Okay, Seriously, Where has the Idea of Progress Been?

Working on another blog. For those of you that skip by all of the political posts here at the Idea of Progress, take comfort in that they will no longer appear here. From now on this will be all pictures of bunnies and Bono hatred and creepy Craigslist Missed Connections.



I've begun a new site called The Elitist, which will hopefully be an online magazine focusing on politics and culture. Right now it looks more like a blog, but we're working on it now to change its format.

The Elitist is also looking for contributors. If you have any interest in contributing either editorials or features, please email me about it.

And I'll be back here for your entertainment purposes soon. Please enjoy this Google ad I found in my absence:

Everyone Hates Bush

I never thought that Arnold would be anything remotely like a good politician, but he constantly proves me wrong. Plus, it looks like he hates Bush as much as the rest of us, so he can't be all bad.


From meignorant.com.

Stolen Quote of the Day

"Just so we don't have to go through this whole resignation thing again," one ballsy reporter asked, "have you ever patronized a prostitute?" Paterson thought for a minute. "Only the lobbyists," he said.

-Soon to be New York Governor David Paterson

Stolen from Salon.

Dear Mike,

First of all, I'm still here. I know I haven't posted in a while-- I've had some sort of mysterious ailment that seems to have subsided. Probably the flu. Who knows?

How are you? So, you finally decided to drop out of the presidential race, huh? That doesn't surprise me. What does is that you hadn't dropped out a while ago, back when it was determined that it was impossible for you to earn the nomination. But, as you said, you believe in miracles. I guess you just didn't get one. Maybe it's like saving up for later, when you'll really need it, like when you're running for president of the galaxy or something.

I have to admit, for a bible-thumping ultra-conservative right wing Republican, you seem like a pretty nice guy. It's not often that you come across people like that, especially when they're running for president, but you never really acted like a jerk, ever. You give bible-thumping ultra-conservative right wing Republicans a good name, which is a very difficult task to accomplish. So I commend you on that.

But the public's dismissal of you has a silver lining, for me at least. I actually figured you for the Republican nominee a couple of months ago. But the fact that John McCain is more popular goes to show how sick the American people are of Bush-era politics. Instead of the politically and religously conservative candidate, they go for the wild card, so to speak, someone who doesn't believe in the impending apocolypse, and who probably believes in evolution, and...uh... gravity and all of that. That's a positive sign.

It was nice knowing you, and I'm glad you pardoned Keith Richards after all of these years. Take care.


Your Pal,

The Idea of Progress

Mr. Obama Goes to Washington

I've been interested to note your evident support for Obama, and I was hoping you'd do me the honor of explaining to me why you're backing him and what makes him preferable to Mrs C. I could read up on this in my usual press outlets, but would rather hear it from someone at grassroots level than a stuffy columnist, really.

Reply in as much detail as you feel necessary!

All the best,

Matt

I received this message today from a friend of mine who lives in England. It must be curious to observe from a distance this wacky race we call the presidential primaries. It may or may not come to a surprise to everyone out there that I am an Obama supporter. I've never explained my position on this however, nor have I expressed any sentiment towards Clinton. This presents me with an excellent opportunity to do so.

So why Barack Obama? Why not Clinton? It's certainly not their stances on political issues. We are fortunate in this race to have two candidates who champion many of the causes that we speak for in our daily lives. People need access to health care. We need to stop allowing companies the ability to pollute. We need to repeal the tax breaks that Bush put into place that only benefit his wealthy contributors. We need to stop this heartbreaking, costly and destructive war.

Most importantly, we need to change the perception of the world that America is a swaggering, self-centered, destructive lout that imposes its will where it pleases, and will destroy all in its path for profit. That's not America. That's a rather accurate description of this administration and this president.

If Obama and Clinton share similar ideas, why do I prefer Obama? There are a few reasons there. First, to paraphrase David Dinkins, I'm not against Clinton, I'm for Obama. If Clinton garners the Democratic nomination, I will happily vote for her. It's not that I don't feel that she is qualified, or that she would make a fine president.

I just think Barack Obama will be a better one.



