Bloggers Under the Bus and Over the Rainbow

Bitter knitter Sino Peruvian lesbian blogger in between hot flashes

I was going to do a nice staid article about the Fed and regulation but frankly it’s a nice sunny, tropical Sunday down here and it just doesn’t seem kind to overwhelm my brain or yours with Barky Frankisms and tales from the crypt of A(ll)yn Greenspan. I scoured my usual sites for inspiration over coffee and landed on Memeorandum. The source didn’t thrill me but the headline was superb.

There it was on The Other McCain screaming ‘You’d be surprised what some of those Morons write on the Internet.’ Then there was The Public Editor over at the NY Times discussing how the Gray Lady handled the Acorn case versus Fox News. What grabbed me on The Other McCain was this bit which sent me off to Andrew Sullivan’s blog. You know, there is certainly a lotta crap out there under the catchall term of political blog.

Just think about Andrew Sullivan sitting there in Pathum, Thailand — I’m not kidding — lecturing Michelle Malkin (!) on conservatism:

By the way, there is nothing conservative about Southern populism.

We talked–after the election–about the direction the Blogosphere might take during 2009. I think we can already see the role of Twitter and the role of live blogging things like the Honduran Revolution or the Iranian protests over the Election. As an ‘institution’, if you will, we forced CNN out of its weekend complacency cocoon to cover real news stories instead of running pablum over and over with a few Youtubes and talking heads thrown in. That is probably the thing that will turn into case studies in Journalism schools around the country. My take is that this is a good thing.

There is also the increased patronage on wonky finance and econ blogs because more than the nation’s PhD students in Financial economics now have an interest in Financial Derivatives and the Federal Reserve Bank. There has been an increasing link between the worlds ’scholars’ and the blogosphere. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been watching the the dissection of the financial crisis and macroeconomics play out in a public forum outside of the peer review process and I find it fascinating. I knew I always had trouble with Lucas, Fama, Cochrane et al when I was studying the efficient markets hypothesis and forced into recreating the results of various ’seminal’ works but was basically hushed into silence by awed lecturers on the Gods of Finance. It’s been nothing but entertaining for me to see the wonkier macroeconomists point out basic errors in their arguments such as mixing up endogenous and exogenous variables. This is so basic that it would probably cause you to flunk a qualifying exam. I can only imagine that similar things are going on in the wonkier science blogs on issues ranging from climate change to RNA transcription. Again, my take is this is a good thing. It turns every one’s lap top into a lecture hall and specialist meeting. I’m all for this.

However, I front page at The Confluence which specializes in examining everything from the vantage point of politics. This is where I’ve noticed some distinct morphing over the year since the election. The political blogosphere seems to have split into three distinct camps now. Those that just exist to promote whatever firebrand idea of so-called conservatism they burnish who pick up and run on any tidbit that seems to support the ideology; factual or fishy. Those that support the current administration and apologize and rationalize every misstep and pick and run with any tidbit that seems to support their view of the world; factual or fishy. Then there’s a third group that either follow a group of issues or are just trying to figure out how best to get the issues brought into the discussion and action realm on top of all the ideological or partisan screaming. I think I can say as a member of the front page editing team that we really really try to fall into the latter group.

A message from PEER

As a public employee, I found myself frequently in the position of watching higher-ups do things that were not ethical, responsible or mindful of the public welfare.  I have less problems with that now that I work for a University as a prof endowed with intellectual freedom.  Other agency employees don’t have that same protection.  I have worked for ‘other’ agencies. There was also very little I could do about it.  One of the groups I support is PEER.  This is a group called Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.  It was formed, in part, because of the incredible suppression of scientific evidence that has occurred recently to further business interests.

I’d like to bring this latest action memo to your attention as I think you’ll agree, it’s an interesting one.

 

As word of President-elect Obama’s environmental team was being authoritatively leaked around town, one name jumped out at us – Lisa Jackson, until recently head of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, was tapped to head EPA. 

