It was another glorious football Sunday.
Brett Favre now holds the NFL record for career touchdowns.
421 and 422
PACKERS WIN!
Vikings 16
"Stand with anybody that stands RIGHT. Stand with him while he is right and PART with him when he goes wrong." --Abraham Lincoln
Posted by Mary at 9/30/2007 05:24:00 PM 2 comments
Labels: Brett Favre, NFL, Packers, Sports, Wisconsin
SHARE:Posted by Mary at 9/30/2007 05:20:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Ahmadinejad, Entertainment, Foreign Affairs, Iran
SHARE:In case you didn't know, "9/11 is over."
Thomas Friedman says so. He has officially declared it to be dead and buried.
Why does he think that we need to get over it?
He says, "9/11 has made us stupid."
Really?
Stupid, huh?
He thinks that the next president should have nothing to do with 9/11 and all that ensuing stupidity.
So, Friedman will not be voting for Rudy Giuliani.
He vows to vote for a "9/12 candidate" instead.
He writes:
I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.
It is not that I thought we had new enemies that day and now I don’t. Yes, in the wake of 9/11, we need new precautions, new barriers. But we also need our old habits and sense of openness. For me, the candidate of 9/12 is the one who will not only understand who our enemies are, but who we are.
Before 9/11, the world thought America’s slogan was: “Where anything is possible for anybody.” But that is not our global brand anymore. Our government has been exporting fear, not hope: “Give me your tired, your poor and your fingerprints.”
...We can’t afford to keep being this stupid! We have got to get our groove back. We need a president who will unite us around a common purpose, not a common enemy. Al Qaeda is about 9/11. We are about 9/12, we are about the Fourth of July — which is why I hope that anyone who runs on the 9/11 platform gets trounced.
Posted by Mary at 9/30/2007 01:51:00 AM 1 comments
Labels: 9/11, Al Qaeda, Media, War on Terror
SHARE:Obama’s campaign is the revenge of Gen XYZ — an inconvenient reminder to the 50- and 60-somethings that they’ve become part of the system they used to decry. His big rally this week in Greenwich Village was an event that Hillary could never have pulled off — politics as a dating scene. Thousands and thousands and thousands of mostly young people swarmed into Washington Square Park where they were warmed up by a 25-year-old Asian-American rapper named Jin, who announced that Obama was going to be getting “my first vote ever.”
To this crowd, Clinton is what you hope you won’t have to settle for at the end. Better than Bush, of course, but not a real agent for change. “There are competent people who will manage the system the way it is,” said Obama about you-know-who, and, of course, the crowd cheered that no, they wanted someone braver and better and maybe even ... younger.
The Democratic Party seems to be gradually acclimating itself to the idea that Hillary Clinton is going to be the nominee. It’s a little like that frog in a beaker of water that Al Gore talks about in his global warming speech — the one who won’t notice he’s being boiled to death if you turn up the heat ever so gradually. Day by day, debate by debate, poll by poll, the sense of Hillary’s inevitability seems to be seeping in.
She thinks she’s got it nailed as long as she doesn’t make any mistakes, and that can be a trap. It is possible to be so careful that you drive everybody crazy, make them so itchy for adventure, for a noble mission instead of a winnable hand of poker, that they’ll be willing to undo all your hard work just to juice things up.
During the latest Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton was exactly that kind of candidate.
The Republican debates have become an ongoing suspense drama in which viewers try to guess which of these unlikely suspects will actually become a presidential nominee. The Democratic ones, meanwhile, are becoming less about the competition and more and more focused on how Hillary performs. That’s bad for the Clinton camp, since her strategy is all about not losing. She never gets caught in a disaster, but if you’re waiting for her to say something unexpected or pointed or forthcoming, you may have a long night.
Posted by Mary at 9/29/2007 01:40:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Election 2008, Hillary Clinton
SHARE:
I came across a page on Miller's website that is jaw-droppingly hypocritical.
Miller professes to be a company interested in building strong communities here.
"Ultimately, there can be no choice between doing the right thing for the company and the right thing for society."
Great beer and strong communities — Miller Brewing Company has been a leader in both for more than 150 years. We continue that legacy today as a key employer with six breweries providing economic and community benefits to our hometowns around the country: Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Irwindale, California; Albany, Georgia; Trenton, Ohio, Eden, North Carolina and Fort Worth, Texas.
From the millions we invest in community initiatives to the taxes we pay and local goods and services we purchase, Miller is connected to the people and economies that make our communities strong.
At the heart of our community spirit is Miller REACH®, the program that establishes the focus and standards for our corporate social investments. Miller REACH® aligns our community support with five focus areas of shared importance to the community and to Miller: Responsibility, Employment, AIDS/HIV, Cultural Diversity and Heritage Initiatives.
Responsibility: Miller REACH® investments support community-based initiatives to help prevent underage drinking and youth access to alcohol, promote responsible decision-making and prevent drunk driving.
Employment: To support employment priorities, Miller REACH® investments are devoted to initiatives that promote entrepreneurship, job creation and job training.
AIDS/HIV: Miller REACH® supports life-saving efforts by investing in community-based organizations that provide services from AIDS/HIV awareness and counseling to treatment.
Cultural Diversity: Miller REACH® supports and partners with organizations that celebrate our country's cultural differences and work on issues important to advancing diversity.
Heritage Initiatives: Miller REACH® supports long-standing cultural, ethnic and festive experiences that enrich our communities and positively impact our business.
We live and work in a diverse nation, where a wide range of ethnic, cultural and other differences enrich our communities, businesses and experiences. Cultural diversity can be one of this country's greatest strengths, reflecting democracy and fueling the entrepreneurial spirit.
Miller REACH® supports and partners with organizations that celebrate our country's cultural differences and work on issues important to advancing diversity. Miller is a founding corporate sponsor of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and ¡Adelante! U.S. Education Leadership Fund, which each honor deserving students with college scholarships. For more information on these two programs, click on the links below.
Thurgood Marshall College Fund
Adelante
Statement Regarding Folsom Street Fair
While Miller has supported the Folsom Street Fair for several years, we take exception to the poster the organizing committee developed this year. We understand some individuals may find the imagery offensive and we have asked the organizers to remove our logo from the poster effective immediately.
Posted by Mary at 9/28/2007 05:24:00 PM 2 comments
Labels: Culture Wars, Miller, Milwaukee, Religion, Wisconsin
SHARE:Defense attorney Dennis Rhoad said the men have a reason for having the devices and it would become clear in later court hearings.
"The defendants deny the allegations the state and the sheriff have made against them," Rhoad said.
TAMPA -- A suspended University of South Florida student facing explosives charges regarded American troops and U.S. allies as invaders of Arab countries, an FBI agent says in federal court documents filed this week.
The agent's affidavit gives more details about a secretly taped conversation between Ahmed Mohamed, 26, and fellow student Youssef Megahed, 21, and also about the contents of Mohamed's laptop.
In a sworn affidavit, FBI Special Agent Daniel J. McTavish said that when agents searched Mohamed's hard drive they found a folder named "Bomb Shock." It contained files of information on explosives, explosive ingredients and downloads from Web sites about explosives.
Investigators also found another folder labeled "High-Order Explosives," which included information on the composition and use of explosives, including TNT and C-4.
...Mohamed's laptop also contained a 12-minute video on transforming a toy remote-controlled car into a detonator. The face of the man narrating the video wasn't seen, but FBI investigators said Mohamed admitted it was him.
"He explained that he made the tape to assist those persons in Arabic countries to defend themselves against the infidels invading their countries," McTavish said in his statement.
And Mohamed "added that the technology which he demonstrated in the tape was to be used against those who fought for the United States," he said.
When the men were stopped and their car searched, investigators also found pieces of PVC pipe cut into various sizes and filled with potassium nitrate, a box of .22-caliber bullets, an electric drill and gasoline.
