AddieStan

Blogstresses rule! Many thanks to my sisters in blogstress solidarity, Jeralyn Merritt of TalkLeft and Jessamyn Charity West of Librarian.net , convention bloggers have linked to this site. Jeralyn sent a shout-out, too. From what I'm reading of yas, it's all gettin' good.

Bean Town Bound WASHINGTON, DC--The great thing about political conventions is that, however hyperscripted they are, if you're there to do your thing, you never know exactly they're going to turn out for you. This time is particularly true for me. In past years, I've gone to conventions under the aegis of whatever print publication I was currently gigging for, but this time I applied for my tags as a blogger. And I got a nice letter that said they were mine. Then I got one saying it had all been a terrible mistake. (Scroll to page 2 of the "nice letter" PDF.) The way I see it, I have two letters, both signed by the same person--one of which says I'm in, one of which says I'm not. So I'm choosing to believe the former, which I will present when I go to pick up my imaginary tags. I mean, they really couldn't have wanted to shut out a liberal feminist who's been dogging the right for--let's not say how many years. Especially...

For today's posts, redirect to AddieStan's new URL: http://www.addiestan.com. Casino to Ronstadt: Baby, you're no good... When I was a little girl, my daddy taught me to shoot craps against the curb. Considering the fact that we had just moved to a tidy, suburban neighborhood, my mother was not amused. But, hey, you can take the paisano out of Jersey City, and you know the rest... In the case of Linda Ronstadt, it seems you can take the lefty out of Sacramento (remember her Jerry Brown days?) and put her in Nevada, but it's a schtick that doesn't play well in Vegas. Ms. Ronstadt (whom I idolized during the short-shorts & roller-skate years) apparently got the boot at the Aladdin last night when she rolled off a riff of praise for Michael Moore, director, producer, etc., of the anti-Bush film, Farenheit 911 . It was apparently quite a scene. According to the piece on Billboard 's Web site, audience members tossed cocktails and tore down ...

Free and fair? How heartening to see that the Dems are gearing up to play hardball this year in order to see that everybody’s votes get counted. On the smart side of things is the http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/19/politics/campaign/19VOTE.html" target="Resource Window">Kerry campaign’s legion of lawyers versed in election law . On the silly side is the call by some congressional Dems for U.N. monitoring . I’m all for international monitoring of this year’s U.S. presidential contest, but this is simply bad rhetorical strategy. Who on the right would ever accept the word of the United Nations? Why not engage some neutral, U.S.-based, multi-lateral outfit, such as the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), to do the umping? It was founded by Republicans, after all—back in the days before party membership required that Republicans hate everybody who wasn’t born in the good ol’ U.S.A.   

A bad day for the Bill of Rights While yesterday's Supreme Court ruling on a patient's right to sue HMOs ( nil, natch ) got the big play on page A1 of the New York Times , it was the piece on the jump page that sent a real chill: Supreme Court Upholds State Law Requiring Citizens to Identify Themselves to Police . What next? National identity cards? Where are your papers? In her customarily thorough way, Linda Greenhouse's piece on page A12 (the A1 piece on the HMO decision was hers, as well) detailed the case of a Nevada man who had been arrested and fined under a state statute for refusing to give his name to a police officer. Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy opined, "answering a request to disclose a name is likely to be so insignificant in the scheme of things as to be incriminating only in unusual circumstances." One can only imagine what a court in the next Bush Administration might find similarly "insignificant". A ...

Peace! That's the greeting of choice among the hundreds of young folks who attended this week's National Hip Hop Political Convention in Newark, New Jersey. But don't mistake them for passive peaceniks. These are highly motivated folks who are plenty pissed off--about the war, about the "prison-industrial complex", about lack of economic opportunity, about the predatory practices of street-level check-cashing outfits and credit scams. In order to participate as delegates to the convention, attendees had to have registered 50 people to vote in the November election. Delegates put together an issues agenda to which they plan to hold the presidential candidates accountable. For the first time in a long time, your aging blogger felt a glimmer of hope for the future. To find so many smart, funny, thoughtful, angry, we're-gonna-do-somethin'-aboudit kind of twentysomethings--well, it reminded one of a generation that stopped a war. Let's h...

Whuttzee Up To? Howard Dean's Guerilla Operation At a call-in press conference this afternoon, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean told your intrepid blogger that why, yes, his new organization, Democracy for America , did intend to seat delegates at the Democratic National Convention this summer. "We want to seat as many of our people as possible," said the former presidential candidate. And what of the Democratic Party platform, Governor? "We expect them to be involved in the platform hearings," he added. Remember, you heard it here first. Now, the reason one would do this is to insert enough of one's own agenda (say, opposition to the war in Iraq, or outreach to guys with Confederate flag stickers on the back of their pick-up trucks) into that of the Democratic Party, so as to remake the party in one's own image. As noted in a previous posting, we asked the governor whether or not he intended to use his new organization to take over the party...

