healed! hallelujah!

after only a day of incommunicado w/skippy international's original home, blogger has fixed the problem and we are now able to post back at the wonderful skippy the bush kangaroo.

thanks to all of you readers who followed us here to skippy junior, and we hope you'll continue to enjoy our work back at the original site.

the over-flow from the mix tape

hello, moue magazine readers! welcome to the 12 songs we couldn't fit onto the original mix tape.

in no particular order, they are:

b 52’s - dance this mess around

johnny cash – hurt - brilliant rendition of the nin song. also, we believe, the man in black's last music video.

roger waters - pros and cons of hitchhiking - from post-floyd waters, who was much better than post-beatles mccartney, the p&c of h manages to echo the weirdest parts of such prior hits as the dark side of the moon and wish you were here (tho he's no syd barrett).

ludwig van beethoven - symphonie no. 9 in d minor, opus 125 - here conducted by leonard bernstein upon the occasion of the fall of the berlin wall, the participants included musicians and singers from major orchestras all across europe and america.

flying lizards – money - the third best cover song ever recorded; the second being by the scissor sisters on the first part of this mix tape; and the first being restricted by the record company, or else prince..

tone loc - funky cold medina

buck owens - act naturally - buck holds a special place in skippy's heart...the skippy's would often celebrate their wedding anniversary by driving from los angeles up to bakersfield to see buck's show at the crystal palace. they would alwasy request this number, and he would always perform it for them. once he used their anniversary for a punchline for a joke on stage, giving mr. and mrs. skippy great delight...even in his old age, buck gave a hell of a show. he will be missed.

the nails - 88 lines about 44 women – we couldn’t find an official video for this, so we’re using a homemade specialty by some fanboy who happens to luv kim possible...early 21st century cartoons set to mid-80's new wave...somehow, strangely, it works.

the platters - only you & the great pretender – upon the sad occasion of zola taylor’s passing.

sleater-kinney – entertain – too bad these girls broke up; they rock our world.

lee ann rimes - how do I live? – tho trisha yearwood had a bigger hit w/this number, we like lee ann’s version.

weird al yankovic – bob – read it backwards!

happy pdb day


graphic by tengrain

whiskeyfire reminds us, it was 7 years ago today that awol ignored the pdb warning that "bin laden determined to strike in us."

skippy's lunch hour music club

we were quite flattered when skippy was asked to do this week's mix tape for moue magazine. go over and check out skippy's selections (plus the overflow at skippy jr.)!

that's hot



sign the petition to tell obama to pick paris as veep!

the only response imaginable

in light of mcmuffin's recent spate of attack ads, here are the only sane responses we could hope for:


mccain girl and the enchantd republican forest
via all spin zone

see more funny videos at funny or die

paris hilton responds to the attack ad
via balloon juice

taking a bite

we opened memeorandum today to find a myriad of articles showing how the polls in the presidential race are now neck and neck. concern troll david brooks wonders where's the landslide?

why isn’t barack obama doing better? why, after all that has happened, does he have only a slim two- or three-point lead over john mccain, according to an average of the recent polls? why is he basically tied with his opponent when his party is so far ahead?

nice of you to worry so much, dave! but in answer to your question, we would posit that the eternal repetition of mcmuffin's negative slime ads in the past week are to, at least partly, be blamed for america's uncertainty about obama.

when it came to the negative ads in the last few days, the media was rather like the blue-nosed censor showing off his collection of illegal pornography: "look at this! how terrible! and look here! it's disgusting! take a long, hard look! revolting! and look at this one! the one with paris and britney! cute girls! hot bods! phallic symbols! dis-gusting!"

we were subjected to showing after showing of mcmuffin's lies and out-of-context quote-twistings. no wonder that the polls started to seem like perhaps they appeared that maybe things were on an even basis.

but then, two things happened today. reality bit back. and so did obama. tpmemo:

obama is ahead of his republican rival 47 percent to 41 percent, the associated press-ipsos poll showed. the survey was taken after the democratic senator from illinois had returned from a trip to middle eastern and european capitals, and during a week that saw the two camps clash over which had brought race into a campaign in which obama is striving to become the first african-american president.

mccain, the senator from arizona, is leading by 10 points among whites and is even with obama among men, groups with whom republicans traditionally do well in national elections.

obama leads by 13 points among women, by 30 points among voters up to age 34, and by 55 points among blacks, hispanics and other minorities, the poll shows.

even worse for the gopers, obama has called them on their bs. abc's political punch:

at a town hall meeting in berea , ohio, today, sen. barack obama, d-illinois, pushed back against the gop attack on his advice to a voter last week that having a tuned up car and fully inflated tires would help save energy….

"so i told them something simple," obama said. "i said, 'you know what? you can inflate your tires to the proper levels and that if everybody in america inflated their tires to the proper level, we would actually probably save more oil than all the oil we'd get from john mccain drilling right below his feet there, or wherever he was going to drill.'"

(note: that's not accurate, as we fact-checked last week. but the larger point about energy savings is correct.)

[ed. note: that note about that not being accurate is not accurate. political punch took obama's suggestion and inserted some figures of the percentage of cars w/under-inflated tires from somewhere (read: out of their asses) and then concluded obama was wrong. see our post where the asspress and time magazine used official figures to find that obama was right. but political punch's larger point about obama being correct is correct.]

obama continued:

"now two points, one, they know they're lying about what my energy plan is, but the other thing is they're making fun of a step that every expert says would absolutely reduce our oil consumption by 3 to 4 percent. it’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant."

thank you, sen. obama. it's nice to hear the vanguard of the democratic party tell it like it is. the hardly-ever-right does indeed take pride in being ignorant. they continuously deny established facts in favor of their negative talking points, and when real facts are presented in arguments, they simply ignore them.

they not only take pride in being ignorant, they take pride in preaching ignorance.

we are glad barack "to the future" obama has found the balls to say as much.

skippy junior's sunday nite music club



electric light orchestra - evil woman

mcmuffin has a senior moment

via the jed report, gramps spaces out:



steve benan of the carpetbagger report points out that even after mcmuffin got back on point, he misconstrued his real position on mlk.

