to me at the moment, is the coverage the story has received, at least in one AP report. It looks like we may finally have leadership that understands how to present the issue, and at least one branch of the press that's willing to print it.
more (and some really good news) below:
Lies of the Union pre-game show - and live blog
Wed Feb 02, 2005 at 05:36:46 PM PDT
setting up the shot glasses -- drinking for every jingoistic phrase. What's your pleasure?
