I just thought the Purple House community would like this little text I found on the Mike Gravel website:
The Stalking Horse
February 20th, 2008 by georgann
Clinton Will Use Ron Paul Delegate Strategy To Clinch Nomination
Just as Ron Paul will harness confusion at the Republican National Convention to convert supposedly “pledged” delegates to his uplifting cause, Hillary Clinton will do the same on the Democratic side. A senior Clinton adviser told Politico’s Roger Simon, the guy who looks a bit like Henry Waxman except without the insane nose, that if forced the Clinton campaign would pursue the votes of pledged delegates—those assigned based on the results of primaries and caucuses.
“This time, one candidate may enter the convention leading by just a few pledged delegates, and those delegates may find themselves being promised the sun, moon and stars to switch sides,” Simon writes today.
The great unmentioned stalking horse in this whole debate is Mike Gravel, who will in the end persuade every delgate pledged to Clinton or Obama to come to his side, leading to an apocalyptic Gravel versus Paul ‘08 election throwdown in which no one wins … except America.
-Ben
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
pumping iron
Yesterday we pumped iron. We were like a house of Arnold Schwartzeneggers (sp). It was very good exercise for our arms. We will have stronger arms now than we did before.
-Ben
-Ben
Sunday, March 9, 2008
write (for) me
Dear friends,
I am helping to start an arts/culture magazine with Sean Higgins. We are in the process of looking for writers. Below is a preliminary list of topics/themes that we'd like to get writers for.
Reviews
-books
-music
-film
-art
-zines/websites
Interviews
Celebrity letters (we already have some)
Etymologies/Biographies of words
Histories of Names of (Athletic Team, Band, Art Movement etc.)
Community Spaces/House Venue Profiles
Label/Publisher Profiles/Histories
Debates between intellectuals on a topic chosen by the staff
human body/techno-science interfaces- programming the human
obscure musical instruments
novelty food
Also, today we had pizza. It was so good. Thank you Kristin for pizza. And for ice cream
Also also, it is warming up. I can see part of the ground in the back yard. Spring is amazing. Come hang out. I want to go on walks and roast marshmallows in the back yard. Well, walks far beyond the backyard.
-Ben
I am helping to start an arts/culture magazine with Sean Higgins. We are in the process of looking for writers. Below is a preliminary list of topics/themes that we'd like to get writers for.
Reviews
-books
-music
-film
-art
-zines/websites
Interviews
Celebrity letters (we already have some)
Etymologies/Biographies of words
Histories of Names of (Athletic Team, Band, Art Movement etc.)
Community Spaces/House Venue Profiles
Label/Publisher Profiles/Histories
Debates between intellectuals on a topic chosen by the staff
human body/techno-science interfaces- programming the human
obscure musical instruments
novelty food
Also, today we had pizza. It was so good. Thank you Kristin for pizza. And for ice cream
Also also, it is warming up. I can see part of the ground in the back yard. Spring is amazing. Come hang out. I want to go on walks and roast marshmallows in the back yard. Well, walks far beyond the backyard.
-Ben
Monday, March 3, 2008
when all else fails, hit every red button you can find
today i had a lesson in handy-work. so we bought a half tank of oil this morning and were relieved because we thought we beat the 'EMTY' ticker on the furnace. but when we all went to take showers, the water came out icy like the air in our house. i thought it maybe took a little while before the oil kicked in and earnestly went back to the shower every hour or so until ben got home to see if some of that heavenly warm water would trickle out. when he got home we put two and two together and decided we had to relight the furnace. shit. we make a few phone calls, rally up previous champion furnace starters, consult the internet gods and go downstairs like mario and luigi, minus the plumping. i want to be mario. anyway, we let oil leak all over our hands, find some red buttons to push on and around the box with warning signs printed very neatly with tiny letters in the shadows of the machine. turn on the furnace 20 times, unscrew and rescrew the 'bleeder', meet up with the landlady who calls her friend who confirms that what we've been doing for twenty minutes is the right thing to do....then after i washed the first layer of oil off my hands for the 4th time i figured diane needed to buy a new furnace because ours was broken. no ticker, splatter, fire, or boost of anything was coming from the stagnant pipelined machine. then ben calls the oil company and they tell us to turn on the emergency switch.
i'm sure you can guess that i'm writing this in a warm room. anyway, i learned something today about that old furnace and definitely confirmed the purple house network. nice to know that even after you leave, you're not totally gone. except for the summer people....fuck them. just joking. i need to get back to work. i hope i graduate. jesslyn, come home.
