Her name is Gracie.

She made it from Florida to Fort Worth in her owner's luggage. Her story is here.
Now, about that Level Orange Alert, Secretary...

Today, when most of you get to work, the Canadian polls will open. Aux urnes! as they say in French. So, I've been in Canada for the past week or so, and I had grand plans of not only finishing off some posts which I owe some people, but writing a sort of last-days political travelogue of the Canadian election, as I've been wandering around southern and eastern Ontario. But not least due to the surprising spottiness of Internet access, I have failed. *hangs head* Read more…

Just askin', 'cause it's under $3 a gallon in my hometown today.
Could there really be a de-flation cycle starting?
If so, how close are we to 10/29/29 well-and-truly screwed?

So, I've been wracking my brains attempting to come up with a way to introduce what the issues are in this Canadian election, including calling up family currently living in Canada and asking them, but I still haven't found the right approach. I mean, not only am I writing for a USAmerican audience, which means a different national context, but I do believe that for a country so small in population compared to the USA, the politics are much harder to describe.

Perhaps this isn't fair, but I have an easier time discussing US politics with Canadians than Canadian politics with Canadians. Maybe it's just easier to paper over the real complexity in US politics, but I really do feel that Canadian politics are just more convoluted. Read more…

So now that, due to my loose fingers and Corrente's illiberal policy towards the back button, you will not see my post on Canadian vice-Queens and their electoral meaning, I will salvage my pride with a short post on what just happened on the Canadian electoral front. ie, an election was recently called. Read more…

...as we say in Canada.

So, in other words, us Canadians will have voted in a new government before you USians have voted in yours.

The stakes are high. Canadians have to decide whether they can get over Stéphane Dion's personality issues enough to stop Stephen Harper from dismantling the country, basically. So far, the most likely outcome in my opinion is that Canada will have another Conservative minority. But I'm terrified of the fact that they are in majority territory. Read more…

...don't worry, I didn't write them.

Poem the First, many more here.

She Calls It The London

She calls it the London because it is hers.
From up out of all of the aching years,
burned by memories of her arching fears.
Form up out of where her life began,
smuggled out of Pakistan,
sold to a twisted needy man,
to feed his ugly depredations,
fed to the lusts of many nations,
turned and tapered to shapes that adult lovers cannot know
a tiny vessel into which their sewage flowed.

To be that age and carry his seed inside,
to be at nine a hallowed concubine,
and then again, again at ten,
his pixie sparkly little bride. Read more…

Very recently, this thread on Clinton Derangement Syndrome erupted into flame over Bill Clinton's famous Sister Souljah Moment when I mentioned it as a possible cause of dissatisfaction with him felt by some people (me included) during his presidency. You know, things were different then, and we never imagined things could get this bad. Ah, the memories. Read more…

It has been kindly pointed out to me that there is an error (in good faith, based on not checking the facts on another post and/or misreading the post) in my last post on flags. I feel obliged to correct this with another post, because I feel the content of my post still stands even after the factual error has been corrected.

Hillary Clinton did not participate in the attempt at adding a flag-burning amendment to the Constitution. She instead attempted to defuse it by proposing a non-amendment that very narrowly fit the Constitution as interpreted generally by the courts. Consequently, this paragraph, Read more…

There are reasons to prefer Clinton to Obama. There are easily arguable reasons to be angry that Clinton is not presently likely to be a Presidential candidate in the general election. You can even make a case for not voting for Barack Obama. You can make an even better case for not voting at all.

But there are a few moderately popular reasons for preferring Clinton to Obama that disturb me. A variant of one of these is present in this post at The Confluence. Read more…

Think of it all as a hostile takeover, not yet accomplished but well on the way. Steps as follows:

1. OFB are noisy shareholders generating buzz

2. Investment bankers (the funders) supply the capital (teebee!)

3. Loss-making divisions -- working people, the poor, the old, anyone who needs government to work -- are downsized or cut loose; Donna Brazile was sending a message to the backers; it's just business.

4. Assets -- remaining reputation of Dem Party -- are stripped to repay the investment bankers (coal, nuclear)

5. The shell of the Party is sold to a bigger fool

6. All the players get good jobs in the Village and sleep the sleep of the righteous! Read more…

[This started out as a comment to Paul's piece, but it feels too long for a comment, and some of the issues are different. My animal spirits are a little low this morning; hopefully that's just the hangover.]

