I did my time at the candidate forum 2007

George sez he'll print the transcript of Monday night's Potter-Randall Democratic Club candidate forum in the Amarillo Indy

". . . so anyone can get a full look at how the candidates responded to some pretty good questions."

I'm all in favor of that. I think posting/printing a transcript is a good idea.

But, as for any "full look," chances of that were ruined by the f'ed up forum rules. I've already discussed this a bit. The only question the place 2 candidates were asked was George's, and that was just because he asked it to everyone. Place 1-- a deadly dull choice between two evils-- got most of the action. Place 4 has by far the best speakers, and would have provided the best soundbites, but they weren't thrown many bones, either. And the candidates for place 3 weren't asked questions that made any sense, because the F'ed Up Forum Rules^TM stipulated that all the candidates for one place and only the candidates for that place be asked the same question-- and asking Daniel Martinez and Ron Boyd the same question is like opening exactly two locations of an identical-down-to-the-caged-rattlesnake Big Texan Steak Ranch: one in Amarillo, Texas and one in Bombay, India.

I'm going to post my reactions, in the time-honored PTS manner, addressing whether or not the candidates met expectations. If you don't like that format, sue me. I've had to sign too many cheesy employee evaluations in my life.

Mayor

Debra McCartt, incumbent: Met Expectations.
I'm a fan of Debra. I think she has been a true uniter. She's shown political courage by reaching out to gay Amarilloans, speaking at Pride Day and elsewhere. But she's also assisted at a Trinity Fellowship groundbreaking. I don't resent her shoveling dirt with fundies, and I could be wrong, but I haven't heard anything about Brother Jimmy smiting her when she walks among the legions of the damned, either.

And she's come a long way since her disappointing performance at the PRDC forum in 2005. However, she still gets ruffled by Manny Perez. I understand that Perez is abrasive, but his county commission days date back to Old Tascosa. The dude's been around forever, and he plans to stay on the Potter County Commission until the sun goes supernova. If you're going to be around Amarillo city government, you need a Manny Perez strategy.

Audy Thomas, no show.

Jim Brokenbek: Exceeded Expectations. I expected "Brokenbek Mountain" to be another vanity candidate, bleeting his way to the altar to be sacrificed, so when I say he exceeded expectations that's not saying much. He took John Kanelis to task for misrepresenting his position. I'm always in favor of taking Kanelis to task. If I understand correctly, he thinks Kanelis said he didn't support downtown revitatilization, and he claims that characterization's not completely accurate. He's not against it, he says, he just thinks the money should be spent in other neighborhoods. Um, I hate to agree with Kanelis, but how, exactly, is that position supportive of downtown? Maybe I'm not getting something here . . .

Brokenbek Mountain supports single-member districts, which is good, but his damning of downtown with faint praise, his crotchety-old-man demands for noise ordinances everywhere and his wacky idea for an "I-40 visitors center" won't win my vote away from Debra.

Place 1

Madison Scott, incumbent, and William Sumerford: Unacceptable. In a sad, sad display, Place 1 was asked the most questions by a country mile. Madison Scott bragged about how many businesses his daddy owns and how much money he has, and then he lit a paper sack filled with shit on Mean Mr. Sumerford's porch. Mean Mr. Sumerford-- having chosen to put himself on a fixed income through a misguided and self-imposed "freeze"-- came to his door in a threadbare gown and duct-taped reading glasses. He was reading a budget spreadsheet prepared in VisiCalc, and mumbling "nice to have, must have, nice to have, nice to have." When he saw the flaming bag o' poo, Mean Mr. Sumerford stomped on the bag, screeching "Can't afford! Can't afford! Prioritize! Prioritize!" And young Madision giggled like a junior high school girl from behind a cottonwood tree. Whereupon Dr. Brian Eades' father sternly put his hand on Madison's shoulder and said he hoped he'd learned a valuable lesson. "Oh, yes, sir, I have," Madison assured Mr. Eades, his fingers crossed behind his back.

Or something like that.

Place 2 wasn't asked any questions.

Prenis Williams: Demonstrated a professional appearance at all times.

Wanda Sanner: Oh, I don't know, Arrived at meeting on time.

Dr. Brian Eades: Not evaluated in this cycle. Dr. Eades was unavailable so his dad showed up. I'm telling you, this helicopter parent thing has gone too far. As a teacher, I've had more parents of seniors contact me about their little darlings this year than in all previous years combined. And I understand that this overprotectiveness is bleeding into colleges, where student's parents now regularly contact professors and deans. I've even heard that parents are starting to contact employers at their children's first post-college jobs. But when your child is a doctor, with his own children approaching college age, running for city commission-- I think it's time to cut the umbilical cord.

