I've been stewing.

Not in a culinary way, obviously. That would be: I have been making stew. I have been stewing in a ruminating, contemplating, gathering emotions sort of way. I owe it to my anger to have to let it become potent, to properly articulate what I'm feeling. When there is a bad taste in your mouth you need some time, to drink some water, wash it away.

Tim Russert, you win my first CCS award. Yes, you, you Conservative Cocksucker.

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Obama,one of the things in a campaign is that you have to react to unexpected developments.

On Sunday, the headline in your hometown paper, Chicago Tribune: "Louis Farrakhan Backs Obama for President at Nation of Islam Convention in Chicago." Do you accept the support of Louis Farrakhan?

All right...Is this 1988? Did I just step into a time warp? When the hell was the last time Farrakhan was relevant politically? How long has it been since we heard his name on the nightly news? Bringing him up was so shocking I spilled a little of my beer at the watch-party I was attending. You had the opportunity to ask a presidential candidate anything, and this is the best you can come up with?

MR. RUSSERT: The problem some voters may have is, as you know, Reverend Farrakhan called Judaism "gutter religion."

You had the opportunity to ask a presidential candidate anything, and this is the best you can come up with, I ask yet again? In case, anyone didn't react with enough horror at the utterance of his name, neighing wildly like the horses in Young Frankenstein every time Frau Bluker was mentioned, Russert had to remind us.

RUSSERT: The title of one of your books, "Audacity of Hope," you acknowledge you got from a sermon from Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the head of the Trinity United Church. He said that Louis Farrakhan "epitomizes greatness."

He said that he went to Libya in 1984 with Louis Farrakhan to visit with Moammar Gadhafi and that, when your political opponents found out about that, quote, "your Jewish support would dry up quicker than a snowball in Hell."

RUSSERT: What do you do to assure Jewish-Americans that, whether it's Farrakhan's support, or the activities of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, your pastor, you are consistent with issues regarding Israel and not in any way suggesting that Farrakhan epitomizes greatness?

Let's scare some Jews!! This was a rather transparent attempt to remind the Jewish community and the rest of America that Obama's father was a Muslim. And, maybe he's a secret Muslim!!! So what if he was Muslim?

Mr. Russert, and all and sundry bigots, it's like this: being a Muslim is not a crime, not something that indicates natural-born evil, insanity or homicidal animus towards Jews. The Bush years have been some of the most divisive since Vietnam, maybe even since the Civil War, and yet you, Tim Russert whack the hornet's nest with questions such as these.

Wonder if he would ask these kinds of questions of the Republicans? Doubt it.

This from Glen Greenwald : In the framework of the Russert-led establishment press, white evangelical Christians are, by definition, entitled to great respect no matter how radical, extreme and hateful their professed views are. These are, after all, religious Christians — People of Faith — and, as such, it is wrong, even bigoted, to suggest that they should be repudiated. There is nothing ever radical, hateful or dangerous about the views of white evangelical Christians like Hagee. Thus, white evangelical Ministers are free to advocate American wars based on Biblical mandates, rant hatefully against Islam, and argue that natural disasters occur because God hates gay people. They are still fit for good company, an important and cherished part of our mainstream American political system. The entire GOP establishment is permitted actively to lavish them with praise and court their support without the slightest backlash or controversy.
www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/02/28/hagee/index.html

I believe we all know why he did what he did now....

I recall thinking it was weird that Mitt Romney merely suspended his campaign, rather than end it entirely. I saw 3 possible scenarios.

1. Mitt is vindictive, and keeping hold of his close to 300 delegates was his charming way of being a spoiler.

But then I thought, naw...he wants to be president so, so, so badly. Doing that would be political suicide. That would be crazier than strapping your dog to the roof of...your...damn, he's done that.

2. Mitt is delusional. (That's it...I'll lie on the bottom of the swamp, letting my wounds heal, and then when McCain least expects it, I'll spring up from the mud, and pounce. He'll never see it coming!!!)

