You’ve got to read this.
Pam always manages to find the wingnuttiest of the wingnuts hiding in their dark little corners of the virtual world.
It's a Man's Man's Man's Man's World
The Political Food Fight Continues (Literally)
This is, of course, not an endorsement of such antics, but nonetheless, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!
Commentator and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan cut short an appearance after an opponent of his conservative views doused him with salad dressing.The only question I have is, whatever happened to rotten tomatoes?
“Stop the bigotry!" the demonstrator shouted as he hurled the liquid Thursday night during the program at Western Michigan University. The incident came just two days after another noted conservative, William Kristol, was struck by a pie during an appearance at a college in Indiana.
After he was hit, Buchanan cut short his question-and-answer session with the audience, saying, "Thank you all for coming, but I'm going to have to get my hair washed."
[…]
Kristol, editor of the influential conservative magazine The Weekly Standard and former chief of staff to Vice President Quayle, was splattered by a student during a speech Tuesday at Earlham College in Richmond, Ind.
Members of the audience at the Quaker college jeered the student, then applauded as Kristol wiped the pie from his face and said, "Just let me finish this point." Kristol then completed his speech and took questions from the audience.
[Apologies for the wanton slap-happiness today.]
Yeah, Yeah, I Know; I’m Going to Hell
Pope Is Ready to Die
Well, whaddaya know? The Pope and I actually agree on something. I’m ready for him to die, too.
Is it too much to hope that with the religious right's holy woman-child icon Terri Schiavo having died, and Falwell and Popesy looking ready to keel at any moment, that this is finally evidence that there is no God, or that if there is, he's not taking calls from the wingnuts anymore?
Meanwhile, Pam reports that Rotting CryptkeeperTM Fred Phelps is already planning to picket Jerry Falwell’s funeral. I guess no matter how hard he tried, Falwell just couldn’t hate fags as much as Phelps does.
Is It Just Me...
...or do you get the feeling that Big Brother is watching you over at Big Brass Blog today?
Friday Limerick
Santorum, Bush, Rove, and DeLay
Endeavor to have their own way,
To rule the whole land
With vile sleight of hand
And make every day a Fools Day.
Friday Blogrollin’
I’m doing something new this week. I’m dividing blogrolling into two categories—those blogs that may be familiar names already, and those whose blogs are perhaps not part of your daily travels, who have caught my eye for one reason or another and I want to recommend. I’d also like to say, once again, that sometimes it takes me awhile to get blogs I like on the blogroll, and sometimes I just plain old forget. (A brain like a steel sieve, mine.) So it never hurts to email me if you’ve got something you think I would like.
The Big Guns:
Billmon’s Whiskey Bar
Liberal Oasis
Norbizness
Sadly, No!
Think Progress
War and Piece (Laura Rozen)
Deserving of Wider Recognition:
The Adventures of the Smart Patrol
Lab Kat
True Blue Liberal
[UPDATE: Fixed to give Lab Kat the right link. Sorry, Kat!]
The War Has Begun in Earnest
As I mentioned earlier, I intended to write more about the article in which Teddy Kennedy swiftly and adeptly rebuked Tom DeLay’s outrageous statement that was issued shortly after Terri Schiavo died. I want to start by clarifying exactly what the GOP’s agenda regarding the judiciary is:
Republicans, many of whom led the charge to focus federal attention on Terri Schiavo, are vowing to hold the judiciary system responsible for rulings in the case that some believe were tantamount to murder.A declaration of war against the judiciary. That is indeed an apt assessment. Leading the charge are, unsurprisingly, Tom DeLay and Rick Santorum.
[…]
While Democrats on Thursday lamented Congress' intervention in the ordeal, some Republicans vowed to cure what they considered to be a moral injustice.
"This is almost a declaration of war from conservatives against the judiciary," said Washington Times reporter Bill Sammon.
DeLay:
Speaking with reporters later in Houston, DeLay said lawmakers "will look at an arrogant and out of control judiciary that thumbs its nose at Congress and the president."Can someone please sign Tom DeLay up for a remedial social studies course, so he can learn that the judiciary isn’t meant to bow to the will of Congress and the president?
Santorum:
"As you look at the judges who are activists in the manner I've suggested, those judges are not conservative, but liberal and not [following] the law," said Santorum, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference. "To suggest this was unimportant is a judicial creation ... not how the law is intended to be interpreted. President Bush is putting forward judges who don't do that."That the judges ruling in the Schiavo case were liberal activists is, of course, an outright lie. That a US Senator has no compunction about advancing such a demonstrable falsehood in furtherance of his party’s agenda is not only indicative of their dependence on Americans’ ignorance and apathy, but also borders on quite a remarkable pathology, the contemplation of which makes my brain hurt.
