Lordy, lordy, lordy - to read and hear all the commentary following Iowa's caucus yesterday, one might think that the race-to-the-White House was all but over but for soliciting contributions to the Inaugural party/parties.
Sorry! We have a long way to go until November and, by damn, I'm going to be an election official in Virginia come February 12 and I DEMAND some consideration. Same for all of ya'll in NH, Nevada, SC, Michigan (well, some at least), not to mention Super Tuesday!
Okay, rant over... we have a long way to go until November. Patience should be our buzz-word but some Kos-sers are too, too ready to declare this race DONE and close the doors. We have a long way to go and a short time to get there - FYI for the Bubba-impaired - that's a lyric from the theme song for the movie 'Smokey and the Bandit'.
The 'smashing' image here is a New Year's gift I received by e-mail from my favorite radical artist, Mike Alewitz, Assoc. Professor and Artistic Director of the Labor Art & Mural Project Art Department at Central CT State University - if you aren't on his mailing list, well, it ain't my fault because now you know about him and it's on your head to subscribe (contact me for e-mail address). Mike's one of the best labor activist-artists in the world and often gives such artistic gifts away for free. Some cubicle-occupants might utilize this as a screen-saver to send corporate bosses into a frenetic wallet-frenzy!
While we've had our collective heads up Iowa's arse { / snark }, there's been some valuable news that's been neglected.
For example, DID YOU REALIZE THAT:
Just two days ago was the anniversary of Sago: January 02, 2008, Sago 2 years later: Safety efforts lag: 67 U.S. miners have died since West Virginia coal disaster by (my main man) Ken Ward Jr. (You might want to also check out the Sago remembrance audio slideshow and the Beyond Sago series):
Two years ago this morning, a huge explosion ripped through a small, little-noticed coal mine in Upshur County. Within hours, the national media had focused on 13 miners missing deep inside International Coal Group’s Sago Mine. Twelve of those miners died before rescuers could reach them 40 hours later. Only Randal McCloy Jr. survived. After the disaster — West Virginia’s worst mining accident in nearly 40 years — lawmakers, mine safety advocates and regulators scrambled to offer answers and institute reforms.
Since then, there’s been a flurry of new laws, tougher regulations and demands for increased inspections and enforcement. Much progress has been made. But since Sago, at least 67 more coal miners have died on the job across the country. ... In August, six miners and three rescuers died in a huge mine collapse at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah. About a month later, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration was forced to acknowledge that it had missed dozens of required inspections at underground mines across Southern West Virginia and elsewhere.
Peggy Cohen, who lost her father, Fred Ware, in the Sago disaster, said recently she hopes [we] haven’t forgotten the Sago miners and efforts to stop mining injuries and deaths. "I think we are making progress with mine safety," Cohen said. "Are we completely done with all the laws and regulations? No, not by any means. I think these coal companies need to remember these miners deserve to go home to their families every day at the end of their shift," Cohen said. "If that means they have to spend millions to keep them safe and make sure they get home at the end of their shift, then by all means this needs to be done."
But before I could get too depressed about this, we got some great news today from the same source, Ken Ward at the Charleston Gazette Sing Hallelujah! Hallelujah!:
Stickler out at MSHA - Mine safety agency gets acting chief
Richard Stickler appears to be out as the Bush administration’s top mine safety regulator. Earlier this week, Stickler’s biography was removed from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration’s Web site. And on Thursday, MSHA officials revealed that agency staffer John Pallasch had been named to Stickler’s job — assistant labor secretary for mine safety and health — on an acting basis. Pallasch took over on Jan. 1. Previously, Pallasch had been a deputy assistant labor secretary handling policy matters for MSHA. Before that, he was a special assistant in MSHA’s administration unit, and worked for the labor department’s Office of Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management. But it’s not clear how long Pallasch will be running the $340 million agency or if President Bush plans to submit a different nominee to Congress. Amy Louviere, an MSHA spokeswoman, declined to answer such questions. Louviere referred a reporter to David James, the top spokesman for Labor Secretary Elaine Chao (FYI - spouse of KY Sen. Mitch McConnell). James did not return repeated phone calls. In an e-mail response, James said that, under the federal Vacancies Act, Pallasch took over immediately upon Stickler's departure. James did not elaborate on what Chao's plans are for MSHA leadership through the rest of Bush's term.
