What she said...

A priceless rant by one feisty old lady (from Texas) on the subject of Sarah Palin...

http://margaretandhelen.wordpress.com/

Couldn't have said it better myself, you betcha! ;-D

Honor a Champion

So many people assume, "It can't happen here!" -- that Roe v. Wade will protect a woman's right to choose, in perpetuity.

But that's true only so long as the Supreme Court Justices continue to uphold that decision...and the margin of protection is currently both slim and tenuous.

The current Republican candidats have vowed to turn back the clock and appoint "more Scalias." This would be disatrous for decades to come.
So, think carefully before you shrug and say "Oh, it doesn't matter who I vote for--they're all alike."

On that issue, note that Canada's abortion law was struck down in 1988.

In 2008, in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of that legal decision, a campaign has been launched by a group of pro-choice activists to nominate Dr. Henry Morgentaler for the Order of Canada. Dr. Morgentaler was an early and tireless advocate of choice in the abortion battles.

Dr. Morgentaler has been nominated twice already, and passed over both times. He has recently suffered a stroke and his health is failing. The Order of Canada cannot be awarded posthumously.

Read the article here:
http://tinyurl.com/3azcgg

Here's the urgent part. The Globe & Mail is conducting a poll on the question of whether Morgentaler should receive this award. So far, the 'no' side has received 34,030 votes, while the 'yes' side has only 5150.

Please cast your vote. Here is the URL:
http://tinyurl.com/2ahb8b

Thanks!

Florida still counts

Thank you Dan Abrams!

finally, someone in the political media who has noticed the (not-so) subtle smearing of Senator Clinton....cheap shots, condescending statements, remarks that diminish her campaign and her career.... and then ignoring her huge win in Florida?!

The excuse presented by the pundit pack is that Clinton's win doesn't matter because there weren't any delegates awarded.

So what? there were hardly any delegates awarded in Iowa or New Hampshire, but those races were covered with breathless, microscopic analysis. In fact there have been polls that got more attention and discussion by the Pundit Pack than Hillary's Florida win. Considering the voters in Florida had to do a little more than merely answer some questions from a pollster, surely their expressed preferences deserve attention when the Pack is braying about momentum and trends.

Jeez. I didn't really have a preference for any of the Democratic front runners -- just looking forward with great anticipation and bated breath to the end of the Bushista era -- but the way the media has been treating Hillary Clinton has pushed me firmly into her camp.

FWIW.

Pot, Kettle, Ted

How interesting that Ted Kennedy has decided to “turn the page” on the divisive politics of the past... a past he's a big part of.

I wonder if he’s ready yet to shake Jimmy Carter’s hand? That was one of the nastiest ,most divisive Democratic primaries ever, and when the convention confirmed Carter, Teddy couldn’t bring himself to make even a token show of support for the sake of unity.

And now he’s lecturing Bill Clinton?! Unbelievable...except, most people seem to buy into it. Oh well. Repeat something often enough, and people will believe it to be true.

Really, *what* race issue?!

I like all the Demo frontrunners, but I'm getting a little tired of the demonizing of Hillary and/or Bill Clinton...for, of all things, "injecting race" into the campaign?!

Oh, give me a break! while Obama carefully positions himself above the fray (somewhere between a pedestal and a halo), his surrogates have been all over TV, asserting that they are shocked -- outraged! that anyone would mention race.

Excuse me. Isn't that one reason Barak Obama has ignited such excitement? Yes, he's a mesmerizing orator and charismatic campaigner and a savvy politician -- but hasn't the media been trumpeting for months now that Barak Obama is the first African-American candidate with a real shot at the White House?

Ever since before the Iowa caucus I'd been reading/hearing the endless analysis about how South Carolina's black voters would probably vote for Obama.

And heck, why shouldn't they? I don't think it means they are voting "against" Clinton, any more than women who vote for her are "against" Obama. When there are very small differences among the Democratic candidates on the issues, people will tend to vote for someone they can identify most with -- the younger black man, the boomer white woman, the populist white guy.

That isn't a sign of a yawning racial divide, except when the media tries to make it one, and the credulous believe them.

Media makes mountains out of muddy molehills

I've been following the coverage of the primary campaign at first with interest and now with increasing disgust, as the pundits gleefully make mountains out of muddy molehills in the whole Clinton-Obama thing.

I watch the clips, I hear the ads re-played on different political shows [Hardball, Countdown] and all I see is some tough campaigning and a bit of bickering.

So it's a real surprise to then hear the pundits ranting about how this will tear the Democratic party apart! how can they possibly unite again after all the dirty politics, mudslinging, race-baiting, blah-blah.

"Dirty politics" are lies and character assassination, i.e. the Swiftboating against Kerry.
It's breaking and entering, i.e. Watergate.

The sniping between Clinton and Obama? is just campaigning -- it would barely register if the media didn't make such a big hoo-hah about it.

I've actually been impressed that the Democratic frontrunners have said such nice things about each other on occasion, considering they're all competing for the same job.

It's a campaign. They are competitors. They *should* draw comparisions and distinctions.
They *should* call each other out on half truths or misleading accusations.

But they shouldn't have to go around and around in circles over the same relatively insignificant comments just b/c the media keeps analyzing it ad nauseum.

It would be really helpful to the electorate if journalists could focus on the policy issues and plans presented by the candidates, instead of drumming up a phony frenzy.

The "race issue" wasn't one until after New Hampshire, when the pundit pack started wondering, endlessly and almost unanimously, about the so-called Bradley Effect -- just a theory, unproven (and maybe unprovable), but suddenly everything from the Clinton camp that could be interpreted as less than positive about Barak Obama was labeled racism.

Just FYI, I'm a Barak fan, but I like all the Demo candidates, and I'll be happy to vote for any of them. But I'm still trying to understand how Bill Clinton saying it would be a "gamble" to vote for Barak Obama because he has less experience than Hillary, could possibly be considered racist....

...whereas Obama can suggest that he'd need to see Bill Clinton dance before he could fairly evaluate whether Bill is a "brother."

Now, that was a very funny comment, imo (and by the way, I'd pay big bucks to see *that* dance contest! the Democrats should consider it as a possible fundraising event) -- but wasn't Obama making a direct link between race and a racial stereotype? (i.e. blacks are good dancers)

Can you imagine the uproar if someone from the Clinton camp said anything like that?

I realize analyzing the nuances of economic proposals or health care plans or mid-East policy requires much more thought than just repeating the same blather about strategy and is Bill hurting Hill and should Barak have gotten down off his pedestal to reveal (gasp!) he's a politician! etc. etc. etc. -- for one thing, such analysis doesn't lend itself readily to endless sports metaphors.

But I wish the political shows would leave the exaggerations and blowhard stuff to Fox Noise.

Oh, and would someone PLEASE retire the oh-so-cute references to "singing Kumbaya"!? It was clever and amusing and apt the first 5 or 10 times it was used, but now it's really, really stale. Find something new.

What's up, Doc?

With all the trauma going on in the world, in order to maintain sanity it can be vital to just kick back and laugh once in a while. With that in mind, enjoy the 50 Greatest Cartoons :-)

Evolution of Dance

Sure, everyone has already seen this vid clip -- but it is so funny and so well-done it deserves another look. Check out the masterful gyrations and comic timing of comedian Judson Laipply as he demonstrates The Evolution of Dance: 50 years in 6 minues.