(thx to memeorandum for the links!)

in other knews, satan purchased a new pair of ice-skates

we are proud of our good friend and original benefactor jerlayn merritt of talkleft.

there was hardly a more ardent supporter of hillary clinton than jeralyn, and she was faithful thru-out the senator's campaign.

let it be said here that we often were on record as having the opinion that sen. clinton would make a better president than sen. obama, but we thought obama had a better chance of getting elected. (tho after the events of the last few days, we wonder if any democrat will ever have a fair chance of being elected ever again.)

but we digress, which is, after all, the very reason we write this blog in the first place.

in light of jeralyn's staunch insistence in all things hillary, no one is happier than we to see these words on talkleft:

what's up with maureen dowd? now she's suggesting american women, specifically those who supported hillary, dislike obama and won't for him. her reasons are rather odd. first she compares obama to romantic figures in pride and prejudice and bridget jones' diary, saying women think obama is arrogant and prideful, then she says it's because he's too skinny and then she makes it all about race.

i hate when writers paint with too broad a brush. i haven't heard a single woman say they would never vote for a man again.

i'm a former hillary supporter who will gladly vote for obama over mccain or a third party candidate. taylor marsh, among the most ardent hillary supporter on the blogs during the primaries responds, criticizing the hillary supporters who can't move on..

jesse taylor at pandagon is even harsher with dowd and a great short read. also see sadly no. ann althouse responds with a question back to dowd.

the primary is over. sen. barack obama is our party's nominee. hillary supports him. all three of talkleft's authors support him (even though many of our commenters of both sexes haven't come around.)

i think most american women who are democrats do support obama. if there's an objection to him, the one i hear most is his lack of political experience at the national level, not his life, his wife, or his weight. and that objection disintegrates in my view now that we are faced with the alternative of john mccain and another four years of republican rule.

of course, the village can't stand the idea of a united dem party, because that interrupts the ongoing narrative that the left is in shambles in the face of the monolithic, gigantic conservative force that rocks their world.

we ourselves keep seeing stories about people who supported clinton and will therefore vote for mcmuffin or someone else rather than cast in favor of obama. it is our learned opinion that such people, if they exist, are outliers, on the fringe, and are of such insignificance that the lyndon larouche followers will impact the election on a greater scale than they.

conflict is what sells papers, bub! what good is the idea of a nation united against its corporate sell-out puppet masters? no, no, a horse race is what makes tv exciting! that, and an all-out, knock-down, drag-out brawl! that's what's going to make august television exciting!

down the penrose lane

skippy junior's saturday nite music club

kitsch rules tonite...



olivia newton john - xanadu

the finale from the 80's movie, currently reborn as a hit broadway play (where, we understand, they play it for laughs).

at least here you get to see gene kelly on roller skates...

happy blgiversary

to left i on the news!

5 years, and that's 102 in blog years! here's to another 5 years!

you know things are bad if you're a repubbblican and even howard kurtz disses you

john mcmuffin's latest ad campaign (comparing barack "to the future" obama w/paris & britney) has drawn the ire of most dems and progressives.

but worse for mcmuffin, the usually-gop-brown-nosed howard kurtz thinks it's dumb:

at the same time, analysts questioned what message mccain was sending by interspersing footage of his democratic opponent before a huge crowd in berlin with that of two socialites famous for their irresponsible antics.

"i don't get it," said ken goldstein, a professor of political science at the university of wisconsin at madison. "is it valid to go after barack obama on inexperience, being a bit glib, perhaps even a bit arrogant for doing the european tour? absolutely. but you just sound dopey when you put paris hilton in an ad."

shanto iyengar, a professor of political science and communications at stanford university, said mccain needs "to come up with a more affirmative narrative for his candidacy -- why is he running? what does he stand for? -- before going after barack obama." but he added: "mccain has lost the free media contest over the past couple of weeks; he's desperate to make the news, and controversial attacks are more newsworthy than boilerplate positive ads."

(via)

we have to agree. and, apparently, so do independent voters, the bloc that mcmuffin needs the most. joe gandelman at the moderate voice:

john avalon, who is perhaps the most prominent independent political book writer, columnist and speaker in the u.s. today, has told cnn that republican party presumptive nominee sen. john mccain’s negative ads against rival democratic sen. barack obama could cost him the support of independent voters.

independent voters need to read this story in full, but here’s a meaty excerpt with a few comments from yours truly (who was described in a recent book on california arnold schwarzenegger as a quintessential california independent voter):

q: how does the negative campaigning play with independent voters?

avlon: independent voters are very sensitive to when politics takes a negative turn. and you know it’s august, and the heat’s turning up on the campaign trail, and so is the rhetoric.

but candidates need to be very careful, because hypocrisy is the unforgivable sin in politics. both john mccain and barack obama have campaigned as being a break from the politics of personal destruction we’ve seen in the past. so, whenever the campaign takes a negative turn, independent voters notice, and they’ll punish the candidate that takes it too far.

gandelman's co-blogger elrod also thinks mcmuffin is "setting his own trap" w/the celebrity gambit.

the catch, however, is that barack obama is an extremely intelligent man. and in october, american voters are going to see that in three debates. there is no way you can watch him in a sit-down interview, or a one-on-one debate and conclude that he is a ditz over his head. you might disagree with his positions. and he might squirm if cornered on a few ambush questions. but you’ll never get the feeling that he’s unable to think through complex political issues on his feet. so, mccain is actually lowering the bar for obama in the debates.

in fact, this whole gambit is reminiscent of jimmy carter’s 1980 campaign against ronald reagan. carter regularly mocked reagan as a b-list hollywood actor with no brains. for much of the summer the charge worked. the polls were tied, even in the height of the iran hostage crisis and economic problems. but then came the debate. and reagan showed himself in command of the issues, poised under fire, and reasonable. reagan pulled away the last week and won by 10 points.

and the kurtz piece mentions:

even some mccain allies have winced at the paris/britney spot. republican strategist dan schnur, a former mccain adviser, said that "most voters won't see the parallels between a presidential candidate and two party girls. so a legitimate point about inexperience gets lost in the appearance of name-calling."

still, mccain has succeeded in using meager ad buys to generate free news coverage.

evan tracey of the campaign media analysis group said the ad on the canceled troops visit, which dominated cable news for days, has aired just nine times.

"if you're running against a rock star and have a huge disadvantage in money, you do the oldest trick in the book," goldstein said.

well, we thought prostitution was the oldest trick in the book. oh wait, this is politics after all.

skippy's friday nite music club



jenny lewis & the watson twins - rise up with fists

interesting video making fun of hee haw, and since jenny & the twins are part of the new alt-folk scene, it works. but what the hell is sarah silverman doing there?

we like jenny's solo work much better than her stuff w/rilo kiley; maybe it's because she was a former child actress, and skippy can relate.

technical difficulties? must be a lefty conspiracy!

skippy junior, as you may know, is the temporary home of skippy international, and eveyone who has made their way here (both of you) are aware that blogger has blogged up and incorrectly "locked" several blogs, which were mistakenly designated as "spam blogs" by the blogger bots.

on today's blogger buzz page, there was this message:

spam fridays

while we wish that every post on this blog could be about cool features or other blogger news, sometimes we have to step in and admit a mistake.

we've noticed that a number of users have had their blogs mistakenly marked as spam, and wanted to sound off real quick to let you know that, despite it being friday afternoon, we are working hard to sort this out. so to those folks who have received an email saying that your blog has been classified as spam and can't post right now, we offer our sincere apologies for the trouble.

we hope to have this resolved shortly, and appreciate your patience as we work through the kinks.

apparently, some hardly-ever-right wing blogs have been locked also. so what do the rightists do? of course: blame the left.

tell me once more how progressives love free speech.

this blog has been locked due to possible blogger terms of service violations. you may not publish new posts until your blog is reviewed and unlocked. this blog will be deleted within 20 days unless you request a review.

its the same message concrete bob received and rosemary posted for him.

this is bulls**t as it appears that someone does not approve of the idea of free speech especially when the speech doesn't conform to their ideas.

online activists thought to be loyal to barack obama are once against using google's software tools to target rival political blogs for elimination as spam blogs. this occurred earlier this year when democratic bloggers with a preference for hillary clinton also found themselves locked out of their own blogs, all because of spurious and apparently orchestrated claims that these blogs are spam blogs. pro-obama activists were blamed for those attempts at censorship as well.

like john at argghhh!, i don't think for a second that the obama campaign has any official knowledge of this attempt to hamstring or terminate rival political viewpoints, but as obama once won an election by exercising procedural tricks to have his rivals thrown off the ballot, it is certainly in line with the kind of character he has displayed in the past.

(via)

that's right. a world-wide breakdown of cyber communication has to be because of obama supporters. because after all, those uppity negro-lovers are just clever enought to shut down a handful of small-traffic rightist blogs, without being able to disable fox news.com or rush limbaugh's blog or anything, because, come on, confederate yankee is soooooo threatening to our fearless leader's socialist agenda.

who's writing confederate yankee these days? joe lieberman?

(tip o the kangaroo tail to tbogg for the heads up about this nefarious conspiracy!)

vote now!

usatoady is running a poll: who released the first negative ad?

go vote at the bottom of the article, tho you may not need to. at this point, the repubbbs are leading, 77% to 17%

brother, can you spare a job?

while the great echo chamber makes fun of tires, the real stories, as usual, are getting the short shrift.

unemployment rises to almost 6% as job losses mount. nytimes:

the nation’s employers eliminated 51,000 jobs in july, the seventh consecutive contraction in the labor market, as the unemployment rate reached a four-year high, signs that the pressure on business owners and consumers was likely to continue…

the rough job market worsened in july, with the unemployment rate rising to 5.7 percent from 5.5 percent in june, its highest level since march 2004.

“it’s not that unemployment is rising because a lot of people are coming into the labor force,” mark zandi, the chief economist at moody’s economy.com, said. “it’s rising because employment is falling.”

of course, obstinates among us are saying that it's a good labor report, because the number of unemployed was way under the expected 75,000. but that's rather like saying, well, mrs. lincoln, there was only one shot to the head.

(links via memeorandum)

How Did This Happen?


Hello, folks. It's me, Jim. And I have no idea what Blogger is doing with skippy's main blog. All I'm certain of is that skippy's being railroaded.

Had this happened at some earlier time, I would have automatically assumed it was something I wrote that caused it -- I've mutated into a bit of a black sheep over the years. But I haven't contributed any posts lately, in large part because I feel like I'm the black sheep of the flock, so I don't think I had anything to do with it. Therefore, what is going on?

In the meantime, skippy's more than welcome to ply his trade at my own blog, Mockingbird's Medley, both until and after the issues with his blog are settled. (I decided not to take away any of my own contributors' keys after the second time I quit blogging -- now it turns out there was a good reason why.)

Til further on -- and good luck with Blogger, skippy...

SKIPPY JR.'S THURSDAY NITE MUSIC CLUB



godsmack - whatever - live!

live at camp pendleton...w/special guest shredder sgt. wesley dimwitty

SAY HELLO


to spook and muffin's relaxed politics

WE ALWAYS THOUGHT BOB NEWHART HAD GOOD TASTE


we are as proud as a platypus for our blog buddy mad kane, whom bob newhart hand-picked to win the 2008 robert benchely award for humor.

mr. benchley himself wasn't available for judging, having died in 1945, but had he been, we are sure he would have agreed w/bob and given mad the award.

mad tells us:

back in june i was thrilled to announce that i was a 2008 robert benchley society award for humor competition finalist. (the humor column that got me onto the finalists list is guide for the opera impaired.)

well, i’m now beyond thrilled because bob newhart, the finalists judge, picked me as the first prize winner.

mr. newhart even sent me a handwritten personal note (reproduced below) explaining why he named me for the top robert benchley society humor award.

right now i’m verging on euphoria —a dangerous condition for a satirist. but just to be mentioned in the same sentence as mr. benchley and mr. newhart is almost beyond comprehension.

be sure to visit mad kane's site for a look at the hand-written note bob newhart sent to her, which, we are sure, will pull in a pretty penny on ebay!

congrats, mad! we are so happy for you!

WELCOME SKIPPY READERS!



We are so sorry but Blogger has locked Skippy the Bush Kangaroo until further notice.

For some reason the Blogger bots have determined that Skippy is a "spam blog." Or else they are in cahoots w/Karl Rove.

Until we can resolve this issue, please visit us here at Skippy Jr. for your daily dose of News and Snark.

update: rants from the rookery tells us several blogs have been blocked:

steveaudio

sinfonian of blast off

libby of the impolitic

fourlegs at plush life

dr. dawg at dawg's blawg

addendum: the guys from area 51 have also been blocked!

double addendum: and maru! and carrie!

pick hillary's theme song!

it's the end of the world as we know it - rem




comfortably numb - pink floyd



money - flying lizards



second hand news - fleetwood mac



sister madly - crowded house



psycho killer - talking heads



the temples of syrinx - rush



FFO FFO FFO and I have an idea of how the only real and I have the veteran of the psychic wars - blue oyster cult


lyrics to you don't want to f*ck with me - old dirty bastard (youtube had no video for this one)

same story with 10 cents a dance by rogers & hart , but here's an amazon sample of ruth etting singing it.

contents of email from the jawa report to skippy:

skippy –

i can't think of a non-lefty blogger who doesn't despise and publicly denounce fred phelps. (i use "non-lefty" instead of "conservative" because i don't necessarily consider myself a "conservative.") i don't regularly correspond with that many lefty bloggers, but i assume they feel the same way.

if you think the non-lefties have anything at all in common with the evil freak that is fred phelps, you completely fail to understand us and what we stand for. in case you missed it: i hate fred phelps.

phelps never fails to draw derision from the non-lefty bloggers whenever he pops up his nasty head. he is one of the figures most hated by the group--likely even more so than ted kennedy and jacques chirac (if you can believe that).

believe it or not, we even denounce ann coulter on occasion when her behaviour calls for it. for example, when ann used the word "raghead" in a speech last year, michelle malkin didn't hesitate to pounce on her, and with good reason. when pat robertson runs his big mouth, there are plenty of us more than happy to give him the rhetorical "stiff arm" when it's called for.

below are a few recent posts relating to phelps & his crew, some from names you probably know. after you read these posts, i'd be curious to know whether you continue to believe that non-lefty bloggers coddle or ignore phelps, or do anything other than unequivocally denounce him.

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/004168.htm

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=17520&only

http://thirdwavedave.blogspot.com/2006/07/honoring-our-fallen.html

http://greensickle.com/2006/07/fred_phelps_may_we_never_see_h.html

http://thoughtfulconservative.blogspot.com/2006/06/flag-burning-amendment.html

back to the post at skippy tbk

Skippy Live Blogs Yearlykos


Day One

plame part one - jane hamsher's intro
plame part two - amb. joe wilson
plame part three - dan froomkin
plame part four - murray waas
plame part cinco - empty wheel
plame panel inadvertantly not numbered - larry johnson
plame part 666 - christy hardin smith
plame part seven - q & a

science panel w/gen. clark

sen. barbara boxer

MetaKos Panel
MetaKos Q&A

Day Two

Progressive Infrastructure 1
Progressive Infrastructure 2
Progressive Infrastructure 3
Progressive Infrastructure 4
Progressive Infrastructure Q&A 1
Progressive Infrastructure Q&A 2

Privacy Rights 1
Privacy Rights 2
Privacy Rights 3
Privacy Rights 4
Privacy Rights Q&A 1

The South in Politics 1
The South in Politics 2
The South in Politics 3
The South in Politics Q&A 1
The South in Politics Q&A 2

Gov. Mark Warner Speech

Net Neutrality 1
Net Neutrality 2
Net Neutrality Q&A

take back america conference

looks like the ykos won't be the only bang-up conference for progressives this june. the very next week after what happens in vegas stays in vegas, the right coast will be seeing the "take back ameria" conference, hosted by the campgain for america's future.

we're sorry we can't be there (we can only afford one gigantic progressive convention per june), because the line up of speakers looks even more impressive than ykos!

some of the all-stars slated to speak are: robert redford, barack obama, hillary clinton, bernie sanders, russ feingold, john kerry, barney frank, and more!

toby chadhuri of the c for a's f writes us:

hi skippy. the campaign for america's future announced an all-star line up of speakers and instructions to obtain media credentials for the "take back america" conference today. please share the news release below with others at skippy the bush kangeroo and tell me if you need more information. hope to see you there. in the meantime, stay tuned for more news about the conference. toby.