Stickler’s appointment as MSHA chief ran out at the end of the year on Monday, and the Democratic-controlled Senate had refused to approve a renomination proposed by Bush. ... Stickler took over MSHA in late 2006, toward the end of the coal industry’s most deadly year in more than a decade. ... Stickler, a Marion County native, spent about 30 years working for coal companies, primarily as a mine manager for Bethlehem Steel’s coal arm. He worked briefly for Massey Energy, and then became chief of Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Deep Mine Safety.
Bush first nominated Stickler in September 2005. At the time, David Dye had been running the agency for nearly a year. Dye, a former congressional staffer, took over when Dave D. Lauriski resigned shortly after Bush won re-election in November 2004. The UMW and the AFL-CIO opposed Stickler’s confirmation, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., placed a hold on it, and then the Senate twice sent the nomination back to the White House without a vote. Then, in late October 2006, Bush waited until Congress was out of session and went around lawmakers, putting Stickler into the MSHA post through the "recess appointment." The recess appointment was set to expire at the end of 2007, and Bush had renominated Stickler. But Byrd placed another hold on the nomination. And Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee, refused to schedule a vote on the renomination.
PRAISE THE LORD AND SENATOR BYRD - wait! Should we praise Byrd? Not according to some members of PETA who are very upset:
Best in Supreme Irony:
An interesting thread is taking place on the PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - blog. For those of you following MTR (mountaintop removal) commentary, check out the interesting comments posted at PETA's website. You'll find PETA supporters defending Senator Byrd, a champion of the livestock housed in cramped conditions who was recently named PETA's person of the year, and MTR activists objecting to the award due to his support for MTR wherein mama bears and cubs, as well as numerous other species, are buried alive. Read and weep!
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Today's Great Off-Site Read:
Is Selfish Capitalism Driving Us Mad? by Oliver James, Comment Is Free via Alternet:
By far the most significant consequence of "selfish capitalism" (Thatch/Blatcherism) has been a startling increase in the incidence of mental illness in both children and adults since the 1970s. ... Add to this the astonishing fact that citizens of Selfish Capitalist, English-speaking nations (which tend to be one and the same) are twice as likely to suffer mental illness as those from mainland western Europe, which is largely Unselfish Capitalist in its political economy. An average 23% of Americans, Britons, Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians suffered in the last 12 months, but only 11.5% of Germans, Italians, French, Belgians, Spaniards and Dutch. The message could not be clearer. Selfish Capitalism, much more than genes, is extremely bad for your mental health. But why is it so toxic? ... In itself, this economic inequality does not cause mental illness. WHO studies show that some very inequitable developing nations, like Nigeria and China, also have the lowest prevalence of mental illness.
While we have no way of knowing for sure, it is very possible that mental illness was nowhere near as widespread in, for instance, the US or Britain of that time. What does the damage is the combination of inequality with the widespread relative materialism of Affluenza - placing a high value on money, possessions, appearances and fame when you already have enough income to meet your fundamental psychological needs. Survival materialism is healthy. If you need money for medicine or to buy a house, becoming very concerned about getting them does not make you mentally ill. But Selfish Capitalism stokes up relative materialism: unrealistic aspirations and the expectation that they can be fulfilled. It does so to stimulate consumerism in order to increase profits and promote short-term economic growth. Indeed, I maintain that high levels of mental illness are essential to Selfish Capitalism, because needy, miserable people make greedy consumers and can be more easily suckered into perfectionist, competitive workaholism. With overstimulated aspirations and expectations, the entrepreneurial fantasy society fosters the delusion that anyone can be Alan Sugar or Bill Gates, never mind that the actual likelihood of this occurring has diminished since the 1970s. A Briton turning 20 in 1978 was more likely than one doing so in 1990 to achieve upward mobility through education. Nonetheless, in the Big Brother/ It Could Be You society, great swaths of the population believe they can become rich and famous, and that it is highly desirable. This is most damaging of all - the ideology that material affluence is the key to fulfillment and open to anyone willing to work hard enough. If you don't succeed, there is only one person to blame - never mind that it couldn't be clearer that it's the system's fault, not yours.
