In other news…

There is a lot of news to cover today:

• Al Franken is the likely winner of the Minnesota Senate Race.  It’s not official yet but he is down by a mere 5 votes and is expected to pick up enough votes in the discarded absentee ballots that will put him over the top.  (You can judge the absentee ballots yourself at the Star-Tribune site.  There are literally hundreds of legitimate ballots what were tossed for no good reason)  I’m really glad to hear this.  Franken the satirical writer will put away his poison pen and become one of the only truly liberal senators we have.  Hillary was a strong supporter and I know she picks wisely.  So, a cautious congratulations to Franken and for those who would like to help defray the costs of the recount and make sure that every vote is counted, please see this link.  Update: Whoo-Hoo!  Franken is up by 31 123 129 205 this morning.   You can follow the action online here.  Go Al, Go!
• Terry Gross interviewed Elizabeth Warren of Harvard University a couple days ago.  Warren was recently appointed by Congress to investigate how the Paulsen Bailout funds were spent. What she says about the Treasury Department is scathing.  What she says about Sheila Bair, the FDIC head, is nothing short of laudatory.  Bair is the unexpected gem in the Bush Administration.  She is a woman with foresight and good administrative skills.  And she is also under attack by the Obamaphiles.  Don’t ask me why.  I think we all know.
• Bill Clinton reveals his donors to the Clinton Global Initiative.  {{Yawn.}}  There’s really nothing new here.  Leaders from countries around the world succumbed to the Big Dawg’s charms and donated money to a worthwhile foundation.  Some of those people were from countries we don’t like much.  Eh! They’re money’s still green and as long as they don’t mind parting with it with no strings attached, where’s the fire?
• Not everyone in the NY media likes the prospect of Caroline Kennedy as the next Senator from NY.  Buffalo News columnist Rod Watson reports on her “listening tour” of upstate NY.  As we all predicted, Lady Caroline, the intensely private person, has not been exposing herself to the germy hands of icky constituents.  Nooooo.  She has been greasing the skids with the leaders of the political machine in the upstate areas.  Sweet!  Edgeoforever, our source for all things Caroline, has more this morning.
• Oh and you women Obamaphiles?  You should remember what Rick Warren said about abortion.  You don’t remember?  Let me remind you:
  

  “Of course I want to reduce the number of abortions,” Warren told Beliefnet Editor-in-Chief Steven Waldman when asked if he was going to work with the Obama administration to achieve an abortion reduction agenda or if he thinks that the effort is a charade.

  “But to me it is kind of a charade in that people say ‘We believe abortions should be safe and rare,’” he added.

  “Don’t tell me it should be rare. That’s like saying on the Holocaust, ‘Well, maybe we could save 20 percent of the Jewish people in Poland and Germany and get them out and we should be satisfied with that,’” Warren said. “I’m not satisfied with that. I want the Holocaust ended.”

• Following up on that last point, edgeoforever at Not Your Sweetie has this little bit of Holiday Joy.  Bush has signed an executive order that allows a health worker with consceintious objections to refuse to participate in abortion related activities.  “Oh, don’t worry about that”, the stupid female Obamaphiles will say. “He has 120 days to rescind it once he takes office!”  Oh, REALLY?  And we’re sure he’s going to do that, why, exactly?  Remember, Obama’s whole shtick is to not rock the boat and challenge the media.  If he steps out of line even one tiny iota in those first 3 months, the Villagers are going to eviscerate him.  And they will use culture wars to do it.  It’s inevitable.

Changeity, hope, change, change!

Sunday: Louisa

Conflucians, I am keeping this post up and will update news from Betty Jean on the condition of her daughters, Louisa and Denise, when it becomes available.  We would like for news of this incident to become viral and spread throughout the internet so please send this link to as many people as you can.

Updates on Louisa:  Last night, I received the following information passed along by Sheri Tag:

Email From BJ:
Just got home after a 36 hours shift but it was worth is – time for a new brain hemorrhage is passed now – and we think the brains on the left side is not in heal mode – Thank You Jesus
Now if we can keep her fever down and infections away for another full week – there is reason to hope that with prayer we might consider a possible partial recovery !
Louisa will never be the same – but 15 hours ago we were having the pull the plug discussions and now we are having a different one – so Please keep the prayers coming!

BJ asked I relay this information:

Swelling has reached its peak and starting to subside and reverse.

Today Louisa grabbed and squeezed BJ’s and the doctors hand.

The breathing tube will be removed and a trache will be put in, with the anticipation of Louisa breathing 40% on her own.

The main concern at this time is infection.

BJ wants to thank everyone again and asks for continued prayers because this week Louisa will really need it.

So, it looks like Louisa is starting to come around.  This is good news.

Thursday: For Louisa

Denise and Louisa, Betty Jean's daughters: Both clinging to life

The trials of Job are not limited to biblical sheepherders.  Many PUMAs know Betty Jean Kling, a tireless Hillary Clinton supporter who had a passion for healthcare reform.  Betty Jean’s son died of cancer and her daughter Denise is living with advanced ovarian cancer.  Betty Jean’s heart’s desire was to see that her daughter, and all those affected by serious disease, get the treatment they need.

But an evil genius works against Betty Jean.  Last June, Denise was attacked in her sleep by her estranged lover, George Hartwig.  He hit her in the head with a hammer.  He was sentenced to 3 months in prison for the attack and released.  Monday night, as Betty Jean attended a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in New York City to help her pay off her remaining debt, Hartwig struck again.  He shot Denise’s sister, Louisa, in the face when she got in the way.  Louisa is now in critical condition in a New Jersey hospital.  (One of our commenters reports that Louisa has lost an eye and may suffer brain damage if she survives.) You can read about the attack here, here and here.   This has been devastating to Betty Jean who is now dealing with two daughters who are fighting for their lives.

Domestic violence is a sensitive subject for many people.  I don’t know why it should be.  You shouldn’t be allowed to commit violent acts against another human being no matter what degree of relationship exists but violence is often tolerated in marital situations. Still, it is imcomprehensible that an attacker would be allowed to roam free after he heartlessly attacked a cancer patient with a hammer.  That this man had the ability to shoot her sister with a shotgun is simply unbelievable.  Where were the local police?  The New Jersey justice system?  How can targets of domestic violence sleep easily if their predators are not actually restrained?  The attackers in instances such as these seem to be operating with a single minded obsession, as if they are determined to remove a weed from their garden.  It’s irrational anger projected onto a hapless target.  If the crazy worldview of the attacker can’t be changed, the attacker himself needs to be locked up.

We need a Louisa’s Law that will prevent the release of these attackers who, like pedophiles, have a habit of being repeat offenders.  They need an attitude adjustment that only a lot of time with a prison psychologist can accomplish, along with restraining orders, ankle bracelet monitoring systems and no legal access to firearms.  Of course, that doesn’t prevent the abuser from using hammers so maybe locking them up and strapping a GPS device to them when they’re released until they get the point is the only way.  Worldviews are very difficult to change unless the person sees there is really no alternative and that society will simply not allow them to act on their murderous rage.

If you want to help Betty Jean advocate for a new Louisa’s Law, please contact her at Free Us Now.   NJ Senator Menendez sponsored legislation to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.  You might want to drop him a line if you agree with him or contact your own senators.  NJ Senator Lautenberg  wrote the Domestic Violence Gun Ban and Brady Law.  Both of these Democrats know how serious this issue is but they have faced a tough fight from the NRA in recent years.  It is time we focus our attention on the risk that Domestic Violence poses to their victims and others who get in the way.

The New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women has many services for women who are facing domestic abuse but surprisingly little on their legislation page.  If you are a lawyer or advocate in this area, or have experience lobbying for legislation, let them know you want to help.

Finally, there will be a hearing  on the arraignment of George Hartwig.  The Honorable Judge Harry Carroll will preside.  His contact numbers are voice: 201-527-2460, fax: 201-752-4109 if you would like to politely urge him to keep Hatwig behind bars until his trial.

We send our positivc thoughts to Betty Jean.  The Trial of Job didn’t last forever.  It ended well.

Sunday: The Chicago Tammany Hall

That's us under the bus, er, Tiger

Following up on what myiq2xu wrote below, Conason and the media are frantically trying to spin the newest scandal into the molehill that Whitewater was, er, before they spun that up into a mountain.  So, I guess we can just forget all the nasty things they said about the Clintons back then?  I just know someone at the Washington Post is going to step up to the mic any minute now and offer a heartfelt apology to Bill and Hillary for making their lives miserable for 8 years.  And while they’re at it, Frank Rich, MoDo and the rest of the NYTimes cwack political reporting team can say they’re sorry for peeping into Hillary’s underwear drawer at the beginning of the last election cycle to speculate on how many times a month she and Bill had conjugal visits.  I mean, now that we’ve acknowledged that Whitewater was a whole lot of nuthin’…

Anyone who knows me, understands that my knowledge of American history is spotty at best and just damn pathetic at worst.  Hey, when you change schools 14 times before you graduate, linearity is the first thing to get chucked.  But I do recall a period of time in our nation’s history, I can’t recall just *when* but I think it was the period before and after the Civil War, when anti-democratic political corruption and patronage was rampant especially in New York City.  Jeez, I’ll betcha if the Times goes through its archive, it will find all kinds of articles and columns about it.

Harper’s Weekly was all over it.  It was the Tammany Hall era and the biggest Mr. Moneybucks of all was a guy named William Marcy Tweed, aka “Boss”.  Maybe I shouldn’t complain.  The Irish immigrant population was the prime beneficiary of Tweed’s machine and my ancestors probably would have done well- if they hadn’t been working the refs in Chicago at the time.  But I digress.

Here’s how Tweed’s Tammany Hall worked:

In April 1870, Tweed secured the passage of a city charter putting the control of the city into the hands of mayor, the comptroller, and the commissioners of parks and public works. He then allowed contractors and others to submit invoices for inflated amounts or for work that was not done. The total amount of money stolen was never known, but has been estimated from $75 million to $200 million according to The American Pageant.^{[citation needed]} Over a period of two years and eight months, while he had over 1,000 workers at his command, New York City’s debts increased from $36 million in 1868 to about $136 million by 1870, with few costs or expenditures to show for the debt.

Tweed was accused of defrauding the city by having contractors present excessive bills for work performed—typically ranging from 30 to 90 percent more than the project actually cost. The extra charges were said to have been divided among Tweed, his subordinates and the contractors. The most excessive overcharging came in the form of the Tweed Courthouse, which cost the city $13 million to construct (the actual cost for the courthouse was about $3 million), leaving about $10 million for the pockets of Tweed and others.^[4]

Tweed’s downfall came when he refused to authorize the Orange Parade, an annual Protestant celebration. City Sheriff James O’Brien, whose support for Tweed had fluctuated during Tammany’s “reign”, gave The New York Times evidence of embezzlement in light of the Protestant-Catholic riot that ensued on parade day. The newspaper was reportedly offered $5 million to not publish the evidence. In a subsequent interview, Tweed’s only reply was, “Well, what are you going to do about it?”^{[citation needed]} Accounts in The New York Times and political cartoons drawn by Thomas Nast and published in Harper’s Weekly resulted in the election of numerous opposition candidates in 1871. Regarding Nast’s cartoons, Tweed reportedly said, “Stop them damned pictures. I don’t care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents don’t know how to read, but they can’t help seeing them damned pictures!”^[5]

I am struck by the similarity of how Tweed’s machine worked to that of Tony Rezko and pals, what with him getting all of those dilapidated housing projects in Chicago that never got improved.   And who was his lawyer back then?  Anybody?  Don’t be shy.

