ERIC ZORN: BLAGORGEOUS IS LOSER OF THE YEAR

From Zorn's Tribune column:

He spent the year staking out pusillanimous, poll-tested positions, picking fights with fellow Democrats and borrowing against tomorrow to avoid making hard budget decisions today.

His prescription drug importation plan enrolled only about 2,000 subscribers; his Dolly Parton-inspired notion to give babies a book a month went bye-bye; his demand that lawmakers penalize sales of violent video games to minors revealed yet again his flimsy grasp of the Constitution; and his idea to import flu vaccine now looks as if it may cost us $2.5 million.

The irony is that all of Blagojevich's populist grandstanding appeared aimed at positioning himself for a run for president or vice president, and while he was playing the angles, Obama -- whose candidacy Blagojevich had neither the courage, independence or foresight to get behind early -- streaked past him onto the national stage.

Tomorrow's "I Told Ya So" today: Obama's future is all exclamation points; Blagojevich's has become one fat question mark.

Be sure to read the entire column -- including EZ's use of the word "dawg".

GET OUT!

During the bustle of Christmas Eve, you may have missed the Sun-Times column of Andrew Greeley:

One must support the troops, I am told. I certainly support the troops the best way possible: Bring them home, get them out of a war for which the planning was inadequate, the training nonexistent, the goal obscure, and the equipment and especially the armor for their vehicles inferior. They are brave men and women who believe they are fighting to defend their country and have become sitting ducks for fanatics. Those who die are the victims of the big lie. They believe that they are fighting to prevent another terror attack on the United States. They are not the war criminals. The ''Vulcans,'' as the Bush foreign policy team calls itself, are the criminals, and they ought to face indictment as war criminals. ***

One of the criteria for a just war is that there be a reasonable chance of victory. Where is that reasonable chance? Each extra day of the war makes it more unjust, more criminal. The guilty people are not only the Vulcans but those Americans who in the November election endorsed the war.

Emphasis added.

LIBERAL MEDIA

From Jay Marvin's blog:

Effective today Jay Marvin is no longer a member of the WLS on-air staff. For the past two-plus years, Jay has co-hosted the 9am-11am program. We wish Jay the best and thank him for his contribution. Eileen Byrne will continue to host the time slot. John F. Gallagher President and General Manager WLS-AM 890/WRDZ-AM 1300 Chicago IL 60601

Congrats to NewsTalk 890 for dropping their token liberal and for being openly less fair and balanced than even FoxNews.

It is truly an achievement to be proud of.

ZING!

Rolling Stone interviews Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in its big People of the Year issue.

When the writer suggests that Obama "peaked too early," the senator asks, "Are you saying I'm set for a fall?"

"No ... but the media likes to burn through their heroes quickly."

Obama counters: "I don't mean to insult you, but media can only drag you down if you take it seriously."

Via the Baltimore Sun

RED (STATE) SHIFT

As we all know, in Einstein's theory of general relativity time and three-dimensional space are treated together as a single four-dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold called spacetime.

And under general relativity time and space are interchangeable, i.e. time can be exchanged for space and vice versa, e.g. by traveling at one mile per hour for one hour, you exchange an hour of your life for moving one mile in space.

But by twisting these principles beyond their breaking points -- we've got leather seats and a flux capacitor as options in the Volkswagen -- this evening I will travel 750 miles west and thereby travel back in time -- back to the age of the dial-up internet connection.

My voyage through time will last until January 4, 2005, so my postings until then may be sporadic at best.

OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CRISIS

In the Food section of today's Sun-Times, Michelle Obama makes a shocking revelation that could sink her husband's potential presidential aspirations:

"Barack doesn't like cheese," Michelle said with a laugh.

Can Barack Obama ever hope to win the Presidency without Wisconsin?

BUYER'S REMORSE

From Salon:

Unless there's a dramatic turnaround in public sentiment between now and Jan. 20, Bush will be sworn into office with the lowest job-approval rating -- barely 50 percent -- of any president in the last 80 years, or since modern-day presidential polling began.

To be fair, most Bush voters didn't know that sacrificing Social Security to Wall Street fat-cats was the price for "staying the course."

"A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF OUR OVERALL NATIONAL SECURITY"

It seems to me that if I ran a publishing concern, lets say a newspaper, I would consider the issue of prior restraint by the federal government to be a front-page story.

From page 6 of the Tribune (emphasis added):

In an apparent reversal of decades of U.S. practice, recent federal Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations bar American companies from publishing works by dissident writers in countries under sanction unless they obtain government approval.

