Wanna See Cheney Speak? Better Endorse Bush Then
And here's another sign of the high respect with which Bush and Cheney regard our open system of democracy.
Turns out that if you want to go to Cheney's New Mexico rally, you have to sign an endorsement form for BC04 before you can get tickets. That is, unless you contributed to their campaign.
Seems they don't want any pesky free thinkers on hand to ask uncomfortable questions or, perhaps, wave a Kerry sign.
That sounds democratic to me. Also sounds like they're reaching out to undecided voters in a very strong way. Maybe they've just decided that everyone who's going to vote for them has already decided to, and that they won't be picking up any additional support between now and November. Which means, of course, that their only job is to suppress democratic turnout if they hope to win.
July 30, 2004
Will Ferrel Spoof
This is a really funny Will Ferrel spoof of George W., created by Americans Coming Together, one of the 527s trying to get out the vote.
In case you didn't know, George W. says that he's afraid of horses.
Nancy Reagan Disavows Bush
Here's an interesting article about Nancy Reagan's absolute rejection of George W. Bush.
How's this for clarity:
Nancy Reagan turned down numerous invitations to appear at the Republican National Convention and has warned the Bush campaign she will not tolerate any use of her or her late husbands words or images in the President’s re-election effort.“Mrs. Reagan does not support President Bush’s re-election and neither to most members of the President’s family,” says a spokesman for the former First Lady.
Well, I've got to hand it to her. After saying it so often in the '80s, Nancy, too, is just saying "no".
8/5/04: As Crabby noted below, the story referenced here is not true. Capitol Hill Blue has also printed a sort-of retraction claiming that the details of their original story were still basically true. If you read the story referenced in the original post, you'll notice that quotes are attributed to an unidentified "spokesperson". Through another website, I was able to track down the names of the article's authors, who also composed this piece, entitled "Bush Using Drugs to Control Depression, Erratic Behavior", and also relies on those way cool unidentified sources.
In other words, while I can't verify that everything published on Capitol Hill Blue is bunk, I can say that some of what they publish is absolute bunk and the rest should be viewed with a skeptical, or comedic, eye.
Wildly Exaggerated Claims from the GOP
I just wanted to remind everyone about a post earlier this month where I responded to reports from GOP strategists that John Kerry would be up by 15 points by the end of the month.
I may not be able to pick congressional candidates to save my life, but I did say this:
My question: do they get this info from the same sources who said Iraq was pickling in WMD? The same sources who said US forces would be welcomed as liberators? Maybe the same sources who said that massive, deficit-swelling tax cuts would result in tremendous job growth?Kerry will likely get a bump, but at this point we can be pretty sure that if a Republican says it, especially one affiliated with BC04, it's likely to be wildly off-target.
Sometimes I'm right. But they're almost always wrong.
July 29, 2004
Peter Jennings, Tucker Carlson, and My Love Affair with Ann Coulter
I just watched Peter Jennings interviewed by Anderson Cooper on CNN. Anderson asked if Jennings felt that the networks had made a mistake by only broadcasting three hours of the conventions. Jennings said it made him angry. They've been webcasting it through various sources, which seemed to ease his anger, but he made the point that he's served (as a journalist, I suppose) in many places in the world where power is transferred at the barrel of a gun.
I appreciate those who are awed by the mechanisms of democracy, however flawed they may be. Only those who take it seriously can truly protect democracy.
Tucker Carlson is another entity who keeps appearing on my television screen. Now let me talk a bit about Tucker, because he's somebody who I really relate to with his snarky sarcasm and his silly ties. He's also been known to say really true things, but that’s few and far between. Mostly he strives for the ultimate zingers, and often he achieves them.
He's been wandering around the convention being snarky and sarcastic and it's really grating. There's no respect for the process, just a lot of whining about scripting and lack of "real news."
We're choosing a President. This is a tried and true part of our political process. That's not news?
Anyway, Carlson is kind of like who Ann Coulter could be if she wasn't completely batshit. See, I adore Ann Coulter. She started her career being feisty, then went to fiery, then just went way off the deep end. She is unable to self-edit and incapable of fact checking. I adore her. Her columns delight me in a uniquely sexual way, there's just something about a writer that disinginuous making a living at it. I want to congratulate her on her good fortune.
I've just ordered both Treason and Slander, because for some reason I'm super hot for Ann right now. I need some sloppy, viscious prose. I need some nonsensical verbal bitchslapping right now. I just can't wait.
If she were properly medicated, she'd be a lot like Carlson: snarky, arrogant, brash, but also funny and brimming with a continuous satire.
I have a secret fantasy that all she really needs is a nice big hug to pull her through this dark period she calls her life, but probably it's medication. It’s a shame. I have such a thing for femmes. sigh
Francis Crick Dies
Here's one that made me shout out in sadness: DNA co-discovered Francis Crick has died in a San Diego hospital. He was 88.
