1)Kool Aid is nasty. 2)Tell your woman she’s ruined scrambled eggs for me FOREVER!

It is truly a shame to see my original home state of WYO is a Kool-Aid state. Lots of ranchers are Republicans that refuse to stray from the herd. I am sure the pink hue also has to due with the fact Dick hails from Big Beautiful Wyo (and is actually an acquaintance of my Dad, but don’t hold that against him…he is surely a Democrat but no doubt grapples with the conundrum of knowing Dick and liking him). My current home state of Washington feels like a bit better fit since she is in the blue, too bad it isn’t the royal blue. Ah, well, the country is still full of many sheep. BAHHHHH.

Southerngirl,
The images and stylehseet need to re-cache. Once that happens, the site should load more quickly.

Why every state is not lower yet in percentages is beyond me. Yay for people getting a clue finally though!

We live in Texas, and last year my sister gave us a button which says, “I still love my country but am embarrassed by our President.” I chuckled a bit — until the hurricanes wiped out my wife’s home state of Louisiana. Perhaps if Utah was closer to the coast and experienced the same wrath that New Orleans did, they’d be dark blue, too.

blurb,

You cute geek, you. It does and it did–Dooce loads quite quickly now.

Just got Chuck’s calendar in the mail. Looks great. Well done, you guys!

Leafgirl,

I’d believe it. I live in a very urbanized city of Nebraska and me and the city itself are Dem. but the whole west side of Nebraska is made up of small towns. They’re comprised of farmers and the Rep’s seem to feed off of these town folk. I’d love to say that western Nebraska is growing and learning the truth and slowly but surely turning to the blue side, but I’m honestly not sure. Unfortunately watching the news isn’t cutting it with those people.

You said it jessica.

I didn’t mean to offend when I said I was surprised that Iowa was dark blue, I was just honestly surprised that they’re DARK blue and my home state of Nebraska is still in the red. It makes me sad that so many here are ignorant enough in their ways that they’re willing to show even an ounce of support to the evil that is the Bush Administration. More power to Iowa for realizing what is going on and acting on it.

I do think that people here in Nebraska (even the small town people) know what is going on, but it’s their values that are getting in the way. Lots of young men in Iraq are coming from these small towns and the Bush admin. comes in and tells these towns that they need to support and fight for their country at any cost…and how do you turn against when your child is over there fighting for that very reason?

Tiggerlane–I totally agree that it’s okay to go for the jugular. Not in a bitch-slappy, mudslingy way–but in a way that says clearly: you’ve done some things wrong, and it’s immoral and corrupt.

Michaela–no offense taken. I think that you’re right about values getting in the way. Being uninformed is not the problem–we have more access to information than ever before.

I think that the biggest problem (besides the right-wing PR spin campaign) is that most people are only truly concerned with what is directly part of their immediate world-view. It’s a form of xenophobia (even if we profess open-mindedness).

We all like to think that we care what’s going on in the world, but the reality is, most people only care if it impacts them. For the most part, people in middle America are sheltered from the impact of world or national events unless there is a major catastrophe that gets massive media coverage (eg. tsunami, hurricane Katrina/Rita/Wilma) or it hits their wallets. With the war in Iraq, the fallout on our wallets will not be visible until later, when the damage has already been done.

People in middle America, therefore, are more concerned with the things that have a direct impact on them, and when you’re talking about small towns, basically all there is is school and church. As long as the kids are fed, going to decent schools and the moral structure of society is intact (based on the teachings of their church), everything is good in their world. When things are slipping away from that, that’s scary. The Republicans have done a great job (with their PR machine) at telling people: hey, you think that the LIBERAL media and LIBERAL tv and movie producers are having a bad influence on your children and threatening your religious beliefs? Well, the LIBERAL media=Democrats, and if you elect them, you can expect your world to go completely to hell. Result: Bush 2000 and 2004.

In major metropolitan areas, international events have a direct local impact because there are people from those parts of the world who live in their community. I live in NYC now, and when something happens in the Middle East, my neighbors tell me what their relatives in the Middle East are telling them. My co-workers and I talk every day about what is on the news on Al-Jazeera. It puts a very different face on the war when you talk with someone who has relatives who live in Baghdad. NYC is also unique in that world events play a big role in how business is done, so we talk all the time about how what is happening overseas is going to effect the stock market. I imagine those conversations happen more often in financial centers than in other parts of the world–I don’t seem to recall a lot of times as a child that my parents or other adults talked about stocks in oil or other industries (except the price of beans, corn and hogs in the ag markets).

So the question then is: besides fighting the PR machine, what do you do? Obviously people choose to live in rural and suburban areas because they offer a quality of life that is different than the urban life, so the answer is not: everyone, pack up and move to the big city! I think the answer is to show people how the events of the world (and decisions by politicians) have an impact on all people, even those who aren’t directly effected. Not political (at first), just real-world analysis of events and legislation. Then the challenge will be for the Dems to demonstrate how they’re the answer to the problem.

Personally, I think we need to throw ALL the bums out and start fresh, but that’s just my revolutionary side showing.

End novel. (sorry about that…)

P.S. Article about the unionization effort:

http://​tinyurl​.com/dls9u

Mihow–very good news about the unionization in Texas. It’s good to see. I find that in most of the places where there is resentment about the unions, it is because unionized workers have a better employment situation than non-unionized workers, and the non-unionized workers envy what they have. Nobody should have to try to get by on a sub living wage, and I don’t think there is anywhere in the country where $5.25 enables you to live in any kind of comfort.

Scott–I don’t think that America hates America.

It seems that anytime there is dissent against our government, the dissenter is accused of being unpatriotic and of not ‘loving’ their country. BS.

I don’t want to speak for other people, so I’ll speak for myself:

I LOVE America. I love America I can live in relative comfort doing something that I enjoy for a living. I am not and will likely never be wealthy, but compared to 99% of the world, I am rolling in it.

I love America because I have the freedom to speak my mind without fear of retribution from my government (even if I speak against my government’s legislation and foreign policy)…at least for now (the PATRIOT Act certainly gives me pause).

I love America because I have access to the some of the best medical care in the world (even though it costs me an arm and a leg to pay for it).

I love America because there are people who love this country so much they are willing to put their life on the line every day to protect its interests.

I love America because I can go to the church of my choosing (or not go–also my call) and not get shot for it.

I love America because I can call, write, e-mail and even visit elected officials and tell them what I think they are doing right and wrong.

The list goes on, but I have illustrated my point. We have many, many advantages in America that many people elsewhere (particularly in the Third World) do not have. I do not take that for granted.

HOWEVER:

I do not have to love the choices made by our elected officials.

I do not have to accept them blindly.

I have every right in the WORLD to call them on the decisions they are making (allegedly on the behalf of Americans such as me) that DO NOT represent the way I believe they should act.

Unfortunately, I did not get the person I wanted into the Oval Office. Just because my candidate lost the election, I have not lost my right to be heard or to organize activists to put pressure on elected officials (who are supposed to represent all of their constituents, not just the ones who voted for them).

As someone who lives in Texas, W’s home state I can tell you, polls are misleading. If we believe polls, then Kerry would be our president right now. Anyways, I don’t think this President gives a lick about what WE think, he’s already got his second term, doesn’t care about his legacy and is going to basically just whither away until 2008 comes, and then high tail back to Crawford and let Hillary run the world.. woo hoo, doesn’t that sound promising!!!

AAP

This image is marketing genius. Use an image and color scheme that has traditionally represented one thing, use it to represent something entirely different, and let the mind make the connection that isn’t really there. Kos really outdoes himself once in a while.

We all know Bush has some serious political issues right now, but does this map actually translate into Dem votes in 2006 and 2008, which is all that really matters?