From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
QUICK! CLICK! SAVE YOURSELF!!!
Yes, fellow netrootertooters, the folks at Netroots Nation want you to save yourself some cold, hard cash by registering for the greatest progressive convention in the universe…..
[Think about that: in the UNIVERSE! I've heard the universe is huge! And up to 6,000 years old!!!]
…..at the exclusive Early Bird rate. But you only have until August 19th to get it, which is why I'm blogging from atop my trusty steed, ringin' them warnin' bells and firin' them warnin' shots. (Sorry about your window, ma'am.) Time's runnin' out!
As incredible as the previous Netroots Nation conventions were, the 2012 event in Providence, Rhode Island---June 7-10---is going to be the best ever. For starters, Keith Olbermann is confirmed as a keynote speaker. And that's just for starters:
- The legendary pub quiz which, even with all the cheating that goes on by every team but the one I'm on, is like an endorphin rush on top of an adrenaline rush on top of a six-pack of Red Bull.
- Kos's Saturday night parties have earned the coveted "5 Taser" rating by the National Association of Riot Police six years in a row!
- You literally cannot walk across the exhibition hall without bumping into a congressperson, senator, or political VIP you've waited your entire life to meet.
- The panel discussions and workshops broaden your perspective, increase your IQ, and help you plan and coordinate with highly-motivated and hard-working allies on a gaggle of issues.
- A chance to see how all your favorite Kossacks act when alcohol has crossed their blood-brain barriers. (Some are surprisingly acrobatic.)
- Dozens of booths staffed by progressive businesses and organizations, many of whom give away freebies. I'm partial to the candy.
- Swag bags! Filled with real swag!
- If you help box up a care package for our troops overseas during the Netroots for the Troops event, you're guaranteed a deluxe penthouse suite in the hereafter.
- The box lunches are tasty. The union-sponsored buffet lines are amaaaaazing.
[Pauses to wipe drool off keyboard]
...and more!!!
Great time. Great people. New England's beautiful in June. Providence is Amtrak-friendly. And on and on. It is simply going to be…the…best…Netroots Nation…ever.
You can register anytime, but to get the early bird discount, click here and choose the "Standard" option within the next 15 days. Once the price goes up after August 19th, there's no turning back! Um…bwoo ha haaaaa. (Sorry, my maniacal laugh sucks in the morning.)
In case you missed the link, here it is again.
Tick tock. Tick tock. Is it June yet?
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers Cheers for Thursday, August 4, 2011
Note: Just a heads-up that there will be no C&J on Monday for disciplinary reasons. Back Tuesday with a retraction, an apology, a mea culpa, and regrets…I'll have a few, but then again, too few to mention.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London: 358
Days `til the Lake Champlain Maritime Festival in Burlington, Vermont: 7
Percent of new cars sold that are black, white or silver: 60%
(Source: The Wall Street Journal via The Week)
Percent by which the debt ceiling was raised under Ronald Reagan: 199.5%
(Source: MSNBC)
Approximate percent of Newt Gingrich's Twitter "fans" that are really "dummy accounts": 92%
(Source: Gawker)
Percent of the remaining 8 percent who are actual dummies for supporting a Gingrich presidency: 100%
How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man? 3
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
Here's what we do. We run Bill Moyers for president. I am serious as a stroke about this. It's simple, cheap and effective, and it will move the entire spectrum of political discussion in this country. Moyers is the only public figure who can take the entire discussion and shove it toward moral clarity just by being there. [...]
[I]magine, if seven or eight other Democratic candidates, all beautifully coiffed and triangulated and carefully coached to say nothing that will offend anyone, stand on stage with Bill Moyers in front of cameras for a national debate...what would happen? Bill Moyers would win, would walk away with it, just because he doesn't triangulate or calculate or trim or try to straddle the issues. Bill Moyers doesn't have to endorse a constitutional amendment against flag burning or whatever wedge issue du jour Republicans have come up with. He is not afraid of being called "unpatriotic." And besides, he is a wise and a kind man who knows how to talk on TV.
---July, 2006
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Dog fakes own death. Film at 11.
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CHEERS to that empty feeling. This won’t come as news to anyone, but it still feels wonderful to be able to say it all the same: Congress has adjourned. Time for America to break out the bubbly. And the first-aid kits.
CHEERS to weaning ourselves off of the foreign teat. Oh, hey, here's a long-time national headache that's going away under the Obama administration: we're importing far less oil these days. From what I gather, it's the result of new measurements they're using, a shitty economy, more fuel-efficient cars, and more extraction here at home:
Put them all together, and the United States has cut its dependence on imports substantially — with further declines possible if the trends continue. “It’s a silent revolution,” said Lehi German, publisher of the newsletter Fundamental Petroleum Trends. “This is a big deal.”
Our imports haven't been this low in nearly 40 years, so…yay. Still, our love affair with foreign oil isn’t going away any time soon. It's just not the same invading countries for their solar arrays.
CHEERS to climate change---the good kind! As the Republican-controlled House builds a rickety retaining wall of predictable arguments to protect America from the catastrophe of granting gay couples federal recognition of state-approved marriages, the icebergs of public opinion are melting faster than ever, raising acceptance levels to historic highs:
A new bi-partisan study confirms that, [for the] first time, support for gay marriage generally outweighs opposition, and the rate of increase is startling. According to the study, the rate of increase in support for gay marriage accelerated to 5 percent per year in 2010 and 2011. Between 1996 and 2009, this rate was less than 1 percent.
“Even where antigay ballot measures succeed at the time, the net result is that people are prompted into these conversations,” Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, said to U.S. News. “The more people talk about this, the more they move into support of the freedom to marry.”