The men were secretly recorded as they spoke in Arabic while being taken to the Sheriff's Office. According to the FBI report, Megahed said to Mohamed that he told investigators the gasoline was for the car.
Posted by Mary at 9/28/2007 10:03:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Islam, War on Terror
SHARE:SPRINGSTEEN: This is a song called "Livin' in the Future" but it's really about what's happening now, right now. It's kind of about how.. the things that we love about America - cheeseburgers, french fries, the Yankees battlin' Boston, the Bill of Rights, V-twin motorcyles, Tim Russert's haircut, transfat, and the Jersey shore. We love all those things and that the way the women folk love on Matt Lauer. That's right.
But over the past 6 years we've had to add to the American picture rendition, illegal wiretapping, voter suppression, no habeus corpus, to the neglect of our great city of New Orleans and her people, an attack on the Constitution, and the loss of our best young men and women in a tragic war. This is a song about things that shouldn't happen here happening here. And so right now we plan to do something about it. We plan to sing about it. I know it's early, but it's late. So come and join us.
Posted by Mary at 9/28/2007 08:38:00 AM 2 comments
Labels: Celebrities, Entertainment, George W. Bush, Iraq, Music
SHARE:Clearly, the intention was to humiliate the Republican candidates who declined to participate in last night's debate.
The empty podiums were meant to be a constant reminder that the four top tier candidates were no-shows.
It was a stunt, political theater staged to give the illusion that the Republican Party neglects minorities.
BALTIMORE -- Republican presidential candidates discussed the importance of reaching out to people of color during a minority issues debate Thursday night and criticized the leading four GOP contenders for skipping it.
"I think this is a disgrace that they are not here," said Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback. "I think it's a disgrace to our country. I think it's bad for our party, and I don't think it's good for our future."
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he was "embarrassed for our party, and I'm embarrassed for those who didn't come."
The four no-shows — former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Sen. Fred Thompson, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — cited scheduling conflicts in saying they could not attend the debate at historically black Morgan State University.
"Fortunately, there are those in the Republican Party who do understand the importance of reaching out to people of color," said talk show host Tavis Smiley, the debate moderator, thanking the six other candidates for participating.
Besides Brownback and Huckabee, the other candidates who participated in the debate were: Reps. Duncan Hunter of California, Ron Paul of Texas and Tom Tancredo of Colorado, and conservative activist Alan L. Keyes.
The forum, which had black and Hispanic journalists questioning the candidates, was broadcast live on PBS.
Huckabee said he would want his legacy in helping minorities to be more equal treatment for them in the criminal justice system. Brownback said he would continue to push for the National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington. Keyes spoke of bringing more religious values into schools.
Paul received loud applause when he told the audience that minorities are unfairly punished in the criminal justice system. He also called for ending the war on drugs. "It isn't working," Paul said.
Tancredo said two things have mostly hurt blacks economically and more than race: the welfare state and "the importation of millions upon millions of low-income workers that depress the wage rates."
"Those two things are responsible," he said.
Hunter said the key to securing Iraq and bringing home U.S. troops is to get Iraq's army battle-hardened and capable of defending the country from insurgents.
Posted by Mary at 9/28/2007 07:29:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Election 2008
SHARE:Read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board's lips: MORE NEW TAXES.
What a surprise!
The Board suggests that Walker should toss out his promise to Milwaukee County voters that he would hold the line on tax increases.
Walker should simply act more like tax-hiker Mayor Tom Barrett and burden residents with higher taxes.
Editorial: Public need and taxes
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker submitted his 2008 budget to the County Board Thursday and, like his counterpart just down the street at City Hall, Walker finds himself hamstrung by the uncertainty of the still-in-flux state budget, coupled with the harsh reality of unfunded state mandates.
"The reality is that the state is sticking it to Milwaukee County," Walker told supervisors, expressing some of the same frustration Mayor Tom Barrett did earlier this week when he submitted his 2008 city budget.
Given that reality, Walker, to his credit, has managed to craft a budget that boldly addresses some pressing community needs, including providing an additional $1.7 million for services for those with mental illness and $1 million for housing for people with mental illness.
But unlike Barrett, who reluctantly realized he had no choice but to propose a 3.3% hike in city property taxes to provide the services taxpayers want and need, Walker is proposing once again to hold the line on county property taxes. His proposed levy of $241 million is identical to the 2007 levy in keeping with Walker's pledge when he first took office to constantly keep taxes in check.
Under normal circumstances, [keeping taxes in check] would be admirable. But these aren't normal circumstances and, as Walker himself correctly noted at several points in his budget speech, the playing field is far from level. While the county has made great progress, in large part because of Walker, to get leaner, the state, as Walker said, "has taken little or no action to reduce the overhead costs" of state institutions for juvenile offenders. So while the average daily population at these institutions has declined by 644 in the past seven years, the rates the state will charge the county to house those offenders is about 22% higher. Excellent point.
The county can legally increase its 2008 levy by $13.7 million. But raising it, by say, only $3 million, would have given Walker the financial breathing room he admits he would like to have. And considering the size of the county budget, it would hardly constitute a financial hardship for taxpayers. It would have provided more than enough money to keep county bus fares at $1.75 rather than raising them to $2 as Walker proposes to do. Admittedly, Walker's decision to raise fares 25 cents rather than cut routes is the much better alternative.
But by easing up on his self-imposed pledge, Walker could have achieved much more.
Posted by Mary at 9/28/2007 07:14:00 AM 2 comments
Labels: Journal Sentinel Editorial Board, Media, Milwaukee, Scott Walker, Tom Barrett
SHARE:Former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow joined Jay Leno on the Tonight Show on Thursday.
Snow was so well-suited to his job as spokesman for the Bush administration. As a member of the press for so many years, he knew how to handle them. He never seemed flustered during the briefings. He's a sharp, intelligent man, as well as patient.
He would be firm when he had to be, like with the doddering Helen Thomas; but he's so likable that he never came off as combative or cruel.
I didn't see the beginning of the Tonight Show. I missed Leno's monologue and his first guest, Ben Stiller.
However, I got the feeling that Leno had told a joke about a grammatical slip made by President Bush earlier on Thursday. When Leno asked Snow about it, he didn't do much of a set up and the audience seemed to be aware of what Leno was talking about.
Bush's mistake was perfect, albeit terribly predictable, late night fodder.
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Offering a grammar lesson guaranteed to make any English teacher cringe, President George W. Bush told a group of New York school kids on Wednesday: "Childrens do learn."
Bush made his latest grammatical slip-up at a made-for-TV event where he urged Congress to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act, the centrepiece of his education policy, as he touted a new national report card on improved test scores.
...During his first presidential campaign, Bush -- who promised to be the "education president" -- once asked: "Is our children learning?"
On Wednesday, Bush seemed to answer his own question with the same kind of grammatical twist.
"As yesterday's positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured," he said.
The White House opted to clean up Bush's diction in the official transcript.
Transcript
Sen. Santorum: Will the Senator from Wisconsin yield for a question?
Sen. Feingold: I will.
Sen. Santorum: The Senator from Wisconsin says that this decision should be left up to the mother and the doctor, as if there is absolutely no limit that could be placed on what decision that they make with respect to that. And the Senator from California [Sen. Barbara Boxer] is going up to advise you of what my question is going to be, and I will ask it anyway. And my question is this: that if that baby were delivered breech style and everything was delivered except for the head, and for some reason that that baby's head would slip out -- that the baby was completely delivered -- would it then still be up to the doctor and the mother to decide whether to kill that baby?
Sen. Feingold: I would simply answer your question by saying under the Boxer amendment, the standard of saying it has to be a determination, by a doctor, of health of the mother, is a sufficient standard that would apply to that situation. And that would be an adequate standard.