Place 3

Daniel Martinez, Actively listens to suggestions and feedback from others and responds with whatever he thinks they want to hear.

Ron Boyd, Gathers and analyzes relevant data and ignores workable solutions like single-member districts entirely. But he used to be a Boy Scout! And he may be against single-member districts but he was raised by a single mom! And his mom didn't have any money, but still she threw in two mites, which make a farthing! And Jesus called unto Him His disciples and said unto them, "Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow-- I mean, single mom-- hath cast more in than all they that have cast into the treasury; for they all cast in of their abundance, but she of her want cast in all that she had, even all her living!" Whereupon Dr. Brian Eades' father sternly put his hand on young Ron's shoulder and said he hoped he'd learned a valuable lesson. "Oh, yes, sir, I have," Ron assured Mr. Eades, his Boy Scout neckerchief blowing in the panhandle wind. Hiding behind a cottonwood tree, Norman Rockwell set up his easel and began to paint the scene.

Charles Collins, no show. Don't these folks have parents?

Place 4

Jim "What a Coup!" Simms, incumbent: Met Expectations. Which were really, really low.

Fransetta Mitchell Crow: Demonstrated competence in expressing ideas verbally .

D.C. Chamberlain: Demonstrated competence in expressing ideas verbally.

Erik Williams: Achieved far beyond incredibly high expectations. [Disclaimer at bottom of post.]

spacedark

from the "wish we'd been wrong, but we were right" dept

PTS posted this piece describing plans to drop the single-member district lawsuit at 9:26 pm on Monday night. KVII-TV posted their story at 9:49 the next morning. To date, the Amarillo Globe-Republican has not written a story, despite the surely-irresistible opportunity to gloat and lick the robin's-egg-blue cowboy boots of the powers-that-be.

spacedark

happy birthday DL

As of April 21, Drinking Liberally Amarillo was one year old.

But we look much older, and almost never get carded.

spacedark

any chance of applying this rule to Emperor W?

This is interesting. Apparently you can get barred from ever entering the United States for use of drugs in the past.

I'm guessing that this is pretty selectively enforced. After all, I'm pretty sure that we've seen Keith Richards on these shores recently.

But as long as we're enforcing it selectively, I have a selection of my own . . .

spacedark

The Big Lie, Again

Most people who follow politics and propaganda know the term “The Big Lie.”

The Big Lie is a technique to shape the public’s opinion. It relies on repeated lies of a grand scale. Its most infamous use has usually been attributed to Hitler — documented in his 1925 autobiography “Mein Kampf.”

According to an Office of Strategic Services psychological profile of Hitler quoted on the Wikipedia Web site, “His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.”

However, the use of that propaganda technique predates World War II.

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) pioneered the morally bankrupt approach to social and the political philosophy, according to catholiceducation. org: “Machiavelli didn’t just lower the moral standards; he abolished them. More than a pragmatist, he was an anti-moralist. The only relevance he saw morality having to success was to stand in its way. He taught that it was necessary for a successful prince ‘to learn how not to be good’ (“The Prince,” ch. 15), how to break promises, to lie and cheat and steal (ch. 18).”

Americans are not immune to the political manipulation of The Big Lie. Nor does the use of this propaganda technique by government leaders restricted to major or worldwide issues or events. The Big Lie can be used on a smaller event which would become part of the tapestry of a larger into broader picture.

If this sounds rather vague and elliptical, let’s focus on a particular event and the use of The Big Lie in this instance.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been on the hot seat for several months, as are others in the Department of Justice, for their dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys. The two most prominent of the fired federal prosecutors were Carol Lam, in San Diego, and David Iglesias, of New Mexico.

At the root of their dismissal and that of other attorneys was not political philosophy, but political interference.

The Bush-Rove White House could not tolerate federal prosecutors who refused to turn a system of blind justice into a partisan political tool against the administration’s enemies.

Look no further than our neighbor, New Mexico, and Republican Sen. Pete Domenici’s and U.S. Congresswoman Heather Wilson’s interference in Iglesias’ investigations into other politicians.

So, where is The Big Lie in all this?

Right-wing commentators continue to compare this purge of political honesty in the Justice Department with a new administration’s dismissal of almost all U.S. attorneys, a common practice at the federal level.