Politics as usual. That's what bothers me about Clinton. Hillary, and even more importantly Bill Clinton are masters of politics. They are able to use the machine to achieve their mostly noble goals. Bill was an excellent president, one of the best of the 20th century, an achievement even more notable for the fact that he managed to accomplish so much while being dogged at every step by a hostile Republican party, lead by Newt Gingrich, one of the more reprehensible figures to grace our national stage in some time (a man that was demonizing Clinton for cheating on his wife while he himself had a mistress--the difference being Clinton didn't dump his wife while she recovered from cancer therapy in a hospital).

The Clintons, and make no mistake, they are as much of a team now as they were when Bill was President, know how to play that fiddle. And you know what? I'm sick of that particular tune.

Obama's campaign has been built on progress, on moving forward. Clinton's campaign has been built on "Look at all of the bad things I can say about my opponent." When Obama speaks, people listen. People believe, because he doesn't speak to tell people what they want to hear, he tells them what they need. They need hope. They need change. They need a leader that they don't need to apologize for, a leader whose faults they don't need to look past. A leader that inspires all, from young to old.

Obama's done it. His supporters are young and old, black and white, men and women. He makes people believe, and to look forward to the future for once. He doesn't traffic in fear. He traffics in change, and anyone who has ever heard him speak generally finds it hard to discount the power he has in his voice.

And on another note, the very presence of a man that was born of a white Protestant mother and a black Kenyan father, who was raised by his mother and Indonesian stepfather in Indonesia, a man who has admitted past drug use and doesn't lie about it, someone who attended a Muslim school as a child, will inevitably change the perception of America abroad. It's easy to consider the US a devilish nation controlled by rich WASPy white men, but what happens when that is subverted?

It's not a race thing. It's not a gender thing. It's just time for a change in the way things are. Obama can built friendships and coalitions, can facilitate new ideas and can lead this nation on the path of better living, both at home and abroad.

And that's why he had my vote in the primaries.

Dear John,

Doesn't that seem backwards? Usually, a woman writes a Dear John letter to dump her boyfriend. Instead, you're leaving us behind. It's too bad, because you would probably make a pretty good president. You're a stand up guy, I agree with you on pretty much everything you believe in, and I think you've run a pretty good campaign.

But the problem this election cycle is that you're a middle-aged white guy. Your stance on most issues is pretty close to that of Obama and Clinton, but they are not middle-aged white guys (well, Barack is half-white, but you get the idea). You're stuck in the position of being a qualified candidate, but for the first time in American political history, being the middle-aged white guy actually hurt you. And that's bizzare.

I have to admit, I will be voting for Obama in the primaries, but if you ended up as the Democratic candidate, I still would have been okay with that.

Oh, well.

Best of luck to you in the future.

Your Pal,

The Idea of Progress

Dear George,

Wow, you have less than a year left in office. That's not a lot, is it? I've never lived in one place for that long in my entire life-- it must be difficult making plans on where to move to next. Are you and Laura going to rent an apartment? Since your daughters are adults now, you really only need a three bedroom apartment, just in case they are both staying over at once. If you need help finding a place, give me a call. I've lived in six or seven apartments over the last decade, and I'm used to scouting the joints out. I can give you some tips (for instance, turn on the shower! See if the place gets good water pressure!).

You might want to start being more honest, now that you won't have executive privilege to cover your butt. It looks like you and your friends lied 935 times to the public in the lead-up to the war! I mean, that's less than a thousand, which is good, I guess, but if you are always lying to your new neighbors, they probably won't respect you enough to turn down the music when it's past midnight on a Tuesday, or loan you that cup of sugar you need.

Less than a year! What are your plans? I think you should get a job right away. If you take a few months of to "find yourself," you might miss some great opportunities. I mean, you could probably go work for Halliburton! You've helped them out tremendously in the past, and I bet Dick will put in a good word for you.

I'm always here to help. Let me know if you need help finding a new place!

Your Pal,

The Idea of Progress

Dear Fred Thompson,

Running for President was hard, wasn't it? I mean, all of that talking, and walking, and being nice to people and all of that. It's not the same as sitting on your front porch drinking lemonade, or fly fishing, or whatever real Americans do.

It's hard work!

I understand why you decided to drop out. You don't have your experience as a POW to draw from, or being the Mayor of 9/11, or the idea that Jesus came to America, and that the Native Americans are really Jewish. All that you had was the misguided belief that you were Reagan incarnate (maybe because you're an actor, too?).

But look at it this way. Now no one can say that you're running a worse campaign than that cousin-marrying Rudy Giuliani. And that's something.


