Prairie Sun Rising

. Have the Courage to Follow Your Heart .

2011-10-05T20:48:00.003-05:00

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

- Steve Jobs

Run, Liz, Run

2011-08-11T21:13:00.001-05:00

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Elizabeth Warren. U.S. Senator.

I like the sound of that.

Don't have to live in Massachusetts to be enthusiastic about that.

Give 'em hell, Elizabeth.
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An argument can be made....

2011-08-07T18:16:00.007-05:00

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A local Fargo ND newspaper "reporter" recites that phrase today as part of a cautionary opinion piece about the local union which has been locked out of work at American Crystal Sugar:

An argument can be made that the aggressive behavior of unions is why so many jobs have been shipped overseas.

Ironic really, coming—as the Forum staffer's opining does—in the same section as the editorial page editor's mocking column about the end-of-days caller who also had a totally self-selected spin on reality.

But in the spirit of the reporter's educating us rubes who didn't come by way of the Rust Belt or the Big Oil/Bible Belt, I have a few arguments that also can be made.

Yep. An argument can be made that the moon is made of green cheese.

And since we're talking about jobs and workers and lockouts and how workers oughta smarten up and take what's offered to them, here's another argument that can be made:

Workers should go back to working for room and board, and for the hours the managers want to assign them. Dark to dark is good. Oh, and family values urges we keep whole families out there working on those sugar beet piles like they used to work in the fields. An argument can be made.

Heck, while we're at it, there's no need for running water or electricity for those workers' homes ... all that electrification stuff, that's socialist, and we don't need socialism in this country. An argument can be made.

On the other hand, an argument can be made that the attitude the Forum reporter and the American Crystal manager espouse is what is killing the middle class ... and has been since Reagan fired the air traffic controllers and unions discovered what happens when unions cave and break ranks. Michael Moore's making that argument.

And there's one more argument that can be made: standing on the sidelines can't be an option anymore. We're all in this country together, and there are those first three words. We, the people. We each must participate or we get the government, we get the leadership, we get the community we deserve.

So. An argument can be made that as a responsible member of my community who sees injustice in action in the American Crystal lockout, I must choose to boycott the brand.

And yes, I am. While American Crystal chooses to lockout, I choose to leave out American Crystal from my shopping list.
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crossposted at firedoglake/MyFDL
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Caregiving vs. gimme, gimme.

2011-07-26T18:26:00.003-05:00

The forces of selfishness and greed and mindless authoritarianism have got their heels dug in and their arms crossed and their brains switched to "off."

To heck with fairness and balance and entitlements and earmarks and government and ....

Enough.

Just raise the debt ceiling. No frills, no fuss, no foney-baloney. Stop acting like spoiled toddlers.

Enough.

Local Color

2011-06-11T09:59:00.005-05:00

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Cruising my hometown newspaper from a distance this morning, I came across a cliched expression of moral outrage about Anthony Weiner. More specifically, about Nancy Pelosi's refusal to yell "off with his head." [sorry, couldn't resist.]

I commented, but it being the Fargo Forum with a longstanding Republican bias, I don't expect my comment to get thru moderation. I'll be pleasantly surprised. Just in case, here it is:

People who live in glass houses…. David Vitter and diapers and prostitutes. Republican Senator.
Mark Foley and underage pages. Republican Representative.
Chris Lee and craigslist ads for transsexuals. Republican Representative.
Newt Gingrich and infidelity in the House parking ramp and dumping two wives with cancer. Republican. Speaker of the House. Presidential candidate.
Mary Bono Mack and the breast licker being investigated by the FBI. Republican Representative.
John Ensign and the predatory stalking and coerced sex with his best friend’s wife and payoff after. Republican Senator.
Larry Craig. Minneapolis men’s room stall toe tapper. Republican Senator.
And John Boehner. We’ll see how that goes….
The problem with pointing a finger is there’s always more pointing back at you.

Thing is, when either side demands the resignation of an opposing elected official, without consistently demanding the resignation of one of their own, then the same ol' same ol' continues. When the cronies protect their own ... And when the voters stand pat and just vote their party line, then we all deserve what we get.

