Something To Think About

Via Norwegianity, who allows no comments, we are directed to this thoughtful post on the Democratic presidential nomination process & it is worth a read. Here's my favorite, however:

Bubba's status as "the first black president" was kindling for this fire set ablaze by an honor guard of torch-carrying South Carolina voters. His aura of resilience and indomitability could no longer be seen through the smoke. What was clear was the frail presence of an aging and desperate man who is quickly becoming the Willie Loman of American politics.

Ouchity, ouch, ouch. & it is correct.

My emphasis.

Enough To Go Around

Our rulers are all bastards. As mentioned here, the Democratic leadership enabled, really enabled, Bu$hCo's destruction of the Constitution. How can these sons-of-bitches sleep at night? This is why Democrats continue to lose, they really think they are ReThug Lite. I'm glad The Twins are visiting, or else this would be another version of The Lost Weekend. I mean, what else is there to do?

Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said.

Elephant Appreciation Day, Yesterday, Damnit

I kid you not. I had cut out a whole bunch of elephant puzzles for the lovely & darling Twins, but they were up here visiting so I had no time to finish them. You know, this grandfather thing is exhausting, what with carrying them around the house, showing them off at The Black Cat Coffeehouse (yes, no WiFi yet, crap), the bakery, the local food coop, the only high school in town & the vet's office. The problem with elephants, as the wise & good-looking Dave at the recycling center said, "I've sort of lost my enthusiasm for elephants." He is a great Democrat, married to a great Democrat, & father to three great Democrats. Now y'all will understand. So, to celebrate Elephant Appreciation Day, albeit a day late, Mrs. coldH2O & I, along with The Twins & their manservant, the Son-in-Law & their Stenographer, The Kid, have send out 44 postcards to the spineless, gutless Democratic senators who voted to condemn MoveOn's truthful ad concerning Gen. Betray-us. We also sent in $22 apiece in your dishonor. The Mrs. & I are particularly disheartened by our Sen. Kohl's vote, & The Kid & The Son-in-Law, as well as The Twins are pissed about their Sen. Klobuchar's vote. You, my loyal four readers ought to do the same. You can go to The Dave Blog & download the postcard for printing. As usual, my admonition is accompanied by the obvious tenet that it will make you feel good.

Absolutely

They'll say you're beholden to the left? Guys, they're gonna say this anyway, so why not BE beholden to the left? To the left of your party that has won over a country while you were dithering around trying not to work too hard. To the left of your party that was saying "stop this madness" long before you realized there was a bandwagon to jump on and ride to victory. To the left of your party that is made up of your voters, your supporters, your donors, your AMERICANS, who deserve a voice and a vote and deserve better than you've been giving them. To the left of your party, which was right about this war, and deserves to be thanked, not disregarded.

More good words here.

Another Amen

Good words. Come on Dems, be women & men, stop cowering, stop whining about 60 votes. Jesus in hotpants, stop allowing the Worst President Ever to push you around. Push back, the country is actually behind you. We've got your backs. Via First Draft.

Finally

The work last November is beginning to pay off.

Progress

Good for Deval Patrick & the state of Massachusetts. He's bound to be much better than Mitt Romney, of the temple garments.

Deval Patrick took the oath of office yesterday as the state's 71st governor, and the first African-American, presenting himself as a symbol of optimism and change who will restore faith in government after 16 years of Republican rule.

Good & Happy

This makes America better.

Positive Midwestern Sensibility

This is such a solid thing for Keith Ellison to do.

Yet the holy book at tomorrow's ceremony has an unassailably all-American provenance. We've learned that the new congressman -- in a savvy bit of political symbolism -- will hold the personal copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

"He wanted to use a Koran that was special," said Mark Dimunation, chief of the rare book and special collections division at the Library of Congress, who was contacted by the Minnesota Dem early in December. Dimunation, who grew up in Ellison's 5th District, was happy to help.

[...]

Ellison will take the official oath of office along with the other incoming members in the House chamber, then use the Koran in his individual, ceremonial oath with new Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "Keith is paying respect not only to the founding fathers' belief in religious freedom but the Constitution itself," said Ellison spokesman Rick Jauert.

My emphasis.

Look Out Bu$hCo

The oversight begins. Things are looking up for America. Speaker-elect Pelosi scores big on this selection.

But Mrs. Pelosi chose him over Ms. Harman in part because he has repeatedly taken a more combative stance toward Bush administration policies like the invasion of Iraq, military tribunals for terrorist suspects, and the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program.

Mr. Reyes voted against authorizing President Bush to go to war with Iraq, and in June he said that the failures in Iraq “cry out for oversight.”

In September, Mr. Reyes blasted the White House’s justifications for the National Security Agency wiretapping program.

“I take very seriously our obligation to provide the president with the tools that he needs to provide for national security,” he said, “but I also reject the notion that the authorization for use of military force allows the president to ignore the Fourth Amendment and conduct warrantless surveillance on American citizens.”

Oh, & by the way, Harman is no "centrist". In fact, she's barely a Democrat. This whole centrist/moderate meme is just another ReThug attempt to make the Democratic Party cower in the corner. Speaker-elect Pelosi's excellent choice for chair of the House Intelligence Committee is proof that we have a Speaker-elect with a backbone.

Happy Democrat

Nice pic of Sen.-elect Tester of MT. Looks a lot like Fred, da mayor. If he has the brains & tenacity of Fred, the country will be well served.

Good Good Good Start

I just love this. & no one deserves it more that Dick "Go Fuck Yourself" Cheney. We haven't heard much about his hunting trip. I wonder if anything happened? That would be really bad, but who knows?

Mapping The Future?

This great, interactive map on U.S. Senate races comes to BillyCreek thanks to a loyal reader, Scott. You should go read him.

Twit Gets Punched

Good for Clinton. He bitchslapped that twit Wallace over at Stupid News. Read the transcript here. Go read it. Reading is good.

Ann Richards, Again.

Molly Ivins tells some stories. Ms. Richards was the kind of Democrat that we need, liberal, funny, tough, honest.

At a long-ago political do at Scholz Garten in Austin, everybody who was anybody was there meetin' and greetin' at a furious pace. A group of us got the tired feet and went to lean our butts against a table at the back wall of the bar. Perched like birds in a row were Bob Bullock, then state comptroller, moi, Charles Miles, the head of Bullock's personnel department, and Ms. Ann Richards. Bullock, 20 years in Texas politics, knew every sorry, no good sumbitch in the entire state. Some old racist judge from East Texas came up to him, "Bob, my boy, how are you?"

Bullock said, "Judge, I'd like you to meet my friends: This is Molly Ivins with the Texas Observer."

The judge peered up at me and said, "How yew, little lady?"

Bullock, "And this is Charles Miles, the head of my personnel department." Miles, who is black, stuck out his hand, and the judge got an expression on his face as though he had just stepped into a fresh cowpie. He reached out and touched Charlie's palm with one finger, while turning eagerly to the pretty, blonde, blue-eyed Ann Richards. "And who is this lovely lady?"

Ann beamed and replied, "I am Mrs. Miles."

Via Susie Madrak.