He just needed to breathe. He just needed to breathe. They always had him locked up. He just needed to breathe.
You may or may not hear about this boy in the regional or national news. He was sixteen. The facts (no solace) are as follows:
He was ten years old when he went on probation for the first time for bringing a knife to school. Six years ago the zero tolerance policy was already in place in schools here. Maybe this had something to do with what was to follow.
This diary has little to do with the elections, but it has everything to do with the elections. I offer no analysis and no graphs and no charts. And no pictures.
The current scandal in the House Page program doesn't seem to be the first. Since the earlier scandals were successfully quashed, there is very little information available. I found at least two more scandals (involving illegal activities by the pages themselves this time) in 2002 and 2004. Oddly, these were election years. I don't yet know if adults were involved in either case, as the records are so scanty. Anyone have a rollcall subscription?
I've heard tell that the law men and women will be coming back to Congress after the midterms for a lame duck session. Since this sounds like a deadly boring waste of C-Span, I thought I would help spice things up by suggesting some legislation for the dems to bring forward.
During the very heated debate this morning between DeWine and Brown on Meet the Press, Tim Russert used his power as moderator to slip in a lie. I'll bet you can spot it:
I've been thinking that it would be useful, as November approaches, to be able to rattle off the names of the 65 corrupt republican congresscritters that dengre has been writing such excellent diaries about. Imagine the result of your debate with some Bush apologist when you are able to list off the names of all these crooked republicans as your victim helplessly flaps their jaws in fishlike silence. It would surely put the lie to any tired old talking point like "Yeah, but they all do it."
Since it is common knowledge that setting a list to music can help you memorize it, I've set dengre's list of the 34 vulnerable to a song everyone knows -- "The Alphabet Song."
Can someone please tell me what the 9/11 criminal hijackings changed? What was it about the violent hijacking of four passenger jets and the crashing of those jets into buildings that "changed everything"? Many innocent people died as a result. They were murdered. Individual lives of individual Americans changed on that day and the days following, but America did not change.
When a Republican, from George Bush to a majority Republican in the House to one in the Senate, says that 9/11 changed everything, they are admitting defeat. Democrats should stop using that frame. Utter those words, and you accept as justifiable every crappy thing that Bush and his ilk have done to weaken our country. Is the statement appropriate for the leader of our nation? 9/11 changed everything? It's as if the sheriff/hero in a B western gets socked a good one on the chin and stops fighting and says:
Current poll on AOL has Keith lagging behind every other news pundit you can imagine. He is listed 11th in a poll that forces you to click through ten others before you get to him.
I don't have to tell you what to do. See the current results below:
She didn't hit one out of the park or hand anyone their ass or clean anyone's clock or any other of the myriad phrases we use in diary titles here on dKos when a pol says something in the corporate media that resonates with us. During the wall-to-wall 9/11 coverage on MSNBC today, and responding to a question from Chris Matthews about how the attacks on New York had changed her life, Hillary slipped in that:
The 1964 Disney film Mary Poppins contained the song Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, which described the technique of using a made up word to get you out of trouble. Since the neocons have been caught making up reality to get them out of election season trouble, I thought the song an appropriate one to parody. The original was written by Robert and Richard Sherman; I slaughter it below:
Most people know that Don McLean wrote American Pie. Since the song hit the pop charts in the late sixties, the loose-leaf paper used up by high school students listing all the popular music and history references in that song (laid end to end) would reach to the moon and halfway back. You'll just have to trust me on that. Don also wrote Vincent, which many know as Starry, Starry Night. You can see what he's about these days at the link above.
The FBI says fugitive polygamist Mormon sect leader Warren Steed Jeffs has been arrested in Las Vegas, The Associated Press reports. CNN Breaking News
I hate to reach for my tinfoil hat every time a story with sensational prospects breaks, but didn't we just have a bunch of media coverage about the topic of polygamy to sort of pave the way? There was the nattering over the new movie about polygamy and the coverage of the demonstration by the children of multi-wife families. Doesn't it seem kinda Rovian for the FBI to announce the capture of this guy now? How many years has dude been a fugitive? I guess maybe it was hard to find him because he had moved far away from Utah to the next state over and he was able to blend in with all the flat wastelands and scrub brush. Hard to find a guy in that kind of terrain.
Media Consumers of America: John Mark Karr didn't pan out? Meet Warren Steed Jeffs.
As I read this great kid oakland diary, I remembered the heartfelt but slightly hokey pop hit "Abraham, Martin and John" written by Dick Holler. It's just how my mind works. The song has been recorded by Dion, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and many others. The hokeyness can be excused because the country had lost JFK in November of 1963, and then MLKjr and RFK within two months of each other in 1968. Mr. Holler wrote the song in reaction to these events. Malcolm X was killed during the 60s as well (1965) but due to the race politics of the time, his death didn't engender the same enormous sense of loss of the others. If things had been different, the song might have been called "Malcolm, Martin and John" and it might have been a little less hokey -- and a little angry even.
Dick Holler came up from R&B roots in Louisianna in the fifties, having the distinction of recording the first version of the future frat rock classic "Double Shot" and a string of rockabilly 45s. He also co-wrote (with Phil Gernhard) "Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron". He is still working.
Baby.
Ladies.
Fellas.
Are you ready?
Lets vote.
Baby. (oooh)
You like our country. (you like our country)
You think it rocks. (you think it rocks)
But now whenever I burn a flag
You scream "Call the cops!" (you scream "Call the cops!")
You think you got me, (you think you got me)
But didn't you see? (but didn't you see)
You made a hella bad trade.
Now you got lame security. (babe)
Yes, it's a parody of The Pussydolls -- or whatever they are called. More below, if you dare:
I'd Rather Others Pay
(I Was Proud To Be A Republican)
If tomorrow all the tax cuts for
The rich were whisked away,
And if corporate profits flowed
Once more into the workers pay.
I'd still deny the facts
I'd still vote Republican
Cuz we're in a War on Terror
That Our Freedom's got to win.
Please let me re-
introduce myself,
I'm a spoiler in this race.
I've been around for 18 years,
Caused many voters to lose faith.
I was around when Willy Jeff
Had to face that blue dress stain,
Made damn sure my sanctity
Trashed his name and sealed his fate.
Pleased to meet you,
Hope you guess my game.
But what's puzzling you is
The D behind my name.
This is the last in a four part series of diaries that are polls that ask where we vote. If you haven't reached voting age, vote for the place you are most politically active. I could have asked the poll question Where do you live? but I wanted to make it possible for kossacks who are overseas or who are going to school in a different state than where they vote to be able to easily select a poll response. The diaries number four because our diary poll allows a maximum of 15 responses and I wanted to include the fifty states, DC and the various commonwealths and territories that the US is associated with. Apologies to citizens of other countries -- I can't figure a way to poll you without starting a thirty diary series. :-) Continued below.