Sen. Santorum: That doesn't answer the question. Let's assume that this procedure is being performed for the reason that you've stated, and the head is accidentally delivered. Would you allow the doctor to kill the baby?
Sen. Feingold: I am not the person to be answering that question. That is a question that should be answered by a doctor, and by the woman who receives advice from the doctor. And neither I, nor is the Senator from Pennsylvania, truly competent to answer those questions. That is why we should not be making those decisions here on the floor of the Senate.
Bush is no stranger to verbal gaffes. He often acknowledges he was no more than an average student in school and jokes about his habit of mangling the English language.
Just a day earlier, the White House inadvertently showed how it tries to prevent Bush from making even more slips of the tongue than he already does.
As Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, a marked-up draft of his speech briefly popped up on the U.N. Web site, complete with a phonetic pronunciation guide to get him past troublesome names of countries and world leaders.
Posted by Mary at 9/28/2007 01:19:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Abortion, Celebrities, Entertainment, George W. Bush, Helen Thomas, Jay Leno, Media, Russ Feingold
SHARE:
Is Bill Clinton really "first lady" material?
Can you imagine this guy in the role of spouse of the President of the United States?
Can you picture him gracefully waltzing through the White House with reporters as he takes them on a tour, showing off the Christmas (Oops! I meant to say "holiday.") decorations?
If Bill Clinton takes on that role, he will be the angriest "first spouse" since Hillary played the part.
In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Bill was seething when talking about the Republicans and MoveOn.org's "General Betray Us" ad. I expected Bill to become green, rip through his clothes, and transform into the Incredible Hulk.
NewsBusters has the transcript.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that there was something completely disingenuous about the feigned outrage of the Republicans in the White House and in the Congress about this. This was classic bait-and-switch.
ANDERSON COOPER: "Focused on that as opposed to focusing on what’s really happening?"
(CROSSTALK)
CLINTON: Oh yeah. That’s right. I don’t have to deal with Iraq. I don’t have to tell anybody what I’m going to do. Everything we do in Iraq is obviously right because they said this about Petraeus, as if it were the only issue in the wide world. Come on, these Republicans that are all upset about Petraeus - this is one newspaper ad. These are the people that ran a television ad in Georgia with Max Cleland, who lost half his body in Vietnam – in the same ad, with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. That’s what the Republicans did. And the person that [sic] rode to the Senate on that ad was there voting to condemn the Democrats over the Petraeus ad. I mean, these are the people that funded the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth. And the President appointed one of the principal funders of the Swift Boat ads to be an ambassador. But they’re really upset about Petraeus. But it was ok to question John Kerry’s patriotism on the blatantly dishonest claims by people that [sic] didn’t what they were talking about. So, it was just bait-and-switch. It was just, ‘Oh, thank goodness! I can take this little word here, and ignore what we’ve done in Iraq, and what we’re going to do, and the outrageous way we gained political power by smearing John Kerry.'
Posted by Mary at 9/27/2007 06:32:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Bill Clinton, Election 2008, Hillary Clinton, Media
SHARE:The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board has weighed on in the proposed statue of Fonzie, planned to stand proudly in downtown Milwaukee at Wisconsin and Water.
"Aaay, it's a good idea"
OK, time for a reality check.
Some of you think putting up a statue of "The Fonz" downtown is insulting and doesn't fit the hip new image Milwaukee wants to present to the rest of the world - like, say, North Korea.
Guess what? Back in the '50s and '60s, when Arthur Fonzarelli was holding court in "Happy Days," Milwaukee was about as hip as a six-pack of knockwurst. Many folks here equated being cool with frostbite. If you wanted to find a building then with 40 floors, you had to go to a linoleum store. Guys like the Fonz were as close to cool as we got.
Yeah, you ask, but won't putting the Fonz in bronze just further the "Happy Days" stereotype? Too late. It's already there. Be proud.
And if Fonzie is no longer cool, why did Samuel L. Jackson, portraying the ultimate cool hit man in the film "Pulp Fiction," tell another character, Yolanda, to be cool, like "Fonzie"?
People already think Milwaukee's too cold. Let 'em know we're cool, too.
Posted by Mary at 9/27/2007 11:12:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Bronze Fonz, Fonzie Statue, Journal Sentinel Editorial Board, Milwaukee
SHARE:NATIONAL BOYCOTT OF MILLER BEGINS; OVER 200 RELIGIOUS GROUPS CONTACTED
Catholic League president Bill Donohue announced a national boycott of Miller Beer on this morning’s “Fox and Friends.” He explains why today:
“Never have we experienced greater corporate arrogance than in this dispute with the Miller Brewing Company. Miller is sponsoring an incredibly outrageous and palpably anti-Christian event in San Francisco: the Folsom Street Fair (see its website at folsomstreetfair.com and be prepared to see the shocking photos of what goes on). Be sure to access our website at catholicleague.org to see the pictures not only of the fair, but of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an anti-Catholic group that is holding a mock Last Supper dinner tonight in San Francisco. The Sisters is one of the organizations that is receiving funding from this Miller-sponsored event.
“This all started when we learned that Miller was sponsoring an event that featured an obscene ad thrashing the Last Supper. After being pressured, Miller offered a lame statement of regret and said it was pulling its logo from the ad. Not only has it not done so—it is still posted on the website of the street fair—Miller refuses to withdraw its sponsorship. To top it off, when we informed them that some of the money being raised at this festival was being funneled to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, they were unimpressed.
“Accordingly, Miller leaves us with no options: we are calling on more than 200 Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu organizations to join with us in a nationwide boycott of Miller beer. We feel confident that once our religious allies kick in, and once the public sees the photos of an event Miller is proudly supporting, the Milwaukee brewery will come to its senses and pull its sponsorship altogether. If it doesn’t, the only winners will be Anheuser Busch and Coors.”
In 2007 the world's largest leather event, the Folsom Street Fair, will take place on Sunday, September 30, 2007 from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM. We hope to see the fairgrounds filled with people in their most outrageous leather/rubber/fetish attire enjoying the world's largest and best loved Leather fair.
Thursday 27 September 2007
The Last Supper With The Sisters
There is no better way to prepare your mortal flesh for the kinkiest weekend on Earth than to nourish your bones and boost your spirit with a divine feast: The Last Supper With The Sisters, at Eureka Restaurant. Savor each morsel from a very special menu designed by Chef Gaines. Indulge your senses and confess your indulgences with The Sisters as if it were your last meal. No gastric craving will go unsatisfied, no bag of silver will go unspent and no sin will go unforgiven. And, to make all this indulgence even better, Eureka Restaurant will donate 10% of your bill to the Sisters! In addition, each person at the Sisters' Last Supper table will be entered to win a gift certificate for a dinner for two at Eureka Restaurant and many other indulgences will be available to make your Last Supper with The Sisters indulgently delicious!
Don't be a Judas! Come, eat, drink and be Mary! Be sure to mention The Last Supper With The Sisters when you make your reservation through OpenTable.com or when you phone Matt Walker at (415) 431-6000. Hurry, limited seating is available for this event so make your reservation now!
Eureka Restaurant
4063 18th Street (map »)
6:30-10p
Posted by Mary at 9/27/2007 10:30:00 AM 7 comments
Labels: Culture Wars, Miller, Milwaukee, Religion, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Wisconsin
SHARE:Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives condemned MoveOn.org's "General Betray Us" ad by a vote of 341-79.
All 79 of the Nays came from Democrats.
WASHINGTON -- The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to condemn the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org for a recent advertisement attacking the top U.S. general in Iraq.
By a 341-79 vote, the House passed a resolution praising the patriotism Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and condemning a MoveOn.org ad that referred to Petraeus as "General Betray Us."
...Wisconsin Rep. David Obey, a veteran Democrat, recounted how he left the Republican Party during the era of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., and said that lawmakers have an obligation to criticize their allies as well as their enemies when they go too far.