We need grown-ups. Not coverups. For that reason alone, Anthony Weiner should resign. As should David Vitter. And Tom Coburn. And Charlie Rangel.

UPDATE at 6 p.m.: Call me pleasantly surprised: The blog monitor at the Forum's Area Voices did not censor my comment. And call me so not-surprised: The original blog-poster retorted with the predictable oh-yeah, so-are-Dems....

In the good ol' summertime.... here we are again, media-obsessed with a salacious story. Go read Joe Nocera in today's New York Times. That's a pleasant surprise, too. In the Rich-Herbertless NYT, someone to look forward to reading.

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Jobs Crisis

2011-06-10T08:08:00.005-05:00

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No, I do not care about Sarah Palin's emails.
I do not care about Anthony Weiner's penis.

I care about jobs.

Work matters.

I believe I will start working to fire incumbents. Until they catch fire and start doing their jobs to put Americans back to work, everybody in The Village should feel the fear Americans feel ... about losing their jobs, finding a job, facing the bleak future.

Mitch McConnell and John Boehner may think obstruction and filibusters are the way to get back into power, but, hey, guys... your team are incumbents, too. And if I were the O'Bama team, I'd be running on what's actually been accomplished even as the Rethugs all tried to handicap and handcuff the President at every turn. Gulliver and the Lilliputians comes to mind.

Of course, that Republican Navy Seal's comments pro Obama on the Daily Show didn't hurt, either.

But we're on short time now to the 2012 election. Everyone who is an incumbent should be mindful that everyone in this country is only one day away from unemployment. Everyone.

See you at the ballot box.... All of you.
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Still Waiting....

2011-06-03T22:21:00.001-05:00

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Muscular liberalism.

Muscular Liberalism

2011-05-14T15:38:00.004-05:00

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That heading's a phrase I heard a Brit politician use on the occasion of the first anniversary of the coalition government.

Looking forward to when our American politicians start thinking ... and legislating ... that way.
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crossposted at firedoglake/MyFDL

Launch Monday

2011-04-04T08:34:00.004-05:00

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President Obama launches his re-election campaign today.
Laura Bush is Todaying her book tour.
Tim Pawlenty is pushing his inner Mad Men.

So I've got a couple questions.

How much delay in the Mideast democracy movement was because of Bush's willful invasion and botched strategy for after in Iraq? The intelligence was not wrong. The intelligence-manipulators were.

When will the old media start looking at the botched economy Pawlenty left behind in Minnesota?

Must we wait for the historians?

crossposted at firedoglake/MyFDL

"I Refused to Allow a Massacre..."

2011-03-29T15:22:00.005-05:00

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Now if he were just talking about the GOP war on America's middle class and workers and the jobless and the seniors and the children's education here in America, too.
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Judgement at Concordia

2011-03-25T09:05:00.006-05:00

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Last night I attended a National Book Award event at a local college, featuring John Dower, a Pulitzer and National Book Award-winning author who has written Cultures of War, Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq. He discussed the parallels in "shock and awe" tactics and the strategic imbecility of having no backup plan...after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, after America invaded Iraq.

Dower commented that one of the greatest tragedies of the failure to hold hearings or any kind of "conversation" much less trials about Iraq is that the complete record is likely lost to history. Unlike the record we have from Nuremberg and Tokyo.

Instead we have Rumsfeldian revisionism that will only get worse, I'm thinking. No wonder Dubya mocked the historians. Although, even with the limited record of leakers and piecing together what was on the record yet willfully ignored by the groupthink of the men who made these decisions with Mad Mary hovering over them [I will never get that iconic picture scrubbed from my brain!], judgements are being made. And Dubya's not dead yet.

Invading Iraq -- one of the most colossal failures in strategic thinking in global and military history.

The pullers of the levers of power may want to deny it, to cover it up, to leave it in the dustbin, to not contemplate their own culpability. The media may go along because their own colossal failure to do their jobs, instead, to enable, to steno the run-up to war would be revealed, as well. The incestuous little village may want to keep its tidy little salons free of such petty annoyances as accountability. Starting with looking at their own bare faces in the mirror. And thus, the lesson of history could be lost to future generations

Heckuva job, Bushie.

