Guys - please read: My new column - yesterday it was the LEAD in OpEdNews!

[calimary]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mary_lyo_070616_what_paris_means.htm

I hope you like it. Thanks in advance!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. congratulations!

It deserves to be first too, very good!

[calimary]

6. Thanks!

I've been promoted on their list before, but never all the way to the tippy-top.

Glad you liked it!

[Zookeeper]

2. Excellent, Calimary!

Congratulations!

As far as the swift justice demanded for Hilton, the one thing that can be said about the situation is that it's simple (kinda like Paris). However, you used the word "tentacles" to describe Libby/Cheney mess, which rightly suggests the complexity and depth of corruption in this administration. If it can't be reduced to a flashy sound bite, our ADD nation is bound to tune it out.

I have no idea what to do about that.

Also, I think Hilton is an easy target, partly because she's female. I can't think of a misbehaving male celebrity inducing the same level of hysterical coverage, except for O.J. (he committed MURDER) and Michael Jackson, who falls into his own special category of everything.

Again, great job!

:hi:

[calimary]

7. Merci beaucoup!

As far as having no idea what to do about that, I think you ARE doing something, even if it may seem small to you.

You are sharing and discussing and learning here, following the links, reading and becoming more educated (which makes YOU more informed and eloquent when you talk to your friends and colleagues - which may, in turn, open a few additional pairs of eyes). Maybe we're part of that big stone wheel referred to in that saying "justice grinds slow, but it grinds fine." Maybe what WE all are - is part of that grinding. At the very least, you're part of the building of its momentum. Many drops of water do make an ocean.

EVERY. LITTLE. BIT.

[calimary]

23. Btw, Zookeeper, I was trying to find this earlier to illustrate my point

and encourage you further.

From the Every. Little. Bit. department.

I sent a link to a good friend of mine who sent it on to some of her friends. One guy wrote back something really uplifting, and she shared it with me:

Wow. I was a Bush-hugging conservative before I read this. Now I'm going down to the harbor to dump some tea...

Thanks,
Dave

Dave, whoever you are, we love ya!

[juno jones]

35. Almost OT but:

Bumper sticker?: 'I'd rather be a tree-hugger than a bush-hugger'.

Anyways, great article. Thanks.

[calimary]

61. Like that one!

Kudos!

[Totally Committed]

3. That is so cool!

Conrtulations. I hope you're as proud of you as I am!

TC

[calimary]

9. An honor, my friend.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Wonderful!

And thanks for the link. I wouldn't have seen it if you hadn't done this.

[calimary]

13. A toast to you!

MUCH appreciated!

[mitchtv]

5. K&R

:kick:

[calimary]

24. I'm so glad you liked it!

Thanks so much!

[Forkboy]

8. That was great!

:applause:

[calimary]

25. Muchas Gracias!

I so appreciate this!

[Fovea]

10. Wonderful job

great read.

[calimary]

26. Thank you hugely!

Feedback from here is extra meaningful to me.

Hugs!

[JeffR]

11. #5

well done!

[calimary]

22. Hey! Back atcha!

Any favorable review from He-Who-Is-With-Nance is extra meaningful! Thanks so much, Jeff! And hugs to her, too - I'm a fan!

:toast:

[JeffR]

32. Thank you

After I had a piece up at OpEdNews, I tried to persuade Nance to submit stuff to them, but she hasn't.

Very good piece you wrote and very deserving of the lead spot!

[Hissyspit]

12. Excellent!

:thumbsup:

[calimary]

27. Thanks much! I love that cartoon, btw.

:headbang:

[Cha]

14. That was brilliant, Mary!

Poor Paris is a victim of a Justice starved Nation..how ironic is that?
Not that she didn't deserve to be held accountable for flaunting her disregard for the laws in California.

Now, as you so eloquently write ..if we could have a quick and decisive rendering of the law for the tragic farce that has taken our country hostage.

