Selling Salvage to Feel the Bern

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Saturday July 04, 2015 · 12:17 PM PDT

2015/07/04 · 12:17

In the primary campaign Bernie Sanders will not be able to compete with Hillary Clinton's Wall Street backers and billionaire-funded SuperPacs. Even if he wins the nomination, his fund-raising will be far outpaced by the Koch Brothers and corporate Republican mega-donors in the general election. So what can we mere individual foot soldiers do to help make Bernie's campaign financially sustainable--and even competitive?

How about selling our unneeded salvage to create essentially "free money" for Bernie's campaign? Read below the squiggle for more on this head-smackingly obvious idea.

FMArouet

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Sunday December 21, 2008 · 12:35 PM PST

2008/12/21 · 12:35

President-elect Barack Obama's invitation to Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation on January 20th deserves something other than just a visceral negative reaction. Warren's pre-scientific, homophobic views and his church's exclusion of gays and lesbians from membership have understandably created an uproar of criticism from the progressive community. But we need to reflect not merely on Obama's tactic for his inaugural ceremony, but on his long-term political strategy.

First, the numbers: in the 2008 elections exit polls suggested that evangelicals made up 23 to 26 percent of all voters. Barack Obama was the choice of 25 to 26 percent of those evangelicals. Here is an interesting map of the evangelical voting breakdown state-by-state. Note the wide variation in Obama's evangelical totals: in Iowa and MInnesota he even managed to garner 38 percent of the evangelical vote; in Mississippi, only 9 percent.

How can we expect Obama to deal with the evangelicals during the next four years? Let us ponder the question below the break.

(X-posted at Docudharma.)

FMArouet

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Thursday May 29, 2008 · 1:08 PM PDT

2008/05/29 · 13:08

It's framing the narrative, stupid.

This fall Republicans will trumpet John McCain's experience and valor, and Democrats naturally will call into question McCain's judgment and vigor. Barack Obama will throw a few sharp elbows during debates and on the stump, but the grassroots work of shaping the narrative on McCain will fall to Obama's running mate and to other surrogates, including canvassers and ordinary voters at the precinct and neighborhood levels.

Below the break is a sampling of words and phrases to consider lobbing in McCain's direction. Some are obvious. Some have already been used elsewhere. Some are wry. Some are harsh.

Surely McCain's persona and positions will serve as magnets for such descriptive terms, some of which can be made to stick.

Without further ado, here is a modest first draft of a McCain Glossary. Consider the subtitle to be: Narrative Framing for Dummies.

FMArouet

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Thursday April 03, 2008 · 7:04 AM PDT

2008/04/03 · 07:04

John S. McCain, III will turn 72 in August, 2008. McCain's age, health, and mental acuity will inevitably be factors in the campaign.

Will American voters be paying attention? Will McCain release full and accurate information on his health?

And how can one distinguish whether McCain's behavior and judgment are normal and acceptable, or are deteriorating and therefore potentially dangerous? When is a gaffe a symptom?

Several actuarial and medical data points suggest that McCain's upcoming 72nd chronological birthday could well be the equivalent of a biological 83rd birthday.

Below the break are a few guidelines and links to help inform an assessment of McCain's age, health, and fitness for the Presidency.

(Cross-posting at Raising Kaine, Docudharma, and Bits of News.)

FMArouet

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Friday February 15, 2008 · 5:04 PM PST

2008/02/15 · 17:04

Below are a few lessons learned by an Obama foot soldier in the Virginia Primary, part of Obama's Potomac Trifecta last Tuesday.

Bottom line: coming only one week after Super Tuesday, the Obama campaign in the Potomac Primary had to depend heavily on local volunteers and locally produced campaign materials. The professional staffers arrived in time for a solid weekend of directing phone banking, canvassing, and visibility efforts. In contrast, there was virtually no sign of a Hillary ground game or advertising presence.

The result was an encouraging 64-36 Obama win in Virginia.

A few specific links and suggestions below the break may be of some use to local volunteer efforts for Obama in Texas and Oklahoma.

FMArouet

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Tuesday December 11, 2007 · 11:19 AM PST

2007/12/11 · 11:19

In today's WaPo Dana Priest and Anne Hull provide followup coverage on the Army's effort to court-martial Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside for her psychological breakdown while serving in Baghdad: "Leniency Suggested for Officer Who Shot Herself." The original investigative piece was published on December 2nd: "A Soldier's Officer."

Maj. Mervin H. Steals, the investigative officer in charge of the preliminary hearing, forwarded the following recommendation up his chain of command:

One of the Army values is integrity, which is defined as doing what is right, legally and morally. The moral thing to do is dismiss these charges, to allow 1LT Whiteside to end her military service and receive the benefits that she will desperately need for the remainder of her life.

Below the break are some additional insights directly from the Whiteside family, as well as my own question on the difference between us and the "Greatest Generation."

(X-posted at DocuDharma and Raising Kaine.)

FMArouet

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Monday December 03, 2007 · 10:42 AM PST

2007/12/03 · 10:42

For those who are inclined to take action as a result of the excellent diaries of gchaucer2 and BlueTape on the effort by some Army apparatchiks to intimidate and crush the unfortunate U.S. Army Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside, below the break is a listing of contact names, links, addresses, and phone numbers for directing your comments.

I managed to track down the Whiteside family yesterday and spoke by phone for several minutes with Elizabeth's father, a former Marine officer who served in Vietnam. I brought gchaucer2's excellent diary to Thomas Whiteside's attention, and he called back to praise gchaucer2's excellent summary of the initial powerful investigative piece, 'A Soldier's Officer,' by Dana Priest and Anne Hull in the WaPo on December 2nd.

As gchaucer2 noted yesterday, this is a case that compels not just passive outrage, but action.

Below the jump are key contacts, as well as the connecting of a few related dots.

FMArouet

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Friday November 16, 2007 · 6:41 PM PST

2007/11/16 · 18:41

The latest demonstration of Harry Reid's myopic leadership in the Senate was the 53-40 kabuki vote late on November 8th to confirm Michael B. Mukasey as Attorney General. Mukasey had refused to regard the abusive technique called waterboarding to be torture and therefore a prosecutable criminal act. Mukasey understands whom he is supposed to shield.

Democrats quickly announced the intention to introduce legislation outlawing waterboarding. But why? As Evan Wallach pointed out in The Washington Post on November 4th, numerous legal precedents prove that waterboarding already is illegal and prosecutable.

Are Democrats, having caved on Mukasey's confirmation, now about to make yet another strategic blunder by proceeeding with this legislation?

WARNING NOTICE: Reflecting on this question and exploring the links below may lead to loss of equanimity and cause political activism or emigration to a still-civilized country.

(Reworked from previous postings at docudharma.com and at bitsofnews.com.)

FMArouet

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Saturday October 27, 2007 · 10:39 AM PDT

2007/10/27 · 10:39

Why have tensions suddenly escalated along the Turkish border with Iraq? Why have Kurdish PKK guerrillas been going out of their way in recent weeks to provoke a conflict with Turkish forces? Why have Kurdish PJAK guerrillas been stepping up their cross-border activities into Iran?

The most important clue may lie in the persona and actions of Ray L. Hunt, CEO of Hunt Consolidated, Inc., member of the Halliburton Board of Directors, Bush "Pioneer," major Republican fund-raiser, contributor of $35 million to Southern Methodist University (SMU) to support a George W. Bush Presidential Library and think tank (oxymoron alert), and, by the way, member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB).

In short, Ray L. Hunt is a poster boy for Republican, Texas Big Oil, crony capitalism.

Below the break let us ponder how Hunt appears to be a primary catalyst for cataclysm in the Middle East.

(Reworked and updated based on readers' comments on an earlier posting at DocuDharma.)

FMArouet

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Wednesday October 17, 2007 · 1:51 PM PDT

2007/10/17 · 13:51

As the Bush/Cheney White House, its supportive neocon ideologues, and its public relations machine appear to be "catapulting the propaganda" to prepare the way for attacking Iran, perhaps for a change we should try the novel approach of thinking and asking about the possible consequences before actually launching yet another preemptive war.

No one in the corporate media, in Congress (save for a few largely drowned-out voices, such as that of Senator Jim Webb), or least of all in the Unitary Executive (except for Secretary of Defense Robert Gates) gives much evidence of raising and pondering such questions.

Let's give it a try below the break. Just taking the trouble to ask a few questions uncovers at least five major tectonic shifts that likely would follow a U.S. assault on Iran.

There will be plenty of links for those who want to delve a little deeper. You might want to start with a full coffee cup.

This map of the region may help frame the questions.

FMArouet

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Saturday October 13, 2007 · 7:41 AM PDT

2007/10/13 · 07:41

In today's (Saturday's) Washington Post Walter Pincus writes about the publicly emerging Inspector General (IG) imbroglio at CIA. Pincus reports one critically important fact that had escaped my attention: the “review” of IG John Helgerson's activities is being conducted by DCI Gen. Michael Hayden's “Senior Counselor,” Robert L. Deitz.

It turns out that Deitz was Gen. Hayden's General Counsel at NSA when Gen. Hayden was the Director of NSA. In other words, Deitz was the NSA lawyer who crafted (or at least submitted over his signature to Gen. Hayden) the internal NSA legal opinions to justifiy the Bush/Cheney Administration's massive warrantless wiretapping, data-mining, and link analysis efforts.

So what conclusions can we draw from Hayden's assignment of Deitz to "review" the CIA IG?

More below the break.

FMArouet

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Monday October 08, 2007 · 4:57 PM PDT

2007/10/08 · 16:57

Today brings another report of the capture of 50 Pakistani troops in Waziristan in the volatile tribal area of northwestern Pakistan. Reports are confusing, fragmentary, and, of course, "official," so it is hard to determine exactly what is happening.

Some 240 paramilitary troops "captured" on August 30th in the same general area are still missing, though a few bodies from that group have been found, allegedly executed.

What is really going on here? Could it be that, rather than merely surrendering with no or very little resistance, whole units of the Pakistani military are now defecting to Taliban-affiliated tribal militias in Pakistan?

Let's ponder the question in a little more depth below the break.

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Selling Salvage to Feel the Bern

On Dialogue with Oogedy-Boogedy Bigots

A McCain Glossary: Sticky Words and Phrases

McCain Nears 72--or Really 83?

Potomac Ground Game Lessons for Texas and Ohio

Lt. Whiteside: Army Moving toward Common Sense

Action Alert: Followup on Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside

Torture: Neocons Inflict while Dems Enable

Ray L. Hunt: Catalyst for Cataclysm

Neocons vs. Iran: Final Prewar Scouting Report

Escalating Turmoil at CIA over IG Investigations

Are Pakistani Troops Defecting?