Anguished DEP employees (and a few who had resigned in disgust) urged us to put the word out about Jackson, including her -

• Failure to tell parents or workers at the Kiddie Kollege day-care center for three months about mercury contamination in the former thermometer factory it was located in (kid you not);
• Efforts that set water quality standards so low that aquatic life in the state’s rivers and lakes would be poisoned – and that was according to the Bush administration, which also had to intervene to rescue New Jersey’s crippled Superfund program; and
• Suppression of science, politicized decision-making, and an embrace of secrecy (even invoking “executive privilege” to shield her meeting calendars from public view).

In short, her former staff at DEP would be the last to nominate her for promotion.  The stories from DEP workers are eerily reminiscent of what we have been hearing from dispirited EPA staff during the Bush years.

As one might imagine, our note of dissent on the Jackson pick is being drowned out by a chorus of happy talk.  We will be urging the Senate and anyone else who seriously want to evaluate Ms. Jackson’s record to talk to the parents of the Kiddie Kollege toddlers.

As one might imagine, I have a feeling that in the coming years, more than ever, PEER will be called upon to tell inconvenient truths. 

Politics Make for Strange Bedfellows

I’ve been watching some of the links showing up here at my blog and also at The Confluence.  Something really STRANGE is going on.  The Republicans are abuzz with praises for Pumas.  I’m reading blog after blog on the right saying that PUMAS may very  well save the country.  Check out these links.  It will make you a believer in the old saying that politics make strange bedfellows.

 

From Redstate:  More on Why McCain should Win:  The Puma Factor

From McCain Democrat Clinton Republican:  People Want to know about Puma

From Death by a 1000 papercuts:  Pumas the Democrats the Media Doesn’t Want to Talk About

To be real honest, I’ve had a feeling that folks have been reading many of our sites for some time.  This includes the media.  I also know that some of the things that have been discussed here on The Confluence and on other Puma sites have shown up a few days after the topic was completely dissected by the PUMA community.  Several times we’ve been accused of passing right wing memes when I swear the points were discussed here prior to being tossed around on right wing blogs and even right wing radio shows.

Several stories broken here (including SimoFish’s posting of the Hillary Fundraiser where Hillary says she thinks that putting her name up for a roll call vote would help her supporters gain closure) and on No Quarter. ( Think ACORN  and most of the ACORN threads including the Obama expenditure on “lights, etc” which turned out to be voter-registration related .)  These were first discoverd in the PUMA world.

You may feel discouraged and think that we’re not making a difference, but you really shouldn’t.  This should tell you that our voices are being heard and that our cause has been well-argued.  Now is the time for us to finally decide where to put our final action: OUR VOTE.  As for me, I’ve gone into a voting pack with SM77 who lives in the swing state of Florida.  I will be voting for Cynthia McKinney for her, here in New Orleans, LA.  Louisiana is a red state.  She will be casting my vote for John McCain in Florida.  

Please, PUMAs, stick to your guns and cast your vote in accordance with our principles.  It is up to us to show the DNC that denying one-man one vote to TWO states, stacking primaries so that small states out count large swing sates, and allowing rampant caucus frauds are not behaviors we wish the democratic party to undertake.  Let them know that we don’t appreciate them putting a candidate with no accomplishments and a race-baiting, misogynistic campaign to the front of the line.  Vote your conscious!  Vote like a PUMA!  Even the Republicans know that we can make a difference!

Protest Voting 101

Player Queen:
Both here and hence pursue me lasting strife,
If once I be a widow, ever I be a wife!

Player King:
‘Tis deeply sworn. Sweet, leave me here a while,
My spirits grow dull, and fain I would beguile
The tedious day with sleep.

Player Queen:
Sleep rock thy brain,
And never come mischance between us twain!

Hamlet:
Madam, how like you this play?

Queen:
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Hamlet Act 3, scene 2, 222–230

 

Puma is a protest movement.  Our blogs outline our strategies.  Our votes are our tactics.    I’m not exactly sure how much clearer I can make this but it appears that we have to repeat these simple facts over and over.  If we don’t, no one gets us.