-kristin
i'm sure you can guess that i'm writing this in a warm room. anyway, i learned something today about that old furnace and definitely confirmed the purple house network. nice to know that even after you leave, you're not totally gone. except for the summer people....fuck them. just joking. i need to get back to work. i hope i graduate. jesslyn, come home.
-kristin
Friday, February 29, 2008
brrrrrr
It is morning and the house is very very cold. Westerm Mass. is very very cold. Frankly, I'm sick of it. I'm going to be using the sauna semi-regularly as a means of counter-acting this oppressive weather. Besides helping you sweat out toxins, the intense heat actually raises your heart-rate and so sauna-ing acts as a form of mild cardiovascular exercise.
Today is a sad day, because it is Than's last official day in our house. I will miss you a lot. I think everyone will. I can only speak for myself, but I can state for certain that I'll miss you enough for the house even if they didn't all miss you, which I'm sure they do. Plus also a loss of a Dubin in a household is a grave loss indeed.
On the bright side, everyone is supposed to be getting up and making breakfast today. I'm waiting on breakfast to go to sleep. I'm maybe going to open a bank account this morning too. We'll see if i can stand going outside. It can't be much worse than in here though. The tips of my fingers are freezing and I keep needing to warm my hands so they are limber enough for typing.
On another bright side, we're getting a new housemate. She is named Chlirissa. I may have spelled her name wrong. She will be given the password to this blog and can make corrections as necessary.
I hope everyone wakes up soon. I'm getting hungry and impatient. Also, I still have yet to figure out who it was that commented on my last post under the name 'foronandon' (something like that, maybe another-andon was at the end). Please reveal yourself.
Your cold but devoted blogger,
Ben
Today is a sad day, because it is Than's last official day in our house. I will miss you a lot. I think everyone will. I can only speak for myself, but I can state for certain that I'll miss you enough for the house even if they didn't all miss you, which I'm sure they do. Plus also a loss of a Dubin in a household is a grave loss indeed.
On the bright side, everyone is supposed to be getting up and making breakfast today. I'm waiting on breakfast to go to sleep. I'm maybe going to open a bank account this morning too. We'll see if i can stand going outside. It can't be much worse than in here though. The tips of my fingers are freezing and I keep needing to warm my hands so they are limber enough for typing.
On another bright side, we're getting a new housemate. She is named Chlirissa. I may have spelled her name wrong. She will be given the password to this blog and can make corrections as necessary.
I hope everyone wakes up soon. I'm getting hungry and impatient. Also, I still have yet to figure out who it was that commented on my last post under the name 'foronandon' (something like that, maybe another-andon was at the end). Please reveal yourself.
Your cold but devoted blogger,
Ben
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Vote Nader
Via nader.org
By Ralph Nader
Here is a short list of what you won't hear much of from the front-runners in this presidential primary season. Call them the candidate taboos.
1) You won't hear a call for a national crackdown on the corporate crime, fraud, and abuse that have robbed trillions of dollars from workers, investors, pension holders, taxpayers and consumers. Among the reforms that won't be suggested are providing resources to prosecute executive crooks and laws to democratize corporate governance so shareholders have real power. Candidates will not shout for a payback of ill-gotten gains, to rein in executive pay, or to demand corporate sunshine laws.
2) You won’t hear a demand that workers receive a living wage instead of a minimum wage. There will be no backing for a repeal of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which has blocked more than 40 million workers from forming or joining trade unions to improve wages and benefits above Wal-Mart or McDonald's levels.
3) You won’t hear for a call for a withdrawal from the WTO and NAFTA. Renegotiated trade agreements should stick to trade while labor, environmental, and consumer rights are advanced by separate treaties without being subordinated to the dictates of international commerce.
4) You won’t hear a call for our income tax system to be substantially revamped so that workers can keep more of their wages while we tax the things we like least, such as pollution, stock speculation, addictive industries, and energy guzzling technologies. Nor will you hear that corporations should be required to pay their fair share; corporate tax contributions as a percent of the overall federal revenue stream have been declining for 50 years.
5) You won’t hear a call for a single payer health system. Almost sixty years after President Truman first proposed it, we still need health insurance for everyone, a program with quality and cost controls and an emphasis on prevention. Full Medicare for everyone will save thousands of lives a year while maintaining patient choice of doctors and hospitals within a competitive private health care delivery system.
6) There is no reason to believe that the candidates will stand up to the commercial interests profiting from our current energy situation. We need a major environmental health agenda that challenges these entrenched interests with major new initiatives in solar energy, doubling motor vehicle fuel efficiency, and other quantified sustainable and clean energy technologies. Nor will there be adequate recognition that current fossil fuels are producing not just global warming, but also cancer, respiratory diseases, and geopolitical entanglements. Finally, there will be no calls for ending environmental racism that leads to more contaminated water, air, and toxic dumps in poorer neighborhoods.
7) The candidates will not demand a reduction in the military budget that devours half the federal government's operating expenditures at a time when there is no Soviet Union or other major state enemy in the world. Studies by the General Accounting Office and internal Pentagon assessments support the judgment of many retired admirals and generals that a wasteful defense weakens our country and distorts priorities at home.
8) You won't hear a consistent clarion call for electoral reform. Both parties have shamelessly engaged in gerrymandering, a process that guarantees reelection of their candidates at the expense of frustrated voters. Nor will there be serious proposals that millions of law-abiding ex-felons be allowed to vote.
Other electoral reforms should include reducing barriers to candidates, same day registration, a voter verified paper record for electronic voting, run-off voting to insure winners receive a majority vote, binding none-of-the-above choices and most important, full public financing to guarantee clean elections.
9) You won’t hear much about a failed war on drugs that costs nearly $50 billion annually. And the major candidates will not argue that addicts should be treated rather than imprisoned. Nor should observers hope for any call to repeal the "three strikes and you're out" laws that have needlessly filled our jails or to end mandatory sentencing that hamstrings our judges.
10) The candidates will ignore the diverse Israeli peace movement whose members have developed accords for a two state solution with their Palestinian and American counterparts. It is time to replace the Washington puppet show with a real Washington peace show for the security of the American, Palestinian, and Israeli people.
11) You won’t hear the candidates stand up to business interests that have backed changes to our civil justice system that restrict or close the courtroom to wrongfully injured and cheated individuals, but not to corporations. Where is the vocal campaign against fraud and injury upon innocent patients, consumers, and workers? We should make it easier for consumers to band together and defend themselves against harmful practices in the marketplace.
Voters should visit the webpages of the major party candidates. See what they say, and see what they do not say. Then email or send a letter to any or all the candidates and ask them why they are avoiding these issues. Breaking the taboos won’t start with the candidates. Maybe it can start with the voters.
Than
By Ralph Nader
Here is a short list of what you won't hear much of from the front-runners in this presidential primary season. Call them the candidate taboos.
1) You won't hear a call for a national crackdown on the corporate crime, fraud, and abuse that have robbed trillions of dollars from workers, investors, pension holders, taxpayers and consumers. Among the reforms that won't be suggested are providing resources to prosecute executive crooks and laws to democratize corporate governance so shareholders have real power. Candidates will not shout for a payback of ill-gotten gains, to rein in executive pay, or to demand corporate sunshine laws.
