I posted this on our local blog (www.wataugawatch.com) and mentioned it in a group which gathers at #theyoungturks (IRC Chat4all port 6667) and it was well-received.  Driven to share it with my fellow progressives, I post it here.

Republicans are afflicted by CHIDS-Chronic Humor and Irony Deficit Syndrome, pronounced 'kids' with a parental sigh.

Mulling further, I propose there should be a similar framing of their aversion to facts.  The first step led me to the dictionary:

The folks at NewsMax launched their response to Al Franken's announcement that he was running for Coleman's Senate seat with the same sort of wit as exhibited (and panned) on the sample of Fux's 1/2 Hour News Hour.

Hoping to reprise such classics as 'Kerry, the dishonorable hero' (SwiftLiars, 2006), their offering consists primarily of quotes from either his many books or his show.  Most lines leave me wondering why that line was worthy of mention, like:

"When you encounter seemingly good advice that contradicts other seemingly good advice, ignore them both."

— Franken's book "Oh, the Things I Know"

"No child left behind is the most ironically named piece of legislation since the 1942 Japanese Family Leave Act."

— speech at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2003

"There's no liberal echo chamber in this country. There's a right-wing echo chamber. I want to create a countervailing echo chamber."

— interview with the Chicago Tribune

http://www.newsmax.com/...

And such is the conservative grasp of irony and hypocrisy.

Stopping in at blackprof.com is a part of my morning routine (was my billmon jones really that bad?) and the stop in each day is rewarding both intellectually and logistically.

Those are some eloquent voices posting there and my understanding of things is enriched by them.  It also serves as my 'portal' to Boondocks (2/3 down on the right).

In my mind, use of language is simply one of the many toolboxes of your mind.  How clearly and effectively one talks and communicates is the application of the skills and devices available to you, much like a good mechanic would keep a garage with filled with widgets, winches and whazits standing at the ready.

In 'Captain Obvious to the Rescue!!!' (currently top of the page but pending dislocation by something seasonal), Christopher Bracey offers an excellent analysis of some Condi-speak from her "worth the investment" interview with AP.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was on a Captain Obvious tear this week.  Rice, who by the way, is NOT running for president, recently told reporters that "Yes, I think a black person can be elected president."

The voting has started for the 2006 Weblog Awards

http://2006.weblogawards.org/...

DailyKos is in the running (against LGF, etc.)for Best Blog:
http://2006.weblogawards.org/...

and Best Online Community:
http://2006.weblogawards.org/...

While DailyKos is not a candidate in the contest for Best Liberal Blog, a whole bunch of familiar names are there.
http://2006.weblogawards.org/...

I ran across this item in the news summary from BBC:  

Meteorite yields life origin clue
Meteorite fragment in ice (Science)
Meteorite fragments were recovered from the frozen Tagish Lake
Hollow spheres found in a primordial meteorite could yield clues to the origin of life on Earth.

More specifically, the line "These hollow spheres could have provided a protective envelope for the raw organic molecules needed for life." begs the question of origin.  

Any light to shed on this?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/...

This probably is NOT a strictly local story.  I am going to see how wide-spread was the distribution that 'personal column' recieved.

http://www.ohio.com/...

Editorial under congresswoman's name nearly identical to other's
DAVID HAMMER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - An editorial published recently in newspapers under a Cincinnati-area congresswoman's name was nearly identical to one released by another Ohio congresswoman in July.

An article ran under Rep. Jean Schmidt's name in several southwest Ohio newspapers in late August and last week. It said the new Medicare prescription drug benefit is saving local seniors money.

Almost the exact same article was in a packet of materials produced by the House Republican Conference. The office of Rep. Deborah Pryce, a Columbus-area lawmaker who leads the House GOP group, inserted data for her central Ohio district and put it on her congressional Web site on July 10.

On Kevin Drum's Politcal Animal in Washington Monthly (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/...) a rightie poster asks:

Can anybody give me an update on KOS's record for winning elections? Last I heard, he was O-for-12.
Posted by: Down goes Frazier on May 8, 2006 at 2:36 PM

Can anyone provide a factual and verifiable response?

TIME magazine is running their version of a 'Peoples' Poll'.

http://www.time.com/...

Make your voice be heard.  In this particular poll, I voted for Hugo Chavez.  Do you think I would have voted for Shrub or Condi?

The poll last week was 'Heroes & Icons' and Bill Clinton won in a landslide:

http://www.time.com/...

There will be additional polls:
# Week Three | Builders & Titans  (April 10)
# Week Four | Artist & Entertainers (April 17)
# Week Five | Scientists & Thinkers (April 24)

He lays out Plamegame (illus.) with clarity and precision.  Included are goodies like this:

A separate military mission led by Marine General Carlton Fulford, Jr, deputy commander of the United States European Command (EUCOM), went to Niger the same month, February 2002.

Fulford quickly came to the same conclusion as Wilson, that it was implausible that al-Qaeda or anyone else could secretly buy uranium from Niger.

http://www.juancole.com/

There is so much which is blatantly untrue constantly being slipped into what passes now for news, it is delightful to read about cases where those lies are refuted.  I ran into this example on News Hounds

Fox News tried Saturday (February 4, 2006) to get Wall Street to come to the rescue of the Bush Administration and protect it from any political fallout for spying on Americans without warrants, but the effort failed when a Democratic analyst called for George Bush to be impeached for violating the law.

They started with one of the contemporary icons.  "Wall Street should endorse (wiretapping). We all know what happened after 9/11. The economy crumbled. ... Why not let the government do it's job?" said (Tracy) Byrnes.  Gee, the evidence shows that it was seriously tanking before 9/11.

What I loved was Hymowitz' point-by-point refutation of all of the standard arguments.  It could serve as a guide for those water cooler discussions.

Nebraska's Ben Nelson became the first Democrat to announce his intention to support Bush Supreme court nominee Sam Alito.

"I came to this decision after careful consideration of his impeccable judicial credentials, the American Bar Association's strong recommendation and his pledge that he would not bring a political agenda to the court," Nelson said.

I just wish he had also considered the fact his opinions have been consistent... consistently in the minority and consistently incorrect.

http://today.reuters.com/...

I am sick and tired of hearing the GOPer charge that Democrats have no ideas and I think it is up to all of us to spread the word about those ideas.  

On Meet the Press this past Sunday, Rahm Emanuel (head of the DCCC) laid out a clear program:

The Agenda

• Encourage Universal College Education
  
• Fix the $3 Trillion in Debt Put on the National Credit Card by Republicans
  
• Create A Hybrid Energy Economy
  
• Expand Science & Technology
  
• Everyone Deserves Health Care
  

Here's a transcript of what the Congressman said that put meat on the bones:
"One, we make college education as universal for the 21st century that a high school education was in the 20th.

I started something out of curiosity, but was unable to finish.

The Katrina 11, those brave GOPers who experienced a sudden flash of fiscal responsibility when talking about money which would, in some cases, go to blacks.  My question is: What percentage of (or how many) minorities do those brave budget soldiers represent?

So far the answer is 'very few'...  making them far less accountable for that 'No' vote.

Anyone care to help fill this out?

Scott Garrett NJ-5 13.3% minority
John Hostettler IN-8  3 percent black; 1 percent Asian; 1 percent Hispanic.
Tom Tancredo CO-6  8 percent minority
Joe Barton TX-6  
Ron Paul TX-14
Jeff Flake AZ-6
Virginia Foxx NC-5
Steve King IO-5
Butch Otter ID-1
Lynn Westmoreland GA-8
F. James Sensenbrenner WI-5

I stuck my foot in my mouth last night at the county Dem meeting.  It was mentioned that membership in the Century Club (membership entails a contribution of $150 every two years with the funds designed to provide operational support for party activities) was lagging. My suggestion was to offer some sort of a premium for a new membership with the first thought being to offer a book(how reality-based!).  

Knowing full-well that smacks of rank Republican mercantilism, I would still like to pursue a source for properly progressive books to offer.  

Any ideas?

Here is yet another Shrub lie that will go unnoticed by the general public.  To get their attention, it appears such outrages need to be couched in terms and contexts which would tittilate their base intincts and purient interests.

Bush Lied When Asked About Brown's Resignation
By DOUG THOMPSON
Sep 13, 2005, 04:34

President George W. Bush lied outright to reporters in Mississippi Monday when he claimed he did not know embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency director Mike Brown resigned.

In fact, Bush - who over the weekend told Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to "get rid of Brown any way you have to" - took a call from Chertoff while en route to the Gulf Coast aboard Air Force One. Chertoff told Bush he had Brown's resignation in hand but the President ordered the Homeland Security secretary to delay announcement of Brown's resignation until after the New Orleans photo op because he didn't want his tour upstaged.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7374.shtml

It is easy to see where this administrations' priorities lie.

A while back I wrote a comment on Kos referring to the trend for our little toes to grow ever smaller.  In true Kossack fashion, I was immediately challenged to offer some evidence supporting that personal observation.  This item appeared a couple of days ago in my BBC mail.

Bones reveal first shoe-wearers
Sturdy shoes first came into widespread use between 40,000 and 26,000 years ago, according to a US scientist.

Humans' small toes became weaker during this time, says physical anthropologist Erik Trinkaus, who has studied scores of early human foot bones.

He attributes this anatomical change to the invention of rugged shoes, that reduced our need for strong, flexible toes to grip and balance.
The research is presented in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

The development of footwear appears to have affected the four so-called "lesser" toes - excepting the big toe.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4173838.stm

I had heard rumblings, seen snips and suspected all along that the resistance in Iraq was not random.  It has become clear that it took AQ several attempts before they got the result they desired on 9/11.  The reaction of the world's Islamic communities would not have been nearly as adverse if America had confined its military action to Afghanistan.

An Islamic Caliphate in Seven Easy Steps
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,369448,00.html

In seven phases the terror network hopes to establish an Islamic caliphate which the West will then be too weak to fight.

The First Phase
Known as "the awakening" -- this has already been carried out and was supposed to have lasted from 2000 to 2003, or more precisely from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington to the fall of Baghdad in 2003. The aim of the attacks of 9/11 was to provoke the US into declaring war on the Islamic world and thereby "awakening" Muslims.

In recent years the lessons of Republican incompetence have been both plentiful and unceasing.  They wasted the peoples' treasure, launched a needless war and in so doing established new standards and definitions for FUBAR in its execution, undid decades of environmental progress and have now given us a fine lesson in why they should not be put in charge of anything.

It seems that in Republican-controlled Texas, they are unable to even run a lottery properly.  Rep. Kino Flores, D-Palmview, began investigating the Texas Lottery Commission's firing practices after learning that former financial director Lee Deviney was terminated a week and a half after warning Grief and others that Lotto sales couldn't cover the advertised June 8 jackpot.