[calimary]

46. Thanks - and Hugs, zidzi!

Really appreciate that. But yes. I think we're starved for justice. Maybe that's partially why people hooted at the MTV awards and elsewhere on the notion of her going to jail. Somebody of the high-profile ilk actually having to pay for what (in this case) she has done.

Nice that people here really get it. And I keep thinking about the 20-something thousand members when I joined - now numbering more than 100-thousand!!!

[BikeWriter]

15. K&R GMTA!

:thumbsup:

[calimary]

48. "Hold Someone Accountable Today"! Indeed, indeed!

Thank you, BikeWriter!

[jenmito]

16. Excellent as usual!

:yourock: So on point! K&R

[calimary]

47. And here we have the woman whose emails Jack Cafferty looks for first!

:yourock: TOO!

How many emails of yours has he read on the air by now? At least a dozen?

[jenmito]

59. I don't know about that...

But he has read 15 so far. :D (And Lou Dobbs read the only one I ever sent him, too). :)

[bleever]

17. My goodness

that was a pleasure to read!

:thumbsup:

[ClassWarrior]

36. That Mary's a smart kid, isn't she bleev?

She got straight A's in composition last year.

NGU.

[bleever]

37. You sure you're not sweet on her

onaccounta the last two lines of the essay?


:hi: bro!

[ClassWarrior]

41. You mean...

..."In addition to OpEdNews, Mary writes for Democrats.us, World News Trust, and WeDemocrats.org's 'We! The People' webzine. Mary is also a parenting expert, having written and illustrated the book 'The Frazzled Working Woman's Practical Guide to Motherhood.'?"

I mean, moms are neat and junk, but sweet on 'em? That's kinda creepy, bleev.

:hi: bro!

NGU.

[bleever]

42. ROFL!

"That's a lovely dress you're wearing, Mrs. Cleaver."

[ClassWarrior]

45. QED, bleev...

QED.

NGU.

[calimary]

51. Just added the Northeast Democrats newsletter in the northeastern part

of L.A. County.

Kewl, 'eh?

BTW, CW, thanks for the plug!

GUYS - PLEASE ALSO NOTICE ALL THE HANDY TOLL FREE CAPITOL HILL SWITCHBOARD NUMBERS IN CLASS WARRIOR'S SIG LINE!!! Nicely convenient there. Another MOST EXCELLENT idea!

And YES, I'm SHOUTING!!!

CW - you are not just a friend or brother DUer or meme schemer or fellow Good Guy. You are a public service!

:headbang:

[calimary]

50. Hey! I heard that!

:rofl:

[calimary]

49. Excellent!

I also appreciate your sig line - I was trying to remember that saying about justice grinding slow but fine.

Perhaps that's what WE are. Part of that fine grind.

:thumbsup:

[EFerrari]

18. Andale!

K&R

:applause:

[calimary]

52. You bet!

:toast:

[DeepModem Mom]

19. CONGRATULATIONS!

[calimary]

53. Hugs, DMM!

:toast:

[Vidar]

20. A very fine piece.

[calimary]

54. Most intriguing quote I found in the link in your sig line:

"...Generally I do as Don Quixote said, if the dogs are barking it’s because we are working." - Hugo Chavez

I like that one, Vidar! Thanks for this! Applies to the hyenas we've got yapping on the wrong-wing and their increasing shrillness and hysteria as we gain ground.

Let's provoke some more barking, shall we?

:thumbsup:

:headbang:

[Bozita]

21. Well written, well argued.

Thank you, calmary.

[calimary]

55. Back atcha!

:hi:

[blondie58]

28. excellent read- thanks!

and I will have to see if my library has your book- the one about a frazzled mom, as that is exactly where I'm at.

I am nearing the end, though- my kids are now 21 and 16, but oh, that 16 year old is a problem at times. Personally, I think that is Gods plan- make them so obnoxious and difficult that you're ready to shoo those little birdies out of the nest!

[calimary]

56. Mine applies mainly to the younger ones.

If you've survived this long and your kids are that age, sounds like you've managed very well without it! No small feat!

