E J Dionne
Karl Rove
Joe Conason
"You're not going to get what you want," he warned, "but you can kill what they're trying to do." - Frank Luntz
Today it looks like I chose stories all from the same source. I was sad to see the print version vanish, but am glad that the online version is still intact, hopefully for a long time to come. So,
Jimmy Orr writes in the Christian Science Monitor about the upcoming RNC meeting where they will vote to ask the Democrats to change their name to something that will evoke darkness and evil in all who gaze upon it - Democrat Socialist Party: "Who might be the most offended by the effort? Democrats, for having their name impugned? No, they’ll laugh. Republicans? No, most will sink into a deeper depression.
It’s the Socialists. They’ll get bent out of shape. The head Socialist told the Independent that it will give “socialism a bad name.” “It’s objectionable,” said Frank Llewellyn, “because they’re giving socialism a bad name by associating it with the Democrats, who are the second-most capitalist party in the world. The election of this president, sadly, hasn’t changed that.”
If Hale Bopp is unsuccessful next week in rebranding the Democrats, Christopher Orr at the New Republic has a creative suggestion. “If Bopp really wants to turn the public against the Dems, he could call for them to rename themselves ‘Republicans’.” It's good to laugh at silly stories like this, but very sad to realize that there are people out there coming up with these ideas and taking them seriously. I don't know if it's old, white men with Alzheimer's, or old, white men that never grew up emotionally, and are still playing in the sandbox and calling it politics... Let's bring back the Wobblies...
CSM has also published a good primer on Hamas: "Its goal is to "liberate" Palestinian territories from Israeli occupation, and it has launched rockets and suicide bombers in pursuit of that end. The US, Israel, and the European Union consider it a terrorist group. But its military wing is not its only operation. Hamas also runs a large social services network and a political wing. In 2006, it participated in legislative elections for the first time and won a majority of seats, defeating Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Party. International donors, which provide much of the Palestinian Authority's budget, cut off aid when Hamas refused to recognize Israel's right to exist.
In 2007, Hamas expelled Fatah from Gaza after a violent conflict, leaving the Palestinian territories divided, with Fatah controlling the West Bank." If you listen to both the leaders of Hamas and the leaders of Israel today, Hamas comes off as more moderate and reasonable. Times are changing so rapidly that the sense of weirdness can't keep up...
Hamas has stopped sending missiles into Israel, thank goodness, but, according to the Christian Science Monitor, food is still being blockaded from entering Gaza: "With no clear guidelines for what Israel will allow in, aid groups have run into trouble with everything from 90 tons of pasta to nutritional bars mistranslated as steel bars. Though the rockets and shells have fallen quiet in Gaza since the January war with Israel, the prices of cooking fuel and many foods have skyrocketed. Due to both the war's aftermath and the tight restrictions Israel enforces at the checkpoints on Gaza's border, many Gazans are tightening their belts – literally.
The Israeli blockade of Gaza, which has served as a way to pressure Hamas since the militant group seized power in 2007, has until recently has been out of the international spotlight. But now it is moving to the forefront of pressing Israeli-Palestinian issues.
Pope Benedict XVI, during his visit to Bethlehem on Wednesday, specifically mentioned the plight of Gazans, telling them: "Please be assured of my solidarity with you in the immense work of rebuilding which now lies ahead and my prayers that the embargo will soon be lifted."
A week ago United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon also called for an end to the ban, which prevents all but the most basic supplies from entering Gaza, saying it was "unacceptable." Under increasing international pressure on Israel to change its policy regarding shipments into the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to promise US President Barack Obama when they meet next week that Israel will remove all restrictions on foodstuffs headed for Gaza, aides said."
So, does Israel change or implement the policy that is already approved? Nope, in response, Israel has hired a public relations firm to try and rebrand its image to the world, as reported in Foreign Policy: "In fact, trying to "rebrand" Israel through a one-sided PR campaign could be counterproductive, because offering a uniformly sunny image that leaves out much of the story just undermines the credibility of the messenger. My sense is that few Israelis believe Shimon Peres anymore, and I doubt many of them think Benjamin Netanyahu means it when he says he’s interested in a genuine peace. It's like when Bush and Cheney declared that United States doesn't torture, Bill Clinton told us that he "didn’t have sex with that woman," or Richard Nixon said "I am not a crook." After awhile, smart listeners learn not to accept anything they're told without double-checking it themselves. Even worse, when they hear one thing, they start to assume that the opposite is probably true." Hey, rebranding worked so well for Blackwater, A.I.G., and is working out in those numerous townhall meetings that have been held near you sponsored by the Republican Party...
