The Young Woman Heckler

I wanted to post about this last night, but blogger wasn't working. So a day late and thought half forgotten, I visited Common Dreams and found a story about Medea Benjamin getting arrested for disrupting congress during Iraqi PM al Maliki's speech. She stood up and shouted in support of bringing our American troops home, something most Americans and Iraqis actually want done.
I decided to see if this got any coverage from the major media outlets on the Web. So I went to cnn.com where they reported that an anti-war protester had to be removed. They reported that the woman was identified as Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink. Okay so not much, but at least they knew her name and who she was representing.
Then I went to Fox News, not expecting much. "Al-Maliki paused and grimaced while the young woman was lifted from her seat and carried by officers from the House visitors' gallery. Dressed in a pink T-shirt that read, 'Troops Home Now,' the woman repeatedly called back, 'Listen to the Iraqis.'"
That's exactly what they reported, no name, organization, or clue about her age. Just the type of reliable news were used to from Fox.
And I just new that MSNBC wouldn't let me down. "Al-Maliki was interrupted briefly by a shouting demonstrator wearing a pink T-shirt that read, 'Troops Home Now.' The young woman was lifted from her seat by officers and carried out of the House visitor’s gallery, while al-Maliki paused and grimaced in irritation."
Now it looks to me that one of these news organizations did what I used to do in 7th grade when I used the encyclopedia as a reference. Hmm. . . if I move this sentence here and leave out these two words it will look like my own work. How do neither of the news outlets give at least a name? How do you write off the 54 year old, founder of CodePink and Global Exchange and one time U.S. Senate candidate as a "young woman"?
Well I knew there was one place I could go who would do a fair job of covering the story. I went to a young woman's blog, and found that yes she did know Medea Benjamin's name. And if you read more you'll see that she's got time mock the weight of a woman who lost her son in Iraq.

Another reason I love google

It's funny what you can find out with sitemeter. I found out that if you do a google search for "Devin Nunes Disgusting" (without the quotations) you get a link to us, well actually first you get Devin's official site, then you get us. Go figure.

Democratic Party Fascism?

After hearing that a couple of his blogging buds had been blocked from a Joe Lieberman campaign event with Bill Clinton, Skippy had this to say:

"is this what the democratic party has come down to? refusing entry to a public event to citizens that happen to disagree with those in charge? that’s something that george w. bush has done throughout his administration, and there are numerous instances of people even going to jail for simply wearing an opposition button or tee shirt.this kind of fascism is not the democratic party i know. for you to be associated with this kind of elitist exclusivity not only does not reflect well on you, but will ultimately not reflect well on your wife, sen. clinton, should she want to obtain any higher office.i’m a blogger, i’ve been blogging for 4 years, and jane is a blogger, both of us attended the yearlykos in las vegas last month. i know markos of dailykos and duncan of eschaton and pretty much all the major bloggers, and i can assure you that this story will not sit well with the readers of our blogs who thought america was the land of free speech and the freedom to associate."

He did say that I could feel free to borrow from him so I am, and maybe somewhat out of context, but that's what we as bloggers are allowed to do. I'm only picking on Skippy's quote, which is actually a message he left on President Clinton's answering machine, because he is one of the few democrats that I really enjoy reading. And since he used to link my old blog I feel I owe reciprocate by linking back as often as I can.
My real problem is with big party politics. And I feel that finally some democrats are starting to feel what third party advocates have always felt. Greens and others have been getting kicked out and arrested for years when they try to gain access. It's an exclusive party and they are very careful about who they want joining. Diane Feinstein, Joe Lieberman, Joe Biden and other's have been in power too long, but as long as they can keep scratching each other's backs they'll stay there. They will stay there to protect other rich people and put on a populist hat come election years, and if one is ever challenged by someone who might do real good the others will step forward to squash the rebellion.

So now you know how I really feel about the democratic party, sorry.

Leaving Lebanon

Originally posted by Alli over at Democratic Alli

Ok, I tried to post on this yesterday, but I lost my post when I tried to spell check. That's what I get going for accuracy.An estimated 25,000 American citizens are currently living in Lebanon, 8,000 of whom are trying to flee the country. Our government, in true and shameful Katrina like fashion has so far not done a great job of getting this accomplished. After most European countries had already evacuated their countrymen, Americans were still getting the run around at the Embassy, who was claiming it was not their job to organize evacuations. Finally, on Sunday we had managed to evacuate about 160 women and children. Yesterday, we had gotten those numbers increased and loaded about 1,000 Americans on a cruise ship, and we are hopefully getting even more out today. A few things have really distressed me about this situation. First, with 25,000 of our own living in Lebanon, I would have hoped our government would have done more to convince Israel to show restraint with their bombing raids to protect our won citizens. Instead our government has done nothing but defend Israel's attack against infrastructure in Lebanon. Second, reports abound of people being misdirected in their efforts to leave. Being told to call numbers where no one answers the phone, and instructed to show up at the wrong places for departure. Third and most disturbing to me, American citizens are being forced to sign promissary notes to reimburse the costs of evacuation to our government. I just think this is disgusting. Is our government saying that the lives and safety of our citizens are only worth saving if said citizens can pay for it? To force people with this kind of choice, after surviving the last week of bombing and war, it is shameful. It is wrong.