For the second time in as many months, the Amarillo Globe-News repeated on Monday a form of The Big Lie: “Law review: Perhaps the Bush administration and U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired eight U.S. attorneys for political reasons. Is that what is truly motivating Congress — not to mention the national media — to tar and feather Gonzales? Here’s how CNN described President Clinton’s dismissal of all 93 U.S. attorneys shortly after he took office in 1993: ‘A one-day clean sweep.’ This ‘sweep’ barely registered on the national media radar. Then there’s this quip from U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, who handed out the 93 pink slips: ‘I want teamwork where we’re both interested in achieving justice throughout America.’ One president gets rid of 93 U.S. attorneys for political reasons, and another allegedly does the same to eight. Something doesn’t add up.”

Here’s what doesn’t add up: On Feb. 18, the Globe-News’ publisher wrote a column about his commitment to accuracy.

To my mind, that means including and explaining fully all information about an issue, not selectively omitting relevant information.

I don’t understand why, then, the piece didn’t explain that every administration performs a clean sweep when it takes over while noting how rare it is for an administration to fire a small number of these types of appointees.

After looking at the full record, we know it’s because those people refused to become political bullies and hit men.

The strategy here is The Big Lie: Continue to condemn the Clinton administration for doing what other administrations have done and making a change of administration equivalent to using public servants to further a morally bankrupt and probably illegal political agenda.

The hope is to repeat this lie often enough that people will believe it.

I don’t think residents of the Panhandle are that gullible.

They say, "Good try." / Tomorrow Wendy is going to die . . .

The single-member districts issue is officially dead in Amarillo.

You heard it here first.


I attended the Potter-Randall Democratic Club city commission candidate forum tonight, hell-bent on asking a question. It was a carefully-crafted question, designed to answer both the question asked and other, beneath the surface, questions. I'd spent some time designing the question, had bragged about it around town, and was looking forward to asking it. I even quickly reworked my strategy after I learned that the way I intended to ask my question didn't follow the forum rules as outlined by the moderator, one Doctorpaulmatney.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to ask my question. Doctorpaulmatney consistently overlooked my consistently (and politely!) raised hand so people like Manny Perez and some guy from some labor union could ask impolite questions, hector and harangue the candidates, and flagrantly disobey the (admittedly ill-advised) rules I was working so hard to work within.

Yeah, I'm a little bitter.

But here's the background: There have been these rumors going around about the single-member districts lawsuit. In the last city election, we were informed that the smoke-filled rooms where city decisions had traditionally been made had been torn down (just like the Berlin Wall!). But apparently the city commission decided that the yellow city's (and the Amarillo Globe-Republican's) 2005 rejection of the smoking ban gave them permission to continue using those rooms. Thus, rumor has it that the current commission offered J.E. Sauceda a deal: incumbents Paul Harpole and batcrap-crazy incumbent Robert Keys would not run for relection to places 2 and 3. Prenis Williams, an inoffensive black man whom everyone loves (he's so cute: don't he remind you of Morgan Freeman?), and Daniel Martinez, an inoffensive, westside-dwelling Hispanic could run for those seats, and, if they won, would be unofficially handed vaguely-defined racial and sectional constituencies.

I first heard these rumors several months ago. The sources seemed reliable, but I promised I wouldn't write about them at the time. The rumors were, to my mind, lent additional credence when J.E. Sauceda and Tim Hoffman announced at a PRDC meeting that

"Mayor McCart [sic] and Madison Scott met with Hispanic leaders . They [sic] mayor suggested assigning each commissioner a different section of town to represent -- in effect single member district representation without allowing voters to choose the commissioner who represents them."¹

So, tonight I planned to ask Mr. Prenis Williams and Mr. Martinez a two-part question: "(1) Do you today think that single-member districts would be a good idea? and (2) How strong would your commitment be if you were offered such a deal?" I naively believed that the answer to that question, whether yes-yes, yes-no, no-no, or even no comment would go a long way toward verifying or negating the rumors. After all, the candidates had to be either for or against the issue, right?

Sadly, Martinez demonstrated that one could be both. After the stern lecture from Doctorpaulmatney, I realized that I could not ask my question of both men since they were running for different seats and we could only direct questions to the candidates for one place. I began to revise my plan. Eventually, Martinez's equivocation ("I wouldn't have been elected, even though I am Hispanic, under single-member districts, since I live on the west side. But, on the other hand, how can we know that it wouldn't work?") convinced me that I should ask my question of him.

