Swine Flu and the Local Media

At about 6 p.m. yesterday, the city of Amarillo public information officer called my cell to tell me of a 7 p.m. news conference about the swine flu at City Hall. When I asked about the content of the announcement, that is, I asked if had there been cases discovered, she said she didn't know. She was told simply to call to let media members know of the news conference.

The Indy had scheduled a long-standing training session ahead of launching a new Web site and didn't have anyone we could spring to cover the news conference. Further, without some information about the content, I felt the city was manipulating the media. I predicted that the announcement would be a non-event either announcing possible cases or announcing there were no cases but we still made it to wash our hands and cover our mouth when we sneeze.

So as I scanned the Amarillo Globe-News Web site last night, I find I was right: It was a non-event. Possible cases? Samples sent to laboratories? Why didn't they just tell us they're a bunch of people in town sneezing, having sore throats and running a slight fever. Good grief, we had a long choir practice last night and I woke up with a sore throat. Should I run out and get a quick test?

This morning as I scanned the local media Web sites, the Globe-News writes an extensive story about it; but, Channel 7's Web site takes a more moderate approach to the story.

I am finding myself very perplexed by the scope and nature of the coverage. I wonder to what degree the media are contributing or creating a problem by scaring the public. I wonder to what degree the public health "authorities" are overreacting to this in the United States.

When I was at the Globe-News, one of the editors talked about how the newspaper handles stories. In this case it was first the Katrina and then Rita evacuees, but it seems to apply to any story the newspaper thinks is "big." He said, "We are going to write about this, and write about this, and write about this until there is absolutely nothing more to write about. And then we're going to write some more."

I'd be curious to know to what degree people think the media are overreacting, the public health authorities are over reacting and if this disease is that serious that these reactions are justified.

damn, hope they don't follow the Israelis' advice and start calling it "Mexican Flu"

GENEVA — The World Health Organization announced Thursday it will would stop using the term "swine flu" to avoid confusion over the danger posed by pigs. The policy shift came a day after Egypt began slaughtering thousands of pigs in a misguided effort to prevent swine flu.

spacedark

how much more mileage can we get out of this secession thing?

Demophoenix, from an undisclosed location far away from the madness, notes below that half of Texas Republicans think secession is, quote, "a purty goldang good idear y'all goldangit!"

WTF?

Dear Texas Republicans: you do realize that they probably aren't going to let us keep the nuclear bombs and the rockets, don't you?


spacedark

Texas Independence--Call Their Bluff

This new poll says that Texas still has a way to go to come into line with reality. Nevertheless, as a fairly generic poll, it says that there has been movement. Had this poll been taken a couple years ago, all the numbers would have been about 5-10% more favorable to Republicans. As Obama's policies work, there will be further erosion of Republican support, perhaps enough to begin electing statewide Dems.

A couple other points are worth noting in this poll. First, though it was transparent before, the real motive for Perry's secession comment was his anticipation of a primary battle with Hutchinson. Kay remains more popular than he is, but in a Republican primary, he is still the favorite due to his assiduous sucking up to the loony fringe. Second, fully half of Republicans polled think Perry's secession idea was a good one. This is partly the result of some more moderate Republicans reidentifying themselves as independents, but it also reveals the truly loony nature of Texas Republicans. That result should be publicized widely if Dems want to make gains with the indies.

Bag the Baggers

John Sawyers in his Globe News Letter writes "I didn't see any Right Wing extremists at our "tea party".

He goes on to tell us about the upcoming Tea Party to be held on July 4th at Memorial Park from 11:00 to 2:00. He even mentions there will be a number of interesting speakers. such as Norma White.

My idea is this. Since the Baggers have put it out there that their party is about bipartisan concern, why couldn't we contact the local organizers and ask about adding a couple of speakers from our camp.

Seems to me if these guys are being honest they would welcome our speakers. NewsguyGeorge do you have any idea who is organizing the event. Perhaps we could get Jim Perkins to speak or maybe even contact Rick Noriega...see if he's interested. I would chip in on the expenses.