The nature of our protest vote is that is exactly that a PROTEST.  This means that our friends who can’t understand why we might vote for a candidate that doesn’t have a chance (McKinney or Nader) or a ticket that we may not agree with on many issues (McCain Palin) don’t understand what a PROTEST vote means. Protests voting means your vote is a protest.  It simply doesn’t have to make sense to any one else.

I started thinking about this today due to a post by Masslib on Alegre’s blog and a response by Or what Vahalla said. 

Or what Valhalla said (4.00 / 2)

 

The premise of a protest vote is that it’s not issues-related.

What I meant to say, put more succintly

This also hit me in the face when I saw a response to my own posting “The No NO Sisterhood”.  A post by Ben Kilpatrick assumed I voted all women during the democratic run-off in Louisiana just because I was woman who votes for women as a means to discriminate against men.

Just voting for women is the same as just voting for the black guy, or the republican guy, or or or

And it’s about as smart a move as all of those.

My vote was a protest against the treatment of women candidates this year.  I did not vote for all women because as a woman, I was voting for ALL women. I voted for all women as a protest.  I did not like the way Hillary was treated. I do not like the way Sarah Palin is being treated.  I will not stand for Helena Morena being treated similarly either.  Already, it is starting.  A blog for the local New Orleans business newspaper picked up one quote from my two day postings concerning the second congressional race and all my comments about Ms. Moreno.  You can read it here.  The only line the blog picked up from me about Helena was that most folks here were calling her the “little white girl in the race” which I view as confusing folks on her mixed white/Latina heritage and belittling her status as a woman by calling her ‘girl’.

I’m still thinking about what kind of protest vote I will make this year when I step in the booth to vote for President.  I know I will not vote for Obama.  I will not vote for the issues, for once, because I am protesting how he got the nomination, I am protesting how the DNC actively and underhandedly promoted him over a much more qualified and able woman, and how he has been given a HUGE pass by the MSM.  I know many of my PUMA friends will vote for McCain Palin, others will just skip the vote, others will still vote for Hillary, and some will vote for third party candidates.

We do not have to explain the ‘logic’ of our vote over and over and over again. It’s not about the issues (like Roe v. Wade), it’s not about the economy, and it’s certainly not about voting party lines.  It’s a protest vote.  As such, it only has to make sense to us!  

I think we need to take some time and rethink why we view our votes as protests this year.  This is especially true if you’re thinking of drinking that koolaid and falling prey to the logic of voting on issues at this point.  Puma ceases to become a protest movement at that point.  It’s effectiveness at supporting reform within the democratic party has no teeth at the point we stop protesting.

There is no such thing for PUMAs as ladies (or gentlemen) protesting too much at this point.  Afterall, it is our democracy at stake.

(cross-posted at The Confluence)

Join the NO NO Sisterhood!

I voted in the Democratic run-off yesterday in Louisiana. I did something that I haven’t done for a long time.  I went down the list of candidates for judgeships and the various other races and voted for all the women. Something tells me I wasn’t alone in this when I heard second congressional district candidate Helena Moreno’s speech after she placed second after $Bill Jefferson and ahead of five well known black male politicians vying for the position.  She had a lot of cross-over vote here in a city where the politics of race is pervasive.  She’s a latina and has been frequently labelled  as “that little white girl” in the race.  Her cross-over vote came from black women. This year may yet be known as the REAL year of the woman when a female awakening turns the tide against misogyny and sexism. Our mantra could be something to the effect of “We’re bitter, we vote, get out of office!”

Helena Moreno  has been in New Orleans about 8 years. She quit her job as a news anchor in March to run for office.  As a journalist, she was frequently out on the beat looking for corruption and places where things don’t quite work for people. Since this is New Orleans, Moreno never ran out of material. Moreno also lived through Hurricane Katrina and learned its lessons well.

While she does have great name recognition and quite a presence, she is considered the underdog in this race because of the politics of racial identity. That is unless the politics of being a woman in what has arguably been a brutal year for women creates a NO NO sisterhood.  That is what I want to see: a movement where all women stand up together and say “NO, he didn’t!”  I hope this year we just don’t wag our fingers and speak our indignation then vote for folks who promise to be marginally less worse on the issues we care about.  In the No NO Sisterhood, we vote our interests and write checks to support women’s campaigns to ensure our voices our heard and acted on.  I’m thinking we should adopt that old women’s fist raised in the symbol of woman with a slight change.  The middle finger should be raised to the media and politicians who practice the politics of beating up on women.