for immediate release:
thursday, june 1, 2006
contact: toby chaudhuri or noreen nielsen at 202-955-5665

progressives announce prime time speakers for “take back america” conference election-year gathering to lay out bold ideas to promote the “common good” monday, june 12 to wednesday, june 14

"for years the right has had its way. it's now apparent that the conservative agenda simply makes things worse. americans have had enough. the public wants a different course, but timidity still chokes the political debate. progressives will challenge the limits of debate and offer a bold vision for change at this year's take back america conference." --toby chaudhuri, campaign for america's future communications director

washington – campaign for america’s future co-directors robert borosage and roger hickey today announced a lineup of prime time speakers for the annual “take back america” conference to be held at the washington hilton from monday, june 12 to wednesday, june 14. with a growing majority of americans believing the country is headed in the wrong direction, thousands of progressive leaders will gather to discuss strategy to create a political force that promotes the “common good,” in contrast with the corrupt special interests that have dominated washington over the last several years.

campaign for america’s future “take back america” event highlights

monday, june 12

10 a.m. news conference to release new polling data and brief reporters on key conference events.

11 a.m. robert borosage and stan greenberg deliver opening remarks.

12:45 p.m. sen. harry reid, d-nev., robert redford and jerome ringo speak at a major event about the apollo alliance’s plan for energy independence.

2:15 p.m. rep. jan schakowsky, d-ill., rep. barbara lee, d-calif., rep. maxine waters, d-calif., former sen. gary hart, d-colo., john sweeney and anna burger discuss bold progressive ideas for the “common good.”

tuesday, june 13

8:15 a.m. sen. hillary clinton, d-n.y., sen. john kerry, d-mass., and rep. nancy pelosi, d-calif., deliver major speeches.

9:50 a.m. rep. george miller, d-calif., discusses ways to make college affordable.

12:30 p.m. gov. tom vilsack, d-iowa, delivers a major speech.

12:45 p.m. authors michael tomasky, barbara ehrenreich and rep. mel watt, d-n.c., discuss a new “common good” framework for bold ideas for change.

2:15 p.m. rep. john conyers, d-mich., rep. barney frank, d-mass., former rep. david bonior, d-mich., deliver remarks.

4:15 p.m. state rep. joyce elliott, d-ark., state sen. g. spencer coggs, d-wis., state rep. dave mcalpin, d-mont., and county exec. ron sims, d-wash., deliver remarks.

7 p.m. campaign for america's future holds a gala dinner to honor progressive leaders, bernard rapoport, gloria totten and angelica salas.

wednesday, june 14

9 a.m. sen. russ feingold, d-wis., delivers a major speech.

9:45 a.m. rep. sherrod brown, d-ohio, gov. ed rendell, d-pa., and john podesta discuss bold ideas for the “common good.”

11:15 a.m. rep. lynn woolsey, d-calif., and rep. bernie sanders, i-vt., deliver remarks.

12:45 p.m. sen. barack obama, d-ill., rep. jan schakowsky, d-ill., and gerald mcentee deliver closing speeches.

credentials

media organizations wishing to attend should make written requests on letterhead with the names of news personnel, title (i.e., reporter, photographer, etc.) and the dates they wish to cover. space at the conference is limited. credential requests should be faxed to the campaign for america’s future press office at 202-330-5676. the deadline for credential requests is wednesday, june 7.

credentials will not be sent by mail. credentials will be available each day of the conference at the washington hilton, starting on monday, june 12 at 8 a.m. media credentialing will close promptly at 7 p.m. each day. current valid federal or state-issued photo and media identification will be required to obtain credentials. there will be no confirmation of credentials prior to the event. for more information about credentials, please contact noreen nielsen at 202-955-5665 x151 or via email at nnielsen@ourfuture.org.

filing center

a press filing center will be available in the washington hilton state room with soapbox technology to provide internet connections and telephone lines. to obtain high-speed internet access or voice service in the press filing center, please contact jim jiranek at 717-817-2370 or via email at jim@websoapbox.com.

remote access

to coordinate satellite truck and microwave logistics, please contact tamara shear at 917-912-5074 or via email at tamara@natalieshear.com.

accommodations

breakfast and lunch will be provided to media representatives in the press filing center in the washington hilton state room. there are no more discounted rooms available at the washington hilton. a limited number of discounted rooms are available at the crowne plaza silver spring hotel. the special rate is $130 per night for a single or double. discounted rooms can be reserved by calling 301-589-0800 and requesting the group rate for the campaign for america's future’s “take back america” conference.

# # #

**note: times are tentative and subject to change. updated conference information will be made available at www.ourfuture.org.**


toby chaudhuri
communications director
campaign for america's future
202-386-7723

take back america conference

looks like the ykos won't be the only bang-up conference for progressives this june. the very next week after what happens in vegas stays in vegas, the right coast will be seeing the "take back ameria" conference, hosted by the campgain for america's future.

we're sorry we can't be there (we can only afford one gigantic progressive convention per june), because the line up of speakers looks even more impressive than ykos!

some of the all-stars slated to speak are: robert redford, barack obama, hillary clinton, bernie sanders, russ feingold, john kerry, barney frank, and more!

toby chadhuri of the c for a's f writes us:

hi skippy. the campaign for america's future announced an all-star line up of speakers and instructions to obtain media credentials for the "take back america" conference today. please share the news release below with others at skippy the bush kangeroo and tell me if you need more information. hope to see you there. in the meantime, stay tuned for more news about the conference. toby.

