Hillary Sucks Up To Bloggers

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeThe first thing that shot though my mind when I saw Hillary take the stage was the color of her pant suit. I have never seen her in something so colorful and bold. The second thought was... "hmmm, that is Daily Kos orange." I think the coverage for this convention is better than any of recent elections, mainly because of the Big Tent bloggers. I am getting more nitty-gritty, more insight and better analysis than I am getting elsewhere. MSNBC is OK (better with Olbermann and Maddow). CNN is totally fucking unwatchable. Fox News is easier to watch than CNN and that is saying something. CNN can't claim it has the best "political team in television" while showing a picture of Larry King. It is an oxymoron. CNN's coverage is so bad, I keep hoping that Lou Dobbs would show up just so someone would say something off-script. One of my fav things to watch is the MSNBC crowd cheering when Maddow is introduced (and loudly disagreeing with Pat Buchannan on almost everything). Sooner or later, that crowd is gonna make Pat cry. Bloggers aren't at that point... yet.

Blood Diamonds and Pearls

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeThis past weekend I had the opportunity to watch the Grist.org Presidential Forum on the Environment and enjoyed every minute (buffering 18%) despite the con-(buffering 98%)-stant problems with the stream. When I ask myself why I got so much more out of this as compared to the Last CNN debate in Las Vegas, it became clear the CNN debates are not really meant to transmit ideas, only soundbites. Whereas "boxers or briefs" was cute 16 years ago, "diamonds or pearls" was just inane. With soldiers dying everyday in the Middle East, I had hoped a smarter format had been planned, such was not the case. CNN lost me years ago when they drove the "Dean Yell" into the ground. Then, a long time later, they admitted they overplayed the story. They are still wrong, it was never a story to begin with. My wife told me about a protest march in DC last week and I hadn't heard about it. She told me she saw it on CNN International. Figures. CNN suffered some tremendous losses in the past years. John Holliman was killed in a very senseless car accident in 1998. Bernie Shaw retired in 2001 to our immense loss. This leaves just two journalists at CNN; Michael Ware and Christiane Amanpour. Everyone else are posers. That is a lot of weight to put on the shoulders of just two reporters. Then again, maybe since CNN is a sinking boat, those two are their only life preservers... and they are treading water as fast as they can.

With friends like these....

By all accounts the March on Jena, Louisiana today was a huge success. And quite honestly, it could have started a whole new era for the civil rights movement in this country. I felt proud of my peeps and their activism today, and it gave me serious hope for the future. It was amazing to see all the people of color here in Philly, coming together for a common cause, and showing solidarity by dressing in black. And one only has to read the comments section of my last post, to see that that spirit was not only here in Philly, but it was nationwide as well. That was the good. So now let me tell you about the not so good. It would seem that our so called progressive friends in the "blogosphere" have been strangely silent about Jena. Yes folks, once again, our so called friends on the left, have shown that they only care about our causes when it suits them and their agendas. Shame on you Kos, MyDD, Huf Post,and all the usual suspects. You guys had a chance to step up to the plate and show us that you are our friends and you came up small. I expect this kind of treatment from the folks on the right, not you guys. Look, I blog about the war constantly, because it's fucked up, and young Americans are losing their lives to make some fucking oil companies rich. So I understand your issues with the war, and the fact that you have to blog about it. But would it kill you to show some passion and blog about social injustice and domestic terrorism in our own fucking country? Would it kill you guys to get a fucking clue and not be so far behind the eight ball? Folks, when the gang at CNN are ahead of Markos and company on Jena, we have a problem. The entire orange crush crew ought to be ashamed of themselves. But honestly, I don't even know why I bother. I am feeling like a hypocrite for telling people like Francis Holland to leave the progressives alone, when I am doing the same thing by even tripping about this. I don't know, I guess I was just hoping....aah fuck it. Yep, this was almost a perfect day, until I read this wonderful post, from a blogger with a coffee avatar, and realized that even perfect can be a relative term. I'm out.

Do I want John Edwards’ health care or Hillary’s war?

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlarge I watched the YouTube debate on CNN and gave it some thought before I commented on it. First off, I am tired of Gravel, Dodd and Biden. I am almost tired of Bill Richardson, every question he answers, he delivers with such a jittery quality, it doesn't inspire confidence. Hell, Gonzales isn't that nervous when he appears before Congress (note I didn't say testify). Although I don't think Kucinich has a chance to win, odder things have happened. I think Dennis needs to stay for no other reason than to lob common sense into the debates. They, so far, are in need of that. Hillary I think did well, but I am still not feeling it. Her remarks to Obama about being naive about diplomacy was off the mark and petty. Obama did very well and had an aura of confidence and intelligence that we haven't seen in the White House since, oh, you know when. His response to the diplomacy question was right on target. To paraphrase, "Get in there and get it done. We are not so afraid as to not talk to dictators." Which brings me to Edwards. He had two powerful moments. One was the hair video - it was a genius piece. Do we want to discuss his hair or the utter democratic wasteland known as the United States? The other moment was his rant about the gentleman with the cleft palate. After his rant, he said, asked really, the MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION OF THE NIGHT! Why? Indeed. Why in the world does someone with a cleft palate need to wait fifty years for corrective surgery? The GOPers claim you need to wait weeks to see a specialist in Canada (which is the same as it is here). But FIFTY FUCKING YEARS? Isn't that kinda wait time a bit on the long side? I think a lot of us need to start bellowing that question. "Why?" Now if we can just get Edwards to get real on the Gay rights issue, I think his ratings would improve.

