I posted about this inmy journal the day it happened. Noone in the news media said anything that night - not even Keith or Rachel. I was beginning to think I had misunderstood what Obama said when he signed that order. God, I am so glad I am not going nuts! LOL

I am so glad we have this President - he's awesome!!

Now, 4th estate stop whining about the redo and start asking FOIA about Bush and Cheney. Let's get Patrick Fitgerald in on this!

Okay, all you yahoos - settle down. You are accusing our President of not being open because he did not have more of you in for the redo. What a childish bunch of crap. Inevitably one of you muckraking fools would have tried to get someone to place blame on the other, and you know you would.
You fools gave the prior president free will over all this stuff that the new guy is left to fix. Okay, 4th estate, you want access - prove you can handle it, 'cause not too many of you acted like journalists since the Clinton Impeachment crap.
Try acting like adults and maybe next time you can sit at the adults table.

I have this idea I would like to propose, does anyone have any ideas of who or where I should send it? It invloves the economy and would involve the administration at cabinet levels.
Has anyone ever sent suggestions and had dialogue with either the campaign or administration?
Should I call the White House?

Since the election I have been thinking a lot about Dean. He told Chris he was going to give speeches and work on policy issues. Has any one heard whether he intends to retake the helm at DFA?
I feel the election of Barack Obama vindicated Dean in so many ways - the 50 state strategy, using technology, and even learning from Dean's 04 primary race.
Guess I am feeling a bit nostalgic tonight.

I am not sure the media has caught onto all the meanings of the other executive orders President Obama made besides the pay freeze today. His order on the Freedom of Information Act was retroactive, meaning back to other administrations, meaning Karl Rove's shennanigans, Dick Cheney's meetings in question, etc. President Obama is giving ordinary citizen's investigative power.

I am totally in awe of this man! It feels so good not to cringe when I say "My President".

I am not a church goer, but I enjoyed going to church this morning, via CSpan with MY President and his wife and our government officials.

Hold onto your hats Democrats, and don't blink because you might miss the next wonderful thing our President says or does.

It feels great to feel proud again to be an American!

(President Elect Obama), by voting for him. I am so hopeful, and yet he must be asking himself how much more can happen in this world in the next 2 weeks and 2 days.

Well, I am comforted that he won't use that b%$#ism about hitting the trifecta. I have really been trying to forgive George, being the good little ACIM student I am trying to be, but I couldn't resist that one.

On the Richardson thing, I'd like to thank the man for realizing the whole line of economic cabinet picks need to hit the ground running on Jan 20, not just Barrack Obama. It'd good to see ethics coming back to Washington, DC., and the people Obama chose realize we cannot afford scandals and hold ups. Hopefully, Richardson will be able to serve at a later date, once things are resolved.

I am proud to be a Democrat these days, except for Gov Potty Mouth. And it feels good to start feeling hope and pride in our country and government again. It has been a long, LONG 8 years!!!

OK Dems, let's remind America what peace and prosperity look like.

Wow, that brings me to tears and gives me goosebumps at the same time.
It is indeed sad as I watch the country I loved, served, and believed the myths about disappear before my eyes.

Oh that's right!! This is how the USSR went down, and some say as a direct result from the trouble in Afghanistan in the 80's.
Actually, it was probably a combination of the US upiing the military spending ante.

So what does Bush and Co. do? Wage a half hearted war in Afghanistan, and the move on to Iraq, and God only knows how far we are committed to this Iran thing. At this point, the US could probably be taken over by one or a small group of third world countries.

Sidenote Rant -
As it is, if China calls in our debts, or if Big Biz really wanted to do so war wouldn't even be necessary for a take over of the US - friendly or otherwise. As a matter of fact, considering the job (or lack thereof) the US media does, we may already be taken over, and they won't tell us until it is impossible to reverse.

I read this post earlier, and it keeps looping through my mind as I work (which today includes some surfing of geologically related sites). And what do I find, but this:

Why We Need Another Agricultural Revolution

<snip>

Even a casual reading of history shows that under the right circumstances any one, or any combination, of political turmoil, climatic extremes, or resource abuse can bring down a society. Alarmingly, we face the potential convergence of all three in the upcoming century as shifting climate patterns and depleted oil supplies...

</snip>

The rest of this article requires a registration at
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i32/32b010...

Oddly enough, just the other day I was thinking about the big agri-businesses and genetically modified plants. It is really pretty scarey when we think of changes that may lie ahead. But what is scarier is that our media would rather cover fluff celebrity news instead of educating society at large.

as well as being sober.
I _did_ go to jail for 2 weeks, not due to DV and that wasn't fun. I had no job or resources either. I have a 10 year old son, and I may not get him back, but I am still coming out of the shock that being in the relationship, drinking and depression and then having my Higher Power sandblast me out of that life.

I hope you find the courage to get out, don't wait for the sandblast, but if _that_ comes - it will be better than staying.

I am grateful for all that happened now, and I am starting to make headway!!

Conservatives Without Conscience. Many Christians bow to authority, almost blindly. If their pastor tells them something or someone is bad, that's it - it's bad. That is how the word liberal got turned into a dirty word - it was equated with socialism and communism and America hating. The language framing issue is covered in a book called Talking Right (huge subtitle).

they are inactive Reserves until 6 years is up. Watch Bush use this as a stop loss weasel around the contract. My son is due to get out this summer, after 3 years active Army service, but he will be on inactive reserve for 3 years. This will be the first step in the draft, if it comes...

They think ideology scares the public and are proud they can't be defined.

I think conservatives, esp those in power today are dishonest, win at any cost, and using the Religious Right to undo the Constitution.

Conservatives without Conscience is a great book to look into their mindset.

I was hooked about 2 pages into the preface. Conservatives with out a Conscience is fascinating reading. To beat "the enemy" we must know the enemy.

Basically, the book explains that current conservatives in power are authoritaian conservatives (I am still in chapter 1), and how folks like this think.

Dean is an excellent writer, and he confirms the vast right wing conspiracy to get Clinton, as well as explains how he got drawn into the fray with most Republicans at large - how they tried to "swift boat" he and his wife.

I looked over in Books: Non-Fiction and saw one thread about this book, but I would like to post daily as I read and maybe to get other DUers to share their thoughts about the book and excerpts I'll be posting.

What I am getting so far is that besides learning to frame the issues (ala Lakoff), we also have to assess the damage already done to liberals by these rabid republicans. Not all republicatins are without conscience but most in power these days are. Dean also has excellent foot notes about "conservative icons" - Nash and such. So far these conscienceless conservative seem to be type A personalities, win at any cost, claiming to be religious but hypocritical, and just plain mean spirited. (I know all DUers ALREADY know That much!!)

This book just came out in 2006. I need to look for worse than watergate after I digest this one.

Here are a few gems:

"In their efforts to present conservatism as an American tradition, conservatives have also reinterpreted the US Constitution. ... Madison, the father of the Constitution,clearly saw his work as the opposite of conservatism." (He has other examlpes of the rewriting history too)

Dean says conservatives do not think the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written in the same spirit, and that Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness are concepts that are not part of conservative thought.

Conservatives hated FDR, and later LBG, because of the New Deal and the Great Society.

Most conservatives can't even come up with an ideology in common. To Cons, ideology is a bad thing.
Here's William F Buckley's "definition" of conservatism - "a paragon of essences toward which the phenomenology of the world is continuing approximation". ( Boy, I doubt the callers from CSpan who call on the GOP line would even understand that gobbildy gook).

More tomorrow....

and staying at a Salvation Army Womens' shelter. I have been homeless since May and also jobless.
I was a stay at home Mom for 9 years and when my SO said go away, my son went with his paternal grandfather and I was left homeless. I am finally starting to come out of the shock, but have had health problems that had me in a wheel chair for a month or so. Hopefully after the New Year I will be released to work.

On the up side, I am out of an unhealthy relationship, my son is ok with Grandpa and I am workingon his return to my custody and I will be sober 7 months, day after Christmas!