Sabbatical:

A word used several times and several ways,
but in this I mean a change of fields.
Or PAUSE to adjust format and deal with other matters.

Including but not limited too:
Genre Clash

[CLICK PAUSE FOR CON TEXT (i.e. full month*)]
[Still in flux. Note top three.**]
[Feb Archive / Jan Archive UPDATES]
2-3-11
(* 2-4-11: i.e. added and other adjustments)
(** links adjusted)
[2-7-11 SUPER BOWL POST MOVED]
[[SUPER BOWL POST]
[2-7-11 Clash of the Titans]]
[Obtuse Comment]

We got it!

We got the Nobel Prize!
Having been startled by the announcement, I thought oh no!
But that is only in terms of where the likes of "just a guy"* might take it.

ANACHRONISTIC SEGUE [***]
"Some are guilty by association and some are innocent by no association, with thinking." I had employed this phrase in reply to a buddy who is "just a guy"**, and victim of the Rand Illusion.

But seriously, the Nobel committee recognizes the power of hope and more importantly, people being at the table, let alone who gets it in the end.

* Dennis Miller and Bill O'Reilly agree: Glenn Beck is "just a guy"
** ironically a veteran and anesthesiologist

[Teddy, Woodrow, Jimmy, and Barack : Just Guys! ]

***there is a bit of preemption in the links and context but on the other hand it does just flow as read.

[Just a digg, the Barack link was originally RealClearPolitics.com which did not present [Correction:no longer presents] Obama's comments but was live.]

[10-13-09 8 Most Outrageous Attacks on Obama's Nobel Peace Prize ]

[update: 10-21-09 Joan got it and anachronisitically I clarify the segue at *** where I had just listed the [Just Guys]just before Obama held his press conference.]

Allegory (4A)

Or gory][alley.

Subset [*]: anecdotal
anomoly? (not of the subset) Misuse of statistics or just plain not capable of using...

[Saved for Wilbur(C.Web)& from Alice** or the Tea Cup?]

[*] update 10-7-09 to McGaughey being taken to the Tool Shed and more apocrypha and astroturf

[** 10-7-09] note: this is Rep. Alan Grayson questioning the Federal Reserve Inspector General(this literary reference is to the meeting of the minds of the left and libertarian.) And here is Melanie Sloan of CREW a swifter of astroturf.]

hmmm?

New Thinking on the Economy
by Dean Baker,
co-Director of the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

also Beat the Press

[This points to an interesting problem or ROR:
(see labels for explaination)

The government is not getting its money's worth when buying bad assets. Anyone who understands how the economy works and the market works should not wonder. That is how it works. That is the point of buying bad assets, whether one wonders whether it should be done or not. If someone else would buy them the same would apply. The housing bubble* is a similar mechanism within the greater mechanism that is the financial problem.

How the economy works is different than how economics works. The economy is the thing. Economics is an equation. They both need tweaking and can work the way they are designed, but will tweak someone. Unfortunately an equation in economics will work only to the extent that everything (that is needed or wanted) is included in it. The economy works regardless but almost everything is included, except they are tweaking when they do the economics. And speaking of bubbles, they leak.

It might be easier to agree what not to do, than what to do, as long as failure is an option. But failure is not an option; it is a choice. This may seem like lost words, but failure is a potential outcome. And it can no more be simply allowed**, than freedom. Maybe this is Philosophy 701, but the Washington Post is not up to Journalism 201, let alone the economy.]

* housing equals assets except for the financial blowing of the economics.

** meaning failure should be prevented, and freedom promoted(are these not good points to work on?)

[Speaking of link(and equations): the stimulating if not shaky journalism below.(nfry)]

[only glanced at but likely recommended read: and see comments and embedded Krugman. For now: They'll be back.]

[That was Shwartznegger but later Ron Reagan covers similar territory with a guest who earlier slammed the stimulus. That was in December, so it was not the current plan. Which should be called what is: ARARA for Jobs! or just the begining or what is a quick and practical start. But does have a good chart on "Bang for the Buck", which depending on the math(see comments), could make a 1 trillion dollar difference in effectiveness.] [Post comment comment: of course this is as ridiculous a hypothesis as Plato's Republic, but for the sake of dialogue, a totally bipartisan package, could be seen to have potential for zero stimulus, as dollar for dollar is not really a bang.]

LABELS

Labels (II)
Labels (III)
Labels (IV)
Labels (V)
Labels (VI)
Labels (VII)
Labels (VIII)
Labels (IX)
Labels (X)

A fortunate day!

