Apparently he's not giving up

Maybe they really are stupid. I think hiring those swift boat guys to go after AARP is going to blowback big time.

The New York Times > Washington > Republicans Are Chastened About Social Security Plan

Bush Asks Public for Help to Fix Social Security

The Anti-Conservatives

Hmm, is it bad to find yourself in agreement with Pat Buchanan?The Anti-Conservatives

Salon.com News | Bush's bait and switch

He may well succeed, Frank predicts. "If Bush rams it through, and I suspect he will, it could be very costly for Republicans," he adds. "It has the potential to be a huge disaster for them politically."
Salon.com News | Bush's bait and switch

a blog, a good excerpt

"Jottings about local politics in Southeastern PA"
http://asmokefilledroom.blogspot.com/

From the Philly2dc.org website (this incident was also mentioned in Paul Krugman's NY Times editorial today)

...... I found this hilarious piece on our good old buddy Rick on the DailyKOS web site

Santorum held a little rally recently touting the Bush Social Security "plan." Here is what happened: "[B]efore the event, Philly DFA began chanting "Hey-hey, ho-ho, Rick Santorum has got to go!" Local college Republicans, who are just about the only Republicans in West Philly, responded with a chant that beautifully was captured live by CNN: "hey-hey, ho-ho, Social Security has got to go!" I love it when the other side does your campaigning for you!

Inside the hall, the biggest applause line of the event was generated early on when Santorum asked a rhetorical question about demographics and funding: "what happens in 2008?" Before he could answer his own question, someone shouted "Bush leaves office," and the room went wild."

Rutgers - College Avenue Campus

McCormick's vision for transforming College Ave.Rutgers: Office of the President - Communities of Learning: College Avenue Campus

At colleges, Santorum touts Bush's Social Security plan

"He was heckled by protesters, called a liar, and told that his views were unconscionable. Those sentiments ranged across the age spectrum."
Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/23/2005 | At colleges, Santorum touts Bush's Social Security plan

Santorum Watch web site

Santorum Watch

More Ritter on Iran

Thanks to Art for "breaking" the Ritter-Iran story. Note Ritter also alleges the Iraq elections were fixed by the U.S.

A Kick in the Pants

Bush denies it

Vive le France!

I've grown tired of being the Duke--too feudal. Here's the inspiration behind my new display name.

Google Print

Google Print is in beta. Do a normal google search and if they have anything the book results will be at the top of the results. Google Print

Ocean data show extent of global warming

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/21/2005 | Ocean data show extent of global warming

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/20/2005 | Today's Auth Cartoon

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/20/2005 | Today's Auth Cartoon

Municipal Wireless as Progressive Vision

Progressives can combat the notion that government can't do anything with...municipal wireless?

Blog glossary

Are you an anti-idiotarian? Are you a blog mute, a blurker, or do you suffer from blogorrhea? Perhaps you're blogstipated or in fact you really prefer dead-tree media. http://www.samizdata.net/blog/glossary.html

Brit Hume Must Resign

Brit Hume Must Resign | Oliver Willis

Ridge, pollsters met during Bush campaign

USATODAY.com - Ridge, pollsters met during Bush campaign

Harry Frankfurt On Bullshit

Harry Frankfurt is an interesting philosopher.
The New York Times > Books > Between Truth and Lies, An Unprintable Ubiquity

On Bullshit

SEPTA's fate depends on rural areas (phillyBurbs.com)

SEPTA's fate depends on rural areas (phillyBurbs.com)

Righteous Anger (washingtonpost.com)

“How did the faith of Jesus come to be known as pro-rich, pro-American and pro-war?”Righteous Anger (washingtonpost.com)

Dean's Plan

Howard Dean has a plan. I like his first step - show up. How can we grow support of Democrats in our communities? Democratic National Committee See also Krugman's column on the Dean Democrats.

What Liberal Media? You're a propagandist!

A good counter-attack to conservative whining about "liberal media" is to call them propagandists. What they really mean by liberal media is any media critical of the president.

HoustonChronicle.com - More propaganda: Fake reporter fits administration's pattern of made-up journalism.