Folks, what we got here ain’t no lousy real estate deal.  What we are dealing with is a vast political patronage machine with promises made and delivered for money and electoral outcomes.  There’s a little group of Stalwarts who select who the next big thing will be and they all pull in their chits to make it happen.  It may be centered in Chicago but there are tentacles in NJ for sure.  For all I know, the political machine in NY faced off against the one in Chicago and lost when NJ threw its weight behind the midwesterners.  And why would NJ do that?  Well, the Governor of NJ used to be the CEO of Goldman Sachs.  A lot of the financial industry may work on Wall Street but have sunk their roots in the swampy Meadowlands.  I dunno.  I merely speculate.  I can’t *imagine* why my Governor would lobby so hard to move up our (now meaningless) primary to SuperDuper Tuesday and endorse Hillary Clinton as soon as it was possible and then turn around and stab her in the back by giving every last one of our delegates to Barack Obama at the convention 9 months later.  Can you tell this really bugs the #$@% out of me?  Maybe it’s because she won this state by 10 points and she didn’t get a single delegate.  Not one.  Ok, I have to let it go.  {{breathing deeply}}

Anyway, Conason and his ilk are covering themselves in shame.  They are trying so desperately to save Obama’s ass from another presidential term of scandal after scandal.  If that was their hope, they should have gone with Hillary who had no skeletons.  But they were dazzled by the mahogany undertones of Obama’s skin while ignoring the Tweedy texture of his character. And that machine was in the pocket of some very, VERY wealthy people who had a significant interest in the outcome of the election.

What makes this scandal so much more significant than the teensy blip on the radar that Whitewater was, is that no voters were hurt over Whitewater, a faux scandal where the Clintons were innocent.  But this newest scandal perfectly illustrates the way that the electorate was sidestepped during the 2008 election season and voters may pay for this corruption with their livelihoods and retirement nest eggs.  The primaries were completely usurped by the spreading corruption from Chicago’s machine.  Hey, if they don’t want the association and there’s no THERE there, why did the DNC relocate to Chicago?  They might as well have put up a sign in neon declaring themselves bought and paid for.  THAT’S why this scandal may have legs and real, significant consequences for the players involved, including Obama.  Voters got screwed, royally, and there are bandits on Wall Street who made off with trillions of dollars in taxpayer money.  We know that Wall Street was firmly behind Obama and we know, because we witnessed it, how the nomination was stolen from Hillary Clinton.  And now we know that the Chairman of Obama’s National Campaign was all too willing to cough up more than a million dollars in political donations to Blogojevich in order to snag Obama’s senate seat.  What is really amazing is how this sheer brazen behavior could be tut-tutted by Conason and his pals so they can save face for supporting one of the biggest frauds in history.

If the rest of the country suddenly remembers its 19th century history class, the next four years ain’t gonna be pretty.

On another front: The biggest sexist in the Senate, Ted Kennedy, is still trying to shove Caroline Kennedy down the throats of New Yorkers, and the rest of us, by extension.  And now it seems that Caroline is interested in pursuing the job.  Isn’t that nice?  She’s sort of like Veruka Salt who has just discovered a shiny new thing that she just has to have.  Voile!  Carolyn Murphy, Kirsten Gillibrand and a handful of other more deserving female politicians in New York will just have to take an old, cold tater and wait.  Caroline won’t have to run at all and she can be counted on to passively carry out her Uncle’s wishes.  Wouldn’t it just be peachy if she helped push through healthcare reform and took the kudos away from Hillary Clinton who should have been leading that effort in the Senate?  Not to worry.  Caroline will help bring in much needed money to NY’s other financially strapped pols, like she wouldn’t do that anyway just as a concerned citizen who loved her state and country.

Come to think of it, what makes Caroline’s much ballyhooed ability to raise funds for elections any different from JJJr’s promise of millions of bucks for Blogojevich’s run?  Why, they seem exactly the same to me, except that JJJr. doesn’t have a giant Kennedy lion as his ally, breathing down the neck of the governor.  He only had some six degrees of separation from the President Elect of the United States.

Disgusting.

Governor Paterson, don’t make me get my friends together and come up there to Albany.   Say a firm NO to Caroline Kennedy.  Appoint some other well deserving woman.

One more thought:  I have the perfect replacement for Obama’s senate seat who would kill three birds with one stone- Alice Palmer.  Bwahahahahhaahaaaah!