In response, prominent marriage-change denier Maggie Gallagher, director of the National Organization for Marriage, issued a brief statement: "Is McDonald's still hiring?"
CHEERS to Country-Club Republican vs. Teabagger Republican! Maine's largest newspaper is owned by a relatively sane Republican, and it's been fun watching him lock horns with our bumbling fool of a tea party governor. The Portland Press Herald has published several increasingly-stern editorials, and you can practically smell the animosity in the air. The latest skirmish happened when Gov. LePage dissed one of The Portland Press Herald's reporters. That was a bad move:
When MaineToday Media State House reporter Rebekah Metzler challenged LePage---she had made numerous calls to his office seeking his comment on [a] story---LePage lashed out at her personally, charging, preposterously, that "you have never written an honest thing since I've been governor."
That is an outrageous falsehood, and one that the governor couldn't back up if he tried. … He showed himself, as he has all too often, to be a thin-skinned hypocrite who views anyone who disagrees with him as an enemy. … We keep hoping that, eventually, he will grow into the job. Unfortunately, the evidence so far suggests that he never will.
Wow. If this keeps up, by wintertime they'll just be peeing ASSHOLE in the snow outside the governor's mansion.
CHEERS to Helen Thomas. The take-no-prisoners journalist who grilled presidents Kennedy through Obama turns 91 today. She left under a cloud when she said something dumb about Israelis going back to where they came from (or something). Then again, she also said plenty of smart things, like this:
"Reporters should be free to operate independently and be courageous enough to keep a critical eye on those in power who fail to act in the interests of the nation. The media do not---and should not---expect to win popularity contests. But they will be respected only if they remain true to the ideals of the profession. They must be detached. But they must also care."
---From Watchdogs of Democracy? The Waning Washington Press Corps And How it Has Failed The Public
Cruelest word in the English language: Should.
CHEERS to the summer of love. My, how time doesn’t fly when you're sitting around waiting for the wheels of justice to turn. It was one year ago today that Saint (I call him Saint cuz he's a saint) Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Proposition 8---the citizen-passed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage---is itself unconstitutional. He carefully weighed the evidence for Prop. 8 (weak stuff) and against Prop 8 (strong stuff), then set out to make his decision as clear and decisive as possible to ensure his ruling wouldn't get overturned on appeal. (As The New York Times wrote in its lead editorial, "Judge Walker’s opinion will provide a firm legal foundation that will be difficult for appellate judges to assail.") Walker's own words are now a gem in the tiara of gay civil rights history:
Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples. Because California has no interest in discriminating against gay men and lesbians, and because Proposition 8 prevents California from fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide marriages on an equal basis, the court concludes that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.
Unfortunately the ruling is on hold pending appeal. The next hearings will be televised on September 6th. The team to boo at is the one wearing the clip-on ties.
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Five years ago in C&J: August 4, 2006
CHEERS to Christmas in America? Unless Iraqi president Talabani is talking out of his butt, Iraqi forces are expected to take over security of the country by the end of the year. Oh wait...we played back the tape. He was talking out of his butt.
CHEERS to geezers-in-training. In a desperate move to fill its ranks, the Army is now accepting recruits as old as 42, and their training has already begun. Yesterday USA Today published some of the boot camp differences between the MySpace and the Ben-Gay crowds:
Sit-ups: 49 vs. 27
Push-ups: 35 vs. 24
2-mile run: 16 min., 36 sec. vs. 19 min., 30 sec.
Plus older recruits will be issued both an ammo belt and a Lipitor belt.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the Old Man.
Mr. and Mrs. Barack H. Obama
6085 Kalanianaole Hwy., son, Aug. 4
---Honolulu Advertiser, 1961
Remember during the '08 campaign when the traditional media tried spinning the line that Obama was too young and wet-behind-the-huge-ears to be president? I chuckled, knowing that his POTUSmates in the 40-something club include Teddy Roosevelt, James K. Polk, Grover Cleveland, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton. (Pay no attention to the inept Franklin Pierce behind the curtain.) Besides, a quick check of the highlights of his birth year, 1961, is enough to make your bones feel a bit creaky:
> None of the James Bond movies had been released; West Side Story won the Oscar for Best Picture
> John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president---Obama is #44
> The Dow Jones Industrials reached a high of...734!!!
> The Grammy for best Rock & Roll recording: Chubby Checker, "Let's Twist Again"
> Median price of a new home: $17,200
> Harper Lee won a Pulitzer for To Kill A Mockingbird
> East Germany started replacing its barbed wire barricades with a permanent wall dividing Berlin
> The Boston Marathon was won by a Finn. A Finn!
> The Emmy for outstanding news program went to the Huntley-Brinkley Report
> Roger Maris hit 61 home runs, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record
> The Beatles performed at Liverpool's Cavern Club for the first time; Elvis's "Blue Hawaii" started its 20-week run at the top of the charts; The Beach Boys performed for the first time
> The Dick Van Dyke Show premiered
> The price of a gallon of gas was 31 cents; A gallon of milk---49 cents
As I was writing this, I caught myself focusing on his job performance, and I ended up deleting all of it. (It would've won a Pulitzer. Oh well.) Birthdays are not referendums on job performance, they're a celebration of a life. Obama has had one helluva life and, good lord willing, he's just getting warmed up. Bottom line: certain policy and strategy differences aside, I really like the guy, and I'm ready to be adopted as soon as they submit the paperwork. So Happy 50th Birthday, Mr. President…and many blessings on your camels.
Have a great Thursday. Let's prevent this from happening, shall we? Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"Bill in Portland Maine has these demented arguments that on the surface make no sense, but he's talking, and suddenly and you're like, 'Oh yeah, that's right! That's right!'"
---Brian Baumgartner
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