This piece appeared in a shorter but much less amusing form in the Washington Blade . Keepin’ It All Together President Clinton Talks to Yours Truly at the Democrats United Dinner WASHINGTON, DC--It was billed as the most successful fundraising event ever staged by the Democrats, with a reported take of $11 million. Indeed, the Democrats United Dinner, staged last Thursday at the National Building Museum, was a sight to behold, bringing together not just disparate elements of the Democratic Party, but of grand-scale events, as well--a little bit circus, a tad awards show and, of course, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll. Part picnic, part gala, guests paid $1,000 a piece to chaw on barbecue served on plasticware in the museum’s elegant atrium, surrounded by columns of all three orders of classical architecture. Readers who know the museum may recall that at the ground level, arches supported by Doric columns grace the perimeter, while up one level on the mezzanine, the Ionics hold sway in a ...

Up In the Tree Fort at Camp VeepWannaBe With the Democrats’ presidential nominee decided, the election pre-game prognosticators now turn their attention to the veepstakes--the roll of the wheel that will ultimately determine just who will “round out the ticket,” as they say, in the number-two spot. And so, inevitably, the name of New York Senator Hillary Clinton bobs up now and again, if only because the oddsmakers, looking at a long nine months ahead until the presidential election, long for something interesting to happen---or at least threaten to happen--in the interim. Hence, we kid ourselves that there’s a chance in hell that a woman could be named to the Democratic ticket. In truth, we know how unlikely, even absurd, it is to consider Hillary a vice presidential contender. None of the three states she claims as home are considered battlegrounds in the presidential contest. And what presidential candidate in his right mind would name someone to the ticket wh...

Zoom, Zoom! "He's gonna be at Daytona ," said my car-crazy dad with a smirk, speaking of the president of the United States. "Wonder if he's gonna show up in a crash helmet and a jumpsuit with, you know, all those things--" "Logos?" "Yeah--stuck all over it," he laughed, sticking imaginary trademarks on his arms and chest. "Oh, you mean like Enron ? WorldCom ?" "You got it!" he said. " Global Crossing ?" Oops, I forgot that that one belongs a bit more to the other team .

Bollocks! Say what you will about George W. Bush, but the guy's got real...nerve. Nerve enough to turn up today at a Louisiana Army base , where he addressed members of the National Guard to thank them for their service in Iraq. The thanking is all well and good, but what about his administration's attempt to strip the Iraq-based troops of their combat pay allowance on the contention that "major combat operations" had concluded? Tell that to the young and wounded who arrive daily at Walter Reade Army Medical Center. And while you're at it, don't forget to let them know of the administration's plans to scale back health care benefits and shut down V.A. medical facilities for veterans. The Bush team has tried to spin the questions over the president's National Guard tour as an attack on the Guard . (Talk about brazen!) To find their most callous detractors, Guardsmen and -women need look no further than the Oval Office.

Fun while it lasted Up until last week, the presidential nomination contest had been nothing short of a blast to watch, full of vim, vigor and an air of serendipity. But now as the outcome becomes more predictable, I've begun to relapse into my native journalistic cynicism. While Dean was alive, shocks of electricity were felt by anyone within viewing range of the phenomenon, not only for the candidate's obvious quirks, but for the fact that Dean's means of financing really did hold the promise of minimizing the influence of the corporate lobbies. I mean, this really was people power! Conventional wisdom now holds that the Dean people mistook their process for the message, but that was no mistake. They simply didn't package their message well enough. Then Kerry and Edwards took that message (without the substance yielded by real-people financing) and tied it up much more neatly and handily than the Dean folks ever tried to do, and the r...

Trippi-ing the light not so fantastic... So, the big NH is over, and all my weary newsbiz friends are fried, though the party's just begun. My favorite part was when, in his victory speech , Kerry said, "I have a message...," and indeed he did. He had Howard Dean's message. Botox aside, Kerry continues to look good. But if "electability" is the factor that keeps putting him over the top, has anyone considered just how electable he'll actually be once Rove runs oppo over the candidate's eccentric wife? And Dean! What a lovely speech of longing he gave that night. If only he had been giving that speech before he came in second. (Interestingly, MSNBC's Chris Matthews allowed Dean's speech to run far longer than he did Kerry's.) Quite the softball setup for the " Trippi trips " surprise ending. Speaking of coverage, what was CNN thinking with that lame "War Room" set they put Carville and Begala ...

