Brownie: Still doing one heckuva job.

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Wednesday September 14, 2005 · 10:57 PM PDT

2005/09/14 · 22:57

From an NYTimes article:

Hours after Hurricane Katrina passed New Orleans on Aug. 29, as the scale of the catastrophe became clear, Michael D. Brown recalls, he placed frantic calls to his boss
[...]
"I am having a horrible time," Mr. Brown said he told Mr. Chertoff and a White House official[...] "I can't get a unified command established."

Yes, a horrible, horrible time. What ol' Brownie needed was a friend. And while LA Governor Blanco's husband Raymond (whom everyone loves) let Mike bend his ear for a while (I'm not making this up), what Brownie really needed was a big, strong man to come take control of the situation.

While [General Honoré] did not have responsibility for the entire relief effort and the Guard, his commanding manner helped mobilize the state's efforts.

"Honoré shows up and [...] boom, it starts happening. With Honoré, I have got exactly what I need."

So... in other words, a dude who's not in command finally got the ball rolling by filling in the gaps in your personality?

Peek below the fold for a Panopticon of Incompetent and Self-contradictory Buck-passery! Read More

NYTimes: London terrorists homegrown?

crushinator

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Saturday July 09, 2005 · 12:10 AM PDT

2005/07/09 · 00:10

From the NY Times: London Bombs Seen as Crude; Death Toll Rises to 49

Investigators have concluded that the bombs that ripped through three subway trains and a bus on Thursday were relatively crude devices containing less than 10 pounds of explosives each. That finding supports a theory gaining momentum among the authorities that the plot was carried out by a sleeper cell of homegrown extremists rather than highly trained terrorists exported to Britain.

Remember, though - nothing is certain yet: "Some of the authorities cautioned [...] that the focus on a homegrown sleeper cell could shift as evidence developed. At this stage [...] there was not enough evidence to make 'even a sensible guess' about who was responsible."

So, with apologies for turning so soon to the political fallout from this tragedy, it strikes me as a possibly very positive development in the unfolding story that this attack might have been carried out by people who might not be foreign-trained (read: Middle Eastern) agents of Al-Qaeda, but rather by the UK equivalent of Timothy McVeigh.

More below... Read More

Repeat after me: "Say-one-thing, do-another Republicans"

crushinator

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Thursday March 10, 2005 · 12:49 PM PST

2005/03/10 · 12:49

I'm perpetually appalled at the brazenly Orwellian nature of almost all of the White House / Republican initiatives on the forefront of the news today. The soon-to-be-defeated "Clear Skies" initative is a perfect example of what I mean.

And, with an eye towards the mainstream media, I'm becoming increasingly convinced that the time may be right for Democrats to forge their own initiative and start dropping some heavy-duty "frame-work" on the Republicans.

We're all aware of how the term "Liberal" has, thanks to framesmithing by the likes of Frank Luntz, been rebranded to be a euphamism for "Elitist Effete Amoral Atheist Parasite Scum who May Be Gay and/or Jewish".

Well, I say we take the initiative, get off the defensive, and start unilaterally, uniformly, unvaryingly, and never-endingly referring to anyone associated with the GOP or the White House as a "Say-one-thing, Do-another Republican".

Rationale below the fold! Read More

Idea: Distributed Research Tanks

crushinator

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Thursday February 17, 2005 · 11:47 AM PST

2005/02/17 · 11:47

In a recent diary, Washington Post staff writer Dana Milbank posed the following question to the dKos community:

I'd like to know how you, and your readers, think this could best be done. Some of us have thought about the idea of doing a daily blog report, summarizing what the top blogs are saying and assessing the accuracy/significance. but that's just a small item.

I think we can go WAY further than this if we put our minds to formalizing the process that has worked so effectively in researching the PropaGannon affair.

I'd like to see the emergence of online "distributed research tanks" - groups of people (like those nominally led by SusanG in the PropaGannon matter) who take on vast research tasks and accomplish them in a large-scale, divide-and-conquer manner.
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Responsible Citizenship: My Core Values, as a Progressive

crushinator

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Monday November 22, 2004 · 8:33 AM PST

2004/11/22 · 08:33

I've been reading George Lakoff's "Don't Think of an Elephant" (and so should you)... and I've decided to hash through what I feel are my core values as a progressive.

I've decided that all the things I feel most strongly about fall under an umbrella-notion of responsible citizenship. I've outlined what this means to me in the extended copy section. Read More

We lost because we "should have" won

crushinator

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Wednesday November 03, 2004 · 8:52 AM PST

2004/11/03 · 08:52

While I am hopeful and completely open to the remote possibility that the Ohio count may ultimately lead to a Kerry victory, I'd like to reflect for a moment on what I think was the real failure of the Democratic party in pursuing this election.

I think a lot of attention has rightfully been focused on the ground game, but it seems clear after last night's results that both camps can mobilize in a big way. This means that GOTV and other such ground efforts are surely vital, but that they, in and of themselves, are not sufficient to deliver a victory.

This election, by almost any measure, should have been a cake walk. But within that very phrase, "should have", I think lies the true cause for our troubles, whether we ultimately win or lose.

See below the fold for what I mean.
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MI GOP asks DA to file charges against Michael Moore

crushinator

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Wednesday October 06, 2004 · 3:02 PM PDT

2004/10/06 · 15:02

No joke! Some of you may have already gotten this via email, but here's the story, from the horse's mouth:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2004-10-06

Essentially, they want him brought up on charges in several counties for "contracting with another for something of value in exchange for agreeing to vote".

Apparently, on his present "Slacker Uprising" tour (which I think I missed here in Pittsburgh today), he offers gag gifts like clean underwear and ramen noodles to the "slackers" he is trying to convince to register.

Sigh....

Republicans: Representing all 20 states

crushinator

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Wednesday October 06, 2004 · 7:29 AM PDT

2004/10/06 · 07:29

My wife pointed out something really amusing to me last night: the most frequently-used logo for BC04 campaign merchandise, including most bumper stickers and signs as well as their campaign site has exactly 20 stars on the flag.

This begs a few amusing questions:

Which 20 states are they supopsed to be? I think we could come up with a likely list. Might be fun.
What about the rest of the states? Must have been too "blue" to make it onto the flag.
How's this for a half-serious campaign sloagan: "Kerry-Edwards - The right choice for the other 30 states"

Rapid Response to Wed. Bush Address

crushinator

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Tuesday October 05, 2004 · 10:36 AM PDT

2004/10/05 · 10:36

The AFP reports that Bush plans to give a major speech on Wednesday to perform damage control after last week's debate.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1506&ncid=703&e=7&u=/afp/20041005/ts _alt_afp/us_vote_bush_speech

One thing that occurred to me is that Bush will be very, very likely to bring up his oft-used distortion of the "global test" line from the debates.

How can KE04 be ready to respond to this? Can JK be ready with a some kind of widely-viewed address that follows the statements by Bush? I'm not talking about a small-time response like mentioning the bush remarks in a campaign speech in Scranton, PA... I'm talking about seizing the viewership (and, more importantly, the media attention) immediately and directly after the fact.

The prez has an advnatage in that he can muster as much viewership as he likes. How can Kerry respond quickly enough and loudly enough to this to keep the momentum going through to Friday?

[more...]
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