Tweeting for Democracy

Freedom riots in Tehran. The gov't is cracking down on media coverage. Internet reporting reigns. This will be known as The Twitter Uprising.

Things to tweet in Buffalo when you're bored

Buffalo is sort of nice, especially near the University.

Of Buffalo!

I didn't even know there WAS one!

This may be my last Tweet from Buffa-

I'm a geek, get me outta here!

I’m hoping to finally get sprung from this rotten job in Buffalo. It’s not all THAT bad. I’m in a fancy three-star hotel, and except for the -

It's like digital haiku

Twitter is sort of like haiku. Except you only need worry about 140 characters, not the number of syllables on each line. But I have to say-

Still tweeting from Buffalo

Still stuck in Buffalo on a job. My grammar checker hates that sentence. Twitter is killing grammar as we know it. I think it’s 140 charact-

A "tweet" from CTBob

I am in Buffalo today for work. I probably won’t be online much until tomorrow. I’m in “Twitter-mode” for this post. That’s 140 characters.

Peter Schiff: proud to be a non-voter

Peter Schiff, another possible Republican challenger in the already crowded field of GOPers who hope to unseat Sen. Chris Dodd, has publicly admitted that he doesn't vote(!)

From Roll Call (via DailyKos):

In an interview with Roll Call, Schiff said he was new to politics and only recently registered as a Republican in Weston.

“I don’t know when the last time I voted was,” Schiff said. “You can’t blame me for any of the politicians. I didn’t vote for them.”

You're dead wrong, Mr. Schiff; you're EXACTLY the kind of person to blame if you are unhappy with your elected representatives!

You ARE the problem!

For a guy exploring a possible run for the Senate, he demonstrates the very antithesis of what a responsible voter should be! And he says so unashamedly!

I'm sure he'll be a big hit with the teabaggers and the anti-Dodd Republicans, because they've aptly shown their abdication of responsibility for the years of terrible leadership by Bush/Cheney that allowed all the excesses Congress is being forced to deal with today. But the FoxNews-sponsored so-called "populist anti-tax" movement is taking in lots of suckers and low-information voters (and non-voters, apparently) who can't think for themselves.

Oh yeah, one more thing...I remember another guy who didn't vote.

We all know how well THAT turned out for him!

Another loser gets his photo taken

...by the Connecticut State Police, that is.

Say "cheese", moron!

Right-wing blogger/internet talker Hal Turner was arrested on a felony count of inciting injury to person or property for his words that allegedly encouraged people to "take up arms" against several state lawmakers, who he referred to as "the tyranny".

Turner, an alleged anti-Semite and white supremacist, was apparently angered by proposed legislation that would have forced Roman Catholic Church governors to be more accountable to their lay people.

The murder of Dr. George Tiller in his Wichita, Kansas church is a prime example of what happens when the hate speech of the far right is allowed to go unchecked. Even GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin seems to have given her tacit approval for the violence against doctors practicing a legal and necessary procedure when she refused to consider the act of bombing abortion clinics "terrorism".

From an article about an interview with Palin on MSNBC last September:

Palin resisted the suggestion that if (former Weatherman William) Ayers was a “domestic terrorist” — a standard line in her campaign addresses — then so were conservative religious activists who bombed abortion clinics.

“I don’t know if you’re going to use the word ‘terrorist’ there,” she said.

So let's recap: bombing an ROTC building is terrorism; bombing abortion clinics is something less serious...perhaps a prank gone wrong, or a stern complaint over poor service or something like that.

I don't dispute the fact that bombing an ROTC building is indeed terrorism, but I equally conclude that bombing an abortion clinic falls unequivocally within the definition of terrorism also.

Sarah Palin, like too many far-right figures, don't seem to come to that same conclusion.

And, for the record, Ayers was never prosecuted for any Weather Underground activities.

Just yesterday, a security guard paid with his life to protect people in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, when an 88-year-old white supremacist who stepped into the museum with a rifle and began firing.

Unrestrained hate speech that specifically targets individuals or groups for violence does not fall under the First Amendment protections in the Constitution. Just as someone yelling "Fire" in a crowded movie theater is committing a crime (unless the theater in question is actually ON fire, in which case the person would be a hero), they don't have the right to encourage violence upon those they disagree with philosophically.