Depressed or anxious, you work ever harder. Or maybe you collapse and join the sickness benefit queue, leaving it to people shipped in to do the low-paid jobs that society has taught you are too demeaning - let alone the unpaid ones, like looking after children or elderly parents, which are beneath contempt in the Nouveau labor liturgy. There is much tearing of hair across the media and advocacy of nose-pegging on these pages of the "grin and bear it" variety. In fact, there is an alternative. We desperately need -- and before long, I predict we will get -- a passionate, charismatic, probably female leader who advocates the Unselfish Capitalism of our neighbors. The pitch is simple. Not only would reduced consumerism and greater equality make us more ecologically sustainable, it would halve the prevalence of mental illness within a generation.
Would HRC (or any other candidate) dare risk such a campaign-theme? I'll leave it to her supporters to comment below... heh!
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ON TO TOP COMMENTS OF THE DAY - always arbitrary and capricious since there are typically over 18,000 comments made here each day and post-Iowa today, the total was over 23,000 - so no one TC-diarist can possibly read them all. All of you are needed to make this effort work, got it? Want to help? See below:
Making nominations to Top Comments is SO easy... if you see a comment that deserves special recognition, just click on the time/date stamp and the comment will come up in its own window. Copy and paste the URL (web-address in the topmost box of your browser) and send to TopComments AT gmail.com. Be sure to include your screen-name (user ID) so we will be able to give credit due! Ok? Ok!
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From Hardhat Democrat:
kath25 provides a simple answer to a simple question.
gmoke on how Reagan killed us, from their diary from this morning.
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Submitted by madgranny:
I love this observation from vanguardia in the 'Obama Wins Iowa FP' diary: Democrats move on to the 21st century
ActivistGuy and Volvo Liberal gave me the best laugh of the day in the same diary: Giuliani numbers... and so on.
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From Elise:
terrypinder rocks! I came back to say.
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From perfectstormer:
Hidden away in the TDS/TCR/Olbermann thread, nhcollegedem makes a triumphant return after a long absence, and reminds us why the NH primary is so important. speaking of stupid TV News.
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From Anne Hawley:
Great comment about the Boomers and the impact of their culture wars, by FilmGeek in Misery Gore's diary today, Archie Bunker is Dead.
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From ChapiNation386:
FishOutofWater started things off with this comment: From Bird in Hand, to Intercourse, to Blue Ball. Then darlyng had this to say If you know what you're doing (or are just lucky).
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MY SELECTIONS
NEED TO KNOW CATEGORY - UGLIEST TR'ed COMMENT OF THE DAY:
[new] Spare us (0+ / 10-)
Obama supporters are truly loathesome.
This childrens crusade you are on will flame out and die in the general election when the professionals turn Obama into a drug using black lunatic who will raise taxes, socialize medicine, liberalize drug laws, and appoint affirmative action judges.
Has history taught you neophytes nothing?
by Civil Defense on Fri Jan 04, 2008 at 01:06:04 PM EST
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On IOWA:
I have really, REALLY despised most of the by vox humana.
Good diary by priceman in 'I support Edwards. I rejoice over Obama.': by andydoubtless
TXSharon risks getting TR'ed but goes ahead to state what many are thinking if not saying too loudly (see replies in thread below for some examples - sorry to say this is true of my region as well): Here's a fact upon which you can count - racism is ubiquitous and, no, it's not our 'best side' showing but it IS the reason that Sen. Obama has Secret Service protection already.
Subversive delivers an excellent rationale for Edwards' supporters to feel jubilant today (and tomorrow and so on) with What Obama supporters and Clinton supporters - isn't this what is meant by moving the 'Overton' window?
Something I've often wanted to shout out: And Andrea Mitchell can kiss my... by Ken in MN.
Coffee-snorters of the day:
ha ha ha ha ha by homoneurotic (a 'rif' on Rudy Guiliani's math) and The Moment Speech by Walt starr.
Best Eavesdropping on the opposition:
Holy Roller Huckster isn't gonna cut it by Theghostofkarlafayetucker, citing another blogger - damn, that's funny! Should we call it the F***ster Campaign?
Miscellaneous:
Belated but excellent tip-jar in long but highly informative diary by Chris Rodda (hat-tip to teacherken for the heads-up): The length thing... - send this one to all your fundamentalist relatives and colleagues who insist that the US was founded as a Christian nation.
Saddest comments of the day:
I knew Andy a little by javelina about the loss of yet another of our best and brightest.
