And boy are we happy about that.  Really, we are.  Usually, Virginia goes first and Maryland and DC bring up the rear--long after the party leader has been chosen.  Not this year.  Very cool, indeed.

Why?  Because the Washington, DC Metro area has been ground zero to the greatest disaster of our young century: the disintegration of our Federal Government.  This disaster alone has beget all others: 9-11, Afghanistan, Iraq, New Orleans, health care, recession, etc...etc...

Let Lou Dobbs bloviate about "broken government." He has no idea how broken it is.  We do.  And we get to do something about it.

There is likely to be a recount in Virginia.  This diary is meant to provide some references for discussion and monitoring, as well as some insights into what is going on.

Info on Virginia Recounts can be found here.

Today, Virginia will be counting the provisional ballots. The procedure can be found here.

VA-Sen - 99.8% reporting
George F. Allen (R)	1162327	49.2%
James H. Webb (D)	1170686	49.6%
G.G. Parker (Indp. Green)	26098	1.1%

VA-02 - 100% reporting
Thelma Drake (R)*	88364	51.3%
Phil Kellam (D)	83476	48.5%

Delmarva, VA Beach, Hampton Roads

VA-10 - 99.5% reporting
Frank R. Wolf (R)*	135330	57%
Judy Feder (D)	96824	41%

Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Clarke Counties

VA-11 - 99.3% reporting
Tom Davis (R)*	129772	55%
Andrew Hurst (D)	102052	44%
Fernando Greco (Green)	2031	1%

Northern Virginia, Alexandria

I just got through watching the debate between Jon Tester, Conrad Burns and Stan Jones on C-SPAN (local PBS affiliate in Boseman, MT).  I didn't see a thread up and thought folks would like to discuss it a bit.  Watch, by the time I load this up, it will be competing with six other diaries.

If you didn't catch it, hop over to C-SPAN to watch.  They were just broadcast, so I'm not srue they have them on the site yet, but keep checking.

It's a long word.  The sort of word that would eliminate most contestants in a spelling bee.  It was the word that my Italian born grandmother could barely understand when the doctor uttered it to her:

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

You know it as black lung disease.

It comes from breathing a mixture of coal and silica dust.  The coal dust turns the inside of the lungs black and produces a black spittle.  The silica scratches the lung tissue, causing fibroids to form.  Both elements labor the breathing.  As the lungs become less efficient, the heart enlarges and strains and eventually, fails.

It was three years after the diagnosis when my grandfather died.  I was four years old and barely remember him.

In 1967, the State of Pennsylvania, where he lived, passed a law that compensated all black lung victims for medical expenses and damages.  My grandmother lived on that monthly check until she died in 1996.

Tomorrow's Washington Post has an interesting article inside the front page that postulates why so many  people in the Administration couldn't seem to anticipate the -breach in the levies-, -the rise in gas prices-, the Iraqi -insurgency- civil war.

Hindsight bias is when

people make a judgment or choice and are later asked to recall their judgment. If, in the interim, they're told what the correct judgment would have been, their memory of their own judgment may become biased toward the new information. For instance, suppose a person was asked to estimate how many votes John McCain would get in the Michigan primaries. If before the election, he estimated 30%, and then learned that the actual figure was 50%, he may later recall that his answer was 40%.

It was 1986.  Two college buddies and I decided to spend "Liberty Weekend" in New York City.  They were rededicating the Statue of Liberty and the festivities included a tall ships parade in New York Harbor as well as what was billed as the world's largest fireworks display.

Road trip!

From the gang that informed us that the "Geneva Conventions are irrelevant" comes the latest ploy to keep legal their strategy of torturing and degrading our so-called enemies:

Water down the War Crimes Act.

Today's edition of the Dayton Daily News asks the question "Did the deaths of 14 Ohio-based Marines change public opinion of the war?"

On August 3, 2005, five families living in the suburbs of Cincinnati got a call from the Marines that no family wants to receive.

I regret to inform you that your son, David / Timothy / Michael / William / Christopher is dead.

The 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines is based in Brook Park, Ohio, just up the street from the automobile plants.

