Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) indicted. Now let’s see a competent prosecution and be done with it.
Skeptical Brotha has something for us.
Category: Politics Page 63 of 73
“Poll Shows Opposition to Iraq War at All Time High” – that’s the headline at NYTimes.com, at the moment. And yet we have the Democratic leadership caving to the White House on the matter of withdrawal deadlines. I know that it takes a while to get over being the minority party, but it’s about @)(@!@! time the Democrats shake it off and start delivering. And I don’t want to hear a goddamn thing about being afraid that anyone will look like they’re not “supporting the troops.”
No one with two brain cells to rub together can make a cogent argument for the proposition that setting a hard withdrawal date is somehow failing to “support the troops.” Sure, you can say that it’s failing to support the President, the fantasies of PNAC, or the bloodlust of the remaining sliver of the population that supports President Bush. But it is NOT failing to “support the troops” (if you need examples of failing to support the troops, take a look at the Bush budget position on military pay or veterans benefits). The Democratic leadership needs to start acting as if they understand this reality, and if they don’t, they’ll get absolutely no sympathy (or contributions or support) from me when they start paying a political price for it.
we can raise up and wage a war on radical stupidity. Looking more and more like that’s something America needs.
Every time I hear Fleetwood Mac’s Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow, I’m whipped back to 1992 and the thrill of getting a President that cared about my America. I’m not a big Fleetwood Mac fan (more a Stevie Nicks boy), and even though Bill Clinton might have been the biggest political disappointment of my life (thus far), hearing that song always pulls at something idealistic deep in me. So, from that, I’ve decided that campaign themes can be important.
And now it seems that Hillary Clinton, like every other decision she makes, is testing the waters to see what the public wants for a campaign theme. Go ahead, vote. These are my thoughts on the choices:
- City of Blinding Lights – U2. Just a bad choice. I think campaign songs need to be an anthem, for the most part. This is not something that moves people.
- Suddenly I See – KT Tunstall. OMFG. LOL. Did someone really suggest the theme for the Devil Wears Prada as a campaign song? Fire him/her. Right now. (The Blacknell.net headquarters peanut gallery announced that they’ll vote for this song (sample lyrics: “you can see she’s a beautiful girl, she’s a beautiful girl”) the moment the Republican nominee starts using the John Denver song (sample lyrics: “thank god I’m a country boy.”)
- I’m a Believer – Smash Mouth. Eh. It’s serviceable. But why not the Monkees version?
- Get Ready – The Temptations. Not the best of the catalogue. Not the worst. Much like the candidate, I suppose.
- Ready to Run – Dixie Chicks. If you’re going to pick a Dixie Chicks song, pick Not Ready to Make Nice. Otherwise, drop it.
- Rock This Country! – Shania Twain. Okay, the music and lyrics seem a decent choice. But really, does Shania Twain *really* say Hillary Clinton to you? No. Unless it’s “That Don’t Impress Me Much.”
- Beautiful Day – U2. I have to abstain from voting on this one. This song, for me, is indelibly associated with walking through Lafayette Park (in front of the White House ) the morning of 9/11/01. For me, there are absolutely no good associations with this song.
- Right Here, Right Now – Jesus Jones. They called. It wants to know why those 1970s washups Fleetwood Mac got your husband’s theme, instead of these 1991 stars.
- I’ll Take You There – The Staple Singers. Love this song. But it is so overplayed. Next.
So, that’s my take. Go vote.
Update: The Lede (at the NYTimes) offers up an alternate:
“Ain’t No Hollaback Girl†found here though a showdown at the bleachers is a pretty apt fight song —
“Both of us want to be the winner, but there can only be one
So I’m gonna fight, gonna give it my all
Gonna make you fall, gonna sock it to you
That’s right I’m the last one standing, another one bites the dust.â€
I can’t really find any serious alternatives. I keep thinking – Cake’s “Short skirt, long jacket” or Tatu’s “All the Things She Said” (sample lyrics: “All the things she said, running through my head . . . this is not enough!”).
His own words, courtesy of Voices of American Sexuality:
- “AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals; it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexualsâ€
- It appears that America’s anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men’s movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening.”
- “If you’re not a born-again Christian, you’re a failure as a human being.”
- After the September 11 attacks Falwell said, “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.”
- “Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questionsâ€
- “[Homosexuals are] brute beasts…part of a vile and satanic system [that] will be utterly annihilated, and there will be a celebration in heaven.”
Despite my infrequent posting on the matter, the subject of Turkey‘s possible place in the European Union has been a subject of much fascination for me.  Putting aside my qualms about EU overexpansion, I think the dance between Turkey and the EU powers can yield lessons for the much bigger global dance that we’re all involved in (like it or not). This Slate column does a decent job of touching on some of those issues. Check it out.
The DC Voting Rights Act will come up for a floor vote on Thursday, and it needs the support of your Representative:
The bill was pulled from the House Floor last month after three legislators tried to attach a provision that would strip DC of its strict gun laws.
[ . . . ]
The DC Voting Rights Act, sponsored by Representative Tom Davis (R-VA) and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), balances a vote for the traditionally Democratic District of Columbia with a vote for Republican-leaning Utah. It would raise the number of members in the House of Representatives from 435 to 437.
The bill received wide bipartisan support in committee, and represents a real chance at ending the shameful situation forced upon DC residents. This bill is real and and it’s constitutional. Please don’t let this fail.
More here, if you can stand it.
There’s so much good and insight in Baratunde Thurston’s rather amusing post about not being amusing that you’ll have to read it yourself. And if you’re in DC, he’s at HR-57 on Saturday night, as part of the 4 Shades of Black show at the DC Comedy Festival. Â Check him out.
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But speaking of funny, the Arlington Republican Women’s Club is sponsoring a seminar next Thursday called “So, you want to be married?” 7 p.m. at Hunan Number One, $23. Laughing right here, free.
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I’ve got very little to say about Imus, beyond the fact that I’ve never really understood his appeal. I don’t at all believe any of the spin that his firing is due to any genuine interest in decency by MSNBC, CBS, or any of the advertisers.  As Media Matters well illustrates, it’s not just Imus.
The big right-wing broadcast names – Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, etc. – don’t just poke fun at Chelsea Clinton and crazy enviros anymore – they’re downright hateful (and consistently go far beyond what Imus just said). Here’s a few from the Media Matters list:
On the February 1 edition of his radio show, [Rush] Limbaugh responded to a Reuters report on a University of Chicago study that found that “a majority of young blacks feel alienated form today’s government” by asserting: “Why would that be? The government’s been taking care of them their whole lives.”
[ . . . ]
On the September 9, 2005, edition of his radio show, [CNN host Glenn] Beck referred to survivors of Hurricane Katrina who remained in New Orleans as “scumbags.” Also, after acknowledging that nobody “in their right mind is going to say this out loud,” Beck attacked victims of the disaster and the families of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, saying: “I didn’t think I could hate victims faster than the 9-11 victims.”
[ . . . ]
On the March 31, 2006, broadcast of his radio program, [widely syndicated radio host Neal] Boortz said that then-Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) “looks like a ghetto slut.” Boortz was commenting on a March 29 incident in which McKinney allegedly struck a police officer at a Capitol Hill security checkpoint. Boortz said that McKinney’s “new hair-do” makes her look “like a ghetto slut,” like “an explosion at a Brillo pad factory,” like “Tina Turner peeing on an electric fence,” and like “a shih tzu.”
[ . . . ]
While discussing the rape and murder of 18-year-old Jennifer Moore during the August 2, 2006, edition of his radio show, [Bill] O’Reilly appeared to suggest that the clothing she was wearing at the time helped incite her killer. O’Reilly discussed several factors that contributed to the “moronic” girl’s rape and murder, including that she was drunk and wandering the streets of New York City alone late at night. But in addition to those factors, O’Reilly added: “She was 5-foot-2, 105 pounds, wearing a miniskirt and a halter top with a bare midriff. Now, again, there you go. So every predator in the world is gonna pick that up at 2 in the morning.”
It just goes on and on and on. Bonus creep factor material:
On the February 28 edition of CNN Headline News’ Glenn Beck, while discussing racy photos of American Idol contestant Antonella Barba, Beck asked his female guest: “I’ve got some time and a camera. Why don’t you stop by?”
You’ve really got to see the video of that one to get the full slime effect.  But all of these guys – the biggest names in the business – spew this crap every day, and all the networks and advertisers that pretend to take issue with Imus continue to advertise with them.
And I’m stealing this Tim Grieve post, pretty much wholesale:
The problem with [the White House’s claim that preservation of staff email is a “grey area”]: The Presidential Records Act specifically acknowledges the existence of communications that are part official and part political — and it requires that they be preserved.
From 44 U.S.C. Section 2201: “The term ‘presidential records’ means documentary materials … created or received by the president, his immediate staff, or a unit or individual of the Executive Office of the President whose function is to advise and assist the president, in the course of conducting activities which relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the president. Such term … includes any documentary materials relating to the political activities of the president or members of his staff, but only if such activities relate to or have a direct effect upon the carrying out of constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the president.”
And from 44 U.S.C. Section 2202: “The United States shall reserve and retain complete ownership, possession, and control of presidential records; and such records shall be administered in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.”
The not-so-hard-to-understand import of it all: Even if an e-mail message involves “the political activities of the president or members of his staff,” it belongs to the United States — and therefore must be preserved — so long as it relates to the official duties of the president.
As I’ve noted elsewhere, the White House’s actions not only violate the law, but they make a mockery of the the efforts that thousands and thousands of civil servants and members of the military go through – every day – to make sure the their communications comply with the law.
(And I see that Sen. Leahy must have read my post the other day – he calls a liar a liar.)