Wednesday: For Sale- Senate Seat, like new, barely used

Kudos to myiq2xu for coming up with that ad copy.

The Governor of Illinois sounds like he’s a bit tetched.  He’s a megalomaniacal, power hungry, corrupt pol in deep, deep denial.  His approval ratings are hovering right down there with George Bush.  And he *knows* he may be recorded when he flat out asks for a quid for his pro quo.   What made him so damn cocky? 

We have learned from years of the Whitewater investigation that where there’s smoke, there isn’t necessarily fire.  It could very well be that Barack Obama had no interactions with his personal Jim McDougal regarding the disposition of his senate seat.  But those of us who witnessed how the primary was stolen from Hillary Clinton already know how corrupt Mr. Obama is.  A man who gets $600,000,000 in campaign contributions, some of them from untraceable pre-paid credit cards and manages to buy superdelegates to flip and whose campaign organization threatens various states to withhold funds from downticket races if their delegates don’t switch sides, has more than enough experience with buying his way to the top. Some stupid Obamaphiles and media types will say that’s just hardball politics and everyone does it.  But when money and favors exchange hands in order to bump someone out of the way and gain you an undeserved advantage is viewed by the skeptical eye of Patrick Fitzgerald, it looks a lot like corruption- and it’s illegal.

Barack Obama is already as corrupt a politician as Rod Blagojevich.  But as to *this* indictment,  this is no failed real estate deal where innocent people are getting caught up in a political vendetta.  This is the selling of a US Senate seat coming on the heals of one of the most brazenly  corrupt primary and general election seasons I have ever seen in my life.  And Patrick Fitzgerald is no Ken Starr but there is a very real possibility that in little more than a month from now, he could be out of work if Barack Obama chooses to replace him.  Now why would he want to do that?

And Rod Blagojevich is a little bid mad, un poco loco en la cabeza, unpredictable and curiously reluctant to step aside during his indictment.  Oh, the things he knows.

So far, the only good that seems to have come out of this is that Jesse Jackson Jr. will probably not be going to the Senate:

Even before Mr. Obama was elected president, Mr. Blagojevich was recorded telling an adviser on Oct. 31 that he was giving greater consideration to one candidate (described only as Senate Candidate 5) after an approach by “an associate” of that candidate who offered to raise $500,000 for Mr. Blagojevich, while another emissary of the Senate hopeful offered to raise $1 million. “We were approached ‘pay to play,’ ” Mr. Blagojevich said on a recording.

But prosecutors, who have made it clear that the investigation is continuing and who issued a plea on Tuesday for people to come forward with information, warned against drawing any conclusions about the true roles of candidates or anyone else in Mr. Blagojevich’s plans. And they emphasized repeatedly that the affidavit made “no allegations against the president-elect whatsoever.”

Several people among the half-dozen whose names have been suggested publicly as Senate possibilities did not respond to requests for interviews. Others, including Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr. and Mr. Jones of the State Senate, who has been one of Mr. Blagojevich’s few allies in Springfield, issued statements expressing shock over the accusations, but they did not answer requests for interviews.

“If these allegations are proved true, I am outraged by the appalling, pay-to-play schemes hatched at the highest levels of our state government,” said Mr. Jackson, who had openly expressed interest in Mr. Obama’s old job and who met with Mr. Blagojevich, whom he is not known to be close to, for 90 minutes on Monday afternoon to discuss the post.

Cry me a river, Mr. Jackson:

I guess we should be grateful that he only offered a bribe and didn’t threaten the state of Illinois with making their legislative agenda dead in the water if the governor didn’t appoint his niece.

Still, what goes around comes around.

Lest we forget

In other news, DeeDee Myers, President Clinton’s former press secretary, is pretty steaming mad over the Favreau picture:

What’s bugging me is his intention. He isn’t putting his hand on her “chest,” as most of the articles and conversations about the picture have euphemistically referred to it. Rather, his hand—cupped just so—is clearly intended to signal that he’s groping her breast. And why? Surely, not to signal he finds her attractive. Au contraire. It’s an act of deliberate humiliation. Of disempowerment. Of denigration.

