You LIE! RightOnline conferencees told they outnumber NN10 (they didn't)

Did you hear the one about the conservative that told a provably false, bald-faced lie to his conference attendees?

"Netroots Nation is going down faster than Mel Gibson's career," Erik Telford of Americans for Prosperity told a laughing crowd at the Venetian casino gathered for the third annual RightOnline.

AFP started RightOnline to counter Netroots Nation, celebrating its fifth anniversary and holds the event each year in the same city as the progressive event.

Telford received huge cheers for saying that with 1,100 registered attendees, RightOnline was larger than Netroots Nation. He said the progressive event had estimated "between 1,000 and 2,000 attendees." But Netroots Nation's official spokeswoman Mary Rickles told TPM that Netroots has 2,100 registered attendees.

First they stalk us, then they lie about us. How "quaint".

Telford also characterized our conference as full of people who are "angry and bitter". Following their tweets over the weekend (hashtag #ro10), the lie about our conference being smaller was retweeted ad nauseum as was the "angry and bitter" comment.

I saw something much, much different.

I saw happy, energized, engaged people.

I saw welcoming, accepting, encouraging people.

We had people from all races. We had men and women. We had gay and straight and bisexual and transgendered folks. We had disabled bloggers like Daily Kos diarists Scottie (indiemcemopants) and PerfectStormer, both amazing writers and advocates. We had people who fit into more than one of these categories and yet all of them found a happy, accepting home at Netroots Nation 2010 in Las Vegas. Neither angry or bitter, the motley crew of progressive liberals all shared a common vision of promoting progressive ideals and politics across the country.

We were energizing and energized. We smiled, we laughed, we were serious and we were focused.

And we did not have to lie about our conference to feel good about ourselves.

Those "others" at RightOnline 2010?

Not so much.

Hope to see all of you in Minneapolis in June 2011. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

I'm just sayin'…

Today is Boobie Wednesday

Okay, I didn't even know there was such a thing as "Boobie Wednesday".

There is.

Here at Boobie Wednesday, our mission is quite simple. We want to help spread breast cancer awareness to as many people as we can reach! It's been proven time and again, that early detection is our best defense against breast cancer, which is why we choose to advocate self exams and breast health!

We always ask men and women to check themselves monthly and we use #boobiewed to remind you weekly so you dont forget, but we can only do so much. You have the message, But only you can check yourself and spread the word to those you love.

So, it's Wednesday. You know what to do.

I'm just sayin'...

Tim Walberg drops "Bomb of historical ignorance"

Sorry for so much MI-07 blogging lately but there's just too much goodness emanating from my humble little Congressional District these days. This one actually made it to the front page of Daily Kos:

Tim Walberg ain't exactly a Harvard-trained surgeon. He only beat one in 2006.

But the former Bible salesman turned one-term congressman oddly seemed determined to prove this fact at a Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce forum last week for 7th District GOP candidates.

[snip...]

"With the 9/12 movement, the Tea Party, people are standing up really for the first time in history," Walberg declared.

Now much of the debate was the Republicans trying to out-crazy each other, essentially arguing the government caused the Wall Street financial meltdown of '08 with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, hippie bike trails are the reason why Michigan doesn't have the cash to patch roads and Romney-style health care reform will enslave Americans in way Joe Stalin would envy.

But this beautiful bomb of historical ignorance really took the cake.

There have, of course, been many other movements in American history, from the 19th Century progressives to the turn-of-the century suffragists to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. All of these were large-scale efforts that permanently transformed society -- not just for an election (and the jury's still out on 2010).

"Bomb of historical ignorance." I don't know blogger Susan J. Demas personally but, after that pithy description, I think I like her a lot.

I also love that Tim Walberg has to read the list of things he stands for off his Blackberry. This guy wants another bite of the apple? Perish the thought.

I'm just sayin'...

Off to Netroots Nation + NFTT goal SURPASSED!

This afternoon I head off to Las Vegas for the Netroots Nation conference. The opening keynote speaker is Governor Brian Schweitzer from Montana and Senator Al Franken will do the closing speech. In between there will be tons of amazing people there including Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

I wanted to thank everyone who contributed to my donation page for Netroots for the Troops (NFTT). Not only did I achieve my goal of $1,000, I surpassed it!!! While I'm at the conference I'll be manning the NFTT booth and helping to assemble CARE packages.

Stay tuned for reports from Netroots Nation. Hell, if I can figure out how to post videos from my new iPhone to YouTube, maybe I'll even try that.

I'm just sayin'...

Brian Rooney's on a roll

Oh, looky. Brian Rooney just picked up another endorsement from someone who doesn't even live in his district (MI-07).

For real, dude? First it was someone from Georgia and now this? What's next? Canuck endorsements? Maybe a few from some Europeans?

Since he's lived in MI-07 less than year, maybe he just doesn't know that many people here...

I'm just sayin'...

Racist GOP candidate sees America as "white homeland"

Via Think Progress

Racist GOP candidate for New Hampshire's House of Representative, Ryan J. Murdough, has an interesting point of view:

For far too long white Americans have been told that diversity is something beneficial to their existence. Statistics prove that the opposite is true. New Hampshire residents must seek to preserve their racial identity if we want future generations to have to possibility to live in such a great state. Affirmative action, illegal and legal non-white immigration, anti-white public school systems, and an anti-white media have done much damage to the United States of America and especially New Hampshire. It is time for white people in New Hampshire and across the country to take a stand. We are only 8 percent of the world's population and we need our own homeland, just like any other non-white group of people deserve their own homeland.

Seriously, dude? You really think that such blatant racism is going to fly in this country, much less in New Hampshire? The GO-TEA Party needs to look in the mirror before they make claims there are no racists in their midst. Because Murdough is the REPUBLICAN candidate.

Reading through some of his comments at the Concord Monitor, we get a better picture of this Neanderthal racist throw-back to a worse era:

The Tea Party at its core is all about race but most of the Tea Partiers do not even realize it. They downplay the race issue every chance they get because they are afraid of being perceived as racist

Posting that I was a racist was a mistake because the word has no specific definition. It is just a label that anti-White people like to use to try and silence anyone such as myself from exercising freedom of speech on racial issues.

White people need to wake up and realize that they need to preserve their homeland. The United States was not meant to be a melting pot and the more "diverse" the country becomes the worse it will get. Legal non-White immigration hurts our country.

Every group of people has been a victim at one point in time but no group of people has exploited their victimhood as much as Jews have.

Our government is owned and operated by Jewish Supremacists and it is totally subservient to a foreign country, Israel.

White people are not flocking to non-White countries but non-White people are flocking to White countries. Why are predominantly non-White cities plagued with crime and why do predominantly White cities and states have a much lower crime rate?

Multiculturalism and diversity are not good things for America. Why should I care about another culture or race in my own country? Nations are built on similarities, not differences. Do you think think that the soil makes countries different or better off? No, it is the people who make a country great and the United States was made great by White people.

NH was ranked the the safest state in the country recently. New Orleans and Detroit have recently been ranked as two of the most dangerous cities. Anyone know what the racial demographics are in those cities compared to NH?

White countries are forced to take in millions of non-White immigrants in order to be "diverse" and "multicultural". Why are only White countries forced to have this happen to them? This is White genocide and I am simply stating that White people have a right to save themselves from extinction. Mexicans would not want their country to become overrun with White people. Japanese would not allow their country to be taken over by non-Japanese. I could go on and on.

Murdough is also a moderator at the odious White News Now web forum (no linkage – ugh … [shudder]) whose tagline is "This belongs to OUR descendants". He's also a proponent of the American Third Position website, another equally odious (and not-linked here) blot on the blogosphere.

Now, the GOP in New Hampshire has tried to distance itself from Murdough. But here's the problem for the GOP: they have embraced the Teabaggers with all their overt racism so wholeheartedly in the past year that they now have to pay the piper for doing so. You don't get to openly court the overt (and stealth) racists and then act all offended and horrified that one of them takes you up on your offer and runs for office (albeit as a matter of "convenience" so he didn't have to scare up 150 signatures) under your banner.