I planned to note that J.E. Sauceda was wearing a Martinez sticker but that Mayor McCartt-- who has opposed single-member districts-- had laughed and nodded when he took lukewarm swipes against the plan. I would have asked him to state his position specifically, and I would follow up with a question about the rumored deal.

I didn't get the chance, but he wouldn't have answered anyway. After the forum, several people approached me and noted that I had consistently tried to ask a question and had been ignored. Jim "What a coup!" Simms was one of them. As I told him my question wasn't for him, Martinez approached. Looking at him out of the corner of my eye, I said, "I wanted to ask Mr. Martinez what his actual position was on single-member districts. He seems to speak out of both sides of his mouth."

"Yeah, I'm kind of mealy-mouthed, aren't I?" he said/asked ironically. Then he repeated the same vague question, "How do we know it wouldn't work?"

"We don't," I said, turning to address him directly. "But what do you think?" He still avoided the question.

So I switched gears and asked him about the rumored deal. He kind of looked sideways at an acquaintance and denied that it would ever happen.

Then I asked if there was still going to be a lawsuit. And finally he gave an unequivocal answer. Before the question was completely out of my mouth he was shaking his head emphatically, no. And pulling a piece of paper from his jacket. These numbers show, he said, that the demographic/census numbers won't exist to win this lawsuit until at least 2010. J.E.'s going to announce this tomorrow.

"J.E.'s going to announce this tomorrow."

If this statement is to believed, it's over. Completely over. Probably has been for some time, but some of us weren't ready to admit it. The last remaining fading chance is for candidates like Bill Sumerford or Erik Williams who unequivocally support single-member districts to get on the commission. But Sumerford's a withered, senior citizen tax-revoltest and Brother Jimmy will join a Wiccan coven before I vote for that. And Erik will have a hella hard time winning this battle by himself.

There are a zillion other reasons to vote for Erik², and I do plan to vote for Martinez even though the knave is absolute and we will have to speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us.³ But, I mean, really, Ron freakin' Boyd?

The battle for single-member districts is over. We lost this one-- for now-- and it's time to live to fight another day. Take heart in the fact that the demographics of Amarillo are changing fast. The town is liberalizing, slowly-- very slowly-- but surely-- very surely--

Single-member districts is dead. Long live single-member districts. See you in 2010.

spacedark


Underneath the chilly gray November sky,
We can make believe that Kennedy is still alive and
We're shooting for the moon and smiling Jackie's driving by and

They say "good try";
Tomorrow Wendy is going to die.<sup>4






1</sup> Potter-Randall Democratic Club minutes, February 26, 2007
² Disclaimer: I work for his campaign.
³ Hamlet. But you knew that.
⁴ Concrete Blonde, "Tomorrow Wendy", Bloodletting

The B.I.B.L.E.: Yes, that's the book for me. And D'S.O.U.Z.A: Yes, he can show the way.

Dinesh D'Souza's cloistral, parochial and sectarian comments regarding the alleged absence of non-religious people after the Virginia Tech massacre included the following claim about the comments of Nikki Giovanni (who recently visited WTAMU):

Even secular people like the poet Nikki Giovanni use language that is heavily drenched with religious symbolism and meaning.

Um, heavily drenched? Here are Giovanni's beautiful comments in toto:

We are Virginia Tech.

We are sad today and we will be sad for quite awhile. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.

We are Virginia Tech.

We are strong enough to know when to cry and sad enough to know we must laugh again.

We are Virginia Tech.

We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did not deserve it but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, but neither do the invisible children walking the night to avoid being captured by a rogue army. Neither does the baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory; neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.

We are Virginia Tech.

The Hokier Nation embraces our own with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid. We are better than we think, not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the possibility we will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears, through all this sadness.

We are the Hokies.

We will prevail, we will prevail.

We are Virginia Tech.

I'm trained to find "symbolism and meaning," and I just don't see what D'Souza's getting at. Giovanni's comments don't deny or question religion explicitly, but they don't invoke it either. And, frankly, Giovanni's "We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did not deserve it..." is a hella lot more honest and human than any glib "it must have been God's will, beyond our understanding, God doesn't give us anything we can't handle, blah, blah, blah" nonsense that Dinesh D'Souza and his Bible-breathing comrades might belch forth.

spacedark

Fundraiser for Erik Williams, April 19 at O.H.M.S.

Erik Williams is a candidate for City Commission, Place 4.








.

A Message from The Amarillo Independent

Welcome to the first issue of the second year of publication of The Amarillo Independent.