for immediate release:
thursday, june 1, 2006
contact: toby chaudhuri or noreen nielsen at 202-955-5665

progressives announce prime time speakers for “take back america” conference election-year gathering to lay out bold ideas to promote the “common good” monday, june 12 to wednesday, june 14

"for years the right has had its way. it's now apparent that the conservative agenda simply makes things worse. americans have had enough. the public wants a different course, but timidity still chokes the political debate. progressives will challenge the limits of debate and offer a bold vision for change at this year's take back america conference." --toby chaudhuri, campaign for america's future communications director

washington – campaign for america’s future co-directors robert borosage and roger hickey today announced a lineup of prime time speakers for the annual “take back america” conference to be held at the washington hilton from monday, june 12 to wednesday, june 14. with a growing majority of americans believing the country is headed in the wrong direction, thousands of progressive leaders will gather to discuss strategy to create a political force that promotes the “common good,” in contrast with the corrupt special interests that have dominated washington over the last several years.

campaign for america’s future “take back america” event highlights

monday, june 12

10 a.m. news conference to release new polling data and brief reporters on key conference events.

11 a.m. robert borosage and stan greenberg deliver opening remarks.

12:45 p.m. sen. harry reid, d-nev., robert redford and jerome ringo speak at a major event about the apollo alliance’s plan for energy independence.

2:15 p.m. rep. jan schakowsky, d-ill., rep. barbara lee, d-calif., rep. maxine waters, d-calif., former sen. gary hart, d-colo., john sweeney and anna burger discuss bold progressive ideas for the “common good.”

tuesday, june 13

8:15 a.m. sen. hillary clinton, d-n.y., sen. john kerry, d-mass., and rep. nancy pelosi, d-calif., deliver major speeches.

9:50 a.m. rep. george miller, d-calif., discusses ways to make college affordable.

12:30 p.m. gov. tom vilsack, d-iowa, delivers a major speech.

12:45 p.m. authors michael tomasky, barbara ehrenreich and rep. mel watt, d-n.c., discuss a new “common good” framework for bold ideas for change.

2:15 p.m. rep. john conyers, d-mich., rep. barney frank, d-mass., former rep. david bonior, d-mich., deliver remarks.

4:15 p.m. state rep. joyce elliott, d-ark., state sen. g. spencer coggs, d-wis., state rep. dave mcalpin, d-mont., and county exec. ron sims, d-wash., deliver remarks.

7 p.m. campaign for america's future holds a gala dinner to honor progressive leaders, bernard rapoport, gloria totten and angelica salas.

wednesday, june 14

9 a.m. sen. russ feingold, d-wis., delivers a major speech.

9:45 a.m. rep. sherrod brown, d-ohio, gov. ed rendell, d-pa., and john podesta discuss bold ideas for the “common good.”

11:15 a.m. rep. lynn woolsey, d-calif., and rep. bernie sanders, i-vt., deliver remarks.

12:45 p.m. sen. barack obama, d-ill., rep. jan schakowsky, d-ill., and gerald mcentee deliver closing speeches.

credentials

media organizations wishing to attend should make written requests on letterhead with the names of news personnel, title (i.e., reporter, photographer, etc.) and the dates they wish to cover. space at the conference is limited. credential requests should be faxed to the campaign for america’s future press office at 202-330-5676. the deadline for credential requests is wednesday, june 7.

credentials will not be sent by mail. credentials will be available each day of the conference at the washington hilton, starting on monday, june 12 at 8 a.m. media credentialing will close promptly at 7 p.m. each day. current valid federal or state-issued photo and media identification will be required to obtain credentials. there will be no confirmation of credentials prior to the event. for more information about credentials, please contact noreen nielsen at 202-955-5665 x151 or via email at nnielsen@ourfuture.org.

filing center

a press filing center will be available in the washington hilton state room with soapbox technology to provide internet connections and telephone lines. to obtain high-speed internet access or voice service in the press filing center, please contact jim jiranek at 717-817-2370 or via email at jim@websoapbox.com.

remote access

to coordinate satellite truck and microwave logistics, please contact tamara shear at 917-912-5074 or via email at tamara@natalieshear.com.

accommodations

breakfast and lunch will be provided to media representatives in the press filing center in the washington hilton state room. there are no more discounted rooms available at the washington hilton. a limited number of discounted rooms are available at the crowne plaza silver spring hotel. the special rate is $130 per night for a single or double. discounted rooms can be reserved by calling 301-589-0800 and requesting the group rate for the campaign for america's future’s “take back america” conference.

# # #

**note: times are tentative and subject to change. updated conference information will be made available at www.ourfuture.org.**


toby chaudhuri
communications director
campaign for america's future
202-386-7723

first (actually, second) email sent from skippy to ykos corporate sponsorship committee

hi guys,

what's the specifics for sponsorship?

this is my second email.

s.


first email from ykos corporate sponsorship committee to skippy

Yikes, sorry about that! Attached is our Sponsorship Packet. Let me know if you have any questions. By the way, since we are getting so close to the convention, we are asking for committments by May 1st.

Hey, I was just looking at your website. Are you a birder by any chance? I'm trying to pull together a birding field trip on one of the mornings or evenings of YearlyKos.


please note the may 1st deadline implied. an attachment of benefits for various levels of sponsorship was attached, the lowest for $25000.

second email from skippy to ykos csc

no, tho my wife and i dearly love birds, we are not birders per se.

s.


after reviewing the attachment, we sent the third email from skippy to ykos csc

well, it's a little steeper than i imagined. i'm doing well this year, but not that well! lol!

got anything for a grand?

s.


second email from ykos csc to skippy

Let me see what I can find for you in that giving level. I think we may be able to find something!

fourth email from skippy to ykos csc

kewl!

s.


third email from ykos csc to skippy

Well how about this. Our convention program costs are going to run about $2,000 - $2,300. Would you be interested in donating $1,000 toward it and then we can say, "Printing of this brochure generously paid in part by Skippy the Bush Kangaroo" or however you want to list yourself.

again, please note the final words "however you want to list yourself." we took that as license to negotiate our credit. we took them at their word.



fifth email from skippy to ykos csc

wow, [name deleted for anonymity], that would be great! i'd take that in a heart beat!

would it be too much to include my site's url, listed like this?