Republicans made that bed. Now they have to sleep in it.

It's yet another example of the GOP being co-opted by the most Fringey McFringington freaks. If they want to maintain any semblance of credibility (and it's probably far too late for that) they better figure out how to get a better grip on their party. With the likes of Palin and Bachman and Kyl, et. al. in leadership positions, this seems highly unlikely to happen any time soon.

Sadly, the linked article says that this creep "works with children". Perish the thought...

I'm just sayin'…

Popcorn Time in MI-07, ver. 7.19.10

This is rich.

So, in 2008, Republican Joe Schwarz endorsed Mark Schauer for the MI-07 race and, of course, Schauer ended up narrowly defeating Tim Walberg. There has been very bad blood between Schwarz and Walberg ever since Walberg got the Club for Growth to kick the crap out of him (financially- and negative campaigningly-speaking) in the contested 2006 GOP primary.

Now Schwarz has endorsed Walberg's primary opponent, Brian Rooney, the ultra right wing friend of the Teabaggers.

“

I think he’s the best choice because he served in the military, has a very good legal background and he has a broad view of what the problems are, and what the solutions are with the economy,” Schwarz said.

Another reason why Schwarz said he is backing Rooney is that his focus is on the economy, “as opposed to very narrow social issues.”

Yeah, right, Joe. Sure. We believe you and that those are your real reasons. No, really.

Well, that doesn't sit well with Walberg so he went ahead and demanded that Rooney disavow Schwarz's endorsement:

"Tomorrow, former Congressman Joe Schwarz is hosting a fundraiser for Republican Congressional Candidate Brian Rooney. Former Congressman Schwarz endorsed Mark Schauer for Congress in 2008, who has voted for trillion dollar deficits and the government takeover of health care, and said he will likely support Schauer again this year.

"As reported in the Jackson Citizen Patriot, 'Schwarz said if Rooney wins the primary and faces off against Schauer in November, he will then evaluate whom he would support.' The Citizen Patriot further reported, 'If Walberg wins the primary, Schwarz said Schauer will have his support in the fall.'

"'Granted, Brian Rooney moved into the 7th District from Wayne County the same day he signed his candidacy papers, but he should know better than to let Congressman Mark Schauer endorser Joe Schwarz raise money for his campaign. Congressman Joe Schwarz has said he will support Congressman Mark Schauer in the general election if Tim Walberg is the Republican nominee, so Brian Rooney should disavow Joe Schwarz’ support and cancel the fundraiser,' said campaign spokesman Joe Wicks."

Honestly, this is the funniest damn Congressional primary pie fight I have ever seen.

What's next? Walberg pulls down Rooney's pants and runs away yelling "nana nana boo-boo"? Or maybe Rooney gives Walberg a hot foot at a debate?

Meanwhile, Congressman Mark Schauer is kicking serious financial butt, financially-speaking. He raised almost a half million dollars last quarter and has $1.65 million cash on hand. Together Rooney, Walberg, and the other GOP candidate, Marvin Carlson, only raised about $275,000 in Q2 and, collectively have only $785,000 on hand.

He's also acting like an adult and a leader by taking strong stands on Wall Street reform, health insurance reform and leveling the playing field for American companies competing with Chinese companies.

Walberg will probably pants him.

I'm just sayin'...

So, I had this zucchini nightmare...

...and it looked like this:


Squished Squash
Originally uploaded by Ånne

Good thing we only grew two mounds this year.

Don't get too excited. It's a composite photo.

I'm just sayin'...

Detroit Free Press endorses Tea Partier in MI-07

The Detroit Free Press has endorsed Brian Rooney, a friend of the Michigan Tea Party "movement", as the GOP candidate in MI-07.

Three conservative Republicans are competing to challenge Democrat Mark Schauer of Battle Creek, who wrested the seat from the GOP in 2008.