Meta D and the Duke go to Harrisburg

We went to the rally yesterday in Harrisburg. The Pennsylvania Transit coalition did a great job organizing; although the turnout was heavily union. Meta D believes we were profiled into being on a lobbying team, since we were the only skinny white guys with glasses on the train. When we got to the capital, we found the Republicans conveniently scheduled a "caucus" to avoid us. We did manage to get in to see this man, a state rep for counties we'd never heard of. The first thing he asked us of course was "are you from my district?" He agreed to talk to us anyway even though we weren't. Our mission was to find out his position. He said he was for dedicated funding, as long as no one in his district had to pay for it. Meta D then launched into a eloquent sermon on federalism and highway funding, but this did not move him. His argument was that everyone uses the highways at one time or another, but people in his district never use mass transit. Another more senior member of our lobby team brought up mass transit policies in Europe and our dependence on foreign oil. We didn't think this went over too well. Even though I disagreed with him, I felt he was cordial and straight with us.

Overall we thought it was a useful exercise for us personally, since we learned a bit about the political process and got some useful experience. From a political standpoint, however, I'm not sure it was very effective. PTC will have to try to build on this somehow. According to the activist books, now we are supposed to send a thank you note to this person and continue to build a relationship. Since we aren't in his district, however, I'm not sure how worthwhile that would be.

Meta D proposed an ACT-UP style protest he called "Schuylkill Slowdown" in which everyone who rides mass transit gets on the expressway and clogs it up, showing people what traffic would be like without mass transit. Hmmm.

I think what needs to happen now is more proposals for dedicated funding that will get support. We'll see.

Here's some links.
dailypennsylvanian.com - Transit rally attracts hundreds

Slots idea

Fumo plan

Condi/Clarke Memo coverage

The New Republic is covering the Clarke/Rice Memo (subscribers only):
The New Republic Online: User Center

And also Sunday's Inquirer.

Transit-cut protesters: Next stop, Harrisburg

Me and meta-d will be there! I'm getting kind of psyched! I volunteered to be a lobbyist, hopefully I'll get inside to talk to someone.
Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/12/2005 | Transit-cut protesters: Next stop, Harrisburg

Super Bowl and Nuremberg

This letter in today's inquirer makes a good point and I remember thinking the same thing watching the Super Bowl pregame. I had never seen so much military involvement in a game before.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/11/2005 | Letters | Letters: "Using the Super Bowl
I felt uneasy about the militarization of the Super Bowl: soldiers marching; fighter jets flying by; a reading of the Declaration of Independence; cheering crowds; and fireworks exploding when Paul McCartney sang 'Live and Let Die.'
The enmeshment of the military and sports heroes reminded me of Hitler's Nuremberg rallies and his use of the Olympics to gain support for militarization. Watching last weekend's festivities, one might easily get the impression that Americans are nearly unanimous in supporting President Bush's wars and forget that half of Americans are opposed to the war in Iraq and any further unilateral military aggression.
Robert E. Griffin
Forty Fort, Pa."

More aid for SEPTA pledged

This is good news, but there still needs to be a more permanent solution. Rendell hasn't been all that inspiring on this issue.
More aid for SEPTA pledged

Overview of the budget

These next 3 posts on the budget were sent to me by agent 99:

This brief, “Assessing the President’s Budget Proposal”
makes 3 key points about the Administration’s budget. The budget

1) Makes large cuts in domestic programs; 2) Includes more tax breaks for
the wealthy; and 3) Increases the deficit.

Deep Cuts in Federal Grants in FY 2006 Budget Will Squeeze States And Localities, 2/7/05

Deep Cuts in Federal Grants in FY 2006 Budget Will Squeeze States And Localities, 2/7/05

Budget and the Administration's Priorities

This study, What the President Budget Shows About the
Administration's Priorities (this one is 9 pages, but I think
worth the read!)

5 Ways to Win the Privatization Debate

5 Ways to Win the Privatization Debate

When They Say, “Social Security will soon go bankrupt,” The truth is...

When They Say, “Workers could get a better return by investing in the Stock Market,” The truth is...

When They Say, “Social Security is unfair because tomorrow's workers will have to support the Baby Boomers' retirement,” The truth is...

When They Say, “Privatization gets rid of the inefficiency of big government,” The truth is...

When They Say, “Most Americans, especially young workers, support privatization,” The truth is...

