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Nixon son-in-law, Cox, aims to challenge Hillary in NY
GOP doesn't need to win on Soc'l Sec. and Schiavo From John Heilemann's must-read piece in New York Magazine, "King Karl." (Emphasis mine.) According to this article, Karl Rove can happpily afford to lose on Soc'l Sec. and Schiavo, since GOP efforts on both those fronts are tactical engagements meant to distract Democrats, the later engagement also serving to pacify the Religious Right. Neither engagement deflects Karl Rove et al from nearing the larger strategic goal of turning the Democratic Party into the stale and backward-looking party of the "No!" and the GOP into the party of idealism and reform.
A new pope by April 20th After 26 years of John Paul II's pontificate, the College of Cardinals will soon lock themselves into the Sistine Chapel to begin deliberations and voting for the next pope. How long will it take them? Probably not long given that cardinals can just hop on a jet and fly to Rome, instead of taking a horse and carriage the entire way, and assuming that John Paul II's decline, which lasted years, has given plenty of time for leaders of the Roman Catholic Church to jockey for position, lobby, make arrangements... Still, there are so many factions involved--conservatives (a huge number due to all of the fellow conservatives John Paul II made bishops and cardinals), moderates, some liberals (few); those wanting an elder pope who can be a transitional pope to a younger one soon after, those wanting a non-European pope, those wanting a return to Italian popes.Here is a list of the approximate time between the death of a pope and the election of the next during the last approximately 200 years. Pius VI. Died August 29, 1799 (while a prisoner in Valence, no less). Pius VII elected on March 14, 1800. Pius VII. Died July 20, 1823. Leo XII elected on September 28, 1823. Approx. time lapse: 2 months. Leo XII. Died February 10, 1829. Pius VIII elected on March 31, 1829. Approx. time lapse: 7 weeks. Pius VIII. Died November 30, 1830. Gregory XVI elected on February 2, 1831. Approx. time lapse: 3 months. Gregory XVI. Died June 1, 1846. Pius IX elected on June 16, 1846. Approx. time lapse: 2 weeks. Pius IX. Died February 7, 1878. Leo XIII elected on February 20, 1878. Approx. time lapse: 2 weeks. Leo XIII. Died July 20, 1903. Pius X elected on August 4, 1903. Approx. time lapse: 2 weeks. Pius X. Died August 20, 1914. Benedict XV elected on September 3, 1914. Approx. time lapse: 2 weeks. Benedict XV. Died January 22, 1922. Pius XI elected on February 6, 1922. Approx. time lapse: 2 weeks. Pius XI. Died February 10, 1939. Pius XII elected on March 2, 1939. Approx time lapse: 3 weeks. Pius XII. Died October 9, 1958. John XXIII elected on October 28, 1958. Approx. time lapse: 3 weeks. John XXIII. Died June 3, 1963. Paul VI elected on June 21, 1963. Approx. time lapse: 2 1/2 weeks. Paul VI. Died August 6, 1978. John Paul I elected on August 26, 1978. Approx. time lapse: 3 weeks. John Paul I. Died September 28, 1978 (pope only for 1 month and 3 days). John Paul II elected pope October 16, 1978. Approx. time lapse: 2 1/2 weeks. John Paul II. Died April 2, 2005. ________ elected by April 20, 2005? Neocons' efforts to stop the UN's reforms Robin Cook MP, Leader of the House of Commons from 2001 - 2003, writes in The Guardian on "Why American Neocons are out for Kofi Annan's blood." Possible anti-Semitic remarks by Guantanamo Bay interragators Congressmember Jerrold Nadler is writing Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld in light of The New York Times reporting that detainees at Guantanamo Bay may have been told by their interrogators not to trust their "Jewish lawyers." (More here.) Britain to launch its first Gay TV channel "Faze TV" - a Sky digital channel. Gore Vidal on the state of the republic There is a great interview with Gore Vidal on City Pages. Please read it and enjoy the observations of one of the last living members of the old D.C. patrician set, who knows U.S. history so well, remembers when America was not a superpower, and articulates his opinions and observations with wit and confidence, (and often with a refreshing disregard for political correctness). Some highlights: "There is no people’s party, and you can’t even use the word. "Liberal" has been demonized. A liberal is a commie who’s also a pedophile. Being a communist and a pedophile, he’s so busy that he hasn’t got time to win an election and is odious to boot. So there is no Democratic Party. We hope that something might happen with the governor of Vermont, and maybe something will or maybe it won’t. But we are totally censored, and the press just follows this. It observes what those in