Your Pal,

The Idea of Progress

Quote of the Day

“J.F.K.’s speech was to reassure Americans that he wasn’t a religious fanatic...Mitt’s was to tell evangelical Christians, ‘I’m a religious fanatic just like you.

- Jon Krakauer, quoted in the New York Times.

If you haven't already had the opportunity, I'd recommend Krakauer's excellent and frightening book Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, which tells the story of the Mormon church, which is more interesting and disturbing than you might think.

A few words for Mitt Romney

"Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with God. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone."

--Mitt Romney, speaking today, Thursday December 6th.

Mitt Romney, shut the fuck up.

Seriously.

Combining ideas like 'freedom' and 'religion,' and making them sound inseparable, is as asinine as telling someone they're either with you or against you. The concepts, while often intertwined, are not the same damn thing. And more often then not, religion is used to extinguish freedom, often under the maxim, "If you're not with us, you're against us."

Shut up, Mitt Romney, and go back to that hole you crawled out of.

Wow, am I angry.

Chuck Norris Endorses Mike Huckabee For President

Norris endorsed Mike Huckabee for President today. No word on Jean-Claude Van Damme's choice (although I'm guessing it's Ron Paul).

Republican Scandals

All of the lovely press coverage of the perils of Larry Craig have got me thinking. It seems to me that there are a lot of Republicans that have been indicted for either sex scandals or financial improprieties in the last few years. We have (of course) Senator Craig (R-ID), as well as Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Mark Foley (R-FL). There's many, many more out there, but all of the ones I hear about are just about always from Republicans.

Does this mean that Democrats are more honest? Do they just hide these things better? Do we only hear about the Republicans because the press has a liberal bias?

Who else should be on this list?

Dear Fred Thompson,

Running for president is way tougher than it looks, isn't it?

Your friend,

The Idea of Progress


PS: It's called Russia now, not the Soviet Union. And just in case it comes up, there's only one Germany.

Things That Sound Made Up

I heard about this on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on NPR, and it sounded invented, but I now have the proof. Everybody's favorite closeted Republican Senator, Larry Craig (R-ID) submitted a recipe about ten years ago to an internet cookbook that was seeking submissions from politicians. His choice?

The Super Tuber.

It's potato with a hole cut out and a hot dog pushed through the center.

Really.

No word on if the hot dog and potato met in an airport bathroom.

The complete recipe:

Super Tuber is a great snack that uses one of my favorite vegetables: The Idaho Potato. Of course, I suppose any type of potato could be used, but I cannot guarantee that a Super Tuber made with anything but a true Idaho potato would taste as good.

Sincerely, Larry E. Craig, United States Senator

Ingredients
1 hot dog, cook's choice
1 Idaho baking potato, 7 to 10 ounces
Mustard for dipping, any style
Other condiments as desired such as cheese sauce, sour cream, chili, chives, bacon pieces or black olives.

Wash and dry potato. Rub with shortening or butter. With an apple corer or small knife, core out the potato center (end to end). Push hot dog through the center. Bake until potato is cooked through.

To Microwave: Place on microwave safe plate; cover loosely (to avoid splatters). Microwave on high about 4 minutes per potato until fork tender.
To Bake in Conventional Oven: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake for approximately one hour or until potato is fork tender.

To Barbecue: Wrap in aluminum foil and place above medium hot coals, turning at least once during cooking. Cook until potato is fork tender.

Serving Suggestions: Allow potato to cool slightly. Eat as a finger food, dipping in your favorite hot dog condiments (mustard is my favorite).

You always think Bush is the worst president ever...and then something new comes along.

You go, Pope!

Pope Benedict has declined a request from Condie Rice to have a meeting, the BBC reported today. Apparently she wanted to discuss (what else?)Iraq and the Middle East. The Pope's people told her that he never took calls, as he is on vacation in August, and had her speak to his number two guy.

See, when he wanted to talk to the White house about the treatment of civilians in Iraq, he was given a cold shoulder. I'm sure he was happy to return the favor.

Would you taser this guy?

What does it mean to live in a free society? I know, I know, some of you out there are going to start with the "Bush this," and "NSA that" and Gitmo this," and I wouldn't argue with you. But generally, in a way that impacts our daily lives, we do okay. If I want to write here, "George W. Bush is a borderline fascist who tramples over our civil rights and is perfectly willing to kill hundreds of thousands of people to gain power and profit from it," I can. And I did.