The restriction, condemned by critics as a violation of the 1st Amendment, means that books and other works banned by some totalitarian regimes cannot be published freely in the United States, a country that prides itself as the international beacon of free expression. ***

Violations carry severe reprisals--publishing houses can be fined $1 million and individual violators face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. ***

The regulations have led publishers to scrap plans for volumes on Cuban architecture and birds, and publishers complain that the rules threaten the intellectual breadth and independence of academic journals. ***

In a further wrinkle, even if publishers obtain a license for a book--something they are loath to do--they fear the regulations bar them from advertising it. ***

Officials from the U.S. Treasury Department, which oversees OFAC, declined to comment on the lawsuit, but spokeswoman Molly Millerwise described the sanctions as "a very important part of our overall national security.""These are countries that pose serious threats to the United States, to our economy and security and our well-being around the globe," Millerwise said.

Apparently the Bush administration want to apply their much beloved free-market principles to Social Security, but not to petty trifles like books and ideas.

THE RUMSFELD GAMBIT

From Editor and Publisher (emphasis added):

In his first public account of last week’s controversy, Spc. Thomas Wilson says that he came up with the now famous armor question for Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld on his own, without the help of oft-criticized reporter Edward Lee Pitts. And he adds, "If this is my 15 minutes of fame, I hope it saves a life."

The account appears in next week’s edition of Time magazine.

Wilson, who serves with Tennessee’s 278th Regiment in the National Guard, tells Time that he befriended Pitts, an embed for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, at California's Fort Irwin, where his unit trained. Later, in Kuwait, after Pitts learned that only soldiers could ask questions at the upcoming town hall meeting with Rumsfeld in Kuwait, he urged Wilson to come up with some "intelligent questions."

After his convoy arrived at Camp Arijan in Kuwait, Wilson found hundreds of fully armored vehicles promised to another unit months down the road. Wilson says he asked if the 278th could use them in the meantime, and was told no. That inspired his question about the shortage of armor, which he showed to Pitts.

The reporter, far from being the protagonist, suggested that he find “a less brash way of asking the question," but Wilson “told him no, that I wanted to make my point very clear."

It seems the wing-nuts were wrong to consider Spc. Wilson a pawn of the liberal media. He's actually a pawn of the Bush administration -- just like all the other troops in Iraq.

APPLE... FALL... TREE...

From Time:

“Michael Moore’s got to be the worst for me,” former President George H.W. Bush tells TIME’s Hugh Sidey when asked about the low point of his son’s first term. “I mean, he’s such a slimeball and so atrocious.

• Not the loss of millions of jobs
• Not the squandering of a huge budget surplus
• Not the creation of a huge budget debt
• Not the failure to capture or kill Osama Bin Ladin
• Not the schism between the U.S. and its traditional allies
• Not the failure to find WMDs in Iraq
• Not the moral stain that is Abu Ghraib
• Not the 9,765 U.S. troops wounded in Iraq
• Not the 1,200 troops killed in Iraq
• Not 9-11 -- the most massive security failure in U.S. history

Nope -- Poppy says that the worst part of Junior's first term was the fat, hairy guy in the baseball cap that dared talk about other things.

And there is this little jem from Barbara:

On the rules of Parenting a President and a First Lady: "He knows we're the only two people in America who are awake at 6 in the morning," Barbara Bush tells Sidey.

Unless Geo. Sr. has been delivering all the papers and picking up all the garbage while Barbara bales all the hay and milks all of the cows in the nation*, I am fairly certain that there are quite a few people in America who are awake -- and working pretty damn hard -- at 6 in the morning.

But you shouldn't expect the First Family of Kennebunkport to think about those little people -- God knows their son doesn't.

*Neil, no doubt, would man the all-night tattoo parlors and porno shops.

A NEW TRIBUNE BUSINESS PLAN?

Could it be that the Chicago Tribune has heard that more of the coveted demographic of hip, swinging youngsters get their news from Comedy Central's The Daily Show than any other source? Is the Trib editorial board planning to become the Chicago press' version of Jon Stewart's program? Is that why they endorsed Geo. Bush for President -- so that they would be guaranteed a steady supply of absurd headlines?

That would certainly explain these Onion-worthy "More Inside" bullet-headings from the front page of this morning's Trib:

• Christmas all but canceled for Iraqi Christians. Page 11
• Rumsfeld will stop using machine to sign letters to dead soldiers' kin. Page 13

But when it comes to making a joke out of covering the day's awful news, they will have a hard time ever matching-up with this periodical.

"WE DON'T HAVE TO START FROM SCRATCH."

In its cover-story, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter examines Barack Obama's work to help the Democrats identify its moral core. And it is clear that Mr. Obama thinks that there is more to it than Dems just getting their Jesus on.

After thanking his family in his victory speech, Obama next mentioned his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., of the Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side, the African-American minister and community leader who first introduced Obama to "the audacity of hope." "That said it all," [Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid] concludes. "People don't know where he stands on issues, but they know he's an honest, God-fearing man."

It wasn't always so in the Obama family, as chronicled in his lyrical (if, by his own admission, overly long) 1995 memoir, "Dreams From My Father," now reissued and a best seller. Barack's paternal grandfather, a Luo tribesman who was raised wearing nothing but a goatskin loincloth, worked as a servant for British colonialists in Nairobi and converted to Islam before returning to farm on the shores of Lake Victoria. But the new senator's father, Barack Sr. (the name means "blessing from God"), had no discernible religious convictions. After growing up herding goats, he became the first African student at the University of Hawaii, where in 1959 he met an 18-year-old white girl from the mainland, descended from Cherokees, Baptists, Methodists, Kansas abolitionists and, indirectly, Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy.

Over the objections of their families (the white side was more accepting), they married, but when Obama was 2, his father left Hawaii, first for Harvard, then back to Kenya, where he worked for the government and was later killed in a car accident. He returned to Hawaii to see his son only once, when Barack was 10.

Barack, often called "Barry" inside his family, was raised in a secular home: "My mother saw religion as an impediment to broader values, like tolerance and racial inclusivity. She remembered churchgoing folks [in Kansas and Texas] who also called people niggers. But she was a deeply spiritual person, and when I moved to Chicago [after graduating from Columbia] and worked with church-based community organizations, I kept hearing her values expressed in the church." That tapped into "the hurt and pain" he felt as a fatherless biracial child and spoke to his sense of "the fragility and power and mystery of life."

The Democrats, Obama believes, need to speak to that power and mystery, too. He stops short of calling for a "religious left" to counter the political power of the religious right, but he wants the party to reconnect to what he sees as its roots in a moral imperative: "This shouldn't be hard to do. Martin Luther King did it. The abolitionists did it. Dorothy Day [of the Catholic Workers] did it. Most of the reform movements that have changed this country have been grounded in religious models. We don't have to start from scratch."

*** Obama remains concerned about how some Democrats may go about finding religion. "It's dangerous to try to engineer this in some synthetic way through the party. If it's not organic, it comes off as phony. People can sniff it out," he cautions. "Democrats have to say to themselves, 'What are the values we care most deeply about?' then do the hard spiritual work ahead of time. You can't every once in a while just throw in the word 'God'."

The article is also filled with Obama trivia like this (emphasis added):

[W]hen Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. decided not to run for the U.S. Senate, Jackson became one of Obama's earliest supporters. (Jackson's sister Santita was a bridesmaid for Michelle.)

It also contains another classic Michelle Obama quote:

Michelle's got it all figured out: "Giving a good speech doesn't make you Superman."

She's right of course, but the themes in that speech can guide the Democrats in their "never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way."

OBAMA: THINK BIG

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin covers Barack Obama's speech to high-schoolers:

"Think big about what you'd like to do with your life," said Obama, a 1979 graduate of Punahou. "If you want to be a doctor, dream about finding a cure for AIDS. If you want to be a musician, pursue it with the passion of writing a song that will be a No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts."

Far be it from me to disagree with Mr. Obama, but I think that those kids should aspire to write a better song than Snoop Dog's Drop It Like It's Hot, which is currently at the top of the Billboard chart.

READERS LOVE OBAMA

From your Chicago Sun Times:

U.S. Sen.-elect Barack Obama, who saw a book he wrote a decade ago jump onto best seller lists after his keynote address to the Democratic National Convention this summer, has landed a three-book deal worth $1.9 million.

Crown Publishing Group and Random House Children's Books, both divisions of Random House Inc., announced Friday that Obama will write two books for adults as well as a children's book he will work on with his wife, Michelle, and their two young daughters.

"Writing is something that Senator Obama obviously enjoys as a hobby, and I think he looks forward to continuing to share both his story and his beliefs with people who are interested in reading those books," said Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs.

Obama will receive an $850,000 advance for each adult books and a $200,000 advance for the children's book. All proceeds from the children's book will go to charity, Gibbs said. He said the recipient had not yet been determined.

***

The first book, scheduled for publication in spring 2006, will focus on Obama's political convictions and his journey from law school to community activism to elected office.

"Today, when I see the divisions in this country, when I see unfairness and injustice, when I see misunderstanding or the enormous empathy deficit that damages so much of our politics, I have to do something about it," Obama said in a statement. "It's a lifetime journey and it is the basis for this book."

The big issue is what effect will this have on the value of Oneman's book collection.

So-Called "Social Security Crisis"

Kevin Drum at Political Animal has something to say about the "social security crisis":

Nothing is going bankrupt, benefits will continue to be paid forever, and future funding problems are both modest in size and not that hard to deal with.

Unfortunately, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and now George Bush, each for their own reasons, have found it politically convenient to use Social Security as a useful bogeyman for scaring the public.

The fact of the matter is Geo. Bush's plan to "reform" social security is nothing but a scheme to borrow (more) money from our children so that his fat-cat buddies can play with it on Wall Street.

A grossly overstated problem whose solution just happens to enrich Bush's cronies -- gee, where have I seen that before?