Truthfully I don't believe the organizers of the event have anything in mind other than a Republican extremist love-in. Let's put them to the test. If they're honest we can get our views out there. If not, we've Bagged our Baggers.


BTW Democratic organizers across the nation should be looking into bagging their baggers as well.

Deep Thought

I love tivo because I can forward past George Will talking . . .


-Prodigal Son

that's the best you can do? seriously?

Our town, seen through Lubbock eyes.


So when Lubbockian cultural conservatives close their eyes and imagine the horrifying decadence of their city after the May 9 referendum to allow alcohol sales in their city passes, what monstrous atrocity, what Den of Sin do they imagine? Las Vegas, Nevada? Bangkok, Thailand? Amsterdam?

Nope.

In the latest Texas Monthly (the one with Joel Osteen on the cover, but that's another story), Brant O'Hair, spokesperson for Truth About Alcohol Sales says that

underage drinking [is] his main concern. "A combination of that and our not wanting to see our town become more like Amarillo."

Wow. Our city must be a lot more fun than I ever thought.

spacedark

President Obama's Weekly Address - 4/25/09

Reality Tea Party

Want your kids to be a top earner? Me too, but top $$ is no indicator of reaching self-actualization. And many of the factors that determine this upward mobility exist before our kids are born.

The numbers on intergenerational upward mobility are fascinating to me, and so when I read this report late into the night last night a couple of things struck me.

• Children from low-income families have only a 1 percent chance of reaching the top 5 percent of the income distribution, versus children of the rich who have about a 22 percent chance.
• Children born to the middle quintile of parental family income ($42,000 to $54,300) had about the same chance of ending up in a lower quintile than their parents (39.5 percent) as they did of moving to a higher quintile (36.5 percent). Their chances of attaining the top five percentiles of the income distribution were just 1.8 percent.

In regard to those recent tea parties, in the past 25 years top salaries have increased by 256% while low-income salaries increased by only 11%. Even though productivity per worker has skyrocketed, the plain fact of the matter is that we have been ripped off by the Huns running corporate America.

Tom Hartmann has it right about the original Boston Tea Party. It was an anti-corporate revolt, "against huge corporate tax cuts for the British East India Company, the largest trans-national corporation then in existence. "

Righties and the middle class, the reality is that you have been picking up the tax bill for large corps, while expanding salaries have been focused at the top 1%'ers.

-Prodigal Son

New Media, Genius, Music

This youtube of a kid named Michael Gregory using autotune software and video clips from tv put to pop, (and editing himself in!), amazed me this AM. Just watch:

The Katie Couric part was waaaay cool. This just makes me wonder how the next 30 years' media will be delivered to us.

Newspapers, aside from making stupid business decisions, just by nature cannot be personalized.

The next gen of potential buyers of the media we grew up with can use techie software, high powered computers, and is accustomed to tweaking mpeg4, audio, quicktime, to bring out their creative side, such as Michael. Also using phones to use personal media editing and view only what they want.

Is m y generation (Gen X) going to be ridiculed by my kids? Probably, (My Dad still reads magazines! LOL Nerd!)

TIVO, is another great example as well. I record kiddie shows, and forward past the commercials with the kids. The other day my daughter was mesmerized by a 5 minute stretch of barbie, my little pony, strawberry shortcake commercials while I was making dinner and forgot to zip past.

So with the Gen Y, and Gen Z, being targeted for ad dollars, what will that look like?

Just interesting.

-Prodigal Son

The chickens are coming home to roost

Greenwald: Major scandal erupts involving Rep. Jane Harman, Alberto Gonzales and AIPAC

Give Me Your Cash, Taxpayer . . . Now, FOff!

Seriously . . . this is a big damn problem . . . From the Murdoch Street Journal

"Lending at the biggest U.S. banks has fallen more sharply than realized, despite government efforts to pump billions of dollars into the financial sector.