It was a year ago, on April 20, 2006, to be exact, that our first issue hit the streets.

We began with faith that the community needed another voice and would support a news philosophy that called for in-depth reporting, investigative journalism, longer stories and a little edge to the news. In short — real news and honest journalism. We launched our effort with veteran journalists who are well-known and respected in the Panhandle.

Since starting — with photographer Ralph Duke and reporters Greg Rohloff and David Bowser — we have added Kathie Greer to our publishing enterprise. The newsroom of The Amarillo Independent can now claim more than 120 combined years of journalism experience and a treasure trove of institutional memory about Amarillo and its denizens.

Our behind-the-scenes crew of David K. Kelley, one of the most skillful copy editors I’ve ever run across, and Troy Foos, who gives the Indy an eye-grabbing design, makes the newspaper readable and artistic.

Perhaps those facing the biggest challenge have been our sales staff, some of whom have moved on to other endeavors. But Lowell McKown and Ed Armstrong can’t go unmentioned for their help. Their hard work as we build our presence in Amarillo is truly appreciated.

Finally, if you’ve ever tried to herd cats, you’ll know what a tough job our business manager, Dedra Stevens, has. She keeps things in this very loosey-goosey office in line.

You know, those one-minute managers who tell you where someone has moved your cheese never really tell you the true secret to leadership: Surround yourself with the best people you can (hopefully they are smarter than you), and then listen to them. Personally, as a publisher and editor, I consider myself honored and lucky to have found people willing to work with me who are smarter and wiser.

It’s not just the internal workings of an organization that make it a success. I have taken to calling the people in this community who have supported us, our angels. Those are our advertisers, the ones who have helped pay the bills by letting us tell the community about their businesses and products.

We also deeply appreciate that the Amarillo Dusters have accepted us as their media partners and we hope they enjoy working with us as much as we do working with them. We’d like more of that kind of support, of course, from the business community and from the other professional sports teams in Amarillo. That’s because we believe that a business needs a financial margin in order to have a mission and we’d like to expand our mission into more pages and more stories and more investigative reporting. All of the folks I have mentioned have contributed to the Indy’s success more than I have.

We have said it before: The Amarillo Independent is a locally owned newspaper that is not pressured by out-of-state corporate interests to maximize profit. So, our loyalty is to our readers and our community.

We are proud of the journalism we have done. We believe it is important that the media are watchdogs — not lapdogs. I know that’s not an original phrasing. I’ve heard it time and again in a variety of workshops with the Investigative Reporters and Editors, one of the journalism organizations to which I belong.

So, I remind our readers and the community that we intend, as we grow and strengthen, to look out for taxpayer interests and make sure that elected officials and the government work for us and not the other way around.

In addition, as I have said before, but at this juncture of our enterprise it bears repeating: Oversight of nonprofit institutions is as important as that of government officials and agencies.

That philosophy arises from the large role these institutions play in this community and the responsibilities that society places on nonprofit institutions in return for the tax breaks and other exemptions that for-profit entities don’t get. The quid pro quo of this contract between society and nonprofits may presume that good works by the nonprofits will come without society’s oversight. However, as we have seen in some of our reporting over the past year, oversight may be needed.

It has truly been a pleasure to serve this community over the past year and we appreciate the community’s support. We hope this relationship will continue long into the future.

Protest in Najaf

Why can't we get a straight story dammit? How many people were at the anti-US rally in Najaf on the 10th? According to the army only about 5000 to 7000 attended. Unfortunately for the army no one else seems to agree with that number. Seems the protesters choked a 7 mile stretch of road, a fact left out of the army reports. In fact everyone, including the Washington Post, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, and Reuter's all seem to think the numbers were in the tens of thousands. I'm sickened by the fu(*&^en lies told by the military and the Bush administration. I suppose the army lowballed the numbers so Republicans can still fool themselves into thinking the Iraqis actually want us there. Even so this seems incredibly stupid. I mean they have photographs of the rally and there are obviously way more than 7000 people there. I WISH I DIDN'T GET IT BUT I DO...AAAAAAGHHHHH!!!!

Funderate!

The following announcement follows this colon:

You are cordially invited to a non-partisan party
Fund Raiser party for

Commissioner Place 4 Candidate
Erik Williams

Tuesday April 17, 2007
6:00 to 9:00 PM

OHMS Café & Bar
619 South Tyler

hors d’oeuvres and wine bar (and beer)
$30 contribution suggested

This will be an opportunity to grille the candidate, eat and drink with friends and be separated from some of your money, especially blogarillo, who keeps promising a contribution. Plus, as a special added feature, there will be one bag of lemon drops on hand to sway the vote and steal the election.