And it disgusts me.

Oh, I know: If Hillary can get over it, why can’t I? Her spokesman, Phillipe Reinnes, tried to make light of the incident. “Senator Clinton is pleased to learn of Jon’s obvious interest in the State Department, and is currently reviewing his application,” he told the Washington Post in an E-mail. Obviously, she has no interest in making a federal case out of this particular incident, particularly as both the Clinton and Obama camps work on letting bygones be bygones. She has to pick her battles, and for her this ain’t a hill worth dying on.

But there is a larger issue at stake. At what point does sexist behavior get taken seriously? At what point do people get punished in ways that suggest this kind of behavior, this kind of thinking, is unacceptable? At what point do we insist there will be consequences? Clearly, that didn’t happen during the recent presidential campaign, when Hillary was—as I guess she is now—fair game. The press, the pundits, and the public could say things about her (“She’s a shrew!”) and to her (“Iron my shirt!) that were over-the-top sexist—yet got almost no reaction.

Indeed, Ms. Myers, where do we draw the line and hold people accountable?

KEEP THE PRESSURE ON GROPERGATE!

1. Sign the Pumasphere Petition and Send it to Friends and Family:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Fire-Jon-Favreau/

2. Send an email to the obama transition team, demanding that Favreau resign!

vjarrett@barackobama.com

3. Call Transition Headquarters:

202-540-3000 press option # 2 for a live person

Tuesday: Jon Favreau Must Go

I was very disappointed in James Carville’s remarks last night.  He condoned, even praised the “boys will be boys” attitude of Mr. Favreau and his buddies.  I hope that Carville sits a minute in thought over this one.  Here’s why Favreau must go:

1. Because Favreau is now the face of the Obama administration.  Everytime Obama opens his mouth, we will see Favreau and his frat boy drinking buddies acting like young macho thugs.  He is writing the words for the President of the United States.  Obama’s credibility is already compromised with us.  Every time Obama pulls out the hopey-changey shtick from now on, we’re going to know that it came from the mouth of Jon Favreau.
2. Because it means that Obama has no real understanding of the kind of discrimination and behavior that women are subjected to in public, at work or in the family.
3. Because Hillary Clinton is not the only one disrespected by it.  Jon might as well be groping all of our breasts.
4. Because the longer it sits out there, the more it looks like Obama is insensitive to the disrespect shown towards women.  We already know this but we think it is time for Obama to get with the program and shows us that he gets it and will not tolerate male adolescent fantasies of degrading powerful women.
5. Because dismissing groups like The New Agenda as a bunch of female whiners sends a strong message that women’s priorities are inconsequential to Obama.
6. Because Obama stole the primary with hooligan idiots like Favreau and we want these idiots punished.

Either Obama is going to be the president for all of us or he’s going to be the president for only males.  He’s either going to respect all of us or only the people with Y chromosomes.  We already know that our primary votes didn’t count.  Keeping Favreau on as his head speechwriter is the biggest “Fuck you” I think he could be sending us right now. At this point, the best thing Obama can do is replace him and send Favreau to State where he can undergo some sensitivity training.

We are watching and we’re not going away.

Contact the obama transition team and demand that Jon Favreau resign.

copy and paste these email addresses into your message:

vjarrett@barackobama.com

info@barackobama.com

prowl@pumapac.org

howarddean@dnc.com;
deanh@dnc.org; info@hillpac.com; donna@brazileassociates.com; tflourno@aft.org; germonda@dnc.org; griffinassoc1@aol.com; alicehuffman@sbcglobal.net; hickes@msek.com

CALL THE OBAMA TRANSITION TEAM AND DEMAND THAT JON FAVREAU BE FIRED!

202-540-3000 press option # 2 for a live person.

Item #2: What the Hell was Ted Kennedy implying in this message to Governor David Paterson?

The elder Kennedy (D-Mass.), who’s battling brain cancer, has sent word to Gov. Paterson’s office that Caroline Kennedy, 51, has contacts and family connections that would mean legislation affecting New York would receive prompt attention, family sources said.