power want it to observe, and turns the other way when things get dark. Then, when it’s too late sometimes, you get some very good reporting. But by then, somebody’s playing taps." On American citizens relative to the media: "[T]hey have been transformed, by design, by corporate America, aided by the media, which belongs to corporate America. They are no longer citizens. They are hardly voters. They are consumers, and they consume those things which are advertised on television. They are made to sound like happy consumers. Listen to TV advertising: This one says, "I had this terrible pain, but when I put on Kool-Aid, I found relief overnight. You must try it too." All we do is hear about little cures for little pains. Nothing important gets said. There used to be all those talk shows back in the ’50s and ’60s, when I was on television a great deal. People would talk about many important things, and you had some very good talkers. They’re not allowed on now. Or they’re set loose in the Fox Zoo, in which you have a number of people who pretend to be journalists but are really like animals. Each one has his own noise--there’s the donkey who brays, there’s the pig who squeals. Each one is a different animal in a zoo, making a characteristic noise. The result is chaos, which is what is intended. They don’t want the people to know anything, and the people don’t." Warm fuzzies through the globalization of bigotry: "Our irrational hatred of faggots unites us!" From posts over at dKos (here and here)... "Clerics of 3 Faiths Protest Gay Festival Planned for Jerusalem," The New York Times:
An apt retort from one of the dKos diarists on the subject: "A deep and terrible sorrow? [It's] one thing when a suicide bomber blows [himself] up in a mall. [It's] another thing entirely when *GASP* two gay [men] hold hands while buying ice cream." "Crimes of the Art" - by Charlie Suisman Charlie Suisman's daily "Manhattan User's Guide" (MUG) e-newsletter on March 25 featured a fantastic commentary by Charlie on art censorship. (You can sign up for MUG here.) I recommend and enjoy MUG, and offer you the below extensive citation. "I'm sorry someone punched you in the face; if it had been me, I would have taken a flat-nose shovel or crowbar to your head...so God bless Calling Schiavo's parents to account The below commentary by Clark DeLeon in today's New York edition of the free daily, Metro, dares to do what it has become time to do: challenge Terri Schiavo's parents a bit on their role in fuelling people's ignorance about medical realities and unduly complicating larger "right to die" discussions. "The Spirit Moves On Before the Body Dies" - by Clark DeLeon We let my mother die — my brothers, sisters and I — in a way not unlike what is happening with Terri Schiavo. Mom was in terrific health and planning to host a party at her home on the same day she suffered a massive stroke. In the hospital during the immediate hours afterward, I would have sworn that she could understand us. She couldn’t speak or see, although her eyes were open. But as the family gathered around her bed, I swear, she smiled at a joke. Actually, it wasn’t a joke, but after Mom smiled we all agreed that whatever had been said was very funny and that, beneath the mist, Mom was as sharp as ever. And that is what hope does to a family. We saw what we wanted to see. Those odd jerking motions with her left leg, like she was trying to kick off her bed sheet, we saw as a sign she was trying to communicate to us. But as the hours stretched into days, there were fewer signs. And all the information from the doctors was bleak. They spoke plainly, but in a language of percentages, while we sought yes or no answers. Eighty-five percent of her brain had been lost; 90 percent of people in such a condition fall into a coma for the rest of their lives. At .first we wanted to know if our mother would live. But soon we were asked to decide how she would die. As with Terri Schiavo, the decision involved the feeding tube. Family consent was required before the surgical procedure to insert an artificial feeding device. In what was perhaps the most sacred meeting of our lives, we sons and daughters held hands and agreed to let our mother starve to death. That’s what she would have wanted. That’s what her living will stated. But not in those words, of course. It was only when Terri Schiavo’s mother pleaded this week, “Don’t let my child die of thirst,” that I felt my .first twinge of resentment toward her parents’ long public fight to keep their daughter alive.We can all relate to the concept of thirst better than to dehydration. “Thirst” is a desire Terri hasn’t been capable of feeling for 15 years. Technically, my Mom may have died of a lack of nutrition and water, but during her last days she never experienced hunger or thirst. She died at home in her own bedroom with the curtains open on a sunny Saturday morning. She lived 87 great years, plus two weeks she does not remember. I am certain that Anne Emilie DeLeon’s spirit arrived in heaven days before her human heart stopped beating. She would have been so proud of the way she died, of her children, of her dignity, of the love her life had made possible. And as I watch the news bulletins of the sad last hours of the mortal life of Terri Schiavo, I wonder if, in death, her parents will, at last, be able to grieve the loss of a child who disappeared so many years ago. Will they ever be able to let go? Will they ever be able to forgive? Will they ever regret the political whirlwind their daughter’s long goodbye has caused? A trip of a lifetime The trip of a lifetime is about to resume in the UK today. Taken off the air by the BBC in 1989, Dr. Who returns today in the UK. It is the longest-running sci-fi television show in history. (In one of its episodes even Star Trek: The Next Generation pays homage to Who.) The first episode aired on the BBC the day after JFK was shot--November 23, 1963. (View BBC One's trailer for the new series here, courtesy of DWNY.org.) Most Americans familiar with Dr. Who encountered the series on their local PBS station in the 1970's, '80's, and early '90's. How much will the resurrected program touch on themes resonating with contemporary political issues? Perhaps not at all. However, ~~~~the "classic" series of Dr. Who was officially a children's program; the new Dr. Who series is not: almost any topic is fair game.... ~~~one aspect or another of the show--conceptualization, writing, filming, editing, etc.--was occurring before, during, and mostly after the build-up to the invasion of Iraq ; in fact, some production for this season are still in progress.... ~~the new show's producer is the Oxford-educated and BAFTA-winning writer, Russell T. Davies, the creator of the original Channel Four series, Queer As Folk (compared to which the US version for Showtime is at best derivative, voyeuristic pablum); while Davies hasn't, to the best of my knowledge, publicly spoken out on political issues, it is probably reasonable to assume that someone expert at bringing successful children's educational and entertainment programs and gay-themed dramas to TV is not a pro-war conservative.... ~episodes of this series include "World War III" and "Aliens in London," a 2-parter in which disguised aliens infiltrate the Government (an alien genesis of Tony Blair might explain an awful lot), though given Dr. Who's reliance on time travel as a plot device, it's fair to assume "Aliens in London" takes place before or after today's Labour Government under Blair. The amount of coverage the new series is getting the UK is extraordinary. Large photographs of aliens from the new series have even appeared on the front page of The London Times this week. The BBC has run special documentaries on both TV and radio concerning everything from "the making of" to Dr. Who's remarkably creative, powerful, and resilient electronic theme music; from the so-called "ninth Doctor," Christopher Eccelston, to the long history of Dr. Who, including the famously low-budget special effects of the pre-2004 "classic" series. The new series will be far too expensive for PBS, and hopes remain among U.S. Dr. Who fans that BBCAmerica, the Sci-Fi Channel, or possibly UPN will purchase it. All Dr. Who fans have a first Dr. Who memory. My first encounter with Dr. Who was when, as a kindergartner, I saw a 4:30 p.m. broadcast on Iowa Public Television in which Jon Pertwee, the "third Doctor," went face-to-face with a menacing Sea Monster. Pertwee was commanding and no-nonsense, dressed like a dandy, and the Sea Monsters had these cool laser pistols with wide, flat discs at the end as ray transmitters. I can still remember the way they walked ashore from the sea, and The Doctor's stern visage, his big bundle of white hair, velvet jacket and cape, and gentlemanly leather gloves. For a 6-year-old, it was all terribly interesting, but it was the eerie theme music and opening sequence that made the most enduring impression. *The British use the term "series" when an American would generally expect to encounter the word "season"--the difference is ultimately rooted in the BBC not being dependent on ad revenue...but, more on all this some other time. Fox "News" -- 73% opinion From a "Noted" sidebar of The Week: according to The Washington Post, "Fox News anchors and reporters injected their own opinions into 73 percent of the network's stories about Iraq last year, according to a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. In