In a later conference call with reporters, Santorum said the courts had practiced nothing less than "judicial tyranny" in this case and took aim at those who say Congress overstepped its bounds.I’m not sure if the press realizes it, either, not to mention the American people, although I’m concerned for entirely different reasons than Santorum.
"[This is] routinely done by the courts — deciding they are now a super-legislature," Santorum said. "I'm not sure if the press realizes how serious this conflict is between the branches of government and how gravely concerned members of Congress are with [the] kinds of judicial tyranny we've seen."
Social progression in America has always worked like the stock market—you’ve got ups and downs, but the net is always upward over a long period of time. If the GOP has their way, eliminating the filibuster, stacking the courts with conservative ideologues, and rendering the judiciary impotent, we’re looking at the social equivalent of a major market crash.
Historically, we have depended on the judiciary to make decisions about the application of Constitutional guarantees in spite of popular opinion, and many times, they have secured protections for marginalized groups literally decades before the legislature, which more closely tracks public opinion, would have enacted legislation affording the same protections. Recently, I quoted a statistic provided by John Rogers of Kung Fu Monkey that epitomizes that of which I write:
... when the Supreme Court struck down the bans against interracial marriage in 1968 through Virginia vs. Loving, SEVENTY-TWO PERCENT of Americans were against interracial marriage. As a matter of fact, approval of interracial marriage in the US didn't cross the positive threshold until – sweet God – 1991.Clearly, waiting for the whole of society to be on board with granting equal rights to everyone is not always in our collective best interest. The judiciary is ostensibly blind to the prejudices which would otherwise stem the natural flow of progressive social movements, which is what makes them so very, very important.
We take their essential role in the promotion of equality for granted. The conservatives, on the other hand, have (correctly) identified the judiciary as the last obstacle against free reign to realize their radical agenda, from criminalizing abortion, to codifying discrimination against gays and lesbians into the Constitution, to eradicating protections for individuals against corporate malfeasance. Hence, the war against the judiciary with which we are now confronted.
I’ve never been an alarmist, or I wasn’t, before the Bushies pitched their terrifying tent at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. But this is fucking alarming. If the GOP is successful in this wicked undertaking, we will officially be living in a dictatorship, with little more than kangaroo courts stripped of all power—the last shreds of our system of checks and balances completely decimated. If the courts are in their pocket, forget fair elections. Wave goodbye to equal rights. Bid adieu to the middle class. If they conquer the judiciary, nothing stands between them and ultimate and unlimited control. Don’t expect the feckless, ineffective mess that is the Democratic Party or the fading remnants of an objective media to save us. If the judiciary is effectively subverted, it’s over.
They have been laying the groundwork for this day for thirty years or more, but the war has now begun in earnest. Make no mistake—fighting the losing battle over Terri Schiavo was a strategic move to launch this attack, and the blatant lie associating the judges involved in the case (who had the support of the American people) with the judges who rule against bans on gay marriage (who don’t), by lumping them together under the banner of “activist judges,” is the next step in convincing the electorate that the judiciary is out of control and must be stopped.
There is a part of this government that is out of control and must be stopped, but it isn’t the judiciary. And we must fight tooth and nail to stop them from sabotaging that which stands between the America we know and the America of their diabolical dreams. If you think that’s a fine little bit of dismissible hyperbole, then you tell me: if the judiciary is removed from the equation, what is left to stop them?
They’ve signaled their intentions, and I’m signaling mine. I will keep this issue front and center, and I request that anyone with her or his own blog do the same. Talk to people; inform them. Write to your Democratic Senators and Representatives and let them hear your concerns. And get fucking angry.
Too many of us speak in calm and measured tones when there’s so much at stake. You won’t find that here. I’m not sure why there aren’t more liberal bloggers who aren’t ready to storm the capitol, but I will not respond to a declaration of war against the future of my country with plaintive posts or serene epistles. This blogger, this American, is as mad as hell, and she’s not going to take it anymore.
[On a related note, fearing that we face a whole new level of bullshit about which we will, and should, be visibly angry, and preparing myself thusly, comments and emails composed specifically to tell me to stop using bad language or to start being less aggressive, less hostile, less antagonistic, less bitchy, less arrogant, less belligerent, less vitriolic, less nasty, less acerbic, or less of a poopyhead, are as welcome as any other, but I feel obligated to inform all potential authors of such missives that they are, however, a waste of time.
If I get my facts wrong, let me know. If you don’t like my tone, tough. At this bus stop in the blogosphere, I’m Queen Cunt of Fuck Mountain, and I’m mean for a reason. Once we get our country back on the right track, there will plenty of time for nursery rhymes.]
WaPo Takes the Lead in the Race to the Bottom
I think we've now gained pretty key insight into the psychosis that has gripped the Washington Post editorial board. Apparently it is their belief that one should not criticize leaders for doing so could undermine them.Wow is right.
Wow.
The editorial focuses on criticisms of Wolfowitz’s nomination as president of the World Bank, and reads, in part:
People who care about this institution and its mission -- as many of Mr. Wolfowitz's detractors do -- should think carefully before they damage it by attacking its new boss. Criticism of Mr. Wolfowitz's agenda for the bank may be healthy once that agenda emerges. But preemptive condemnation because of the Iraq war is not.Complete disregard for the fact that most of those who have raised concerns over his appointment have done so not because of his role as an architect of the Iraq war, but because he has negligible qualifications—and that this nomination appears to be yet another example of a Bush loyalist being promoted into a position sans appropriate credentials as a reward for ideological fidelity, rather than out of any interest in selecting the best man or woman for the job. Instead, the WaPo editors attack the straw man of a blindly hateful liberal, who cannot dissociate Wolfowitz’s financial résumé from his foreign policy positions, in order to silence criticism.
Unconscionable.
Notes from the Management
I’ve gotten a couple of complaints about the hover over links on the blog, so I’ve changed it. No more jumping in size. It never bothered me, unless the link was at the end of a line, and I realize that this might happen more often for people with different screen resolutions, so I just made a quick edit. Hopes this works better for people who were having problems with it.
I’ve also changed it so that if you click on the Bard, it will take you back to the home page. I always found the little “home” link at the end of post pages annoying. They’re still there, for those who have grown accustomed to them, but now you can also use the Bard to help navigate you home again.
Thank you.
We now return to our regularly scheduled ranting.
I Heart Ted Kennedy
In response to Tom DeLay’s unbelievable statement earlier today, the grand old senior senator from Massachusetts had this to say:
Mr. DeLay's comments today were irresponsible and reprehensible. I'm not sure what Mr. DeLay meant when he said 'the time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior.' But at a time when emotions are running high, Mr. DeLay needs to make clear that he is not advocating violence against anyone ... it is time for mourning and healing not for more inflammatory rhetoric, and responsible national leaders should understand that and stop this exploitation.Right on, Teddy! Right on.
That's the fighting spirit we need more of—that willingness to call a spade a fucking spade and draw a firm line in the sand. We can't allow this kind of radical bullshit, or the pissants who spout it, an inch, a millimeter, of latitude.
I pulled the quote, by the way, from a story Mr. Shakes forwarded to me, which I highly recommend—the Right is, as predicted, going to use the Schiavo fiasco as a springboard to castrate the judiciary. The war is really just beginning.
More on this topic later, as time allows. In the meantime, strap yourselves in, Shakers. It’s going to be a bumpy ride for the foreseeable future.
Let the Delurkization Begin!
Via The Heretik (care of Rox), we find out that this week is, apparently, International Blog Comment Week. So if you’ve been lurking around silently, now’s as good a time as any to declare yourself a Shaker (or a ShakeHater) with a comment.
Disgusting
Joe at AMERICAblog notes:
At 11:30 a.m., CNN had Bush on live making a statement on the death of Terri Schiavo. Okay, took him five days to mention the 10 people killed in the Minnesota shooting last week. But, he uses the first opportunity to jump in front of cameras to talk about Schiavo. Never mentions any individual member of the military killed in action, but, boy, he has to mourn Terri by name publicly.If it weren’t for the security concerns, he’d probably attend her funeral, too.
Meanwhile, Think Progress shares Tom DeLay’s statement:
Mrs. Schiavo’s death is a moral poverty and a legal tragedy. This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people who need protection most, and that will change. The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today. Today we grieve, we pray, and we hope to God this fate never befalls another. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Schindlers and with Terri Schiavo’s friends in this time of deep sorrow.Did you catch that? Tom DeLay just threatened Michael Schiavo and the judges involved in this case. If pressed, he’d no doubt claim he was couching it in terms of their having to answer to God, because just like his president, he’s good at doublespeak. Nonetheless, it was clearly a thinly veiled incitement to those who have dedicated the most recent shard of their fractured lives to the cause he championed—not saving Terri’s life, but turning her into an icon, the holy woman-child of the culture of life movement. Your work isn’t done, Father DeLay assures them. There are those who need to pay, and it’s up to you to collect the fee.
Question of the Day
I would imagine the vast majority of passers-by this little space of mine tend to be pretty passionate about politics, and today I want to hear some stories about the origins of those passions. When did your infatuation begin? Were you inspired by a person? A book? A film? Did you used to be in a different party and now find yourself on the other side of aisle? Did you study politics? Are you a news junkie? Do you, like me, have childhood memories of struggling to understand politics, feeling the draw, the importance, of the political realm, long before you even knew what a Democrat or a Republican was?