He is delusional. A Mormon who wants to be the standard bearer for the party of religious intolerance? Does he not realize that all those Conservative Christian Cocksuckers think he is in a cult? A cult scarier than Scientology?

3. Our dear Mittens KNOWS something. Something that might make even the CCC's suddenly see him as the best they've got.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/02/romneyback.html

"A Parade of Propaganda! A Festival of Ignorance!"

I'm still laughing. I checked in at Hold Fast to see if my friend MBH had any more dirty old man and dirty young lobbyist dirt to share, and saw this...

www.dailymotion.com/video/x4h8c2_comic_news



Lee, my friend, once again I have to say I'm proud to know you. And I nearly spit water on my keyboard thanks to you!

Holy Shit , Huckabee is on SNL!

The man scares me. Putting AIDS patients in quarantine,on an island? Repeal Woe v Wade? Covenant marriage? Biblical based re-write of the Constitution? But I have to admire his sense of humor. I doubt McCain or HRC could make fun of themselves on national television this way. No wonder he is still giving McCain some trouble, he's likable. And we know Americans never cast their votes for foolish reasons.

Something I never thought I'd see!!

I'm home sick-could ya guess, seeing as this is a Saturday night. I read this story in the Houston Chronicle. I'm not from Texas, and haven't really had a desire to go, except to see Austin, and South by Southwest.

I used to date someone from Texas. He was from Waco, then Houston, he had lived all over the South. His dad was an ex-marine, now a minister, his great-grandfather was a Texas Ranger. The family, was white, middle class and Independent. That's Conservative to those of us in New York, and my home state of New Jersey. My ex worked for...Halliburton. I know, I know. But when he was hired, fresh out of Texas A&M he didn't know what he was getting himself into. They dangled a lot of money in front of his 22 year old nose. He had no idea what manner of beast Dick Chaney was until he began working for him. He was an oil services engineer, and frankly, kind of naive about the nature of corporations. Though I admit the things he saw and experienced at Halliburton were close to indentured servitude. They recruited at campuses to get the less informed like my ex boyfriend. The contracts were 2 years longer than the norm in the industry, so when his peers were done, and renegotiating, he was stuck at Halliburton making 25,000 less and having to live in Louisiana in the guaranteed housing that was a ramshackle trailer with a swamp full of alligators directly behind it. They kept them on call 24 hrs a day, and left them out at sea on the oil rigs far beyond the 2 week limit when they were supposed to recall them. No one he worked with re-signed when they were finally free.

There were other abuses, illegalities, and crooked dealings he saw, but wouldn't reveal enough to repeat, but even this moderately conservative white boy from Texas was horrified by the nomination of GW. Bush. He told me he always thought he was a dummy, and couldn't understand how he got to be governor, and that he knew few people who had voted for him. When he heard about his VP choice, he blanched, and said that he had been wrong, Bush must also be evil, for Chaney was one of the most evil people ever, and the worst employer he had ever had in his life. Though he was afraid that his state would back Bush because, although rather stupid, he was one of their own, a good Christian, and they knew nothing about the evil that is Chaney.

In short, he thought his fellow Texans were foolish enough to allow an idiot to run the country, simply because he was their idiot, and they knew nothing about the circle of malevolence he surrounded himself with. Even the moderates and liberals in Texas were not exactly invested in the political process, or they would have known better?

Well, looks like that's all changed. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5563949.html

Once upon a Time...

Although I have years of relationships that range from ill-fated, to disastrous, to what-the-hell were you thinking, girl? I just loved Once. The Frames deserve to be much bigger than they are in America. I hadn't heard much about them until this film, now the soundtrack takes permanent residence in my Ipod. This article on Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova was sweet...though I am a bit creeped out, not by the age difference, but by the age she was when they MET!

A Night Out With

Life Imitating Film

J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times

THE NOMINEES Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, songwriters and performers in search of songs at a record store in Hollywood.