Unless.

Unless there are men and women of honor and courage and a sense of history as well as right and wrong who will one by one come forward and place their testimony, their documents, on the record.

Failing that, this truly will be a failure of "intelligence."
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crossposted at firedoglake/MyFDL

R.I.P. Warren Christopher

2011-03-19T08:55:00.003-05:00

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Homegrown North Dakota, was Warren Christopher. A citizen who moved on while doing us proud.

Rest in Peace, Warren Christopher.
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Hey, John Boehner....

2011-03-06T18:23:00.007-06:00

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Remember those schoolkids you get too teared-up to visit?

They're living in poverty these days, they tell us on 60 Minutes. They're living in cars and cheap hotels and the spare rooms of their neighbors and in shelters. They're dropping out of school to try to help their unemployed parents pay the bills. They're seeing their Playstations and Barbie dolls get sold for storage fees. Too soon, one in four will be a child in poverty....

They're blaming themselves, these kids, for the fate of their family.

I blame you.

Sometimes a kid's American dream is as simple as a home.
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crossposted at firedoglake/MyFDL

Conrad Retiring

2011-01-18T08:54:00.003-06:00

MSNBC is reporting that Kent Conrad will announce he's not running for re-election in 2012.

Hmmmm. Anybody heard Bud Selig's plans lately?

Quote for every day

2011-01-17T15:33:00.001-06:00

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‎"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. " ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

h/t to Mary on FB for the reminder.

Gettin' It Done

2011-01-04T14:52:00.003-06:00

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While Bloomie and Christie were whining from their elitist perches during the blizzard, Cory Booker was getting it done for his constituents in Newark.

I'm saving this commentary on Hypocrisy he's written for HuffPost, because—given the speed with which the bullpucky spin's already rising in DeeCee—I've a hunch I'm going to need to go back to it for clear-eyed vision from time to time this year.

Booker's writing about health and hypocrisy, but his message transcends carbs of sugar. Take heed.
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Happy New Year

2010-12-31T08:43:00.002-06:00

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Mother Nature's having the last word on 2010 in prairie country. A good time to stay in, stay warm, stay safe.

May your New Year get better!
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Season of Peace Wishes

2010-12-24T09:57:00.001-06:00

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However you celebrate or don't this holiday season, good will wishes to you for peace on earth...and in nations...and in homes...and in hearts.
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Hoary Old Chestnuts Roasting....

2010-12-15T18:49:00.005-06:00

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On Hardball Wednesday, the discussion turned to education, and Salon's Joan Walsh pointed out that John Boehner's sad, sad tears about children mean nothing compared to the lack of action and effort by Boehner to actually improve the lives of children. Right on cue, Michelle Bernard trotted out yet again the magic word of conservative ideologues everywhere: vouchers.

Please.

What good's a voucher going to do for a poor kid whose tuition would be thousands of dollars more than the value of a voucher? What good's a voucher going to do when the next nearest school to the rural combined school is twenty miles away on country highways covered with ice and snow this year.

Walsh had it right. Vouchers are a panacea. The typical grab-a-buzz-word tactic of the right. Shallow. Clipped. About as much value as my spaniel's toenails.

So maybe Boehner ought to dry his poor-poor-me-I-have-to-see-what-I-should-be-doing tears. Pack away the golf clubs and the country club memberships. Visit schools every single week.

And Michelle Bernard. Maybe she ought to chip her manicure a bit by going into a DC school with a paintbrush.

Teachers unions aren't the problem, as follow-up guest Michelle Rhee noted. They're doing their job. It's the rest of us that aren't doing ours.

So to Boehner and Bernard and the ideologues on the right, how about taking in a holiday movie this Christmas season. Waiting for Superman.

Education means all the kids...fix the problems. Don't just divide and favor the vouchered few.
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crossposted at firedoglake/MyFDL

RIP Elizabeth Edwards

2010-12-07T16:12:00.002-06:00

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Elizabeth Edwards long journey and challenges are now over. May she rest in peace.

If the dogs in the media will let her.