Late night jokes:
"Those of you who are residents of California, you can stop stockpiling food and water. You can unlock your doors again. Miss California is keeping her crown! So California is no longer rudderless. We have a leader." --Jay Leno
"John Edwards said that he and his wife are getting to a better place. He said that, after he admitted his affair, he took a long, hard look in the mirror and fell in love all over again." --Jay Leno
"Actually, Elizabeth's book 'Resilience' hit the stands today. But John Edwards also has a new book out. It is called 'Cheating for Dummies.'" --Jay Leno
"The price of a postage stamp went up to 44 cents this week. Isn't that unbelievable? They said they had to raise the price because fewer and fewer people are using the mail these days. That's government thinking, isn't it? 'Hey, nobody's buying our product. Let's raise the price.'" --Jay Leno
"Anybody ever mail anything any more? Well, the price of a stamp is going up to 44 cents. Pretty soon, it will actually be cheaper and easier to just put a little glue on a dollar bill and stick it to an envelope." --David Letterman
"Dick Cheney, the former vice president, said that President Obama went too far with the jokes at the correspondents' dinner. By too far, does Cheney mean like waterboarding a guy 183 times?" --David Letterman
"President Obama's national security advisor says he just doesn't know whether Osama bin Laden is dead or alive. Same thing with Larry King -- we don't know." --David Letterman
"Yeah, they don't know if bin Laden is dead or alive. I was thinking, hell, our last president didn't know if Lincoln was dead or alive, either. What are you going to do?" --David Letterman
"Finally, a 12-year-old boy has officially filed to run for president of Iran. They're calling it the craziest thing to happen in Iran since a woman drove a car." --Jimmy Fallon
"What a scandal we've had brewing here in the Golden State. You're not going to believe this, but Miss California, a beauty contestant, posed for naked pictures. Her fate was decided by Donald Trump, who owns the Miss USA pageant. Trump says Miss California can keep her crown. Actually, her trouble started when she stated her opposition to same-sex marriage. And after noting that even President Obama does not support same-sex marriage, Trump pointed out that he personally believes that marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a series of progressively younger women." --Jimmy Kimmel
Today it looks like I chose stories all from the same source. I was sad to see the print version vanish, but am glad that the online version is still intact, hopefully for a long time to come. So,
Jimmy Orr writes in the Christian Science Monitor about the upcoming RNC meeting where they will vote to ask the Democrats to change their name to something that will evoke darkness and evil in all who gaze upon it - Democrat Socialist Party: "Who might be the most offended by the effort? Democrats, for having their name impugned? No, they’ll laugh. Republicans? No, most will sink into a deeper depression.
It’s the Socialists. They’ll get bent out of shape. The head Socialist told the Independent that it will give “socialism a bad name.” “It’s objectionable,” said Frank Llewellyn, “because they’re giving socialism a bad name by associating it with the Democrats, who are the second-most capitalist party in the world. The election of this president, sadly, hasn’t changed that.”
If Hale Bopp is unsuccessful next week in rebranding the Democrats, Christopher Orr at the New Republic has a creative suggestion. “If Bopp really wants to turn the public against the Dems, he could call for them to rename themselves ‘Republicans’.” It's good to laugh at silly stories like this, but very sad to realize that there are people out there coming up with these ideas and taking them seriously. I don't know if it's old, white men with Alzheimer's, or old, white men that never grew up emotionally, and are still playing in the sandbox and calling it politics... Let's bring back the Wobblies...
CSM has also published a good primer on Hamas: "Its goal is to "liberate" Palestinian territories from Israeli occupation, and it has launched rockets and suicide bombers in pursuit of that end. The US, Israel, and the European Union consider it a terrorist group. But its military wing is not its only operation. Hamas also runs a large social services network and a political wing. In 2006, it participated in legislative elections for the first time and won a majority of seats, defeating Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Party. International donors, which provide much of the Palestinian Authority's budget, cut off aid when Hamas refused to recognize Israel's right to exist.
In 2007, Hamas expelled Fatah from Gaza after a violent conflict, leaving the Palestinian territories divided, with Fatah controlling the West Bank." If you listen to both the leaders of Hamas and the leaders of Israel today, Hamas comes off as more moderate and reasonable. Times are changing so rapidly that the sense of weirdness can't keep up...