For the creationists out there, let me say that God took him home and now you can stop reading.
For everyone else, this guy was truly a giant of science. In 1953, the team of Crick and Dr. James Watson (who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Dr. James Wilkins, but not with Dr. Rosaland Franklin, whose X-ray work was primary in the discovery) described the DNA molecule, and experienced one of those rare moments in science where their theory was so eloquent and clear that it was nearly immediately accepted.
In later years, Crick spent his time theorizing on the origins of life, and in the 1970s presented what he called the Directed Panspermia hypothesis, which suggested that life on Earth could have been intentionally seeded from an older civilization on another world. Crick felt that the time period between Earth's cooling enough to allow for life and the abundance of life did not quite square.
That's a sad one. A great thinker and problem solver has passed, and a man who granted us what has turned out to be a tremendous gift. And burden.
Statement of Opposition to Censorship
This seems as good a time as any to affirm that the only comments that I delete are spammed advertisements. Please see the comments attached to the next entry if you have any questions about why I think that the good guys always win in the marketplace of ideas.
Georgians Against Discrimination--Fight The Amendment
This is an e-mail I received from a very effective activist I know. It has all the information for those who have the time/inclination to be active. More on gay people and gay marriage this evening, as I'm feeling some ranting coming on:
Georgians Against Discrimination needs your help, and I'm not too proud to beg. I need you to give us some of your time - as much as you can give. We have several canvass dates ahead of us, and I'd like to tell you a little about what we'll be doing and why this work is so important.
I've attached a copy of the referendum. The top is what you'll actually see on the ballot (one sentence). The second PARAGRAPH is what the amendment actually says. Notice the disconnect? Not only will people be voting against gay marriage, but against civil unions, domestic partner benefits... the list goes on and on, and we won't truly know how far reaching it will be until it passes (which we won't let happen)!
Where the campaign is now:
The bad news is that we have only 96 days until the election. That's 96 days to identify over 200,000 "no" voters (people who are against the anti-gay constitutional amendment). That's only 96 days to recruit 2000+ volunteers. That's only 96 days to win 1.3 million + 1 votes. Oh my god!
The good news is that we're already doing the work - we've been doing it for a couple of months now. For example, last Tuesday we had 82 volunteers at the polls who identified over 1,000 "no" votes in six hours. Six hours!!! And 283 of those voting against the amendment were excited about giving time or money (or both) to the campaign. Through training from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, we've learned that our strength and our victory lies in the hands of the grassroots. From 1998-2000 we faced 18 anti-gay ballot initiatives in the US. We lost 13 and only won five. In 2000, NGLTF got involved and taught communities how to organize and win. Since 2000, we've had 14 anti-gay ballot initiatives and the new record is 11 wins and 3 losses. What this means to us is that we have a fantastic chance to win this battle.
In order to increase our strength and power we need to have a huge, solid volunteer base - that includes anyone who can only give four hours between now and November 2, all the way up to our grassroots organizers who are spending 20+ hours each week on the campaign. It's also incredibly important to us right now that we identify as many "no" voters as we can in the coming months. This means actually getting out and knocking on the doors of all the registered voters in Georgia and telling them about the fabulous work we've been doing. Sounds daunting, right? In five weeks, we've knocked on hundreds of doors, made hundreds of phone calls and talked to thousands of people. We're building that base piece by piece, and with your help we'll grow even stronger.
What a pitch, right? It's all from my heart. I can't tell you how passionate I am about this issue. Contrary to what our opposition would have you believe, it's not about "gays getting married" - that's already illegal in Georgia. This is about discrimination - plain and simple. I do my best to not get involved in losing battles. My ego is too big. We're going to win this come hell or high water - and believe me - they'll both come in October from the religious "wrong".
Right now we're focusing on gay friendly areas - precincts that have a high concentration of same sex households/couples living there. (Thanks, US census! finally it gives us something to work with!) You'd be amazed at how many folks don't know this is happening - even in our communities! This Saturday we'll be walking in Emory and Decatur. I would LOVE to have you join us. I've also listed more canvass dates and times below so you can have a choice.
Every Monday night from 6:30 - 9:30 Locations to be announced
Every Thursday night from 6:00 - 9:00 Locations to be announced
Saturdays: July 31 (this Saturday at the office of the Atlanta Lesbian Cancer Initiative)
August 14th
August 28th
Saturday canvasses are from 10A - 2P
Please let me know when you'll be able to help by e-mailing me - I need you!!!
Leigh
July 28, 2004
John Edwards
I've spent the last six hours coding HTML and took a break to listen to John Edwards speak at the Convention. It was a good speech, but it's another of those situations where the hype was so intense that somehow I was expecting better. Maybe it's because I heard Barak Obama and Teresa Heinz Kerry last night.
