Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label People Sheehan-Cindy Sheehan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label People Sheehan-Cindy Sheehan. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

This Week in The Tentacle

This Week in The Tentacle

http://www.thetentacle.com/

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Exposing the Real Agenda…
Farrell Keough
Now is the summer of our discontent – made glorious winter by this sun of the Statis. Shakespeare may not have been pleased, but my literary license is paid in full and allows for such word play.

From the Desk of The Publisher:
John W. Ashbury
WE GET LETTERS!!! Two Republican candidates for the Board of Aldermen of the City of Frederick weigh in on the annexation votes taken last week. And due to technical difficulties, it will be posted in this manner! Please ignore the byline and look at the end of the letter for the contributors.

From The Desk of The Publisher:
John W. Ashbury
Roy Meachum has discovered – belatedly – that healing from surgery requires recovery of the mind as well. While expecting to be able to compose a column for today, Mr. Meachum found that his convalescence from knee replacement has drawn more of his attention that he planned. So, we at The Tentacle are hopeful that his commentary will restart on Friday.

Monday, September 7, 2009
Defining Political Silliness
Richard B. Weldon Jr.
The President of the United States wants to talk to school children…oh, the horror! This guy wants to be granted access, though a web-based seminar, to our young impressionable minds. What terrifying subliminal messaging will be employed, what under-handed attempt to draw American schoolchildren into the evil web of progressive policy is afoot?

Time Management
Steven R. Berryman
Should you not have time to read my columns, then make an exception and read this one now. “I just don’t have the time” sounds like a personal problem to me, and that attitude will not advance your ability to get things done in our zero-sum time of “no time.”

Friday, September 4, 2009
From The Desk of The Publisher:
John W. Ashbury
Roy Meachum, whose columns appear here twice a week, is recovering nicely from knee replacement surgery. His progress has been phenomenal. He is resting now at home and we expect a column from him for his next scheduled posting – on Tuesday.

Role Reversal in America
Joe Charlebois
What’s the big deal? Democratic strategists say when responding to the recent and rapid response by conservatives and libertarians to what seems like blatant propaganda on two fronts – both aimed at school aged children.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Options: You make the choices
Patricia A. Kelly
They’re everywhere. They’re often small, pale, dressed in out of date clothing. We see them and immediately turn away. “Not me,” we say, “Not me.”

Lower the Volume
Michael Kurtianyk
In response to all of the rhetoric about health care, we can agree on one thing: not reforming the health care industry is not an option. We need to do something.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The Perils of Facebook
Kevin E. Dayhoff
For better or worse, new social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter are here to stay – that is, until something new comes along – like, tomorrow.

The Revolution in Burma
Tom McLaughlin
The revolution will come, the question is when. Many believed there would be a problem after the sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi on July 31 and August 11.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Excuse
Roy Meachum
This morning my schedule calls for an early exercise session, the first step in rehabilitation. My right knee was replaced yesterday by orthopedic surgeon Robert Fisher. X-rays showed the connection had been reduced to bone-on-bone, all the cartilage lost.

What to Expect in 6th Grade Math
Nick Diaz
Yesterday you were counting pennies, leaves, and gold stars with your first grader. Now he or she is ready, you hope, to tackle sixth grade math. It's a shock to lots of parents – and children, too.

Dissention and the Seeds of Rebellion
Tom McLaughlin
Preface: – The following opinions are from my travels in Burma, talking to dozens of people in quiet whispers, over quick cups of tea or in back alleys. I did not seek these people, they found me. They knew I was an American. I did not advertise it. I just told the truth when asked. I refuse to hide behind the flag of another country. I listened and offered the support of a nod or an arm squeeze. I will not name locations, professions or anything else that could give a hint of identification.

Monday, August 31, 2009
Plowing the Crowded Field
Steven R. Berryman
One reason for the poor turnout at municipal elections is a perceived lack of differentiation between the candidates. This year we also suffer the fog of a large field of aldermanic candidates for the City of Frederick.

The Tourist Boycott of Burma
Tom McLaughlin
Imagine the generals who run Burma as the head of a spoiled, meat-red octopus with vomit green eyes. Imagine tentacles with huge white suckers strangling any form of democracy as its army. Imagine silk black threads running off the tentacles forming a web, hiding, listening and reporting back, the secret police. All three parts of this hideous hydra need money, lots of money, to stay alive.

The Legacy of Sen. Ted Kennedy
Kevin E. Dayhoff
The sad death of Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy last week brought with it a wave of sadness about the tumultuous events of the last four decades in our country.

Friday, August 28, 2009
The Last Kennedy Brother
Roy Meachum
The last time I rubbed elbows with Sen. Edward Kennedy was at Roger L. Steven’s graveside 11 years ago; he came to bring personal and family condolences to the family and their closest friends. They were close even before Mr. Stevens built the Kennedy Center and was its first chairman.

It’s Insurance!
Joe Charlebois
Home, life, auto and health insurance are all – depending on your needs – products that are designed to protect from catastrophic events. The debate currently being discussed in town hall meetings across this country misses the point entirely. Health insurance is a product issued to policyholders to cover medical costs. It not only covers catastrophic events, but just about everything over the co-pay or the deductible when satisfied.

The People of Burma and Me
Tom McLaughlin
Mandalay, Burma (Yangoon) – The joys of visiting a new country and the experiences with local people assemble a wealth of knowledge about a nation. Even though I spoke nary a word of Burmese, I managed to communicate.

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Dougherty’s Deceit
John W. Ashbury
It isn’t obvious – well maybe it is – that one of the most irritating actions any politician can take is assuming credit for the actions and deeds of others. Former Frederick Mayor Jennifer Dougherty has become a master at it, and if the voters in the upcoming city election re-elect her, they will get exactly what they deserve.

School Board’s Myriad Problems
Joan McIntyre
We are a few shows into the Board of Educations’ ‘Board Chat’ program. It's already been nicknamed “Bored Chat.” Why, isn't that rather mean, you might ask?

Reversing Roles
Chris Cavey
There is a vast difference between revolution, which is a fundamental change in power, and revolt, meaning to renounce allegiance or subjection. There is revolution happening across our nation currently as masses of people take the streets to protest Obamacare.

The Road to Burma –Part 2
Tom McLaughlin
I had many preconceptions about Rangoon before arrival. After reading Internet sites, travelers tales and newspaper reports, I expected an impoverished, starving nation devoid of western goods.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Cindy’s Restaurant…
Kevin E. Dayhoff
On Sunday President Barack Obama, his extended family and an entourage of friends and colleagues, arrived in a "New England paradise," Martha's Vineyard, for a much-deserved vacation.

The Road to Burma – Part 1
Tom McLaughlin
[Editor’s Note: Tom McLaughlin recently spent several days in Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar, a nation controlled by its military. Over the next six publication days, Tom will relate his experiences in a style all his own.]

Lockerbie Fiasco
Michael Kurtianyk
Theodora Cohen was someone I knew back in college at Syracuse University. She lived upstairs on the fourth floor of Shaw Hall – she being a student at SU’s Visual & Performing Arts Department.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Fewer Walking Around
Roy Meachum
Friends have heard me say I know more people below ground than those walking around on the face of the earth. My disappeared numbers increased this week by two. Bob Novak and Don Hewitt were no back-slapping buddies – but we worked together.

Shaking in One’s Boots
Tom McLaughlin

[Editor’s Note: An earthquake struck West Sumatra, Indonesia, on August 16. Our intrepid correspondent, Tom McLaughlin, was on a travel foray there at the time. This is his account of his personal experience.]

Monday, August 24, 2009
Undermining a Legacy
Richard B. Weldon Jr.
United States Sen. Edward Moore Kennedy (D., MA) is dying of brain cancer. This is an indisputable fact, acknowledged by even the normally tight-lipped Kennedy public relations machine. This should be a sad moment in American history regardless of your opinion of his political ideology and sordid personal history. Senator Kennedy has been one of the leading progressive voices in American political history.

Twitter Primer
Steven R. Berryman
The Twitter.com phenomenon is not understood. It has nothing to do with text messaging, and more to do with poetry and “forced pithiness.”

20090901 drft This Week in The Tentacle
*****

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

MRC Alert: Sheehan More Consistent Than Media

Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/g20tr

MRC Alert: Sheehan More Consistent Than Media: She Protests Bush and Obama, Media Only Bush

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996 Monday August 31, 2009 @ 11:22 AM EDT

1. Sheehan More Consistent Than Media: She Protests Bush and Obama, Media Only Bush On a Sunday evening in August four summers ago the NBC Nightly News devoted its "In Depth" segment to how Cindy Sheehan was "single-handedly bringing the Iraq debate to Mr. Bush’s doorstep" with her protest in Crawford, Texas. But Sunday night this year, after Sheehan departed Martha's Vineyard without earning any network media coverage as President Barack Obama's wrapped up his vacation there, NBC's Ron Allen began a story: "Hours before President Obama's vacation ended, he treated his girls to ice cream and candy - the kind of family time the President said he had in mind for the week on Martha's Vineyard. A chance, friends say, to renew himself." A week ago, a MRC Media Reality Check asked: "Will Nets Note Sheehan's Anti-Obama Protest? Media Embraced Cindy Sheehan's Anti-Bush Push in 2005; ABC Anchor Now Says: 'Enough Already.'" The answer: No.


2. Newsweek's Jonathan Alter: Rush Limbaugh Is the 'Great Blowhard of Our Time' Newsweek columnist and editor Jonathan Alter appeared on Friday’s Hardball and slammed Rush Limbaugh as the "great blowhard of our time." Host Chris Matthews prompted the quote when he discussed how Limbaugh had criticized him on his radio show for calling Barack Obama the "last brother" of the Kennedy clan. Referring to Ted Kennedy's death, Matthews snarled, "What is the matter with these people? Can't they take a week off, Jonathan? Just take a week off. It's a funeral."


3. Totenberg: Kennedy a 'Truly Shakespearean Figure' Redeemed by 'Greatness' In full swoon for the late Senator Ted Kennedy, NPR's Nina Totenberg fondly recalled his "greatness" in doing "enormous things" for "millions and millions." She predicted on the weekly Inside Washington aired Friday night: "I think he'll be remembered as a truly Shakespearean figure: tragic, flawed; who in the end achieved redemption through greatness - both in his personal life and in his professional life, and did enormous things for millions and millions of people."


4. Huff-Po Wonders If Mary Jo Kopechne Would 'Feel It Was Worth It' Writing at the Huffington Post, Discover magazine deputy web editor Melissa Lafsky, who formerly worked on the New York Times's Freakonomics blog, wondered about the drowned Mary Jo Kopechne's reaction to Ted Kennedy's life and career: "Who knows - maybe she'd feel it was worth it."


5. NYT Editor Finds Kennedy's Flaw: He Helped Reagan Win Presidency Appearing on MSNBC’s New York Times Edition on Friday, the paper’s ‘Week in Review’ editor, Sam Tanenhaus, lamented one of Ted Kennedy’s flaws: "There’s a further paradox to this, which is we sometimes forget, I mean, all of the wonderful things being said about this extraordinary figure Edward Kennedy, that he was partly accountable for Ronald Reagan’s ascendency."


6. Andrea Mitchell Gratuitously Drags Up '88 Debate Slam During Quayle Interview MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Friday used an interview with Dan Quayle to gratuitously highlight Lloyd Bentsen's famous 1988 slam, "You're no Jack Kennedy." Although Quayle appeared on "Andrea Mitchell Reports" to share his reflections on the passing of Ted Kennedy, the cable anchor sniped, "One of your toughest moments was during the debate with Lloyd Benson when you compared yourself to John F. Kennedy..."


7. CNN Sees Dangers In Obama's Deficit: 'Taxes That Would Make a Scandinavian Revolt' Amid all of the tributes to Ted Kennedy's lengthy career of expanding the scope of government and its cost to taxpayers, CNN's American Morning on Friday dug up a six-week old op-ed from the Tax Policy Center's Len Burman warning that massive trillion-dollar deficits are a catastrophe that could lead to the end of the U.S. as a great power "or even a mediocre one." Burman: "Taxes would rise to levels that would make a Scandinavian revolt. And the government would not be able to provide anything but the most basic public services....The social safety net would evaporate."


A daily compilation edited by Brent H. Baker, CyberAlert items are drawn from daily BiasAlert posts and distributed by the Media Research Center's News Analysis Division, the leader since 1987 in documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias.

