The Medium Lobster’s take on the Kick-me Democrats:

Once the proud torchbearer of noble causes like World War I and the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Democratic Party has recently become a nagging voice of doubt, questioning America’s burning need to invade nonexistent threats and torture dangerously muslim cab drivers. Now the party’s deranged lust for the rule of law has gone too far, as they push for congressional hearings on George Bush’s illegal wiretap program. No doubt Harry Reid and his cronies think they might make some petty partisan hay out of the president officially placing himself above the law, but nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, Bush’s extralegal vigilance will only remind voters of the integrity and competence the president has displayed throughout his handling of national security, from his swift dismantling of Saddam’s weapons of mass imagination to his candor regarding the legalization of strictly hypothetical torture. Do the likes of John Kerry really want to face down the mastermind behind the Iraq War armed with nothing more than two hundred years’ worth of checks and balances?

It helps to laugh. Really.

In the din of posts at Daily Kos, I occasionally feel the need to single one out. Here is a defense of Howard Dean that I feel the need to call out — Calling bullshit: anonymous, cowardly beltway insiders

Republicans built their local parties, Dems let theirs atrophy. Finally, someone at the helm realizes that we are a national party and need to rebuild from the ground up. Finally, someone at the helm is providing resources and attention to those locals to build a counterbalance to the GOP’s national machine.

And such rebuilding costs money. But in the long run, this is how you build a national party.

I hope Kos is right. I certainly like what I hear from Dean and I do no agree with the critics, like the Daily Howler, who are quick with the harsh criticism. Dean needs to upset more than a few people if he’s doing his job. The fact that Dean critics will get media play just speaks to that Dao triangle again…

There’s a new blog in Bernal, and they are trying to stop a foolish plan to reduce after hour loiterubg at Bernal Hill park by blockading the most heavily used corner of the park. Check out this post -
Acting out for safety (and fun too!)

Save these dates to help rally support and raise money for a fair planning process and new plan for the top of Bernal Heights Park:

Planning and Preview Demonstration, Saturday, 2/4/06, 7 am to 10 am at the top of Bernal Heights Boulevard at the section which Tom Ammiano and his special cohorts want to close. Check it out for a surprise. We need help to prepare materials for the rally the following Saturday.

RALLY - Demonstrate against this unsafe plan - Saturday, 2/11/06 - 11 am to 1 pm. Our supporters will gather to demonstrate what will happen to the park and Bernal Heights Boulevard if Tom Ammiano’s ill-conceived plan goes ahead.w

Normally I’m opposed to obstructionist neighbors trying to get in the way of progress. But in this case I think they’re trying to get in the way of a really stupid idea. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.

More musing on Dao’s triangle, this time in an article by Michael Kinsley, Kick Me, I’m a Democrat - The game politicians play:

It seems to be time once again to play Kick the Democrats. Everyone can play, including Democrats. The rules are simple. When Republicans lose elections, it is because they didn’t get enough votes. When Democrats lose elections, it is because they have lost their principles and lost their way. Or they have kept their principles, which is an even worse mistake.

Just remember, ignorance is strength

Looks like Canada has not found it necessary to abandon their commitment to mine safety. Trapped Canadian miners rescued

Rescuers in Canada have brought to the surface all of the 72 miners forced to take refuge in safety rooms after a fire broke out at their mine.

Could the contrast to our recent mine disasters be any clearer, any more stark?

Josh Marshall was perhaps the most important blogging voice raised against Bush’s Social Security privitization scheming. So he has my ear when he speaks up against pending Bush plans on health care “reform”: our over-insurance problem!

Health care policy is an immensely complicated issue. And that complexity can sometimes be a cover for politicians pushing policies that would screw most families. In this case, however, the president and his supporters have done everyone the favor is simplifying what they’re up to and what they want to do.

The president thinks you’re over-insured. He thinks you have too much health insurance.

Add water and stir …

Read the whole post and get ready. More and bigger bamboozelments awaits us.

Another Engadget curio. This one is oddly comforting to me: Stick it to the man with your very own RFID-Zapper:

it’s fun to see some of the more paranoid types take matters into their own hands and kill those privacy invaders dead with the RFID-Zapper, a hacked up disposable camera that delivers an EMP of sorts to unsuspecting RFID tags, sending them to that great inventory management system in the sky.

It’s nice to know that future fascist states won’t be able to rely too much on RFID tags, not if we can bear arms like this to neutralize them. I wonder if the new RFID passports are designed with something like this in mind?

A sublimely ridiculous gadget noted on Engadget

the TMIO oven can be controlled from any Internet-enabled device (your cellphones, your PDAs, your PSPs) or touch-tone phone, which makes it super-handy for last-minute schedule-shuffling or for blowing up your house from afar if the Feds catch wind of that scam you’re running. And even if it makes crappy food, how can you fully hate on any appliance that sports a 6.8-inch touchscreen LCD?

There are many reasons I want to spend a lot of money on a dream double oven. Web-connectedness is not one of them.

What I can’t get enough of:

What I can’t bear to watch:

Following on the heels of the Dao’s Triangle post, check out this one by Reed Hundt skewering Maureen Dowd: Poe and Dowd

But Ms. Dowd wants to walk on the left side of the street, or to have us think she belongs there along with her readers, while at the same time accepting the other side’s personal attacks on the left as the starting point for her mockery. So when Ms. Dowd automatically criticizes Hillary Clinton now, we can apprehend that if Senator Clinton runs for President she can depend on Maureen Dowd to pound on her, while letting the Frists/McCains/Jebs get off comparatively easy. Yes, Ms. Dowd is entitled to mock, and she’s as good at it as anyone in America, but shouldn’t she swing at all the pitches and not just those thrown by left-handers?

Score another one for the netroots crowd!

I’m with Debbie on this one. Kinky Friedman sounds like a breath of fresh air.

I Might Just Have to Move to Texas So I Can Vote for This Guy!

Friedman has at times spoken irreverently about Jesus. Does he worry that religious voters in the very religious state of Texas might be offended? ‘Well, I just said that Jesus and I were both Jewish and that neither of us ever had a job, we never had a home, we never married and we traveled around the countryside irritating people,’ says Friedman. ‘Now, if that’s comparing myself to Jesus, I don’t really think it is. But, the Jesus in my heart is a Jesus with a sense of humor. And, personally, I think he’s enjoyin’ my campaign as much as anybody right now. I think he is.’

Run Kinky, Run!

Reports of a UN report on the economic value of coral reef and tropical mangrove habitats percolated up in a few of my favorite web watering holes. The BBC offered a nice overview in Coral, mangroves good for economy

Coral reefs and mangroves are worth protecting for economic reasons, contributing as much as $1m per sq km to tropical economies.

Another synopsis appears over on WorldChanging: The $1 Million per Square Kilometer Solution

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami affirmed — in a terrible way — the value of mangroves and coral reefs to save human lives. But our history shows over and over that some influential forces in the world hold life relatively cheap. UNEP’s new report does the math: balancing the wealth mangroves and coral reefs generate against the income and resources lost when they’re destroyed proves that saving them makes overwhelming economic sense.

The full report is found here (PDF).