If we want to gather in a public place and exchange these views, we can.

If we want to show up to an event and protest, we can.

If we want to write books, record songs, make movies that are critical of public figures, we can.

Does this mean we're allowed to do everything we want? That we should be able to? You may be able to figure out where I'm going with this. Yesterday a 21 year old college student named Andrew Meyer was tasered during a lecture/ q&a by John Kerry. There is a chilling video of a swarm of campus security zapping the kid with 50,000 volts of electricity as he cries out in pain.

The thing is, to some degree, he had it coming.

First, the video:



It's pretty shocking (pun mildly intended). Here's just a brave American, trying to speak his point of view, and getting assaulted by the Gestapo. There was immediate buzz (yes, I know, but I can't stop) about this event. That video has been viewed over 100,000 times in a day. It was shown on the Today Show.

We talked about it at work. My co-workers all agreed that silencing this guy's opinion was akin to denying him free speech. I disagreed. While I felt that tasering the kid was probably a little extreme (perhaps a lot), I can see exactly why he was dragged away from the mic.

Some opinions that aren't my own.

From a blog at the Washington Post:

There are some important things worth noting BEFORE you watch the video:

1.) Before Meyer is tasered, audience members can be heard applauding the police as they move him away from the microphone. Kerry staffers we spoke with say University of Florida officials told them the student has caused a fuss at similar events before, thus the clapping from members of the audience.

2.) Sen. Kerry was in town giving a lecture on foreign policy. The event was scheduled to last one hour, and had already run about 90 minutes by the time Meyer got to the microphone, according to a Kerry staffer.

3.) In some versions of the video, you can clearly hear Sen. Kerry say he will answer Meyer's questions. Kerry's office made it clear he has a policy of answering questions from anyone who asks at these types of events.

4.) Sen. Kerry's office issued the statement below:

"In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way. I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention. I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of responding when he was taken into custody. I was not aware that a taser was used until after I left the building. I hope that neither the student nor any of the police were injured. I regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted."

And from Daily Kos.

"I was at the Kerry speech today, sitting 2 rows away from all the action. I'll let you know how it really went down.

The forum was going to be over at 2 pm, and Kerry spoke for so long that the Q and A portion had to be shortened. He only got through about 7 of the 50 people who were waiting to ask questions. While the final question was being read, some douchebag ran down the aisle, grabbed the mic from the other side of the room, interrupted the kid who was talking, and started yelling at Kerry, demanding that his questions be heard. He started ranting about how Kerry talks in circles or something, and everyone was getting annoyed. The cops are all over him in no time and try to escort him out, but he starts yelling and resisting. Kerry insists that they let him stay and even agrees to answer his question.

After the interrupted guy's question was answered, Kerry keeps his promise and lets the angry guy talk. This is the point where people started taking their cameras and phones out. All the videos floating around youtube start around here. You can see in the videos that his questioning gets kind of inappropriate, so somebody cut his mic. Instead of shutting up, he starts yelling and making an even bigger scene. He struggled all the way up the aisle, and started violently trying to free himself. They threatened to taze him and he wouldnt stop fighting, so he got tazed. They only had to arrest him because he was causing a disruption and wouldn't leave peacefully. He wasn't being silenced for asking tough questions, trust me.

It's a shame that they had to taze the guy, but he had a chance to calm down and didn't take it. He probably didn't pose a physical threat to anybody in the room, but someone can't just hijack the floor of a forum like that and expect not to get kicked out. This wasn't some poor guy who was brutalized for trying to ask some tough questions. He's just an obnoxious guy who had a fit when there wasn't time for his questions and refused to be calm even when he was given the chance to speak. He was looking for trouble, and everyone applauded when he was forced to leave.

Nothing pisses me off more than hearing stories about power tripping cops abusing their power, unnecessarily tazing or arresting people, etc. It's a huge problem and I'm glad it's being discussed. Just don't mistake this for one of those cases"

.

Where do we draw the line at having the right to things, and abusing the right? While you have the right to ask a senator tough questions (and let's be clear: Kerry DID try and answer them), do you have the right to step on other people's toes, act like an asshole, and basically yell at a guy who is trying to give a speech? Especially when you support him?

I'm not saying that the kid should have been tasered. I'm not. He shouldn't have been tasered, or beaten. Should he have been removed? Hell yes. Those campus security folks overreacted, but he did start to push and shove them. That's his own damn fault.