"I've got an obligation to be equally upset when that kind of juvenile debate emanates from the left," Obey said.
Posted by Mary at 9/27/2007 09:59:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: David Obey, Democrats, Gwen Moore, Iraq, Wisconsin
SHARE:NEW 9/28: Springsteen on Today
_____________________
You can't judge a book by its cover.
You can't judge a song by its beat.
According to Springsteen fan Roger Friedman, the latest from Sony's $100 million man rocks, but darkly.
Friedman writes:
Bruce Springsteen has already made his political feelings clear in the last couple of years. Remember his Ted Koppel interview? The series of concerts — Vote for Change — he did to support John Kerry?
On his new album, "Magic," Springsteen jumps right into the fray again. In a dramatic new REM-ish anthem called "Last to Die," he sings: "Who'll be the last to die for a mistake/The last to die for a mistake/Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break/Who'll be the last to die for a mistake."
The mistake is clearly the Iraq war. "We don't measure the blood we've drawn anymore," he sings. "We just stack the bodies outside the door."
"Magic," which hits stores Tuesday but is already widely available on the Internet, seems like a party album at first. But it has a dark underside: blood and dead bodies wend their way through the songs.
Even when things are looking up at least musically — the songs are strong rockers — the lyrics suggest dire, dark things are happening.
In one song, “Seven drops of blood fall” as a woman smooths the front of her dress. In another, a kiss produces “the taste of blood on your tongue.” There’s a “bloody red horizon.”
...You can dance to “Radio Nowhere,” the lead single from “Magic,” and sing along, too. The whole album, made with the E Street Band, is designed for pleasure. There’s nothing here as poignant as “You’re Missing” from “The Rising.”
In concert, “Magic” is going to work like … magic. It doesn’t miss a beat; there are no good stadium bathroom breaks. The whole thing sounds like hit singles, if they still had hit singles.
Fans are going to love “Livin’ in the Future,” with its throwback arrangement to Springsteen’s real “Glory Days.” Clarence Clemons blows his horn, the band swings into action and it’s the Bruce everyone loves. There’s even a sing-along na-na-na chorus at the end.
But don’t be deceived. The lyrics show Bruce’s maturation and his love of stark images:
“Woke up election day/Skies gunpowder and shades of grey/Beneath a dirty sun, I whistle my time away … I opened up my heart to you/It got all damaged and undone.”
You gotta take the bitter with the sweet.
Will “Magic” be a hit? Even with the downloads, I think so. Springsteen plays the "Today" show Friday morning for the first time ever. He undoubtedly knows things have changed dramatically in the music biz.
(Note: This is this first time Springsteen is playing on "Today" from Rockefeller Center. Springsteen did a live concert from Asbury Park, N.J. on "Today" in 2002 during his media blitz to launch "The Rising.")
...[T]he Boss has never sold multimillions of records. But he’s sold the right records to the right people. “Magic” can only bring him new fans to add to the old, and some more Grammys besides.
Posted by Mary at 9/27/2007 09:31:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Celebrities, Entertainment, Iraq, Music
SHARE:Radical Left-wing smear machine Media Matters is engaged in a pathetic attempt to "Imus" Bill O'Reilly.
I expect that from the slimy, unscrupulous Media Matters.
More disturbing, though not unexpected, is the way the lib media have followed Media Matters' lead.
The Associated Press reports the story this way:
Bill O'Reilly says he's being smeared
True enough. That's what he is.
Why is he saying he's being smeared? BECAUSE HE IS.
It would be more truthful of the AP to run the headline, "Bill O'Reilly is being smeared."
Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly said Wednesday his critics took remarks he made about a famed Harlem restaurant out of context and "fabricated a racial controversy where none exists." He criticized the liberal group Media Matters for America as "smear merchants" for publicizing statements he made on his radio show last week.
O'Reilly told his radio audience that he dined with civil rights activist Al Sharpton at Sylvia's recently and "couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference" between the black-run restaurant and others in New York City.
It was just like a suburban Italian restaurant, he said. "There wasn't any kind of craziness at all," he said.
O'Reilly told The Associated Press that Media Matters had "cherry-picked" remarks out of a broader conversation about racial attitudes. He had told listeners that his grandmother — and many other white Americans — feared blacks because they didn't know any and were swayed by violent images in black culture.
"If you listened to the full hour, it was a criticism of racism on the part of white Americans who are ignorant of the fact that there is no difference between white and black anymore," he told the AP. "Circumstances may be different in their lives but we're all Americans. Anyone who would be offended by that conversation would have to be looking to be offended."
His radio show was a conversation with Fox News contributor Juan Williams, author of a book about the coarseness of some black culture. Williams defended O'Reilly during a Tuesday appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor."
"It's so frustrating," Williams said. "They want to shut you up. They want to shut up anybody who has an honest discussion about race."
Posted by Mary at 9/26/2007 07:48:00 PM 2 comments
SHARE:In the 2006 Wisconsin gubernatorial race, Gov. Jim Doyle ran on his record of great successes in education.
Although it's been changed since then, Doyle's campaign website boasted:
Governor Jim Doyle: Fighting for Our Schools, Lifting Up Our Kids
Governor Jim Doyle’s mother was a teacher. First Lady Jessica Doyle has been an educator for over 25 years. Governor Doyle is a product of Wisconsin’s public schools.
He knows the value of education, and just how important good schools are.
As Governor he has fought for our public schools – and he’s gotten results.
Increasing Expectations, Standards, and Opportunities for All Wisconsin Students
Wisconsin has the best public schools in the country. Wisconsin students score at the top in national tests like the ACT. But Governor Doyle knows that we cannot sit back and rest on our laurels. He believes that high expectations of our students, and high standards in the classroom, are the keys to continued success.
Milwaukee public high schools have one of the worst graduation rates in the country among large school districts, according to a new report that takes the unusual step of trying to make comparisons across large school districts as well as states.
Ninety-four of the 100 largest school districts in the country have higher graduation rates than Milwaukee, where the graduation rate is 45%, according to a study by the Manhattan Institute, a think tank in New York.
The average reading ability for fourth- and eighth-grade black students in Wisconsin is the lowest of any state, and the reading achievement gap between black students and white students in Wisconsin continues to be the worst in the nation.
Those are among the facts found in a mass of testing results released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education, the latest results from a long-standing federal program called the National Assessment of Education Progress. It is the closest thing to a nationwide standardized testing program for reading and math ability.
The gap between blacks and whites was worse in Wisconsin than, say, Louisiana? Yes.
The average score for black fourth-graders in reading was lower than, say, Washington, D.C., or Alabama? Yes.
"I find it very distressing to look at this," said Elizabeth Burmaster, Wisconsin superintendent of public instruction. "There isn't anything more important (in education). This is the civil rights issue of our country."
"It's upsetting to me," said William Andrekopoulos, superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools. "This is the very reason why I've been talking about improving instruction over and over again."
...Wendell Harris, chairman of the education committee of the Milwaukee chapter of the NAACP, said, "I know we've got to do better in school, there's no question about that."
But, he said, "really, from my standpoint, (it's) families. . . . We can't keep making excuses for parents."
Harris said many parents live amid difficult circumstances, but "we have to do our best to try to get our children educated whatever our own circumstances are."
He added, "We have to become more willing to hold everyone accountable and not just the teachers."
Burmaster said the high and rising level of poverty in Wisconsin was a big factor behind the gaps. She said she wanted to know whether other states had the same proportions of students from low-income homes as Wisconsin.
"It's not just an achievement gap," she said. "It's an economic gap. It's a gap in health. It's a quality of life gap. All of those things influence student achievement."
Posted by Mary at 9/26/2007 01:20:00 AM 0 comments
SHARE:Let's be honest. Milwaukee has some really crappy outdoor sculpture.
The worst has to be "The Calling."