By JAMIE DIAMOND

Published: February 24, 2008

LOS ANGELES

WITH its microscopic budget, the Irish film “Once” could have disappeared from theaters without acknowledgment; instead it earned Oscar and Grammy nominations for its musical stars, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.

But when Mr. Hansard and Ms. Irglova came to town recently for their first-ever awards season, they did not stay in a luxurious hotel. Like many artists trying to stay afloat in the indie world, they crashed at a friend’s house.

A few days before they were to perform their nominated song “Falling Slowly” at the Academy Awards, the two musicians — who went from on-screen pair to real-life couple — borrowed a car and drove to Amoeba Music on Sunset Boulevard. They were besieged by fans. “ ‘Once’ was so authentic,” a young man said enthusiastically.

Mr. Hansard, the 37-year-old frontman of the Dublin rock band the Frames, gave an aw-shucks smile.

Ms. Irglova, a 19-year-old singer and pianist of Czech descent, stood to the side, fiddling with a locket she was wearing. Both performers were looking forward to rebelling against the formal dress code at the Oscars.

“I don’t own a suit, so I just bought one,” said Mr. Hansard, whose curly hair looked as if someone had taken an eggbeater to it. “But I’m not going to wear black tie. I’m going to be meself. They’re not going to kick me out!”

Ms. Irglova said, “For me to wear a night gown ...”

“A what?” Mr. Hansard interrupted.

“An evening gown,” she said, correcting herself.

“No,” he said with a laugh. “I like it. Let’s both go in our pajamas.”

Upstairs, the couple looked for DVDs to take back to the home they share outside Dublin. “How many copies do you already have of ‘Das Boot’?" Ms. Irglova asked Mr. Hansard, referring to the submarine epic.

“ ‘Das Boot’ is the bible for any band that toured on a bus,” Mr. Hansard explained. “It’s the guide about how to live with a bunch of men.”

At the Hungry Cat, a fish restaurant, the two discussed how they met in Ms. Irglova’s hometown. In 2001, her father helped book the Frames for a local music festival, and her parents were hosts for a preconcert party. At the concert, as a thank you for the party, Mr. Hansard pulled Ms. Irglova, 13, onto the stage to sing.

“I was super embarrassed, but not because I had a rock-star crush,” said Ms. Irglova, who was studying guitar and classical piano at the time. “It was because he was Irish and exotic, and I had to speak English.”

That early collaboration led Mr. Hansard and Ms. Irglova to work together on an album, “The Swell Season,” and “Once,” the story of a partnership between struggling musicians that teeters on the border of romance. While promoting that film, Ms. Irglova and Mr. Hansard fell in love.

“She’s smarter than me,” Mr. Hansard said, not without pride.

Without a moment’s pause, Ms. Irglova said, “That’s true.”

“Songwriters have trouble growing up,” he explained.

Ms. Irglova gave Mr. Hansard her biggest smile of the evening.

I bet you're wondering what Fifth Generation Leftist Means.

I would be. But then, I'm naturally inquisitive. And talkative.

Fifth Generation Leftist is a reference to my family history, on both sides, distaff and spear. My ancestors are more interesting than those in my extended family today, unfortunately. Once the "Greatest Generation" people died out...well not many good stories left to hear. I am the baby out of my first and second cousins, and an only child. They are 18 to 25 years older than I. Though oddly, I know much more about the family history than they do, for I actually listened. I spent a great deal of time with the old folks-the family members who were born in the 19th century, who remembered the Depression, who fought in WWI, who were suffragettes, and in a couple of instances bootleggers, who kept detailed records, pictures, diaries, and had been as curious as I was when they were young children. They had had the opportunity to sit at the feet of the women who were the first American Feminists, and men who were Abolitionists, grandchildren of people who fought in the Revolution. As you can gather, we've been in America a really long time. The earliest they could trace was 1632.

These people I come from all fell under what is considered the left side of the political spectrum. Thank God. So therefore, I am the fifth generation leftist in my family tree.