Here’s how I interpret this: “Nice attention all your legislation is getting in the Senate.  You wouldn’t want anything to *happen* to it”.  This is extortion plain and simple.  “Hire my niece and you get attention and connections to make your legislative fantasies come true – or else.”

Now that I think back on it, there have been 2 times when the Democratic party has gone off the rails in recent history and in both cases, Ted Kennedy was involved.  The first was in 1980 when he initially refused to back down at the convention when he was far, FAR less entitled to a floor fight than Hillary Clinton.  Actually, Hillary Clinton won the primaries.  This is an easily proven fact.  She was denied her party’s nomination in large measure by Ted Kennedy.  But in any case, it was Kennedy’s machinations and temper tantrum which led to the creation of the superdelegate system.

But this last child and permanent baby of the Kennedy clan isn’t finished stamping his foot and demanding his way.  Now, he’s insisting his niece, who has never expressed an interest in national politics before, jump ahead of several more deserving women.  And it sounds very much like he’s willing to use extortion to get his way.  No Caroline, no attention to your legislative agenda.  Niiiiicce.

If you can’t say something nice about someone, say nothing at all but it is past  time for Ted Kennedy to retire.

Let Governor Paterson know you want an experienced politician who has earned her right to be Hillary’s replacement.

To Write To The Governor:
David A. Paterson
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

518-474-8390

To Email The Governor:
Click here to email the Governor.

PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR MAILING ADDRESS.
Responses may be sent via the U.S. Mail.

For Information on Legislation:
Please access the New York State Legislative
Session Information page at
http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us

Oh, WOW! Murphy burns the house down.

This post, The Personal is NOT Political, will sear a hole in your monitor.  Here’s a sample but I encourage you to read the whole thing:

And how enormously stupid are we to have bought the lie that only “I” am a woman. That only “I” have the authentic experience and the true understanding of what it actually means to be a woman. Because I was raped; because I was passed over for a job promotion; because I’m a lesbian; because my father abandoned the family; because I couldn’t go to college; because I’m a single mother; because I’m black, or asian, or from the third world; because I’m a success in a man’s world; because I had a sex change operation; because I am a mother; because I had an abortion. Only “I” define womanhood and feminism and right thinking. Well, me and all my friends in my pretty little corner.

Why is the statement “The personal is political” a lie? Because of what the word personal means. It means our bodies and our beds. Pregnancy, breasts, motherhood, weight, ugliness, sex, sex, sex, and more sex, rape, abortion, birth control, marriage, weddings, wives, ex-wives, dumped wives, pornography. It puts the bit of womanhood between our teeth and sets us on an endless loop around the bedroom bridle path where the yellow wallpaper is just as mesmerizing but the presence of a few sister horses beside us makes us feel less lonely. The personal is political is a lie because it limits the scope of politics to a world comprised of stirrups and orgasms.

No thanks. Not until we spit the bit out of our mouths and take up our rightful identities as PERSONS will we see a woman in the White House. Not until we leave our god-forsaken beds back in our bedrooms where they belong and put our never-ending FEELINGS in a big black box with the inscription “ONLY OPEN IN TIME OF GREAT NEED” marked in deep gold lettering on the lid and store that private box on a shelf in our private closets of personal experience will we be anything more than the pathetic bunch of losers that men want us to believe we are.

The world’s greatest SWINDLE sent us to our bedrooms to look at ourselves naked in the mirror FOREVER and tricked us into thinking that our only importance to the world is what we think and how we feel about the image looking back at us.

Get with the program, ladies.  If you want to have power in this world, if you don’t want the Jon Favreaus of this world acting like an adolescent male hooligan while he pens Barack Obama’s speeches,

Jon Favreau (left), Obama's speechwriter, keepin' it classy

you are going to have to do like Lady MacBeth and unsex yourself, conjure the evil spirits and fill yourself with dire cruelty.  You need to harden your heart and practice cold blooded pragmatism.  You need to let the jabs and criticism roll off of you and learn how to run interference for each other instead of collaborating with the enemy.  And they ARE the enemy.  Not men per se, because there are a lot of women in on this, but the political system that has been created by men and custom.