A short distance from the Art Museum, you’ll find a vibrant and bold piece, “The Calling” by Mark di Suvero. The sculpture sits on the bluff at the eastern end of East Wisconsin Avenue like a rising sun. The large iron sculpture resembles an orange sunburst....
"The Fonz" soon might be part of our downtown landscape, immortalized in a life-size bronze sculpture that city tourism leaders hope would be a stopping point for visitors.
The Fonz, of course, is Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli, the character from the long-running TV show "Happy Days," set in a nostalgic version of Milwaukee, circa the late 1950s and early 1960s. Visit Milwaukee, a non-profit group that promotes the city as a tourism and convention destination, is leading an effort to raise $85,000 to commission the statue, which likely would be in the plaza south of E. Wisconsin Ave. and west of N. Water St., near the Chase Plaza office tower.
So far, Visit Milwaukee has raised $45,000, and the group is confident it will meet its timetable of unveiling a bronze Fonz in 2008, said Dave Fantle, the agency's vice president of public relations. The agency already has contacted four artists and hopes to choose a sculptor by the end of October, he said.
The project carries the blessings of "Happy Days" co-creator Garry Marshall and Henry Winkler, the actor who played Fonzie during the show's 10-year run, which started in 1974.
Winkler confessed he was a bit taken aback when Fantle contacted him about the project.
"It's an honor," Winkler said. "But it is so bizarre to think there should be a statue. I wasn't sure it was something that could happen to me."
Or, more accurately, happen to a character brought to life by Winkler, a 61-year-old actor, producer, director and author. Still, Winkler likes the idea and says he would come to Milwaukee for the statue's dedication.
"If it helps the city, a city that has been so supportive and warm to me over the years," he said, "then I am so OK with it."
...The dedication ceremony for the statue, with appearances by Winkler and possibly other "Happy Days" cast members, would draw media attention to Milwaukee, Fantle said. He said the sculpture would provide another tourism draw for a city that anticipates an upswing in visitors when Harley-Davidson Inc. opens its museum.
But what about those umpteen attempts to depict Milwaukee to the outside world as some place other than the home of "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley," a "Happy Days" spinoff that some complain has typecast Milwaukee as a stodgy, blue-collar town?
"This isn't a statue of 'Laverne and Shirley,' " Fantle said. "This is a statue of a TV icon who remains the epitome of cool."
The Fonz represents the old image of Milwaukee, which some visitors still would appreciate, Fantle said. He said the statue could serve as a bridge between that world and Milwaukee's new image, exemplified by the Milwaukee Art Museum and other developments.
Posted by Mary at 9/26/2007 01:01:00 AM 4 comments
Labels: Bronze Fonz, Fonzie Statue, Milwaukee
SHARE:The Iranian media's coverage of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Monday in New York was typically skewed. There were lies, distortions, and propaganda.
Some of the reporting was outright false, not unlike stories found in the American media by CBS and the New York Times.
Although I am in no way endorsing any of the policies of Iran, I admit that some of the commentary on Ahmadinejad's visit was fair.
TEHRAN, Sept. 25 -- Iranian state television on Tuesday sharply criticized the way President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been treated during his Columbia University talk and asserted that he had triumphed over his adversarial hosts, whom it described as Zionist Jews.
Commentary, interviews and video broadcast in Iran of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s appearance at Columbia on Monday depicted a resolute leader who overcame an ambush of personal insults to present his views on topics like the Holocaust, Israel, the Palestinians and nuclear weapons, views that were described as having been well received by the audience.
“In the end, who was the winner?” asked one television commentator, leaving the answer to a quote from John R. Bolton, a former American ambassador to the United Nations and an outspoken Iran critic, who said Mr. Ahmadinejad was the “big winner” for being able to talk at the university.
The evening news showed scenes of the large crowd that Mr. Ahmadinejad’s talk had drawn inside and outside the university. “Mr. Ahmadinejad was the center of the world news for the past few days,” said the reporter.
“Some media even called on students to boycott the speech,” the reporter added, saying that instead Mr. Ahmadinejad got a warm welcome.
The program repeated scenes that showed the audience cheering Mr. Ahmadinejad, suggesting that a lot of the audience was made up of his supporters. “I saw even Jewish students who walked out of the talk saying Mr. Ahmadinejad was very convincing,” a woman wearing a head scarf told the program in English.
It also pointed out that the president of Columbia, Lee C. Bollinger, had made insulting remarks, without elaborating on them. Mr. Bollinger had said that Mr. Ahmadinejad exhibited “all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator,” and that he was “brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated.”
The television broadcasts also showed video of the audience booing Mr. Ahmadinejad when he said there were no homosexuals in Iran. It added that a protest was orchestrated by a Zionist lobby that had brought schoolchildren.
Mohsen Rezai, a former head of the Revolutionary Guards, denounced on the state-run news channel the inhospitable treatment of Mr. Ahmadinejad. “He is the president of a country,” he said. “It is shocking that a country that claims to be civilized treats him that way.”
...“New York is the headquarters of Zionist Jews, and they have control over Columbia University,” he said. “It seems that our diplomacy apparatus had not given complete information to the president.”
Posted by Mary at 9/26/2007 12:30:00 AM 1 comments
Labels: Academia Nuts, Ahmadinejad, Foreign Affairs, Iran, Media
SHARE:The vote was 397-16.
It was the House of Representatives' way to take a swipe at anti-Semite, Holocaust denier, killer of Americans, liar Ahmadinejad.
WASHINGTON -- Congress signaled its disapproval of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with a vote Tuesday to tighten sanctions against his government.
The swift rebuke was a rare display of bipartisan cooperation in a Congress bitterly divided on the Iraq war. It reflected lawmakers' long-standing nervousness about Tehran's intentions in the region, particularly toward Israel _ a sentiment fueled by the pro-Israeli lobby whose influence reaches across party lines in Congress.
"Iran faces a choice between a very big carrot and a very sharp stick," said Rep. Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "It is my hope that they will take the carrot. But today, we are putting the stick in place."
The House passed, by a 397-16 vote, a proposal by Lantos, D-Calif., aimed at blocking foreign investment in Iran, in particular its lucrative energy sector. The bill would specifically bar the president from waiving U.S. sanctions.
Posted by Mary at 9/26/2007 12:26:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Ahmadinejad, Wisconsin
SHARE:I was so wrong about Scott Pelley.
I gave him way too much credit for the way he handled his 60 Minutes interview with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
I thought he did a significantly better job than the fawning Mike Wallace did in August of 2006. I stand by that.
I also thought that Pelley didn't seem to find Ahmadinejad as beguiling as Wallace did, that he recognized him to be the nutjob that he is.
WRONG.
From NewBusters, Kyle Drennen writes:
Scott Pelley conducted a very tough interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which aired on Sunday's 60 Minutes, but on Monday’s Early Show Pelley was very generous in his personal assessment of the man. Host Harry Smith and Pelley agreed that Ahmadinejad is "crazy like a fox" while Pelley also hailed Ahmadinejad as "incorruptible" and "modest." Pelley contended the dictator, who denies the Holocaust, wants Israel destroyed and is causing the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, is a lot smarter than Westerners believe and is even a "friendly" guy.
Smith: What are we to take away from this? Because this country is so close to Iraq, it has so much influence over so much of the Iraqi government, as we know it right now. We look at this interview, what are we to take away from -- what are we to understand who this man is?
Pelley: The important thing, I think, Harry, to understand, he's described in the West as a madman, crazy, that's not the case. I found him to be as many politicians are, very engaging, very friendly, he's clearly not mad, he's sane. In fact, he's very wily I would tell you-
Smith: Crazy like a fox.
Pelley: Crazy like a fox perhaps. But he's a very, very wily character. Fascinating man in background. He is genuinely religious, genuinely humble, there are no fancy clothes, fancy cars, he lives with his wife and his three children. They live in an apartment in Tehran. He is a very modest man and said to be absolutely incorruptible as well, he's a fascinating character.