Yes, I'm talking about you, Chris Matthews and Chuck Todd. Your disgusting on-air trashing of this woman when her death was just confirmed is beyond loathesome. And will not be forgotten by this former viewer.
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ISAIAH Summit in Minnesota

2010-12-06T09:26:00.006-06:00

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To know just how much Republican Tom Emmer cares about being governor and actually, you know, governing, just one word: ISAIAH.

The recount stall campaign now in progress in Minnesota has absolutely less than zero credibility when you look at Tom Emmer's reaction to ISAIAH.

He and Mark Dayton were both invited to the ISAIAH summit, Shining the Light, a Faith Gathering for Minnesota's Future. Inviting both to the Sunday, December 5 event was covering the bases, as one organizer put it.

Mark Dayton attended.

Tom Emmer never responded.

Meanwhile, the Republican-slanted Minnesota media types are still pretending this is a serious recount, not just more of the same ol' same ol' from the party of craven thuggery.
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h/t MPR news
crossposted at firedoglake/MyFDL

North Dakota: We're Number 1

2010-12-01T17:03:00.005-06:00

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For years we've had Congressman Earl Pomeroy [D-ND] working himself to exhaustion to bring home the bacon for our state. Flood mitigation funds, investments in technology and agriculture, highways, you name it, if it was good for North Dakota, Earl worked his ass off for it. Was on the front lines, too. From his multiple trips to visit our troops in Afghanistan to standing on the riverbanks hefting sandbags right along with his neighbors.

Pomeroy’s requests targeted key priorities such as education, research, technology, the state’s Air Force bases in Minot and Grand Forks and flood control projects in the Red River Valley.

Meanwhile, Rick Berg was nowhere to be seen--except hiding out behind closed doors with John Boehner at exclusive fundraisers.

Then came the election.

And the red tide of megaspending against Pomeroy and for his opponent Rick Berg flooded the airwaves. Like the Red River may be flooding Fargo and North Dakota again next spring.

Pomeroy was swept out of office.

And look at what we got ourselves. We're still number 1 -- our newly elected almost Congressman shows up as Number One on the list of wealthiest new Congressmen, according to Politico:

Richard Berg, who unseated North Dakota Democrat Earl Pomeroy, appears to be the wealthiest newly elected Republican, with assets above $20 million.

The Republican freshmen will have plenty of company in the millionaires club in Congress.

While Earl worked for we in ND, Berg was all about "me, me, me..."

Brace yourselves. And stock up on your sandbags.
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h/t Voice of Dakota
crossposted at firedoglake/My FDL

Zbig and I Are Wondering

2010-11-30T10:25:00.004-06:00

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Could it be?

As Josh notes, Zbigniew Brezezinski (I think it's time I learned to spell that name correctly. I have a hunch we'll be seeing more of ....Zbigniew Brzezinski) posited to Judy Woodruff on Newshour the same question I recently raised about the real source of the Wikileaks drop.

I know, I was being snarky when I wrote this:

There’s an Internet rumor that the Wikileaks leaker is not that kid, he’s just a strawman for the real Leakers, the reincarnated Iraq Study Group, out to force an Iran attack and total undermining of the new Gandhi in the WH.

Some say. It must be so. It’s out there. Right, Cokie?

But now I'm starting to wonder. Hmmmmmmmm.

Maybe Billo ought not be so quick to call for executions.
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crossposted at firedoglake

Connecticut for Toady

2010-11-29T16:36:00.005-06:00

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Having declared his undying love for all things Rupert Murdoch, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman foreshadows his campaign strategy for 2012: Sucking up. Why deal with the middle men, the best Congress money can buy, Republican party which some say is his only hope for re-election.

Having watched Rupert's largesse in 2010 [right, John Kasich?... and thanks a lot, Roberts rightwingcourt], Joe is doubtless busily lining up and counting his chickens....

So why not go right to the spigot and firmly attach your mouth to it.

Watch for it. The imminent announcement from Feckless Joe: Senate candidate of the Connecticut for Toady Party. Coming soon to a Fox program announcement near you.
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Turkey

2010-11-25T22:06:00.000-06:00

May the only turkey in your life be the one on your platter.