CNN is, for some reason, letting Ralph Reed do commentary at this point. This is the 'liberal' network, mind you.
Edwards presented a lot of new spending initiatives as part of a very ambitious plan and obviously not all of it can be paid for. That's hardly the point; had we not had three and a half years of fiscal management designed to bankrupt the treasury we would certainly have more money to improve the country.
Ralph Reed is now touting Bush's 50% approval rate. That's pretty amazing. Only half the electorate disapproves of him, so he must be doing something right.
Geeze.
Anyway, I really like John Edwards. I was a North Carolina resident for two years, and have a certain affection for him. He's a lawyer, but he seems to have used his powers for good and not evil. His "Two Americas" speech defines very clearly something that I've seen my entire life. Having grown up in the south, I've seen it maybe more than people in other regions. My town had a southeastern end full of engineers and other professionals, and then the rest of town. During the '90s, when prosperity was abundant and too many of those other people could afford to move to the southeast part of town, the city annexed a large tract of land just over the mountain where developers promptly placed swank new houses in the form of bland, identical neighborhoods with no connecting point.
This is not called Smart Growth. It deviates from the most cutting edge thinking about planned communities. But it's Alabama, and when the poor folks get some mobility, the already mobile pack up.
Edwards knows what he's talking about, and what he's talking about is real. I'll take the son of a mill worker who's lived the American dream over a favorite son who never had to work a day in his life. And it would be great if we could double the size of the Special Forces, hopefully once we put into office some people who've had to budget their own money, they'll be a little wiser about how they spend mine.
July 27, 2004
Teresa Heinz Kerry
Wow, so for those who don't frequent this, I'm an unashamed unfan of John Kerry, but devoted to the idea that America is a peaceful nation with rampant civil liberties and believe that John Kerry is a candidate we can work with.
I've also been reluctant about his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry (come to think of it, I'm not even sure that's how her first name is spelled, but there you go). The botox, the cash, the Republicanism... anyway, lukewarm at best.
However, having just watched her speech, I have to say that I am fully on board the Teresa Heinz Kerry train. Not only was she eloquent and polished, but her presence in American life at this moment seems especially important to me.
Americans have a xenophobic streak that we don't readily own up to. It is there, however, and it provides one of the enduring tensions of American history. The immigrant dream of America vs. the anti-immigrant fervor that presents itself from time to time; our national sense of superiority over other countries that is stoked when necessary (see: France, Germany, Russia, 2002-present), that sort of thing.
The other side of America's xenophobia is that we are a very welcoming people, and we really like individuals. We are curious about other people and other places, and some of my favorite bar and airport (and airport bar) conversations have happened with people from other countries.
We are in an election where our xenophobia is being stoked by one side to keep us in line, and tonight we were introduced to the Individual who can put a face on that otherness that we tend to worry about. Tonight I saw a woman who would make a fabulous first lady. Now it remains to be seen whether her husband can come close to making such an impression. (But I'm still going to vote for him.)
Also, I loved Howard Dean's speech. It brought tears to my eyes. I was a Deaniac, went to Meet-ups, gave him money, wrote letters to Iowa and New Hampshire, and he is still a sentimental favorite for me. I thought he stayed in the race too long, and I was concerned that his sour grapes would ruin him forever, but he too has kept his eye on the ball and his speech just made me darned nostalgic.
And Barak Obama... Illinois is definitely going to get some fine representation in the senate next year.
Tonight's the first night of coverage I've watched, and I'm travelling tomorrow and probably won't see any of it, but I'm glad for what I've watched. These speeches and these speakers call on something intrinsically American in us, and for all the complaints about a journalistic lack of drama/conflict/candor at the conventions, it would be nice if we Americans and the networks on our airwaves could resolve that every four years, we're going to take a couple of weeks to engage in some real American political discussion. It could be like the Constitutional Olympics or something.
Will Coca Cola please sponsor that?
Oh well, at least I have cable now.
July 22, 2004
The "Marriage Protection Act" Comes to a Vote
So, HR 3313, mentioned below in the post about Indiana's John Hostettler, is supposed to go to a vote today. The bill would prevent federal courts from being able to hear legal arguments about the Defense of Marriage Act.
To be clear, the Constitution does give the legislative branch some discretion in determining the scope of judicial review of laws, but the precedent that may be set here makes me a little queasy.
Here's why you should contact your rep, whatever your feeling is on gay marriage:
1. Party dominance in congress changes. It's possible that the Senate could change hands this year. It's possible, but less likely, that the House and Senate could change hands this year. Which party do you trust to legislate to the courts what they can and cannot consider? Is that party in power now, and will they be in five years?