What has stirred in you that fervor for politics that’s brought you to my virtual doorstep?
[UPDATE: I'm moving this back up to the top, because there are lots of very interesting comments to read, and I'm hoping to encourage additional contributions, too.]
Question of the Day (Morbid Relief Edition)
Now that the troubling, protracted battle over her life, which, by the end, involved everyone from the hospice orderlies to the president, is finally over, who should Terri haunt first?
(As suggested by True Blue Liberal in comments.)
R.I.P. Terri Schiavo
Link:
Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman at the heart of a bitter right-to-die dispute that drew in the U.S. Congress and President Bush, died on Thursday, 13 days after a court halted her tube feeding, a spokesman for her parents said.
Headline of the Day
If I want to be preached at, I'll go to church. If I'm in a pharmacy, what I want is my prescription filled.Ha!
Drum Roll
You’ve heard me say it before, and now I’ll say it once more: Kevin Drum’s at it again.
Except this time, I’m not complaining. Since I last uttered (as it were) those fated words, Kevin has introduced great female guest bloggers at Washington Monthly, and yesterday, he wrote a piece on Sex and Gender that shows he really appears to be taking the issue seriously.
Rox has an interesting critique here, which I recommend as follow-up reading, as it does address a couple of little problems with the post, into none of which I’m going to delve, because that’s not really the point of this post.
The point is this: Kevin, to his credit, did not take my criticisms personally, and treated them, at least in correspondence with me, as the fair critique of an important issue they were intended to be. Never did he accuse me of fishing for links; never did he accuse me of attempting to tell him what to do with his blog. And if his follow-up endeavors are an accurate representation of his attitude toward my (and others’) having raised concerns about gender-related politics being treated as secondary issues, he has regarded raising those concerns as a political disagreement worthy of response.
The truth is, often when things like this happen, the lesser known blogger is inevitably automatically accused of trying to attain some sort of notoriety, of wanting nothing more than a link, traffic, attention of one sort or another. And I weathered the backlash of those who indicted me with being little more than a self-interested opportunist after my last post addressing a post of Kevin’s. I realize there are a lot of people who’ve had enough of the blogosphere navel-gazing, but I believe it’s important to acknowledge the treatment of this issue by Kevin himself, which was to regard is as a legitimate argument, thereby creating a productive discussion. Sure, there are going to be times when lesser known bloggers fish for links, or believe they are pursuing a legitimate issue with a larger blogger when it’s simply not the case, but there are also going to be times when lesser known bloggers raise a pertinent issue that really does need addressing. My intention was to effect change by shifting the nature of the debate about women bloggers and gender politics (which was an existing issue long before I was around), and Kevin’s willingness to take it at face value, instead of throwing up a barricade of self-protection behind accusations of ulterior motives, is commendable.
It is unlikely that anything written here would ever warrant his criticism, by nature of the size of this blog as opposed to its content, but should such a situation ever present itself, I shall endeavor to return the favor.
[UPDATE: Pam’s got a great follow-up post on this, too.]
Of Course They Do
On her plane to Afghanistan, where Laura Bush is going to do outreach to inner city youth, or something, she told reporters that she and the president both have living wills.
"The president and I have living wills and of course our parents do and they wanted us always to be aware of it. I think that is important for families to have opportunities to talk about these issues," she said.Huh. So it’s important for families to talk about these issues, is it? But isn’t that what Michael Schiavo’s been asserting lo these long 15 years? That Terri had talked to her husband about her wishes? Oh, but see, Mrs. Bush is careful to note that they have also discussed the issue with her parents and the president’s parents. Everybody knows everyone else’s wishes in the Bush fam. Because only by distorting the definition of family to necessarily include parents as possible decision-makers, and thereby undermining the Schiavo’s marriage, Terri’s family by design, was Mrs. Bush able to wrap up with the following:
"I just feel like the federal government has to be involved. It is a life issue that really does require government to be involved," she said.Right.
As for all you folks who are dying because you’ve got no healthcare to cover the expensive medical treatments required to save your life, and as for you dirty Injuns in Minnesota, and as for you Africans dying from AIDS, genocide, or hunger, and as for you soldiers sent under false pretenses to a war which will forever alter your every sense of what life should be, and as for you family members of Nicola Calipari, and as for you Iraqi civilians who have lost loved ones—also civilians—to our thrilling shock and awe, and as for you proven-innocent-in-the-end victims of our torture tactics, and everyone else whose lives seem just not quite as important as Terri Schiavo, your life issues apparently don’t require the government to be involved. Sorry about that. Better luck next time.