"Printing of this brochure generously paid in part by Skippy the Bush Kangaroo @ www.xnerg.blogspot.com, serving all Blogtopia (and yes! Skippy coined that phrase!)"

s.


fourth email from ykos csc to skippy

Sorry, we need to keep it fairly succinct, especially because we have someone else who is also interested in paying for the other half.

But hey, maybe you can have it printed on your badge at the convention!

So, do we have a deal?



sixth email from skippy to ykos csc

oh, you can't keep my joke? but i'm famous for that! ask markos, he'll tell you!

s.


fifth email from ykos csc to skippy

Well, if we can limit it to "Printing of this brochure generously paid in part by Skippy the Bush Kangaroo @ www.xnerg.blogspot.com" then you've got a deal!

Oh, and keep in mind we may have one other donor paying but we can definately keep the language that I have above and just write a seperate sentence for the other person.


admittedly, we should have taken that as their final offer, tho they did not specifiy it as such. however, we persevered with the seventh email from skippy to ykos csc

here's a compromise...how about this, i cut out a few words:

"Printing of this brochure generously paid in part by Skippy the Bush Kangaroo @ www.xnerg.blogspot.com in Blogtopia (Yes! Skippy coined that phrase!)"

you'll notice i am only asking for 7 more words than you propose. as it is my signature joke, one i have been identified with for 4 years (rather like "me, al franken") and as markos himself just signed my copy of crashing the gates at the los angeles book party with the inscription "skippy, thanks for being a long-time denizen in blogtopia," i would like to have it included.

i must say, in all fairness to my position, 7 words is not a lot to secure a $1000 donation. please consider that alternative.

if you and the brochure committee ok the above sentence, i can give you the $1000 tomorrow.


sixth email from ykos csc to skippy

We do need to keep it as I suggested. If you can't donate to us because you feel strongly about having your joke in, we understand and will seek other opportunities to cover the loss of this donation.

notice here they are already closing the door. we tried again: eighth email from skippy to ykos csc

here is one more compromise. take out the "@" sign, and the "www." to wit: "...Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (xnerg.blogspot.com) in Blogtopia (Yes! Skippy coined that phrase!)"

i am truly having trouble understanding the inability to add 7 words to a brochure, which i imagine, is not even actually type set yet. and you do have to admit, that the part of the credit that says "printing of this brochure generously paid in part by..." is not really part of skippy's credit, as you will have to print that to include the other donor, so we can't really count that as taking up too much room. so we are back to the 7 extra words.

you know, you can reduce the point size of the font for skippy's credit.

so if this doesn't fit on one line:

"...Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (xnerg.blogspot.com) in Blogtopia (Yes! Skippy coined that phrase!)"

try this:

"...Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (xnerg.blogspot.com) in Blogtopia (Yes! Skippy coined that phrase!)"

i am getting the feeling that there is something else working here rather than a mere concern for too many words. if i am mistaken, i apologize. i think i've worked hard on my end to come to a compromise.

again, as i said before, as soon as you and the brochure committee approve my suggestions, i can paypal you the $1000.

cordially,

s.


seventh eamil from ykos csc to skippy

Your changes aren't much different than your original suggestion which was:

"Printing of this brochure generously paid in part by Skippy the Bush Kangaroo @ www.xnerg.blogspot.com , serving all Blogtopia (and yes! Skippy coined that phrase!)"

It really has to do with being succinct and having consistency with the other acknowledgements in our program.


we had no idea if that meant yes, no, maybe, whatever. so we sent a final ninth email from skippy to ykos csc

just to be clear, am i to take your response as a "no"?

s.


* * * * * * *

at this point, things get vituprative, alas, on both sides. we refrain from posting the next emails. rest assured that the ykos corporate sponsorship committee broke off negotiations, accusing us of "bullying" tactics, of "not respecting the project," of trying to make the brochure into a joke, etc, etc.

it is our position that, from the information contained in their emails to skippy, we were led to believe the credit wording was negotiable and there was time to negotiate. we also maintain that they were never clear as to what they intended to give us for our donation, and that we were never mean or snide or snarky, and especially did not "bully" anyone.

god told me to hate you

one of the more virulent and despicable manifestations of hardly-ever-right wing bigotry comes out in the fundamentalist insistence that it's not only all right to despise homosexuals, but it's downright holy to do so.

the latest case in point: a young woman is suing for her right to be intolerant. the latimes:

ruth malhotra went to court last month for the right to be intolerant.
malhotra says her christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. but the georgia institute of technology, where she's a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation.

malhotra sees that as an unacceptable infringement on her right to religious expression. so she's demanding that georgia tech revoke its tolerance policy.

with her lawsuit, the 22-year-old student joins a growing campaign to force public schools, state colleges and private workplaces to eliminate policies protecting gays and lesbians from harassment. the religious right aims to overturn a broad range of common tolerance programs: diversity training that promotes acceptance of gays and lesbians, speech codes that ban harsh words against homosexuality, anti-discrimination policies that require college clubs to open their membership to all.

this latest trend, while alarming, is certainly not a new approach; at least, the premise on which is it based is nothing new.

we won't bother getting into the crusades, and we assume you don't expect us to mention the spanish inquisition (nobody expects us to mention the spanish inquisition!), but the modus operandi of fundamentalist interpretations of the bible twisted to fit a particular brand of hate is not new on the american scene.