ALOHA OBAMA

Barack Obama is visiting his grandmother and his sister and her family in Hawaii . It's a family vacation so controversy couldn't possibly arise... right?:

The state's Democrats fawned over newly elected Illinois Sen. Barack Obama at a fund-raiser last night, proudly embracing him as Hawai'i's "third senator."

Uh oh...

For his part, the Hawai'i-born civil rights attorney and lecturer-turned-political celebrity told reporters: "Obviously, my primary responsibility is to the people of Illinois who elected me, but there's no doubt that I'm going to be sympathetic to certain issues that face the Hawaiian Islands — the situation regarding Native Hawaiians, the situation regarding the environment and how that impacts the treasure that is Hawai'i."

Phweew! That was a close one.

Mr. Obama did have this to say about his birth state:

"The essence of Hawai'i has always been that we come from far and wide, that we come from different backgrounds and different faiths and different last names, and yet we come together as a single 'ohana because we believe in the fundamental commonality of people," Obama said. "We have a sense that beneath the surface of things, all of us share a common set of hopes, a common set of dreams and a common set of values. That's what the Islands have always been about."

If you replace "Hawai'i" with "Democratic Party" -- and figure out what in the world "'ohana" means -- you would have a damn good framework for Dems to build a 21st century identity upon.

Mr. Obama also used the fundraiser to remind President Bush where the buck should stop with regard to "going to war with the army you have":

Illinois Senator-elect Barack Obama says he holds President Bush responsible for the actions and words of his Cabinet members, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Attending a fund-raiser thursday night in Waikiki, Obama was asked whether he felt Rumsfeld should step down. Obama said only that when Rumsfeld speaks, he holds the president responsible.

Mr. Obama will be sworn in on January Fourth.

NONE DARE CALL IT BLAGO-MOJO

From today's Tribune story on Blagorgeous' call to criminalize the sale of naughty video games to the children:

The new initiative by Blagojevich fits a pattern the politically ambitious Democrat has established of trying to create a national buzz for himself by championing causes with surefire headline appeal.

So let's take a look at our Blagorgeous leadership check lists:

1. A cause "with surefire headline appeal" -- protecting children from images of violence and graphic sex in video games -- Check!
2. Action required of a non-Blago entity -- the proposed legislation "make[s] it a misdemeanor for retailers to allow anyone younger than 18 to walk out of their stores with violent or sexually explicit video games" -- Check!
3. A press release -- From the Tribune story:

   Blagojevich is scheduled to formally unveil his video game proposal at a news conference in Naperville, where more than a dozen mothers of children in middle school will serve as a backdrop. Officials with a Naperville school district said the governor's office asked them to arrange the event for Wednesday but then postponed it for a day, in part to accommodate more national media coverage.

   -- Check!
4. The win-win Blago-bonus -- A) If the Governor's bill passes constitutional muster, a threat of up to a year in prison or a $5,000 fine will keep merchants from selling objectionable games to kids, and B) If the bill is found to violate the 1st Amendment -- U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner in Chicago, who found that video games, like books, are protected by the 1st Amendment, says trying to pass laws to protect children from violent descriptions is wrongheaded. "It would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it." -- Blagorgeous will still have stood against the filth, smut, horror, etc. that has corrupted our society. Once again, no matter the outcome, Gov. Rod Blagojevich is protector of Illinois' boys and girls -- Check!

The Governor has done it again. His cry of "What about the children?!?" will be heard across the nation. But it looks like folks are starting to catch on.

A REAL PAGE-TURNER

Like the Dan Brown bestseller, The Democrats' Da Vinci Code by David J. Sirota is not without flaws. But unlike Brown, Sirota didn't crib his central thesis -- that the electoral impact of GOP-friendly wedge social issues can be checked by redefining the values debate in economic and class terms-- from Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

Regardless, Sirota's seven lessons from the 2004 election are worth considering:

1. Fight the Class War -- progressives are making inroads into culturally conservative areas by talking about economic class *** It is us-versus-them red meat, straight talk about how the system is working against ordinary Americans *** focus [on] unfair trade deals and taxpayer givaways to the wealthy
2. Champion Small Business Over Big Business -- at the grass-roots level, small-business people are far less uniformly conservative, especially as the GOP increasingly helps huge corporations eat up local economies *** entrepreneurs don't like high taxes and regulations, they also don't like government encouraging multinationals to monopolize the market and destroy Main Street. *** out-of-state corporations [are] using loopholes to avoid paying taxes, thus driving up the tax burden on small in-state companies *** focus on small manufacturers
3. Protect Tom Joad -- [oppose] the Republican-backed "Freedom to Farm Act" *** [call] it the "Freedom-to-Lose-Your-Shirt" bill *** the new subsidies would primarily go to large corporations, encourage overproduction that depresses prices, and reward big farms over small ones *** the GOP is digging in, already planning to repeal country-of-origin labeling laws that help small farms differentiate their products from larger corporate producers
4. Turn the Hunters and the Exurbs Green -- the GOP's willingness to side with private landowners and developers is now putting the party at odds with these constituencies *** [promise] to prevent the state from selling off public land *** many of the Bush administration's plans [go] 'against what nearly every local elected official on both sides of the aisle has asked for.' *** [transform] environmental advocacy from a potential "liberal" albatross into an asset in conservative areas.
5. Become a Teddy Roosevelt Clone -- [claim the] law-and-order mantle *** [realize] the political benefits of fighting white-collar crime, big-business rip-offs, and corporate misbehavior *** Though opponents labeled [New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer] anti-business, he countered that he was pro-business because he was protecting the integrity of the market *** [fight] to prevent companies from illegally reducing their pensions *** corporate traitors *** [push] legislation to prevent taxpayer subsidies from going to companies that ship jobs overseas *** the GOP's reliance on corporate money means it cannot muddle the issues by pretending to meet progressives halfway
6. Clean Up Government -- Republicans' obsession with narrow cultural issues while the state's looming fiscal crisis was ignored [has driven] a deep wedge between fiscally conservative live-and-let-live Republicans and the neo-conservative extremists with an agenda
7. Use the Values Prism -- successful red-region progressives are using economic populism to define their cultural solidarity with voters *** populism culturally connects these leaders to their constituents *** plans to protect hunting access not only attract votes from outdoorsmen but also project a broader willingness to fight for Joe Six-Pack and the state's way of life *** [translate] translating legislative fights into values language at home *** question whether America should provide huge tax cuts to the wealthy while its schools decay *** about out-of-state media conglomerates pumping obscene radio shows into [a] culturally conservative market *** [make Enron's] antics a values commentary on the problem of unethical corporations

Read the whole thing -- it's worth your time.

Sirota closes asserting that "having the guts to stand up for middle America -- even when it draws the ire of corporate America -- is as powerful a statement about morality and authenticity as any of the GOP's demagoguery on 'guns, God, and gays.'"

Gee, it all looked so simple... and then he called for Democrats show some guts.

YOU SORT TOYS WITH THE CORPS YOU HAVE, NOT THE CORPS YOU MIGHT WANT OR WISH TO HAVE AT A LATER TIME

How short-handed is the United States' military?

So depleted that -- for the first time since the Toys for Tots campaign started in 1948 -- the 24th Marines reserve infantry batallion is asking civilians to help sort and deliver the donated gifts while the reservists are at war in Iraq. The Sun-Times' Debra Pickett tells the story:

Maj. Rick Coates, a Marine reservist now on active duty with the 24th, is, in civilian life, a logistics manager for Sears. One of only a few members of the battalion still in Chicago, he is faced with a mountain of toys that have been dropped off at Toys for Tots collection points, at places like Jewel and Harris Bank, and now must be sorted through and matched to the needs of the churches, charities and social agencies that request toys for the children they serve. Coates says he is very concerned about getting all the work done in time.

So why aren't other local Marine units picking up the slack?

"The few Marines we do have on hand are either doing Toys for Tots or funerals," said Master Sgt. Beth Piccolo of the Great Lakes Naval Base.

You can call (773) 539-7393 to get information on helping the Marines sort toys -- but I'm afraid this may not be the last time that the demands of the Iraq war force our military to turn to civilians for help.

CLEAR CHANNEL LOVES OBAMA

This item from Robert Feder is much more disturbing than any of Lynn Sweet's travelgate stories:

Three Clear Channel Radio stations are sending U.S. Senator-elect Barack Obama off to Washington with a party fit for a political rock star. WGCI-FM (107.5), WVAZ-FM (102.7) and WGRB-AM (1390) will sponsor the star-studded celebration from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Dec. 30 in the grand ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

Hosting the bash will be WGCI's "Crazy" Howard McGee; V-103's Ramonski Luv, Joe Soto and Roy "Tornado" Little, and Gospel Radio 1390's John Hannah. All three stations will broadcast live from the site, starting at 2 p.m.

"As a U.S. senator, Mr. Obama will be at the forefront of issues affecting African Americans in this country [and] more importantly, issues affecting African Americans in Illinois," said Angela Ingram, the three outlets' station manager.

Of course, if I should receive an invite to this shindig, my faith could be restored.

FRIENDLY SUGGESTION

The next time Illinois Republicans import an out-of-state candidate to run for Senate against Barack Obama, can I suggest this fellow:

Steve Rocco, the reclusive candidate who has had Orange County voters scratching their heads since his unexpected election to a local school board last month, broke his silence Friday. ***

Political observers and voters were stunned when Rocco defeated a heavily favored candidate Nov. 2 for a seat on the Orange Unified School District board without ever handing out a campaign flier or making a speech. After his victory, he holed up in the house he shares with his mother, drawing widespread attention from the news media and stirring intense speculation among district residents.