2. Is your access to the courts really something that you want legislated away?
3. With congress in such a snit about "Protecting" and "Defending" "Traditional" marriage, how long until the real nutjobs start demanding a ban on divorce? What would happen if antiquated criminal laws regarding adultery were enforced? Do you really want to align yourself with people who, left to their own devices, will eventually start taking away your rights of self-determination, too?
This bill should be carefully placed on the great pile of Bad Ideas and left there to rot in the sun. For conservatives who swing by though, I will warn you that I can think of some laws and rulings that I could fight to make sacrosanct when there is a Democratic majority. Lawrence v. Texas, with its forthright statement that gay couples deserve the same dignity as all others, should be federal law and beyond judicial review. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, right?
Do you really want to leave such decisions to the changing whims of congress?
July 21, 2004
Those Literate Democrats
Ok all, this you've got to read. Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill responds to Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman's demand for a tape of New York fundraiser where Whoopi Goldberg said "bush". http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=165-07132004
Choice lines:
"The fact is that the nation has a greater interest in seeing several documents made public relating to the President's performance in office and personal veracity that the White House has steadfastly refused to release. As such, we will not consider your request until the Bush campaign and White House make public the documents/materials listed below:"
A nice list follows. Read it and giggle. Ah, those wacky book readin', word learnin' dems.
Oh, and on the subject of words, Atlanta folks should make their way out to the Tower II for Cliterati Thursday night.
The New Black
Okay, this is mostly for my friends, but KG and I have a joke about lime, pink, or whatever odd outfit we see someone wearing out in the world being "the new black." We are not, it seems, the only people to ponder what might eventually rise up to replace the color to end all color, the uncolor, black.
Here is a list of various attempts at creating "the new black".
Ah, made me laugh.
SimianBrain Death
Hey all, some of you may have noticed that there was a short outage of service last night and into the morning. ATLBlogs had some scripting errors, which Josiah and crew took care of handily.
Sorry for any delays or inconvenience. We now return to our regularly scheduled ranting.
How Many Corpses?
Tony Blair has made an admission.
It appears that Mr. Blair may have engaged in some fuzzy math in November and December 2003, when he told reporters that 400,000 bodies had been discovered in mass graves in Iraq.
A more accurate number, according to Downing Street: 5,000.
Yes, you read that right. They were only off by approximately 395,000 murder victims. This means that coalition forces are responsible for about twice as many civilian casualties as have been uncovered in mass graves in Iraq.
With this kind of overestimation and hyperbole, I can definitely understand why Bush thinks of Blair as his staunchest ally.
McKinney Wins
So, it looks like Cynthia McKinney will be returning to the US congress from Georgia 4. It's a sad night.
I hung out at Taco Mac for the Cathy Woolard gathering, and I think at some point everyone just started hoping that McKinney wouldn't manage 50% and there would be a runoff. No such luck.
More racially divisive politics? Can McKinney accomplish anything when no one takes her seriously? Woolard would have worked to get funding for intown neighborhoods and mass transit projects. McKinney will work for McKinney, as always.
Denise Majette took 40% in the US Senate race (as of right now). Johnny Isakson will be a formidable opponent. As much as I want it to be an exciting election year, I suspect it's going to be fairly predictable in Georgia.
And now, to bed.
July 20, 2004
More Stuff to be Afraid Of
So, on the long list of things to be afraid of, CNN brings us Killer Pot. According to the story: "Pot is no longer the gentle weed of the 1960s and may pose a greater threat than cocaine or even heroin because so many more people use it."
I'm going to have to ask what they mean by "threat", since obviously the threat isn't of dying of overdose or having your life destroyed by addiction.
Humorously, the next graf begins: "While drug use overall is falling among children and teenagers..."
And what's this at the bottom of CNN's main page? Oh right, a link to Time Magazine's article The Kids Are Alright, which informs us: "According to a sweeping U.S. government study conducted by 20 federal departments and agencies and released last week, the kids are actually doing just fine. By almost any important measure, the report was bursting with good news: teen birthrates are at record lows; teen crime rates are plummeting; kids are swearing off cigarettes (the smoking rate for high school seniors is the lowest it has been in 29 years), staying in school (87% of young Americans now earn high school diplomas) and getting much of the basic health care they need (immunization rates are high, for example, with 90% of kids getting vaccinated against hepatitis B and a record 81% against chicken pox)."
But definitely be afraid of the pot.
Punish Home Depot
Okay folks, so Home Depot is a major contributor to various Republicans and conservative groups.
If you don't want to support people who support the party that restricts freedom, contact them in any of the following ways:
Corporate Office(It's even a local call for Atlantans. Right on!)
For questions about corporate issues such as donation requests, investor relations, media relations, public relations, marketing, vendor relations and community affairs, call our Corporate Office. Call 770-433-8211
Here's where you can send them an e-mail.
Tell them that they are welcome to support candidates as long as they are willing to lose your business in the process.
