tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35653002009-03-19T09:01:06.562-07:00Thoughts on the body politic, the human soul, Billie Holiday songs (and other people's) -- with a lot more questions than answers jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comBlogger1467125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059935199883225632003-08-03T11:26:00.000-07:002003-08-03T11:26:39.810-07:00

I have moved Body and Soul to a new site in a much more friendly and attractive neighborhood: http://bodyandsoul.typepad.com/ Please update your bookmarks and click on over.

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059862475404162882003-08-02T15:14:00.000-07:002003-08-02T15:16:55.593-07:00

I don't think my brain has really shifted back to politics yet, but I found a few intriguing, and connected, posts that I want to take note of: First, Kos says (and demonstrates) something that ought to be carved in stone: Lieberman is not a Republican. And he's not just a Democrat on paper, either. On most issues he's well to the left of any Republican. Next, Ampersand wonders why progressives

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059400817248337742003-07-28T07:00:00.000-07:002003-07-28T07:00:17.073-07:00

Communing with the redwoods I'll be gone all this week. Should be back at the computer on Saturday. In the meantime, I just added several good blogs to the top of the sidebar on my new TypePad site. And the old ones are great, too. There are also several interesting discussions going on over there, including a remarkably enlightening and civil -- keep it that way, okay? -- debate about Democrats

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059400685319283662003-07-28T06:58:00.000-07:002003-07-28T06:58:05.133-07:00

Colonialist mentality watch The natives are unbelievably shiftless, and lack initiative without our example to guide them.

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059328443233792152003-07-27T10:54:00.000-07:002003-07-27T10:54:03.040-07:00

I just discovered a new factor in the California recall election. The recall won't be the only thing on the ballot. Ward Connerly's suspiciously financed , anti-affirmative action "racial privacy initiative" qualified last year to go on the ballot in the March 2004 primary. The initiative would stop state and local agencies from collecting racial statistics, except for medical research. A poll

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059321980591628952003-07-27T09:06:00.000-07:002003-07-27T09:06:30.543-07:00

Speaking of potential California gubernatorial candidates... Max was right.

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059318798578898742003-07-27T08:13:00.000-07:002003-07-27T08:13:18.543-07:00

Anytime I say anything positive about Bush and Company, I end up eating my words later. But fools rush in... The news that they're planning to triple the amount of aid to Afghanistan sure sounds like a good thing. The United States never had a better opportunity to contribute to the development of a democracy in an Islamic country than it had in Afghanistan, and we simply threw it away. I don't

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059313594866751592003-07-27T06:46:00.000-07:002003-07-27T06:49:06.613-07:00

I have mixed feelings about the prospect of Arianna Huffington running for governor. Maybe my discomfort is just a matter of her style -- too slick, too celebrity-wanna-be. Maybe it's because I first got to know her as the conservative wife of my conservative congressman (who, by the way, is also running.), and I'm wary of political converts. Sometimes they're trustworthy; sometimes they're

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059252538023354112003-07-26T13:48:00.000-07:002003-07-26T14:05:16.983-07:00

George Soros has been reading Billmon. He will be running full page ads in the New York Times the St. Louis Dispatch, and the Houston Chronicle tomorrow with a list of a dozen Bush administration lies about the war. You can download a copy of the ad -- headlined WHEN THE NATION GOES TO WAR, THE PEOPLE DESERVE THE TRUTH -- here. UPDATE: Oh, Jeez, I was kidding about Billmon, but check out the

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059240914702495352003-07-26T10:35:00.000-07:002003-07-26T10:38:11.566-07:00

I find it very hard to make sense of what Bush is doing in Liberia. From today's New York Times: President Bush gave orders today for a naval amphibious force that includes 2,300 marines to sail from the Mediterranean and nearby waters to a position off the coast of Liberia, but left vague what its specific mission would be. So, we're sending more than 2,000 marines to somewhere in the vicinity

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059240899745597472003-07-26T10:34:00.000-07:002003-07-26T10:34:59.646-07:00

I find it very hard to make sense of what Bush is doing in Liberia. From today's New York Times: President Bush gave orders today for a naval amphibious force that includes 2,300 marines to sail from the Mediterranean and nearby waters to a position off the coast of Liberia, but left vague what its specific mission would be. So, we're sending more than 2,000 marines to somewhere in the vicinity

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059235283143786922003-07-26T09:01:00.000-07:002003-07-26T09:01:43.356-07:00

Miracle of miracles! What do you know? Gray Davis is running as -- of all things -- a Democrat, and a progressive one at that: Davis, who has sought in recent days to portray himself in a more liberal light, moving away from a carefully calculated image as a centrist, made his only public appearance with his wife, Sharon, at a battered-women's shelter in East Los Angeles. Surrounding himself with

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059172734305385812003-07-25T15:38:00.000-07:002003-07-25T15:38:54.273-07:00

