Link: CNN.com – Scientist:Man in Americas earlier than thought – Nov 17, 2004.
An archaeologist from the University of South Carolina on Wednesday
announced radiocarbon tests that dated the first human settlement in
North America to 50,000 years ago — at least 25,000 years before other
known human sites on the continent.
Wow. Transatlantic Hide Boats…
Where’s Thor Heyerdahl when you need him?
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
– Benjamin Franklin
I.
The 2004 presidential election was lost not by John Kerry over the last several months but by the Democratic Party over the last several decades. Democrats have lost control of all three branches of government for the foreseeable future. We are now a minority party.
II.
When the Senate Democratic leader is defeated while spending $16 million attempting to get the majority of 500,000 votes, the problem is not a lack of funding or effort.
III.
The failure of the Democratic Party to connect with Americas desire for fulfillment is political death.
IV.
Democrats are now history’s spectators, Republicans its actors.
V.
The obsession with denouncing the radical conservative project as a “lie” has become a useful substitute for vision.
VI.
Renovating Democratic politics is not a question of moving to the right or talking more about religion. It is about creating a framework that once again communicates to the core needs of the American people.
VII.
America is not now, and never was, simply “the economy, stupid.” What the American people want is a deeper sense of personal meaning, a national mission, and passion in times of fear.
VIII.
Returning the Democratic Party to majority status will require a political realignment no less sweeping than that which was accomplished by conservatives over the last 40 years.
IX.
Only the breath of a serious and new moral-intellectual vision will be sufficient to resuscitate the Democratic Party.
X.
Democratic candidates will continue to lose as long as they treat Americans as rational actors who vote their “self-interest” after weighing competing offers for health care, jobs, and security.
XI.
Conservatives have spent the last 40 years getting clear about the values they represent. They have even developed a “family values” brand to represent a framework that coheres traditional prejudices around prayer in school, gun rights, restricting abortion, and restricting gay rights.
XII.
By contrast, liberal or ‘progressive’ groups and Democrats have spent the same period of time defining themselves against conservative values, even ‘morality’ in general.
XIII.
If resources continue to flow to the same leaders who have failed to construct a new vision and have thus left the Democratic Party in ruins then we can expect more of the same. And worse.
XIV.
Those who resist the process to create a new vision will be left behind.
XV.
Candidates who intend to win should no longer hire consultants who repeatedly lose. Those who counsel caution when dealing with the indifferent, the disaffected, and the undecided do not understand American history. Consultants who advise their clients against offering a clear and compelling vision in fear that it will be attacked should find themselves without a home in the Democratic Party. The sooner they retire, the better.
XVI.
Unconnected at a values level, the Democratic Party’s laundry list of policy proposals is a confusing and alienating hodgepodge of special interests bound together by a vague sense that ‘we’re all on the same side.’ Such a conflation demands no critical self-examination of the interest groups whose turf, and very identities, are treated as inviolable by Party chieftains.
XVII.
The progressive vision must be a direct challenge to fundamentalism in all of its forms: political, religious and economic. It must match fundamentalism’s power without replicating its authoritarianism. It must appeal to the values of liberty, equality, community, justice, unconditional love, shared prosperity, and ecological restoration, among many others.
XVIII.
Democrats serious about returning to majority status must:
XIX.
In despair and defeat lie the seeds of triumph and victory. In that loss lies the opportunity to define a new progressive politics for the new century.
Link: Suzuki on anti-Americanism.
Gotta like the man’s attitude…and opinion. David Suzuki and I have not see eye-to-eye on everything (we had a minor spat in the letters section of th Vancouver Sun in 1998 over urban development), but I think he nails this one.
His summary quote:
Pundits who insist that critics of President Bush are anti-American are really saying that if 52 per cent of Americans believe anything then thats what America stands for and everyone else has to respect that. This is a morally relativistic viewpoint that doesnt even withstand the most basic of scrutiny and Bush administration critics should not be bullied into believing it does.
Samantha found this in the Best of Craigs List. I post it here, verbatim. The metaphor is fantastic.
The Country is bound for one LONG walk of shame. America, the once beautiful, is slowly making its way back to its apartment, still wearing last night’s clothes. The country has sex hair, and can taste its own breath.
Yes, there’s nothing like an election to make you feel cheap and used, and you just KNOW that W, much like the deranged Frat boy that he is, is high-fiving his buddies, retelling the story of how he fucked the country so hard, and damned if he doesn’t think that he could probably goad her into giving it up again, only next time he’ll get her so drunk and confused he’ll be able to take her in the ass.
We, the few, the proud, the 48%, sit here scratching our heads, considering our country for the naive sorority sister that it is. America, you knew better. You’ve seen him do this before. You’ve been this girl before. And you know he’s fucking Iraq right now. Doesn’t that make you feel cheap? To Give yourself up this smug idiot when you know the whole time that he’s sticking his dick where it OBVIOUSLY doesn’t belong. Do you really think what you did was safe? I mean, we know outright that you didn’t protect yourself last night.