(This political advertising would be paid for by the Erik Williams Campaign, but as it is free this disclaimer is not necessary.)

Celebrate!!!!!!

The Amarillo Independent will celebrate its one-year anniversary at the Amarillo Dusters game April 20. Please join us at the Civic Center for some great entertainment and to support the Dusters and your progressive voice in Amarillo’s media community.

The Conservative Nanny State continues unabated

Oh, Warren "Otis Oracle" Chisum, we'd be lost in a wilderness of immorality if it wasn't for you:

House OKs marriage bill

Air America, you are dead to me.

Idiots.

Candidate, Not so Silly Party

Polls were released today on the Commissioner Place 4 race that are causing political prognosticators complete confusion.

The first commissioned by Panhandle Country Truth Road Squad shows Erik Williams, Fransetta Crow and D.C. Chamberlain running neck and neck at 33 1/3 rpms each with Jim Simms running a distant -0%.

The second, commissioned by the Amarillo Globe-News, shows Jim Simms at 100% with Dave Henry squeaking in at +/- 3%.

The third by Amarillo National Bank also shows Jim Simms coming in at 100%, plus 15% interest giving him an overall compounded popularity rate of 117%.

In other news, conservative professional cretin William Rusher weighs in on the negative impact leftists are having on our political discourse by citing an isolated demonstration by anarchists as representative of leftists poisoning the public forum.

He has evidently been oblivious to the repeated calls for assassination, torture and genocide of liberals and other enemies of America by such right-wing representatives as Coulter and Malkin and Savage and Horowitz and O’Reilly and Scarborough and Beck and Limbaugh and what oxygen starved, electromagnetically impenetrable chamber has William Rusher been living in the last two decades?

William Rusher and cerebral necrosis have become a favorite of the AGN. Dr. Frist believes things are looking up.

it's also getting cold in herre

So I'm pissed at the environmentalist wackos.

It's going to snow this Easter weekend, and the Virgil Van Camps of the world are going to contort their faces and scrape unclever witticisms across their vocal cords like fingernails across chalkboards. There is no way to avoid the inevitable. Make no mistake, the dreaded words will come, all low and nasal, through wingnut noses like snot in flu season: "So much for global warming."

And, once again, we'll have to patiently try to explain science to the willfully misunderstanding.

It's going to snow this weekend, and I'm pissed at the environmentalist wackos.

Because, in the days when Casio keyboards ruled the airwaves, I had a friend who already understood. He worked for Greenpeace and he saw everything, earlier and more accurately than any of us.

He told me once, in a conversation about Chaos and the environment, that adding energy to the system wouldn't just make it get hotter and hotter. Instead, it would get wilder and weirder. Imagine, he said, setting high and low temperature records in the same week.

Actually, he said "in the same day," but I think he was exaggerating. You get the point in any event. If he knew what was going to happen, others in Greenpeace knew. The far left, as usual, was absolutely correct.

And, as usual, they screwed up the framing.

We never should have been talking about global warming. "Climate change" may not be as sexy a term, but its usage from the very beginning might have kept dishonest conservatives from successfully propagandizing to the dimly aware.

Even more importantly, it might have preempted a few bad jokes.

spacedark

city commission race

Be sure to check out Erik Williams campaign page.

spacedark

Midnight in the Rose Garden of Good and Evil

Perhaps the Dark Lord has to maintain a line of sight for his black majick to hold sway:

Cheney Lurks Behind Shrub At Bush Press Conference

this has George W. Bush's staggeringly incompetent fingerprints all over it

Quite possibly the most illuminating headline ever.

New Century Seeks Chapter 11 Protection



Jeez, only seven years in, and the Decider has already bankrupted the whole freakin' century.

spacedark

God Bless President Bush

I recall that fateful morning on September 11. As the Pentagon and World Trade Center lay in ruin I thought to myself, "Thank God George W. Bush is president." For the past six years he's shown heroic leadership, the kind that can only be inspired by divine influence from a Higher Father. I weep tears of joy when I think of everything he has accomplished for our country. Afghanistan has been liberated from the clutches of the Taliban. Iraq now experiences the joys of freedom and democracy. The American economy continues to grow at a blistering pace as the world enters an era of peace and prosperity unknown in human history, and it's all because of George W. Bush and the Republican party. May God bless them all. Amen.