Smith: Dangerous?
Pelley: The policies of Iran are dangerous and I think he's capable of pursuing those policies.
Posted by Mary at 9/26/2007 12:05:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Ahmadinejad, Media
SHARE:Marth will be under two kinds of high-tech monitoring - electronic monitoring and monitoring through the Global Positioning System, said Craig Harling, probation and parole agent for the state Department of Corrections.
He also will be required to have an escort whenever he steps out of the house, even if it is to stand in the driveway or back yard, Harling said.
Marth also will be visited, likely on a daily basis, by members of his treatment team. There also will be surprise checks by the Waukesha Police Department.
"He is going to be one of the most closely supervised people in the 160-year history of the Department of Corrections," Harling said. "He is hardly going to be able to move without us knowing about it."
A small American flag on a stick was planted outside the front door of 1216 Buena Vista Ave. in Waukesha on Monday.
It's the home where one of the state's most closely watched sexual predators, Dennis Marth, 46, will take up residence this week, since a judge approved his supervised release from a secure state treatment center.
I wonder who put the flag there.
The caller who said government should buy an island and banish sex offenders there? The many who've said they should be locked up forever in prison? Dave, who wrote on a message board associated with this newspaper that a bullet would be "a cheaper and more effective solution"? Or the one who called for the death penalty for the Dennis Marths in custody?
Is this the America represented by that flag?
For all I know - and can hope, the flag came from someone who thinks that in America, if you've served your time and met your responsibilities for release under the law, if you can live by the rules on the outside, and maybe if you want to turn your life around, you should get a chance to try.
Marth was imprisoned for sexual assaults of boys, 4 and 5, more than two decades ago, then imprisoned again after his release for violating rules. After prison, he was committed to Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in 2001.
Sure, residents are unhappy.
They're concerned about safety - though he'll be a virtual prisoner with electronic and satellite monitoring, escorts outside the house, visitor restrictions and treatment.
They're concerned about the unknown - whether modest property values on their tidy street near the county jail will be diminished; whether more offenders are destined for the area.
They're concerned that Waukesha is a magnet for registered sex offenders - like it or not, the result of modestly priced homes, willing landlords, public transit and support services. That's the very system that can give offenders stability and help deter recidivism.
At least we know about Marth.
Posted by Mary at 9/25/2007 07:24:00 AM 1 comments
SHARE:Tell me something I don't know.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Despite fewer reports of homicides and rapes, Milwaukee saw a surge in violent crime in 2006 that reflected a national trend, according to annual FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report for 2006.
Violent crime rose nationally by 1.9% and property crime dropped at the same rate from 2005 to 2006, the report says.
In Milwaukee, violent crime shot up by 28%, though homicides and rapes were down 15% and 29% respectively. Robbery (23%) and aggravated assaults (34%) were up.
Property crime increased by 17% overall, with increases in burglary (24%), theft (13%), auto theft (24%) and arson (26%).
While police and public officials said the report mostly confirms what they already knew, they said early indications are 2007's crime numbers will be lower.
Raw numbers recorded since the Labor Day launch of the Milwaukee Police Department's Neighborhood Safety Initiative show nonfatal shootings down 22%, homicides down 9.4% and armed robberies down 3% compared with the same period last year, said Phillip Walzak, spokesman for Mayor Tom Barrett.
This year's FBI crime report featured a more prominent message cautioning against using the data to rank or compare cities or counties. The FBI's Web site said rankings can lead to simplistic or incomplete analyses, and overlook variables that affect crime and its reporting.
Posted by Mary at 9/25/2007 07:07:00 AM 2 comments
Labels: crime, Milwaukee, Neighborhood Safety Initiative, Tom Barrett
SHARE:In August, it was announced that Bruce Springsteen's new album Magic would be released on October 2.
New albums often mean tours. This case is no exception.
At the time, it made sense to me that Springsteen would want to be drawing large audiences just in time to preach his politics to the adoring, sometimes mindless, throngs as Election 2008 heats up.
Yesterday, Springsteen and the E Street Band "rehearsed" for the upcoming tour.
ASBURY PARK, N.J. -- It might have been billed as a rehearsal, but Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band showed 3,000 fans he still has the magic.
The show Monday at the oceanfront Convention Hall was the first of two benefit rehearsals for Springsteen and his band, who are about to embark on their first tour together in four years to support their new album, "Magic," due out Oct. 2.
"We're going to run through some things, some new things, some old things. There may be some mistakes — but I doubt it," Springsteen warned the crowd.
Before the show ended two hours and 21 songs later, Springsteen would chuckle, "Well, so there were a few mistakes."
Not that any errors mattered to the faithful, who paid $100 a ticket. Despite the many balding heads and paunchy middles, the audience greeted nearly every song with enthusiasm that ranged from pandemonium to delirium.
Springsteen offered political commentary when introducing "Livin' in the Future" off the latest album, referring to terror suspect renditions and "illegal wiretapping."
"This is about the things you didn't think could happen," Springsteen said.
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) -- Some spectators, including anguished relatives of the September 11 victims, sobbed as they listened to graphic eyewitness accounts of the moments after hijacked planes plunged into the skyscrapers. Video clips of people jumping from the flaming towers and gruesome images of body parts drew audible gasps.
"I saw several people, I can't remember how many, jumping," Giuliani said. "There were two people right near each other. It appeared to me they were holding hands.
"Of the many memories, that's one that comes to me every day."
Relatives wiped tears from their eyes as they listened to a New York City fireman recount how his colleague and best friend, Danny Suhr, died after being hit by a falling body.
Moussaoui alternated between smiling and nodding as he watched the video clips. After the jury and judge were gone for the morning break he sang out "Burn in the USA!" -- an apparent takeoff of the Bruce Springsteen song "Born in the USA."
"As I looked up, my eyes caught on a man on the 100th floor of the north tower near the top," Giuliani told the jury today in Alexandria, Virginia, as the sentencing trial moved to its second stage. "I realized I was watching the man throwing himself out. I watched him go all the way down and hit."
...Giuliani said the World Trade Center site that day was "a scene of horror, the worst thing I ever saw in my life."
"There were places you would walk and see body parts, parts of human bodies, hands, legs," the former mayor said. "We recovered about 19,000 body parts, very small percentage of intact bodies." Giuliani said, "About half of the families got something they were able to bury and the other half got nothing."
Posted by Mary at 9/25/2007 07:00:00 AM 4 comments
Labels: Celebrities, Entertainment, George W. Bush, Music
SHARE:"Everything has changed, everything has changed in the last few years. Conservatives used to take it, and we're not taking it anymore."
--ANDREW BREITBART"The only thing [Trump's] mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's c--k holster."
"[Ivanka Trump] Your father is a racist birther. Steve Bannon an anti-Semitic opportunist. You and your husband are enabling hatred. F--- your shoes."
"Melania [Trump] is a hooker."
"And my job is to shut other white people down when they want to interrupt."
"We have to, at the DNC, provide training. We have to teach them how to communicate, how to be sensitive, and how to shut their mouths if they're white.""And to our detractors that insist that this march will never add up to anything: F--- you! F---you!
"Yes, I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House."--MADONNA
"Barron Trump looks like a very handsome date-rapist-to-be."
"Barron [Trump] will be this country's first homeschool shooter."
"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if we kick 'em all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts."
"There's a billion to one chance we're living in base reality."
[That means we're almost positively living in a simulation, like a video game.]
"When I would deny that there was a significant racist component in some of the politics on our side, it was because the people I hung out with were certainly not. When suddenly, this rock is turned over, there is this—'Oh shit, did I not see that?'"