Philadelphia Transit Campaign

I'm going to this rally. Anyone else want to go? Philadelphia Transit Campaign

New date for "Kansas" reading group

I'm hosting out-of-town guests the last weekend in February, so is everyone who expressed an interest in the reading group OK with the first Sunday in March? I think we agreed on 3 pm but can someone confirm that?

Super Bowl Bluffer's Guide

If you know nothing about football, and don't want to know, here's a few lines that are good for almost any game:
"It's all going to come down to special teams."
"The defense is going to have to put some pressure on the quarterback and make some stops. "
And the converse - "The offensive line has to give the quarterback more time to throw."

Quiz - Who was responsible for last year's Wardrobe Malfunction?
a. Justin Timberlake
b. The Liberal Elite
c. Corporate media conglomerates run amok

Prediction - Iggles 34-28

Only One Side Told in Bush Soc. Sec. Pitch

Here's a nice fact check on the speech by AP. I heard two stories on NPR on how "young people" support private accounts, since they believe that SS will be gone anyway, so they may as well have the money they put into it. These people have been duped! The truth is you wind up getting more money out of SS than what you put in, and in fact Bush's plan reduces the benefits. If you come across any young people, make sure you tell them this.
Only One Side Told in Bush Soc. Sec. Pitch

SEPTA driving in the wrong direction?

The following is an excerpt from an e-mail I got from Marc Stier -- the main person behind PennaTransit.com.

I am steaming about SEPTA’s willingness to accept a fare increase as part of a transit bailout (see today’s Inky) and also about my inability to find one state representative or senator who is cares enough about helping the poor folks in this city who will be killed by fare increases willing to play hardball with the Republicans who keep talking about the importance of funding roads and bridges. (Playing hardball to me would be introducing a bill that repeals the gas tax increase that went into effect in January and that instead puts tolls on the expressway and routes 309 and 202 to pay for roads and bridges.)

Hispanics Criticize American Girl Doll

Don't they know about all the white collar crime and rampant drug use in the suburbs? Don't get me started on traffic, many new suburbs don't even have sidewalks. Hispanics Criticize American Girl Doll

State of the Union Address 2005 Quiz - Sierra Club

How much will Bush distort the truth and just outrigh lie in the State of the Union? State of the Union Address 2005 Quiz - Sierra Club

Gonzales hearings on C-SPAN

I caught some of the hearings on C-SPAN today (uh oh, am I becoming one of those people?). Why in every hearing do I just want to strangle Orin Hatch? Specter was a big giant weasel. They had the lamest arguments about how the president should be able to make his own cabinent appointments, how gonzales was a horatio alger story, and my favorite, the opposition is all partisan politics. (Yah, you're a POLITICIAN. That's what politicians do! They're partisan!) Some democrat from Wisconsin made some good points, then I had to work on dinner. The debate is going on longer than they thought but it looks like the Dems will stop short of a fillibuster, in part because he's hispanic.

Bush Budget to Scrap Subsidy for Amtrak-Sources

Oh look, PA is in finally in the vanguard for something going national: defunding public transportation. Bush Budget to Scrap Subsidy for Amtrak-Sources

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/01/2005 | The mayor gets onboard for SEPTA and its riders

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/01/2005 | The mayor gets onboard for SEPTA and its riders

I called Specter on Gonzales

Today is the vote on Gonzales, and every liberal group is asking malcontents everywhere to call their Senators and ask them to vote no. Calling may seem more difficult than sending an e-mail, but here's how to do it:

Duke: Hello this is the duke calling from illadelphia.
Staffer: Okay what can we do for you?
Duke: I'm calling to ask the Senator to vote no on Alberto Gonzales.
Staffer: Okay I'll tell him.
Duke: Thank you very much.

That's it. Use your real name and location of course. According to The One Hour Activist phone calls tend to be tallies, so there's not much point in getting into a whole thing with the staffer. If you can get in a personal story, like MetaD's discussion with the Chinese dissident, that's great, but don't go off on a rant or anything. Just make sure to tell them where you live. If you aren't a constituent there's no point.

I'm not sure if I'll call Santorum, he's so far gone I'm not sure it's even worth the phone call. I sent him an email on Gonzales and got back a page and a half snail mail letter explaining to me why I was an idiot. Too bad it's snail mail otherwise I could post it and rip apart the bad arguments.

Bypass compulsory website registration

Here's a site to help you:
http://bugmenot.com/