Apparently the blues have passed (see the post below) and I feel like I have something I have to say -- albeit something brief. I hate Green bashing. Democrats need to stop blaming Greens for everything and reach out to them. If you can't find a whole lot to agree with Greens on, you're so far outside the history of what the Democratic Party has always stood for that you shouldn't even call

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059158140555898172003-07-25T11:35:00.000-07:002003-07-25T13:28:53.626-07:00

Blogger Blues I gathered together a bunch of things I wanted to write about, looked at them all, and suddenly felt...well...dumb -- in both sense of the word. Speechless and stupid. I don't know if it's me or the news, but I suspect the former. I know ignorance isn't supposed to stop anyone from blogging, but awareness of my own ignorance seems to have cut off the supply of ideas and opinions to

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059006021923102672003-07-23T17:20:00.000-07:002003-07-23T17:20:48.896-07:00

Consider how the Eli Lillies grow Interesting revelation in the fight to allow Americans to import prescription drugs. With even Republicans supporting it, the drug companies are running scared, but they have one ally -- Christians. Or some group of people going by that name anyway. The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) portrays its campaign as a moral fight for the "sanctity of life." Documents

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059005972590647552003-07-23T17:19:00.000-07:002003-07-23T17:19:32.433-07:00

Interesting revelation in the fight to allow Americans to import prescription drugs. With even Republicans supporting it, the drug companies are running scared, but they have one ally -- Christians. Or some group of people going by that name anyway. The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) portrays its campaign as a moral fight for the "sanctity of life." Documents provided to The Washington Post,

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1059004337190585742003-07-23T16:52:00.000-07:002003-07-23T16:52:24.943-07:00

Getting to the bottom of Yellowcakegate The janitor did it.

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058976357942719712003-07-23T09:05:00.000-07:002003-07-23T09:15:54.080-07:00

Let's Do The Time Warp Again I know I'm way behind on this story -- You don't really expect me to keep up on all the twists in turns in the yellowcake saga, do you? I mean, I do have a life, you know, and this administration turns out fiction faster than Joyce Carol Oates -- but the most recent version I've heard is that Stephen Hadley, a deputy to Condoleeza Rice, says it's all his fault. In

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058966896626262832003-07-23T06:28:00.000-07:002003-07-23T06:30:32.266-07:00

Conversation with a Republican friend responding to the bumper sticker on my car Him: So you're for Dean? Me: Sort of. We need a fighter. If a better one comes along, the bumper sticker's gone. Dean's really pretty far to my right? Him: To your right? Me: He's not a leftist, although the media spins it that way. He's pro-death penalty, anti-gun control... Him: Sounds like my kind of guy. Me: In

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058923658462032802003-07-22T18:27:00.000-07:002003-07-22T18:27:38.446-07:00

In June, 1972, I was sitting on the ground at an anti-war rally in People's Park, in Berkeley, when someone came to the podium to announce that George Wallace had just been shot. I'm not sure how many people reading this are old enough to remember Wallace as anything other than a black and white photo in a history book, or are able to summon up the visceral hatred his name evoked in anyone who

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058889232366474342003-07-22T08:53:00.000-07:002003-07-22T08:53:52.173-07:00

The National Library of Iraq.

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058887626069862542003-07-22T08:27:00.000-07:002003-07-22T08:27:05.983-07:00

Yesterday I was complaining about Bush's confusing and indecisive policy on Liberia. The "ambivalence continues, even after a day in which the death toll in Monrovia may have gone over 600, and humanitarian workers warned of a "doomsday scenario." Today Liberal Oasis has a clear-eyed post -- with lots of worthwhile links -- on how Bush's confusion has made the situation in Liberia more dangerous

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058805517599634152003-07-21T09:38:00.000-07:002003-07-21T16:30:13.750-07:00

Mortar fire hit the U.S. Embassy in Liberia today. It surprises me how little I've read in blogs about the situation in Liberia, despite the fact that we seem to be edging into a war there. Maybe it's too complicated, and doesn't lend itself to partisanship. Maybe. Howard Dean has called for 2,000 American troops to be sent to Liberia (and Rush Limbaugh excoriated him as a hypocrite for doing so

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058735404309863702003-07-20T14:10:00.000-07:002003-07-20T14:18:29.256-07:00

Do you know how bad the intelligence about uranium from Niger was? Via CalPundit, and the LA Times, I just learned that it's source was an Italian journalist named Elisabetta Burba, who works for the weekly Panorama. But Panorama -- which, by the way, is owned by Silvio Berlusconi (yes, that Silvio Berlusconi), and which is not exactly a news source with high standards -- didn't print the story

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3565300.post-1058724360613611512003-07-20T11:06:00.000-07:002003-07-20T11:27:07.650-07:00

Judith Miller: The weapons were there, but the plans for finding them were chaotic and the Pentagon was reluctant "to make the mission an urgent priority." Send Ahmad home, dear. There are people you don't need in your life. Make yourself a nice cup of chamomile, and ask yourself: Might there be a reason the Pentagon didn't make finding weapons an urgent priority?

jeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05712278994238765336noreply@blogger.com