From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Netroots Nation 2012: 11 Weeks and Counting!
The siren song of Providence calls. In 77 days, proud liberal patriots will gather to---yet again---pull America's ass out of the fire by debating, planning and strategizing ways to make this more perfect union of ours more perfecter. Plus there's parties. Here are some quick updates as we approach our rendevous with destiny and tasty box lunches:
- After five years of faithful service, the old Netroots Nation website has been put out to pasture. The new one is live, with a focus on making it a little snazzier and easier to use. Check out the new look here.
- The first round of Netroots Nation scholarships has ended. Round two starts Saturday the 24th. Scholarships include admission to the convention plus accommodations. Becca Russell-Einhorn from D.C. was awarded one last year, and she writes:
Netroots Nation was an experience that really kicked my gears back into action. Every room I walked into was full of inspiring progressive activists and bloggers who were doing amazing things with their personal and professional time. I pitched my ideas to listening ears, learned techniques for fundraising online, networked for four days straight, and ate a lot of free sandwiches. It was like being around all the astonishing people I always wanted to meet and learn from, for three days straight and all in one city. … The support you get from before you arrive to after you leave is what makes me feel a part of the DFA and Netroots family.
I have a ticket for Providence and I can't wait to stand up proudly when they ask "Who is here at Netroots for their second year in a row?"
For details on how to apply, visit Democracy for America. And if you submitted a scholarship application that doesn’t get chosen in Round 1, fear not: it will be entered into Round 2.
- Nolan Treadway on the panel selection process now underway:
Since the beginning of February, we’ve been coordinating the review of the 500-plus panels, trainings, screening series sessions and speaker suggestions we received. Over a dozen committees reviewed each submission and have been, over the course of the past several weeks, working hard to narrow them down to the approximately 100 sessions that will be part of the Netroots Nation agenda. Thanks to all of you who submitted your ideas! We’re humbled by your brilliant, creative submissions---although you’ve made the final selection process that much more difficult.
Expect announcements to start as early as next week.
- The fundraising for Netroots for the Troops is becoming more urgent as June creeps up on us. The logistics of procuring the items for the care packages we'll be packing and sending to servicemembers in Afghanistan and VA hospitals stateside are pretty complex, so any help you can give now is much appreciated. Click here for the donation page. Many thanks!
Oh, and just to be clear: I really don’t care about breaking into Adam B's vault to get my hands on this year's pub quiz questions. I care about breaking into Adam B's vault to get my hands on this year's pub quiz answers.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, March 22, 2012
Note: Just a quick heads-up that, due to a scheduling conflict I created so I could get out of writing C&J, there will be no C&J on Monday due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict that is completely out of my control. Back Tuesday.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Earth Day: 31
Days 'til the Spring Beer and Wine Festival in Portland, Oregon: 16
Favorability ratings of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, respectively, in March of 2008 during their primary battle: 51%, 45%
Favorability ratings of Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, respectively, in March of 2012 during their primary battle: 28%, 26%
(Source: MSNBC via DemfromCT)
Marriages in which the wife made more than the husband in, respectively, 1987 and 2009: 24%, 38%
(Source: Time)
Average number of hours teachers work per week: 53.3
(Source: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation report)
High temperature in Portland, Maine yesterday, and the previous record high for the day, respectively: 79 / 60
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
The sour joke is: "Of course we know the Iraqis have weapons of mass destruction. We have the receipts." At this point, the administration would probably be delighted if it could find the WMDs the Reagan administration gave Saddam Hussein. At least it could point to some WMDs. […] You don't have to be an expert on WMDs in the Middle East to know that when the administration starts spreading the word that "it wouldn't really make any difference if there were WMDs or not," it's worried about not finding any.
---April, 2003, one month after we invaded
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Puppy Pic of the Day: “This hasn’t been done with a child this young."
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CHEERS to knots continuing to be tied. In the New Hampshire House, a Republican effort to repeal the state's gay marriage law---a measure which everyone expected to pass, given the composition of the chamber--- failed spectacularly yesterday. Seriously, this was a stunner along the lines of "Dewey Defeats Truman." I imagine the smug National Organization for Marriage poobahs must be dripping tears into their oatmeal this morning. The final vote was 211-116. Here's part of a statement from the group Standing Up For NH Families:
"This is a victory for our supporters---the majority of Granite Staters who oppose any roll back of marriage equality---because they reached out time and again and told lawmakers to leave this law alone. This was our opponents' best shot and they blew it."
I believe I speak on behalf of every GLBT American and straight supporter when I solemnly place quill nib to parchment and write:
"Neener…and neener."
CHEERS to letters from the mailbag. Just in:
Dear Romney Campaign,
It took us decades of hard work, creative innovation, whitewashing of our switch to really cheap Chinese labor, and tons of fine aluminum powder to make our most famous toy a household name, synonymous with family, innocence and ideology-free wholesomeness. It stands as a beacon of American pop culture alongside Mom, apple pie and Chevrolet.
So thank you for destroying our brand in a single sentence yesterday.
Seriously. Now, when people hear the word "Etch-A-Sketch," they'll think of dullness, dishonesty and "severe conservatism." Smooth move, Chumley. Thanks. A. Lot.