20090831 MRC Alert Sheehan More Consistent Than Media
20070413 SheehanDonkeyTooSmall

*****

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Recent columns in The Tentacle by Kevin E Dayhoff

Recent columns in The Tentacle by Kevin E Dayhoff
http://www.thetentacle.com/author.cfm?MyAuthor=41
August 26, 2009
Cindy’s Restaurant…
Kevin E. Dayhoff
On Sunday President Barack Obama, his extended family and an entourage of friends and colleagues, arrived in a "New England paradise," Martha's Vineyard, for a much-deserved vacation.

August 19, 2009
Hippy Dippy Stardust and Golden Memories
Kevin E. Dayhoff
In case you missed all the recent over-hyped media coverage, forty years ago the weekend of peace, love, and revolution took place in the garden at Max Yasgur’s 600-acre farm in upstate New York.

August 12, 2009
Free Speech was great while it lasted
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Maryland’s Democrat U. S. Senator Ben Cardin got quite an earful at a town hall meeting Monday night in Towson on healthcare reform. Although I choose not to attend, according to many published accounts, those who did go soundly jeered and booed him throughout the evening.

August 5, 2009
R.I.P. – Dr. Ira Zepp
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Last Saturday word spread quickly throughout the greater Carroll County community that Rev. Dr. Ira Gilbert Zepp, Jr., professor emeritus of the Religious Studies department at McDaniel College, had died peacefully at his home. He was 79 years old.

July 29, 2009
Black and blue and stupid, too
Kevin E. Dayhoff
On Thursday afternoon, July 16, the otherwise peaceful and stately Ware Street in Cambridge, MA, within shouting distance of Harvard University, became the latest ground zero for a debate over race relations in our country.

July 22, 2009
The Ironies of Empathy
Kevin E. Dayhoff
As last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court quickly becomes a distant summer memory, the ranking Republican member, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions assured that the nomination will get a full Senate vote on her confirmation before the Senate goes on recess August 7.

July 15, 2009
Remembering the Sacrifice of Vietnam
Kevin E. Dayhoff
On Saturday, at 1 P.M., members of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment Air Cavalry Troop – the Black Horse Regiment, from all over the country – will pause to remember the fallen from the Vietnam War at the Carroll County Vietnam Memorial Park at Willis and Court Streets in Westminster. The public is invited.

20090829 sdosm Recent columns in The Tentacle by Kevin E Dayhoff
Biography
*****

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Cindy’s Restaurant…

Cindy’s Restaurant… www.thetentacle.com Kevin E. Dayhoff Wednesday, August 26, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/lm9l2x

Cindy’s Restaurant… www.thetentacle.com

Kevin E. Dayhoff Wednesday, August 26, 2009

On Sunday President Barack Obama, his extended family and an entourage of friends and colleagues, arrived in a "New England paradise," Martha's Vineyard, for a much-deserved vacation.

20090826 TT Cindys restaurant ttked
Pres 2009 44 Obama-Barack, US st Massachusetts, US st Massachusetts Martha's Vineyard, Dayhoff writing essays, Dayhoff writing essays presidents, People Sheehan-Cindy Sheehan, Media Bias, Dayhoff Media The Tentacle,
*****

The Obamas in paradise

The Obamas in paradise

August 26, 2009 by Kevin Dayhoff

Last Sunday President Barack Obama, and his extended family and an entourage of friends and colleagues, arrived in a "New England paradise," Martha's Vineyard.

According to the Associated Press, “Some Obama friends, including White House adviser Valerie Jarrett and Chicago physician Eric Whitaker, joined the family, as did Obama’s sister, Maya, and her husband. The president has no official events scheduled in the week ahead.”

The same article noted, “CHILMARK — The first family settled in today for their vacation on Martha’s Vineyard not long after Hurricane Bill scampered away, leaving behind big waves and heavy rip currents for the Obamas.”

You, dear reader, are left to decide if that introduction was allegorical – or not.

Being a poor southern boy, I have never been to Martha’s Vineyard – or as the locals up there call it, the “Vineyard.”

And not because it is as the New York Times explained; “the exclusive haven of the Eastern liberal elite that conservatives tar as an exclusive haven of the Eastern liberal elite.”

Of course, in the same article, it was noted, “At a fundraiser on the island two years ago Mr. Obama called it “one of those magical places where people of all different walks of life come together — where they take each other at face value.”