Textbook Crash & Textbook CYA

Was it luck?
Was it fate?
Or was it a higher being?

Or was it preparation,
Was it practice,
Was it community,
Or having a textbook?

Is this only a rhetorical change?

[A day with a heroic landing and a fantasy flight.]
[Clipping the Gipper and the inside clipper]

Quaint Administration

and other concepts.
Talk about evolution:
Meanwhile, Oil prices rebound.
VP Cheney, Editor in Chief
War Powers Obsolete
Free Market Dump
End Panel
Talk about embedded.

Belated and Preempted Father's Day

May Tim Russert Rest in Peace.
In my humble opinion, he was the best in a field that could do better.
Any comparisons would be possibly in other fields.
But being the Washington DC, Bureau Chief had its responsibilities and limitations.
The political connection and who one meets, and what the press is deserves as much as he gave and more.

My leap to Obama is a matter that others may regard as ill timed, but seems to be fit to be tied. For who are we to say? He took the opportunity to celebrate Father's Day by sending a message to a community. Some may take offense that he is saying what others have said and they could not get away with it. It might not just be who he is, but what and how and why he says it and to whom. Maybe a message and messenger the world and all communities need to get.

How does this get back to Russert? Being a father, messenger and a message maker may be more than a job description and more than any competition or a father can say.

Yet how appropriate is it to ask that words be carefully chosen, and to expect that a race mean more than a competition and a community mean more than a father, while not bringing new meaning to mother. It might take a village, but it also takes a government and a free press, not to mention respect for the law and our natures.

[For my own words and feelings, I missed much of his work, but cannot begrudge those that will miss him so dearly, no matter how they valued his work. Maybe my lack of pedestal for Tim Russert is the best testimonial to his being fair and balanced without quotation marks, in a so-called "Fair and Balanced" world which is a business and so much more.]

McCain Believes in Evolution

The Master of His Flip-Flopping Domain (nfry)*

"I’m glad to have his endorsement." But condemns Pastor Hagee's "...remarks that are, in any way, viewed as anti-anything. And thanks for asking."

How to Talk about McCain's Age What about the GOP?
The Grand Old Party or Good Old Pandering?

Maybe Old-Irony-Clad is ready for battle?

Or maybe flip-flopping has gone the way of the pterodactyl.

[Speaking of dinosaurs and the "middle class" and flip-flopping terminology ..."working families we appeal to you to bear with us. Thank you very much." Speaking of blame game. and pandering and digs.]

[Speaking of code and passing the buck, or charges of elitism (see pandering) : the so-called cross-over vote is really more than Project Chaos. Randi Rhodes points to it as a cover for the disgruntled Independents and Republicans departing the party. Meanwhile even McCain has some competition left in his party or are they Mis-Chief-dooers.]

* pardon the tongue-in-cheek and wherever-else is buried here, replete with (nfry) not fully read yet, but also thanks to the likes of Stephanie Miller for the Mis-Chief-Dooers link, and Thom Hartmann (evolutionist) for the dinosaurs link.

The Magic of Ground Hog Day?

Put this in your MP3 and play it over and over.
Indexing later.
Sen. Bernie Sanders etc.
Author of answer to above question;
Heck, just remove the mark.
Question that is, & by George too.

Fine Tuning.

THE GAME (Slightly updated: bold Stay the Course - job->search) The topic is our job which is to help navigate embedded with a link to help you navigate. Not to mention bottom links that brings some news to light if you go there, or sometimes just a previous connection as below.

In this case, The New Wave is a switch in focus from the battle for the Democratic Candidate to the Republican potential candidate and the media who is filtering it all. The issue of negative campaigning and super delegates are an example of what may make for a rocky boat. They are not easy to explain away, but there are so many perspectives that it is not just a matter of declaring what is the will of the people. There is a process that people are a part of and parties are a part of. It is unfortunate there are not alternatives in some cases, but playing like they are part of the process is no better. What I am alluding to is that without something such as Instant Run-off Voting any wish that things should go smoothly is a pipe dream. Not that things won't turn out to be much smoother than anticipated, but each voter must accept that they have a part that is no bigger than the next voter, but that involvement does matter. Finally, (obtuse as I am) 1. charges of lack of substance must have substance themselves 2. charges with substance are not negative campaigning, but the voter is the decider 3. super delegates are not super nor necessarily committed.

Unity Hits Reality

As a person who participated just to be in the loop of the Unity '08 process I received the following news. Unity '08 scales back due to successes and lack of funds. Hmmm? Well the link just attached will presumably not remain, as part of the scale back includes the lack of interactive capabilities on their website due to staff cuts, and any later ramping back up will not necessarily keep that link to the letter from which I pull the following.

Two of our core ideas - the importance of a centrist, bi-partisan approach to the solving of our nation's problems and the possibility of an independent, unity ticket for the presidency have already gone from far-out to mainstream.

Noting Barack and Bloomberg in these references.
In Bipartisan Group Eyes Independent Bid by David S. Broder Washington Post:

At the session, Boren said, participants will try to draft a statement on such issues as the need to "rebuild and reconfigure our military forces," nuclear proliferation and terrorism, and restoring U.S. credibility in the world.

And former presidential candidate and Senator Gary Hart in Huffington Post:

This is a time when America must leave old politics behind. This election is about transition not power. We will either move forward or we will go back.

I will note that while the issues noted are important, more important is the job that is being done now and their not focusing on current accountability, of the administration, the congress, and the media, not to mention corporations and the actual vote. Partisanship may seem the roadblock, but it is just more blame and game. In my view it is not just a linear spectrum of what is left and what is right or we only leave and end up wrong. What is right is not necessarily in either camp, so how would aiming at the middle help. We do have to work together, but ignoring those that are against that is not going to generate progress. I will not say that hope is a fantasy, but their is the word and the spirit... of the law. Too much emphasis on hope and spirited emotional appeal without doing what is needed, draws me back to the lawyer, and in the case of the leading three(each lawyers), the one who has success in convincing a jury (Edwards). If this is called a vested or interest group, it is at least of and for the people, and if the law is the problem, that too has its work to do on the same plane, not just as a balance between poles.

Thank You Senators Dodd and Reid

It is about time.
[between these lines? accountability is long overdue for so many misdeeds]
Thank Dodd as he thanks others. [ * ]
Telecom Immunity Issue Derails Spy Law Overhaul
Reid Pulls Legislation, Citing Insufficient Time Before Recess
By Jonathan Weisman and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writers

[ UPDATE 12-20-07: 2007 Democrats were more successful than 1995 Republicans but I must say...
And thanks to Rachel Maddow, and Campaign for America's Future,
a report Block-and-Blame GOP Stymies Progress]

Others:
Spying started well before 9-11
My:
QCON
Fourth Estate Blowing It.
Speake Strongly and Carry Little Stick
Rice Lacuna Planning Update.
[Note--See Comment-- I have pretty much updated the previous related links,
but lost in the mud or rice paddy is the problem,
lack of faith in nation building and the foundations and processes
otherwise updated in the right column as OUR FREEDOM and THE LAW.

[ * ]Disclosure: [I bought a Kucinich T-Shirt for his courage at the NW Progessive Convention but it must be remembered that the House has no filibuster, and the Senate has had many missed opportunities. And both have had untold negotiations and tactics.]

New Approaches?

New Intelligence Estimate New York Times
New Approach to Terrorism Associated Press
CUT FUNDS means RAISED TAXES
Unless we consider the war won,
state and local taxes must cover the cuts.
[There is still something to be said
about the [Act to]PVRHT
and Pre-Empting Crimes] *

Much may be due about nothing.
But it is the grey areas or
"in the shadows" where they operate.

Another benign bill, but in conjunction with The Patriot Act, and failure to follow FISA or II and over 750 Presidential signing statements, do we really need more bills that will be followed at the whim of the administration? But it really is in the definitions and the intentions which are pre-emptive and likely pre-empted by intentions.

* LINK RECAP:
11-10-07 Alicia Mundy Seattle Times Washington Bureau
11-1-07 Chip Berlet quoted in this piece. In These Times
The long and the short of it?
Slate 11-27-07 ThruthOut 11-29-07

FURTHER COMMENT: Senate Bill 1959 has made strides in one area only since the House version, H.R. 1955 and that is the balance of the committee appointments, but what about the fields that will be covered, and the collections of material and the following of laws. The following is a crack at a critique of this attempt (S. 1959) to make up for the poor performance of the administration and congress in the areas of accountability:

While many disciplines and departments are involved there are three primary fields that make up the dynamics of individuals in society, and those are the Physical, Psychological, and Philosophical, and the fourth is represented by the dynamics which is about the people and their goals and that is Politics. These are the areas that need work in society before we can hope to prevent let alone predict people who will take thoughts and feelings into actions. But some of the circumstances that one guest listed as contributors to radicalization are the lack of issues being addressed by society, issues that could be said to cause violent radicalization. Issues which are just the ones that Republicans refuse to address, and Democrats just barely stand up for. Those being basic needs and government accountability

.

Others may look at the fourth dimension of this world view and think economics, religion or spirituality, but what are these all but the power of working with others.

Update

Media Filter
Third Times a Charm?
See Comments.
[What about The Game?]

[ 11-29-07: Maybe I have reached my limit: (note recent updates have not been dated but likely linked][But they always have brackets, and now I will include a three here.

A New Optimism
Pre-empting Crimes
The Air We Breath...

The Game ]

THE GAME

SEE STAY THE COURSE or
HELP NAVIGATION
See Bottom Line there.
[UPDATE same day]

[5-15-08: Review - The Game is not supposed to be taken lightly, nor always meant a reference to Hard Work required of the readers. The troops are the ones that politics has bearing on most, and the reference to the media troops of ABC seems to take more credit for hard work than they actually do at times.]

[4-17-09: Update Patients for Change reminds me of Sabbatical and other Reviews.]

THANK YOU DAVE ROSS!

For exposing the PVRHT act.
(Otherwise known as: H.R. 1955: for the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism)
OK, I left off(or spun off) the PA (prevention act)for its Patronizing Attitude and the quip that the act itself could fall under its own spell.
[Dave Ross interviewed Alicia Mundy (1) of the Seattle Times and Chip Berlet (2) of Political Research Associates.]

[If you read nothing further: read (1) and (2), above]

Bottom Line: The Senate should hold hearings on this act! Or have the guts to act as fast in rejecting this act as premature and ill advised based on the fear it was enacted under. One major failure of this piece is the appointment process which should be balanced in favor of the majority party. The other is the need to review current intelligence gathering and its use. That is what the committee should be limited to, if not extended to the suggestions contained here.

[OTHER COMMENTS]Congressional Quarterly Homeland Security "Boondoggle"
technocrati thought police? 3 tags
The Agonist "pointed at the Republican Party"
Video from the middle (link) 1st one Kennedy

Previous Posts:
Unity in Principle July 22nd, 2004
Intelligence for Commission
Bicameral Brain
Up The Filter August 2nd, 2004
CIA our job one November 17th, 2004
Slam Dunk to the Circular File!
The links that connect
"Slam dunk" of "pre-emptive strike" August 26th, 2006
Caution merited? September 26th,2006

Lastly: The words of the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 seems innocuous enough, but so do the words of the [Project for the New American Century] but it must be looked into. Recommendations for any new intelligence or laws must be put on hold until investigations of old intelligence and laws have been made, not to mention the Phase II.[Apparently done, yet...]
[For more radicalized research yet more conservative as in fiscally responsible consider what is already "out there" (I do not recommend you trust, but verify? YES!)

* Patronizing Attitudes may be the cause of radicalization and terrorism as spelled out in current research. Not to mention the problem of defining ideology and intelligence: having more of it, does not mean you have enough to handle it. The process is important and it must be considered what is being done to complicate the process by those who have no faith in the process, yet want to add to it.

Bonus hit: trust but verify

It may also be worthy to study the words of Thomas Jefferson under subheadings, When Revolution is the Only Answer, Consequences of Revolution, and Prospects for Reformation, and just before these The Need for Leadership:

"The moderation and virtue of a single character [i.e., George Washington] have probably prevented [the American] Revolution from being closed, as most others have been, by a subversion of that liberty it was intended to establish." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1784. ME 4:218, Papers 7:106

Speaking of "nuance" meaning nothing in this post should suggest violence is the answer, nonetheless I was surprised to find this, thinking I was reaching for something more "out there": from Goldwater

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Bottom line is the people, bottom line is your job. The political spectrum is not linear but needs ones own perspective and the realization that the answer is not limited to that linear spectrum either. This should be realized by the three branches of government and the light that intelligence should shine on the process as well as the "hard work" of all people.

FURTHER: Nothing is more important than the focus on activities not words, except for the law, as proper protest must have a line to cross and confidence that there is a line to stand on and the same one to cross to suffer the consequences. And that line must be applied up and down the process and its people. And a quick search of "laws, not people" found the fog of our ways, another act that needs following up to be certain congress has done the "hard work" spelled out in their job description .

[Long Story Short: Update from Slate found after my Pre-Empting Crimes.]

MEDIA FILTER

Media Matters
Free Press
- Stop Big Media

GoLeft.TV
AM 1090 Seattle [LOCAL}
Air America Radio
Ring of Fire
Consortium News

(to be expanded)

GRIST: Environmental news and humor
Blue Washington TV *
Kucinich TV

OTHERS
The Raw Story
DalyKOS
HuffingtonPost

* This may be an example of a gimmick, hijacking the terms Blue and Washington, which is not exclusively Left or State issues, but with names like Bill Moyers and Charlie Rose, they are not exactly what is called and know as "main stream media" by the media, but may be more main stream politics.

[[A SORTING OF EARLIER FILTERING]]
Network Comedy Beats The News
Gold Standard for News
Under Ed
Switching/Fixing Networks
NewsForTheLeft - Consortium News and more
Can anyone believe this?
Bush Retreat / Fox Attack
GoLeft.TV and more
Recess War!

[UPDATE: 11-21-07 THE LEAK Center for Media and Democracy
Source Watch
My Leaks
My Earliest.]

[11-27-07: Watching the Watchers: "the media's job is to act as a B_S_ filter."

"Vanity Fair" on "the so-called liberal media" ]

[4-9-08: Labels added -GAME,GoLeftTV - see links Watching the Watchers.]

HELP NAVIGATION

[update 2-5-09 LABELS Under Construction ]

[5-15-08: (nfry)= not fully read yet * and I have not followed through with * yet.]

This page is for those who may be new (or just old) to the world of blogging or in particular my train of dialog. Politics is about help navigation of our course. This page invites you to join that world and this. Have fun, following the links, and trains of thought, otherwise known as threads. TO THE RIGHT (I have not navigated the instructions enough to see if I can move it all to the left) is a column under the heading not beating around the bush? which was suppose to mean links to other sites, but now includes links like this. HELP NAVIGATION, then LOCAL POLITICS? which has a question mark added as that is not all it is about. Not to mention that it is definitely not original. (OK, there were two tangents, otherwise considered footnotes)

SEARCH BLOG: Top left corner of every blogspot page see SEARCH BLOG to insert a word or phrase to find all posts which contain it on this blog.
[Ctrl F] to search individual post pages use your CONTROL [Ctrl key] [type "F" key] to pop up a word search on your own computer, it should probably usually work.
LABELS: like Local that categorize post subjects(content is not completely labeled, but it will be a work in progress) note: italics sometimes used to hint at double entendre or sometimes emphasis in bold. Quotation marks may reference something that is just out there unattributed or used by me somewhere else, unless noted or linked.
Links: an option below the bottom line of every post that may be there if I choose to insert a link[*]. [12-17-07 Example: In this case the link provided at the bottom is also embedded at the GoLeft.TV and I take this opportunity to note the inconvenience if you do not have high speed internet to view the video, either way you get there. ALSO there, In particular if you scroll over you will see google search and if you click will get you the list of links to one of the runners-ups. ]

[12-14-07: See THE GAME to take the trip and follow the loop.

[ Bottom Line:
There and Here and around Now.
EMBEDDED QCON Quicke Comment on News ]
[Hint: another little clue to playing the game is that by scrolling over a link with your cursor (that is the little thing your mouse moves) you can see it on your bottom line before going there.]

12-17-07: our course [link added] Earlier: Local Politics? is now Local Content.

12-18-07: Note Right Column Content
Media Filter: Media Matters etc.
The Word: A Dictionary
The Law: The Constitution
The News: GoLeft.TV
Thought Crimes Act: Stop the Preemption
Find Senate Bill: example S. 1959
Find House Resolution: example H. 1955

[*] [4-9-08: henceforth referenced as "bonus link"]

I MUST SAY...

THIS IS A GLOSSY PIECE OF WORK

NEW DIRECTION CONGRESS does deserve the credit.
[UPDATE 12-20-07: SEE UPDATE HERE in particular 2007 Democrats more successful... ]

But I must also say...
That if Impeachment is not on the table, it must be up someone's sleave, because I am not sure that the constitution is in either of those places.

And I hope that what is up the congresses sleave is a plan to hold the Executive Branch accountable,* or this will just be another scrap of paper(as sworn at in the last post), not worth the ink one might print it with.

* [Update: bottom line