Sincerely,
The Ohio Art Company
Makers of the Etch-A-Sketch
P.S. On the other hand, sales of Etch A Sketch are THROUGH THE ROOF, BABY! Gingrich alone ordered a thousand yesterday and plopped 'em on his Tiffany's card. Thank you!!!!!!
I just love a happy capitalism-gone-wild ending. Don’t you?
JEERS to self-righteous knuckledragging. On this date in 1638, progressive preacher Anne Hutchinson was booted from the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the Puritan leadership after being accused of "Blasphemy!" and "Lewd conduct!" Today Rick santorum will unveil a statue to commemorate the event. In honor of the Puritans.
CHEERS to people power. Yesterday in New York---which is an itty bitty distance from Florida---citizens gathered to protest the Trayvon Martin murder investigation debacle, which has rightfully seized the nation's attention and appears to be a potential catalyst for knocking down some of these dumb "shoot someone dead if they look at you funny" laws on the books in so many states. Things are happening really fast at the moment, but the Cliffs Notes summary is: Feds are on the case, the Sanford city commission handed the police chief a vote of no confidence last night, and hoodies have become a potent symbol of protest and support. And no doubt the NRA is meeting behind closed doors to come up with their most creative lies yet on how this is all the liberals' fault. By noon, I expect. (They're really good at it.)
CHEERS to popping the gaseous orb known as the conservative head. Kudos to AP for pouring fuel on the fire over gas prices...in a good way.
It's the political cure-all for high gas prices: Drill here, drill now. But more U.S. drilling has not changed how deeply the gas pump drills into your wallet, math and history show. A statistical analysis of 36 years of monthly, inflation-adjusted gasoline prices and U.S. domestic oil production by The Associated Press shows no statistical correlation between how much oil comes out of U.S. wells and the price at the pump.
If more domestic oil drilling worked as politicians say, you'd now be paying about $2 a gallon for gasoline. Instead, you're paying the highest prices ever for March.
The article does indulge in a little "both sides do it" bit of false equivalence. Speaking for myself, I sure
did criticize Bush when gas prices rose, but only because he falsely presented himself as a steely-eyed Texas oilman who knew all the buttons to push and dials to twist when it came to
The Precious. I never once bought into the ludicrous idea that he should ride in on a magic pony, wave a magic wand, and find himself capping magic gushers as he saves the day to wild applause. That ain't oil policy. That's Broadway.
CHEERS to changing your tune. How hot was it in Maine yesterday? Hotter than Rick Santorum's vision of hell. Hotter than the space under Mitt Romney's collar after hearing of the Etch A Sketch debacle. Hotter than Sean Hannity workin' the pole at the Pleasure Palace. But the coolest sight yesterday, as we smashed a heat record set back in 134 BC, was the ice cream truck rolling through the neighborhood on its inaugural run of 2012. We noticed it's playing a new tune this year. "Out" are The Entertainer and Turkey in the Straw. "In" is La Cucaracha. It was a nice---if highly-ear-worm'ish---change-up. Even more records are expected to fall today, and the truck will no doubt be back for an encore. If he takes requests, I say bring on Hava Nagila!
CHEERS to 60's TV icons who will never not be cool. Today is the late Werner "Colonel Klink" Klemperer's 92nd birthday. (Hogan's Heroes has a permanent spot in my personal sitcom Hall of Fame.) Meanwhile, William "Kirk" Shatner---very much alive and ever-evolving---turns 81. If there's anyone who better combines acting chops and self-deprecation, I'm not aware of him. In honor of TV's good old days, today we'll put down the remote and go change the channel manually.
Update: Oh, my achin' flab. That was painful. We lived like animals in the old days. Animals, I tell you!!!
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Five years ago in C&J: March 22, 2007
JEERS to taking co-ownership of your lady parts. A proposed law in South Carolina would force women to have to pay for an ultrasound and then watch it before having an abortion so they'll feel really bad. They originally wanted to force women to watch 30 minutes of Fox News, but that was deemed a bit too cruel. [3/22/12 Update: Five years later, simply watching a forced ultrasound isn’t enough---in Arizona they're testing legislation that would force women to watch video of an actual abortion procedure first. On the plus side, they stopped short of having Mel Gibson direct it.]
CHEERS to a triumphant return. Al Gore appeared at House and Senate select committee hearings on global warming yesterday, batting away skeptics in language to match their IQs:
"The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don’t say, well I read a science fiction novel that tells me it’s not a problem. If the crib’s on fire, you don’t speculate that the baby is flame-retardant. You take action."
The proceedings were temporarily stalled when Rep. Joe Barton asked, "Yes, but where do babies come from?"
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And just one more…
CHEERS to an endorsement that fits the candidate. Well, it's official: the "smart" Bush---Jeb---finally drank enough bourbon to shut off enough of his brain activity so he could endorse a candidate for president. You can read his official statement here. But if you're curious, C&J has an exclusive look at his first draft that one of our associates found when he accidentally tripped and fell into Bush's trash and gravity forced it into his pocket:
Vote enthusiastically for Mitt Romney. He is a great very good reasonably competent candidate who is exciting bold full of fresh ideas the right height. Jeb
At least that's what it appears to say. Hard to read through the tear stains.
Have a nice Thursday and a nice flight. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"In a new Rasmussen Reports poll, 64 percent of Americans say they think we live in Cheers and Jeers, 26 percent disagree."
---Megyn Kelly
3/21/12
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