According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Treasury Department data, the biggest recipients of taxpayer aid made or refinanced 23% less in new loans in February, the latest available data, than in October, the month the Treasury kicked off the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The total dollar amount of new loans declined in three of the four months the government has reported this data."

As I mentioned in comments, I have been trying to buy a firm for sale down the road for 2 months. There are a bunch of local banks (including one who received around $300 million in TARP) I have talked to and they will not loan zip . . .

My credit rating? 822.

12 + years in the industry.

A banker buddy of mine, Jeff, who works ONLY with small biz's, told me last week that his bank would not even allow his client with a profitable McDonalds to get a loan to open another one. You know, create jobs, expand the economy . . . Jeff is even looking for part time work because he estimates his yearly income will be cut IN HALF. WTF?

Bush's TARP, and it WAS Bush's TARP was his last, final, ginormous, F*** up. (And lets not forget that Shrub had an MBA peeps! Our first MBA Pres!)

Obama needs to pull a Rick Waggoner and start cleaning house with the banksters. Start at the top, seize their stock options, and get 'em a job as assistant crew chief at Taco Villa.

Tacccoooo Villlllaaaaa . . . I love that place. Pass the guadalajara!

-Prodigal Son

Has Texas Seceded Yet?

Just asking . . .

-Prodigal Son

UPDATE: You, yes, YOU, can now bid to own the Great State of Texas on Ebay! LOL

Red State Update

Teabagger Edition:



-Prodigal Son

Oh, Fer Chrissakes . . .

OK, Teabaggers, LOLOLOL . . . oh, geez, too funny . . .

1. The USA cannot go broke. We print our own money, and it is not pegged to a commodity like gold. We can default, but that ain't ever gonna happen (Sorry, Apocalypse dreamers!)

2. Inflation risk? A little, but in a slow economy deflation is the norm, which is that prices for common goods and wholesale prices only rise a little or not at all. Nobody is spending, because of higher unemployment. Could it creep back up to double digits again? Sure, but the economy is going to turn around before the job numbers get better. Could we have stagflation (high unemployment and high inflation). So far, that seems to be around a 1 in 5 chance.

3. Today's dollars vs. tomorrows dollars. Inflation causes future dollars to be worth more than current $. Tomorrows $2 trillion debt in ten years is really $1 trillion if inflation doubles the dollar's value in ten years. Calm down righties.

4. The assets that were at risk in the tech stock bubble were stocks, while the volatile assets in the current crisis involve debt instruments held by global financial institutions. Personally, after reading, reading, reading, boring eco numbers from the Fed, I believe that it could be credit booms, (like the past few years' current house and bond price bubbles), that hold a more dangerous economic system risk for worldwide recessions. NOT UNIONS, NOT HIGHER MINIMUM WAGES.

IMO here are the real questions conservatives (and us) should be asking.

1. If you are worried about future debt to our kids, WhereTF were you the last 8 years? All I hear out of the Good Governor from the fine state of Wal-Mart (Huckabee) is bitching about high income taxes and estate taxes (Sam Walton's heirs own Huckabee). Exactly how do you pay off America's debt and spending if there are low taxes on the billionaires and no corporate taxes? (Military spending is half a trillion/year to fight the USSR which does not even exist anymore. You think anyone wants to risk a nuclear exchange?)

2. The last 8 years were a tax-hater and regulation-hater's wet dream. I.E short term cap gains went from 40% to 15%. The uber-rich's top income taxes went DOWN.
So where was the amazing job growth?
New economic growth?
NOPE.
So, where did it go wrong? (question is rhetorical. The conservative free market Reaganomics boolshit is a sham)

3. Future Bubbles: Should the role of central banking be to deflate credit induced asset-priced bubbles to avert a recession? How can it do this with monetary policy?

4. Casino Capitalism: Should there be higher taxes on businesses that produce nothing? In other words, lower taxes on widget producers, higher taxes on hedge funds and on stock transactions?

5. Regulate. Whom? How?

-Prodigal Son

A Little Cake With Your Class Warfare?

In case anyone was wondering about the extent to which the tax freaks are wa-aaaa-aayyy out of the mainstream, take a gander at this. Yes, it's true that almost half of those responding thought the middle class was paying too much, but in reality most of those understood that they do need to pay something, and a lot of them actually understood that Obama just lowered their taxes. What really rankles is exposed in the last two questions. Three-fifths of those surveyed (which includes the excessively high 10% who consider themselves wealthy), think that upper-income folks pay too little, and 2/3 think that corporations pay too little. So, go ahead and protest. Please. This only cuts one way, just like the guillotine.

Red or Green: A neighbor to the west documents the fun.

New Mexico Tea Party

A Few More Pictures

Happy Phony Conservative Outrage Day!

Get your tea bags out!

Update II:

Some random thoughts on the rally:

The wind and wind-related noise made it almost impossible to hear the speakers while hanging around on the edges, which is where I stayed. I honestly have no idea what they said.

I was only there for about 20-30 minutes. People seemed well-behaved. If anything ugly happened I didn't witness it. Plenty of hateful remarks to be heard, but nothing threatening.

The crowd was was very, if not totally, white and probably skewed slightly to 50+ in age.

Most of the signage was directed at Obama and the Democrats, though there were a few calling out both parties. I didn't see any singling out the Republicans.

There were probably a fair number of people there who just turned out to see what would happen. A lot of people left about the time I did. For the most part it was boring and I should have stuck with my original plan of going to the gym during lunch.

Update:

Pics from the local No-We-Don't-Get-The-Irony-Of-Bitching-About-Taxes-While-Demonstrating-On-Government-Property-Paid-For-With-Taxes Rally:

Glenn Greenwald hasn't been cutting Obama any slack.

"An emerging progressive consensus on Obama's executive power and secrecy abuses" is the most recent. Sadly, I think Glenn is right in his criticism.

President Obama's Weekly Address - 4/11/09

Les Simpson admits that he is a lawless anarchist who flagrantly violates the rules

At least that's how we interpreted what he said.

He also confirms that he "make(s) up" his posts. Frankly, we always suspected as much. Why should his blog be any different than his paper?

spacedark

time to choose your hemlock, Dr. O'B.

Like the bar in New Orleans that shares his name, I have swung wildly back and forth in my assessment of Dr. Pat O'Brien, president of West Texas A&M. There have been times in my life that I believed that Pat O'Brien's in the French Quarter was the best place on Earth. There have been other times (usually the next morning) when I assessed the place rather differently, cursing the moment I ever entered those doors and ordered one of those infamous Hurricanes.

And sometimes, as when he served wine to the faculty and staff at a reception during office hours in the middle of Canyon, Texas, Dr. Pat O'Brien has been an intoxicating kick in the balls to West Texas mores. Occasionally, as when he signed the petition to lower the drinking age, he has shown a bold vision for logic and for fairness.

At other times, he has seemed as clueless as a sea lion flopping across our sunburnt steppe.

I give props to Dr. O'Brien for even talking to BuffaloRove. His accessibility is to be commended. But I also hear this:

Dr. O’Brien is fully aware of Karl’s sordid reputation. He welcomes the controversy. The WTAMU president is shrewd. His goal is to fashion our little state school into a high-profile learning institution.

And that makes me think of a comment made by blogarillo on our laughable blog, a comment that was probably unwelcome to both supporters and haters of Rove:

"Screw Rove and screw protesting him. The Powers-That-Be would like nothing more than to play the victim because a handful of people turned out to wave poster boards in the air. They want you to protest, so don't give them what they want. Let the aptly-named Turd Blossom blow in and out of Canyon like a cloud of Randall County cow farts."

The jury's out. O'Brien has demonstrated a desire to make WT into an Athens on the High Plains, where all issues are on the table to be discussed. He has also demonstrated an ability to disingenuously argue on behalf of the status quo.

So, which is it, Pat? You gonna be Ed Roach, or you gonna be Socrates?

Follow your heart: either way you get poisoned in the end.

Just let the rest of us know which it's gonna be.

spacedark

in which we discover that we've been getting all bent out of shape over something that actually shows that we're kind of winning

Yes, it's annoying, as someone who holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from WTAMU that Karl Rove will be speaking as part of the commencement festivities. Sure, it would have been nice if Dr. Pat "Mix Me Another Hurricane" O'Brien could have been less disingenuous when asked directly if Rove was the commencement speaker. But, check this out, from this week's New York magazine:


Consider: in order for Turdblossom to be the speaker at a school neither he nor the staff of New York magazine had probably ever heard of, the whole thing had to be sneaked past the faculty, staff and student body in the dead of night. Dr. Pat "718 St. Peter, a block off Bourbon Street" O'Brien acknowledged that Rove was a "controversial" choice-- even in Canyon, Texas, the most conservative town in the most conservative region in the United States.

Meanwhile, Obama administration bigwigs Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Eric Holder are speaking at places like NYU, Barnard, Syracuse, and Columbia. Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy stalwarts Nancy Pelosi and Oprah Winfrey are speaking at Johns Hopkins and Duke. Even James Franco-- recently famous, might I remind you, for playing a drug dealer in Pineapple Express as well as Harvey Milk's lover-- is speaking at UCLA.

And Karl Rove? The best gig he could get was so far out in the middle of nowhere, he might as well be making a drunken speech in Mos Eisley Cantina, Tatooine.

And we don't even want him.

spacedark

Republicans to demostrate their lack of concern for anyone but themselves

Just like those patriots of old Republicans are going to join together for a national protest of Obama's administration ten weeks in. The party of No accountability spoke not a word when Reagan and both Bushes ran up debt like no one's business. Now with the economy in the tank and banks failing they can only think of themselves.

Face-to-Face

Shameless self promotion and promotion for the Indy.

Rove is wrong for WT, sets bad example

This is the column that will appear in The Amarillo Independent on the week of April 9:

There’s trouble a’brewin’ at West Texas A&M University’s commencement ceremonies.

The university has chosen Karl Rove, the former operative for George W. Bush’s political career, to speak May 8, the night before the university’s May 9 spring commencement exercises.

In touting the coup of having such a nationally prominent speaker in lil ole Canyon, the WT Web site quotes Dr. J. Patrick O’Brien.

“Karl Rove is a nationally prominent individual who for seven years served in an extremely important position in the Bush administration. He has been referred to as a ‘master political strategist,’ a ‘passionate advocate’ for his positions, and ‘The Architect’ of two successful presidential campaigns,” O’Brien said.

“Bringing Karl Rove to the WTAMU campus won’t be without controversy, but this is an individual with tremendous experience and insight in the workings of the executive branch of the U.S. Government. We are excited to have him speak on the WT campus.”

“Won’t be without controversy”?

You got that right, Dr. O’Brien.

But you got a lot wrong.

First, while Rove no doubt has inside knowledge of the workings of the Bush White House and former Vice President Dick Cheney’s massive role in shaping Bush’s policies, he isn’t going to give any insights to those coming May 8.

If he would, he would tell us what role he and Cheney played in outing Valerie Plame as a CIA agent.

If he had any insights, he would tell us what he did to undercut former Ambassador Joseph Wilson after an op-ed piece in the New York Times reported the administration’s lies about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

If Rove were to give us insights at the highest levels of government, we might find out how weak the moral fiber of the administration was.

Second, the judgment underlying this invitation is badly flawed — to be charitable about it.

Rove is not only a symbol of all that was wrong with the Bush administration and what it did to devastate our country, his role makes him the devastation personified.

Personally, I suspect that, if the truth were known, what Rove — and Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and other neoconservatives — did during their tenure was criminal. I mean that: illegal and perhaps treasonous.

So what message does this send to the university community and the students earning degrees who are to be honored that weekend?

It sends this message: We honor a college dropout who may have played a criminal role in a two-term administration. His speech is to inspire you to model his drive and ambition.

That said, now that he has been invited, I think pulling the offer would reflect worse on WT than issuing the invitation in the first place.

Further, for those planning to protest Rove’s presence, I implore you to keep it civil and quiet.

Please don’t try to shout him down. Please don’t disrupt the event. That will reflect more poorly on the progressive voices who object to Rove’s presence than on Rove’s appearance itself.

For anyone who wants to paint WT’s choices for convocation speakers as having a right-wing or conservative tilt, be careful.

I don’t think Ron Suskind, Cedric Jennings, Ben Stein, Elie Wiesel and Valentino Achak Deng, one of the Lost Boys of the Sudan, can be characterized that way.

And, keep in mind that one of the several bastions of truly free and controversial speech is the American university — where the most controversial of ideas could and should be spoken without retribution.

The recent case of Ward Churchill at the University of Colorado is a case in point.

Churchill stirred up a storm of controversy in 2005 when someone discovered that he had written an essay right after Sept. 11, 2001, comparing those toiling in the Twin Towers to Nazis.

Colorado’s governor, Bill Owens, called for Churchill’s head and, according to court testimony, pressured the president of the university to fire Churchill. University regents also went after Churchill and eventually he was fired for shoddy scholarship and plagiarism.

Churchill sued CU and a jury sided with him in saying the entire process was trumped up in retaliation for his admittedly despicable essay about 9-11.

If one looks deeper into the case, Churchill was as flawed an object of protection as could be found in a victory for academic freedom. But it made the victory all the more important.

Had WT invited Rove as part of a lecture series or some event that didn’t honor him or the university community, I’d have no objection.

But this invitation sets a bad example and displays bad judgment.

President Obama's Weekly Address - 4/4/09

Clusterf*&!@ to the Poorhouse

I love that cartoon. Tom Toles nails it . . .

Kudos to President Obama. The making home affordable act is really a great idea. A big idea. With every big implementation, there are always a few kinks. A few millions in this case.

No job yet (1 .5 months and counting), and by far my mortgage is the biggest monthly cost, so I set out to see what help I could get. The program really is designed for the folks that are about to be foreclosed on, or are 30% underwater. Neither of which applies to me at this point for full disclosure.

Bumps:
Your home loan must be owned by Fannie Mae. Go HERE to check.
You must have SOME income, even unemployment

Turns out, maybe a little help can be had though. Here is how it works:

1. Contact your mortgage servicer, mine is Chase, tell 'em you need help.
2. You fill out a 6 page form, but you actually fax it to FNMA.
3. Wait 2 months. Yep, TWO MONTHS. Millions need the help. Thanks Shrub.
4. Call your lazy, taxpayer funded check-casher (Otherwise known as your Republican congresscritter).
4. . . . dunno . . . waiting to hear.

Per FNMA's news release, "Participating in the program may reduce interest rates, lengthen the payment time frame or take other steps, such as principal forbearance, to bring the monthly payments down to as low as 31 percent of the borrower's gross (pre-tax) income."

So, you could get put in an low interest ARM, a 40 year fixed, etc. So it is help, but Caveat Emptor. Negotiate, negotiate.

This Gods-damn economy is brutal, but this program IS helping. And it is helping the little guy.

-Prodigal Son

Web 2.0 Fighting Keyboards

Anyone out there who can provide guidance on how to leverage the net to protest the Rovester? Facebook, etc?

panhandletruthsquad at yah

-Prodigal Son

The Revolution Was Not Televised

Universal health care. Energy security. Clean, green, renewable energy. Economic regulation. Reliance upon science and education. And yes, even world peace. These are the stuff of bumper stickers. But over the past 2-3 decades they have quietly become representative of the dominant philosphy of the majority. That's right, the majority. Want evidence? Try here, here, here, and here. Yes, you can quibble about the specific meaning of specific surveys, but the overall message was sent loud and clear last November 4. Obama won not because his election was an historic marker of improvement in race relations, but because he promised the change that people desired.

Many of us who have yearned and worked for this new era have been spending a lot of time just breathing the fresh air emanating from the Obama WH. But the truth is that while there remain battles ahead to be won, the odds are already heavily stacked in our favor, because the change we have been seeking has fundamentally already happened. It has happened in the hearts and minds of millions here and billions around the world. There are certainly land mines aplenty that could reroute or even derail the train, but there is no doubt that it has left the station. In many respects, the Obama administration is really not the driver of change, but just the cautious emissary of the change that has already occurred. For example, the president gave a speech in Prague, Czech Republic yesterday in which he pledged a new. long-term effort to improve peace and security (not to mention reduced military spending) through a new strategy that could permit systematic reduction in stockpiles of nuclear weapons and reduce the perceived need of new nations to join the nuclear club. A few years ago, such a proposal, coming from an American president, would have been thought ridiculous and politically suicidal. Today, although there will be objections from predictable quarters, there will be no great political price to pay for this announcement. It is expected. It is already built into the framework of the idea marketplace.

So, what about those who would have this president fail? The Karl Roves and the Rush Limbaughs are certainly still out there. They still have a significant following of those who are for various reasons convinced that the changes are designed to take something away from them, though that is not true. For that reason, it remains important to hold up to public ridicule the messengers who would provide trumped up reasons for believing such falsehoods. But the reason that they are so locked into the rear-guard action of trying to promote the failure of the president is that without that, they lack the power to significantly alter the course of events in the forseeable future, and power is what they are all about. Only if Obama fails will the public change its mind about the change they have requested.

That is also the reason that we who have been in the vanguard keep focused on the big picture. There are going to be compromises made by the WH as it seeks to implement the big agenda described above. Some of those compromises will be painful. As an educator, I am not especially confident that I will like all of the administration's proposals regarding merit incentives, for example. I might not approve of all of the energy proposals that might be agreed to. I don't promise to stay silent about these, but I do intend to make sure that my primary goal is the broad implementation of the policy agenda that Obama is pursuing, with the recognition that the only way it can be broadly defeated is if Obama is perceived to have failed. In an ideal world, it would not be necessary to have the agenda so closely tied to one person, but we need to live in the real world. The greater truth is that, in the future, if Obama succeeds, the agenda can become not merely majority sentiment, but a self-driving force that demands that all political actors adopt it. The revolution may not have been televised, but its consecration must be.

Liar Up-Front

UPDATE:

CANYON, Texas—Karl Rove, former deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to President George W. Bush, will speak at 7 p.m. Friday, May 8 at West Texas A&M University as part of the University’s spring commencement activities.

Rove will deliver a pre-commencement address at the First United Bank Center the night before WTAMU’s two commencement exercises on Saturday, May 9. His presentation is open to the University’s 2009 graduates, their friends and family as well as the Texas Panhandle community.

Rove’s appearance at the First United Bank Center is free and open to the public. For more information about WTAMU’s spring commencement activities, call 806-651-2044.

________________________

From the official announcement at WT's web page about Karl "LSOS" Rove.

“Karl Rove is a nationally prominent individual who for seven years served in an extremely important position in the Bush administration. He has been referred to as a ‘master political strategist,’ a ‘passionate advocate’ for his positions, and ‘The Architect’ of two successful presidential campaigns,” Dr. J. Patrick O’Brien, WTAMU president, said. “Bringing Karl Rove to the WTAMU campus won’t be without controversy, but this is an individual with tremendous experience and insight in the workings of the executive branch of the U.S. Government. We are excited to have him speak on the WT campus.”

How can we let Rove know he is unwelcome where people believe in our constitution, and democracy?

This POS should be rotting in jail, not on the speaking circuit. He lied to a grand jury about Valerie Plame, and Iraq, the US Attorney purges, etc.

The smug, "boys will be boys, we need diverse speakers" shit coming from the office of the Pres/CEO of WTAMU.

Why not have someone who believes the earth is flat? Or a Grand Dragon of the KKK. Jeff Dahmer is dead, but the unabomber could do a webinar!

Give me a damn break.

More to come on how we are helping to organize a financial and physical protest.

This blog has requested a full list of speakers for 2009. We will see how "diverse" the speakers will be.

-Prodigal Son

Republickians pledge to act in a Bipartisan way

"On Tuesday, a letter signed by all 41 Republican senators was distributed to Democratic Hill leaders urging them to forgo reconciliation to pass health care legislation, saying doing so "would make it difficult, if not impossible, to gain broad, bipartisan support" for the bill"

So what they're saying is they will work with us if we don't fast track new health care legislation? LOL these guys will suddenly negotiate in good faith and behave like something other than pompous jerks who vote against anything the Democrats suggest if only we won't fast track health care? Unbelievable. Go on an play your politics, do everything you can to keep lining the pockets of your friends in the insurance industry. Meanwhile we're gonna get some health insurance out there to take care of people.

We know you don't care if poor people have insurance...why should you? You've got yours and it's all about the individual and not the whole right Republicans? Who cares if people die, starve, waste away as long as you can buy your new Lexus, camper, boat, SUV, this year. Good Christian men doing as Christ would do right?

Sickening!!

A Call To Arms

Still just a dream . . . (sigh)

On May 9th, my alma mater, is using my alumni dues, commuter students tuition, and general revenues to bring the above POS serial liar who is on the run from congress to give a speech, no doubt on how wonderful Shrub and he are, and BTW please send a check to the GWB library fund.

In a response to a letter from a PTS reader, written to him about Rove speaking at WTAMU, the President/CEO Pat O'Brien responded (reponse posted in full, BOLD Mine)
________________________

"Thank you for your comment. I really, seriously do appreciate people letting me know what they think.

I learned in my youth growing up in the deep South a principle that I cherish deeply today. In America, individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty. This principle is one of those foundational principles of a free society.

At WTAMU we strive to bring in speakers of all philosophies and political views. On April 8, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison will be on campus to speak; on April 25 Maya Angelou will speak; and on May 8 Karl Rove will speak. Senator Seliger was our commencement speaker in December.

We anticipate as varied a schedule of speakers next year. For instance, Mike Hucklebee is scheduled to speak on campus in March 2010.

I trust the education we have provided for our students will help them to discern for themselves whether Mr. Rove is to be respected or not. I want our students to know also that we value free speech at WT; that censorship is dangerous to a free society.

Pat"

__________________

Boy, ya gotta love that forked tongue darting in and out. They strive to bring in speakers of all philosophies and political views, just as long as they are mostly Republican.

1.We need to find out who/how many liberal speakers will be at WTAMU in 2009?
2. We need to let the campus know what we think about Rove . . . with letters and emails, and protests.
3. Suggestions for how to proceed for hitting WTAMU hard on this, comments or email us.
4. How about the WTAMU/Amarillo College student democrats?

Here are some email addys:

J. Patrick O'Brien Pres/CEO WTAMU: pobrien@mail.wtamu.edu

Amarillo Globe Republican: letters@amarillo.com or Letters Editor, P.O. Box 2091, Amarillo, TX 79166

Becky Stogner: Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Fund, bstogner@mail.wtamu.edu or WTAMU Alumni Association, WTAMU Box 60753, Canyon, TX 79016.

Canyon News: news@canyonnews.com

-Prodigal Son

blast from the past (some things never change)

oh, how I miss this wonderful man:

In other news, PTS will now be hosting "We Surround Them" parties. Stay tuned for further details.

spacedark