From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
9 Weeks 'Til Netroots Nation 2012!
Your weekly update on all things Providence:
- Round 2 of the Netroots Nation scholarship competition is underway. You can enter yourself or someone you think is deserving of free admission and accommodations at the June 7-10 convention by clicking here. There are at least 20 more to be awarded by a partnership with Netroots Nation and Democracy for America. Round two ends on April 15.
- Another way to win free admission, accommodations and other perks at the convention is via the just-announced Raise the Future program. Says Nolan Treadway:
It's easy to participate. Just sign up to fundraise for one of the six featured causes---like NARAL or the National Wildlife Federation Action Fund---or choose your own progressive project. Then begin recruiting your friends to help and sharing your story about why you support the cause you've chosen. At the end of the month, 20 finalists will be chosen based on the number of donors. Then 10 winners will be chosen to receive a pass to Netroots Nation, hotel accommodations and more.
More info at Rally.org.
- Expect announcements of panels and speakers to start happening really, really, really, really soon! If you want to know more about the selection process, check out Nolan's recent post. Suddenly herding cats looks easy.
- Kossack netop published a helpful post about things to do outside of the convention center in Providence, including Five places to drink within walking distance of the Convention Center. Yeah, I thought that might get your attention.
- The Netroots for the Troops campaign assembles care packages at Netroots Nation for our troops in remote combat areas overseas and VA hospitals here at home. The donation link is here. Please give as you can. The more we give, the more they get.
- The NN12 Day of Service is June 11th. We'll be tidying up historic Roger Williams Park and getting a tour of the Save the Bay facility overlooking Narragansett Bay. Among the dignitaries who'll be there: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Rep. Jim Langevin, Rep. David Cicilline and Providence Mayor Angel Taveras. Click here to RSVP.
- To register, click here. For official hotel info, click here.
- To stay in the loop: get on the email list and follow NN12 on Facebook and twitter.
I suppose I should start my pre-convention diet so I'll look all studly in Providence. Yeah. I should definitely do that. Maybe tomorrow.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, April 5, 2012
Note: I call dibs on the next Supreme Court vacancy.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the Pulitzer Prize winners are announced: 11
Days `til the Sweetwater 420 Fest in Atlanta: 15
Year in which NASA plans to launch a 1,350-pound probe to visit the sun: 2018
Speed of the probe, which will get to within 3.7 million miles of it: 125 miles per second
(Source: L.A. Times)
Number of U.S. cities that could get flooded by rising sea levels over the next 100 years: 544
Number of people who would be affected: 3.7 million
(Source: Climate Central via AP)
Percent of men in their 20's who had never viewed porn, according to a University of Montreal project set up to study twenty-somethings who had never viewed porn: 0%
(Source: Details)
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
In general, I'm against kicking 'em when they're down ... unless really awful people are involved. I figured Tom DeLay is so awful, plenty of people would gang up on him and I could pass.
Imagine my surprise when the toughest question one famous TV tough guy could come up with was, "Do you think you invested too much in the Republican Party?" Another inquired whether DeLay could think of any mistakes he'd made. I waited with bated breath for the immortal, "I wish I could learn not to work so hard," but no, he couldn't think of a single one.
---April, 2006
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Puppy Pic of the Day: “This is like, one in a million,” said Dr. Greg Panarello, whose veterinary clinic operated on Kilo. “He’s very lucky.”
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CHEERS to declarations of independents. It's one of the golden rules of elections: in order to win you must get a big chunk of the ideological middle-of-the-roaders to vote for you, and they're a fickle bunch. "You're too hot!" "You're too cold!" "You're juuuust right…but I'm still not sure; fluff my pillow some more!" So it comes as good news that independents are feeling more optimistic about the defining issue of 2012: the economy. Of course, there's always a chance that we'll get rocked by some calamity or other and erase those gains, so between now and November: fluffity fluff fluff. (And don’t forget to leave a mint on top.)
CHEERS to lawmen vs. the "law" man. Oh, it's on, baby. In the white hat: Attorney General Eric Holder. In the black hat: unhinged law enforcement goon, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Spurs a' janglin', eyes a' squintin', fingers a' twitchin'. Best ye hide the young'uns in the cellar:
The Obama administration on Tuesday said it was preparing to sue Arizona county sheriff Joe Arpaio and his department for violating civil rights laws by improperly targeting Latinos in a bid to crack down on illegal immigrants. … The administration's Justice Department and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office have been in settlement talks for months over allegations that officers regularly made unlawful stops and arrests of Latinos, used excessive force against them and failed to adequately protect the Hispanic community.