:toast:

Its focus was primarily on new moms and women in the workplace (I worked with a LOT of 'em) who wanted to become moms but didn't know what was ahead.

Nevertheless, I salute you!!!

[gratuitous]

29. Get ON with it already, Congress!

Well laid out. There's never going to be some elusive, bipartisan "consensus" on dislodging this criminal cabal. The failure to bring the no-confidence vote against Gonzales was proof enough of that. Let's just get to the impeachment stage, bring forward the evidence, and have that "up-or-down vote" in the House that Republicans are so fond of yipping about. Make the impeachment referral to the Senate, and let's get ON with it already.

And in refutation to the inevitable "go slow" protestations, I'll just say that yes, lives do hang in the balance.

[calimary]

57. No kidding. How many more of our soldiers are going to die while our

reps hem and haw and mewl about not having the votes?

I figure this: they had OURS last November. If they expect to see the likes of those again, they better start making SOMETHING happen, or at least show the balls to TRY ANYWAY.

I figure this, too: it's looking VERY clear now that the only sure-fire way to END THIS FUCKING WAR is to relieve its "commander-in-chief" of duty - through IMPEACHMENT. bush won't end it voluntarily. He won't comply no matter what, because he thinks he's somehow "right," or God's speaking through him or that history will avenge him or some such crap. ALREADY he and his minions are trying to move the goal posts for September. He has no intention of drawing down or redeploying then. They'll come up with some other complete bullshit to keep justifying the war, the carnage, the useless, wasteful deaths and maimings and violence and destruction and chaos. They'll find some other bullshit excuse to keep it going. There is no hope of ending it as long as bush stays in the Oval Office.

This is what gets me - the Dems face this ongoing "wimp-factor" about not having the backbone. EVEN FRIENDS OF MINE WHO ONCE SUPPORTED bush BUT DON'T ANYMORE STILL GULP THAT THE ONE THING THEY STILL FIND APPEALING AND POSITIVE ABOUT HIM WAS THAT HE SOMEHOW WAS PERCEIVED AS HAVING/SHOWING "BALLS." It's the BALLS they want. Right or wrong. It doesn't matter that it ended badly. What won them over was this perception about having "BALLS." Maybe that's why simpering she-men like chris matthews and that-guy-whose-name-rhymes-with-Vanity were drooling over bush's "package" in that pathetic flight suit strut-spree. Maybe that's what fuels people like them twittering and gushing over fred thompson now - misplaced macho. Maybe aligning themselves with someone they perceive as having "BALLS" makes them feel somehow more masculine. I don't know. But that's sure how it looks. The weaklings scurry to some perceived strongman's side because it makes them feel somehow stronger, more macho, more invincible. Because they themselves are not these things. So they graft themselves onto someone they think has those qualities so they get that kind of reflected benefit for themselves. That's just my guess. I mean, does it seem to you as though somebody like chris matthews or that-guy-whose-name-rhymes-with-Vanity could hold up against a playground bully when they were fourth graders? Perhaps that's where their own male insecurities and complexes got started.

Seems to me the way to yank that chickenhawk mentality out of its stupor is to offer them some REAL BALLS. I think it would win converts for the Dems and reverse their slide in the Congressional polls. And it might rescue our Constitution, too. Not to mention our reputation overseas and our self-respect as a nation.

[puebloknot]

74. Jonathan Turley agrees with you (and me)!

I posted this in another thread earlier today, but it's germane to this post.

Here's something to chew on from a legislative expert:

Jonathan Turley, Lawyer and Constitutional Scholar, speaking on Keith Olbermann's show on June 19, with regard to the Congress reining in this rogue pResident:

They've got to put something behind their rhetoric. They have to start to get tough, and to start withholding funds, withholding confirmations, using those powers that the Framers gave them to protect their own institution.

Yes! Balls! That's what the man is talking about!

[calimary]

75. No Kidding. I love that part, too - "they've got to put something behind their

rhetoric." DAMN STRAIGHT!!!

