<= DON'T SHOOT ME - I'M A CENTRIST!
The late comedian-actor Redd Foxx used to do a bit about two G.I.s leanin' on their shovels discussing the task at hand -the burial of a dead Army pack animal. The first soldier says, "How deep do we have to dig the hole for this donkey?"
The second man says, "It's no donkey, it's a mule."
The first guy insists, "Oh, no. This is a donkey."
The other responds, "Nope, it's a mule."
The first says, "Hmmm, maybe you're thinkin' of 'burro'."
The sergeant walks up and shouts, "IT'S A ASS - BURY IT!"
<= Please don't stick my ass
in the middle-of-the-road - or I could end up ROADKILL!
Since Jimmy Carter won and lost the presidency, the Dems have courted the center assiduously. Carter was challenged by Kennedy for renomination because he was so scrupulously cautious. Clinton remains our hero because held the line for the most important New Deal, Great Society, civil rights and women's issues against a burgeoning conservative trend throughout the country. But the Clinton presidency succeeded mainly because he coopted moderate Republican issues he could win with. His progressive initiatives were cautious and incremental. Just ask Robert Reich if Clinton was a liberal. The conventional wisdom during the conservative ascendancy is to court the center and don't answer when someone calls out, "Liberal"!
This conservative trend that began in 1968 (or whichever date for which one would make the case) is creaking. It was bound to happen sooner or later, but I believe DUBYA's brashly idealogical administration has greased the skids for an exit for conservative dominance. The Democratic ascendancy is in a nascent stage at this point. It's difficult to tell what message, if any, will drive the party's resurgence, but the 2006-2008 platform will have to be much more than the muddled carping and lame complaints of the last 8 years. The middle is moving again.
The "center" serves only as a buoy to help the Democrats and the Republicans steer a course that doesn't run aground. The middle moves as the popular consensus shifts on the prevailing issues of the day. The center represents the people whom Lincoln said could be be fooled some of the time - but not all of the time.
What defines the center - idealogy or economic fairness, idealogy or social justice, idealogy or security? In 2006-2008, will the wage workers continue to vote for candidates who pander to their discomfort in an increasingly modern, secular society, while pissing away and overtly destroying the underpinnings of their financial security for the past 70-some years? At the end of the day - and at the end of the first decade of the new century - will the folks who inhabit the middle respond to those who stir up their fears and biases or to the candidates who articulate a viable healthcare policy and parity between American workers and their counterparts in other countries - and an end to imperialistic aggression that neither feeds nor educates the citizens who will carry on when we have all said and done.
________________________
<= "I'm smarter!"
"Are not!"
"Am too!"
DOWNHILL GRADING -
FLASH!! Dubya beat Kerry's GPA by 1%!
I remain convinced that KERRY's smarter than DUBYA - but he LOST! Maybe DUBYA was more focused on the talking points. Kerry was maddeningly unfocused throughout much of the campaign - and timid when the situation called for kickin' ass.
Grades from long ago may tell a tale but it may not be relevant. DUBYA has no depth. He's a self-improver who reads the Dictionary.com "Word of the Day" - hence his silly misuse of the word "dissemble" (as dis-assemble) a day after it appeared on-line (last week).
The best indicator of his limited intelligence is the commitment of wealth, citizens and materiel in the pursuit of a large, complex idea, his imperialist aggression for the purpose of reconstructing the political landscape of the Middle East. His effort has revealed criminal lack of planning, half-formed or mistaken reasons for warfare, and the inability to initiate a course correction. Empire is ever an endeavor for leaders with "big ideas" or vision. Dubya peaked when, as a coked-up drunken frat boy, he danced naked on the bar in Houston.
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IS HOWARD DEAN A CENTRIST?(Click thumbnail to view)
It probably doesn't matter. His job is to raise money. Should he be figuring so prominently in the day-to-day political dialogue?
Probably not. Maybe it's too early to tell.
Howard Dean is either an unfocused, undisciplined, unprofessional little moth drawn to the spotlight at the peril of substantive Democratic opportunities to succeed - or he's mad - like a fox . . .
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FREEDOM FROM RELIGION
(Click to view)
The US is the most welcoming of all national gummints for any and all religions, monotheistic or not. The only folks who say differently are the Dominionists
(and other theocracists of various stripes) who are trying to raise the spector of victimhood where there is none. They whip the flames of bigotry and exclusion - and then they whine about the backdraft.
For the most part - it is *NOT* Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews or most Catholics or mainline Protestants who are claiming discrimination against their religious practices. Why, golly, no - it's about 25% of Evangelicals and Catholics, and some Southern fundamentalists who first insist they are treated unfairly and second - declare that the only way to obtain fair treatment is to make over the gummint according to their restrictive interpretation of so-called revelatory texts.
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QUOTE / UNQUOTE
"Fashion is something barbarous, for it produces innovation without reason and imitation without benefit."
[- George Santayana]
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IT'S FLAG DAY!
(Click)The Pledge of Allegiance was written for the popular children's magazine Youth's Companion by author Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a devout socialist and Baptist minister, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus arriving in the Americas. It was seen by some as a call for national unity and wholeness after the divisive Civil War.
I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible*, with liberty and justice for all.
In 1954 after a campaign initiated by the Roman Catholic Knights of Columbus, Senator Homer Ferguson of Michigan sponsored a bill to amend the pledge to include the words *under God, to distinguish the U.S. from the officially atheist Soviet Union, and to remove the appearance of flag and nation worship. On June 8, 1954, Congress adopted this change.
Da Rev stands with those who think "under God" makes it sound like we're livin' in a damn theocracy. I prefer to recite the original as Brother Bellamy intended - OR one might insert a phrase of one's choice, such as - "under construction", or "under the weather". How's this - "under consideration?" "Under-funded" seems appropriate at the moment . . .
Hey, it's a free country, right?
DIET IS A 4-LETTER WORD
CONTAINING THE WORD "DIE"!
"Eat right, stay fit, die anyway."
This from the (AP) June 11:
Dieters looking for another edge might want to consider exercising their sense of humor - scientists have found that a good laugh is a calorie burner not to be ignored. It may not be as good for reducing the waistline as going to the gym or resisting that ice-cream sundae, but American researchers have found that 10-15 minutes of genuine giggling can burn off the number of calories found in a medium square of chocolate. The findings on the weight-loss possibilities of the uniquely human experience of laughter were presented at the close of the annual European Congress on Obesity on June 4, 2005 ...
Yeah, RI-I-IGHT!
Dis is Da Rev - LMAO!!
Bellamy's original Pledge read as follows:
IS HOWARD DEAN A CENTRIST?
(and other theocracists of various stripes) who are trying to raise the spector of victimhood where there is none. They whip the flames of bigotry and exclusion - and then they whine about the backdraft. 
IT'S FLAG DAY!