As a blogger, I'm very aware of the personal responsibility I have for the words I write. I occasionally agonize over the wording of a particular thought, especially when the issue is emotionally charged. But I'm cognizant of the fact that even certain colorful metaphors can be taken the wrong way, and I tend to err on the side of restraint when I feel I'm getting too close to the line.

Of course, I take significantly less pains in regard to moderating taste, foul language, and sophomoric observations...but I guess that's my personal cross to bear!

Dodd fills in for Ted on Health Care

Sen. Chris Dodd has been working tirelessly on the issue of health care reform, taking the helmsman's position left by Sen. Ted Kennedy, who is currently undergoing treatment for cancer.

Matt Browner-Hamlin discusses the issue on his blog Hold Fast:

I know that Senator Dodd would want nothing more than for his dear friend Ted Kennedy to be healthy and driving healthcare reform himself from HELP (ed: Kennedy’s "Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions" Committee). But Dodd’s leadership in his absence has been tremendous and it’s good to finally see it recognized, if even in passing, by the Times (ed: NY Times article).

I think a landmark piece of healthcare legislation that includes a public health insurance option will pass this year. And when it does, its passage will only have been possible thanks to the hard work and dedication of Senator Chris Dodd to improve the lives of all Americans by ensuring they have the healthcare they need and deserve.

Sen. Dodd and the rest of the Democrats face a tough battle getting the legislation enacted. Republican obstructionists have sworn to oppose any attempt to pass meaningful health care; and pseudo-Democrats like Sen. Joe Lieberman have even gone beyond simple obstruction and vowed to block everything the Senate does unless they capitulate to his dearest wish, which basically protects those responsible for making the systematic torture of prisoners of war a matter of official United States policy!

Sen. Dodd faces all that, along with the specter of a vastly watered-down bill resulting from the feeble and inept Senate leadership by Sen. Harry Reid, who will likely go down in history as the weakest and lamest Majority Leader the Senate has seen in the modern era.

But we can all take heart in knowing that Chris Dodd is a fighter who will never back down from the catcalls of the opposition, and who indeed seems to gain strength from those who try to detract from the true business of the Senate, which is to serve the people of the United States.

Here's a reminder of what Sen. Dodd's job is:



Sen. Lieberman's job, apparently, is protecting war criminals! Shameful.

Lieberman threatens to impede Senate

The pissy fit by "friend of torturers" Joe Lieberman has begun!

With his GOP soul mate and BFF Lindsey Graham at his side, Joe Lieberman is confidently stepping up to throw a wrench into the works of government. This just in from Roll Call:

Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) threatened to hold up any and all legislation in the Senate until Congress passes its legislation to prohibit the release of photos showing detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We’re not going to do any more business in the Senate,” Graham said. “Nothing’s going forward until we get this right.”

Both Senators said they were alarmed that a House-Senate conference committee on the supplemental war spending bill appears poised to eliminate language — inserted by the two Senators — that would block public disclosure of detainee abuse photos. The $90-billion-plus bill has been held up, in part, because House Democratic leaders have said they do not have the votes to pass it with the detainee photo provision included, because many liberal lawmakers have balked at the language.

So, this is the absolute most important thing to our cold-blooded reptile of a junior senator!

Not health care, not the economy, not jobs, not anything else. Apparently, it's "fuck all that noise" to Lieberman.

No, the single most important thing to Joe Lieberman is to shield his favorite past-president from possible war crimes investigations, and (by the way) attempt to wipe his own bloody fingerprints off the policies that he so enthusiastically supported and indeed, helped enact!

And Harry Reid, doing his best imitation of a shit sack in a threadbare suit, is working in collusion with the toxic twins.

Jesus H. Christ! I honestly thought that when the Democrats earned such a huge majority in both houses, they'd actually do something about Lieberman.

Yep, they sure did...

...they bent over and kissed Lieberman's ass so thoroughly that he'll never get all the Chapstick out of his trousers.

Jane Hamsher over at FireDogLake has more.