"I am leaving this message for you because it appears I must leave sooner than I intended. I would have preferred to say this in person, but since I cannot, let me say it here."
Second saddest of the day (this is for you, noweasels) of the day: We put down our 12 year old pup New Year's Eve. by carolinadreamer.
3rd place for Saddest comment: Holiday sales down, credit card delinquencies up by NBBooks (and I do love NBB's sig-line!).
Meta:
In sardonyx's diary re: Top Commenteers, cardinal seeks career advice (atop a reflection about candidate-diarists): Ah,
Penultimate MEGO* thread begins with Hi jotter by plf515 - and ya'll thought all this was easy... aarrgghh!
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Top Mojo - (thanks to BeninSC) excluding search-identifiable tip jars and first diary comments (top 30 of each plus ties):
1 Oh stop. by scardanelli - 121
2 that's right, you poser ;-) by clammyc - 121
3 I am not a moderate Democrat by mdgarcia - 99
4 You deserved a better thead by LithiumCola - 96
5 Hmmm.....I think the winner is Obama... by SallyCat - 95
6 Nice diary. by TomP - 93
7 Yep. Some choose "hope"... by Lisa Lockwood - 87
8 Dude. by kath25 - 86
9 A good and honorable man by Dallasdoc - 86
10 wow by MadAsHellMaddie - 86
11 Thanks for stating the reasons... by citizen53 - 85
12 The "Moment Speech" by Walt starr - 84
13 Dodd for maj. leader? by Inland - 82
14 re: no compromises, no negotiating by human - 79
15 Simple by flubber - 79
16 Will do. by humphrey - 77
17 your sig made me laugh out loud. n/t by astronautagogo - 76
18 Tweety must be feeling emasculated by Dallasdoc - 76
19 This village remembers by JR - 75
20 Best. . . Speech. . . Ever by pontificator - 72
21 Undecided just 3 or 4 days ago by DoubleBarrellBunnyAnger - 72
22 Edwards is still my man by elveta - 72
23 Ready to Go! nt by kath25 - 71
24 I'm in New Hampshire... by PsiFighter37 - 70
25 I have a feeling that the press feels some by 123Mary123 - 69
26 Considering by TXsharon - 68
27 And it will require a real fight. Isn't going to by rrheard - 68
28 As an Obama supporter by Pd - 68
29 I'm sending $50! by Ken in MN - 65
30 Rachel Maddow by fireflynw - 64
31 And the statistics are heavily massaged by Jerome a Paris - 64
Top Mojo - everything included:
1 tips by thereisnospoon - 509
2 Tips for a continued by david mizner - 309
3 tips for transcribing by anna - 305
4 Fake American history is on the march... by Troutfishing - 297
5 Kudos to Obama by Dallasdoc - 287
6 thanks also to by clammyc - 285
7 Tip Jar - 4 January by Jerome a Paris - 231
8 Tip Jar by andydoubtless - 190
9 Go Edwards! by Progressive America - 185
10 This is a 3 way all the way. Go John Go! n/t by demwords - 163
11 Fired Up! by Drewid - 163
12 Tips for the People's candidate by TomP - 160
13 Friday Tip Jar by Bill in Portland Maine - 158
14 tip jar by tunesmith - 153
15 I don't care about tips, but terrprists might by Geekesque - 145
16 I'm one of those new donors. by zeitshabba - 134
17 tips, recs, etc by Adam B - 132
18 Oh stop. by scardanelli - 121
19 that's right, you poser ;-) by clammyc - 121
20 Don't know where Huck's wife is, by Spud1 - 119
21 I am not a moderate Democrat by mdgarcia - 100
22 Mojo Jar by TexDem - 99
23 You deserved a better thead by LithiumCola - 96
24 Hmmm.....I think the winner is Obama... by SallyCat - 95
25 Nice diary. by TomP - 93
26 the comments by taylormattd - 91
27 Yep. Some choose "hope"... by Lisa Lockwood - 88
28 A good and honorable man by Dallasdoc - 86
29 Dude. by kath25 - 86
30 wow by MadAsHellMaddie - 86
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Despite our despair and our sadness, irregardless of our disappointments, life must go on. As it must, thank you Selu.
First new-grandbaby photo! I'm so excited - isn't s/he lovely?!
Always the mountains (and the babies, too),
va dare
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