Julia Wells, the editor of the Vineyard Gazette, recently wrote that President Obama called it a place where “I can wander around in shorts and not shave in the morning and no one talks about it.”

No, it is a simple matter that it is too far away. Not to mention, that according to an April 6, 2007 article in the Vineyard Gazette: “The cost of living on Martha's Vineyard is about 60 per cent above the national average…

“Grocery prices, for example, which affect all income groups more or less equally, were 37 per cent above the national average and 13 per cent above Boston… Transportation costs were 39 per cent above the national average and 22 per cent above Boston. The cost of miscellaneous goods and services was 44 per cent above the nation as a whole and 10 per cent more than Boston…”

You see, the 10-mile-wide by 23-mile-long island (as in surrounded by a moat) off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts; in an area know as the “Outer Lands regions,” is priced at the outer limits for someone such as myself.

Ms. Wells also wrote: “The Vineyard was a community long before the word became a cliché. And it’s not all rose-covered fences either; isolated from the mainland, with high rates of alcoholism, depression and domestic violence, the island can be a hard place to live in the winter. In summer it draws plenty of wealthy elite, lately specializing in Democrats.”

It has not always been a bastion of liberals. Ms. Wells notes “Thirty-five years ago when I started working as a reporter here, the island was still a Republican stronghold… (The) camps and farmhouses (owned by Republicans) have been torn down and replaced with mansions. Political leanings have shifted, and Republicans are now an endangered species.”

President Obama is not the first sitting president to vacation on the island. President Ulysses S. Grant vacationed there for three days in August 1874. Various published accounts note that “President Bill Clinton vacationed on Martha’s Vineyard four times over his eight years in office.”

The New York Times calls to our attention “The August issue of the local glossy monthly Martha’s Vineyard Magazine has a feature indicating that nine U.S. presidents have frequented our usually tranquil island… Four (Chester Arthur, Ulysses Grant, Calvin Coolidge and Richard Nixon) were Republicans, John Adams was a Federalist and the other four (Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama) Democrats: presidential visits are surprisingly nonpartisan.”

The not-so-nonpartisan traditional media has been, well, giddy about the president taking a vacation. To be certain, of course it is a good idea for the president – and anyone else with enormous responsibilities – to take a vacation.

Vacations are important whether you are a local police officer, a factory worker or the head of a major global corporation. I said that when President George W. Bush was president and nothing has changed for anyone to arrive at a different conclusion.

Jill Nelson, the author of the satirical novel set on the Vineyard, “Let’s Get It On,” remarked that “Martha’s Vineyard is Alice’s Restaurant for the mind, body and soul: once you find it, you can get anything you want.”

Hopefully the president and his family will be able to get some peace and quiet, not to mention, some space from the media – unlike the vacations of President Bush.

White House spokesman Bill Burton said that President Obama wants the media “you to relax and have a good time. Take some walks on the beaches. Nobody's looking to make any news.”

Can you imagine the reaction of the media if President Bush had decided to spend his summer vacation at the $35,000 per week rented farmhouse on 28 acres bordering Tisbury Great Pond.

USA Today reports, “Obama's getaway is Blue Heron Farm, near the island's center and owned by Republicans William and Mollie Van Devender of Jackson, Miss.”

I really do not care where President Obama spends his vacation.

Of course, it was expected that he would vacation in Hawaii, where he was born and lived for part of his childhood. Hence the greeting signs by the islanders, “Aloha Obama Family.”

If you will recall, the media championed signs of a different sort when Cindy Sheehan greeted President Bush, in 2005 when the president vacations at his own ranch in Texas.

------

For additional thoughts on the Obama Vineyard 2009 vacation go to my Tentacle column for: Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Cindy’s Restaurant…

Kevin E. Dayhoff
On Sunday President Barack Obama, his extended family and an entourage of friends and colleagues, arrived in a "New England paradise," Martha's Vineyard, for a much-deserved vacation.

Find it here: Cindy’s Restaurant…

20090826 sdosmKED Obama Marthas Vineyard
Pres 2009 44 Obama-Barack, US st Massachusetts, US st Massachusetts Martha's Vineyard, Dayhoff writing essays, Dayhoff writing essays presidents, People Sheehan-Cindy Sheehan, Media Bias,
*****

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

What happened to the antiwar movement? Cindy Sheehan responds.

