I hear via Corante on Blogging, that Baldur Bjarnason thinks that the word "blog" is "an abuse of the English language and displays most native speakers' utter disregard for the health and beauty of the English language."
So I'm guessing he wouldn't approve of Skippy's "Blogtopia" or my word for the world of Progressive bloggers -- "Progblogtopia." I'm also guessing he won't be volunteering to help design Pen-Elayne's suggested Progblogtopia mascot, the "Progblogfrog." Just a hunch.
As good Americans, we can help this effort by proposing private firms that might perform various public functions. Here are my public/private suggestions:
*EPA's hazardous waste cleanup could be contracted to Proctor & Gamble, maker of Bounty, the "Quicker Picker Upper"
*IRS tax collection work could be performed by The Mob
*The staff of the White House could be replaced by the cast of NBC's West Wing
Let's have your suggestions ... if the Administration is taking comments, I'll submit our collective suggestions as a comment on this privatization proposal (as my own private citizen comment, without identifying individual submitters).
Why am I telling you this? So you can rise to the challenge, of course. Please email me your creative suggestions. I'll send them on to my friend to use anonymously, as indicated, and I'll also post the best ones here. Please send them to me at madkane@madkane.com with "Privatize This" in the subject line. And let me know if/how you'd like to be credited on my site (with your name and/or website link, etc.) I can't wait to read your suggestions!
Uh-oh! I just took a gender test and found out I'm male. I guess it must be true, because the test claims an 80% confidence level in that result. Boy, is hubby Mark gonna be disappointed!
I caught a witty, engaging Al Gore on Letterman Friday night. If only Gore had shown that side of his personality 2 years ago, the election would have been much tougher for Bush to steal.
By now, you've probably read what William Safire has to say about the privacy violations in the Homeland Security Bill. Here's my take on the subject: (You'll find a midi link here, if you'd like to sing along.)
Say Goodbye To Privacy (To be sung to "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" by Billy Joel)
By Madeleine Begun Kane
Bush is drivin' through a bill that strips rights,
Turns your life to an open, guided tour.
It sends your info to a Fed'ral machine.
It's a scene straight from Nineteen-Eight-Four.
Say goodbye to privacy.
Say goodbye to freedom.
Say goodbye to privacy.
Say goodbye to freedom.
Big Gov's storin' all your facts in a file,
With a style that invades your private doors.
They'll know exactly where you're at, what you're for,
And you won't be a free man anymore.
Say goodbye to privacy.
Say goodbye to freedom.
Say goodbye to privacy.
Say goodbye to freedom.
Movin' on is our chance
To be safe from the spies
Who try to take
Life's treasures.
Whoa.
Say a word out of line
And you'll find that the rights
You had are gone,
Forever.
Forever.
Without a basis 'puters watch all our lives.
Will we pass? Or will we be watched again?
Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes,
All retained online for Gov Spies to spin.
Say goodbye to privacy.
Say goodbye to freedom.
Say goodbye to privacy.
Say goodbye to freedom.
Nearly gone is our chance
To be safe from the spies
Who try to take
Life's treasures.
Whoa.
Think a thought out of line
And you'll find that the rights
You had are gone,
Forever.
Forever.
Without a basis 'puters watch all our lives.
Will we pass? Or will we be watched again?
Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes,
All retained online for Gov Spies to spin.
Say goodbye to privacy.
Say goodbye to freedom.
Say goodbye to privacy.
Say goodbye to freedom.
Pen-Elayne has a great idea: After reading Skippy's kind words about my humor and my freshly coined "Progblogtopia," she suggests a mascot for Progressive bloggers -- the "Progblogfrog."
Rumor has it that the follow-up to Ann Coulter's oddly self-descriptive Slander will be entitled Treason. So I can't help wondering what she'll be calling the one after that. Larcenous Lefties? Homicidal Liberals? Patricidal Progressives? I'm sure she'll come up with something satisfyingly juicy ... and equally mendacious.
I see that the media's still falling for Karl Rovian nonsense. Seriously, are we really expected to believe that Dubya's aides are worried about Lott's anti-abortion rights plans? No doubt George "Mr. States Rights" Bush can't wait to do the Religious Right's bidding, once again. But wily Rove is setting the stage for Bush to do it while suckering people into thinking he's a fair-minded moderate who puts a lot of thought into decisions about what he'll let (a) women do with their bodies, (b) cancer patients smoke, and (c) medical researchers do in their quest to save lives.
I'm sorry, but I don't buy Bush as the reluctant captive of the loony Religious Right. As far as I'm concerned George Bush is the loony Religious Right.
Here's a welcome addition to Progblogtopia. Hey, if Skippy can coin Blogtopia, I can coin Progblogtopia, can't I? But getting back to the welcome addition, Martin Wisse has launched Progressive Gold, a "best of" cooperative blog, featuring snippets of and links to the best entries in - there's that word again - Progblogtopia. If you'd like to participate, you can apply here.
I figured I should try this blogchalking thing. So I'm obediently publishing the following: This is my new blogchalk: United States, New York State, New York City, Bayside, Queens, English, Madeleine, Female, humor, politics, music, news, current events, writing.
