Politics Thread

[Sibling Chatty]

Bill Moyers is returning to PBS with a new series Wed. night.  The first show is on Jack Abramoff and his political wheelings and dealings.

Time to find somebody with cable...Moyers is one of my all time favorite human beans.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Bill Moyers is returning to PBS with a new series Wed. night.  The first show is on Jack Abramoff and his political wheelings and dealings.

Time to find somebody with cable...Moyers is one of my all time favorite human beans.

Let me know, if you don't locate anyone.  I can record on DVD's.  And, if you talk nice, I likely could be persuaded to mail you a copy of selected shows.

PM if you want more details.

[Aphos]

I really enjoy PBS's Frontline.  It devotes an entire hour to a topic, sometimes two...and without commercials.  This allows the story to be presented in much greater depth than is usually seen on other TV news programs.  Also, they present the stories in a fairly balanced way.

Last night, the episode was entitled Return of the Taliban.  (See the web page here.)  They were reporting on the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, moving in from bases in northern Pakistan.

Up to the fight in Tora Bora, we had handled the situation pretty well.  But from that point on, there have been some major mistakes in policy in the region.  One, of course, was the invasion of Iraq, which pulled many American troops from Afghanistan and increased Taliban recruitment.  Another was a lack of understanding of Pakistan and its complex politics by the American White House.

The web page is worth reading, and if you have broadband, it has a link to a video of the program.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

The other day, on NPR, they were talking about the upcoming congressional and senate elections.

With the latest fiasco by the repubs, some predictors are saying that the dems may pick up as many as 30 seats in the house, and several in the senate.

It seems that many repub-voters are becoming more and more disaffected with their party, and are not voting.

Meanwhile, more and more dems are seeing in November a chance to actually do something positive.

As one guy pointed out, Bush's approval rating is actually lower than Clinton's was, when the Repubs took over the house, back in the '90's.

And the economy is still stagnant.

And the price of gasoline at the pump is still relatively high.

And the GOOD jobs are still scarce.

Are you monitoring this, NSA?  Perhaps you should feed W a clue or three .... not that he would be capable of comprehending or anything.

[Aphos]

Well, I just got through watching the first episode of Moyers on America.  It was about Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay, and the schemes they had to rack in the money and subvert democracy.

It was a very interesting show.  The PBS web page is here.

I admit though, that while informative, it is nauseating.  The unrepentant greed of these people, the pious hypocrisy.   

People like Tom Delay, that wear their religion on their sleeve, make me cringe.  Someone like that, I won't trust as far as I can throw him.  And yet, there are so many Americans that think...oh, he is such a Godly man, I know I can trust him.

Well, enough ranting.   

[Sibling Chatty]

I understand they gave credit for continuing to press the ethics charges   to Chris Bell, among others. Chris is the Democrat for Texas Governor, and he's not that well known outside of Houston.

We've run into the perfect way to get the undecideds to decide. All we have te say is "Chris Bell is the guy that DeLay was gunning for the most when he redistricted the state. He pressed for the ethics violations to be pursued, and it cost him his District, because Delay shredded it and built this mess of a district we're in now to punish Chris." People are going to vote for him on the strength of that alone.

(I will PM you when I can keep my eyes open...gotta go sleep real fast so I can go 'person' the HQ tomorrow. I'm just a Democratic Party Animal!!)

[Aphos]

Shadowdweller, on Omnia, posted this article on the Daily Show.  It seems one researcher has concluded that the Daily Show presented as much substance on the 2004 election as any of the network news shows.

How about that?

[Sibling Chatty]

No big shock to lots of people.

Daily show avoids the more stringent partisan divisions, as well, and goes after EVERYBODY that screws up.

Equal opportunity mockery.

[Griffin NoName]

Holy Carp!!  Kinky Friedman has made it on to Brit. TV main evening news. 

[Sibling Chatty]

Gubernatorial debates were tonight!!

The word 'goober' actually seems to work for most of the four...

Da Kinkstah looked good, sounded unlike a politician, and made a lot of points that nobody expects from a politician, mostly because he isn't one.

(YAY for Kinky.)

Gov. Goodhair was a nice haircut with not much under it but "what I have been doing is what I will do", Chris Bell was a nice, bland man that only stood out from the background when he actually got excited--and he had some very strong, good points. Carole Keeton McClelland Something Rylander Strayhorn (aka Caroletcetera) practiced in front of a mirror too much and needed to tie her hands to her sides so shed quit waving them about. Kinky actually answered his questions well and refrained from answering one that gave him a GREAT opening to score cheap points...

But, once again, YAY Kinky!

[Teripie]

How does someone end up with a name as long as Carole Keeton McClelland Something Rylander Strayhorn? Is it the product of many generations of women who chose to tack their maiden names onto their husband's names?

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I suspect it's nothing more than vanity.  LOTS of vanity!

[Griffin NoName]

How does someone end up with a name as long as Carole Keeton McClelland Something Rylander Strayhorn? Is it the product of many generations of women who chose to tack their maiden names onto their husband's names?

She may have once been a Judge in the Pirate's Scurvy Disciplinary Court!

[Teripie]

There's little or no, connection of the GOP to Fox News. Naw, Fox ain't biased in any way is it?  This is an official New Jersey GOP web site, and this page is the "Republican Babe of The Week" link.

http://www.jerseygop.com/RepublicanBabes37.html

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

That's just ... well I have no words to describe the mixed messages this brings (and none of'em good messages)

Kindof reminds me of the flak I was listening to the other day on BBC radio - about the debate in Europe about muslem women, and full-face veils v.s. security issues.

I dunno why the two seem to come together in my mind - unless they are both basically about the role of women in society ...

Disturbing... THAT is one word I can use