Tag Archives: redress of grievances

Ex-Specter-ant

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We weren’t able to cough Specter up and out of his Senate seat. Maybe we can keep
him becoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Pete Vere at Catholic
Light shares this desire. It’s good to see other Casey Democrats in St. Blog’s.
I was beginning to feel crowded out by the rapid Bush supporters.

Anyhow, we need to be calling,
writing, and petitioning our senators, urging them to select a better man. We
don’t have much time. Also, regardless of outcome, we need to express dissatisfaction
with Bush and Santorum. They both backed Specter and told voters he’d play ball.

AstroTurf Activism

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Cut-and-Paste
Propaganda Infiltrates Opinion Pages
By Paul Farhi

Reader, beware! Some of America’s newspapers have become
unwitting conduits for campaign propaganda. Thanks to some nifty Internet technology, the campaigns of President Bush and John F. Kerry are making it easy for their supporters to pass off the campaigns’ talking points as just another concerned citizen’s opinion. Pro-Bush or pro-Kerry letters bearing identical language are flooding letters-to-the-editor columns.

Speak Your Piece

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To all my readers who live in Allegheny County:

The Department for Economic Development in Allegheny County has a survey on their website. Please take it. It’s short and will let the county authorities know how you want your tax dollars spent.

On a related note, here are some Pittsburgh blogs. It’s not a comprehensive list by any means.

True Pittsburgh
Pittsblog
Photosuperstar
The Conversation
The Daily Dish
The Science of Non Compos Menticism
Jilly!
Dave Copeland

Guilty As Charged

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Genocide in Darfur sparks outrage, but little action

[T]he handwringing isn’t translating into action. In progress instead is a fresh mockery of that 1948 convention. A repeat of well-intentioned, feeble actions that failed to save 800,000 Rwandans a decade ago.

I’ve been all talk and no action, just as this op/ed piece says. Well, I want to start actually doing something to stop the horrors
in Sudan. I’ve sent letters through the ACLU, TrueMajority, and other groups, but
I suspect politicians largely ignore such campaigns.

I’m planning on writing a generic letter that can be sent to representatives, senators,
the president, and foreign leaders. My hope is that a real grassroots effort – that
isn’t lead by a major lobbying group – will get more positive attention. I have
no experience writing letters of petition, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Update 11/06/06: I still haven’t done anything constructive. Then again, neither has the UN.

Portly Protesters

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“Obesity is not a disease. All this does is open the door for the diet and bariatric surgery industries to make a potentially tremendous profit.” – Allen Steadham in “Fat activists start mass protest“

Riiiiight…and smoking isn’t bad for you either. The campaign against smoking is just a front for extortion by a hippocratic mafia. *rolls eyes*

While I agree that too much emphasis is placed on appearance, in particualr thinness, in our society, I don’t think that means all superfluous weight should be accepted. Some people have genetic predispositions to being overweight. They should seek help. Some people have emotional problems that lead to overeating. They, too, should seek help. Some people eat too many damn super-sized burger meals and unhealthy snacks and drink too much soda. They should quit stuffing their faces with fat , get off their lazy, gluttonous asses and get some friggin’ exercise! (Pardon my French)

P.S. I practice what I preach. I’ve been eating better and working out. I’ve lost about 25 pounds over the last year or so.