During the primary, Moreno had a number of typical dirty tricks pulled on her–including the usual things like hiring Robo phone calls that say you’re from her campaign at all hours and times of day to harass folks and turn them off.  She also became the victim of a whisper campaign that went more public.  During a televised debate an exchange between Moreno and State Rep. Cedric Richmond turned into a shouting match.  Richmond is currently fighting against a suspension of his law license for using a nonprimary residence to run for a city council seat.  This exchange happened shortly after Moreno called him out on the pending case. Here’s the script as reported by the Times Picayune.

“Would everyone up here, Miss Moreno specifically, would you be willing to submit to a random drug test?” Richmond asked, noting that many job applicants face such screening

…

The nasty confrontation ended with Moreno, stung by what she called Richmond’s outrageous “suggestion” that she uses drugs, marching out of WDSU-TV’s downtown New Orleans’ studios and into a nearby clinic, where she voluntarily submitted to a drug test.

She quickly delivered the results — a clean reading — to The Times-Picayune.

There’s been a lot of interesting coverage of this race, and as Ms. Moreno takes on $Bill Jefferson, it is bound to get a whole lot more interesting.  That is why I am asking you to not only follow what happens, but to help Helena.  She’s running in New Orleans and in Louisiana.  Politics down here are not only interesting, but can be very brutal.

Here’s her website:  Moreno for Congress

Please join me at the NO NO Sisterhood at Act Blue to support Helena Moreno and other fine women candidates. 

No No Sisterhood

I think this year has taught us that we cannot rely on many of the current members of the DNC to protect our interests.  We need to send some more women to congress, now.

(Cross-posted at the Confluence)

Why Does the DNC fear Democracy?

I used to enjoy the lead ups to conventions.  This was especially true when I was much younger and they had less of an advertising feel and more of a rough and tumble display of democracy-at-work.  I actually enjoyed watching both Teddy Kennedy and Jesse Jackson try to pull stunts, and then the Ford-Reagan Republican struggle was classic.  I enjoyed watching Pat Buchanan make trouble and think I really got the message of how dangerous the religious right was during the convention that featured Pat Robertson prominently.   I think it was how I became addicted to politics they way many folks do to sports.  I remember watching all the old great news anchors, the balloons falling (all originally in black and white) and the silly hats and outfits.

Now conventions seem to have originated more from Madison Avenue than from Philadelphia and James Madison.  The DNC’s attempt to make this convention go as smoothly as possible for Obama has been farcical.  An extremely close primary outcome has–in the past–led to a very fractious convention.  The DNC is doing everything in its power to stop dissent and suppress the true workings of democracy.

I continually feel the need to say this to any one that will listen:  NO ONE PERSON GOT ENOUGH DELEGATES IN THE PRIMARY/CAUCUS PROCESS TO WIN THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION.  There is only a presumed winner.  There are no losers yet, other than perhaps the 18 million Democratic voters who are being tossed aside like road kill on a hot Louisiana highway.

Today’s CNN is just awash with the misinformation of winners and losers.  This from Jack Cafferty, curmudgeon of the Obama Cheerleading squad:

A humorless organization called “The Denver Group” ran an ad in a Capitol Hill newspaper demanding that Hillary’s name be placed in nomination at the convention and demanding that speeches be allowed in support of her nomination. They’re just full of demands.

And if they don’t get their way they are threatening a revolt. The ad says, “Will Howard Dean and the DNC turn the Democratic Party into the Boston Tea Party?” More demands. They demand a roll call vote on her nomination… presumably after those speeches they are demanding. This despite the fact that she lost and dropped out of the race months ago.