Vote Today
Alright guys, it's that day: head to your polling places before 7pm and vote.
It's not just a duty, but a promise. I've been sending anti-fan mail (I'm afraid to say "hate" in this context) to reps I dislike for a long time. It's kind of a hobby: "I can't wait to vote against you, you ineffectual schmuck." That kind of thing.
So, today's one of the days I get to fulfill my promise/threat. It's like reality TV before it was cool. It's a good day.
I'll hold off on naming names, but my candidates rock!
July 16, 2004
Scary Airline Experiences
Okay, this is kind of long, but highly chilling.
A woman boards a plane just in front of a group of six Middle Eastern men. By the time the plane takes off, another eight have boarded individually. Once in the air, the men begin congregating in the forward and aft lavatories and behaving strangely.
At the end of the story, after much digging, the author is informed that the men were musicians who had a show booked in the desert outside of Los Angeles. They were all questioned upon arrival at LAX, but no dangerous items were found and no red flags went up in computer databases, so they were released. She asks, if 19 terrorists can learn to fly planes, can't 14 learn to play instruments?
It's a really good story and one of the most frightening I've read in a while. Make of it what you will.
Gunfire in Baghdad
Okay, so maybe that's not news. But when an Aussie paper quotes two 'informants' who claim that interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi personally executed a dozen suspected insurgents in a Baghdad police center, that's news.
Stranger still; apparently such brutality doesn't raise eyebrows among Iraqis.
In Baghdad, varying accounts of the shootings are interpreted by observers as useful to a little-known politician who, after 33 years in exile, needs to prove his leadership credentials as a "strongman" in a war-ravaged country that has no experience of democracy.Dr Allawi's statement dismissed the allegations as rumours instigated by enemies of his interim government.
But in a sharp reminder of the Iraqi hunger for security above all else, the witnesses did not perceive themselves as whistle-blowers. In interviews with the Herald they were enthusiastic about such killings, with one of them arguing: "These criminals were terrorists. They are the ones who plant the bombs."
Well, it's rough justice, and you hope none of them were innocent (if it happened at all), but it may be the only kind of justice that the Iraqi people can accept right now.
Doesn't bode well for democracy, though.
Good Cop/Bad Cop
Good Cop/Bad Cop, as I'm sure you know, works like this: one cop (the bad cop) is highly intimidating, making threats about what the police can do to the suspect, the kinds of evidence they have stacked against the suspect, etc. His (or her) job is to exert pressure on the suspect.
The good cop, meanwhile, says soothing things: I'm sure you didn't mean for it to happen this way, we want to help you but we can only do that if you help us, that sort of thing.
Tell me what the following makes you think of:
 "The terrorists only have to get it right once." |
 "We pursued the terrorist enemy across the world. We've captured or killed many of the key leaders of the al Qaeda network. We will stay on the hunt until justice is served and America is safe." |
Bad cop/Good cop. Be afraid/I'll protect you. We're under attack/I've made things safer.
This is so manipulative. Bush promised to be a uniter not a divider, but the only thing he's united are the various agencies of government to reinforce his themes. Even the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq was a big Republican feel-good ad.
Is this how you want your government run?.
July 15, 2004
Contact John Hostettler, Indiana 8th
This is John Hostettler (R-Indiana). John doesn't much care for gay people. John doesn't much care for gay people so much that he's introduced legislation to forbid federal courts from hearing lawsuits related to gay sex or gay marriage.
John Hostettler wants to take away your right to sue if the state intrudes on your relationship. John Hostettler doesn't believe in liberty and equality for all. John Hostettler is a small minded bigot with a great big seat in the House of Representatives.
Let's all contact John Hostettler and tell him what we think of small minded bigots in our House of Representatives, and how we feel about having our rights taken away from us by bigots like him.
July 14, 2004
Republicans Scrambling to Save Face
It must be really hard to be a Senate Republican today. I mean, you work and work, you rally your base, you get in all the newspapers in order to force a vote on a hugely divisive social issue (plastic/plastic will get you in if you're not registered), and then you can't even muster the votes to keep it alive.
Aw.
Well, the vote hasn't been taken yet, but movement on the Federal Marriage Amendment appears totally stalled.
The vote was timed to force Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards to be on the record with their opposition to discrimination and Constitutional tampering (pandering?), but the Republican leadership has cancelled the up-or-down vote on the amendment itself and turned it into a procedural vote (plastic/plastic should also work here) on cloture. Kerry and Edwards have said they don't see the need to be present for a procedural vote that will kill the bill.
WaPo:
Republicans appeared to be laying down a political marker in scheduling the vote to occur less than two weeks before the Democratic National Convention, casting a spotlight on the Democratic presidential ticket's opposition to the amendment. Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), said earlier they planned to return if there were an up-or-down vote on the amendment. But after it became clear that the showdown would be over a procedural issue, the two Democrats canceled out.At issue in today's vote is whether to cut off debate on the proposed amendment, which defines marriage as existing only between a man and a woman. The proposed amendment also includes language that some have interpreted to cast legal doubt on civil unions.
