Ed Schultz cut me off

Today I called in to the Ed Schultz Show, a national liberal talk radio program. He was talking about Klobuchar and Kennedy and how they didn't mention their party affiliation in their most recent ads. He also mentioned the illegal wiretapping. I called in, intending to talk about how Klobuchar did not support Feingold's censure measure, but as soon as I mentioned Michael Cavlan and the Green Party, Schultz cut me off. Then he said he was tired of people "pimping" their candidates instead of talking about the issues, which I never had a chance to do.

I immediately removed the AM950 bumper sticker from my car.

It should be noted that Ed Schultz is with the Jones Radio Network and not Air America, which produces most of AM950's national shows, but I'd say most of them are "pimping" for the Dems. Thom Hartman I think is an independent.

The Shiite and the Sunni

Sung to the tune of The Farmer and the Cowman from the musical Oklahoma.

Dedicated to conservative pundit Bill Kristol, who predicted harmony from the get-go, and who is not to be confused with actor Billy Crystal of City Slickers fame.

Oh, the Shiite and the Sunni should be friends,
Oh, the Shiite and the Sunni should be friends.
One man follows an Imam guide,
The other chooses the Caliph side,
But that's no reason why they can't be friends.

Good Iraqi folks should stick together,
Good Iraqi folks should all be pals.
Sunnis dance with Shiite’s daughters,
Shiites dance with the Sunni's gals.

Franken exposed to DU?

Al Franken has spent time in Baghdad entertaining our troops as part of the USO. I wonder if he’s concerned about exposure to depleted uranium.

No worries

Senator George F. Allen (R-VA) got into trouble Aug. 11 when he called a volunteer for his opponent “Macaca.” The word “macaca” apparently is a variation of “macaque” referring to a type of monkey, and is a French racial slur used for dark skinned people of North African descent.

Maybe he meant to say “Hakuna matata,” a Swahili expression that is literally translated as “here-there-are-no concerns.” It is commonly translated as “no worries.” The phrase was popularized as the title of a song in the movie The Lion King.

Irreversable harm

It's hard to keep up with all the bad news. There's the 15,000 TON oil spill resulting from an Israeli air strike on Lebanon, reports of hideous body-shrivelling "direct energy" weapons used in the same conflict, and sad, grotesgue infant deformities caused by our use of Depleted Uranium in Iraq. Note that DU was also used by Clinton in Yugoslavia.

Zimmermann convicted

Here is a message I posted on the Green Party of Minnesota list serve, having to do with the conviction of former City Council Member Dean Zimmermann:

I was only at the trial one day, so I don't have all the information in front of me, but from what I've heard and read, it didn't seem like there was a quid pro quo, or "something for something." It may have even been "nothing for nothing," because the developer's request got voted down by the council, and because Dean worked at getting the money into the gerrymandering lawsuit fund, where he was not the sole beneficiary.

That being said, the lessons learned for the rest of us in the Green Party include:

• You can bet we're going to get picked on, so avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
• Clean government has always been what sets us apart from the Repubs and Dems, so we have to go the extra mile to convince the public that we are the real thing.
• If you get a big contribution that looks suspicious, don't take it, refund it right away, or ask the authorities how best to handle it.

This has got to be a tough time for Dean and Jenny, and my thoughts and prayers are with them.

...Others had similar views. Click on comments to read the Green Party press release, and click here for my comments from when the story first broke: