Pacific Views

Thursday Stroll

Earlier this week, Atrios suggested that instead of pleading for help, Democratic fundraising messages should go a little something like this:

Last week we took Tom DeLay out back and kicked the crap out of him. This week, we plan to do it again. Help support this ass-kicking! For only $25, your name can be on a bootprint on DeLay's mottled ass!

Richard Morrison is a Democrat running against Tom DeLay, who also runs the site, Taking on Tom Delay. So, if anyone really is keen on the idea of taking Tom "I AM the federal government" DeLay out back, you can now do so in a satisfyingly direct manner.

Al-Muhajabah blogs about labor unions in the Islamic world.

Beautiful Horizons notes that instead of focusing more on Latin America, the Bush administration has essentially deprioritized the whole region. For undercutting Vicente Fox, alone, he deserves to get shipped home, but there's a bigger laundry list than that. Also, Uzbekistan has been decertified for aid, though they will continue to get US aid under a national security loophole. Your tax dollars at work, boiling people alive in Central Asia.

Billmon writes about strategies for defeating the increasingly radical right. Anyone still needing to be convinced about the necessity of this is directed again to the recent Orcinus piece about the strain of eliminationaism in the Republican party, where Grover Norquist is quote as saying that "Anything short of placing snipers on the rooftops of D.C. would be an underreaction by the Left." Thanks for the suggestion, Grover. But I'd prefer a humiliating electoral thumping.

Dave Pollard reviews the world's vital signs.

Our friends in Pakistan won't allow nuclear inspections, even though they were caught red-handed selling the technology to uninvaded axis-of-evil nations, and the no-longer-that-evil nation of Libya.

Podvin dissects the media dismantling of the Dean campaign. A recap which makes it clear just how important it is for us to keep pushing mandatory media divestment.

Roger Ailes discusses the behavior of an ardent defender of marriage, and finds John McCain savaging the credibility of a Kerry attacker. I guess after someone figured out that no one cares where Kerry gets his hair cut, they had to dig up a guy like this to smear him.

South Knox Bubba writes about closet Democrats, and just below that, lists all the things we should have been thanking Bush for this past President's Day.

At TAP, Alterman and Tomasky have a few suggestions on how the media could stop being used as a propaganda tool. I'm reposting the five key points below, but go read the commentary that accompanies them:

1. Go beyond the "he said, she said" and tell us what you believe to be true and important about a story. The chief convention of most news reporting -- this side says this, that side says that -- needs a drastic rethink. In the age of spin, an age brought to new lows by this White House, a formula that requires giving equal weight to both sides ends up helping the side that's lying. ... [Ed. Okay, I left in a little bit of the commentary, but possibly one of the most important points.]

2. Challenge the master narrative with genuine investigative reporting.

3. Show proportionality in covering controversies.

4. A little solidarity on behalf of the truth, please.

5. Don't let non-news organs drive the news cycle.

To the Barricades points to part of John Edwards' message that particularly inspires him.

Wampum graciously brought us the Koufax awards, and all the winners deserved it. But as the proprietors note, there were so many good entrants that it was tough to pick just one for each category, and I'm glad I didn't have to do it. We also get a flashback Wednesday, and a heads up on a charity that spends more to raise money than it pays out in aid.

World O' Crap writes about Larry Flynt and Peggy Noonan, and below that, responses to Bill O'Reilly's admission that the administration was wrong about Iraqi weapons. If you made this stuff up, you'd get kicked out of your creative writing class.