One theme that runs through press coverage about the Israel-Hezbollah conflict is that the tensions in the region date back centuries. This implies that both sides are sworn enemies through history.  

How would the rhetoric and tactics change on all sides if everyone involved questioned and challenged the notion that Jews and Arabs are destined to hate each other?

What if I told you that there were times in Jewish history when Jews allied with Muslims?  Would that change how you view this present conflict?  

This diary does not take sides.  It merely cracks open a couple of dusty pages in history simply to remind everyone that history is not so cut and dried.  

I have a confession to make. I write speeches for Howard Dean.

No, not professionally.  I write them as a hobby.  I usually do it shortly after I see him in a TV interview or read something that he said in the paper.

So two weeks ago on Meet the Press, when Tim Russert asked Howard Dean if the Democrats would raise taxes if they re-took the House, Senate or both, I began writing.  I won't print Howard's reply here.  It was horrible.  Mine's better.

It starts off with Howard looking Tim in the eye and asking him,

"What, Tim?  Are you worried that your taxes will go up?  Don't you love America enough to want to pay for it?"

Crossposted at Street Prophets


Billions of people around the world celebrate the feast of Holy Thursday tonight.  In part, it's the commemoration of an act of great betrayal.


From Miriam-Webster:

betray


Main Entry: be·tray
Pronunciation: bi-'trA
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from be- + trayen to betray, from Old French traïr, from Latin tradere -- more at TRAITOR
transitive senses
1 : to lead astray; especially : SEDUCE
2 : to deliver to an enemy by treachery
3 : to fail or desert especially in time of need
4 a : to reveal unintentionally b : SHOW, INDICATE c : to disclose in violation of confidence
intransitive senses : to prove false

This past week, we have seen both 2,000-year-old spin and up to the minute spin, all in the effort to white wash and attempt to explain or justify acts of betrayal.

Sunday's Washington Post prominantely featured a rather disturbing opinion piece from Joy Jones.

'Marriage Is for White People'

At least statistically. The marriage rate for African Americans has been dropping since the 1960s, and today, we have the lowest marriage rate of any racial group in the United States. In 2001, according to the U.S. Census, 43.3 percent of black men and 41.9 percent of black women in America had never been married, in contrast to 27.4 percent and 20.7 percent respectively for whites. African American women are the least likely in our society to marry. In the period between 1970 and 2001, the overall marriage rate in the United States declined by 17 percent; but for blacks, it fell by 34 percent. Such statistics have caused Howard University relationship therapist Audrey Chapman to point out that African Americans are the most uncoupled people in the country.

Who's defending marriage in the black community?

This diary expands Dire Radiant's earlier announcement that Mad Cow Disease has been found in a cow in Alabama.

I don't wish to get into a huge debate about whether meat eating is moral or healthful.  This is a diary about food safety and the woeful inadquecies of yet another government agency in this Administration.

Gary Berntsen, author of Jawbreaker : The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander (Note: read the Amazon review---pretty interesting!) was on Tim Russsert's MSNBC show tonight.  After spending a good portion of the hour blasting the Clinton administration for failing to stop al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden when he could have, not one mention by either him or Russert that the Bush Administration has failed as well.

I just caught bits and pieces online at C-SPAN.org.  I'm sure they'll be posting the broadcast up on the site very soon.

You really should catch it.

It was an incredible piece of political theater and an interesting display of anger, rancor and fury at this Administration.

So I finally had it this morning at 7:40 am when Lester Holt was interviewing Tim Russert about the inevitability of the Samuel Alito confirmation.  Tim said something to the effect that Alito didn't make any errors for the Democrats to capitalize on.

I experimented this week a bit with my media consumption.  I purposely avoided reading the front section of the Washington Post, missed a whole week of Countdown and The Daily Show.  Weaned myself from Air America.

Oh, and no Kos.  Now THAT was tough.

 

This week, while perusing the newspaper and online media, I was confronted with quite a few articles about women around the world.  The quality of life and liberty for women, I believe, is a harbinger of stability for all.  After all, they bear and raise children and hold families and communities together.  If women's rights are denied, all society suffers.

So as we close out 2005, how are women doing around the world?