If I showed up where Karl Rove was speaking, and I acted the way he did, I'd expect to be tossed out too. Or if I did it at an Obama speech, a McCain speech, or a Schwarzenegger speech. This isn't a party thing. This isn't a free speech thing.

It's a matter of just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

But what do you think?

Political News Bites

"Left Behind will save us!

-So the Pentagon is now supporting video games. No, not Grand Theft Auto. Not Manhunt 2. Not even Super Mario Brothers. No, our military is supporting "faith-based" entertainment. Faith-based, despite the George Michael reference, is wholly religious, and the game they are supporting is Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a military strategy game that takes place after the Rapture.

Having our military, which is fighting what some might refer to as a 'holy war,' sponsoring an evangelical Christian agenda...is that a good idea?


Tony Snow Will Crush You

-Tony Snow is resigning. Hurray! Now we get to hate someone else as much as we hate him! I have to say, he's the first Bush White House spokesman I've ever seen that was as cocky as who he was speaking for. Remember how flustered Scott McClennan always seemed to be, or how hounded Ari Fleisher always was? Snow was like a sleazy used car salesman, which I liked, because it was soooooo easy to want him dead.

A bit of his conversation with Hugh Hewitt:

HEWITT: Are there any other resignations upcoming, Tony Snow?

SNOW: I think that probably…as Josh said the other day, he thinks there are probably a couple coming up in the next month or so. […]

HEWITT: Your intention to go the distance, Tony Snow?

SNOW: No, I’m not going to be…I’ve already made it clear I’m not going to be able to go the distance, but that’s primarily for financial reasons. I’ve told people when my money runs out, then I’ve got to go.

I like this conversation for two reasons. ONE: The implication that poor, poor Tony Snow is running out of money. Good thing he's using his health savings account to pay for his fight against cancer (no, I'm not mocking him for having cancer, just his and his administration's opposition to public health care). He must have been making minimum wage over at Fox Noise, and not much more at the White House. TWO: At least as a Republican, he's sticking to his guns, and going where the money is.


You know they really just wanted to make out.

-I thought Karl Rove was taking time off to spend with his family? I guess he'd rather spend his time ripping on Hillary Clinton. He made these comments as a guest on the Rush Limbaugh show (I didn't even know people still listened to him. I though Bill O'Reilly had stepped into his stinky shoes)...

On what Rove characterizes as Clinton's 'lack of support' for our troops.

“I’m a little bit surprised that somebody with a record so weak on these things would somehow deign to lecture this president, who is very popular among the military and military families because they see him as a strong commander-in-chief who supports them, loves them, and gives them everything they need and want,” Mr. Rove said." (I find something very 1984-Big-Brother about that statement)

-Mr. Rove said that Mrs. Clinton’s criticism of the president showed “a lack of vision” on her part.

I think he just has a crush on her.

Karl Rove Quits...And I'm Not As Happy As I Should Be

It's official, Karl Rove will be leaving the White House at the end of September, according to an interview he gave with the Wall Street Journal (why the Wall Street Journal? How come not the Washington Journal or Fox News?) This is something that a lot of us have wanted for some time...say seven years or so. I would have hoped he would be exiting the White House for federal prison, but we can all dream, can't we?

Here's the thing, though. Rove is leaving at a strange time. I don't mean strange like the country is mired in an unpopular and ultimately doomed war (that he was an architect of), or that he has been under public scrutiny for his lies and illegal use of executive power. I mean strange like...why now? Why not at the end of 2007? There's some story that the White House Chief of staff told all of Bush's aides that if they stayed past Labor Day, they should expect to stay through the end of the term. Who tells Karl Rove what to do? Maybe Cheney, but that's about it.

So that leads me to fear for the worst. Does Rove know something, and doesn't want to be there when the shit goes down? If Rove is bailing, you know it has to be bad.

Obama's Campaign Headquarters Burglarized

Cough cough... Watergate! Cough cough...

(AP) DAVENPORT, Iowa The Davenport, Iowa, campaign headquarters for presidential candidate Barack Obama was burglarized Friday evening.

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor says two laptop computers and some campaign literature were taken. A campaign worker discovered the burglary this morning, and a report was filed with Davenport police.

Vietor says that it doesn't appear that it was anything sensitive or irreplaceable was taken.

From CBS 2 Chicago.