Otherwise, they'll have perverted the rule of law every bit as much as bush has. Inaction on this, letting 'em skate, is to render the law a complete joke.

A fellow DUer elsewhere posted a question about whether we've heard enough, already, about Al Gore and IMPEACHMENT. Well, as long as I'm around, I'm going to be calling for complete accountability. NO ONE is above the law. NO ONE. Supposedly, this was already settled once: during the Nixon era. These bastards must have missed that era - probably drunk or stoned or both. Whatever, they DEFINITELY did NOT get the message of that era.

[puebloknot]

76. "Silence lends consent." You've heard that one, I'm sure!

Had enough? Who decides when we stop talking about saving our country from criminals? Who??????

[Kukesa]

30. You make us proud! Excellent. nt

[calimary]

60. Thank you much-much-much!

I am grateful!

[bbgrunt]

31. good one! k and r

[calimary]

62. Many merci's!

I guess that would be "beaucoup de mercis" or more simply, "merci beaucoup."

:hi:

[Irishonly]

33. Wonderfully Written

Great job!

[calimary]

63. I appreciate that!

Signed, Irishmostly.

:toast:

[Maestro]

34. Nicely written

:thumbsup:

[calimary]

64. Aw... Molly Ivins... DAMN! I miss her!

One of the most flabbergasting compliments I got about this from the parents of a good friend was how my stuff was helping them survive Molly's loss. Someday perhaps I can be worthy of touching the hem of her garment.

I feel much the same about her as I do about John Lennon. When he died, just before reagan was to take office for the first time, I was so sad - thinking about how desperately we were gonna need him at that very period in our history. The very moment he was taken from us. Same with Molly. Katrina Vanden Heuvel told Thom Hartmann yesterday at the Take Back America conference that what we need is to overrun the media - get more of OUR people out there on the air and in print, so OUR message gets out above the overflooded toxic dumps of the CONservative media. Molly was great because she was out there with a high profile and got airtime and column inches all over the place. I think I miss her more with each day that passes.

Thanks not only for the kick. Thanks for keeping Molly's words alive!

[hfojvt]

38. scared me at first

I thought it was gonna be all about Hilton, but you tied that in quite nicely. However, I note that this is an online Progressive news site rather than a M$M newspaper, which means, likely, much smaller readership, and also preaching to the choir.

It would be nice if they did a print edition - a USA Tomorrow that people could read while on the subway or at work.

Congrats and very well done :toast:

[calimary]

65. Wouldn't that be great??? There's one local group for which I've started

writing, and I think they have a paper edition, or will have one soon.

But you're correct. We need something besides just "The Nation" - which is too esoteric, and not readily available everywhere. It's not the one you'd think of if asked to name a broad-based publication like "USA Today" or "Time" or "Newsweek." We DO need something mainstream with a decidedly liberal slant.

[Massachusetts]

39. "WHAT is it going to take?"

Precisely!

Excellent.

[calimary]

66. Thank you so much!

I really appreciate your weighing in!

It wouldn't surprise me at all if people who post here a lot become stronger writers. I mean, look at jenmito. She sends emails to Jack Cafferty and even also to Lou Dobbs - AND THEY MAKE AIR!!! They get read, ON THE AIR!!! I know for sure that DU has sharpened me up, and God knows people have had to suffer my posts for a long time now. OY!

BTW - your question "WHAT is is going to take?" would be a GREAT one to ask EVERY TIME we call our reps. EVERY TIME. They need to know that they aren't doing our bidding, and even more importantly, THAT WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE!!! Indeed! WHAT ON EARTH is it gonna take? How much criminality do they need to see before they decide it's time to start moving on IMPEACHMENT, for example? John Dean's book, "Worse than Watergate" wasn't published yesterday. It's been out for awhile now, under that title. And things have gone rapidly downhill and grown exponentially worse since then. The law-breaking and law-flouting by now is just FLAGRANT. So WHEN is it, exactly, that we're going to see something definitive done about it?

I called my congressman, Henry Waxman, earlier this afternoon, and reminded the staffer who answered to pass along that subpoenas with no teeth and no forceful follow-through get us exactly NOWHERE - now OR in the future. If the law is not enforced, it will become unenforceable.

[diane in sf]

40. Great Editorial! eom

[calimary]

67. As Joe Pesci said when accepting his Oscar for "Goodfellas,"

"it's my privilege."

[Uncle Joe]

43. I believe, you've hit the nail on the head calimary.

Thanks for the column.

Kicked and recommended.

[calimary]

68. Well, we try.

Donkey shoes!

(In honor of the great Oscar Wells Gabriel, an AP writer/reporter who for years has handled the "This Day in History" file on the broadcast wire every day. He'd say that whenever he wanted to express appreciation.)

[ninkasi]

44. Great article

congratulations!

[calimary]

69. Thank you!

I know it's a little - um - long! Thank you for taking the time! A VERY precious gift!

:toast:

[ninkasi]

71. On the contrary, calimary

brevity does not lend itself for adequately describing today's political reality. The Bush/Cheney cabal has so infected every aspect of life, that just a few sentences doesn't come close to analyzing, or solving, the problem. I enjoyed every word of your article. I wish I had your talent; it's like the old bromide about art...I may not know anything about it, but I know what I like, and I liked your article very much.

[calimary]

72. I'm so glad! Thank you for this, ninkasi!

What a nice thing to say!

Sometimes I think I drag on about it, but hey - some of the bad guys on TV and radio have done exactly that and look how they've forced their world view down everyone's throats. I'm still with Katrina Vanden Heuvel - talking about how seriously we need more progressives to step up and speak out and blanket the media. CONservatives on the air and in print and, yes, on the net, too, are a nickel a dozen by now. We need more from OUR side to be heard. Maybe we all need to be banging the drum as hard and as often as we can, to draw more and more public attention to the way bush is thoroughly trashing our world.

You are SO correct - they really have infected every aspect of life. It's exhausting to see how far they've permeated everything. I am SO ready for this entire sordid nightmare to be OVER. Hopefully, sooner than later. But it'll take a long time, because it will mean reversing a lot more than just bush/cheney. I think we have to go back to the dawn of the reagan era to start the recovery. So much in that sorry, misrepresented time has led to the miseries we're living through now. reagan sowed the seeds for bush - both big AND little. reagan plowed the field and prepared the soil. There is an ungodly amount of wrongs to reverse, because of all the horrendous deep-seated, infrastructure-level damage reagan did - to our economy and to our foreign policy. He got the ball rolling by putting a nice, benign, friendly, kindly-old-uncle-type face on something deeply ugly. He made greed palatable, even embraceable. Because he put forth this amiable, lovable image for himself, everything he stood for and hyped and was connected with also became lovable. And somehow if you objected to that, you objected to dear sweet harmless friendly old uncle ronnie. He made it acceptable to say you just couldn't remember when facing unwelcome challenges and realities. He glamorized the rich and the elite and the well-connected, turned overpaid CEOs into heros and lacerated the working man, the little guy, the middle class, and those not able to pick up the phone and "fix" things. He brought the monster in out of the cold and put it in a puppy-dog suit. He put a human face on the robber barons. Thom Hartmann was talking about this same thing on the radio recently, and speculated that this sick time may eventually give way to a sea change, a backlash that ushers in a new progressive era. I hope so. I'm SO ready to see all of this end.

[EFerrari]

58. kick

[calimary]

70. I, too, am picking cat hair out of keyboards. LOL! Thanks, sfexpat! Thanks DU!!!

I wanted to make sure I thanked everybody before this sinks.

I love you all - and I am SO grateful!

:hug:

[puebloknot]

73. Your messages are soooo unsinkable...

...if I have anything to say about it.

Just scanned your message at OpEd 'cause I have the flu. Will read in more detail. Just wanted to kick for now!

How are things in your neck of the woods. (Don't tell me how they are politically. I know. I know!)