How Mavericky!

Via Andrew Sullivan:

The People Will Get To Be Heard

Good news came out of the Milwaukee County Courthouse today. The Milwaukee County Board worked up enough fortitude to override Scott Walker's attempt to suppress the voices of Milwaukee County citizens.

Whether the people of Milwaukee County decide to preserve mass transit and the parks, and give themselves a tax break, or if they want to help Walker finish off the County in his run for governor, at least the people will finally have a say in the matter.

In related news, County Supervisor Lynne Debruin, who voted the wrong way on the referendum issue, showed more common sense than Walker in cautioning her peers from blindly passing Walker's iffy pension bond gimmick.

Sarah Palin: Community Organizer Second To None

In last night's speech, Sarah Palin, teleprompter intact, decided to go after the heart of America. She decided to go after community organizers:

And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.

In that split second, Sarah Palin became the community organizer with such impact that the rest of us only dream of achieving.

She obviously motivated community organizers to start organizing against her. They have started their own blogsite, with this from the founder of Community Organizers of America, John Raskin:

“Community organizers work in neighborhoods that have been hit hardest by the failing economy,” said John Raskin, founder of Community Organizers of America and a community organizer on the West Side of Manhattan. “The last thing we need is for Republican officials to mock us on television when we’re trying to rebuild the neighborhoods they have destroyed. Maybe if everyone had more houses than they can count, we wouldn’t need community organizers. But I work with people who are getting evicted from their only home. If John McCain and the Republicans understood that, maybe they wouldn’t be so quick to make fun of community organizers like me.”

For being just created today, it has already drawn quite a bit of attraction, that surely will only become greater as time moves on.

She even inspired one young organizer to make a personal "thank you" video (H/T to Illy-T):





Not only did Palin manage to tick off the community organizers, she managed to get other groups roiling as well. Groups like the National Association of Social Workers:

The social work profession takes great pride in its community organizing roots and lauds the contributions of its members, and other professionals, who commit their careers to helping residents of different communities organize their resources and take social action to improve life for themselves and their families. Small town reformers and urban community organizers have much in common.

Trust me when I tell you, social workers make some awfully important decisions, on a daily basis, which are much, much harder than those of a mayor who's biggest concern is making sure there is enough snow for the Iditarod.

But Palin did not motivate just social workers or community organizers. Nope. Not just those people. She ticked off a lot of people, all across the country. How else to explain the fact that the Obama campaign raised $10 million dollars in less then 24 hours of her giving her smarmy, smug, condescending speech.

The venerable James Rowen has more here.

In Case You Missed It

If you, like me, gave up on the McCain speech after the 138th mention of POW (approximately 49 seconds into the video), here is a summary of his speech:

Thought Of The Day

Did anyone else notice that McCain, with the advent of Sarah Palin and all her foibles and fallacies, has become a non-factor in his own campaign?

If he can't run his own campaign, how can anyone expect him to run a country?

Using Their Logic

Typical of the right wing echo chamber, a common meme is that the left wing, humorously including the right wing media, is afraid of Palin or has weaknesses. Fine examples of the plethora out there include this, that and the other one. They are apparently angry because the media and bloggers are doing the vetting of Palin that McCain failed to do.

Using their brand of logic, wouldn't that mean the right wing has been running in panic mode for the last 18 months, what with all their smears and attacks on Obama?

Who's Got The Better Foreign Policy?

Senator Barack Obama, who has often been ridiculed for saying he would speak with hostile nations, is setting himself good to his word, by appearing on Bill O'Reilly's show tonight.

Meanwhile, McCain must be too busy trying to remember how many homes he has, and runs away from a 74 year old man, because another reporter actually burned his flak on their unsubstantiated claims that Palin has foreign relations experience.

Well, actually she does, if you count giving our money away to other countries as foreign relations experience.

Holy Oil Wells

I have often remarked here and there about how the right wingers seem to have their deities confused, and instead of worshiping God, they worship the almighty dollar. Little did I know I was so correct.

Sarah Palin has just confirmed my worst fears. From the Washington Post:

"I can do my part in doing things like working really, really hard to get a natural gas pipeline, a $30 billion dollar project that's going to create a lot of jobs for people in Alaska, and we're going to have a lot of energy flowing through here -- and pray about that also -- I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she told them, "but I can do my job there, in developing our natural resources, and doing things like getting the roads paved, and making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms, their guns, and making sure our public schools are funded. But really, all that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God."

And just in case some of the right wing readers would past this off as just liberal media spin, here she is in all her fame and glory:




And if that wasn't enough fun for you, she was channeling George Bush, and found that God also wanted us to invade a sovereign nation in an unjust war, and kill a lot of innocent civilians, along with our own soldiers:



Stay tuned for the next of God's commandments from the Book of Sarah: Thou shalt hunt elk whilst ridingeth in a helicopter.

How Important Is Experience?

The right and the left side of the blogosphere has been battling it out for the past several weeks about Obama's level of experience, especially compared to McCain's and/or Palin's.

My question is so what?

George W. Bush had a lot of the same experience that the right have been trying, and failing, to accredit to the McCain/Palin ticket. He was a governor of the State of Texas. He ran an oil company. He owned a professional baseball team. He even allegedly served in the armed forces.

For further information, check out his resume.

And look where all that experience got us.

PUMAs To The Right Of Me

Over the last several days, the right wing meme has been to attack the "left wing liberal media" for "attacks" on Palin and her family.

These people must be on the right flank of the vast left wing conspiracy:





Brew City Brawler has the transcript for you here.

Tip of the crown to TPM, via BCB.

McCain's Campaign Gets Kiss Of Death

McCain's campaign just got the kiss of death yesterday. Forget the myriad of scandals surrounding Sarah Palin. Forget McCain's own flipping and flopping on issues, or his general lack of understanding of any of the issues in the first place.

The kiss of death came from George Bush. And not just because McCain's agenda is to continue the same failings of Bush. Nothing so complex as that.

The death kiss came yesterday at the convention, when Bush lauded McCain and gave him high praise. That's all it took.

In case you don't believe, or just don't understand, look at who else Bush has praised and what happened.

Like when Bush looked into Putin's eyes and liked what he saw. Now Putin has jeopardized world peace with his invasion of Georgia.

Bush also expressed respect for Paul Wolfowitz, just as Wolfie was getting bounced from the World Bank for giving his girlfriend a massive pay raise. That's the same girlfriend that encourage Wolfie to encourage Bush to invade Iraq. We know how good an idea that was.

Bush also said that Donald Rumsfeld was doing "a fantastic job," just a week before sending him packing after the 2006 elections.

And who could ever forget the famous line, "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job?"

Yup, if Bush likes you, and publicly commends you, you're a goner.

If Palin Had Said No To McCain*

Last week, my friend, Greg Kowalski, despite sage advise from yours truly, as well as others, was lamenting about not making the top twenty in the BNN Influence Index. In the comment thread, I pointed out that this index rating system is, to be kind, a bit bizarre and rather meaningless.

To make my point even stronger, this week shows that Cog Dis, with my 2.3 readers, is now ranked number 19 for the state. What I find even funnier is that this site, for the second straight week, is listed as the second most influential liberal blog, right after the might folkbum's (of which I was a regular, but now only, occasional, contributor).

In all honesty, most any of the liberal bloggers on the blogroll in the right column should be higher than moi, in my opinion. But like I said before, these indices should be taken with a grain of salt.

Or so I thought. Apparently, some really do take them a bit more seriously than I do.

Apparently disappointed about not getting the nod to be McCain's pick for Veep, John Heneghan of Georgia, has put his BNN ranking as one of his qualifications to run for public office. (Tip of the crown to David Mastio.)

Perhaps this explains why James Wigderson is so interested in his rankings. He is apparently planning on running against Owen Robinson for some office or another.

Whoever wins that runoff doesn't matter. My money is on Jay Bullock.

*Watch the comments to see if I get scolded by David again.

Eating Liberally

From the inbox, from Jason Haas, host of Drinking Liberally, and now, Eating Liberally.

The latest step in the evolution of Milwaukee's democratic culture will happen this coming Wednesday September 3 when Eating Liberally comes to Transfer Pizzeria Cafe, 101 W. Historic Mitchell Street at the intersection of First & Mitchell Streets at 6:00 PM.

Through sheer and utter coincidence, the first Eating Liberally will be meet during Transfer's “Walker Rebate Wednesday." Anyone who rides the bus or a bicycle to Transfer gets a 20% discount on the price of their order. Finally, something you can thank Scott Walker for! And think about this: If you have a $20 meal, 20% off is $4.00, which covers the price of two bus trips. Cool, eh? It's not exactly profitable, but that's not the point of this event.

Our next two eatings will be on Wednesday, October 1 at Beans & Barley, 1901 E. North Avenue on Milwaukee's east side, and a post-Election Day celebration on November 5 at Bella’s Fat Cat, 2737 S. Kinnickinnic Avenue in Bay View. On December 3, we’ll round off the year back at Transfer. All happen at 6:00 PM.

So come one, come all to Eating Liberally! It should be a good time with friends old and new as we seek out the best in local food.E.L.'s cousin Drinking Liberally will be meeting as usual on the third Wednesday of the month, this time September 17 over at Sugar Maple, 441 E. Lincoln Avenue. Hope to see you there too!

Unfortunately, I shan't be able to attend, due to kingly duties, but that is no excuse for you not to go! And I expect a full report Thursday morning from each of my 2.3 readers.

And don't expect to see this guy there either.

My Liberal Bleeding Heart

When I was a teenager and well into my 20s, I used to donate blood, and periodically, platelets, at the Milwaukee Blood Center. Unfortunately, in my mid-20s, I was diagnosed with a genetic condition that required that I take medication for the rest of my life. (No, not mental illness, or any life threatening condition.) Due to the medication, I was no longer eligible to donate blood, and I put that down as just part of my past.

When I was able to donate blood, I had also signed up for the bone marrow transplant program, in case they ever needed a volunteer. I had forgotten about that as well, until this afternoon.

I received a call from the Blood Center. They told me that there was a patient that needed a bone marrow donor and that I was listed as a potential match. They wanted to know if I was still interested.

Without hesitation, I said I was, and we went through the basic information. Height, weight (she wouldn't accept "too much" as an answer by the way), general health, etc. However, I told the technician that I was still on that medication, and that they had told me that I couldn't donate blood anymore. I wasn't using it as an excuse, but I didn't want to waste their time and resources if I was a dead end. She took down the information on what medication I was on and said that she would call me back later today or tomorrow, after she checked it out with the physician.

She called back within the hour and told me that not only was I cleared to proceed with the bone marrow, but I couldn't also start donating blood again. Ah, the wonders of modern medicine. I go in tomorrow after work to have some blood samples taken to be tested against the patient's. I don't know what the odds are, but they told me that they would let me know one way or the other.

I realize all of this is rather mundane, but I am excited. If nothing else, I now can resume donating blood again. It's not much, but is is needed, and it is kind of cool just knowing that maybe, just maybe, I might be able to help someone out who really needs it.

Happy Labor Day

Like your 40 hour work week? Like your eight hour work day? Like health insurance? Like getting paid a living wage? Like a safe work environment? Like paid vacations?

Thank your friendly, neighborhood union worker.