Rocco is a frail man, with a pale, gaunt face covered partly by a scruffy beard. During Friday's interview, held at his lawyer's Santa Ana office, he wore large glasses with clip-on sunglasses attached. A frayed piece of black fabric tied around his left arm, he said, was to memorialize his father, who he said died Nov. 9. Rocco periodically scribbled notes on a piece of paper, meticulously noting the time each entry was made. He refused to be photographed. ***

When asked to explain his message, however, Rocco faltered. He said he has no particular issues that he hopes to address as a trustee, but said he cares deeply about education and would diligently prepare for the district's monthly meetings.

But his election, Rocco said, also would give him a platform to counter what he believes is a 25-year conspiracy against him. Rocco said a cabal of county politicians, judges and officials — "the partnership" — have been trying to silence him as he works to uncover a tangled trail of corruption and scandal.

He doesn't seem any nuttier than Keyes...

And his apparent aversion to the media would be a welcomed change.

"It bends towards Justice"

The AP offers up this good news for fans of Democracy and Justice in the Western Hemisphere:

Gen. Augusto Pinochet was indicted Monday for the kidnapping of nine dissidents and the killing of one of them during his 1973-90 regime, and the former dictator was placed under house arrest. ***

"This a historic decision that must be celebrated by all democrats," said Viviana Diaz, member of an organization of dissidents who disappeared under Pinochet. ***

The 14-9 decision by justices on Santiago's Court of Appeals opened the possibility Pinochet could stand trial for the bombing that killed former army chief Gen. Carlos Prats and his wife, Sofia Cuthbert, in Buenos Aires.

Prats, a former chief of the Chilean army, had opposed the 1973 coup that put fellow general Pinochet in power, and was among the first of an estimated several thousand people killed during Pinochet's rule.

Retired Army colonel, 70, sent to Afghanistan

From Gannett:

Dr. John Caulfield thought it had to be a mistake when the Army asked him to return to active duty. After all, he's 70 years old and had already retired - twice. He left the Army in 1980 and private practice two years ago. *** He is one of about 100 over the age of 60 known to be serving.

You go to war with the Army you have had 24 years ago.

UPDATE: Tom Toles

RUMSFELDIAN RECURSION

Tom Toles

YOU GET THE ARMY YOU PAY FOR

From Bloomberg

Armor Holdings Inc., the sole supplier of protective plates for the Humvee military vehicles used in Iraq, said it could increase output by as much as 22 percent per month with no investment and is awaiting an order from the Army.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday the Army was working as fast as it can and supply is dictated by "a matter of physics, not a matter of money.''

Jacksonville, Florida-based Armor Holdings last month told the Army it could add armor to as many as 550 of the trucks a month, up from 450 vehicles now, Robert Mecredy, president of the company's aerospace and defense group said in a telephone interview today.

"We're prepared to build 50 to 100 vehicles more per month,'' Mecredy said in the interview. "I've told the customer that and I stand ready to do that.''

When I was in the Army, they had a little saying: "Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining."

Someone tell Rumsfeld: The troops know it isn't raining.

VULGAR DISPLAY OF POWER

"Dimebag Darrell" Abbott, guitarist for Pantera and Damage Plan, was one of at least four people killed during a bizarre shooting at a concert in Columbus. more

ONE WEEKEND A MONTH; TWO WEEKS A YEAR

"I hope you don't forget about us"

CLUB RED

Have you ever had... a friend... who joined a record club, using a fake name, in order to get "12 CDs for free" right before he moved to a new address?

Me neither.

But if I had, I would encourage him to sooth his conscience by visiting Choose the Blue:

Company: Columbia House; % to Dem: 0%; % to Rep: 100%; $ to Dem: $0; $ to Rep: $22,000

And if I had wanted the "Selection of the Month," I he would have ordered the "Selection of the Month."

THOUGHTCRIME IS THE ONLY CRIME THAT MATTERS

From Salon:

On June 15, 2003, Sgt. Frank "Greg" Ford, a counterintelligence agent in the California National Guard's 223rd Military Intelligence (M.I.) Battalion stationed in Samarra, Iraq, told his commanding officer, Capt. Victor Artiga, that he had witnessed five incidents of torture and abuse of Iraqi detainees at his base, and requested a formal investigation. Thirty-six hours later, Ford, a 49-year-old with over 30 years of military service in the Coast Guard, Army and Navy, was ordered by U.S. Army medical personnel to lie down on a gurney, was then strapped down, loaded onto a military plane and medevac'd to a military medical center outside the country.

Although no "medevac" order appears to have been written, in violation of Army policy, Ford was clearly shipped out because of a diagnosis that he was suffering from combat stress. After Ford raised the torture allegations, Artiga immediately said Ford was "delusional" and ordered a psychiatric examination, according to Ford. But that examination, carried out by an Army psychiatrist, diagnosed him as "completely normal."

