Yesterday's Diary, Today's Online Journal

[BlogBox]

Georgia's rotten peach claims that abortions have caused our shortage of cheap labor, Judith Miller claims that bloggers' nasty remarks about her have been "volumized" (don't bother looking - Judy made up the word), Judd Gregg needs a Sesame Street lesson in numbers and colors, and Operation Failure To Divert Attention falls as flat as the president's approval rating. Just another week on the blogs? Not hardly. All of this week's entries were posted on DU journals.

Not Your Mother's Dear Diary Page

Every DemocraticUnderground.com post is like a blog entry, and every DUer is an op-ed columnist. With that in mind, I've cited many individual DU posts in this weekly column during the past year. Now, thanks to the DU admins, all DUers have to do to start a Journal is sign up, click, and post. Et voilà, instant blog. For those unfamiliar with blogging, the instructions on choosing a skin (the layout, including background and font), one-click access (the My Journal icon is located in the top right corner of each of your DU posts), and revisiting the original DU post and replies (click discuss at the end of each DU Journal entry) make this the easiest blogging software experience on the Internet. The best part: it's all free. Of course, those who are able to help can always donate to the cause, but there is no DU membership fee requirement whatsoever.

For those who want to tweak their templates (skins), there are several free online tutorials. DUer salvorhardin recommends EchoEcho, and I've picked up some nifty tricks at w3Schools. Tricks and tweaks are fun, but post content is the key if you're hoping to attract readers. My advice: inject the same voice into your Journal entries that you do in your original posts and replies.

What's being posted on the DU Journals? With over 86,000 registered members, one of the best features is the Random Journal icon. You just never know what gems you'll find until you click.

Here's where DU Journals took me this week:

Abortions Cause Cheap American Labor Shortage

RedEarth has been following the sadly unenlightened life journey of Georgia State Senator Nancy Schaefer (R-Deranged), who says the darndest things that get printed in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, including:

Commenting on illegal immigration, Schaefer said 50 million abortions have been performed in this country, causing a shortage of cheap American labor. "We could have used those people," she said.

But wait! There's more! RedEarth cites more Shaefer shenanigans via Project Vote Smart:

Senator Nancy Schaefer spoke these words in the State Senate Chamber in The Capitol of Georgia, on March 24, 2004:

Tuesday morning - of this week, we began our Senate session with a message delivered by the Chaplain of the Day. His text was taken from Matthew 14 about King Herod and how the authority of that day had lost their conscience to the point of calling for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

I believe the element that called for the head of John the Baptist was the same element that crucified Jesus Christ.

It is also the same element that is taking the life of Terri Schiavo.

Thanks to RedEarth, the Nancy Antics are easily filed and bookmarked. As for those so-called pro-life bloggers (the ones who think Nancy Schaefer is brilliant, not the ones who hope to make abortion safe and rare), IsIt1984Yet has a few choice words for you:

If your goal really is to 'save lives'; if your primary concern really and truly is the children, then why not work harder towards prevention, assistance and alternatives yourself? Why strike down bills offering assistance to pregnant women in need? Why strike down assistance to children? Why fight national healthcare?

I know why and you know why. Because your concern is not the children and your goal is not saving lives! Your goal is judgement. Your concern is with the ability to look down your nose in disdain at others. To shake your head in shame and feel better about yourselves. And, let's be honest, even you and your own have been faced with this horrible choice... and you and yours have gone against the very words you preach - because your abortion is the only moral one.

You tell them, IsIt1984Yet! On Planet Freeptoidia, those 50 million hypothetical babies can look forward to a lifetime of cheap name tags, courtesy of Nancy Schaefer, Freeptoidia's Secretary of Menial Labor.

Judith Miller: Bad Bloggers Blogged My Butt Out Of Town!

Leave it to KPete to keep us apprised of each new episode of the Judy Miller Show. In this week's fun-filled installment, Judy blames bloggers for her fall from grace (and employment). KPete quotes the blog hater (from Vanity Fair):

Miller describes to Vanity Fair the process by which the Pajama People destroyed her:

The bloggers were without editing, without a way for people to understand what was good, what was well reported—to distinguish between the straight and the slanderous. Things would get instantly picked up, magnified, and volumized.

Boo-effing-hoo! (By the way, "volumizing" is for hair care products, not blogs. Dictionary.com has no listing for "volumize," Judy.)

Be sure to click Discuss and read some of the 108 replies to KPete's post. Priceless! And now Senator Joe Lieberman has joined the "Bloggers Did Me In" club. I can't wait to read what DU Journalists make of this sad turn of events.

Can You Tell Judd Gregg How To Get To Sesame Street?

Career Prole points just how worthless the (Republican, of course) Senate Budget Committee chairman is.

"It's hard to understand what a trillion is. I don't know what it is," confessed Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, this week when debating the government's staggering fiscal obligations.

That's staggering to me. That's the damned Budget Committee Chairman speaking!

He doesn't "know" what a trillion is.

Well, that certainly goes without speaking although it's nice that he confirmed it. Still, he and the other "conservatives" just increased the federal debt ceiling to $9 TRILLION and at this moment are about to railroad through a proposed FY2007 budget of $2.7 TRILLION.

These people don't represent us. They're an embarrassment.

Flush that damned thing. It's starting to draw flies.

Question: how can you manage the country's checking account if you don't know your numbers and colors yet? (Hint: red means you're out of cash, dumbass!)

Operation Failure To Divert Attention

Barrett808 posts Chris Allbritton's excellent dissection of Operation Swarmer, the unShock and unAwe attempt to divert America's attention from Cheney shooting his friend in the face, Bush's sinking poll numbers, and daily death reports from Iraq and Afghanistan. In a similar vein (aka the jugular), EarlG notes the corporate-owned press' use of similar phrases (trans. the exact same words) to describe the war in Iraq.

But overall, it appears that there is a "recent surge in violence" reported in Iraq pretty much every few weeks.

Bear in mind that these results were just Googled with the phrase "recent surge in violence." If anyone wants to try "recent wave of violence" I'm sure you'll be able to fill in the gaps.

Oh, and one more thing: when you get down to the part where General George Casey calls the January 2006 "recent surge in violence" an "anomaly," try not to fall out of your chair.

EarlG lists almost 40 (count 'em) instances in which mainstream news sources employ the phrase "recent surge in violence." No wonder Republicans don't want us to have access to the Internet. EarlG is truly one of the best writers around today, and he's a crackerjack editor, as well. (I'm speaking from experience, y'all.) Go for the serious "recent surge in violence" post, but stay for the "13 suggested audience questions for Bush's next public appearance" post. It's a laugh and a half.

We'll Always Have Baghdad

WCGreen's post on the third anniversary of Bush's War is guaranteed to remind us all that we will forever think of time as either before Bush's War or after Bush's War began. To commemorate said anniversary, Bush is state hopping (but taking a 4-day weekend off), delivering the same sad, lie-infested litany. It all began with a presidential press event this week. BobcatJH (aka Joseph Hughes of Hughes for America) posts "The Pressed Conference" which roasts the lame duckling and sticks a virtual fork in him:

To watch President Bush's press conference Tuesday morning was to watch a man squarely at odds with reality. We saw Bush the defiant. Bush the angry. Bush the liar. Never has the man seemed less in charge of America.

LynnTheDem tells it like it is: "We're safer" - lies Bush. WRONG ya stupid MFing LIAR." Mzmolly adds:

GWB "Saddam did not allow weapons inspectors into Iraq." WHOOPSIE!

I feel we could spend an entire day "reminding" our great leader and the media of THE OBVIOUS TRUTH.

UNITED STATES advises weapons inspectors to leave Iraq - 3/17/2003



Weapons inspectors, shown here searching a test site in February 2003, have been advised to leave Iraq. - Reuters

Same old lies, same old liar. Funny, even CNN hairdos said they would go live to one of Bush's rants if he said "anything new." Sigh. Nothing new. Just more fear mongering.

Fear, Itself

Mythsaje refuses to be afraid, no matter how much cowering in the corner BushCo demands.

I refused to be ruled by fear.

I refuse to let all their anti-American legislation to force me to walk away from what I do here. I will NOT let their arm-twisting and legal wrangling make me shed the part of me that is willing to speak freely.

I am an American. I am a child of the 1st Amendment.

I will not be told to hold my tongue. If I am, I will not obey. The right to speak freely, to criticize those who hold high places, to condemn those who commit heinous crimes in my name. I reserve this right without being called a traitor, guilty of sedition, or un-American.

Fear is the last weapon BushCo has in its rapidly depleting arsenal. Let's FDR those BushBots. Big time.

Ridiculous Republicans and Other Strange Sorts

Poor George W.! Jessica Simpleton Simpson sends her regrets to the president. Bush_Eats_Beef has the details. Scientology stifles South Park, but Lefty48197 links to the entire censored episode. What do DUers want to know this week? KoKo01 asks: "Who would you be most afraid of? A 'Dangerous Incompetent' or a 'Liar'?" and "QUERY for DU'ers: What Happens to Kids today who don't like the Internet?" LisaLynne asks: "Does Bush Care?"

And Along Comes Skinner!

What can you say about the man who mostly works behind the scenes, occasionally posts brilliant observations, and finally has his own DU Journal? Sigh. All I can say is: it's about damned time! Skinner's "Iraq War Strategies That Would Work Better and Cost Less" reminds me of the days when we wondered why we didn't just buy each Vietnamese citizen a Cadillac, declare victory, and depart the field. Skinner's strategy #1: lavish first class vacation to Disney World. Read the rest. Bookmark this journal and visit it often. It's a keeper!

Let's Hear It For Photos!

I don't know about you, but when I see the word "pix" in a DU subject line, I always click on it. From Stephanie's post "Little Lord Pissy Pants and the Very Scary New Backdrop,":



I even added my own snarky two-photo-cents worth in my first DU Journal entry:

Condi auditions for a Captain Morgan commercial...

And Elad (your DU programmer) showed us this week what democracy looks like in Portland:



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Not a DU member yet? Join. A treasure trove of knowledge, insight, valuable links, photos and graphic blandishment awaits you. And keep sending me your links and comments. We're all in this together, y'all.

--Delilah Boyd

[Skinner]

1. Wow! It's an "all DU Journals" BlogBox!

We've hit the big time! :thumbsup:

[incapsulated]

2. This is very cool!

:thumbsup: