Oy vey, I am now [but no longer as of about July 2007] the organizer of The Oakland John Edwards for President/One Corps Meetup—if you live in or near Oakland and want the United States to take steps to end poverty, curb global climate change, and make health care affordable and accessible to all people, then show up!
Category: I Hate Politics Page 6 of 7
From the letters column on a post about the U.S. Attorney scandal (read it) on Salon:
The Authoritarians by Bob Altemeyer, a psychology professor at the University of Manitoba. He says that it’s
about what’s happened to the American government lately. It’s about the disastrous decisions that government has made. It’s about the corruption that rotted the Congress. It’s about how traditional conservatism has nearly been destroyed by authoritarianism. It’s about how the “Religious Right” teamed up with amoral authoritarian leaders to push its un-democratic agenda onto the country. It’s about the United States standing at the crossroads as the next federal election approaches…. [it’s] an easy-ride journey through some relevant scientific studies I have done on authoritarian personalities….
And by “authoritarian personalities,” he doesn’t just mean authoritarian leaders–he also means authoritarian followers. He says John Dean (Watergate figure, Goldwater conservative, and author of Conservatives without Conscience) encouraged him to write it.
I haven’t finished reading it yet, but he doesn’t seem like a wingnut, so I’ll post this.
Robert Salladay blogs California politics at the LA Times. He writes that — surprise, surprise — according to the Legislative Analysts’ Office, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was overly optimistic in his budget predictions.
Hey. I’ve been busy.
I’ve lost about 18 pounds or so in the last 3 months and one day that I’ve been doing the South Beach Diet thing. I have plateaued a little bit after some relatively rapid initial weight loss, but I’m keeping it all off. I think the key now is exercise. The trend overall for my health seems to be good.
Heh: ultra-right wing conservative Californians, who are unhappy with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointing a business-friendly Democrat as chief of staff, are inexplicably trying to draft Mel Gibson for Governor. More power to them, I guess.
Happy Flag Day! Happy Boy George’s birthday (he’s 44).
Al Franken Nails Bill O’Reilly, Again—really just a perfect example of how egregious Fox News is, as if we didn’t already know.
In other news, as of Saturday, it’s official: This is my last month of canvassing. My web site and communications work at CLCV will now be full-time rather than half-time, and I leave the membership department after 2 years of phone prospecting and about 9 months of renewing current members. I can’t believe I lasted that long as a canvasser. It’s a tough job. I’m pretty excited about the change, because I’ll have a chance to accomplish even more.
Oh, that’s the guy Bush is nominating for Attorney General. From the New York Times (emphasis added):
[Alberto] Gonzales was the author of one of the most contentious memorandums to surface in the furor that followed the disclosure of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. In a draft memorandum to Mr. Bush in early 2002, he wrote that the fight against terrorism had rendered the Geneva Conventions “obsolete” in so far as those international accords safeguarded the way people suspected of terrorism should be interrogated. He also wrote that the conventions were “quaint” in that they afforded prisoners privileges like athletic uniforms and commissary rights.
While it remains unclear whether the memorandum ever reached a final form, the tone and breadth of it reflected the sweep of Mr. Gonzales’s legal thinking and what appears to be his willingness to adopt highly aggressive interpretations of the law in the fight against terrorism.
These are making the rounds:
Jon Stewart on Crossfire, if you haven’t seen it.
Must-read: Bush’s particular brand of faith and how it relates to the “reality-based community”. Frightening and compelling.
Life in the Bay Area
A series of 3 vignettes
Life in the Bay Area, Part I
Thursday, I showed up to work on time.
Scout‘s post and Bob Harris‘ post on This Modern World follow my last one nicely. (And frighteningly.)