contrast, 29 percent of the war reports on MSNBC and 2 percent of those on CNN included the journalists' own views." Republican grave robbers: the immorality of what's being done with Schiavo I’ve been unable until yesterday to begin to digest the Terri Schiavo affair. ~~~~~I spoke last night to an attorney friend about the case—which he’s been following. He is a veteran of the prestigious NYC law firm of Davis Polk and is working for the Dept. of Justice in Canada. There is, to quote my friend, "nothing magical" about a written agreement versus an oral one in American law; strictly speaking, an oral agreement is simply harder to prove, but no less binding. In other words, commentators--mostly rightwing--are being ignorantly dismissive of Terri Schiavo's substantiated verbal requests when she was truly alive. These commentators keep stating (whining), "But, there's nothing in writing!" To which an appropriate response seems to be simply, "So what? It genuinely doesn't matter, and is not as significant of a point as you think it is." I.e., her desire is well-substantiated, written statement or will or not. Period. ~~~~My own thinking on the Terri Schiavo affair shifted from "let her ‘live’" as a first impulse, to "this is an exploitation both malicious and grotesque" when I I looked beyond the briefer news summaries of the mainstream, supposedly "liberal," media and in their more in-depth coverage discovered that Schiavo's EKG reading is a flat line; her cerebral cortex mere fluid. Don't people understand what this means? Well…no; clearly they do not. That oughtn’t surprise me when a proper understanding of Schiavo’s situation (i.e., she’s already basically dead) requires a tad bit of scientific understanding, and we live in a nation in which millions lack scientific understanding, in which 47% of adults believe that God created the world in 6 days about 10,000 years ago. (More on that here.) Apparently, millions of Americans including, unfortunately, Terri’s parents, don’t understand the implications of the fact that Terri has no cognitive brain activity in the slightest, and never will. All the business about "Oh, Terri smiles when her mother enters the room" is erroneous (dictionary def.: “derived from error”). It isn’t even “Terri,” per se, in the bed. It’s her sustained body. Her eye movements, smiles, twitches, and virtually all movements observed represent nothing other than random electrical brain activity at its most basic level. Thus, concluding that Schiavo is alive based on such reflexive movements of her artificially sustained anatomy is fallacious. What is more, once Schiavo's medical condition is properly understood, wanting to preserve it actually carries something of a necrophilic pall. Obviously, her poor parents don’t see it this way. We also must keep in mind that for them there are understandable emotional attachments involved. They are victims of ignorance, of course, but ignorance in combination with emotions that all of us should be able to relate to. It must be extraordinarily difficult for them. To expect them to be utterly analytical and detached would be heartless. It is painful for me to think of their grief. But, the fact of the science behind Schiavo’s state remains just the same. In other words, Terri Schiavo’s parents are revealed not necessarily to be the villains in this saga, but are, to some extent, products of a mal-educated national educational system and the propaganda of rightwing religious leaders opposed to science. (This is not to suggest that those two influences are the only ones bringing Schiavo's parents to their present states of mind.) More truly villains are the odious Republican Congressmembers, rightwing commentators, and the President of The United States who would knowingly exploit this situation for short-term political gain. The immorality in the Schiavo saga rests not with the cessation of coursing nutrients through a feeding tube, but in the way conservatives have deceptively used Schiavo's parents and body. It is a kind of grave robbing, and it is morally repugnant. Sen. Bill Frist, M.D. in particular has violated all norms of commonsense and medical ethics to dare to “diagnose” Schiavo from a mere video clip, and, of course, he diagnosed Schiavo’s condition in a manner that fuels the public’s ignorance, that perpetuates the lie that Schiavo is “alive." His colleagues in the medical community for the sake of the public trust and the integrity of their profession need to swiftly and publicly take strong action against this politician. Republicans are winning hearts and minds of under-30's with Social Security deception From Thom Hartmann's great article on Common Dreams: Young people are where the political hay is to be made: Republicans believe they are the necessary key to single party rule. So the tacticians at the RNC developed an elaborate - and, so far, very successful - sleight of hand. They'd use a dubious Social Security "crisis" to convince young people that: 1. Republicans want young people to get the best "return" on their "Social Security tax dollar investment." 