Yesterday was, of course, another anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. As I walked into the building, a big United jet flew overhead, and I looked up to watch it climb into the soft morning sky and thought it was a good sight to see. Then I walked into the lobby and saw the big flag that was hung there for months and months after the first 9/11 and teared up, remembering the fear and dread that gripped our country (and still grips some people, apparently). I had dressed more soberly than usual; I wore a dark purple pinwale corduroy overshirt,…
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David Horsey’s political cartoon on the passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy is excellent. His blog post goes on to say: Ted Kennedy’s very personal funeral pageant So many of the personal reflections about Sen. Kennedy were similar tales about his dedication to family and friends. It made me resolve to be a more attentive friend — to make the phone calls and send the notes and be present in tough times the way Kennedy apparently was. All these testimonials were verification that the senator’s abundant personal empathy is what inspired his liberalism and infused his public life. One interview after…
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@pourmecoffee Of course we knew crap like this went down. But nobody said a word until they could publish their tell-alls. Tom Ridge on National Security After 9/11 – Washington Whispers (usnews.com) Ridge was never invited to sit in on National Security Council meetings; was “blindsided” by the FBI in morning Oval Office meetings because the agency withheld critical information from him; found his urgings to block Michael Brown from being named head of the emergency agency blamed for the Hurricane Katrina disaster ignored; and was pushed to raise the security alert on the eve of President Bush’s re-election, something…
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We naive Americans apparently think that’s what they’re for, according to London’s deputy mayor. BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | Sex card challenge to phone firms Kit Malthouse, London’s deputy mayor for policing, wants the numbers on sex calling cards found in telephone boxes blocked as soon as they are identified. He said mobile phone numbers were valuable to those behind the sex industry and should be cut off. The deputy mayor has invited Vodafone, Orange, O2, 3, Virgin and T-Mobile to meet him. Mr Malthouse said: “If you are an American tourist and if you walk…
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Bruce Bartlett’s thoughtful piece has been making the rounds. The GOPs Misplaced Rage – The Daily Beast David Horsey: We Want Our Country Back In my opinion, conservative activists, who seem to believe that the louder they shout the more correct their beliefs must be, are less angry about Obama’s policies than they are about having lost the White House in 2008. They are primarily Republican Party hacks trying to overturn the election results, not representatives of a true grassroots revolt against liberal policies. If that were the case they would have been out demonstrating against the Medicare drug benefit,…
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Oh, for the love of Mike, what a maroon moomom moran #Palin is. Evil image of black cat evilly ganked from OneUtah, a blog you should read. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Sarah Palin: Obama’s healthcare ‘evil’: The Swamp After a brief respite from Twritter and all the rest, the early-self-retired-resigned-withdrawn-bowed-out governor of Alaska has returned to Facebook. With fire: Calling President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform “downright evil.” “The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’…
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He forgot those 19 lunatics that ruined everything (democracy, civil rights, privacy, 2 wars) because the Bush administration didn’t pass on using 9/11 for its own ends. Glenn Beck pleads with his audience not to resort to violence: “Just one lunatic like Timothy McVeigh could ruin everything” | Crooks and Liars These people in Washington have no idea what they have done. They have wakened a sleeping giant. But just one lunatic like Timothy McVeigh could ruin everything that everyone has worked so hard for, because these people in Washington won’t pass up the use of an emergency.
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We saw welcome signs, flags in one back yard, and people waving from an overpass as we drove along I-57 today, so this story confirms what we suspected. Illinois soldiers return home from Afghanistan — chicagotribune.com KANKAKEE, Ill. – About 135 Illinois Army National Guard soldiers have returned home after a 9-month deployment to Afghanistan. The soldiers from the 178th Infantry were greeted Sunday by their families, friends and supporters at a welcome home ceremony in Kankakee. The soldiers were on three buses and followed a parade route from Manteno, through Bradley and then to a Kankakee community center. They…
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Charlie Pierce’s “Idiot America.”Dumb as a Blog: Dumb As An Interview: <i>Idiot America</i> Author Charles Pierce on truTV.com Mockery has been an important part of informed citizenry ever since the concept of citizenry was invented. Satire is a weapon of the disenfranchised and the un-empowered. One of the most distressing developments of recent times is that people like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter are regularly referred to as “satirists,” when, in fact, they are mere bullies on behalf of the established powers. I don’t argue that mockery makes us smarter, but it can make us better citizens. I hope Sarah…
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As a liberal Episcopalian, I cheered and was cheered by the passage of several inclusive, progressive resolutions at the recently concluded convention. We can go forward now, I think. #ecgc Pared-Down Episcopal Church Is Looking to Grow Through ‘Inclusivity’ – NYTimes.com Not everybody agrees with this view, or is happy about the changes – even some in my own state, in the two more conservative dioceses downstate, away from the Chicago urban/suburban area. They are genuinely grieved, and they believe that the church is in the process of ruining itself. I don’t agree; I think we are finally ready to…