Plans for a vote on the amendment itself collapsed after Republicans insisted on offering a scaled-back alternative, limited to defining marriage, and Democrats balked.
So here's the timeline: the Republicans brought the issue to the floor, and it became clear that they couldn't even get their own people in line for it. So they began to talk about offering competing versions of the amendment. Democrats mocked them. So they decided that a cloture vote, to determine whether the body would continue debating the topic, was their only recourse, and America slept better last night knowing that the bigots aren't nearly as in control as they would have us believe.
By the way, I've gotta put a plug in for Dennis and his The Moderate Republican, another member of the ATLBlog community. He's actually out of somewhere Yankee, but his blog consistently offers tremendous discussions of how to bring the Republican Party back from the edge that the theocrats have taken it to.
Have a good chuckle at poor Rick Santorum's plight. I am.
More later....
July 13, 2004
Regular Maintenance
Well everyone, it's that time again. As you may have noticed, I'm doing some maintenance on the page, adding some fun stuff to the sidebar and updating links and such.
Look for more over the next couple of days, and thanks for dropping by.
July 12, 2004
Conversation on Democracy
There's a really excellent post downthread from Shannon, who asks, "Isn't questioning why we are unable to get true opposing views on our Presidential Election tickets part of engaging in the political fray?"
I believe that it absolutely is, and I believe that it is one of more fundamental questions facing our democracy today.
I think there are many answers to why there is not more of a diversity of opinion on ballots in America, more answers than any one person can formulate.
I'll propose one answer. Please jump in with your own. As you do, also think of ways in which concerned, engaged people can counteract the problem as you see it.
My answer: We've been told there is no difference. What's the point in taking part if there is no difference? If there's no difference, every action ineffectual. If there's no difference, you're a sucker for doing anything at all.
My Republican parents certainly see a difference. Pat Robertson sure does. Is it merely reflexive to act against their instincts? I actually do see differences between the two candidates, and though they are not as large as I'd like, my action items are as follows:
1. Defeat the candidate we can't work with/Elect the guy we probably can.
2. Make demands of a president we can probably work with.
3. Work to elect candidates to other offices who we can work with.
What do you think has created the vacuum of independent thought on the ballot? What needs to happen to counteract it? How do we change it, or can we?
July 11, 2004
Florida Felon List: Hispanics? What Hispanics?
Tom Lyons of the Herald Tribune has an amazing column on what he terms a "glitch" in the Florida Felon list that was released by court order last week to assist counties in purging their voter rolls.
Lyons says that the percentage of African Americans on the list is about 50%, which is in keeping with the approximately 50% of the general population of Florida that is black. At the same time, while Hispanics comprise roughly 11% of the population, on the list they account for roughly, well, zero percent. There is a handful of names on the 46,000 person list, Lyons tells us, but nothing approaching statistical representation.
Would the GOP play politics with a potentially important swing constituency that is increasingly leaning towards conservatism as their community in America matures? Oh, I'm sure they wouldn't. I mean, when Lyons contacted Gov. Jeb Bush's office to discuss the discrepancy, he was given a resounding "No comment." Problem solved!
July 9, 2004
The False Claim: There is no difference
So I had to sit through a short spoken word piece last night where the author claimed that there was no difference between the two presidential tickets, that both are just American Imperialists who support the PATRIOT Act, blah blah blah.
Meanwhile, in Washington, House Democrats and conservative Republicans had joined forces to try to roll back the library-and-bookstore-snooping provision of the PATRIOT Act.
The (Republican) House leadership kept the vote open about 20 minutes longer than is usual while they bullied 10 Republicans into changing their votes, finally settling on a deadlocked 210-210. The measure required a majority to pass.
So here's my question: What has the performer of that spoken word piece done to push back the PATRIOT Act? How has she engaged at all in the public discourse of America to effect change?
The process, by design, is slow. Problems crop up when the process is made fast. The PATRIOT Act itself is proof of this; it was emergency legislation that was passed in a couple of weeks without anyone reading it and only one senator (Russ Feingold, for the trivia heads out there) opposing it. Now, we progressives must take the initiative to press the slow process of removing onerous laws that restrict our freedom and contaminate our standing as free people.
To throw up your hands and say that everyone is the same and so what does it matter displays a remarkable ignorance about what is being done, and causes one to be unable to see the avenues to create positive change. Progressives cannot afford to be immobile and uninformed. We've got to fight.
If we're engaged, there will be battles we lose along the way, but to not engage gives powerful people the ability to do things to us, instead of with us or for us. If we aren't engaged, we're cows in a field and the other guys have branding irons.