father charles coughlin, the pre-cursor to today's hate radio, was one of the first evangelists to broadcast his sermons in the 1930's. he has also gone down in history as a man who used his national pulpit to spread anti-semitism, regularly calling jews "christ-killers" and reprinting the hoax "elders of zion" in his weekly paper "social justice."

more recently, the christian identity movement somehow manages to justify aryan supremacy of the white race with belief in jesus. religious tolerance.org describes this twisted journey of biblical interpretation, which holds:

that adam and eve were white. many other "pre-adamic" and non-white people were already in existence when adam was created. this leads to the belief that anglo-saxon protestants are the "true identity" of god's chosen people of the hebrew scriptures. non-whites are considered sub-human. these biblical beliefs confirm their concept of white racial superiority. as a minimum, they call for racial separation; some call for extermination of what the call the "mud races" (non-white races).

that the commandment which forbids adultery does not refer to extra-marital sexual relationships. rather, it forbids "racial adultery"; i.e. inter-racial marriages. their reasoning is that the 10th commandment which forbids coveting one's neighbor's possessions already bans adultery; one of those "possessions" is the neighbor's wife. and, god would not have repeated himself.

so the re-interpretation of biblical text to further one's own agenda is not a new device in debate. nonetheless, it's still quite effective. if god is on your side, how can you be wrong?

here's how: ruth malhotra and her lawyers' premise in her attempt to sue for the right to be intolerant has structural problems, and those problems are threefold: theoretical, legal, and contextual.

first, theoretical: the idea that disallowing ruth to argue loudly against homosexuality limits her religious expression is something of a straw man. the conservative religious right's opposition to homosexuality is not inherent in the christian religion. what ruth is arguing is not dogma, but doctrine.

dogma is a basic tenet of a religion, which is accepted as true without proof. examples of dogma are: christ being son of god, the omnipotence of god, the existence of the holy spirit.

doctrine, however, is a law or set of laws, teachings or instructions. examples of doctrines are: orthodox jews not eating pork, the eucharist of the catholic church, the refusal of the amish to use electricity, and, fred phelps' belief that god hates fags.

more times than not, these instructions are subject to various interpretation throughout history. granted, conservative evangelists are not the only christians to denounce homosexuality. the new pope fester is adamant on condemning homos to hell (and we hear he's working on re-ex-communicating galileo, while he's at it).

but still in all, the catholic church does not actively preach intolerance of homosexuality, at least not as much as ruth and her lawyers are insisting she has the right to express. and that brings us to the second problem we see in the premise for ruth's lawsuit, contextual.

many more knowledgeable scholars than we have successfully debated the narrowly-focused parameters that the conservative evangelicals use to justify their hateful actions. some of those whose work we enjoy reading are found at the cathedral of hope:

what does the bible really say about homosexuality? actually, very little. most significantly, jesus said nothing at all. considering the relatively small amount of attention the bible pays to the subject, we must ask ourselves why this is such a volatile issue. other subjects about which the scriptures say a great deal (e.g. judgment, pride, hypocrisy) receive much less passionate attention. before looking at specific passages, it is important to note that everyone understands the scriptures based on, and through, the light of what they have been taught. the bible was not written in a cultural void, and many of its instructions and laws are simply classified as less relevant today (e.g. prohibition against eating pork).

nowhere does the bible actually address the idea of persons being lesbian or gay. the statements are, without exception, directed to certain homosexual acts. early writers had no understanding of homosexuality as a psychosexual orientation. that truth is a relatively recent discovery. the biblical authors were referring to homosexual acts performed by persons they assumed were heterosexuals.

the cathedral of hope also discusses the leviticus code, which

is not kept by any christian group. If it was enforced, almost every christian would be excommunicated or executed.

we have often maintained the irony of evangelicals insisting on the ostracizing of homosexuals, but not worrying at all about the rest of leviticus, with its admonitions against sex during menstruation, the wearing of different types of cloth at one time, and the eating of seafood. if the bible is to be taken literally, why aren't these fundies petitioning for a constitutional amendment against red lobster?

dr. loren l. johns, academic dean of the associated mennonite biblical seminary, asks a pertinent question in his discussion of homosexuality and the bible:

christian ethics is for christians: ethical discernment and discipline (based on biblical principles) are appropriate primarily among people who claim to follow jesus. it doesn't make much sense to ask, "what is god's will for people who have chosen not to submit to god's will?"

but of course, that's the very nature of evangelicals: to insist that their view of god is the only view of god. luckily for us, there is precedent to keep their holy noses out of our business, which brings us to the legal.

we have no idea how the lawsuit will come out, especially in these days of sam alioto's supreme court. however, suffice it to say we believe that, as with your right to swing your fist ending at my face, ruth's right to be intolerant ends at other's civil rights.

justice holmes maintained that one cannot yell "fire" in a crowded theater, regardless of a first amendment right to do so. it follows therefore that one cannot use religious expression as a "get out of jail free card" to disobey the laws of the land.

the polygamists of mormon utah are still not allowed to marry more than one person, and tho those laws are not enforced to an extreme, that doesn't mean they are not enforceable. even if polygamous arrangements are still around, the law does not recognize such. the supreme court has held that christian science parents may not refuse life-saving medical procedures for their sick children.

marci a. hamilton, in her book god v. the gavel, maintains that "it is now well settled that religious motivation is no defense to illegal conduct."

we hope that the laws of the land will be upheld against this new onslaught of self-victimized "christians." the insistence that recognizing another's rights violates one's own rights is patently absurd, and obviously egotistically-motivated.

how ironic that the fundies are so enamored of the cult of christ that they don't ever bother to actually read his teachings.