A witness, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Marciello, claims that Artiga became enraged when he read the initial medical report finding nothing wrong with Ford and intimidated the psychiatrist into changing it. According to Marciello, Artiga angrily told the psychiatrist that it was a "C.I. [counterintelligence] or M.I. matter" and insisted that she had to change her report and get Ford out of Iraq.

***

Col. C. Tsai, a military doctor who examined Ford in Germany and found nothing wrong with him, told a film crew for Spiegel Television that he was "not surprised" at Ford's diagnosis. Tsai told Spiegel that he had treated "three or four" other U.S. soldiers from Iraq that were also sent to Landstuhl for psychological evaluations or "combat stress counseling" after they reported incidents of detainee abuse or other wrongdoing by American soldiers.

I'll bet Joseph Stalin wished he had thought of "combat stress counseling".

"YOU GO TO WAR WITH THE ARMY YOU HAVE."

Ever wonder what it would be like if the corporate media-stars paid to ask the administration questions ever actually earned their fat checks? This citizen-soldier shows 'em how it's done:

Some of soldiers, however, had criticisms of their own - not of the war itself but of how it is being fought.

Army Spc. Thomas Wilson, for example, of the 278th Regimental Combat Team that is comprised mainly of citizen soldiers of the Tennessee Army National Guard, asked Rumsfeld in a question-and-answer session why vehicle armor is still in short supply, nearly three years after the war in Iraq.

"Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles?" Wilson asked. A big cheer arose from the approximately 2,300 soldiers in the cavernous hangar who assembled to see and hear the secretary of defense.

Rumsfeld hesitated and asked Wilson to repeat his question.

"We do not have proper armored vehicles to carry with us north," Wilson said after asking again.

Wow.

Now that is speaking truth to power. But Rumsfeld had to know that he might get a brave question from these brave men and women, so how did the architect of the Iraq invasion answer the soldiers' charge?

Rumsfeld replied that, "You go to war with the Army you have," not the one you might want.

Oh, now I understand...

• You don't let WMD inspectors do their job; "you go to war with the Army you have."
• You don't exhaust non-military options; "you go to war with the Army you have."
• You don't make serious efforts to build a serious, broad-based coalition; "you go to war with the Army you have."
• You don't make certain that the personnel staffing Iraqi prisons are properly trained and supervised, "you go to war with the Army you have."
• You don't adequately equip the troops for foreseeable threats; "you go to war with the Army you have."
• You don't send sufficient military resources to secure the battlefield; "you go to war with the Army you have."

"You go to war with the Army you have." Well, that certainly explains a lot.

NEW KID ON THE BLOK

From the Tribune

Democratic leaders are keen to use Obama's rising profile as a public face for their foreign-policy positions, Democratic congressional aides said.

That said, there was a clear sign in the list of committee assignments sent to senators by incoming Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that Obama remains very much a newcomer in Washington.On the list, Obama's first name was consistently misspelled as Barak, omitting the "c."

OBAMA'S SHOCKING SECRET: HE'S STROM THURMOND'S LOVE CHILD

The L.A. Times quotes Obama:

"I figure there's nowhere to go from here but down," he said. "So tonight, I'm announcing my retirement from the United States Senate."

Sen. Barack Obama cracked wise at the Gridiron Club Saturday night:

The senator-elect teased about his big victory over GOP candidate Alan Keyes, saying that he received 70% of the vote statewide "and 102% in Chicago. Our voting system is so advanced that the folks in Florida are coming up to study it."

He said Illinois and Chicago were ahead of the times. Referring to the fact that House Republicans had passed a rule allowing leaders to stay in their jobs even if indicted, he said, "we had that years ago" in Illinois.

The Tribune has more:

The senator-elect said a year ago, the pundits "said you can't win in a year like this with a name like Obama. There was quite a bit of confusion at first, but it did get me free airtime on Al Jazeera."

OBAMA ON BOOK-TV/C-SPAN2

Barack Obama is currently discussing his book on C-SPAN2/Book TV's Public Lives. The program will be reboadcast on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Chicago-time.

Set your VCR.

UPDATE: Watch until the very end and check out the woman hustling Sen. Obama for a job while he tries to sign her book.

BRAVO BLOGO-MOJO!

Just one more post on the topic I first addressed here and here and I promise that I won't post on this subject again...
for at least a week.

In today's Sun-Times, the Blagovernor returns to the first page in his playbook, this time as a response to the ST investigation into why Illinois' wounded soldiers are receiving some of the lowest disability pay in the country:

Gov. Blagojevich also sent a terse letter to [Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi] demanding a plan to address "this intolerable situation."

So let's take a look at our Blagorgeous leadership check lists:

1) A cause that no one could be against -- disability pay for wounded veterans -- Check!
2) Action required by a non-Blago entity -- a demand that the V.A. craft a plan to address "this intolerable situation" -- Check!
3) A press release -- an open letter to the V.A. Secretary -- Check!
4) The win-win Blago-bonus -- A) Action by the V.A. means a moral victory for Blagorgeous, and B) inaction by the V.A. means Blagorgeous stood up for Illinois military men and women, so no matter what, Rod Blagojevich is the champion of wounded soldiers -- Check!