Go for the jugular, Justice. But heed our warning: when you least expect it, out comes Arpaio's
grey skull sword cane! And then…well, it just kinda gets awkward.
FUCK YOU to Arizona's stupid, idiotic legislators who voted for a law that criminalizes internet speech they don’t care for. Fuck you, assholes. We hear you have sex with goats and throw children's dreams into wood chippers. We also hear you're incestuous porn addicts who want to defect to North Korea and become Kim Jong Un's chamber pot attendants. Sick is what you are---sick and twisted and maybe even Satan worshipping criminals who hate America and want to see it replaced by Iranian thugocracy. And every one of you alleged Hitler lovers in the Arizona meth labislature who voted for this internet speech-killing monstrosity smells like John McCain. And if that upsets you and crosses the boundary of your new law: FUCK YOU!!!!!
Update: Sorry about the McCain quip. That crossed a line.
CHEERS to Great Moments in Medicine. On April 5, 1933, the first operation to remove a lung was performed at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Unfortunately the guy was just there to visit his grandmother, but the point is: Progress!
CHEERS to swing time. One of golf's most prestigious events, the Masters tournament gets underway today in Augusta, Georgia. To the wiinner goes the coveted green jacket. As usual, I'm rooting for old-timers Ben Crenshaw (60) and Tom Watson (62), both that rarest of breeds: Republicans with a little class. And right on schedule, the host finds itself confronting what's popularly known as the 21st century:
Wednesday, the chairman of Augusta National…turned to stone at the idea of adding a woman to the membership. Billy Payne spoke enthusiastically of Augusta adapting to the modern world. Yes, to a digital portal for ticket sales. Yes, to results flashed on smart phones. Yes, to the Masters video game. But no, to any discussions of a two-gender club.
At least not until they figure out how to make the locker rooms wide enough to accommodate hoop skirts.
CHEERS to getting knocked down a peg. Well, well, well. It appears there really is a limit to what Maine's Republican-controlled legislature will tolerate from our tea party governor. Yesterday they overruled Paul LePage's veto of a piece of legislation because they thought it might look rather assholish to slash services to special-needs children. Unlike, say, restricting voter rights, slashing adult mental health and housing services, making it easier for banks to foreclose on homes without the proper paperwork, defunding Public Broadcasting and opening up the pristine Maine woods to commercial development. Those things are merely dickish.
JEERS to a not-so-jolly holiday. Today is "Holy Thursday," which commemorates The Last Supper. (Coincidentaly it's also sock-washing day at the BiPM household, which is, we admit, more on the holey side.) At the Vatican the Pope will keep busy by scrubbing feet. As opposed to the rest of the year when he keeps busy scrubbing the past.
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Five years ago in C&J: April 5, 2007
CHEERS to diplomacy. Because cooler heads prevailed (i.e. the U.S. stayed out of the way), 15 British sailors have been "pardoned" by Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad. In other news, Scooter Libby just signed up for Persian Gulf duty in Her Majesty's Royal Navy.
JEERS to little boys and their little toys. Coming soon to an Eastern European region near you: the glorious The American missile defense shield of freedom! Just as soon as someone can figure out the Ikea instructions. (Bolt A goes where, again??)
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And just one more…
CHEERS to seven years of front-page silliness. April 5, 2005---sixteen months after our debut in the diaries, C&J gets promoted:
Back in December, 2004, Markos gave me two secret boxes marked `A' and `B.' I chose B. As it turns out, box `A' was a million dollars in cash. Box `B' was permission to post Cheers and Jeers on the front page. I really wanted the cash.
So we flipped a coin. Then we played "Rock, Paper, Scissors" and "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Dynamite." We even resorted to: "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Dynamite, Star Wars Missile Defense Shield, Exploding Donkey Cart." To no avail. It always came up `B.'
So yesterday Markos gave me the keys to Daily Kos, the Millennium Falcon of blogs. And aren't you thrilled.
My main memory of that day was posting C&J from my desk at work, then going to a meeting, then going to lunch, then coming back to find an email from Kos asking me why I was embedding a code, which I'd used in the diaries to prevent the margins from going kerflooey, that caused the margins on the front page go kerflooey. To quote Rick Perry: "Sorry…oops." Whether you're a long-time splasher or a relative newcomer, thank you for reading and supporting this snarky little gnat on the blogiverse's butt. I promise to continue focusing on the issues in a serious and sober manner. HuhHuhHuh…I said butt.
Have a nice Thursday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Here's a look back at almost 50 instances of Bill in Portland Maine's (unfortunately?) immortal line, "Swoosh!! Gong!!" popping up throughout pop culture. The phrase might be the most obnoxious thing you can say on a blog and otherwise.
---Gawker
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