What happened to the antiwar movement? Cindy Sheehan responds.

By:
Byron York Chief Political Correspondent 08/18/09 11:19 PM EDT

After my column,
"For the left, war without Bush is not war at all," appeared Tuesday, I got a note from Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist who was the subject of so much press coverage when she led a protest against the Iraq war outside then-President George W. Bush's ranch in Texas. This is what the note said:

“I read your column about the "anti-war" movement and I can't believe I am saying this, but I mostly agree with you.

“The "anti-war" "left" was used by the Democratic Party. I like to call it the "anti-Republican
War" movement…”


Read the rest here: What happened to the antiwar movement? Cindy Sheehan responds.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/What-happened-to-the-antiwar-movement--Cindy-Sheehan-responds-53628177.html

@kevindayhoff @dcexaminer What happened to the antiwar movement? Cindy Sheehan responds: http://bit.ly/102S5K
*****

Monday, September 10, 2007

Saturday, April 14, 2007

20070413 Cindy Sheehan headbutts MoveOn.org


Cindy Sheehan headbutts MoveOn.org - and her own party


April 13th, 2007


If you think the next two weeks in Washington are going to be interesting, it won’t compare to what the rest of the next two years’ll be like – if the left wing of the Democrats, as exemplified by Cindy Sheehan have their way..


Before it is all over, the biggest challenge for the Democrat Party will not be the opposition Republicans of President George W. Bush – it will be keeping the liberal netroots wing of the party from dragging responsible Democrats into alienating the American public with their hyperbole and theatrics.


As an avid follower of all things political, I have long understood that neither the conservatives nor the liberals speak with one voice. That within each camp of political ideology there are many opinions and at any given time – many disagreements.


Within the Republican Party there is a world of differences between moderate Republicans and conservative Republicans. Just as there is a world of differences between conservative Democrats and liberal Democrats.


In recent years I have always been amused when the mainstream media makes a big deal out of Republicans disagreeing with each other.

I, on the other hand, am uncomfortable when there is little in the way of discussion and dialogue, and various approaches put forth about any given challenge.

Andrew Sullivan said it best in a post on August 17th, 2005, “This red-blue thing isn't real: it's a grid put down on the landscape by lazy pundits in order to foster a conflict that isn't there so the people who profit from conflict can work their way with us.” (“20061128 Rashomon, My Dinner with Andre and Picking out the perfect tree”)

All that said I was doing some research the other night for a piece that has slowing been getting articulated on to my keyboard in which I greatly disagreed with my colleague Andrew Kujan’s post, “Bartlett Ignores Constituent Concerns over Iraq War.”

I have worked with Congressman Roscoe Bartlett for a number of years. And I think I know the 6th Congressional District fairly well and - - well, I guess I just thought that Mr. Kujan’s post was not as thoughtful and deliberative as I find much of his writing. Several things he said are inconsistent with what it is that I believe to be the Congressman Bartlett I have come to know over the years – and the 6th District.

I’ll get back to Mr. Kujan’s post at a later time – in another post.


In my research I came across “Congress and MoveOn” ...by Cindy Sheehan - - “The democratic congress has betrayed American voters, progressive supporters, and the troops in Iraq.” Seems that Ms. Sheehan has some issues with MoveOn and instead of opting to find some common ground for a cohesive and coherent loyal opposition approach to the policies of President George W. Bush’s administration, she has chosen to pee in her own Wheaties.

Now, as anyone knows who has followed by columns and blog posts for the last number of years, Cindy Sheehan has never impressed me as the most cogent contributor to any discussion about American foreign policy or the war in Iraq.

(August 24, 2005, “Cindy Sheehan’s Texas Quagmire:” “Just when you thought that Dr. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was one fry short of a happy meal, in walks – stage left, way-left – Cindy Sheehan to super-size the totally bizarre state of political discourse in our great country.”)

When the Democrats won a majority in Congress in the last election, I predicted two things; the liberal Democrats will over-play their hand and leave conservative Democrats and Republicans behind shaking their heads.


