iowa underground blog

If you’ve been paying even occasional attention to the plight of our friend on the Right – you will have noticed he’s finding it very difficult to find full employment in this, the strongest economy America has ever known. Fortunately for all involved – the ‘Iowa Voice’ appears to be flush with all the necessary talents to pick himself up by his own bootstraps and perhaps turn what was once only a hobby – into a full-time career.

Thanks to the significant sleuthing talents of a fellow Iowa Undergrounder, who will remain on double-super-secret background throughout the duration of this affair – it has been revealed that the ‘Iowa Voice’ is also a….wait for it….wait….. Frank Sinatra Tribute Singer! – please don’t call him an impersonator. He doesn’t like that.

The good news is that we can all band together and help this unemployed Republican out by booking his act! He does have a few conditions, however – so please read them closely. He’s a man of business as well as an artist, and demands to be taken seriously dammit.

Read the rest of this entry »

Molly Ivins wrote a great article last week calling for Democrats to stand up and fight. After today’s events in the Senate, the article gains even more importance.

Here are some quotes.

The recent death of Gene McCarthy reminded me of a lesson I spent a long, long time unlearning, so now I have to re-learn it. It’s about political courage and heroes, and when a country is desperate for leadership. There are times when regular politics will not do, and this is one of those times. There are times a country is so tired of bull that only the truth can provide relief.

We are hungry for the truth, yet there are so few who have the platform and are using that platform the good of the average American.

The majority (77 percent) thinks we should do “whatever it takes” to protect the environment. The majority (87 percent) thinks big oil companies are gouging consumers and would support a windfall profits tax. That is the center, you fools. WHO ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

Who are they afraid of?

Bush, Cheney and Co. will continue to play the patriotic bully card just as long as you let them. I’ve said it before: War brings out the patriotic bullies. In World War I, they went around kicking dachshunds on the grounds that dachshunds were “German dogs.” They did not, however, go around kicking German shepherds. The MINUTE someone impugns your patriotism for opposing this war, turn on them like a snarling dog and explain what loving your country really means. That, or you could just piss on them elegantly, as Rep. John Murtha did. Or eviscerate them with wit (look up Mark Twain on the war in the Philippines). Or point out the latest in the endless “string of bad news.”

Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite. If the Washington-based party can’t get up and fight, we’ll find someone who can.

This article is even more important after today’s failed filibuster, where 19 so-called Democrats showed no guts and failed to stand up and fight. Progressive Democrats now know who is fighting for them. There are 25 or so Senators, the chair of the DNC, the former Vice President Al Gore, a couple news anchors (Olberman/Stewart/Moyers), a great radio network in Air America Radio, and a lot of people in the blogosphere.

The line is drawn in the sand. Now we need to get out there in our towns and start organizing from the ground up. Let’s find those candidates who will stand p and fight. Maybe they are living in your neighborhood or they might even be looking at you in the mirror each morning.

Remember: “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

We are lucky here in Iowa, We have a race for Governor going on and there is a diverse group of candidates to meet any tastes. There are 2 competitive US House races in Districts 1 and 2 that will be heating up soon. There are also some strong grassroots organizations that are active such as ICCI, ICAN, and DFA groups in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, and the Quad Cities. Des Moines has a strong progressive coalition as well.

Get out there, grab a friend, and make your voices heard.

-pstans

The Prince of ‘no, you go’ is throwing down the gauntlet and challenging members of his Pennsylvania fiefdom to pony up for bumper stickers as a way of, you know, serving their country and fighting the war on terrorism. Beats the shit out of taking actual shrapnel, no?

Brief sound snippet here:

Or see video of the call to action via Santorum Exposed

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It’s always interesting to hear or read what U.S. soldiers have to say about the war in Iraq. AlterNet’s Terrence McNally interviewed three Iraq war veterans who are attending the Sundance Film Festival. A few choice quotes from the interview:

SEAN HUZE: It all comes down to weapons of mass destruction, for me. And they weren’t there. Dick Cheney’s going around accusing all of us of being revisionist now. But if you’re trying to say that the war in Iraq was about anything other than WMD, that’s revisionism. I don’t care how many times Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, whoever, says that this war was about anything other than WMD, or that we were given a justification or rationale other than WMD.

I’ve got a long memory, and it was only a couple of years ago. I know why I was sent to Iraq; I know why I went to war. And when that proved to be false, I think that’s when we lost our credibility and our world standing. And ultimately we’re in a quagmire right now.

... Read the rest of this entry »

Just thought I’d post an entry (edited a bit) from the Iowa Underground forums.

Nussle is apparently being supported by a new conservative 527 named the Iowa Leadership Council. Last year the group received large contributions from LoanMax, RJ Reynolds, and Anheuser-Busch. Hmmm, Liquor stores, tobacco shops, and payday loans? Throw in a few raunchy strip clubs and you’re in East Dubuque. That sounds like just the type of development plan Iowa needs. Gives me an idea for a spoof campaign ad next fall. Read the rest of this entry »

A big thank you to Chris Woods of Political Forecast for live-blogging the Thomas Frank lecture at Drake.

Another big ‘thank you’ to the Drake University and Des Moines labor communties for sponsoring the event.

Please join us in discussion on the forums.

Also, please note that Thomas Frank will be speaking at Iowa State on February 8th, 2006.

Date/Time: Wednesday, 08 Feb 2006 at 8:00 pm
Location: Sun Room, Memorial Union
Contact: lectures@iastate.edu
Phone: 515-294-9934

• Sousy

Audio interview w/ Alterman and Sam Seder via AAR:

Discussed:

• Democrats haven’t learned how to be a minority party and still govern as if they’re the majority party.
  
• There’s big money in punditry for young conservatives. Not so much for liberals.
  
• Liberals were worn out after 60’s and went into the academy, became attatched to complex argumentation and discourse. Right-wing set about building ‘think tanks’ which became dedicated to manufacturing sound-bites and slogans.
  
• NYT is disinterested in corroborating evidence BushCo. understood there was no threat inherent to Niger yellowcake uranium at the time. Both the State Dept. and CIA relayed this to the Bush admin. Evidence that we’re being ruled by a despotic elite is boring to the NYT and simply not worthy of coverage.
  

The Beelzebub Edition:

What remains a little known fact about the Bush clan is that this guy was
one in a long line of high priests of the dark arts that spent many a year
doggedly training them in the finer nuances of pure, abject evil.

Sly like a fox, this guy. And there we are, back at the henhouse.

• tristero

More on Santorum’s hypocrisy from Think Progress here and here.

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I watched Al Gore’s speech on CSPAN this afternoon and it was a tremondous speech. After listening to 5 minutes of the speech I believe now that he is going to run in 2008. He has regained his passion. He is no longer holding up Clinton’s DLC policies, he is passionatly talking about the progressive issues he believes in.

Here is an excerpt from Gore’s speech…

The President and I agree on one thing. The threat from terrorism is all too real. There is simply no question that we continue to face new challenges in the wake of the attack on September 11th and that we must be ever-vigilant in protecting our citizens from harm.

Where we disagree is that we have to break the law or sacrifice our system of government to protect Americans from terrorism. In fact, doing so makes us weaker and more vulnerable.

Once violated, the rule of law is in danger. Unless stopped, lawlessness grows. The greater the power of the executive grows, the more difficult it becomes for the other branches to perform their constitutional roles. As the executive acts outside its constitutionally prescribed role and is able to control access to information that would expose its actions, it becomes increasingly difficult for the other branches to police it. Once that ability is lost, democracy itself is threatened and we become a government of men and not laws.

Some more quotes from the speech:

“The President has been breaking the law repeatedly and consistently.”

“I call upon Democratic and Republican members of Congress today to uphold your oath of office and defend the Constitution. Stop going along to get along. Start acting like the independent and co-equal branch of government you’re supposed to be.”
~ Al Gore, January 16, 2006

Here are links to the transcript and mp3 of the speech.

pstans

But A Civil War…

Situation in Iraq Is Civil War
According to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition, the definition of a civil war is a “war between political factions or regions within the same country.” That is exactly what is going on in Iraq, not a global war on terrorism, as the President continues to portray it.

93 percent of those fighting in Iraq are Iraqis. A very small percentage of the fighting is being done by foreign fighters. Our troops are caught in between the fighting. 80 percent of Iraqis want us out of there and 45 percent think it is justified to kill American troops.