But We have to bear in mind that last night was not a one shot job. He didn’t slip the country a good old fashioned dose of ruhypnol and let her fall unknowingly into his arms. This time around there was no rape, no theft. No my friends, we’ve been watching this for months. Convincing her that he had her best interests in mind. Convincing her naive fly-over states that they might be the next ones to be targeted by terrorists (yeah Jim-Bob, because its your fucking Walmart that Osama Bin Laden wants to blow sky high, because he “Hates Your Freedom”. Right. And on that “Hating Democracy and Freedom” point, why have none of the neutral nations been attacked? just asking. but back to extended metaphor).
You should have listened to New York America. We were the ones hit hardest by 9/11. And we could have told you, in fact DID tell you all night last night as you were eyeing him across the room not to do it, that he was a prick and a liar, and would most likely just steal from your purse to buy some coke, fuck you and leave you worse off than you already were. But like a woman with an abusive husband, America fell for the lies, fell for the promises that things are going to get better, that he only abuses us because he really loves us (and God forbid, that Jesus told him to do it). America fell for the bullshit.
And now, she’s on the way home. Sore, tired, and with considerably less self respect than she had yesterday.
I don’t know what the future holds. but after a night like last night spent with a dirty prick like Him, you have no idea what manner of political genital warts you may have contracted, no idea what might be lying latent just waiting to pop up and threaten your safety, your way of life, your well being. I mean, there are plenty of other countries out there to start a war with! and I’m willing to bet that none of those we choose will be home to Osama Bin Laden (who was that again? oh yeah, the guy we were supposed to find 4 years ago. But again, I digress.)
So, my fellow Democrats, we weep. Let’s be big about it though. It’s over. Lets get back to watching him destroy the country, the economy, our status in the world, our Constitutional rights. Because in 4 years (Provided we’re all still here) we can look all of our fellow Americans who just HAPPENED to have voted for him (because, like our slutty friends who take one night stands with abusive men, we can always forgive our fellow americans) in the face and say “Hey, I Told You So”. Cold comfort, but the asshole in me sees it as the best I can hope for right now.
And Shame on You America. You let yourself be used. Get your ass home, take a shower, and put on the hap-hap-happiest fucking face you can. Cause Tomorrow you have to face the world, and they ALL know what you did last night.
Yesterday was November 11th. Where I am from (Canada), this is Rememberance Day. In the US (where they already have Memorial Day created to celebrate their orgy of destruction, the War between the States / Civil War), the same day is known as Veteran’s Day.
One is a day of rememberance for the dead. One is a day to honour those who returned.
In some respects, this is the difference between Canada and the United States. In Canada, there is a reverance for those who had given their all for the community as a whole. That is why Tommy Douglas leads in balloting for the Greatest Canadian (ahead of Terry Fox and Frederick Banting).
In the US, being successful and achieving your objectives, no matter what the cost are revered. In other words, losing your life fighting the enemy is failure; fighting the enemy and coming home alive is success.
Remember the sacrifice, or celebrate the survivors? Which philosophy is yours?
Link: Bob Shrum – Disinfopedia.
Bob Shrum is the worst thing to happen to the Democratic party since “Southern Democrats”. The party has this completely bizarre faith that this person — who is now 0 for 8 in campaigns — can lead them to the promised land.
GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF THE SAND.
Karl Rove has your number, has you cornered, and this dinosaur from the Kennedy era has got to be retired.
It’s over. The New Deal is dead. Camelot is gone. Carter is a great “statestman”. Clinton is eating fries and taking aspirin.
I vote that we send Bob Shrum somewhere where he can do a lot of good for democracy — Iraq. Then the Democrats will be able to start with a clean slate.
Link: Microsoft says Firefox not a threat to IE.
“We probably need to do a bit of work to communicate the features that are in IE,” he said.
Now, the interesting thing here is that, as someone on Slashdot said, the gentleman making the comments has never used Firefox. I think that if you are going to criticize something, you should have at least used it for a while.
I keep hearing that the latest and greatest wave in technology for the home PC is the ability to have more powerful file and data search tools to help you find grandma’s picture which got stored in some oddball directory last year.
I would use these in an instant, except for two concerns.
Link: Firefox 1.0 fans clog Mozilla site | CNET News.com.
Yours truly quoted in the article. Kudos to Ryan Breen for coming up with the memorable “success crisis” tag, which he claims he stole…borrowed from somewhere he can’t remember.
On the positive front, the site appears to have returned to some semblance of normal. The Updates page is still suffering, but I can wait a few days for new themes and extensions.
Link: No Longer a Christian.
Read this. Understand.
I was told in Sunday school the word “Christian” means to be Christ-like, but the message I hear daily on the airwaves from the christian media are words of war, violence, and aggression. Throughout this article I will spell christian with a small c rather than a capital, since the term (as I usually hear it thrown about) does not refer to the teachings of the one I know as the Christ. I hear church goers call in to radio programs and explain that it was a mistake not to kill every living thing in Fallujah. They quote chapter and verse from the old testament about smiting the enemies of Israel. The fear of fighting the terrorists on our soil rather than across the globe causes the voices to be raised as they justify the latest prison scandal or other accounts of the horrors of war . The words they speak are words of destruction, aggression, dominance, revenge, fear and arrogance. The host and the callers echo the belief in the righteousness of our nation’s killing. There are reminders to pray for our christian president who is doing the work of the Lord: Right to Life, Second Amendmendment, sanctity of marriage, welfare reform, war, kill, evil liberals. . . so much to fight, so much to destroy.
Amen.
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