Reading, petitioning, and FlickR-ing

I dropped off my last Tasini petition Monday night and am eagerly awaiting the outcome of his filing to face off with DLC Senator Hillary Clinton. Will Jonathan Tasini be allowed to challenge the divine right of Hillary? God, please, I hope so. We need good people willing to stand up for working Americans, for strong unions, for single payer healthcare, and above all for PEACE. I've seen Jonathan out in the streets and I applaud his energy and determination as well as his campaign slogan echoing the late great Senator Paul Wellstone, "Vote for what you believe in."

For my last petition I was awarded a chocolate cookie from Jonathan: very tasty. THEN, I was off to Film Forum to see Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man -- love Leonard, loved the film, and went home playing his music in my iPod. I was transported.

Now I'm back to reading Thom Hartman's The Prophet's Way: A guide to Living in the Now [Amazon link in this entry's title] and urging people to read Thom's latest entries in Common Dreams

Reclaiming The Issues: "Why Is Bush Spying On Democrats?!?"
by Thom Hartmann

Every time Democrats and progressives speak out about George W. Bush's spying on Americans without mentioning that he may also be spying on Democrats, they're playing into Karl Rove's "National Security Frame" and actually strengthening Republican electoral chances in November.
To short-circuit this, Democrats need to invoke the ghost of Richard Nixon.

If they don't, even Pete Hoekstra's new revelations that there are even more as-yet-unreported secret spying programs that Bush has been hiding from Congress will be used by Rove to say to average voters, "See? We're really looking out for you!"

The Bush administration doesn't deny it has been spying on Americans - they brag about it. They're listening to our phone calls, reading our emails, and looking at our bank transactions. They're gathering databases about our medical records, what we charge on our credit cards, and where we travel.

When Democrats point out that this is illegal without a court order, Rove simply floods the airwaves with Republicans who say, "We're doing it to protect you!"

The average American doesn't think this all the way through, and the Rovian frame seems like pretty commonsensical. In fact, it's at the heart of the right-wing rant.

For example, when some unfortunate and nearly illiterate idiots talked about attacking New York last week, the Bushies and the corporate press trumpeted the sting operation that led to these clueless wannabees' arrest as a "triumph in the war on terror!" Limbaugh intoned sternly that liberals would have prevented the United States from discovering such criminals, and all over America dittoheads nodded in agreement.

What's been entirely lost in the discussion about Bush administration spying is why so much of what Bush is doing is illegal. MORE

Read the whole thing, please -- and then send the article to your senators and representative. ALSO, read

Reclaiming the Issues: "It's an Illegal Employer Problem"
by Thom Hartmann

Every time the media - or a Democrat - uses the phrase "Illegal Immigration" they are promoting one of Karl Rove's most potent Republican Party frames.

The reality is that we don't have an "Illegal Immigration" problem in America. We have an "Illegal Employer" problem.

Yet it's almost never mentioned in the mainstream media, because to point it out could slightly reduce the profits and CEO salaries of many of America's largest multi-state and multinational corporations - who both own the media and contribute heavily to conservative politicians. Republicans would prefer that the "criminals" covered in the press are working people, and that corporate and CEO criminals not get discussed. MORE

And google the CommonDreams.org site and read more of Thom's articles. Then go to WhiteRoseSociety.org and hear Thom's latest radio show.

Finally, I've been FlickR-ing. I spent entirely too much time documenting the Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks -- but I had fun and you can run a whole slide show of my photos. You'll get a big bang out of them, albeit a silent one. Enjoy.

Peace hugs,
Kate Anne