And that the liberal wing of the Democrat Party would hijack the opportunity to lead and govern by acting out on the many real and perceived slights at the hands of Republican majority for so many years and would deteriorate into investigation after investigation and reprisal after reprisal.


But ultimately, the Democrats would deteriorate into so much infighting as to deny themselves an opportunity to lead the country in any different direction.

In order for the liberal Democrats to prevail in charting a different course they must find a course that brings along as many conservative Democrats and Republicans as possible. They must remain as cohesive – and coherent as possible.

As I wrote on April 4, 2007, “Dems declare war on Mormon Crickets:”

“In order to procure a winning, albeit razor thin, margin in the voting on the supplemental budget, both the House and the Senate bills were "so loaded with pork, congressmen could die of trichinosis," quipped political commentator Don Surber.

“And the numbers are staggering. President Bush's initial request was for $103 billion and yet the Senate tacked on $18.5 billion in earmarked pet pork projects, spending totally unrelated to the war effort and the House hung $20 billion onto the funding request.”

Then I read this piece by Cindy Sheehan posted on Michael Moore’s web site and I said a prayer for all my colleagues who fervent believe that our great nation must pursue a different approach in Iraq: “Congress and MoveOn.”

“THE DEMOCRATS ARE FUNDING IRAQ ESCALATION: The Democratic leadership has proposed $100 billion of supplemental funding for an increased troop presence in Iraq. The leadership opted for the "slow bleed" policy over a month ago. This extends the occupation for at least another 18 months, and allows permanent placement of troops thereafter for "training" or "combating terrorism." It also will permit the Bush Administration to initiate a war with Iran without Congressional oversight. The surge of 20,000 troops recently increased to 30,000 and will likely increase to 100,000 by year-end…”

[…]

“In 2002 the Democrats authorized Bush to invade Iraq (or any other country he deemed to support terrorism, for example Iran) in hope he would become involved in an unpopular war which would produce a Democratic White House.”

[…]

“As a consequence, Americans now think even more poorly of Congress than ever; the failure to withdraw from Iraq dropped Democratic support of Congress from 44% to 33% according to the latest Gallup poll. The Democrats failure to stem what has become a Democrats war will be a factor in the 2008 elections.”

[…]

“MoveOn is an autocratic organization run by a small group of elitist wannabe power-brokers; it cannot be reformed, but you can let their politburo know your feelings (eli@moveon.org, Namrita.Chaudhary@gmail.com, tom@moveon.org), and you can unsubscribe! You also can refuse to lend them your name (their petitions are mainly for fund-raising), your efforts, and your money, and instead join with one of the many active progressive and antiwar organizations (check out United for Peace and Justice- UFPJ for a detailed listing of local and national groups, which incidentally does not include MoveOn). None of the MoveOn leadership has served their country in the armed forces; like Dick Cheney and 95% of Congress they had more important things to do, which did not and do not include supporting the troops that are in harms way.

Ay caramba. Read the rest of her vitriol here – and say a prayer for the Democrats and our nation: “Congress and MoveOn.”

Want more? Read, “Leaders vs. Climbers.”

Or, “MoveOn moves in with Pelosi | Salon News:”

“I was annoyed by MoveOn's decision to deal with Iraq war legislation in a pragmatic and incremental fashion. I see a fundamental disconnect between their grassroots organizing and rhetoric on the one hand, and the pragmatic lobbying that led them to endorse Pelosi's rather weak bill on the other. A similar annoyance among many of MoveOn's members is the subject of Farhad Manjoo's latest article in Salon, MoveOn moves in with Pelosi.”

Or read: “the art of the possible:”

“I always find it distressing and absurd when politicians bemoan that only so much of their agenda is politically possible, then proceed to do absolutely nothing to actually move the goal posts of possibility by spending their political capital. I am bemused by Congressional Democrats and their apologists who point out that only so much progress on ending the war can 'pragmatically' be made, and thus we must compromise and accomplish what little we can.”

Read the rest here: “the art of the possible.”

It is going to be a really interesting two years.

####

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

20060815 Australian farmers called to report ugly sheep


“As many as one out of every three sheep are butt ugly,” further elaborated a spokesperson for the Foundation for Beautiful Sheep. © Rhoiders

Xtreme Sheehan Defends ugly sheep

Rhoiders Crawford, Texas

Kant BeTrue, Staff reporter and photojournalist, Rhoiders


Monday, August 16, 2006


News recently reached Crawford Texas that Australian scientists have called on the country’s farmers to report any ugly sheep found in their flocks.