Public Education Failing the Grade from Washington to California

Public Education in America - Failing Grade - Mini Case Study DC AAPP Says: Lou Dobbs says the U.S public school system is failing this generation of students. Lou Dobbs at CNN is becoming more of an advocate for black and latino children than the NAACP, Congressional Black Fox Caucus, and Urban league combined. Why do I say this? Because the NAACP, Urban League, CBFC, have been, more or less quite on the issue of education and black folks. Yes, they publish Annual Reports on the condition of Black America, but that’s as far is they really go. Candidly I would like to see these troups begin the advocate like they did under the old school leadership of the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. Where are African American Education, Political, Faith, and Social Leaders? Where is the President? - Stupid question. I watch Lou Dobbs regularly and find him an amazing man when addressing America’s problems. Today I have to give him a big HatTip for his most recent article, A legacy in search of a president. Here is some of what Lou Dobbs has to say: “America’s once-proud public school system — the great equalizer of our democratic society — is failing an entire generation of students. Millions of high-school students are donning their caps and gowns this month, but a new Education Week report reveals that more than 1.2 million students will fail to graduate high school this year. Half of our black and Hispanic male students are dropping out of public high schools. Nowhere is the news for our young people worse than in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit’s economy has been devastated by so-called free trade policies and awful management decisions. Tens of thousands of jobs are disappearing, and too many mothers and fathers have never attended a parent-teacher conference. Detroit’s community is in pain, and the city’s future is uncertain. And despite the best efforts of local and state leaders, hope is in short supply. The Education Week report shows Detroit’s public high schools will graduate only 25 percent of their students. Cleveland, Ohio, and Baltimore, Maryland, will graduate less than 35 percent; Dallas, Texas, New York and Los Angeles, California, about 45 percent. In fact, 10 of our nation’s biggest cities will graduate fewer than half their students. This is nothing less than a national crisis. Christopher Swanson, director of the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center and supervisor of that national dropout rate report says: “I think that really speaks to the challenge of getting students to graduate from high school at a time where it’s more important than it’s ever been…to provide opportunities for our young people to have a successful career and for the United States in general to be competitive in the world.” The Alliance for Excellent Education estimates that each high school dropout earns about $260,000 less than a high school graduate over his or her lifetime. The Alliance also reports that dropouts not only earn less money but also drain state and federal budgets through their dependence on social and welfare programs. Those students who drop out make up nearly half the heads of households on welfare, and they constitute almost half of our prison population as well. The cost to our society is overwhelming.” More Here AAPP Says: Fast forward to Washington, DC - Check out how DC Public schools are doing in Washington, DC. They get a D - by all accouts. The black Mayor just appointed a new school Supt. with no experience running a major school system, infact, she has never run any school system. She has never run any school operations at any level. Her only true work experience in public education was teaching in Baltimore schools for two or three years - go fiqure. As reported by WaPo, Mayor Fenty had been under fire for the racial composition of his Cabinet. Since becoming mayor he has been criticized for not appointing enough blacks to prominent positions in the predominantly black city, especially after he named Cathy L. Lanier, who is white, as police chief and Michelle A. Rhee, who is Asian American, as The new School Chancellor. Now there is a political fight brewing, D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray has asked Mayor Adrian M. Fenty for a detailed description of the selection process for Michelle A. Rhee as the new schools chancellor, saying he wanted to determine whether Fenty had followed the law. In a letter dated Wednesday, a day after Fenty (D) announced Rhee as his pick, Gray (D) noted that the takeover legislation called for a panel of teachers, parents and students to review résumés. Gray questioned whether the group was genuinely involved in Rhee’s candidacy. i guess thisis what happen when we have a green (oops) Mayor. At least he , (the Mayor) has taken some Corrective Action: In recent days the Mayor has appointed six new cabinet nominees, 5 are black; 1 is white. He may have an uphill battle getting Ms Rhee confirmed. check out the bogus procedures he used around stakeholder involvement. Let’s see how his new Wonder Woman plays out. ‘Scare Tactics’ From Fenty’s Team? Narrated Photos: In the Trenches Across the city, dedicated teachers and principals work every day to guide their students through a school system beset by challenges. Here are two stories from D.C.’s elementary schools. A Timeline of D.C. School Reforms The Scorecard: Interactive Database More From This Series »