Call It A Comeback
The ad is up in the corner and you can go here to donate. Please do. This is a winnable race with a reactionary, anti-democratic pol born on 3rd base thinking he hit a triple running against a strong progressive candidates who went to work in the steel mill.
Y’know all those races where you vote for the lessor of evils, this isn’t one of them. Mark’s a great guy-honest, humble, and a true progressive. Help him out.
BECKY CARROLL, who often explains budget issues from the perspective of Gov. ROD BLAGOJEVICH, is leaving the administration to work for the presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. BARACK OBAMA, D-Illinois. Carroll, now a deputy governor, will become Obama’s national director of women.
She’ll be a great addition to Obama’s campaign.
The entire situation regarding Glenn Poshard’s dissertation and thesis is important.There are varying degrees of culpability and certainly Poshard has some there with the question being how serious the violations are. The examples I’ve seen suggest that he’s not presenting the ideas as his own work and so it does not fall within the worst case scenarios of a plagiarized work, but people who can analyze the material directly and take their time to see the full extent need to make that determination.
However, let me point out that one example is fricken’ silly:
“Drug abuse is not a new phenomenon in America. Various forms of drug abuse have existed for years in the United States and other countries.”
From the U.S. government report:
“Drug abuse is not a new phenomenon. Varying forms of drug abuse have been present for years in the United States and other countries.”
Having discovered several plagiarists from reading papers–some who did it on purpose, other who didn’t understand how to cite and quote material–I would never think to check on either sentence because they are so hackneyed, anyone could have written them and come up with very similar sentence structure. It’s bad prose in both cases, but not what anyone with a brain would call plagiarism.
Now, if you were planning on plagiarizing either sentence above would be a great way to disguise it since most readers would be falling asleep before the end of the sentence.
Better yet, raise or eliminate the ridiculously low $2,300 contribution limit. Such limits haven’t created cleaner politics in the U.S. They have only helped to put fast-buck artists such as Norman Hsu in the political game.
How’s that working out for you in Illinois?
It’s a bit bizarre to see everyone get their knickers in a twist over a guy who has very little actual power:
NEW YORK – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad questioned the official version of the Sept. 11 attacks and defended the right to cast doubt on the Holocaust in a tense appearance Monday at Columbia University, whose president accused the hard-line leader of behaving like “a petty and cruel dictator.”
Ahmadinejad smiled at first but appeared increasingly agitated, decrying the “insults” and “unfriendly treatment.” Columbia President Lee Bollinger and audience members took him to task over Iran’s human-rights record and foreign policy, as well as Ahmadinejad’s statements denying the Holocaust and calling for the disappearance of Israel.
“Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator,” Bollinger said, to loud applause.
The problem with this is that he’s not a dictator. He has a low level of power in Iran. The country is primarily run by a small group of clerics who are not elected, unlike Ahmadinejad who barely won election because the reformers split the vote. He’s not terribly powerful, he doesn’t have much influence, and he’s not well liked. But other than that, he’s a real danger.
Iran is far from a dictatorship–it’s an oligarch theocracy run by people who are bad people in general, but not insane. The guy doesn’t have the authority nor the power to make decisions over Iran’s nuclear program and he doesn’t have the ability to command the armed forces. He’d end up with a slit throat in bed if he were to try and start a war with Israel. Not to mention the Sunni countries in the way may not be too happy to have Shiites crossing their territory.
It’s baffling to me that people have gotten into a tizzy over a guy who is largely irrelevant other than making a fool of himself. But there you have the state of American foreign policy discussion today.
There’s a troubling issue of holding hearings about First Amendment activities. At best what we have is a mistake by the paper, but most worrisome is the notion that Congress has any business worrying about what the press charges different groups. It’s not just a private business, but a Constitutionally protected private business, the only class of such businesses receiving such protection. This is even more ridiculous than the hearings on exit polling that successfully demonstrated that yes, Billy Tauzin is that stupid.
In addition, does anyone care? Other than a bunch of people obsessed with Washington DC and it’s circle of conventional wisdom no one cares.
70 percent of the population wants this war to end within 2 years. About 60 percent want it in 1 year. The GOP wants to argue about a newspaper ad.
Are you kidding me?
‘m not sure what Chuck Lorre has against smart people, but with the foul sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” (7:30 p.m. Monday, WBBM-Ch. 2) he tries to have his revenge against anyone with an IQ above room temperature.
From Talking Points Memo:
But don’t think this allusion to generations of stereotypes about black men was just some stray comment.
The RNC just shot off an email building on the slur. With the headline “Razzle Dazzle”, the email continues the theme that Obama is just another black fancy-pants with a slick smile and nice turn of phrase but either without the candle-power or stick-to-it-iveness to actually get things done.
“Chicago Star Obama Continues His All Show, No Substance Campaign With Event On Broadway,” the email begins.
What to expect next out of the RNC? Obama would be a better singer and tap dancer than president?
I have this vision of Harry Morgan when he played a General who was losing his marble son MASH (before he became the colonel) and during a court martial asks a black soldier to dance a jig.
As for Obama, a senior White House official said the freshman senator from Illinois was “capable” of the intellectual rigor needed to win the presidency but instead relies too heavily on his easy charm.
“It’s sort of like, ‘that’s all I need to get by,’ which bespeaks sort of a condescending attitude towards the voters,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “And a laziness, an intellectual laziness.”
Weller Staffer pushes Mike Flannery on the stairs.
That’ll go over well. Guess the headlines won’t be of a fond remembrance of departing Member of Congress.
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