A campaign called “Xtreme Sheehan sheep” aims to study sheep with undesirable Sheehan-like wool features to unlock the genetic makeup of the prized merino and ensure production of its high quality fleece.


Upon hearing the news, Cindy Sheehan was outraged, “We’re the one getting fleeced.”


Ms. Sheehan, who has for over forty days and forty nights, been on a milkshake-for-worldpeace-and-misunderstood-terrorists fast, weakly rose from her cot in an almost Ghandi-like manner to say, “The Australian genocidal practices against sheep are just another example of the failed Bush international diplomacy. Now sheep around the world are going to hate us.”


As her followers knelt before her in hushed tones, Ms. Sheehan continued, “That lying bastard, George Bush. You get that maniac out here to talk with me. My son died for oil. He died to make your friends richer. He died to expand American imperialism in the Middle East – and now Australia. He died to make sheep, worldwide free from the tyranny of the Bush administration.”


The South Australian Research and Development Institute said on Tuesday its search for “Australia’s ugliest merino lambs” may hold the key to securing the nation’s A$2.8 billion (US$2.1 billion) wool industry. Additional money has been requested to keep Cindy Sheehan out of the country.


The institute said ugly lambs — with uneven wool, strange fibers, clumps of wool that fall out, bare patches, no wool, or highly wrinkled skin — are usually culled by farmers.


“As many as one out of every three sheep are butt ugly,” further elaborated a spokesperson for the Foundation for Beautiful Sheep.


Responding to rumors that her campaign to end the terror and oppression of sheep will likely get her arrested later today, Ms. Sheehan whispered softly, “Now I know how Mickey Mouse feels at Disneyland”


Asked for a final comment, Ms. Sheehan responded, “Where’s my gawd-damned milkshake. I’m feeling weaker and light in the head.”

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Monday, August 07, 2006

20060807 Cindy Sheehan head buts Godzilla in Beirut


Cindy Sheehan head buts Godzilla in Beirut. All hell breaks loose.

Thank you LGF.

Beirut (Rhoiders)


Kant BeTrue, Staff reporter and photojournalist, Rhoiders


Monday, August 7, 2006


In this exclusive photo captured by Rhoiders, the smoke is already rising as chaos grips Beirut after Ms. Sheehan’s encounter with Mr. Godzilla.


According to Green Helmet Guy, Ms. Sheehan and Mr. Godzilla were exchanging heated words, when she just, up and head butted him.


U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan quickly announced that it was all the fault of the Israelis. “This is yet another part of a larger pattern of violations of international law in the war between Israel and the innocent besieged Hezbollah,” U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report Monday.


In a released statement, Ms. Sheehan’s publicist, The New York Times edition of Al Jazeera, quoted Ms. Sheehan to say, “A klog iz mir! A feier zol im trefen. I just thought he was that lying bastard, President George W. Bush and I wanted to exchange pleasantries. You get that maniac out here to talk with me in person. You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you'll stop the terrorism.


Mr. Godzilla was overheard to moan, “Get this mashugga manzer away from me.”


In a related matter, Ms. Sheehan would neither confirm nor deny that she is dating Mel Gibson, “although I admire his intellect and progressive ideas about living with diverse cultures. He is indeed my hero, anyone who can stick their foot in their mouth as well as he does has my respect.”


More on this unfolding story as it develops


Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.

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PS: Please be aware that the base of the photo was developed by Little Green Footballs: “Doctored Beirut Photo: the First Draft.”


I was first inspired by the Pillage Idiot. See this great web site here.


Then, as I was grazing the LGF site, I stumbled across the LGF post about Cindy Sheehan’s latest utter nonsense, “Cindy Sheehan, Propagandist’s Friend.” In the comment section, “bluegrass boy” – comment number 21 said: “woulnt it be cool if some one would photo shop her!?!......she is one grizzly image to come out of this war...”


Well, that was all the inspiration that I needed – I simply could not help myself.


Thank you Little Green Footballs and “bluegrass boy”… And oh, I tried to leave LGF a heads-up, but its registration is closed at the moment…

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