I can't say where that performer stands, but for me, resoundingly: No thanks.
1,000 Coalition Deaths in Iraq
We've crossed a threshold.
880 US
60 UK
60 Other
Friday, July 9, 2004, the numbers equal 1,000. Last week, the numbers of US dead in Iraq and Afghanistan topped 1,000.
Tell the President how you feel.
Tell the Vice President.
Senate Intelligence Panel Scrutinizes. Maybe.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is planning to release a "tough" and "hard hitting" review of the intelligence failures that led to invading Iraq.
Things they won't be considering: did the White House use intelligence appropriately and did it pressure intelligence agencies to slant information?
The report apparently lays the blame squarely at the feet of the CIA.
Is the CIA responsible? Probably in large measure it is, but the reports of Dick Cheney's frequent visits to Langley in the run-up to war lead me to believe that the agency was also being micromanaged from the vice president's office. I think that the CIA knew exactly what its job was, because Dick Cheney told them. That is a failure, and it must be remedied, and that can only really happen in November.
July 8, 2004
No Terror Alert Color Change
Emphasis as the government would like:
Um, so Tom Ridge announced today that they have credible information that AL-QAEDA is planning to attempt a LARGE SCALE ATTACK in the US prior to the elections.
In order to prepare for this attempt at a LARGE SCALE AL-QAEDA ATTACK in the US prior to the elections, Tom Ridge will not be raising the TERROR alert level from its current code of yellow, or ELEVATED. Which I find odd. In the five instances where the TERROR ALERT code was elevated to ORANGE ALERT STATUS, the result was: no ATTACK at all.
Bill Frist noted: "There's, obviously, no reason for PANIC. The country is at some INCREASED RISK between now and the time of the presidential election. It's important for people to be aware of that.''
WaPo:
In a press conference that he billed as an opportunity to [Scare the crap out of the public. Does he own stock in Duct Tape?] remind the public of the continuing TERRORIST THREAT and to outline some of the PROTECTIVE [Republicans will protect you. Republicans will protect you.] measures being undertaken, Ridge said the government does not have any specific information on a plan to ATTACK this summer's presidential nominating conventions. However, he noted that he has declared the conventions to be "NATIONAL SECURITY EVENTS" and said he plans to visit the two sites soon to personally review SECURITY measures.
Oh, had you forgotten that there's a continuing TERRORIST THREAT to America? I hadn't. In fact, ever since that little adventure in Iraq, I've been feeling less SECURE every day. Thanks, George W!
Chambliss' Manhood Proves Problematic
Wow, lots is hitting the fan right now.
1. Saxby Chambliss has prostate cancer. Full recovery expected. There's always Viagra.
2. Tom Ridge is scaring the crap out of the public right this very minute. What? Osama bin Laden Determined to Attack Within the United States? I'm shocked! Shocked!
Are they sure this isn't historical information? More soon.
This, you're gonna love
Okay, check out this post on www.whitehouse.org, a spoof site from the Betty Bowers folks. Funny, funny.
War on Terror a Political Game?
Nah, it couldn't be!
The New Republic Online is reporting that Pakistani intelligence and armed forces have been told to capture or kill HVT's--high value targets--in advance of the November election.
The preferred kill/capture date, as expressed by the government of the United States of America? "Twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July." The first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Then again, Pakistan could be appropriately disruptive of the news cycle by pulling what they pulled in March: claiming to have a high value target cornered and keeping the world on the edge of its seat until after Colin Powell had named Pakistan Supreme and Best Non-NATO Friend and Ally and Sometimes Cuddle-Bunny of the United States, Despite Being a Military Dictatorship.
At which point the entire HVT thing was apparently forgotten.
Funny Political Nicknames
Maureen Dowd, in her NYT column, notes that the White House has taken to referring to John Edwards as the Breck Girl.
Over on Plastic, there was a headline called "Vote Goodhair/Handsome '04".
On a blog yesterday, I saw the Bush/Cheney ticket referred to as the "Lush/Chestpainy" ticket.
All of these make me grin wide. Good morning.
July 6, 2004
Veep Pick Uptick
So, Drudge is reporting that a senior Republican strategist says that Kerry will be up by 15 points by the end of the month.
My question: do they get this info from the same sources who said Iraq was pickling in WMD? The same sources who said US forces would be welcomed as liberators? Maybe the same sources who said that massive, deficit-swelling tax cuts would result in tremendous job growth?
Kerry will likely get a bump, but at this point we can be pretty sure that if a Republican says it, especially one affiliated with BC04, it's likely to be wildly off-target.
Elections Info
So, by now the news is out: Kerry has chosen North Carolina's John Edwards to be his running mate.
Obviously, people who genuinely care about America are called to support this ticket. Edwards will bring a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and his ability to speak to ordinary people is unparalleled. He may even be able to bring in one or two southern states to the Kerry column, which would very likely be enough to tip the whole election if things remain as close as they are now.