Iraqis went to the polls in droves on December 15th and rejected the secular, pro-democracy candidates and those who the Administration in Washington propped up. Preliminary vote results indicate that Iyad Allawi, the pro-American Prime Minister, received about 8 percent of the vote and Ahmad Chalabi, Iraq’s current Oil Minister and close associate of the U.S. Iraq war planners, received less than 1 percent. According to General Vines, the top operational commander in Iraq, “the vote is reported to be primarily along sectarian lines, which is not particularly heartening.” The new government he said “must be a government by and for Iraqis, not sects.”

The ethnic and religious strife in Iraq has been going on, not for decades or centuries, but for millennia. These particular explosive hatreds and tensions will be there if our troops leave in six months, six years or six decades. It is time to re-deploy our troops and to re-focus our attention on the real threats posed by global terrorism.

Huffington Post

Murtha just recently visited Iraq and said this after visiting with troops
and generals over there.

What do Democrats need to do? Repeat the saying over and over and over..
“Iraq Is Not Part Of The War On Terrorism…As The President Portrays It… But A Civil War…”
“Iraq Is Not Part Of The War On Terrorism…As The President Portrays It… But A Civil War…”
“Iraq Is Not Part Of The War On Terrorism…As The President Portrays It… But A Civil War…”
“Iraq Is Not Part Of The War On Terrorism…As The President Portrays It… But A Civil War…”
“Iraq Is Not Part Of The War On Terrorism…As The President Portrays It… But A Civil War…”
“Iraq Is Not Part Of The War On Terrorism…As The President Portrays It… But A Civil War…”

People might catch on in between watching American Idol, Supper Nanny, and Survivor.

• pstans

There’s a lively thread on Blouin and Roe v. Wade in our ‘Iowa Politics’ forum. Drop by and add your .02 here.

• tristero

You know, I put this post under the category of movies, but I really think it belongs under sexuality (perhaps even politics).

I just watched the documentary tonight. It’s a pretty fascinating look at the controversy that surrounded the film Deep Throat and the transformation of social mores during the early 70s (with a peek at the evolution—devolution?—of pornography in its wake). I had no idea that Deep Throat was shown in mainstream movie theaters or that it was the most profitable film in history (cost $25,000 to make and brought in $600,000,000 over the years). I also wasn’t aware that the Supreme Court made a ruling in 1973 that strengthened obscenity laws in the U.S. It’s hard to believe that there was greater freedom of speech in 1972 (in at least one respect) than there is now.

There’s a lot that I’d like to say about the documentary but I just can’t help imagining what American society would be like had the Supreme Court not made a ruling that classified Deep Throat as obscene. I’m not trying to make a statement for or against here, but think about it this way. Regular middle class couples were going to mainstream movie theaters to watch Deep Throat together! Married couples going out in public to watch a porn film at the local theater in plain view. Plumbers, city council members, accountants, secretaries, etc., all going out for a night on the town to watch a porno as a community activity. How utterly bizarre by today’s standards.

Apparently, the New York Times published an article about “porn chic” related to the phenomenon of Deep Throat being shown at mainstream theaters in NYC. Suddenly there was an explosion of interest—the NYT article had made viewing the movie socially acceptable. Just in case anyone doubted the power of the mainstream media to legitimize certain social activities as norms here is probably the best example I’ve ever come across.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Alito hearings, or things I learned watching cnnmsnbc’faux’ today:

1.) Isn’t Joe Biden sporting a hat a little redundant?
2.) Lindsey Graham made Alito’s wife cry.*
3.) Spector and Kennedy diagree over intricacies of federal postal system.

Zombie Cable News strikes again – sucking every last one of your brain cells dry. It’s not like you’ll need them while watching such melodramatic drivel anyway, right?

• Of course in this Washington Post piece (juicy, teary-eyed Alito wife pic)- there’s no indication that Graham spent innumerable hours coaching Alito during moot hearings at the White House. That might approach actual news, yasee.




• tristero

With the Alito hearings at the fore this week, Bush has seized on the opportunity to rally the GOP faithful…still licking their wounds after the Abramoff and DeLay casualities.

Okay, so he didn’t go to hell. Just another staged rally/town-meeting, this time in Kentucky – featuring Gannon-Guckert style softballs lobbed up for Dear Leader to mangle as only he can anyway. Close enough to hell though, right?

• tristero