Don't it make my red state blue? So, it's P-Day in the Granite State, and yours truly remains without a DSL--or any other type of telephonic electronic--connection to cyberspace. So, amid the slush I made a connection hydroponic (via rubberized boots) to a borrowed line, and have about 30 more seconds to write something witty, which just ain't gahn happen. I'm just smart enough not to prognosticate about today's contest. As for the big one in November, though, I will predict that unless the Bush team tames its snide, mocking tone , it may turn some of those solid red states purple*, leaving Mr. Rove with a mighty red face. (So, who's a weenie, now, KR?) Astute readers will discover that both of the links embedded above lead to Dan Froomkin's White House briefing on washingtonpost.com . It seems that Mr. Froomkin may just have the best job in our nation's capital. Well, except, perhaps, for Wonkette . *For those unfamiliar with the color w...

There but for the grace of God... How 'bout that Howard Dean on caucus night? Kinda makes ya glad not to have known him during his drinking years, eh? An officer and a prickly pear Then there was Wesley Clark's turn on the playground with Bob Dole, care of Larry King. Dole did his characteristic thing, something I call a blark. (A combination of a blurt and a bark.) "I think [Kerry]'s going to benefit a great deal in New Hampshire. Somebody has to lose," Dole said to Clark on air. "Now, of course, you don't want it to be you but I think it may be you." Clark began to flail around talking about leadership, when Dole blarked: "I think just politically you just became a colonel instead of a general..." Ooooo...a nerve was struck. "Senator, with all due respect, he's a lieutenant and I'm a general," Clark retorted. (I winced.) "You got to get your facts on this. He was a lieutenant in Vietn...

Two Cans and a String Oh, dear reader, are you out there? It's been so long! Alas, a conflagration of mishaps and miscues have led to your intrepid but intermittent blogger being more intermittent than usual. And during the Iowa stunner and the State of the Union snoozer, no less. I have a new computer, but no DSL to hook it into due to a great deal of confusion among phone companies. I had switched to Sprint to punish Verizon for continuing to bill me for a second line they never managed to install. I got the Sprint on a deal from AOL. Unbeknownst to me, AOL gave Sprint my debit card info, so Sprint started taking money out of my account even as they cashed the check with which I had paid my bill. So I cancelled my debit card and decided to change back to the less brazen but painfully confused Verizon. Ah, would that it were that easy. See, I deigned to move to another apartment in the same building I lived in when I began my vengeance spree against the telecoms. So now, ...

To Have and to Hold "The president loves to do that sort of thing in the inner city with black churches, and he's very good at it." So says a "White House aide" to the New York Times ' David Kirkpatrick and Robert Pear. The aide is speaking of the president's plan to visit marriage promotion programs in poor neighborhoods. Compassionate conservatism lives! More on Bush's vision thing to come...

Avoiding bin Laden I generally try to avoid the inside blogsball thing, but apparently not today. For on Josh Marshall's blog is an interesting commentary on this piece by Chris Suellentrop on Slate , which is a pretty bloggy site. What caught my attention initially was the tarnish Suellentrop's piece may or may not put on Wesley Clark's spit-polish-and-brass image. Josh Marshall unveils the mountain-out-of-molehill assessment that Suellentrop has given some of the general's utterances. But what held me is this one: "We bombed Afghanistan, we missed Osama Bin Laden, partly because the president never intended to put the resources in to get Osama Bin Laden. All along, right after 9/11, they'd made their mind up, I guess, that we were going to go after Saddam Hussein." I don't really find this Clark quote so outrageous. He is probably right. And while the Iraq war seems to be the result of craven motiviations, the avoidance of bin Laden...

Ben Franklin for Everybody! Just when you think the world might have wearied of religion angst among the pundits who parlez on presidential politics, there comes this piece from Nick Kristof, which examines the topic from a new angle. While I've been urging Howard Dean to quote Franklin when asked to speak about his own religious beliefs (Franklin declined to spell out his own with any specificity), it seems that none other than Vice President Dick Cheney has been using Frankin to telegraph his personal theology. Cheney's beliefs? The theology of empire, with a dash of predestination thrown in. Perhaps there's a Franklin quote suitable for politicians at various points on the political spectrum. As the sage of Philadelphia once said, "A place for everything, and everything in its place"--even, perhaps, an undisclosed location.

Still I Look to Find a Reason to Believe Give Up the Ghost on God, Howie! The more I listen to Howard Dean talk about religion, the more uncomfortable I become. It was less than a week ago--wasn't it?--that I took on his critics for citing Dean's apparent lack of religiosity as the latest qualifier for the "unelectable" label the anti-Deanies seek to pin on the Democratic frontrunner. But did Dean take my advice? Oh, no! Instead, he listened to the people who want to stop him, putting himself at risk for giving them all the "proof" they'll need of his heathen status. And so we have the "Dances with Job" incident. To refresh you: I suggested that Dean should decline to discuss his personal beliefs, and invoke Jefferson and Franklin in so doing. However, reminding his audiences that the denomination he adopted descends directly from the Puritans--the original religious dissenters to land in New England--well, that might not...