And as I have been saying all along: I'll vote for Obama in the general, but that will be the extent of my investment in his campaign. No doubt many of Obama's supporters feel that's a good thing; and surely they have the privilege of working with people with whom they feel comfortable. Read more…

Mighty Corrente Building Manager Lambert brought something up in the comments to this post by bringiton that I thought deserved its own, entirely new thread. Maybe; it's part of the "What To Do With The OFB" issue that I think is a fairly important matter.

Anyway, Lambert quoth:

How about they go fuck themselves? Read more…

It's become a political cliché in this election season that Obama and his campaign have been largely about process issues ("politics, not policy") and that there is a large segment of the Democratic Party that is surprisingly passionate about process issues and see in Obama a way to bring process issues to the fore. This attitude towards process issues stretches back to the Dean campaign. Whether this attitude is justified is another matter, but it's becoming clear that it's not an issue that is likely to win a general election, and that the Obama campaign's focus on meta issues has been at the expense of issues that matter to another important voting bloc, and this might even cost him a nomination that for a time seemed to be practically his. Read more…

Although old news, it's news to me and worth talking about. What kind of people are these, really? We talk about sexism a lot on this blog, but as many have noted: what would it take to get you to use language like that, about your partner, in public? I honestly can't imagine that.

My family is filled with passionate, flawed people who aren't afraid to raise a voice (but never a hand) to each other. Harsh language is the salt of life, obviously I was raised to believe that too. But I don't understand how something like this is 'normalized' into the habits of two people married to each other and for whom public image matters. Recklessness? Carelessness? Lack of intelligence, tact? Hatred of women? Any answer is one that reflects poorly on McCain as a national figure, as someone we want to have a finger on the bomb.

Like I said, this is old news but it's time to talk about it again, and again. Women will be really turned off by this, and should be reminded, McCain isn't for us. I was reading some depressing statistics about low information people this morning, so let's all do our part to keep the conversations and opinions properly focued. On McShame is a good place.

Via Those Who Rise From the Ashes, comes this promising series that looks to be worth bookmarking, for the next time you are talking about "coattails." I have no opinion on them and how/if they will be important in this race, yet. But reading this, I'm likely to develop one quickly. Mr. Subliminal wants you to also think about "electability" arguments.

See, GOS is still doing "interesting" and valuable work. I think that's another meme we need to kill. Sure, it's a festival of poo-throwing monkeys most of the time. But then you get a hard working newbie or low information but good information type who doesn't know where else to post. Kick individuals there all you want, including Lord Lucifer himself, I don't care. But the site retains some usefulness and we shouldn't forget that. If for no other reason than there isn't really an alternative community like it, yet. Read more…

Why is it that Black and Native (and now Latina/o) people are just supposed to "get over" genocide and slavery and segregation, but White folks get to mourn the loss of the Confederacy for ever and ever?

(h/t Phila)

warning: heavy snark ahead

What a crazy idea, eh? Go ahead and take a gander, it won't hurt! Here, I'll give you a warm up:

GLEN FORD: Well, Dr. Dyson doesn't seem to know what a rightwing interest is. An expanded US military, 100,000 new troops, isn't a rightwing interest? An expanded military budget that sucks up all of the money for healthcare, for revitalization of the cities, for a rebuilding of America's infrastructure, for all the projects that black folks hold dear, all of which would go down the tubes, will be postponed indefinitely with the kind of expanded military budget that clearly follows from Barack Obama's proposal for 100,000 new troops. And so, it is not in black folks' interest. It's really not in anyone's interest, of course. But it is diametrically opposed to the historic black political consensus on domestic development to be proposing expanded military activities and budgets for the United States.

AMY GOODMAN: We only have thirty seconds. Michael Eric Dyson, your response?