----------------------------
"In any other scenario, Hillary Clinton's lying about her emails, and her pay-for-play relationship with the Clinton Foundation would be disqualifying issues. The only reason they're not disqualifying is because Donald Trump is a fundamentally more repellent, dishonest figure."
"I made a mistake in recalling the events of twelve years ago... I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft."
"I'm here to tell you if you elect me governor of this state, I will end the civil war."
"I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary. It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done."
"Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now, do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?"
"The death of Andrew Breitbart disproves the adage that only the good die young."
--JULIAN BOND
"The National Institute of Health has said that it is a danger to women's health and safety of their families that for 30 years to be exposed to the prospects of pregnancy."
"[Tea Party Republicans] have acted like terrorists."
"Why did- Couldn't the President have said at that moment, way back in December of last year, 'no game playing. No hostage-taking. No terrorizing this country with the debt ceiling. I'm not going to negotiate with you guys. You can't play it that way.' Could he have done that?"
"[T]he tea-party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor."
--WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL
"I remember distinctly an image of--we were sitting on his couches, and I was looking at [Obama's] pant leg and his perfectly creased pant, and I'm thinking, a) he's going to be president and b) he'll be a very good president."
--DAVID BROOKS
"I feel like calling her back and smackin' her around."
--FRED CLARK, DEMOCRAT
"The picture was of me, and I sent it."
"[I]f you go back to the year 2000, when we had an obvious disaster and - and saw that our voting process needed refinement, and we did that in the America Votes Act and made sure that we could iron out those kinks, now you have the Republicans, who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally - and very transparently - block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote Democratic candidates than Republican candidates. And it's nothing short of that blatant."
--DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ
"This is probably one of the worst times we've seen because the numbers of people elected to Congress. I went through this as co-chair of the arts caucus. In '94 people were elected simply to come here to kill the National Endowment for the Arts. Now they’re here to kill women."
"The protesters have proven today that they‘re not going away. It was a pretty rough night last night. You can imagine if people said, well, we just can‘t fight the power. Instead, this morning, they came by tens, by hundreds, by thousands. By midday today, it was easily more than 10,000, perhaps as many as 15,000 people on the square here in Madison. Not organized by anyone, just grassroots citizens who came out just like the Minutemen in 1776."
--JOHN NICHOLS
"They're sitting on the money, they're using it for their own -- they're putting it someplace else with no interest in helping you with your life, with that money. We've allowed them to take that. That's not theirs, that's a national resource, that's ours. We all have this -- we all benefit from this or we all suffer as a result of not having it. I think we need to go back to taxing these people at the proper rates."
"Why don't we just raise the taxes and let these folks have their collective bargaining, have their union representation and go back to their jobs? Raise the taxes on the wealthy."
"In 1933, [Hitler] abolished unions and that's what our Governor [Scott Walker] is doing today."
--LENA TAYLOR, Democrat State Senator
"So I would urge my Republican colleagues, no matter how strongly they feel -- you know, we have three branches of government. We have a House. We have a Senate. We have a president. And all three of us are going to have to come together and give some, but it is playing with fire to risk the shutting down of the government."
"Well, when you start off with the Preamble of the Constitution, you talk about the pursuit of happiness."
"I'm Rebecca Kleefisch. I performed fellatio on all the talk show hosts in Milwaukee. And they endorsed me and that's how I became lieutenant governor."
"Do you think this Constitution-loving is getting out of hand? I mean, is it a nod to the Tea Party?"
"We can’t just leave it up to the parents."
"[Military leaders] tell us that childhood obesity isn’t just a public health issue; they tell us that it is not just an economic threat -- it is a national security threat as well."
"Actually, I did not take part in [the assassination of Sarah Palin]. I led it."
"[The repeal of ObamaCare is] a kind of creeping genocide."
"[Obama] has to realize that Mitch McConnell has virtually said so that politically he wants to cut out his heart and throw his liver to the dogs."
--DAN RATHER
"And the instructions are not to improvise a comedy sketch, but to elect a group of unqualified, unstable individuals who will do what they are told, in exchange for money and power, and march this nation as far backward as they can get, backward to Jim Crow, or backward to the breadlines of the '30s, or backward to hanging union organizers, or backward to the trusts and the robber barons.
"Result: the Tea Party. Vote backward, vote Tea Party. And if you are somehow indifferent to what is planned for next Tuesday, it is nothing short of an attempted use of democracy to end this democracy."--KEITH "Reagan's dead and he was a lousy President" OLBERMANN
"I gotta wonder when people are gonna start wearing uniforms. I mean they've got an army out there in Alaska of militia people. You've got these guys going around acting like street thugs. I mean it isn't far from what we saw in the thirties, where all of a sudden, political parties started showing up in uniform."
"[Sharron Angle] is a moron on top of being evil... I'd like to see her do this ad in the South Bronx. Come here, bitch. Come to New York and do it. I'm not praying for her. She's going to hell. She's going to hell, this bitch."
"So people have been hurting and I understand that. And it doesn't give them comfort or solace for me to tell them, you know, but for me, we'd be in a worldwide depression."
"And to play Dick Cheney, all I had to do was find my Dick Cheney. And you can find all the villainy in the world in your own heart, and that's what an actor's job is. I always say to kids, inside you is Hitler and Jesus. And you got to find the appropriate person and bring them out."
"Because I live in the District of Columbia which is so predominantly Democratic, I am a registered Democrat. But I am an avowed neutral. And to put that into practice, I take my young daughter into the voting booth and she votes for me. She's now 14. We've been doing this since she was about age 4. She's now quite informed."
"Sarah Palin's an idiot. Come on. This is a remarkably, stunningly, jaw-droppingly incompetent and mean woman."
"The Democrats may have moved into the center, but the Republicans have moved into a mental institution."
--AARON SORKIN
"Perhaps the greatest threat of all is the undermining of our Constitution and the systematic attack against the inalienable rights of the citizens of this nation, rights that are guaranteed by our Constitution. At the vanguard of this insidious attack is the Tea Party. This band of misguided citizens is moving perilously close to achieving villainous ends."
"[Christine O'Donnell is] a witch who doesn't masturbate."
"Ah, the Tea Party, the nativist bed-wetters who somehow control our national dialogue. Yes, I call them the Pee Party, Jay, because they're always peeing in their pants about something. They're just, they're afraid of a mosque being built in New York. They're afraid of guns. You know, they think Obama, who like every other pussy Democrat has never said a single word about gun control, but they are very sure that he and his Negro army are coming after their guns. You know what? If you think that he's coming after your guns, you need to get out of your chat room and have your house tested for lead. He's not coming after your guns or your Bible or your fishing pole or your chewing tobacco."
"That's a trade-off society is making because of very, very high medical costs, and a lack of willingness to say, you know, is spending a million dollars on that last three months of life for that patient, would it be better not to lay off those ten teachers and to make that trade-off in medical costs. But that;s called the 'Death Panel' and you're not supposed to have that discussion."
"NOT the 'whiteman's bitch'"
--IESHUH GRIFFIN
"[If Rush Limbaugh suffered a heart attack in my presence, I would] laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out. I never knew I had this much hate in me. But he deserves it."
--SARAH SPITZ
"You want freedom, you going to have to kill some crackers. You going to have to kill some of their babies."
"If this was Texas, which is the state that, that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this, saying that they had a major issue with, you know, with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would say I would have to look twice at this. "But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border. And, um, it just, it doesn't make sense to me that when you google this subject, if you put in 'Arizona S.B. 1070,' that you see a picture of the governor of Arizona meeting with President Obama in May of 2010. If you have direct linkage to the president, there are already National Guard troops on the border in Arizona."
"Tell [the Jews] to get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. It's not German. It's not Poland. [The Jews] can go home. Poland. Germany."
--HELEN THOMAS
"After the last eight years, it's good to have a president that knows what a library is."