For more information, go to any news site.
Also, for Georgians, July 20 is the state democratic primary. In the 4th District, Cynthia McKinney is vying to reclaim the seat she lost to Denise Majette (who is now running for U.S. Senate, and has my unqualified support).
She faces what I think will be a tough primary fight with Cathy Woolard, who also has my unqualified support.
I encourage all my peeps in the 4th district to get out and vote two weeks from today. Also, to do whatever they can to support the candidates they back.
Putting Denise Majette in the US Senate, for instance, would go a long way towards helping to preserve American democracy from the onslaught of freedom-restricting conservatives. Putting Cathy Woolard in the house would give us a highly experienced representative who does not carry the baggage (or the father) that McKinney does.
However, should McKinney (or some other candidate) win the primary, she will have my unqualified support.
Pragmatism, baby.
July 4, 2004
Independence Day
So, it's the fourth of July, which is a pretty pedestrian way of saying Independence Day. I am happy to report that I am all moved, mostly unpacked, and mostly finished with the cleaning and clearing of the old house.
I am writing this entry from home, after seven months of using my workstation at the office to occasionally blog.
On the upside, the world has only gotten stranger in that time, and so the entries you will see in the coming weeks may be current events-related, or may be the result of the weird surfing I am prone to.
Last fall, I was starting to try to build SimianBrain into a bigger and better blog, and I plan to pick that up again where I left off. This stylesheet is one example of that, and it may be revised as my interests warrant.
Thank you to my friends who continue to check out the site, and thank you also to those who stumble here from Google or Plastic. I hope that my droning on and on about the various things that capture my attention will also capture yours.
Happy Independence Day.
July 2, 2004
Catholic Implosion?
It's happening: the Catholic Church is considering heresy charges that have been levied against presumptive Democratic Nominee John Kerry.
A Catholic lawyer has brought the ecclesiastical suit in the Archdiocese of Boston, claiming that Kerry's pro-choice stance brings "harm" to his faith. Canon law entitles Catholics to "possession of the faith unharmed".
I would think that spending the last half century as the world's premier Gentleman's Club for Pedophiles might, in fact, harm the faith and its practitioners more, but I have no knowledge of whether Mr. Balestrieri, the attorney in question, has filed suit against the last four or five popes or any cardinals or even brought charges within the church against the church itself.
If the Archdiocese of Boston agrees to hear the case, Kerry risks being excommunicated.
Here is a lengthy definition of excommunication, and here is an excerpt from the introduction:
Excommunication (Lat. ex, out of, and communio or communicatio, communion -- exclusion from the communion), the principal and severest censure, is a medicinal, spiritual penalty that deprives the guilty Christian of all participation in the common blessings of ecclesiastical society. Being a penalty, it supposes guilt; and being the most serious penalty that the Church can inflict, it naturally supposes a very grave offence. It is also a medicinal rather than a vindictive penalty, being intended, not so much to punish the culprit, as to correct him and bring him back to the path of righteousness. It necessarily, therefore, contemplates the future, either to prevent the recurrence of certain culpable acts that have grievous external consequences, or, more especially, to induce the delinquent to satisfy the obligations incurred by his offence. Its object and its effect are loss of communion, i.e. of the spiritual benefits shared by all the members of Christian society; hence, it can affect only those who by baptism have been admitted to that society. Undoubtedly there can and do exist other penal measures which entail the loss of certain fixed rights; among them are other censures, e.g. suspension for clerics, interdict for clerics and laymen, irregularity ex delicto, etc. Excommunication, however, is clearly distinguished from these penalties in that it is the privation of all rights resulting from the social status of the Christian as such. The excommunicated person, it is true, does not cease to be a Christian, since his baptism can never be effaced; he can, however, be considered as an exile from Christian society and as non-existent, for a time at least, in the sight of ecclesiastical authority. But such exile can have an end (and the Church desires it), as soon as the offender has given suitable satisfaction. Meanwhile, his status before the Church is that of a stranger. He may not participate in public worship nor receive the Body of Christ or any of the sacraments. Moreover, if he be a cleric, he is forbidden to administer a sacred rite or to exercise an act of spiritual authority.
Have any of the pedophiles been excommunicated? Here's a website devoted to the proposition that pro-choice Catholic politicians should be publicly excommunicated.
This is really fascinating, it's rather like watching in the Catholic church what happened to the Southern Baptists in the 80s and 90s, as political conservatives swooped in and stole the church from progressives.
In the long run, by defining faith down as narrowly as possible, the Church risks marginalizing itself. Couldn't happen too soon, in my opinion.
"An odd point of view to say the least."
UNCoRRELATED
Typing loudly from Atlanta, GA, since 2003.
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