What we're up against

I just finished visiting an old favorite website of mine; Open Secrets. Here's a look at what we're up against.
2006 RACE: CALIFORNIA DISTRICT 21
Devin Nunes (R)*
Raised:
$790,895
Spent:
$518,097
Cash on hand:
$431,360
Last Report:
5/17/2006

PACs:
$292,350
(37%)
Individuals:
$498,418
(63%)
Candidate:
$0
-
Other:
$127
(0%)
Ernest Steven Haze (D)
Raised:
$14,432
Spent:
$2,587
Cash on hand:
$11,845
Last Report:
5/17/2006

PACs:
$0
-
Individuals:
$2,412
(17%)
Candidate:
$12,020
(83%)
Other:
$0
-
John Roger Miller (3) No reports on record for this candidate.

From the sign on the side of my blog you know who I'm supporting. This shows just what kind of struggle it is for a third party or independent to try to go against the establishment. It's sad that we continue to let people like Devin Nunes buy themselves a seat in congress.

Mutually Assured Destruction

Here's an excerpt from an article over at TruthDig, by Chris Hedges.

This is the world of the apocalypse. It is the world where those on either extreme become indistinguishable. And if we do not find a new way to speak, and soon, there will be untold suffering—not only for many innocents in the Middle East but eventually innocents at home. It was the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon that spawned and empowered Hezbollah. It was the decades-long occupation and humiliation of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank by Israel that spawned and empowered Hamas, and it is the brutal American occupation that has bred the legions of extremists in Iraq. And when Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah promises “open war” against Israel, as he did in an address shortly after his Beirut offices were bombed, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he won’t cease his attack until Israel is secure, it is time to run for cover, especially when George W. Bush is our best hope for peace.

And another one via Common Dreams "This is Going to Be A Big War" by Dahr Jamail.

Reading these articles lets me know that there are some people out there who understand just what is happening here, I wonder if our President has got a clue. I don't think most Americans have a clue the potential of this crisis is.

New Contributor

I want to welcome a new contributor over here at Back From Hiatus. My sister Alli of Democratic Alli will be an infrequent contributor. She's a lefty democrat and hopefully we'll get her first post over here soon.
I'm still hoping to add another member, maybe someone not as liberal as the two of us, but we'll see.

Hi, I'm Alli

Well, as you may have guessed from my clever title, I'm Alli. I have also blogged from time to time, and share a couple of parents with Moose. He invited me to contribute to his blog, and I thought it would be fun. Just so you know, I am not a green. That's right... I'm a dem, and I love Al Gore. Deeply. If you haven't seen the sketch he did on SNL, in which he played out the alternate ending to the 2000 elections, you need to.
I did want to post tonight about Israel and Lebanon. John Bolton today vetoed a resolution at the U.N. that would have called for the removal of Israeli troops from the Gaza strip and that condemned the bombing of civilians and infrastructure in Lebanon, including the Beirut airport, as too extreme. He vetoed the resolution even though it had already received ten votes of approval from other U.N. members. The U.S. has vetoed resolutions that would call for restraint from Israel an astonishing number of times. This comes just before the G8 summit and while the pres. is in Europe courting the EU, a strong supporter of Palestinian rights. This means that America is further polarized not from the Arab nations in the middle east, but also from countries that we need to cultivate as allies. Our government needs to weigh the costs of allowing Israel to act without restraint, and without compromise, we can continue to support Israel but also hold them to an expectation of just conduct.

Skippy Censorship?

I was over at xnerg.blogspot.com a little earlier this evening and posted a comment (off subject) about Instant Run-off voting. And I went back to check just in case anyone had commented back only to find the post was gone. Had I never really visited? Had I not asked Skippy a serious question? Are they censoring an opinion that promotes democracy and free elections? I hope not, I hope someone there can give me an explanation as to why the post was erased. I want to know where Democratic Bloggers stand on Instant Run-off Voting, is that too much to ask?

Mexico's Election Problem. . . Ours too

You all have been keeping an eye on Mexico's election I'm sure, seeing as how it's looking more and more like one of our own. While a winner has been announced in Calderon, Lopez Obrador continues to fight the close election outcome and has alleged rigged voting machines. Depending on how much attention you've been paying to the election you may or may not know that there was a third candidate who happened to garner over 20% of the votes, so neither of the aforementioned candidates were close to a majority anyway, but the election could have been clearer if they had adopted a policy of voting that a small minority of us our campaigning for here in America -- Instant Runoff Voting.
You see, given three fairly popular choices in Mexico, if one had the opportunity to vote for numerous candidates based on a ranked choice we might have a better idea of the majority pick. By eliminating the least popular candidates through second round voting (instant runoff) until we get a majority opinion we know who the people would have elected given only the two most popular. Pretty simple idea that would really clarify elections and lead to a more democratic process isn't it?
Yet while our congress is busy asking for constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage and flag burning, (why not just make it one amendment, save some time) they stay away from issues that actually matter to democracy. We could for once have a president that gets 51% of the vote. Is that too much to ask for the man or woman who will lead us into illegal war, spy on us, and take away our social security? If IRV, shorthand okay, was in place say back in 2000 do you think America would look any different?
So why haven't I heard Skippy or any of the Kossacks talking about this issue? Democrats haven't given any reason why they would oppose IRV, yet they haven't been able to stand up and make this People's Issue a party issue. Skippy, if you're out there will you help us make this land a more democratic place.
A couple of good places to check out:
http://www.instantrunoff.org/
http://www.fairvote.org/irv/