Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Feingold, crimp in the war on Iran, jealousy and more

Instead of staying up all night for a roundtable (like we did last night), we all got on the phone this evening. It will be in tomorrow's gina & krista round-robin and everyone's probably going to be late as a result. C.I. had an activity to participate in so we had a "hard deadline" or cut off point for tonight's discussion. And Rebecca said she was going to eat and take a long bath before blogging tonight. So expect for sites to be running late. Me and Elaine are both doing our blogs now.

Feingold Criticizes Fellow Dems Bush Measure
Here in the United States, Senator Russ Feingold has lashed out at fellow Democrats for not supporting his measure to censure President Bush for his warrantless domestic spy program. Feingold has failed to attract any co-sponsors. Appearing on Fox News, Feingold said: "I'm amazed at Democrats, cowering with this president's numbers so low. The administration just has to raise the specter of the war and the Democrats run and hide. … Too many Democrats are going to do the same thing they did in 2000 and 2004.… [Democrats shouldn't] cower to the argument, that whatever you do, if you question the administration, you're helping the terrorists."

How many Democrats does it take to screw in a lightbulb? One to do it and forty to cower and hide.

That's how it seems these days. You know, if they were saying "I'd back it but I want to save my big ammo for impeachment" you could get behind that. But they don't want to impeach. I'm really starting to wonder what taking back one or both houses in the 2006 election will bring because I'm not seeing anything to impress me.

I'm seeing a lot of the same nonsense we saw when the Dems still controlled the Senate from before the 2002 elections. They helped bury the investigation into 9/11. I'm wondering exactly who has any guts in the Senate because I'm not seeing a lot of guts. Harry Reid has got to go as minority leader. He's done the worst job in the world "leading" the Dem Senators. Under his watch, we've had two zealots confirmed to the Court and that alone is reason for him to go. But he's got no spine and he's one of those "Like me, love me!" Dems.

Of course they only wanted to be liked by the big media. They don't serve anyone but the TV camera.

Top US Military Commander: No Evidence of Iran Links
Meanwhile, the top US military ommander said Tuesday there is no evidence Iran is aiding the Iraqi insurgency. At a Pentagon briefing, Gen. Peter Pace, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked if he thought Iran was arming militants or sending weapons to Iraq. Pace replied: "I do not sir." Pace's comments appear to contradict recent statements made by both President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld linking the violence in Iraq to the Iranian government.

Yep, Bully Boy's been playing the "link game" (like Wally called it). Linking Iran to the violence the way he linked Iraq to 9/11 and you just heard that there's no evidence.

Remember that as they try to roll out the war for Iran. Question every "fact" they offer. They're liars. Remember that too.

Elaine's having the worst time trying to post something tonight. She's on the phone right now and says she'll get something up and not go to sleep until she does so check out Like Maria Said Paz. (And Elaine's really tired. We were all up late doing the roundtable last night and we're not all able to go with no or little sleep like C.I. can.)


Here's an event. This is in Canada. Vic noted it from Canada's Maritimes Indymedia:

Rally to end the Occupation
with Michael Franti and special guests rocking out against the war
EVENT: Protest and Concert
DATE: Saturday, March 18, 2006 -- 1:00pm
LOCATION: Farmers Market (march), Victoria Park (concert) Halifax --
On Saturday, March 18th, to mark the 3rd Anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, artists, speakers, and peace activists will congregate in Victoria Park to say "No" to the ongoing illegal occupation of Iraq and Coalition forces military involvement. The Stage of Engagement, organized by the Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group (NSPIRG), will feature such popular entertainers as monolithic hip-hop performer Michael Franti of Spearhead, and passionate speakers such as Yazin Nal-Qaydi, a 17 year-old Iraqi boy. A rally will begin at noon in front of the Halifax Farmer's Market, and will continue to march through downtown to arrive at the stage in Victoria Park at 1pm. There, the crowd will join thousands around the world to stand in solidarity against war and occupation. Representatives from a coalition of community groups including Haiti Action Halifax, the Halifax Peace Coalition, Student Coalition Against War, Palestine Solidarity Society, and NSPIRG, will express the need for a concerted opposition to corporate colonialism and unlawful military campaigns abroad. Michael Franti, a singer and songwriter from California, will be at the event to liven up the crowd with his inspirational and empowering lyrics like We can bomb the world to pieces, but we can't bomb it into peace. Franti recently returned from a peace mission to Iraq, Israel, and Palestine and produced a film about his journey. "Today we are in a war against war" says Franti, "and music is our power." Franti will be playing an intimate concert later that same evening at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. For more information: I know I'm not Alone