2) You won’t hear a demand that workers receive a living wage instead of a minimum wage. There will be no backing for a repeal of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which has blocked more than 40 million workers from forming or joining trade unions to improve wages and benefits above Wal-Mart or McDonald's levels.
3) You won’t hear for a call for a withdrawal from the WTO and NAFTA. Renegotiated trade agreements should stick to trade while labor, environmental, and consumer rights are advanced by separate treaties without being subordinated to the dictates of international commerce.
4) You won’t hear a call for our income tax system to be substantially revamped so that workers can keep more of their wages while we tax the things we like least, such as pollution, stock speculation, addictive industries, and energy guzzling technologies. Nor will you hear that corporations should be required to pay their fair share; corporate tax contributions as a percent of the overall federal revenue stream have been declining for 50 years.
5) You won’t hear a call for a single payer health system. Almost sixty years after President Truman first proposed it, we still need health insurance for everyone, a program with quality and cost controls and an emphasis on prevention. Full Medicare for everyone will save thousands of lives a year while maintaining patient choice of doctors and hospitals within a competitive private health care delivery system.
6) There is no reason to believe that the candidates will stand up to the commercial interests profiting from our current energy situation. We need a major environmental health agenda that challenges these entrenched interests with major new initiatives in solar energy, doubling motor vehicle fuel efficiency, and other quantified sustainable and clean energy technologies. Nor will there be adequate recognition that current fossil fuels are producing not just global warming, but also cancer, respiratory diseases, and geopolitical entanglements. Finally, there will be no calls for ending environmental racism that leads to more contaminated water, air, and toxic dumps in poorer neighborhoods.
7) The candidates will not demand a reduction in the military budget that devours half the federal government's operating expenditures at a time when there is no Soviet Union or other major state enemy in the world. Studies by the General Accounting Office and internal Pentagon assessments support the judgment of many retired admirals and generals that a wasteful defense weakens our country and distorts priorities at home.
8) You won't hear a consistent clarion call for electoral reform. Both parties have shamelessly engaged in gerrymandering, a process that guarantees reelection of their candidates at the expense of frustrated voters. Nor will there be serious proposals that millions of law-abiding ex-felons be allowed to vote.
Other electoral reforms should include reducing barriers to candidates, same day registration, a voter verified paper record for electronic voting, run-off voting to insure winners receive a majority vote, binding none-of-the-above choices and most important, full public financing to guarantee clean elections.
9) You won’t hear much about a failed war on drugs that costs nearly $50 billion annually. And the major candidates will not argue that addicts should be treated rather than imprisoned. Nor should observers hope for any call to repeal the "three strikes and you're out" laws that have needlessly filled our jails or to end mandatory sentencing that hamstrings our judges.
10) The candidates will ignore the diverse Israeli peace movement whose members have developed accords for a two state solution with their Palestinian and American counterparts. It is time to replace the Washington puppet show with a real Washington peace show for the security of the American, Palestinian, and Israeli people.
11) You won’t hear the candidates stand up to business interests that have backed changes to our civil justice system that restrict or close the courtroom to wrongfully injured and cheated individuals, but not to corporations. Where is the vocal campaign against fraud and injury upon innocent patients, consumers, and workers? We should make it easier for consumers to band together and defend themselves against harmful practices in the marketplace.
Voters should visit the webpages of the major party candidates. See what they say, and see what they do not say. Then email or send a letter to any or all the candidates and ask them why they are avoiding these issues. Breaking the taboos won’t start with the candidates. Maybe it can start with the voters.
Than
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Scott and Lauren are here. We found an old copy of the Climax in the sofa. It had an article about doing drugs on halloween. A bunch of kids wrote about doing different drugs, and it seemed like they all had a really good time, except for the one who ate pot brownies. Apparently, pot is the only drug that is actually bad for you. Weird.
PS: Who is foronandonandon? You commented on this blog on the last post but left no name. Please reveal yourself.
-Ben
PS: Who is foronandonandon? You commented on this blog on the last post but left no name. Please reveal yourself.
-Ben
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)