This holiday season, go to that gender segregated party in your suburb, walk into the kitchen where the guys are all clustered around the keg of Sam Adams and express an opinion.  Hang out with the ladies in the family room who are talking about their menstrual cycles and their labor stories and say something completely unrelated, like, “Do you ever expect to see a woman president in your lifetime?”

Shake it up, baby.  It’s time.

Conflucian Cocktail Party: We need a little Christmas

Oh, man!  I am all lost now.  WordPress has changed its post page.  All the icons have moved to different places.  Bear with me while I figure this sucker out.

It’s that time of year again.  Time to break out the decorations.  You don’t even have to be Christian to play along, as my mother, the Jehovah’s Witness never tired of reminding me.  Much of the Christmas holiday is grounded in Saturnalia that the Christians copped from the Romans.  That whole holly and ivy thing?  Probably copied from the Celts who had a thing for dragging greenery into the house, as did the Germans with their trees.

This year, I’m a little more excited about Christmas than I have been in the past.  The days got short on me almost without warning.  I don’t know where the summer went while I was blogging and coming home from work in the dark is just dreary.  But right around Christmas time, the days will start to lengthen again and before you know it, the birds will be waking you up at 5:00AM.  It’s something to look forward to, not to mention the smell of Christmas tree, the sparkle of tinsel and the taste of cinnamon and cloves.

So, settle back and join in this first of many Conflucian Holiday Parties.  I hope to see a Hannukah party and a little something on Kwanzaa too.  Rico our bartender with flair is taking the night off.  He’s beat.  I know just how he feels.  But never fear.  We still have cocktails.  Our guest bartender tonight is Alberta Straub, or “Flighty”.  Her special drink for the night is a Date With David Bowie.  Check it out:

I’m sipping a Bulleit Bourbon with middle notes that remind me of Juicy Fruit gum.  Delish!  But you can order anything you like.

Our entertainment tonight is from an American classic, a Charlie Brown Christmas.  Vince Guaraldi’s cool, west coast jazz was a perfect accompaniment to the round headed kid who was the very opposite of cool.  Feel the anticipation with Christmas is Coming:

Or Saturnalia.  Feel your inner pagan.

Ladies and Gents, regulars and newcomers, we run a respectable joint around here.  If you can’t say something nice, leave it with Florence, our lovely checkroom attendant.  The waiters will be circulating with some of the marshmallows we made earlier in the day, some cheddar cheese sticks and piggy back dates.  Please drink responsibly, tip your wait staff generously and join me at 10PM EST for Conflucians Say on PUMA United Radio (PURrrr).

Barack Obama for Kids

Bruce Handy , a self-professed Obama fan, reviewed three children’s biographies of Barack Obama for tomorrow’s New York Times Book Review.

As an Upper West Sider and member of the media elite, one who’s scared of John McCain’s rickety temperament and doesn’t find Sarah Palin credible on any subject or even as hot as Republican bumper stickers and obliging foreign leaders would have us believe…I’m all for Obama.

But thankfully, his gag reflex has survived, despite his heavy intake of Koolaid. He actually dares to ask the question, what if Obama is not only “the first black president” but also a “the first lousy black president?” Look out Bruce. You’re going to be on the receiving end of a lot of angry O-bot e-mail now.

Blame the Superdelegates for the impending disaster

If I hear one more person try to guilt me into voting for this lightweight in order to save the nation, I’m going to dope slap him/her.

There are people who are responsible for the impending disaster.  They are the Superdelegates.  They have a choice.  They can go with the competent, dedicated, brilliant, knowledgeable DEMOCRAT, or they can choose the post partisan, unscrupulous, unethical, schmoozer whose party loyalty is in doubt.

To US, the choice is simple.  It’s not our fault that we refuse to swallow the poison.

When Obama loses in November, and he will, look to the people who had the obligation to rescue the country from three consecutive terms of Republican rule.  The Superdelegates.