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/12/placing-hillary%E2%80%99s-name-in-nomination/

Cafferty calling the Denver Group humorless is about the definition of the pot calling the kettle black. Why is the press so willing to go along with subversion of the process?  I would think, at the very least, they would love their ratings if the convention would turn into a floor fight.  There have been MAJOR floor fights and the Democratic and Republican Parties have both survived just fine.  Both President Roosevelts are products of floor fights.  Teddy Kennedy had NO problem with floor fights when it was HIS name in nomination.   What is the deal with putting on a convention that every one knows markets a false unity?

The DNC and the Obama campaign have done everything in their power to trivialize Obama’s detractors. PUMA has been marginalized by the DNC as “Republican” phenomenon, a “New York” driven phenomenon, a group of “bitter-enders” from the Clinton camp and other more horrible names mostly having to deal with being racist or being a middle aged woman.  Can’t they just admit that the presumed nominee has serious flaws, began losing races after the Wright and Ayers associations came out, doesn’t appeal to blue collar voters, Jewish Americans, the elderly, older married women, and Catholic voters and figure out something to do OTHER than cover it up with folks bussed in from Illinois to fill a football stadium?

At a time when the polls are showing clear advantage to democratic candidates, why can’t the top of the ticket get over the 50% mark?  Why is Obama in a dead even race with an elderly republican white man, well-known for anger problems and pretty much party of the Republican party elite?  And quit saying RACISM as an answer for everything!  It’s deeper than that.

We need an OPEN, REAL democratic convention where every one can get their issues and agendas out on the table.  We do not need a suppression of democratic voices so that Obama’s massive ego can be fed and his small niches of constituents appeased like some group of demigods.

In another section of CNN’s site, this is posted:

It was a lot more common in the early days of the modern primary era. In 1972 (the first year when primaries, not conventions, determined the nomination), six losing candidates had their names placed in nomination at the Democratic convention.

In 1976, three unsuccessful candidates (including Brown) were placed in nomination at the Democratic conclave.

It didn’t happen at all in 1980. (Sen. Edward Kennedy, who ran against President Carter in the primaries, didn’t place his name in nomination; Rep. Ron Dellums of California, who was not a candidate in the primaries, did.) Former Vice President Walter Mondale’s two main opponents in the 1984 primaries — the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Gary Hart — both went through the process that year, and Jackson did it again at the 1988 convention after losing to Michael Dukakis in the primaries.

Overall, between 1972 and 1992, 10 Democratic candidates who lost the nomination in the primaries went on to have their names formally placed in nomination at the convention. Significantly, however, none of them publicly endorsed their opponent months before the convention, as Clinton did in June.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/12/clinton/index.html?iref=werecommend

There is some real historical perspective in this piece.  Pep rallies for presumed nominees are not the purpose of national party conventions.  To try to subvert the political process into a marketing campaign for a candidate who is clearly NOT a consensus candidate is not only disingenuous, it is unspeakably un-American.

The democratic party and its leaders are coming perilously close to spawning a third party.  They are putting their fingers in their ears and singing la-la-la, while millions of democratic voters are speaking truth to them.  They trivialize us at their very peril!  Unless, they let all the crap they let go on during this election process float its way up to the top of the septic tank during the convention, they are going to be awash in the stink of suppressing voters for a long time.  By forcing unity, they are increasing the chances of a permanent schism within the progressive community.  One that a damaged, but still functional Republican party will run through with vehemence.

It is time to open the process up to democracy and let it work.  This is the only American and democratic thing to do.  We will not shut up and go away and you better be prepared to deal with it now or for a very long time.

Shopping for Superdelegates

 

My friend Geeklove08 was approached by Dr. Lynette Long and Real Democrats USA to help expose the pay off of superdelegates by Obama’s Political Action Committee, the Hope Fund. 

Other examples of Geeklove’s great work can be found here:

–
GeekLove at
http://comealongway.wordpress.com

My suggestion is that you write the superdelegates in your state and tell them you know their price tag.  I’d also suggest you write your local newspaper and let them know their price tag also.

Monday Morning to Do List!

Just a list of actions worth taking:

Please sign Planned Parenthood’s Petition to stop the Bush encroachment on birth control.  The Petition states:

Planned Parenthood is gravely concerned that the Bush administration is considering a new HHS rule that would undermine women’s access to health care and information. The rule would allow federal funding that is specifically designed to prevent unintended pregnancy and promote reproductive health to instead be used by facilities and providers that refuse to offer comprehensive birth control and reproductive health care services.

http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/spp08ppan?rk=81AR75M15s-CE

LAMusing asks us to join in the PUMA effort to insure top DNC officials know we don’t intend to fall in line with the unity pony in its efforts to shut out all serious debate at the DNC convention.

“In a sign that senior Democratic officials remain deeply concerned that post-primary bitterness could imperil Barack Obama’s chances, two top Democratic officials have emailed a sharply-worded letter to major donors and other leading Dems confessing “fatigue and irritation” at those withholding full support from Obama and demanding that they get behind him “without conditions or demands.””

Aren’t you PUMAS ready to fall in line yet? Read the full letter here:
http://tinyurl.com/6z8ujy

The letter is signed by Donald Fowler, a former DNC chair and DNC member-at-large who was one of Hillary’s most prominent supporters. Alice Germond, the Secretary of the DNC, is also a signatory.

LAMusing suggests we let Alice and Donald know we live in a democracy.

You can write a response to Mr. Fowler at don@fowlercommunications.com.

You can write a response to Ms. Germond and mail it to:

Honorable Alice Germond, Secretary

Democratic National Committee
430 South Capital Street, Southeast
Washington, D. C. 20003-4024

or e-mail her at germonda@dnc.org

In your salutation, the proper form of address is “Madame Secretary” after that I’d say just let her have it!!!

If you’re more up to writing to Celebrities, you might want to write Oprah and ask why she’s scrubbed her site of politics and her big show of worship for Obama during the primary.  Is it because Obama turned out to be bad for Business?

Oprah Shuts Down Website, Scrubs All Political Discussion – Media Silent

“Barack Obama is not the only one revising their website. Oprah Winfrey seems to have gotten in on the action.

Last year, Oprah Winfrey came out and endorsed Barack Obama, calling him “The One,” an allusion to either Jesus or to Neo of The Matrix. I am not sure which.”

http://tinyurl.com/5ecadk

For more Puma GROWLS  be sure to go to the Just Say No Deal Link on the left.  Let’s make sure the DNC and the MSM see some real activity prior to the convention.  Speaking of conventions,  I can’t make the PUMA convention in Washington, DC, but if you can sign up and attend at the same site.

Let’s try to stop the Assault on Democracy while we still have time!

She’s Almost THERE! Just a LITTLE MORE!!

There’s still a little more work we need to do to help Hillary.  The MSM has mentioned that the obamanation has given hillary the paltry sum of about $100,000 during the last week, while PUMAs have helped her cut her debt down to under $4 million.  The DNC and the Obama campaign keep moving the bar for her.  For some reason, they INSIST that she must pay her debt down by July 15th in order to have any voice in Denver.

We have to reach into our pockets to help our GAL again!!!!  We’ve determined that just $5 from the 2.5 million PUMAS around the country will get the job done.  So this week’s campaign is to forego ONE cup of coffee and finish that JOB!

If you’re feeling a little more generous, you can donate $50 and get the  t-shirt that won Chelsea’s contest back in June.

It will continue to help Hillary pay down her campaign debt.

Click here to make a contribution of $50 and receive one of our winning t-shirts.

Denitza of Weehawken, New Jersey submitted the winning t-shirt.  Every Sky Dancing Woman, Man and Child wants one!!!!

Calling All PUMAS: Put the Visuals Out THERE for ALL to SEE!!

You’ve seen those little pink panthers with suction cups that stick to windows.  So here’s the idea … BUY YOURSELF a FEW!  Put them on your car. Drive around with your daily NO OBAMA message and make sure you let them know… it’s a PUMA action!!!  I’ve found them cheap and easy-ordering on the web.

How about ALL DURING JULY we get a fleet of vehicles out there with a strong visual PUMA image?

Any Takers?