Hat's off to the Governor, for yet another heroic press release!

"MEND IT DON'T END IT"

Josh Marshall thinks Democrats need to get a jump on the GOP and frame the battle against Social Security "privatization":

In the coming Social Security debate, Democrats should dust-off Clinton's 'mend it, don't end it' rhetoric. ***

I'm not saying the phrase should be adopted intact without any adjustments or that it's a perfect fit. But this debate is a classic case where framing the issue is key -- the strategic choice that determines who wins the battle before it even begins.

The strength of the Republican privatization argument -- and all their rhetoric and strategy point to this -- is the contention that privatization is just a reform, a way to improve or save Social Security, or to put it simply, a way to make sure people get their checks when they retire. But what this is really about is abolishing Social Security; and that fact needs to be taken as granted -- not even a subject of debate -- in the way Democrats frame the debate and how they talk about the subject.

To look at this debate in any other way is to be willfully ignorant of history. Republicans -- particularly the party's conservative wing which now entirely dominates the party -- have wanted to abolish Social Security for half a century.

"Privatized" Social Security is neither "secure" nor "social" -- it's actually a fungus.

UPDATE: The folks at the Rockridge Institute, the mecca of framing, are also thinking about Social Security abolition privatization.

ALL YOUR POST ARE BELONG TO US

Boing-Boing, the world's greatest Directory of Wonderful Things, is keeping tabs on Microsoft's free hosted blogging platform, spaces.msn.com.

Reader Paul Pellerito says, "MSN Spaces User asciident notes that at the bottom of every MSN Space is (c)2004 Microsoft Corporation. And according to their terms of use:

For materials you post or otherwise provide to Microsoft related to the MSN Web Sites (a "Submission"), you grant Microsoft permission to (1) use, copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, modify, translate and reformat your Submission, each in connection with the MSN Web Sites, and (2) sublicense these rights, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law. Microsoft will not pay you for your Submission."

So if your goal is to produce intellectual property for a multi-billion dollar, multi-national corporation, and not get paid for it, I highly recommend MSN Spaces.

UPDATE: Boing-Boing examines MSN Spaces auto-censor in a post featuring "World of Poop," "Corporate Prostitute Chronicles," and "Tits for Tats."

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS BARACK OBAMA

Looks like Illinois' new Senator is seeing some country before settling down in D.C.

Via Channel 7 in Omaha:

Illinois Senator-elect Barack Obama has wasted no time in getting advice from the top. In Omaha earlier this week, it seems he was getting some from Omaha's own billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

and via KPUA AM670 in Hilo:

A Punahou School graduate who recently was elected to the U-S Senate in Illinois will return to Honolulu next month to speak at a Democratic Party fund-raising event.

Barack Obama will be honored at the December 16th event at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom.

The following morning, the 43-year-old Obama is expected to visit Punahou School, where he graduated in 1979, to speak to students. School president James Scott says Obama has been asked to talk about his own personal journey and why he has selected a life of public service.

I hope that Robert Gibbs told Lynn Sweet about these trips.

"HEY STUPID, BUY MY BOOK!"

What does Neil Steinberg think of Public Radio listeners? A quick Lexis-Nexis search of his columns provides the answer:

"NPR-addicted graduate students" -- August 9, 2002

"gray-haired NPR radicals" -- January 17, 2003

"lemon-faced NPR liberals" -- April 11, 2003

And the same search gives us insight into Steinberg's thoughts on Public Radio hosts:

"Hmm," murmured the host, inevitably, as all NPR hosts do no matter what wild, sky-is-brown bit of palaver they're being spoon fed. -- January 16, 2004

But, lo and behold, today's Steinberg column closes with the following announcement:

"Friday morning at 9:30, Neil Steinberg will discuss his new book, 'Hatless Jack,' on WBEZ-91.5 FM." -- December 1, 2004

So Steinberg is going to try to pitch his book to Chicagoland's "lemon-faced liberals"? Although one can hope for a Terry Gross v. Bill O'Reilly style confrontation -- "You didn't ask Eric Zorn these types of questions when he was on the show did you? Did you?!? This interview is over!" -- I suspect it will be more like the following:

Steinberg: The hat’s demise has over time been credited to President Kennedy, or “Hatless Jack,” due to his reluctance to be photographed wearing a hat for fear it made him look old. But one president alone did not make or break a trend.

Host: Hmmm.

Steinberg: In my quirky social history, I trace the evolution of the hat over centuries, as a costly but necessary investment, as a symbol of social status, and masculinity, and as a global industry.

Host: Zzzz.

You can purchase "Hatless Jack; The President, The Fedora, and The History of American Style" here.