--PAUL McCARTNEY
"By the way, I just want to point out I'm wearing my splash shield because I was told I was going to be in the splash zone (during Harry Smith's colonoscopy on live TV)."
--KATIE COURIC
"And that Word is, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word."
----------------------------
"Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk, but not job loss because of a child with asthma or someone in the family is bipolar—you name it, any condition — is job-locking."
--NANCY PELOSI
"Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what's going on today?"
--TOM HANKS
"The 'White Right' is trying to set Barack up to be assassinated.... Here are Christians praying for God to kill Barack Obama."
--LOUIS FARRAKHAN
"I refuse to accept the notion that the United States of America is not going to lead the world economically throughout the 20th Century."
--JOE BIDEN
"Obama's critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let 'em know that if they aren't with you, they are against you, and will pay the price."
--ROLAND MARTIN
"Martha Coakley is running to fill the rest of Ted Kennedy's term, and her opponent is a far-right tea-bagger Republican."
--CHUCK SCHUMER
"I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts, I'd try to vote ten times. I don't know if they'd let me or not, but I'd try to. Yeah, that's right, I'd cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. 'Cause that's exactly what they are."
--ED SCHULTZ
"We also see how revved up the tea baggers are at the thought of hijacking health care reform and every chance we have at making progress in Washington."
--JOHN KERRY
"A few years ago, this guy (Obama) would have been getting us coffee."
--BILL CLINTON
"I didn't realize I had written a column defending Roman Polanski and minimized his crime - are you sure it was me? I mean, I? There is, apparently, more to this crime than it would seem, and it may sound like a hollow defense, but in Hollywood I am not sure a 13-year-old is really a 13-year-old."
--TOM SHALES
"Joe Wilson yelled 'You lie!' at a president who didn't. But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!"
--MAUREEN DOWD
"One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game... During the 7th inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."
--DAVID LETTERMAN
"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life."
--SONIA SOTOMAYOR
"We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature."
--REMBERT WEAKLAND, Archbishop of Milwaukee 1977- 2002
"You know, you might want to look into this, [President Obama], because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight."
"Rush Limbaugh -- 'I hope the country fails.' I hope his kidneys fail."
----------------------------
"[Obama] told me I did a great job. The first lady said the same thing. I got a 'well done' from the president, I'm on cloud nine."
--WANDA SYKES
"Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."
--COLIN POWELL
"[Tea Party goers are] just a bunch of wimpy, whiny, weasels who don't love their country."
--PAUL BEGALA
"I wouldn't want [gay marriage] to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court."
--BARNEY FRANK
"Going forward, my mind will be open to every solution -- except one. We should not -- we must not -- and I will not -- raise taxes."
--JIM DOYLE, Liar
"He's a terrorist. Rush Limbaugh is a terrorist."
--JOY BEHAR
"You know, I just want to say to her (Sarah Palin), just very quickly...F--- you."
--JON STEWART
"Should I be worried about being a slave and being returned to slavery?"
--WHOOPI GOLDBERG
"I also believe that America is the greatest sin against God."
--FR. MICHAEL PFLEGER
"Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken. Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation."
--MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD
"We'll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals."
--TED TURNER
"Look, [Mitt] Romney comes from a religion founded by a criminal who was anti-American, pro-slavery, and a rapist. And he comes from that lineage and says, 'I respect this religion fully.'"
--LAWRENCE O'DONNELL
"Mexico does not end at its borders... Where there is a Mexican, there is Mexico."
--FELIPE CALDERON
"The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, 'Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it's not a problem.' If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant."
--AL GORE
"Don't fear the terrorists. They're mothers and fathers."
--ROSIE O'DONNELL
"Is America ready for a black president? Well, I say we just had a retarded one. When did being black become a bigger deterrent than being retarded?"
--CHRIS ROCK
"Shut the f--- up! Shut up if you can't take a joke [about President Bush]!"
--BARBRA STREISAND
"Right, oh, yeah, Happy 9/11! Celebrate the day, right?"
--JAMES BROLIN, Mr. Barbra Streisand
"I think President Bush very well may have signed an authorization for the 9/11 attacks."
--KEVIN BARRETT, UW-MADISON Lecturer
"I said what I said. I am not guilty."
--SADDAM HUSSEIN
"Terri will not be starved to death. Her nutrition and hydration will be taken away."
--MICHAEL SCHIAVO
"On the eve of the election last month my wife Judith and I were driving home late in the afternoon and turned on the radio for the traffic and weather. What we instantly got was a freak show of political pornography: lies, distortions, and half-truths -- half-truths being perhaps the blackest of all lies. "
--BILL MOYERS
"I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for."
--HOWARD DEAN
"The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win."
--MICHAEL MOORE
"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs."
--JOHN KERRY
"F---ing retarded."
"[Republicans] can go f--- themselves!"
"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."
--HILLARY CLINTON
"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."
--BILL CLINTON
"And let me tell you something -- for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment."
--MICHELLE OBAMA
"If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew, uh, as a janitor, makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor."
----------------------------
"If you love me, you got to help me pass this bill."
----------------------------
"[F]or most of my lifetime, the United States was such a dominant economic power, we were such a large market, our industry, our technology, our manufacturing was so significant that we always met the rest of the world economically on our terms. And now, because of the incredible rise of India and China and Brazil and other countries, the United States remains the largest economic and the largest market but there’s real competition out there. And that's potentially healthy. It makes -- Michelle was saying earlier I like tough questions because it keeps me on my toes. Well, this will keep America on its toes."
----------------------------
"If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're gonna PUNISH OUR ENEMIES and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,' if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2."
----------------------------
"We don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but THEY GOTTA SIT IN BACK."
----------------------------
"We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever... we absorbed it and we are stronger."
----------------------------
----------------------------
"We are the ones we've been waiting for."
----------------------------
"We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers so I know whose ass to kick."
----------------------------
"We're not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that's fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money. But, you know, part of the American way is, you know, you can just keep on making it if you’re providing a good product or you're providing good service. We don't want people to stop fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow the economy."
----------------------------
"If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."
----------------------------
"It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them. And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure."
----------------------------
"But I -- I think that the most important thing for the public to understand is, we're not handling any of these cases any different than the Bush administration handled them all through 9/11."
----------------------------
"One such translator was an American of Haitian descent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world -- Navy CORPSE-MAN Christian [sic] Brossard. And lying on a gurney aboard the USNS Comfort, a woman asked Christopher: 'Where do you come from? What country? After my operation,' she said, 'I will pray for that country.' And in Creole, CORPSE-MAN Brossard responded, 'Etazini.' The United States of America."
----------------------------
"I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow was around, and so I want to give a shout-out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner. It's good to see you."
----------------------------
"We are God's partners in matters of life and death."
----------------------------
"[T]he Cambridge police acted stupidly."
----------------------------
"I am going to teach [my daughters] first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."
----------------------------
"The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings, and INEFFICIENCIES to our health care system."
----------------------------
"Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."
--BARACK OBAMA
"In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good.... [A] democracy without values can lose its very soul."
--POPE BENEDICT XVI
"When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law engraved in the hearts of men and women, when it does not listen to the voice of conscience, it turns against humanity and society."
--POPE JOHN PAUL II
"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."
--MOTHER TERESA
"To promote choice for its own sake is more akin to self-indulgence than self-determination. It is the philosophy of a pre-schooler in a candy shop."
--BRIAN POLLARD, M.D.
"The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people."
--MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
"The house we hope to build is not for my generation but for yours. It is your future that matters. And I hope that when you are my age, you will be able to say as I have been able to say: We lived in freedom. We lived lives that were a statement, not an apology."
--RONALD REAGAN
"Liberalism is the philosophy of the stupid."
--MARK LEVIN
"We are Warriors forever."
--BO ELLIS
"I know how much you're supposed to enjoy every sandwich, you know."
--WARREN ZEVON