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON: Well, listen here. I think that that is a legitimate comment to be made in terms of the critique of a potential Barack Obama presidency. Let's see it get here first. I think that a Barack Obama presidency at least holds out the possibility of engaging these forms of critique, engaging the form of the black political consensus about which Mr. Ford has spoken, but also to deal with the fact that we have to be bifocal. The presidency-the people who are making critiques of the system, if he's part of the system, he will be critiqued legitimately. And African American people will be able to enjoy the victory of the grassroots being able to speak, while at the same time being part of a political process that includes us in a very serious way. I think a Barack Obama presidency- Read more…

They're asking questions over at MoA. Questions I like to think upon:

Suicide Bombing in Iraq continues unabated:

A suicide bombing Wednesday in the city of Baqouba killed seven people and wounded 22, police said, while authorities increased the death toll from a Baghdad suicide attack at a funeral the previous day to 36.

Could just be me, but it seems like the SCLM has made a very concerted effort not to speak about Iraq. Good, bad, schools painted...no, forget all that. We're told, daily, that "Iraq is no longer the #1 issue to voters." Right. Because 'the voters' are too stupid to understand that 1/2 trillion Over There = a shitty economy over here. Whatever.

The wikipedia list of suicide attacks in Iraq ends in October. There were more than one bombing every two days throughout 2007 except for October where only 11 are listed (October may be incomplete.)

The bombings are usually attributed to 'Al Qaida in Iraq'. At the same time:

[A] spokesman for Iraq's Interior Ministry said Saturday that U.S. and Iraqi forces had destroyed 75% of the Al Qaeda in Iraq network

This begs some questions: Read more…

Now that Kucinich has opened the door on the UFOs issue, it appears that others are following him through it.

But, basic obvious question here, people: Read more…

To attend not one, but two, invitation-only fundraising events for Senator John Cornyn.

Cheney already did his bit, last week. In secret. Read more…

Remember that proposal to change California's electoral votes from winner-take-all to a split system? Remember how it was pronounced dead a couple of months ago after the top thugs got fighting amongst themselves? Didn't it seem to you like maybe they rolled over and quit awfully fast?

You were right. They're Baaaaa-aaak..... Via NYT (on a Saturday afternoon, how conveeenient):

Republican donors are pumping new life into a proposed ballot initiative, considered all but dead by Democrats a month ago, that would alter the way electoral votes are apportioned in California to the benefit of Republican presidential candidates.

Read the link for the rest of the details: the short of it is that this is still Guiliani people behind this, including his former top fundraiser who unexpectedly quit his campaign (on paper anyway) not long ago.

This says to me that she is not a "Guiliani" supporter so much as she is a Republican operative Read more…

This is shocking, in a way. Or rather, you'd think racist, fear-addicted Republican types would make more of a stink over it. The money quote:

"This is gutting the criminal program. Incomprehensible. Just plain dumb," said one recently retired top FBI official who requested anonymity.
...
FBI insiders, reciting a litany of concerns, such as public corruption, violent crime and mortgage fraud, say the criminal program already has been cut to the bone.

"They are beyond looking at any body fat," one said. "They are lopping off limbs."

But wait, it gets worse: Read more…

Good Boy, Jim. The number that matters? 500% That's the amount of increase in our prison populations, in just 30 years. I knew it was bad, I didn't know it was that bad.

I don't know if anything will come of these hearings, but I'm glad to see Webb at least bringing it to our attention. I think, and have said many times before, that money is the key to ending the drug war. That is, the country is broke, and increasingly the choice will be food and health care for children and the elderly, or millions to prison companies who incarcerate hippies caught with a couple of joints. Via the ever essential DrugWar Rant. Read more…

Not that you didn't know that, but perhaps you'll find this letter useful the next time you're arguing with a wingnut. Via Team BIO

“How I Didn’t Dismantle Iraq’s Army,” by L. Paul Bremer III (Op-Ed, Sept. 6), about his role in firing the Iraqi Army in May 2003, is an exercise in bureaucratic finger-point ing.I was on the ground in Iraq involved in combat operations when he did it. We marines were all left scratching our heads in disbelief.

I find it ludicrous that Mr. Bremer asserts that his releasing members of the old Iraqi Army to the wind and not reconstituti ng the force was right. With a pen stroke, he disbanded the Iraqi Army, releasing more than 400,000 heavily armed, mostly Sunni, soon to be very angry men. Overnight they lost their role in Iraqi society, their income and their promise of a pension.

The worst thing you can do to any Arab man is humiliate him. Mr. Bremer and his advisers humiliated nearly half a million Iraqi men. Read more…