BRIAN ROONEY, 37, a lawyer from Dexter and a relative newcomer to Michigan (he actually moved here for a job) would be the strongest GOP candidate. As a captain in the U.S. Marines, Rooney was deeply involved in the complex work of resettling Fallujah after the fierce battle for control of the Iraq city, so navigating Congress may not seem so tough. Sharp and serious, Rooney wants to repeal the estate tax and "flatten the tax code" to make it more fair. Rooney is a grandson of the founder of pro football's Pittsburgh Steelers and serves on the board of the team, which remains the family business.

Don't believe that he's a fan of our state's newest party? Here' his tweet from January 23, 2010:



In other Tea Party news, the guy who put the Tea Party on the November ballot in Michigan claims he's for real:

The reclusive leader of the petition drive to create an official Tea Party in Michigan said today he is an authentic part of the movement to rein in big government and undertook the organizing effort to protect his children and grandchildren.

But Mark Steffek, a retired UAW shop steward who agreed to a telephone interview after weeks of avoiding the media, declined to identify the source of tens of thousands of dollars used to fund the petition drive, other people involved in the effort or any candidates the party might place on the ballot.

[snip]

Steffek said he had no help, financial or otherwise, from the Democratic Party or from the UAW.

He said no date has been set for a convention to nominate candidates to run on the the Tea Party slate. The nominations have to be submitted to the Secretary of State by Aug. 3.

Maybe if Brian Rooney doesn't get the GOP nomination, he could, you know, switch parties or something.

I'm just sayin'...

Livin' the good life - breakfast from the garden

We got some eggs from friends who have chickens (they are several different colors because they have several different types of hens) and this morning, we're making omelets.


Click for a bigger image

Swiss chard.
Onions.
Zucchini.
Broccoli.
Green pepper.

All fresh from the garden, picked this morning most of it.

Damn, I love this life...

UPDATE: Here's the final result, courtesy of my wife:


Click for a bigger image

I'm just sayin'...

A Dem legislative/regulatory win you didn't know about

Last October, I wrote about freshman Senator Amy Klobuchar's bill to regulate formaldehyde emissions from engineered wood panels. These are the panels used to build our homes, our desks and other furniture and that are ubiquitous throughout our lives, often unnoticed. Shop at any Office Max, Ikea, or discount furniture store and you'll be surrounded by things made from medium density fiberboard (MDF) and particleboard.

Last week, with little fanfare or notice, President Obama signed Senator Klobuchar's bill into law. And to add to the magnitude of this Dem-Win, the EPA declared formaldehyde to be a carcinogen, paving the way to further action from this governmental body.

More on these most-awesome, under-the-radar regulatory wins for Democrats, Senator Klobuchar and President Obama after the jump.

Cutest girl in town

My wife:

I'm just sayin'...

"The tea party is trying to cleanse the Republican Party"

Last may I wrote about how the Tea Party movement in Michigan is terrified of becoming a full-fledged political party. Yesterday we found out that the "Tea Party" formation petitions have been successful and the "Tea Party" will very likely be on the ballot in Michigan in November. The "true" Teabaggers in Michigan are, of course, outragedItellzya. I, myself, had the lovely pleasure of signing one of the petitions on Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor a month ago and, as I said to the petition collector, if the teabaggers want to be involved in politics then let them form their own party -- let them OWN THAT.

Well now they can see what it's like 'cause they're gonna have their own party. And, as I wrote in my diary in May, they aren't interested in having their own party. They are actually terrified of that. No, they plan to take over the GOP. In the Detroit Free Press today, we now have a bald admission of this:

"The tea party is trying to cleanse the Republican Party."

Here's the full bit:

Most of Michigan's public tea party activists, like those elsewhere in the country, have dismissed the idea of forming an official third-party alternative as counterproductive to their goal of reining in the cost and size of government.

"We don't need another party," said Bill Hollister, chairman of MEDEFCO, a Macomb County-based tea party organization. "The tea party is trying to cleanse the Republican Party."