Hamas has stopped sending missiles into Israel, thank goodness, but, according to the Christian Science Monitor, food is still being blockaded from entering Gaza: "With no clear guidelines for what Israel will allow in, aid groups have run into trouble with everything from 90 tons of pasta to nutritional bars mistranslated as steel bars. Though the rockets and shells have fallen quiet in Gaza since the January war with Israel, the prices of cooking fuel and many foods have skyrocketed. Due to both the war's aftermath and the tight restrictions Israel enforces at the checkpoints on Gaza's border, many Gazans are tightening their belts – literally.
The Israeli blockade of Gaza, which has served as a way to pressure Hamas since the militant group seized power in 2007, has until recently has been out of the international spotlight. But now it is moving to the forefront of pressing Israeli-Palestinian issues.
Pope Benedict XVI, during his visit to Bethlehem on Wednesday, specifically mentioned the plight of Gazans, telling them: "Please be assured of my solidarity with you in the immense work of rebuilding which now lies ahead and my prayers that the embargo will soon be lifted."
A week ago United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon also called for an end to the ban, which prevents all but the most basic supplies from entering Gaza, saying it was "unacceptable." Under increasing international pressure on Israel to change its policy regarding shipments into the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to promise US President Barack Obama when they meet next week that Israel will remove all restrictions on foodstuffs headed for Gaza, aides said."
So, does Israel change or implement the policy that is already approved? Nope, in response, Israel has hired a public relations firm to try and rebrand its image to the world, as reported in Foreign Policy: "In fact, trying to "rebrand" Israel through a one-sided PR campaign could be counterproductive, because offering a uniformly sunny image that leaves out much of the story just undermines the credibility of the messenger. My sense is that few Israelis believe Shimon Peres anymore, and I doubt many of them think Benjamin Netanyahu means it when he says he’s interested in a genuine peace. It's like when Bush and Cheney declared that United States doesn't torture, Bill Clinton told us that he "didn’t have sex with that woman," or Richard Nixon said "I am not a crook." After awhile, smart listeners learn not to accept anything they're told without double-checking it themselves. Even worse, when they hear one thing, they start to assume that the opposite is probably true." Hey, rebranding worked so well for Blackwater, A.I.G., and is working out in those numerous townhall meetings that have been held near you sponsored by the Republican Party...
Late night jokes:
"Those of you who are residents of California, you can stop stockpiling food and water. You can unlock your doors again. Miss California is keeping her crown! So California is no longer rudderless. We have a leader." --Jay Leno
"John Edwards said that he and his wife are getting to a better place. He said that, after he admitted his affair, he took a long, hard look in the mirror and fell in love all over again." --Jay Leno
"Actually, Elizabeth's book 'Resilience' hit the stands today. But John Edwards also has a new book out. It is called 'Cheating for Dummies.'" --Jay Leno
"The price of a postage stamp went up to 44 cents this week. Isn't that unbelievable? They said they had to raise the price because fewer and fewer people are using the mail these days. That's government thinking, isn't it? 'Hey, nobody's buying our product. Let's raise the price.'" --Jay Leno
"Anybody ever mail anything any more? Well, the price of a stamp is going up to 44 cents. Pretty soon, it will actually be cheaper and easier to just put a little glue on a dollar bill and stick it to an envelope." --David Letterman
"Dick Cheney, the former vice president, said that President Obama went too far with the jokes at the correspondents' dinner. By too far, does Cheney mean like waterboarding a guy 183 times?" --David Letterman
"President Obama's national security advisor says he just doesn't know whether Osama bin Laden is dead or alive. Same thing with Larry King -- we don't know." --David Letterman
"Yeah, they don't know if bin Laden is dead or alive. I was thinking, hell, our last president didn't know if Lincoln was dead or alive, either. What are you going to do?" --David Letterman
"Finally, a 12-year-old boy has officially filed to run for president of Iran. They're calling it the craziest thing to happen in Iran since a woman drove a car." --Jimmy Fallon
"What a scandal we've had brewing here in the Golden State. You're not going to believe this, but Miss California, a beauty contestant, posed for naked pictures. Her fate was decided by Donald Trump, who owns the Miss USA pageant. Trump says Miss California can keep her crown. Actually, her trouble started when she stated her opposition to same-sex marriage. And after noting that even President Obama does not support same-sex marriage, Trump pointed out that he personally believes that marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a series of progressively younger women." --Jimmy Kimmel
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