2. Democrats don't care about the interests of young people, but only want to pander to old people to get their votes. 3. Selfish old people, their "special interest" lobby the AARP, and the Democrats they "own" will prevent young people from getting the "benefits" of the "free market." All of this, of course, ignores a series of realities: 1. Social Security is an anti-poverty insurance program, not an investment program. A third of its payments don't even go to retirees but, instead, are distributed to - literally - widows, orphans, and people so crippled or disabled that they can't work. (And people who outlive actuarial averages often get more back than they paid in.) 2. The "iceberg" Social Security will "hit" is based on very slow/low growth assumptions of the American economy (a continuation of the Bush recession for 75 years). But if the economy grows over the next 75 years at exactly the same rate it has for the past 75 - even including the years of the Great Depression - there will be no Social Security shortfall whatsoever. 3. The "high return" assumptions for private accounts assume the American economy will grow so fast that, if they're met, there would be no need for any Social Security reform whatsoever. 4. Even if Social Security does run low on cash in 2042 or 2052 (depending on which arm of Congress you're listening to), private accounts won't add a single penny to that cash-flow problem. In fact, the borrowing necessary to fund the first generation's private accounts will throw the system even further in the red. But the real Republican agenda here has little to do with Social Security. (Energizing "free market conservatives" like Greenspan, who have always thought of Social Security as socialism, is a bonus freebie, as is any payback to Wall Street for campaign donations.) It's really all about capturing the only demographic that voted as a block against Bush in 2004, to establish a future fifty years of Republican single-party rule. This is why it's so critical for Bush to carefully control who's allowed into his "conversations" about Social Security around the country.... It's why our tax dollars are illegally being used to push propaganda on young Americans about Social Security (propaganda that's even being repeated on youth-friendly venues like The Daily Show). And it's why otherwise rational and even usually honest Republicans are (although occasionally only mildly) "supporting the President" on this issue. ..... Since the rise of Coors' and Scaife's Heritage Foundation, Rev. Moon's Washington Times, Newt and his Machiavelli Frank Luntz, Murdoch's Fox News, and Lee Atwater's Reagan/Bush "perpetual campaign," Republicans have been playing chess, planning a dozen moves and three to four election cycles ahead. They plan to win big among under-30's in their long-term electoral chess game, even as they set it up to appear to "lose" at short-term Social Security checkers.... Progressive Democrats must immediately develop and implement a strategic, multi-step response to the Republican Social Security gambit, carefully targeted to the under-30 demographic, if Jefferson's Party and the Enlightenment ideals of our democracy are to survive. Because we're so sweet... Because Isebrand.com is just so gosh-darn cutesy-poo. (Yeah, right...about 1 out of every 100 posts) - Bird feeder cam, live from Ithaca, NY! NY Assemblymember to intro police/firefighter domestic partner death benefits Assemblymember Deborah Glick has announced that she'll propose an accidental death benefits bill for domestic partners of police and firefighters. She was quoted in amNew York: "Special legislation was needed after the World Trade Center attack to make domestic partners of officers killed during [9/11] eligible for accidental death benefits and was supported by both houses of the Legislature." She added, "After all, public employees in New York City and New York State have access to recognition as domestic partnerships for other benefits." This comes on the heels of an unhappy court ruling: yesterday's ruling by the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court that the Workers Compensation Board rightly denied benefits to William Valentine after his longtime partner, a flight attendant, died in the 2001 crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in NYC. |
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