What's MEDEFCO? It's the Metro Detroit Freedom Coalition (which, by the way, is actually mispelled on their website [top right column].). They currently feature a picture of two gay men kissing on their front page along with the headline "Anger Over Sex Ed Proposal to Teach First Graders About 'Gay Love' - AOL Health"

MEDEFCO claims to have six goals:

1. To preserve the economic future for our children.
   
2. To work for a return to the principles of our governing constitution.
   
3. To demand limited government.
   
4. To promote the free market that made our country the leader of the world.
   
5. To give support for individual and property rights.
   
6. To provide a platform for giving like minded citizens a voice.

So, why, one might ask, do we find posts on their blog about homosexuals? Why blog about Hispanics? Or Christian sermons? Because, this isn't just an anti-tax group. It's a virulently right-wing, uber-conservative group of homophobic, anti-Obama bigots. And they want to "cleanse the Republican Party". I contend that MEDEFCO is quite representative of the so-called Tea Party movement nationally. They claim to be a small-government, anti-tax movement but it goes oh-so-much farther than that. A simple perusal of their websites is enough to show that. So now a group of unknown individuals in Michigan, very likely progressive liberals, is calling their bluff. They are making them back away from becoming a formal political party. And more importantly they are forcing them to admit what we all know already: they are planning to take over an existing political party, sucking all the air out of the room for moderate, reasonable Republicans. And, let's face it: this country NEEDS a vibrant two-(at least)-party system. We NEED to have that push-and-pull, that tension, to make sure that our government does not careen off the cliff of corruption and that neither party gets too far away from the more moderate mainstream that makes up most of the electorate. Any party is vulnerable to becoming corrupted if they aren't checked and any party existing in an echo chamber can lose touch with the citizens they represent if there is nothing to challenge them.

The Republican Party today, particularly the one we see before us that is being insidiously "cleansed" by far-right zealots, no longer serves that function. And our country is the worse for it.

I'm just sayin'...

Kwame Kilpatrick continues to kick Michigan in the teeth

Not content to kick Detroit while it was down, disgraced former Detorit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is now kicking the rest of us Michiganders in the teeth.

To wit:

Taxpayers to foot bill for Kilpatrick's defense
Detroit -- Clad in an inmate's uniform and leg irons, a noticeably thinner Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded poverty Tuesday when charged in federal court with 19 counts of fraud and income tax violations.

"That is correct," the former mayor of Detroit answered when asked by U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald A. Scheer if he was unable to hire an attorney. Scheer accepted an affidavit from Kilpatrick, 40, explaining his current financial straits.

Hours later, James C. Thomas, the same high-powered attorney paid by Kilpatrick to lead a legal team in fighting criminal charges stemming from the text message scandal, was appointed to represent Kilpatrick again -- this time at taxpayer expense.

[snip]

Mike Paul, who acts as the Kilpatrick family spokesman, said in a telephone interview from his New York office, "He doesn't have any money. He doesn't work. He has no job. The family just downsized to a smaller house because he's the breadwinner and there is no bread.

So he gets his same high-dollar lawyer back but, this time, WE have to pay for it.

No bread. And no shame. Won't this guy ever go away???

I'm just sayin'...

The Lametude, it burns

How low does a candidate have to sink to get to the point where he crows about endorsements from people who not only do not live in the district he or she is running in but doesn't even live in the same state?

About this low, apparently.

Joel Manby, a native of Battle Creek, Michigan, today announced his endorsement of Brian Rooney in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District.

Manby, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Herschend Family Entertainment, was recently featured in the first season of Undercover Boss on CBS. His episode was the second most watched of the season and drew more than 16.72 million viewers nationally.

“Although I live in Georgia, Michigan is still close to my heart," said Manby. "We need dramatic change in Michigan government to get it back on track and Brian Rooney has what it takes. He is a proven leader and patriot and he isn’t a politician. We need common sense in government, not more lifetime politicians. I support Brian Rooney”.

Herschend Family Entertainment runs amusement parks. Dollywood. Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. Wild Adventures.

Hard to understand why a guy who lives in Georgia is so keen to change the member of Congress representing a district that's over 700 miles away.

Congrats, Brian. You must be so proud.

[Dramatic eyeroll...]

I'm just sayin'…