I hope you're figuring out how to use your voice this weekend. If you still haven't or on the fence, read Cedric's "Get Active" Kat's "Help stop the Bully Boy's blood lust" or Rebecca's
"what are you doing to be heard?" for some motivation.

So I ahd a question in the e-mails. Benny wonders if I'm jealous of Wally? I think that's because I wrote something like "Wally, you bastard" here. I was joking with him and we do that to each other on the phone all the time.

I'm not jealous of Wally. The Daily Jot is probably the second hottest site in the community right now. (The Common Ills is always the most read.) That's because Wally's doing some amazing work. I'm proud of my bud.

The biggest site in the community always is and always will be The Common Ills. We're all off shoots of that site. After that Rebecca and The Third Estate Sunday Review have carved out their own large followings. If you were to do like a chart or something, Wally would be the "heat seeker" moving up the Billboard chart because he's getting a lot of attention these days. He's earned it and I'm proud of him.

There's no jealousy because if one boat rises, we all rise. I might get a reader from him and he might get a reader from me. When one of us does well, we all do well. (And Ma's doing pretty good lately in terms of the amount of e-mails she's getting on her site: Trina's Kitchen.)

C.I. does a wonderful job but none of us could do that job. C.I. has been C.I. from the start and that's why The Common Ills is such a huge thing. It's about speaking in your own voice. If you asked Wally, he'd tell you that he felt like he was losing The Daily Jot before he took his week off and that was because he felt like he had to be like the other sites. He doesn't. Rebecca's never been anybody but Rebecca and she's got a very dedicated following. Betty has to stay in character for every chapter she does and she's got a dedicated following.

It's about using your own voice. If you speak in your own voice, you'll get an audience. Wally's got his own voice going again and he deserves the attention. I'm proud of him. I wrote an angry e-mail last week to an idiot who wrote me and insulted my mother. He was going that Ma's talking about cooking and who needs that?

Well, gee, asshole, we all need to eat. And Ma's a great cook. Think about the fact that most people don't have a lot of money to spend and Ma's talking them through easy recipes they can make and right away you got a good enough reason to do a site. But if you asked any of the rest of us doing sites, you'd know that we were thrilled that Trina's Kitchen was starting not just because we all love my mom but also because it's a new angle. She might reach some people that the rest of our sites don't. And sure enough that has happened. That's why C.I. has always said, "Write about what interests you." If you're faking interest, you're going to come off boring. If you care about something, people will be interested in reading.

It's like the TV reviews Ava and C.I. do at The Third Estate Sunday Review. Those are the most read things each week. Jim will tell you it's the site's calling card. And Ava and C.I. are political and doing their feminist critique and all but besides that, there's the fact that people visit for those reviews and most end up staying around to read some more stuff.

I wasn't participating with them back then. But I know the story. They weren't planning to have TV every edition. And it wasn't going to be just two people doing the reviews. But readers were responding to the TV reviews and it was Ava and C.I.'s things they were responding to. That's how those two ended up doing the reviews by themselves. If you asked Jim, Dona, Ty or Jess they wouldn't say, "I'm so jealous of them!" They'd point out that the TV stuff brings readers in. So there's no jealousy there. It's that platform that allowed "War Got Your Tongue?" to be so huge and that thing was and remains huge. People still e-mail about it. If you were going to be all, "Oh, I'm mad that Ava and C.I. get attention so let's stop the TV reviews" there never would be the potential audience for that editorial or anything else.

We're all happy for Wally and proud of him. You should be too. Besides, me and Wally both think Cedric's Big Mix is doing pretty good and that with the work Cedric does, he's probably going to end up the new "hot site" shortly.














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