(Thanks to Lean Left)
Ann Coulter visits U.W.:

Coulter was asked why she condemns the terrorists so strongly, but not those who kill abortion doctors. She said that the latter have been extremely frustrated by the fact that they can’t vote on this issue, thanks to Roe vs. Wade, and that they worked within the system for twenty years without success before turning to murder. She said that those individuals believe they had been left with no other routes for dissent in the face of an ongoing atrocity. Coulter further suggested that although she would not take it upon herself to take extreme actions on the abortion issue, she will not condemn those who do.

Here’s a good – no, great – column from John Balzar in today’s LA Times. An excerpt:

I believe in myths, or I want to–the myths of our nation and, in particular, the dauntless sagas of the West. It seems to me that a culture without legends, without ballads to sing to itself, without a dash of romance packed away in its attic, is impoverished in the worst of ways.
No doubt that’s why I was drawn to California. I cut my journalistic teeth here. This is the place where you either appreciate the fantastic or you wear rubber boots because California is knee-deep in it. So it has always seemed to me.
Just plunge into the latest installment in Kevin Starr’s vivid history of California, “Embattled Dreams.” It covers the decade from 1940 to 1950, when modern California was forged out of the sheet metal and sweat of wartime.
California’s state librarian and a scholar at large, Starr has the touch of a novelist, and he renders history as a story, not as a theory. His California is populated by zoot-suiters, cinema celebrities, women on the factory line, black Americans biting into the ripening fruits of progress, Okies making good and the transiting legions of fighting men who promise themselves a fresh start in the sunshine, if only they live long enough. Plus various Red-baiters, reactionaries, a ghostly murderer and a towering political leader named Gov. Earl Warren.
…
Yet I sense a yearning among Californians. I’m not the only one who wants to believe in destiny. I don’t know a single person who is content to allow a future Kevin Starr to describe this as the era when we gave up on our dreams.

I’m an immense fan of Kevin Starr’s histories of California, which I find the perfect anodyne to Mike Davis’ deliberately bleak ‘City of Quartz’. It is impossible to understand California history, or American history without understanding the hope that led the average people here.
I was bicycling through Death Valley one winter, and came across a series of grave markers next to the road. Children and adults who died while attempting to cross to California and their dream of a future.
It had a huge impact on me to realize how badly people wanted a better future for themselves and their children…badly enough to walk and ride ox-drawn wagons across the country and end up out of water, of food, and still to press on and cross Death Valley.
For me it was paved roads, a 25-pound bicycle and a support van driven by my girlfriend with water, food, and the promise of an air-conditioned hotel at the end of the day.
Why is it so much harder for us to hope than it was for them?
Who can look at Davis or Simon and believe for a moment that they could lead us to a dream?

Ann Salisbury lists all of Gov. “SkyBox” Davis’ accomplishments (it’s a long list).
ON THE OTHER
Bob Morris shows the Gov’s darker side:

Gray Davis, the coin operated governor, Chapter 847
Are there no depths to which Gray Davis will not stoop?
State officials allowed one of California’s largest polluters to increase toxic discharges into San Francisco Bay shortly after the company donated $70,500 to Gov. Gray Davis, a Mercury News investigation has found.

Me, I’m still voting for Gov. LePetomaine. “Think of your secretary, Governor!”

The Truth Laid Bear: War With Iraq: Don’t Do It Soon.Do it now.
A great discussion ensues…go check it out now.

Here’s a great rant on the SkyBox crowd, from Making Light. To the blogroll with her…
(via Joe Katzman).

No, you perv, I’m not going to be wearing a frilly apron…
But in the spirit of that comment, I’ve added Dawn Olsen to the blogroll…I actually use my blogroll (and referrer logs) to surf around, so it’s both for my convenience and because I realize that there is Severe Gender Imbalance on the list. I will go practice some Affirmative Action when I add some blogs.
I’m also working on a logo. The ‘Armed’ part is easy, but I’m struggling to give the artist some direction on the ‘liberal’ part. No one would get an Adlai Stevenson caricature. Best I can come up with is this, a picture of a samurai rabbit from a comic series called ‘Usagi Yojimbo’ (note: I’m a huuuge samurai movie fan, but don’t know much about comix; found this searching for cartoons of rabbits in Google). What do folks think??

Bob Morris weighs in on Joe Lieberman’s attempt to keep Al Gore on the New Democrat ranch:

Well Joe, you silly elitist twit, it IS a class conflict, and speaking out loudly against corporate fraud and corruption could be the best possible way for Democrats to re-take the White House. And by the way Joe, remind us why you are a Democrat since you are more conservative than most Republicans?

Bob, the sad fact is that you’re absolutely right – this is what the Dems should be doing. But also I think in taking this tack, the Democrats expose themselves incredibly (as noted in my post below). I’m hard-pressed to imagine that we could find a Democrat who isn’t vulnerable enough (remember that we don’t need parity in corruption…a mere stain will do)to this issue to make it suicidal gesture, and as a consequence I think we’ll get a lot of posturing over arcane accounting and administrative trivia which will allow the Dems to take Bush on (“what did he know and when did he know it?” type stuff) without threatening their own access to the private jets.

From hard heads soft hearts: a quote I particularly like:

more money for teacher’s salaries. 20% increase for education in exchange for vouchers/school choice. if you’re willing to work, a middle class society a common sense society; a middle class society: a society where if you work hard and play by the rules you can become a member of the broad middle class education, health insurance a decent home or apartment in a safe part of town with places for kids to play. Krugman parable of fishermen and gold prospectors
bringing backcommon sense, we’ve really got to reform our legal system.
de-meme-ing society; clean smart tough and kind; a middle class government; a common sense government, a government with American values: optimism; work ethic and the golden rule;

It’s worth going in.
roublen vesseau, a frequent commenter here, has started pulling together a scratchpad for a “new liberalism”, and has a couple of pages of cut-and-paste and rough notes that just might shape up into something. Check out hard heads soft hearts; start reading at the bottom and be patient…you’ll walk away with at least five things that make you go “hmmm…”

Down the coast from us, N.Z. Bear is kind of melancholy about one alternative future: The Truth Laid Bear: July 28, 2014.
There are others, N.Z. …