Cracking the Thin Veneer

The McCain campaign is veering into dangerous waters with the personal attacks on Obama for his association with Bill Ayers, his 'otherness' which the crowd takes to mean that he's a terrorist, and his support for abortion rights, which the rightwing interprets to mean he's a baby killer. I would not say that these waters are uncharted however, because this country has a long, shameful history of murders and other criminal actions encited by mob hatred and violence.

When I moved to Seattle back in 1981, one of the books that I read that summer was "USA" by John Dos Passos. It is a quintessentially American book that tells a number of stories about America during the early part of the 20th century. The one that made the greatest impression on me was the Wobblie uprising in Centralia, Washington, around the time of the first World War. (Did you know that they don't teach this as part of Washington history to our students? That shows what power it still has they they try to bury it even now) It's a vividly brutal portrait of what can happen when mob violence is unleashed. And at the end of the uprising, there were mainly IWW members who were dead with one fellow who was castrated before he was hung by the enraged mob of anti worker businesspeople of Centralia, and his body riddled by bullets. Add to that the lynch mob violence in the south that occurred during the same period, where both black men and at least one Jew: Leo
Frank, were the victims here. You begin to see the history that is embedded in our country and the power it continues to exert over some members of our society.

These days, this kind of violence is more likely carried out by a small group of people or one or two such as Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing, but they still draw inspiration from and are energized by far right wing ravings similar to those that the McCain campaign coyly hints at these days. The abortion clinic bombers and those that killed doctors who perform abortions, spring to mind as well.

For those of us living in Seattle in 1985, Christmas at that time is a somber memory. That was the year we woke up on Christmas morning to the murder of the Goldmark family by a man who was also unhinged by the right wing, who thought the Goldmarks were Jews. Here is the wikipedia article on it:

David Lewis Rice

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


David Lewis Rice (born 1958) is a follower of the Christian Identity movement who, on Christmas Eve 1985, forced his way into the Seattle home of civil rights attorney Charles Goldmark with a toy pistol and stabbed Goldmark, his wife, and two children to death. Rice, a member of the Duck Club, a right wing extremist organization, erroneously believed the family was Jewish and Communist, and saw the crime as
part of a broader religious war between American Christianity and Soviet atheism. Goldmark and his family had been active in progressive politics in Washington for years, and his parents had won a highly publicized libel suit in 1964 as part of an effort to refute accusations of past membership in the Communist Party. When confessing to the crimes, Rice called Goldmark the "top Jew" and "top Communist" in the state.

Rice was convicted in 1986 of aggravated murder for the four deaths and was sentenced to death, but the conviction was later overturned on the grounds of an incompetent defense. A sticking point of Rice's case throughout the trial process was the psychotic symptoms that he sometimes displayed, and his attorney's lack of emphasis on them. In 1998, he finally pleaded guilty to the crimes in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. He remains in prison serving out a life sentence.

Charles Goldmark was a highly respected attorney in Seattle, where I practice law to this day. These murders were particularly brutal given the time they occurred and the way in which they were done, which I still cannot bring myself to write about. And it was a right wing organization, similar to the ones that are currently ripping ACORN and Bill Ayers,that gave rise to these heinous killings.

I am also reminded of the abortion clinic bombings and murder of doctors who perform abortions that have been inspired by right wing rhetoric that is again making the rounds in the circles of those supporting McCain.

There was a highly regarded political science professor at my college, Dr. G. Theodore Mitau, who was a Holocaust survivor. His main point, when teaching his classes was that civilization is such a thin veneer that surrounds our society, that it can break with the slightest amount of pressure. McCain is truly playing with forces that can break this thin veneer of civilization, forces that he cannot control once they are set in motion. And if our veneer breaks, I am sure that he and his running mate will loudly and longly disclaim responsibility. We cannot let this happen. We must speak out and counter the voices of the mob that would break our civilization.

My maternal grandfather

My grandfather on my mother's side was named Claude Frederick Von Holst, although the family dropped the "von" from the name when they came to the New Country from northern Germany in the late 1800's.

My grandfather was a doctor in Little Falls, MN. He practiced with his brother, Bertram. They had the clinic there and the soon to be famous flyer, Charles Lindbergh, was a friend of theirs. Mr. Lindbergh used to buzz the clinic and wiggle his wings, when they would run out to see the commotion. My grandfather was quite a few years older than my grandmother, Regina Werner, who grew up in Milwaukee, WI and graduated first in her class from the nursing school at Marquette. She came to Little Falls in the early 1900's and lied about her age to get her first job. She opened two nursing schools, one of which was in Little Falls where Claude Frederick was located and eventually time, neighborliness and familiarity created the right factors for a proposal, even overcoming the fact that my grandfather was Protestant and my grandmother was Roman Catholic. The setting was a huge train crash north of Little Falls, where Regina went to tend to the wounded. Claude proposed and wanted to take her away, but the sisters at the hospital where she had set up the nursing school intervened and said, "Please don't go now in the midst of this crisis. If you wait til it's over, we will give you a lovely wedding breakfast." Which they did, after Regina agreed to postpone the nuptials.

My grandfather Holst died several months after my birth in late 1952, so I never got to know him. But I do know that he was a hell of bridge player and he darned his own socks.

Another Kentucky story

Back in 1978, another KY Assistant Attorney General, Sarah W, and I were detailed to a county in Central/Eastern Ky to clean up the docket. The Prosecuting Attorney had been killed in a car accident over the July 4 weekend and things had backed up and the Circuit Judge, Billy Lewis, was riding through. We did mostly misdemeanors in the gymnasium of the local school as the court house was under construction. The cases were tried one after another, and we had a number of spectators watching, sitting on folding chairs and fanning themselves against the heat. No air conditioning, no fans, no jury box, no dais for the judge to sit on, just metal desks and folding chairs for us as well. Sarah was a vegetarian but the only restaurants in the town (there were 3) were deep fry this and deep fry that, so she also suffered from diet restrictions.

In the morning of the second day of trial week, Sarah had a case (with me sitting second chair) that involved a charge of selling a small quantity of marijuana. The complaining witness testified that he met the D on a bridge in the community and purchase a nickel bag of dope from the D. The D, who was representing himself cross examined the complaining witness thusly:

D: Isn't it true that you 'n me have had bad blood b'tween us?

W: W'al ah don't rightly know 'bout that

D: Isn't it true that you tried to set mah porch on fahr?

W: Ah don't recall that.

D: What time o' day did you an' me meet?

W: Ah dunno.

D: "N whut color of'car wuz ah driving when ah sold you that marijuana?

W: IAh don' rahtly r'member

D: How much did that nickel bag cost you?

W: A nickel.

So, the jury came back quickly with a 'not guilty' verdict. Sitting in the audience was a guy named Odell who came up two or three trials later. Odell was charged with assaulting his mother. She testified that lately she'd been taking to see another man, since Odell's daddy was out of the picture and that this man had been so good to her--took her all the way to Fort Wayne--which was the furthest she'd ever been from home. Well, Odell didn't like this and one day he drove to her house, jumped up the steps and burst into her house, grabbed her by the arm so hard it left bruises and said that there would be no one takin' the place of his daddy. She had to call the police to get him out of her house.

Odell was representing himself too, and here were his first questions after I had finished my direct of his Momma:

D: Momma whut time o' day wuz it when ah drove to yer house?

W: [I don't recall what she said]

D: And Momma, what color o car wuz ah drivin when ah drove to your house?

W: !

At this point the members of the jury were laughing, and the judge motions me up and tells me that he thinks I should amendthe assault to driving without a license, as he knew that Odell did not have a driver's license. So, I do as he suggests, amend the charge and the judge directs the jury that they have to find Odell guilty of that. They jury is not happy--I think I heard a few groans but they troop off to the jury room and are back quick as a minute with the guilty verdict--and a $2 fine!

Judge Lewis later writes a letter of recommendation for the job Sarah and I did that week. I think it's still in my KY box of memorabilia. But I heard that the Judge was later taken off the bench for some sort of offense. Seemed to have to do with money, but it's been now, 20 years ago.

Kentucky Geography

When I was in law school, one night my friends and I were gathered around a few brews with a little time on our hands and a very detailed map of Kentucky in front of us on the table. We went through the map and wrote down the most colorful town names that we could find. They are an indication of the perverse sense of humor that dogs many who reside in the Bluegrass state and it's time to commit their names to posterity:

Susie
Head of Grassy
Mavity
Monkey Paw
Mazie
Job
Add
Beauty
Lovely
Mouthcard
Eolia
Idamay
Dingus
Relief
Moon
Pomp
Ordinary
Ibex
Dewdrop
Guage
Fredville
Decoy
Rowdy
Beaver
Bypro
Iris
Kite
Bath
Neon
Hellier
Meta
Irma
Burna (the writing is unclear on this --musta been after another cool one)
Phil
Dizney
Knob
Ages
Plank
Panco
Confluence
Molus
Erose
Strunk
Honeybee
Knob Lick
Meshack
Eighty Eight
Flippin
Halfway
Teddy
Argyle
Wabd
Neriny
Waddy
Big Bone
Lamb
Mud Lick
Humble
Bow
Savage
Exodus
Settle
Dimple
Quality
Nebo
Depoy
Peonia
Snap
Love
Petros
Gasper
Mattoon
Fairdealing
Hatchet
Knifely
Maud
Bobtown
Bug
Guffie
Cerulean
Buffalo
Gracey
Penrod
Gus
Goodluck
Shade
Subtle
Marrowbone
Kettle
Arabia
Acorn
Ruth
Eli
Goforth
Dwarf
Noble
Hardshell
Blaze
Drift
Turkey
Vest
Clemp
Ulvah
Canoe
Ogle
Cottongin
Antepast
Premium
Lowmansville
Mud Camp
Breeding
Mise
Index
Mary
Flat
Means
Plum
Judy
Globe
Leon
Flatgap
Martha
Wilbur
Wolf Coal
Altro
Bonnyman
Yeaddiss
Viper
Daisy
Farler
Sandgap
Cloverbottom
Kerby Knob
Grade
Dykes
Exie
Meel
Weed
Goodnight
Arch
Dot
Game
Bushong

These were obviously done at random, rather than alphabetically or geographically. Do any of you have any other marvelous Kentucky town names?

A Divorce Story

This happened 12 years ago and it was not my marriage.

No, my marriage went on the rocks ten years ago thanks to a spouse with a wandering eye and a newly inflated ego. But that's a story for another day, preferably when that person quits running for public office. I need to put this other divorce story into a more permanent format, because as time goes by, memories and details dim, and it is the details that give this particular story a pungent flavor.

This other divorce story has to do with a close friend (we will call him "Tom") who went to law school with me at the University of Kentucky. He was a first year student when I was a third year and we first met when I was looking for timers for moot court arguments, and he happened to fall in my gunsights. 3d years can really be persuasive with first years. Then post law school I dated a good friend of his and so our friendship deepened. I went off to Europe two years later to obtain an LLM in International Law and eventually after his graduation, Tom clerked for a federal judge, and left Kentucky for Tulane where he studied and received an LLM in Maritime Law.

I moved to Seattle in 1981 and worked for a private law firm doing asbestos defense litigation. Not my favorite gig, but it was a job and it made an entre for me into the then rather tight world of Seattle law. Now part of my cases had an admiralty component tied up in them, so I looked Tom up and gave him a call at the firm where he was practicing maritime law in New Orleans. One thing led to another and two years later, Tom and his wife, Heather, moved to Seattle where he started up with a maritime law firm here.

Things seemed to be going great for them from all outward appearances. Tom became a partner at the firm and they had two children. But, things can fall apart and they did. Horribly in this case. Around 1994, Heather got itchy feet, so to say. I suspected as much, given remarks she had made to me at the time, but I kept my mouth shut in hopes that she and Tom would work out their problems. Unfortunately, they did not, in part because Tom, who was working long hours, didn't have a clue as to what was going on.

Eventually, Heather, who was Treasurer of the elementary school PTA where her kids attended, started an affair with the President of the PTA, George, a security guard and policeman wannabe. Heather had a friend, Tiffany, who was also having an extramarital affair at the same time, with Frank. Tiffany was married to a guy who was the locksmith for the Westin Hotel in Seattle. I didn't know that you could make a living as a locksmith for a hotel, but Jose did. And he was a very nice guy.

Well things were falling apart all over the place and finally, Tom was getting very upset and suspicious about Heather and Tiffany because they were going out a lot together and not really saying where they were going and then covering for each other when they returned. One week, Heather casually dropped it on Tom that she and Tiffany were going for the weekend to Leavenworth to get away from it all and just relax and have fun because things had not been very fun for her at the home front and she was tired of being a stay at home mom 24/7 and she deserved some time away.

So Heather and Tiffany drove up to Leavenworth. Tom was really hacked by this time, and decided to take action. Tom dropped his kids off with Jose, got in his car and drove up to Leavenworth to check out whether Heather and Tiffany were actually staying in the hotel they told him they were at. In fact he found their car outside the NoTell Motel, but he also saw George's car parked outside as well. Tom did not go into the hotel and pick a fight. Instead he drove back to Seattle under a full head of steam and told Jose what he had found when he picked up his kids.

Jose then drove up to Leavenworth and parked outside the hotel. He went to the floor the "girls' room" was on (I don't remember how Jose found this out, but with his hotel experience, I am sure it was not difficult), and let himself in, using his locksmith talents, to a vacant room that was across the hall and two doors down from the "girls' room." Then, with the door of the room he was in cracked open slightly, he called their room. Heather answered. Jose asked for Tiffany. Heather said, "Just a minute, Jose, she's in the shower." Then Jose watched as Heather opened the door to the "girls' room" and went to the room next to that and knocked on it. He silently glided into the hall and stood behind Heather so that when the door was opened and Heather was telling Tiffany that Jose was calling, he could see Tiffany wrapped in a towel with Frank sitting on the bed in the room, similarly garbed.

Tiffany looked behind Heather, saw Jose, and gasped, "Jose it's not what you think it is." Jose said, "Right." Left the hotel, got in his car, drove back to Seattle, and the divorces were underway.

I guess the moral of this story is do not fuck with a locksmith. Or an admiralty lawyer.

A fitting remembrance

While I may be a current resident of the upper left hand corner of the map, or as it was earlier described by a Republican back in 1947: "the Soviet Socialist Republic of Washington," I was raised in northwestern Ohio, a rock ribbed bastion of conservatism, even to this day.

My parents were strong Republicans, going so far as to vote their party over their Catholic religion in 1960. I well remember the chant on the playground at elementary school: "Nixon, Nixon, he's our man. Kennedy belongs in the garbage can!" After his defeat in 1960, Nixon visited my hometown of Defiance, OH, several times, given that the outpouring of affection must have felt like salve to his political wounds. And once during that period, I saw him fairly close up. He was staying at my great uncle's house that had been donated to Defiance College for their president's mansion. We lived two blocks east, and I was outside wandering about on a green, spring morning trying to rescue a downed baby bird in the side yard of the president's house, when I caught a glimpse of Richard Nixon going into the house. No Secret Service protection for a former VP and failed presidential candidate at that time.

In August of 1968, I was visiting a friend who had moved from Defiance to Barrington, IL. We took the train in to go shopping for back to school clothes. It was not until we returned to her house that night that we learned how close we had been to the riots surrounding the Democratic nomination. Of course, as the dutiful children of Republican parents, we had no interest at that time in Hubert Humphrey or Eugene McCarthy. We were barred from returning to downtown Chicago and spent the rest of my vacation time in the suburbs. of Chicago. I had made all the purchases I needed at Marshall Field's and Carson, Pirie Scott (but could not afford Saks or Bonwit Teller), so I didn't find it amiss, and only later did I realize the gravity of what had gone on between the confrontations of Daley's police and the antiwar demonstrators.

Unfortunately for my parents, I left home and went to college at a small liberal arts school in a large city courtesy of a full academic scholarship. This resulted in a major rethinking of my world and political views and led to familial ruptures at several points in my life. One of my favorite college recollections is the large bedsheet that was hung from two dorm windows facing a busy street in 1972 emblazoned with the words "FUCK YOU DICK." The neighbors' wrath forced it down after less than a day out flapping in the wind, but the point was made and the majority of the students, the male half of whom had lost their college deferments and become subject to the draft lottery earlier that spring, were extremely unhappy with the election tilt in Nixon's favor.

So it goes and on we went. As the years rolled on and Reagan led to Bush and Bush II, I became even more anti-Republican in spirit and public stance. Then, fall of 2007 and the youngest son came up to his senior year in high school and began looking around at colleges. I contacted a college friend who had years in college admissions experiences and was knowledgeable in schools that my fit my youngest's interests and personality. This friend, whose husband kept a framed copy of Nixon's resignation letter in their bathroom, mentioned Whittier College as a possible 'fit.' I was aghast. Nixon's alma mater might be right for my son? What was going on here? But given my knowledge of my friends' political bona fides and her expertise, I swallowed hard and last fall on a California tour of colleges, we stopped and gawked and talked and walked around Whittier. During the tour, I asked our guide if Whittier had any sort of Nixon building or statue to commemorate his attendance there. "Oh yes," the young guide assured me earnestly, "We have a third floor conference room in the library that is dedicated to him."
"Hmmm," I thought to myself, "that seems apropos. I can live with this college." So I bought a pair of Whittier running shorts. Their team is the Poets. From their namesake, poet John Greenleaf Whittier. I can also live with that.

Go Poets!

And just to add to the cognitive dissonance, there is this to contemplate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lNFRLrP014&eurl

Chocolate Jesus in Bill Donohue's gunsights

H/t to digby.

Word is that an exhibit of a 6' statue of the crucified Jesus done entirely in chocolate was removed from an art gallery connected to the Roger Smith hotel in NYC after efforts by Wild Bill Donohue of a right wing Catholic organization (Catholic League). Donohue is the guy who led the witch hunt that got Amanda Marcotte fired from John Edwards' presidential campaign. He's a nasty piece of work.
[I'd like to know what this means for the picture of the BVM found on that cheese sandwich]

Today, Anderson Cooper put both the sculptor of the piece and Donohue on to duke it out. Here's the transcript:

COOPER: A lot more happening tonight, including a new food recall that pet owners should know about. If you have a pet, you should pay attention -- details on that coming up. Also ahead tonight: Is it art? Is it food? Or is it a low blow aimed at millions of Christians? Depending on who you ask, it could be all three. Take a look.(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): People love Jesus. People love chocolate. But a chocolate Jesus, that's another story.

KIERA MCCAFFREY, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, CATHOLIC LEAGUE: They're making him into chocolate, with genitals exposed. They're digging the knife at Christians on this. And to try to pretend otherwise is absurd. And they're doing it at our holiest time.

COOPER: The critics and the artist face to face next.





COOPER: Well, with the start of Holy Week just two days away, tonight, the Catholic Archdiocese of New York is marking a victory. A controversial exhibit has been canceled. And two artists are in virtual hiding. Art and religion have clashed before, but never quite like this, at least not here in New York.Here's CNN's Gary Tuchman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Because of threats they say they have received, an artist and his wife do not want to meet at their home. So, instead, we get together at a New York City diner to talk about:COSIMO CAVALLARO, ARTIST: "Sweet Jesus."TUCHMAN: This is "Sweet Jesus," a life-size anatomically correct sculpture of Jesus made out of 200 pounds of chocolate, created by New York artist Cosimo Cavallaro. An art gallery in this New York City hotel scheduled its debut for this Monday.

C. CAVALLARO: The purpose of "Sweet Jesus" is for me to portray that iconic image with a taste.

TUCHMAN: But many, including the New York Archdiocese and the Catholic League, say it's scandalous.

KIERA MCCAFFREY, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, CATHOLIC LEAGUE: They are saying: We are taking a devout Christian image of the crucified Christ, and we are making him into chocolate, with genitals exposed. They're digging the knife at Christians on this. And to try to pretend otherwise is absurd. And they're doing it at our holiest time.

C. CAVALLARO: Here, we have chocolate, which is nothing negative -- no negative connotation to chocolate, and the body of Christ, you know, the figure of Christ. So, how two wrongs make one -- two rights make one wrong, that, I could never imagine.

TUCHMAN: But the Catholic league asked for a boycott of the hotel and says the sculpture, also known as "Chocolate Jesus," is hate speech. MCCAFFREY: They surely wouldn't do something similar to Muslims. you want to bet that they would never put up a naked chocolate statue of Mohammed, with his genitals exposed, during Ramadan?

TUCHMAN: There have been many similar controversies. The former mayor of New York and current presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani threatened to withdraw funding from a Brooklyn museum, after it featured the Virgin Mary with elephant dung. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), MAYOR OF NEW YORK: Of course it's Catholic bashing.(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Rap singer Kanye West raised hackles by appearing on "Rolling Stone" magazine in this fashion, in support of his song "Jesus Walks."And then there's Madonna. A few months ago, NBC removed footage of Madonna suspended from a giant cross, which was to be included on a prime-time special.So, would this artist create a sculpture called "Sweet Mohammed"?

C. CAVALLARO: No.

TUCHMAN (on camera): why?

C. CAVALLARO: It's not my religion. And I didn't -- I have no need to get close to that. This is what I had do, is to get closer to my religion.

TUCHMAN: You're a Christian?

C. CAVALLARO: Yes. I'm a Christian, a Catholic.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): And now the controversy has taken a new twist. The gallery and hotel have backed down. On Friday, the hotel released a statement saying, "We have caused the cancellation of the exhibition and wish to affirm the dignity and responsibility of the hotel in all its affairs."The Cavallaros are upset, but not at the gallery.

SARAH CAVALLARO, WIFE OF COSIMO CAVALLARO: I feel that they were really scared and they were protecting themselves.

TUCHMAN: And, as for his sculpture...(on camera): Where is "Chocolate Jesus" right now?

C. CAVALLARO: In a refrigerator truck, looking for a home.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): ... don't be surprised to see "Sweet Jesus" in a different gallery some time soon. Gary Tuchman, CNN, New York.(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, I don't think it's our job here on 360 to tell you what to think about something. We just ask the questions and help you decide. A few minutes ago, I talked to artist Cosimo Cavallaro and the man who worked to shut down his exhibit, Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Cosimo, I want to start by asking you what your intention was with -- with this -- this piece of art.

C. CAVALLARO: My intention was to celebrate this body of Christ, and in a sweet, delicious, tasteful way.

COOPER: Why -- why use chocolate?

C. CAVALLARO: Because it's a substance that I like. And it's sweet. And I felt that the body of Christ, the -- the meaning of Christ, is about the sweetness.

COOPER: Were you trying to shock, I mean, to -- to cause attention?Often -- usually, when Christ is shown, he's wearing some form of clothing. This is a naked Christ, which has also caused some concern.

C. CAVALLARO: No more than the religion, the way they use it. I was just using it as an iconic figure. I mean, that my intentions was to shock people, no. I was -- my intention was to have them taste the -- and feel what they're looking at in their mouth.

COOPER: Bill, you call this exhibit hate speech. You said it's -- quote -- "one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever."What specifically offends you about it?

WILLIAM DONAHUE, PRESIDENT, CATHOLIC LEAGUE: Well, of course, asking the public to come in and eat Jesus, with his genitals exposed, during Holy Week I think would be self-explanatory. If we took an image of this artist's mother, and made her out in chocolate, with her genitals exposed, of course, to be equal, and then asked the public to eat her on Mother's Day, yes, he might have a problem. Maybe he wouldn't. But you know what bothers me? It's not even the artist. I mean, we have a lot of these loser artists down in SoHo and around the country. What bothers me is that this guy Knowles, who is an artist in residence, the owner, the president and CEO of an establishmentarian site, the Roger Smith Hotel, 47th and Lexington, in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, that is what bothers me, because now we have the establishment kicking in.And to put this out during Holy Week, on street level, when kids can walk in off the street, these people are morally bankrupt. And my goal is to make them financially bankrupt.

COOPER: Cosimo, do you understand the outrage this has caused? I mean, do you think it's overreaction? Do you get it?

C. CAVALLARO: Yes, I get it. I think it's an overreaction. You just heard the gentleman calling artists losers, or me a loser. I think what he's -- his assault is on the public at large, artists, and freedom of speech, and every Catholic. I'm a Catholic, and I'm a Christian. And I think this gentleman doesn't even represent the people that are in his faith.

DONAHUE: That's funny. You said I put out a fatwa, right? Or the -- or the -- that was the -- the guy who ran the lab, says I put out a fatwa. I put out a news release. So, you're accusing me of being like the Taliban; is that right?

C. CAVALLARO: Who, me? You're not that intelligent. (LAUGHTER)

DONAHUE: Oh, no, let me tell you something. You're -- you're lucky I'm not as mean, because you might lose more than your head.

COOPER: Cosimo, did you want people to eat this? Was that part of this?

C. CAVALLARO: No.Did you hear what this gentleman is saying, that I would lose my head?

DONAHUE: No, I -- you heard what I said. I said you're -- you're lucky I'm not like the Taliban, because you would lose more than your head, which is why...

C. CAVALLARO: Right. So, therefore...(CROSSTALK)

DONAHUE: ... guys like you wouldn't do this against Mohammed during Ramadan. (CROSSTALK)

C. CAVALLARO: No, because I'm a Christian. And I'm not trying to...

DONAHUE: Oh, you're a Christian. Please. Don't lie about it, all right? Don't lie about it.

C. CAVALLARO: I'm not lying. No, I'm not lying about it.

DONAHUE: Yes, you are.(CROSSTALK)

C. CAVALLARO: I want to ask you a question, Mr. Donahue.

DONAHUE: Yes.

C. CAVALLARO: Where do you think I should exhibit this? Because you -- you have bamboozled an art gallery.

DONAHUE: Right.

C. CAVALLARO: And you have bamboozled an establishment. You have put fear in people to listen to your rhetoric and to believe -- just because a man has got his arms extended and he's made in chocolate -- it's your Christ -- and it's offensive.

DONAHUE: That's right. (CROSSTALK)

C. CAVALLARO: And, by the way -- excuse me. I'm going to talk to you for a minute. You keep quiet.

DONAHUE: And you want the public to eat him.(CROSSTALK)

C. CAVALLARO: Now, you go to the Catholic Church...(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Let Cosimo finish his point.

C. CAVALLARO: You go to the Catholic Church, and you're going to see statues from Michelangelo that are nude. Are you going to clothe them for the Holy Week?DONAHUE: OK. (CROSSTALK)

C. CAVALLARO: And are you telling me that, apart from the Holy Week, we could do anything we want to do with the genitalia? What are you talking about?

DONAHUE: The...

COOPER: OK. Let Bill answer.

DONAHUE: All right. All right, first of all, Leonardo, you're not. But, quite frankly, where should you have this displayed? In New Jersey is where New Yorkers put their garbage. There's a big sanitation dump. That's where you should put it.

COOPER: Bill, let me read you something that David Kuo, the former presidential assistant to President Bush, who worked in the Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives, said in reference to your protest.He said -- quote -- "Instead of getting all amped up over this art, Christians should be spending time facing the real and very challenging Jesus found in the Gospels, and encouraging others to do the same."(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Are you making a bigger deal out of this than it deserves?

DONAHUE: No, no, no, no.

COOPER: And doesn't this, in fact, give this more attention than it ever would have received otherwise?

DONAHUE: If, in fact, it was at some dump in SoHo, I probably wouldn't pay too much attention. But the fact that the Roger Smith Hotel...(CROSSTALK)

C. CAVALLARO: ... dump in SoHo.

DONAHUE: ... right here in New York City is doing this thing, no. If I don't pay attention to it, then I -- my people should ask for me to be fired.By the way, I am delighted with the response from Jews, Muslims, and others, not just Catholics and Protestants, with this. People are basically saying, enough is enough. This is absolutely revolting. And what you're saying, sir, is totally disingenuous. No one believes it. I don't even think you believe it.

COOPER: But, Bill, doesn't -- doesn't -- I mean, don't people have a right to express themselves? And isn't that what art is about? Aren't artists supposed to provoke thought?

DONAHUE: That's right. And, if we -- and if we put a swastika out on a stamp in the United States, we could call that art. It was an art exhibition. I don't think Jews would go for that. Just because art is art doesn't mean that it is a right that is absolute. Art can be insulting and it can be offensive. And when these people are whining, claiming victim status, as this guy is doing, because of my exercise of my First Amendment right of freedom of speech -- I didn't call the cops to come in and censor this. I'm simply saying I called up about 500 of my friends and -- running different Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and non- sectarian organizations to boycott the Roger Smith Hotel. They're morally bankrupt. I want to see them financially bankrupt.

COOPER: Cosimo, I want to give you the final thought. Do you plan to -- to display this elsewhere?

C. CAVALLARO: Yes, I do, hopefully. And I would like to add to the gentleman who referred to the swastika, he's actually acting like a Nazi. (LAUGHTER)

C. CAVALLARO: And I -- I would like to ask one question.Where do you suggest that I exhibit this? Because you basically pulled it out of a gallery for me. So, where do you think...

DONAHUE: No. I -- I told you...(CROSSTALK)

C. CAVALLARO: Where -- no, excuse me.Where do you suggest that an artist should exhibit his work that you don't infringe on?

DONAHUE: Well, you know, go to some dump down in SoHo, where...

C. CAVALLARO: A dump?

DONAHUE: ... nobody will pay attention.

C. CAVALLARO: Is there a church in SoHo that's a dump, too, because...

DONAHUE: Oh, you would like to...(CROSSTALK)

C. CAVALLARO: No, let me tell you something.

DONAHUE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

C. CAVALLARO: There's two priests that have wanted to exhibit this in their church.

DONAHUE: Is that right? C. CAVALLARO: Yes, absolutely.

DONAHUE: Give me their names.

C. CAVALLARO: I will not, because you're a bully. (LAUGHTER)

C. CAVALLARO: And you know what? I believe that there's people in your organization that would like you to resign.

DONAHUE: Is that right?

C. CAVALLARO: Absolutely. And you're...

DONAHUE: Well, how come -- I haven't heard from them.

C. CAVALLARO: I got to tell you something, there's more filth that comes out of your mouth...

DONAHUE: Is that right?

C. CAVALLARO: Yes -- than I have seen...(CROSSTALK)

DONAHUE: Look, you lost. You know what? You put your middle finger at the Catholic Church, and we just broke it, didn't we, pal?

C. CAVALLARO: No. You're wrong. You're wrong.

DONAHUE: Yes, we did. You lost.

C. CAVALLARO: I have a lot of believers.

DONAHUE: We -- we won. You're out of a job.

C. CAVALLARO: And I'm a Christian. And there's a lot of people like me, who are opposed to what you're doing, because you made a big...

DONAHUE: Yes? But I got a job, and you don't.

C. CAVALLARO: You made a -- "I got a job, and you don't"?

DONAHUE: Yes. C. CAVALLARO: You're acting like a 5-year-old.

DONAHUE: I got a job, and you don't.

C. CAVALLARO: You're talking -- you're acting like a 5-year-old. And I feel sorry for you.

COOPER: All right. We're going to -- we're...

DONAHUE: Well, I won on this, and you lost, didn't you?

COOPER: Well, let's -- let's leave it there. You both expressed your opinions.Bill Donahue, appreciate you being with -- and, Cosimo Cavallaro, appreciate it as well. Thank you, sir.

C. CAVALLARO: Thank you, Anderson.

COOPER: Thank you. (END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, thankfully, there are other stories dealing with faith tonight that aren't causing quite so much of an uproar.

the video can be found here: http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/03/31/the-daily-donohue-rantings-of-a-lunatic-bully-over-a-chocolate-jesus/#more-15848

Jesus wept indeed.

What a year's absence can do

Three months into the Democratic majority in Congress, and the Bush Administration, like the Wicked Witch of the West appears to be 'melting, melting, melting.'

It would be far more enjoyable if I had a better popcorn popper.

More later

Robert Randolph Family Band

This guy is the real deal. Click on the link, and go to the bottom left of the first page where the music is located. Click on "Ted's Jam" and wait through the longish intro (about 3 mins--sorry) but you will be rewarded with some kickass music. This guy is a true heir of Jimi Hendrix. And I've not said that about any one else before.

Enjoy and pass the word along.

Moe

the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court

Has unfortunately brought back some law school memories for me. Harriet graduated from law school 6 years before I did. But both of us went to southern law schools and the intervening 6 years changed little other than the numbers of women attending same. When I went approximately 27% of my class were women.

Women in my law school were accused of taking the rightful place of a man who had a family to support. Told at graduate dormitory dinners, by the (male) speaker that he was surprised to learn that you had to go to law school to be a legal secretary. Accused of being secret lesbians.

However, the worst story of what happened to women in my law school at the time concerns a law school criminal law professor. He was renowned for being an outlaw to begin with--rumored to have been disbarred for lapses in behavior, yet here he was a tenured faculty member. The day's criminal law lecture concerned rape. And the prof was concerned about the need for penetration to cement the crime. He called on a hapless first year female student:

"Miss X, I was wondering if you could tell me how much penetration is sufficient to constitute rape. Is this much enough [pointing to the upraised seond finger on his left hand]? Is this much enough [pointing to his left wrist as the hand is fully extended]? Is THIS MUCH ENOUGH [now extending his left arm and pointing from the elbow on up]. No, Miss X, THIS, THIS IS ECSTASY!!!"

And that's what it was like to go to law school female. Miers was one of 2 women in her class. I would fully expect that she suffered abuse like this or worse while she was there. The question is whether she has fully blocked it away or whether it will have some influence on how she sees the issues. To be very honest, I don't think we will ever know because given how the right wings is starting to behave like reavers, she will withdraw her nomination to protect her boss, "the most brilliant man" she's ever met. That's certainly a poke in the eye of all Dallas males at the very least. They should be raving too.

Christine Gregoire, no backbone on 912

The governor of the state of Washington is spending this week trying to drum up business in Asia, the biggest creditor of the US. But regardless, it is incredible, that given all the suffering caused in the past two weeks by Katrina in New Orleans, not a peep has emerged from her administration concerning Intiative 912. I912 would repeal the tax on gasoline imposed by the state legislature this past spring. Its purpose is to fund critical transportation construction in this state. Such projects as replacing the 520 bridge and redoing or redirecting the Alaskan Way viaduct would be addressed by this tax on gasoline. However, the Mugwumps of Washington politics are attempting to remove this tax via initiative.

And what has the good gov done about this?

Absolutely nothing. No word to inspire those who think govt is responsible for the safety of its citizens and this tax is essential to maintaining our safety. No word to support I912 either.


Update 9/20/05: the Survey USA governors' rankings have come out and our Ms. Gregoire has dropped in her approval rating to 45%. She ranks 38th out of 50. I predict the trend to continue if she does not get a backbone.

It is time for the woman to shit or get off the pot. I sure as hell hope that with this wiffly a record, she gives up running again. Or the Repugs will eat her lunch next time around. Perhaps that is what is stalling her: fear of them. Let me give her a bit of advice--you never govern from fear and you NEVER let them know you are afraid.

What a wuss.

Karl Rove to head up Reconstruction in New Orleans

God, I hate to say I told you so, but as I mentioned in the prior post, we have continued our downward slide and reached the point that the idiots truly are in charge, where it's harder and harder to keep a lid on it. At least for a couple of days.

However, I am noting with dismay that www.dailykos.com, the blog read by more politicos than the top 8 conservative blogs in the blogosphere, seems to be missing a key point in the continuing tragedy of the drowning of New Orleans. That is the fact that Karl Rove has been put in charge of the Reconstruction effort.

To say that this is like the fox being in charge of the henhouse, is understating the degree of the problem rather like saying the sun is sorta hot. Karl fucking Rove??? The master of political spin and schmooze. Jesus on a popsicle stick, this is the biggest financial undertaking by the US government since the South was rebuilt after the Civil War. It is estimated to cost more than the Iraq war. And Bush is going to do it w/o raising taxes. The implications are staggering.

First, this means we will be even more in debt to the Chinese. They already hold so many of our IOUs that they can call our tune as to how they direct their economic efforts. They get to do capitalism their way--which means more and more opression for their workers. More and more pollution of their air and water (anyone been to Beijing recently? seen the sun or just a grey cloud?). And we will be required to be complicit in whatever they want to do, because they hold us by the short ones. And don't you forget it.

Then, Karl Rove is going to be throwing out all this money, these billion dollar potloads of money, just to make the political problems go away for his boss. Forget true planning and recreating a vibrant city by involving New Orleans citizens from all walks of life. The contracts are going to Halliburton and the wages got slashed by executive order. That's how Karl Rove is going to do things. The rich will continue to get richer. And the rest of us will rot.

We really need a Democratic opposition that is unified, on point and FUCKING LOUD. I don't care if Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid takes their clothes off during a press conference as long as it draws attention to the major, major embezzling operation that is taking place in broad daylight under the sanctimonious cover of reconstructing New Orleans. Unless something is done, it will impoverish all of us.

Is it just me?

Or have we descended another rung closer to sheer idiocy running the country?

Word from Capitol Blue's Doug Thompson is that GWB is prone to severe mood swings, abuses his staff and swears like a drunken sailor. Oops, make that a dry drunken sailor.

Then Bill Frist has gone out on a limb and declared that we should be teaching Intelligent Design alongside science in elementary school. As Edward noted in Obsidian Wings, I hope Harvard rescinds his medical degree retroactively. Why Mr. Frist thinks he has a snowball's chance in hell of capturing the Repub nomination for Preznit in 08, I'll never know. It's not his charm that will capture the voting public.

The killings in Iraq continue unabated. Cindy Sheehan, who is a decent woman with an unanswered question, is being 'swift boated' by the right wing scum bags such as Rush Limbaugh, who accused her of faking her son's death. I am NOT kidding about that. Yet, even though we lack an exit strategy the Army today said it would maintain its 100,000+ troop force in Iraq for at least another 4 years? Anyone want to hazard a guess as to our ultimate numbers of dead soldiers will be? At this rate, we will be there longer than we were in Vietnam. I'm just waiting for the 6 o'clock news to restart broadcasting body counts of dead rag heads. Now that would make all of us feel so much better....

When are all those who left their brains at the door and voted for Bush in '00 and '04 going to realize that the guy is 6 slices short of a loaf of bread? He's passed Reagan in sheer numbers of days taken on vacation while in office, and he still has 3 years to go on his second term. Knock, Knock, is anyone home? I know George isn't. He's biking and swimming and socializing with all the right folks. Not that trailer trash at Camp Casey. Why those are just parents of suckers. You know, those dumb enough to join the military, go to Iraq and get themselves killed.

And if that isn't enough, just watch the red tide flow out as we spend $200 billion a month on the debacle in Iraq. All for the cause of $2.75/gallon and climbing gasoline. I sold my tech stock last month and bought shares in an international oil firm. I might as well profit from all this stupidity.

GEORGE BUSH IS A FRIKKIN' IDIOT!!!

WHY AREN'T PEOPLE PAYING ATTENTION???

Further Evidence that Norm Coleman is a douchebag

My excuses to atrios, but this was too rich not to quote.

Uff da!

Norman Coleman -- not quite a genius, from the Guardian.

The Democratic Staff Report on the UN Oil for Food Program.


...the Senate report found that US oil purchases accounted for 52% of the kickbacks paid to the regime in return for sales of cheap oil - more than the rest of the world put together.

"The United States was not only aware of Iraqi oil sales which violated UN sanctions and provided the bulk of the illicit money Saddam Hussein obtained from circumventing UN sanctions," the report said. "On occasion, the United States actually facilitated the illicit oil sales."

Just in time for a certain guest, George Galloway.

Mother's Day 2005

I'm a bit on edge this mother's day. Frankly I think it's a bit of a made up holiday. One that forces folks to invent pasts where their mothers were a bit nicer and cared a bit more about them than was real.

The major reason for my skepticism is that my mother suffers from narcicisstic personality disorder. It took me almost 40 years to identify it and another 5 to try to do something about it. There is no cure, and those who try to erect healthy boundaries to protect themselves usually find it exacts severe punishment. As a result, I won't be calling to her house today and haven't sent a card. So of course today puts me more out of sorts than most days. But I'll get over it. There's no other way out.

Does Focus on the Family promote hatred of gays?

I'm having a debate w/ a fellow who is generally a nice guy, but sometimes I think that he is too nice for his and other's own good. I posited that Focus on the Family, James Dobson's born again outfit, promotes hatred of homosexuality. He doesn't think Focus on the Family promotes hatred of homosexuality because they don't advocate killing gays.

Frankly I think there are different ways of promoting hatred of homosexuality and not all involve urging that gays be killed.

He thinks this is just way too sensitive.

So does anyone have any better info on what the real agenda is for Focus on the Family and homosexuality? Am I, rational person that I think I am, being too sensitive?

I DON"T THINK SO. But, please let me be the first to offer you a platform to sound off on this issue.

Schiavo and the Pope, some points of comparison

In all the brouhaha over the past 2-3 weeks regarding Terri Schiavo's final death and the death of the Pope, it is important to look at some of the contradictions that are not resolvable and to my mind, reflect rather badly on their protagonists.

First let's hear from the Pope, or his minions:

..."Even for people infected with AIDS or for those who want to use condoms to prevent AIDS," said John Paul 11 at the International Congress of Moral Theologians in Rome in 1988, "the Church's moral doctrine allows no exceptions."

Carlo Caffarra, the pope's spokesman for marriage and family issues, added that if an AIDS - infected husband couldn't manage to maintain "total abstinence" for the rest of his life, then it was better to infect his wife than to use a condom, "because the preservation of spiritual goods, such as the sacrament of marriage, is to be preferred to the good of life."...

Culture of Life

Second, let's hear it from the Schindlers, Terri Schiavo's parents:

..."Testimony provided by members of the Schindler family included very personal statements about their desire and intention to ensure that Theresa remain alive. Throughout the course of the litigation, deposition and trial testimony by members of the Schindler family voiced the disturbing belief that they would keep Theresa alive at any and all costs. Nearly gruesome examples were given, eliciting agreement by family members that in the event Theresa should contract diabetes and subsequent gangrene in each of her limbs, they would agree to amputate each limb, and would then, were she to be diagnosed with heart disease, perform open heart surgery. There was additional, difficult testimony that appeared to establish that despite the sad and undesirable condition of Theresa, the parents still derived joy from having her alive, even if Theresa might not be at all aware of her environment given the persistent vegetative state. Within the testimony, as part of the hypotheticals presented, Schindler family members stated that even if Theresa had told them of her intention to have artificial nutrition withdrawn, they would not do it. Throughout this painful and difficult trial, the family acknowledged that Theresa was in a diagnosed persistent vegetative state..."

Guardian Ad Litem's Report

And then we get into the intrusion of the legislative and executive branches of the federal government.

First, President Bush:


"Bush's brand of forthright tough-guy populism can be appealing, and it has played well in Texas. Yet occasionally there are flashes of meanness visible beneath it.

While driving back from the speech later that day, Bush mentions Karla Faye Tucker, a double murderer who was executed in Texas last year. In the weeks before the execution, Bush says, Bianca Jagger and a number of other protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Tucker. 'Did you meet with any of them?' I ask.

Bush whips around and stares at me. 'No, I didn't meet with any of them,' he snaps, as though I've just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. 'I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with [Tucker], though. He asked her real difficult questions, like 'What would you say to Governor Bush?' 'What was her answer?' I wonder.

'Please,' Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, 'don't kill me.'

I must look shocked -- ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel, even for someone as militantly anticrime as Bush -- because he immediately stops smirking. "

From: "Devil May Care" by Tucker Carlson, Talk Magazine, September 1999, p. 106

Second, Senator John Cornyn of Texas:

"I don't know if there is a cause-and-effect connection but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country. Certainly nothing new, but we seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently that's been on the news and I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in - engage in violence."

Cornyn

The Houston Chronicle describes the situation:

"...Republican leaders' frustration with the courts has flared with the U.S. Supreme Court's ban on execution of criminals who killed as juveniles and its refusal to intervene on behalf of Schiavo's parents, who sought to block removal of her feeding tube...."

Houston Chronicle

I'll leave Delay and Frist for later dissection. But you get the picture, I would hope. In this madhouse, no one is really in favor of life unless it feeds their own interests. No one. Including the Pope.

Paging Norm Coleman, Paging Senator Coleman

When we last left our feckless Senator from MN w/ the fancy dental work, he was frothing at the mouth and demanding the head of Kofi Annan, graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, and Secretary General of the UN. Seems that Mr. Annan's son, Kojo, had gotten involved in some shady dealings with the UN's Food for Oil Program and Norm and his buddies were absolutely certain that the corruption was profound and could be directly traced back to Mr. Annan.

Well, comes the word last week, and t'aint necessarily so. Seems that Kojo did take a consultancy w/ a firm under suspicious circumstances and it was for a couple hundred thousand dollars, but that, in today's Washington, is chump change. Why I am sure that Neal Bush has grifted millions of dollars from companies eager to use his schmooze factor using his family's connections. And look at the classy whores he gets for free in Japan.

At any rate, have not heard squat from Senator Coleman since the UN investigative report was issued. Should you wish to read all 144 pages, you can find it here:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/03/29/oil.for.food/index.html

And if you can find behavior that is even a hundredth as egregious as the stink coming from Halliburton and their cozy corporate compatriots in Iraq, I'll send you a genyouwine Pentagon bolt worth at least $450. Honest.

Alberto Gonzales does not merit confirmation

The editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune says it far more eloquently than I could:

Editorial: Alberto Gonzales has blood on his hands
January 6, 2005 ED0106A



When the White House announced in November that Attorney General John Ashcroft would depart and be replaced by presidential counsel Alberto Gonzales, it was a good news-bad news sort of day: good news that Ashcroft, enemy of the Bill of Rights in this war-on-terror era, would be departing; bad news that he would be replaced by Gonzales, enemy of the rights of prisoners of war and architect of policies that led to the abuses at Guantanamo Bay and Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Since November, the bad news has gotten large amounts worse as horrific abuses of prisoners have been documented, especially by the American Civil Liberties Union and documents it forced into the public domain. Which leaves us to ask: Why in the world should the United States be saddled with an attorney general who, from the White House, framed cockamamie legal policies that sought to make it permissible for American forces to commit war crimes?

Indeed, when Gonzales comes before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, the committee must challenge him to explain fully both his role in authorizing torture and his rationale for doing so. If the answers aren't satisfactory, and it is impossible to imagine how they could be, then the full Senate should reject his nomination and tell President Bush to pick someone else.

At the height of the Abu Ghraib scandal, someone leaked to Newsweek a memorandum Gonzales authored in January 2002 which argued that the war on terror had "rendered obsolete" the Geneva Conventions prohibiting torture and abuse of prisoners of war. The conventions, he said, did not apply to enemy combatants captured in Afghanistan. Gonzales also was a principal architect of Bush's order authorizing the secret trial of combatants from Afghanistan by military tribunal.

Only within the last few days has it become known just how key a role Gonzales played in the formation of a notorious Department of Justice memo issued in August 2002. That memo defined torture quite narrowly -- it said that only physical pain "of an intensity akin to that which accompanies serious physical injury such as death or organ failure" amounted to torture. It also said the president had inherent authority to authorize use of extreme means of interrogation on detainees suspected of terrorist activities.

Gonzales asked for the memo and discussed draft language with its author. Small wonder that, according to a "senior administration official" interviewed by the New York Times, the memo hewed closely to views already held by senior White House officials.

That memo, by the way, was rescinded by the Justice Department last week (a bit of tidying before Gonzales' confirmation hearing) and replaced with a new one that explicitly rejects the reasoning put forward in the first.

Gonzales has a great deal to answer for. He contributed substantially to prisoner abuses that brought the United States into worldwide disrepute and sullied its record for valuing human rights. If the Judiciary Committee should find his answers evasive or uncompelling, he doesn't deserve to be attorney general of this nation.

Why we must continue the fight against the Iraq war

The photo is so very apt and yet so very, very sad. Both girls had no choice over their parents. Yet that is where the similarity ends. View it and weep for what our country has become.

Evil runs rampant in the world at times

Rachel Corrie's death almost two years ago was a signal event in my life. I learned then that people that I thought were rational and caring, could in one instant be turned into raving lunatics, akin to those they sought to eliminate.

It is frightening to hear supporters of the state of Israel sound like Waffen SS members when they talk about the Palestinians and when they erect prison walls that take even more Palestinian property. The Israelis have become in some sense, what they were reacting to when they formed their country.

By this criticism I do not mean to exempt the Palestinians from their heinous behaviour, e.g. the promotion of The Protocols of Zion, the absolute fabrications about Israelis being devils, the promotion of suicide bombing. These are all horrific and I condemn them.

But Israel is in the driver's seat. They have the weaponry, the money, the power. They have, to me, the greater responsibility to behave in a civilized fashion. If they can't and they descend to the level of those whose territories they are occupying, they have become just as bad. And frankly, they don't realize it. They are too personally involved, too invested to be able to look at the deteriorating situation in a rational and detached light. And without that, they are no better than those they oppress.

What was Solomon's solution in this situation? What the Israelis are doing is cutting off an arm and giving it to the mother. Solomon threatened to cut the baby in half. Until and unless that is done, there is a very grave danger that the arm will in fact be cut off. And the entire entity will die as a result.

Stratfor says we have lost the Iraq War

This came from a friend who can read the Andrew Sullivan site w/o ill effect:


"STRATFOR ON THE WAR: Like many other smart analysts, the pro-war Stratfor military experts have concluded that the war to control the Iraq insurgency or to erect democratic institutions in Iraq has been lost (subscription required). I think it's time to start truly absorbing this possibility. Why lost? Because we blew the opportunity to control the terrain with insufficient troops and terrible intelligence; because all the institutions required to build democracy in Iraq have already been infiltrated by insurgents; because at key moments - they mention the fall of 2003 or spring of 2004 - we simply failed to crush the insurgency when we might have had a chance of success. Short version: we had a brief window of opportunity to turn our armed intervention into democratic liberation and we blew it. Money quote:

The issue facing the Bush administration is simple. It can continue to fight the war as it has, hoping that a miracle will bring successes in 2005 that didn't happen in 2004. Alternatively, it can accept the reality that the guerrilla force is now self-sustaining and sufficiently large not to flicker out and face the fact that a U.S. conventional force of less than 150,000 is not likely to suppress the guerrillas. More to the point, it can recognize these facts: 1. The United States cannot re-engineer Iraq because the guerrillas will infiltrate every institution it creates. 2. That the United States by itself lacks the intelligence capabilities to fight an effective counterinsurgency. 3. That exposing U.S. forces to security responsibilities in this environment generates casualties without bringing the United States closer to the goal. 4. That the strain on the U.S. force is undermining its ability to react to opportunities and threats in the rest of the region. And that, therefore, this phase of the Iraq campaign must be halted as soon as possible.

They recommend withdrawing U.S. forces to the periphery of Iraq and letting the inevitable civil war take place in the center.

DARKNESS BEFORE DAWN? The war has not been a complete loss, Stratfor argues, because it has engineered a slight shift in the behavior of neighboring regimes, and has allowed us to have a new base in the Middle East. The conclusion:

Certainly, it would have been nice for the United States if it had been able to dominate Iraq thoroughly. Somewhere between "the U.S. blew it" and "there was never a chance" that possibility is gone. It would have been nice if the United States had never tried to control the situation, because now the United States is going to have to accept a defeat, which will destabilize the region psychologically for a while. But what is is, and the facts speak for themselves. We are not Walter Cronkite, and we are not saying that the war is lost. The war is with the jihadists around the world; Iraq was just one campaign, and the occupation of the Sunnis was just one phase of that campaign. That phase has been lost. The administration has allowed that phase to become the war as a whole in the public mind. That was a very bad move, but the administration is just going to have to bite the bullet and do the hard, painful and embarrassing work of cutting losses and getting on with the war. If Bush has trouble doing this, he should conjure up Lyndon Johnson's ghost, wandering restlessly in the White House, and imagine how Johnson would have been remembered if he had told Robert McNamara to get lost in 1966."

Interesting Vote Facts/

I've been out with the flu compounded by holiday stress, but the following article roused me sufficiently from my torpor to pass it along to those still faithfully visiting this site.



20 Amazing Facts about Voting in the USAA BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Angry Girl, Nightweed.com

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.




2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.




3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.








4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."




5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.






6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.




7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.




8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.






9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.




10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.




11. Diebold is based in Ohio.


12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as senior managers and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.




13. Jeff Dean, Diebold's Senior Vice-President and senior programmer on Diebold's central compiler code, was convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree.




14. Diebold Senior Vice-President Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.




15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.
http://www.blogger.com/app/>



16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the movie here .)




17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.


18. All -- not some -- but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.





19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.






20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush -- have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.

A bleak Christmas for an Army amputee

This comes a day after the publicity about Rumsfeld's cavalier response to the Army soldier who asked him why the troops were not getting the armor that they need.

I think that we should be responding by contacting those listed at the end of the article.

And Merry Xmas to you too Secretary Scrooge Rumsfeld.

Postscript: Markos at www.dailykos.com provides evidence that the lack of protective equipment cannot be blamed on insufficient manufacturing capacity:

Bush, Rummie lie about armor
by kos
Fri Dec 10th, 2004 at 18:47:04 PDT

The press is suddenly showing some spine on the issue. Shocking.
The Bush administration moved swiftly to quell criticism from troops Thursday by outlining plans to protect all military vehicles used in Iraq. But two companies under contract to the Pentagon said their offers to boost production went unheeded [...]

Former Republican congressman Matt Salmon of Arizona, a spokesman for ArmorWorks in Tempe, Ariz., said his company will finish a $30 million contract with the Pentagon this month to make 1,500 armor kits for Humvees. "We are at 50% capacity, and we could do a lot more," he said. "They are aware of it."

Armor Holdings of Jacksonville told the Army last month it could add armor to as many as 550 trucks a month, up from 450, said Robert Mecredy of its aerospace and defense group. "We're prepared to build 50 to 100 vehicles more per month," he said.
This all comes only a day after Rumsfeld claimed it wasn't an issue about money, but about "physics". In other words, there was no humanly possible way to increase production of vehicle armor.
I'm sure it wasn't about money, and it sure as hell wasn't about physics. So what was the reason for this borderline criminal neglect for our soldiers' safety?

What else? Rank incompetence.

Senator Norm Coleman, Republican tool par excellence

Senator Coleman, it should be noted, beat former Vice President Walter Mondale in an election to succeed Senator Paul Wellstone after Wellstone was killed in an airplane accident

Senator Coleman, thus far has been more of an embarassment than an asset to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Seems ol Norm last week called for the resignation of Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN, over the Oil for food scandal currently being investigated by the Volcker Commission. Norm got 5 US representatives to join him in his denunciation, one of whom said Mr. Annan should be jailed immediately (so much for innocent until proven guilty, eh?). Of course, no mention of the fact that one of the biggest corporations to profit under the Oil for Food program was Halliburton. But never mind.

Yesterday came word from the Bush Administration throughthe mouth of former Missouri Senator John Danforth (who's mostfamous act prior to this was shepherding the nomination of that horrid US Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas through the Senate back in '91). Danforth is the US Ambassador to the UN. Here is what Danforth had to say to Reuters:

"We are expressing confidence in the secretary-general and his continuing
in office," Danforth said, "No one to my knowledge has cast doubt on the
personal integrity of the secretary-general. No one."

"We are not suggesting or pushing for the resignation of
the secretary-general," said Danforth, adding that he was speaking forthe White
House and the State Department.

Sen. Coleman has just had his rear end carved up and handed to him by his own Administration. He is considered to be, by Danforth's words: "No one." Coleman has demonstrated how easily he is bought by his party. Wellstone, it should be remembered, had the principles and the guts to stand up to everyone, including his own party. Let us hope that Minnesota voters throw this bastard out.

The absent candidate

I listened to the press conference last Friday where Paul Berendt announced that the Democrats had gathered enough money to pay for a manual recount. Present at the podium were Berendt, and Booth Gardner and Gary Locke. Where was Chris Gregoire? Why was she playing the shy violet? What's the deal? This was HER recount. She had said she wasn't going to play unless ALL the votes were counted. She should have been up there taking responsibility for the whole thing. But once again, she will not step up to the plate. If the recount fails, she will have less than nothing to show for it. A most lackluster performance.

42 votes

May I refer all and sundry to my Sept. 17, 2004 piece? Ms. Gregoire became yet another example of the fate that awaits a politician who starts to believe her own press releases. That's like drinking the kool aid. I'm afraid we are in for another month of hand wringing. But I would point out that if the shoe were reversed, I would fully expect the Rossi camp to be clamoring as loudly if not louder still for a hand recount. Only thing is that they would have no trouble posting the deposit.

I am thankful for these Republicans

Today is Thanksgiving and we are to be giving thanks for all those good things that providence has blessed us with. I was not in a particularly thankful mood this am until I read the Seattle Times. There were two articles there that made me remember that not all Republicans are menacity personified as is Geo. Bush and Dick Cheney and the other members of their cabal.

So here are the articles, and may we hope that the coming year will provide us with the will and the opportunity to rid ourselves of the plague that currently occupies D.C.

http://tinyurl.com/4jato

http://tinyurl.com/69sfs

A site to savor

Courtesy of Sisyphus Shrugged. I thought I had seen it all, but an observer of contemporary political life, who pens in verse, now this is worth pointing out:

http://www.madkane.com/notable01_04c.html#11_22_04

Prequel: This here's the south

I went to law school at the University of Kentucky in the early part of the '70s. For those that don't know, it's located in Lexington, Kentucky, a lovely bit of geography if you like rolling hills, white fences, large mansions and thoroughbred horses. All picture perfect.

One of my classmates, actually two of them, were named Andrew Thornton. The first Andrew Thornton, the one this story is not about, was an inoffensive type. Wrote a letter to the editor of the student newspaper complaining about how smokers were trashy because they left their butts and ashes everywhere without regard to cleaning up after themselves. He, of course, was marginalized, because this was the center of tobacco production. There were tobacco warehouses and drying barns w/in blocks of the law school. During certain times of the year you couldn't escape the smell. But cigarettes were 35 cents a pack, and practically everyone smoked, so nobody paid attention to that Andrew Thornton.

The second Andrew Thornton, or Drew, as he liked to be called, was a former police officer from Fayette County (Lexington's County) on the narcotics task force. Drew was not someone that I tended to gravitate around for many reasons, chief among them his law enforcement background. Turns out Drew had been high society Lexington, his family was in the Blue Book that listed only the top names, and he had gone to Sayre School, the private school for those of a certain class. How he ended up in law enforcement, I do not know. But what came clear a few years later, was that Drew did not leave his narc background behind. He started dealing in drugs at some point, probably during his law school career and used his connections to help his career. Several years after graduation from law school he had a huge network built up where he and those who worked for him were regularly importing huge amounts of cocaine up from Mexico and/or South America. There's a badly written book out there about his story titled The Bluegrass Conspiracy. Although, the writing is execrable, the gist of the story is true. Drew was able to convert or subvert law enforcement through out the Commonwealth of Kentucky so that he could run his drug business.

However, this being Kentucky, things can and do have a tendency to go badly wrong. As they did for Drew. Seems that Drew's preferred mo was to fly a plane up from S. America or Mexico w/ large bales of cocaine, each with a parachute and transponder attached for ease of recovery. Then at pre-arranged locations, the bales were pushed out of the plane, the parachutes opened and voila, instant mega cash. Drew would jump out at the last minute, put the plane on automatic pilot directed into the Appalachian or Smoky mountains, the plane would crash in wilderness presumably, and Drew would be laughing all the way to the bank.

Until his last flight, when Drew jumped out strapped to a bale of cocaine. Turns out that the combination was too much for the parachute, which couldn't take the excess weight and collapsed. Drew 'bought the farm' so to speak on someone's driveway in eastern Tennessee or western Carolina. The plane crashed into the mountains further east. The authorities, finally driven to investigate after the homeowner put in a complaint, found the plane and located some of the cocaine bales. Well at least one. It was also up in the woods. It had been opened by a bear, who had engorged himself on the contents and died nearby shortly afterward.

Drew Thornton, a sterling example of Lexington's finest in law and in law enforcement.

This here's the south part 2

Well, in Lexington, Ky yesterday word came out that a trooper who was speeding down Harrodsburg Road at 81 mph w/o his lights flashing or siren running, and ran into a woman in another car, and did not apply his brakes, will not be charged with murder, negligent homicide, vehicular homicide or even some sort of assault or battery. No, he will be charged with speeding and pay the appropriate fines. It also appears that he had no grave emergency that he was responding to at the time of the crash. I bet the family of the young woman killed, feel mighty relieved by these findings.

More on Lexington cops later.

Why we must only fight a just war

Today comes word of war atrocities perpetrated by Americans in a mosque in Fallujah.

The U.S. military has begun an investigation into possible war crimes after a television pool report by NBC showed a Marine shooting dead a wounded and unarmed Iraqi in a Falluja mosque, officials said on Monday [...]
The pool report by NBC correspondent Kevin Sites said the mosque had been used by insurgents to attack U.S. forces, who stormed it and an adjacent building, killing 10 militants and wounding the five.
Sites said the wounded had been left in the mosque for others to pick up and move to the rear for treatment. No reason was given why that had not happened.
A second group of Marines entered the mosque on Saturday after reports it had been reoccupied. Footage from the embedded television crew showed the five still in the mosque, although several appeared to be already close to death, Sites said.
He said one Marine noticed one of the prisoners was still breathing.
A Marine can be heard saying on the pool footage provided to Reuters Television: "He's fucking faking he's dead. He faking he's fucking dead."
"The Marine then raises his rifle and fires into the man's head. The pictures are too graphic for us to broadcast," Sites said.
The report said the Marine had returned to duty after being shot in the face a day earlier.
Sites said the shot prisoner "did not appear to be armed or threatening in any way."
www.yahoo.com

Atrocities are unfortunately a by product of war. There is absolutely no way in hell that we or any other military can ensure that in the heat of battle, unarmed combatants or civilians are not murdered or worse by soldiers raised to a blood lust. Look at the Vikings and how they would goad themselves into aboslute paroxysms of battle fury when all that mattered was killing. They used to break open a combatant's back and pull out the lungs, making a gruesome parody of wings and call it a 'blood eagle.'

"Einar had his ribs cut from the spine with a sword and the lungs pulled out through the slits in his back. He dedicated the victim to Odin as a victory offering."Orkneyinga Saga

It is next to impossible to escape our violent roots. And as a Poli Sci professor from my undergraduate institution was fond of saying, civilization is a thin veneer holding our society together, which can be broken readily by exigent circumstances. He knew. His family barely made it out of Germany before the Holocaust.

That is why war is not something that can be declared lightly, as was done in the present case by the current US administration. Because when our wars are fought on a pretext, there is no way to absorb and give meaning and ultimately understanding to the atrocities whatsoever. Those who declare war must take the responsibility for acknowledging and atoning for the acts of horror perpetrated in our name. This will not be done by those installed in the White House. Being president means never having to say you're sorry for the current holder of the mantle. And that is a special horror all its own.

In order for a war to be just, three things are necessary. First, the authority of the sovereign.... Secondly, a just cause.... Thirdly ... a rightful intention.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

It is well that war is so terrible--we shouldn't grow too fond of it.
General Robert E. Lee

This here's the south

A Louisville man charged with reckless homicide in the head-butting death of a teenager outside a party in Lexington last year agreed Monday to plead guilty to a lesser charge and could face a year in jail.
Aaron A. Roth, 20, of Louisville was charged in the death of Nicholas J. Holmes, 19, of House Springs, Mo. The incident occurred early Jan. 18 at Royal Lexington Apartments off Virginia Avenue. Holmes died of head trauma after Roth delivered a head-butt and knocked Holmes to the sidewalk. Holmes hit his head on the concrete.
Roth originally was charged with manslaughter and was indicted on a charge of reckless homicide.
Yesterday, witnesses and jurors were sent home, and Roth, 20, signed a plea agreement for fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor that carries a 12-month sentence or a $500 fine. Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Larson told Circuit Judge Mary Noble that he recommended Roth serve 12 months in the Fayette County jail.

That's the South for you. Now if our fine upstanding citizen, Mr. Roth, had stolen a radiator from someone's car, I would bet a minimum sentence would have been 5 years.

Hunting for roaches

The headlines coming from US media seem to indicate that our military is getting ready to declare "Mission Accomplished" in Falujah. Well, I'm not there with them, but sometimes a longer perspective appears called for in determining whether success can actually be claimed.

25 years ago I lived outside of Washington, D.C. in Old Town, Alexandria, VA. Prior to that I had lived for 5 years in Lexington, Kentucky. Both places where I lived had roaches. You wouldn't see them if you were actively roaming around the kitchen, but early in the morning or late at night, if you turned on the light to go in, there they would be, scurrying under cupboards and refrigerators, hiding out. I'd fumigate for them frequently, but they would just move to other parts of the apartment buildings and come back a week or two later, no worse for wear.

And that's what I think is going on in Fallujah. Our forces (which according to 7 retired generals in the current issue of rolling stone magazine, are way undermanned: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/6593163?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single7 ) cannot wipe out the roaches in Iraq because they lack the ability to cordon them off and round them up. As I write this, the very last of them are no doubt scurrying to Mosul, or Baghdad or a hundred other places where they can hide out before their next unmanned bomb or sniper attack on our forces. Those civilians unlucky enough to have been trapped in Fallujah (and make no mistake, the US forces violated international law by refusing to let civilians leave prior to the offensive's start this past week) provided probably the majority of the casualties. The blog site Baghdad Burning ( http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/) has news of this as does an article in Scotland's press. http://www.sundayherald.com/46056 They make for horrific reading.

We have not stomped out the roaches in Iraq. We have only created more.

Ashcroft meets equal in Gonzales

Ok, I stole this from Eric Alterman, but he used my favorite term:

Can anyone be a worse attorney general than John Ashcroft? Meet Alberto Gonzales who never met a provision of the Geneva Convention he couldn’t find a way to ignore. Congratulations Mr. President. I promise to stop misunderestimating you, right now.


12 Nov 2004

further thoughts:

This confirmation will be the first test of new Senate Minority leader Harry Reid from Nevada. I am afraid that Sen. Reid, coming from a red state, will have the same handicaps that hindered Sen. Daschle in the role (and alert readers will note it was my frustration w/ Daschle that led to the creation of this blog...).

Further, if latino groups are mobilized by the Bush administration to chant racism against Dems opposed to his appointment, I would suggest that said latino groups be directed to something that has a more substantial and immediate effect on the welfare of their members: the proliferation of clone Arizona Proposition 200's around the nation. And please note that some of the current Administration's most fervent supporters are also supporting this idea. What is Arizona Proposition 200 you ask? Glad you did. See Orcinus or http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/ and the following for more information: http://tinyurl.com/5ld9a.

Nothing like the administration for taking attention away from the important stuff.

Most vacuous statement coming from the adminstration post Nov 2

I just cannot decide. There are so many choices. First there was Bush the eternal prevaricator extending the hand of conciliation to those who agree with our goals. Next Ashcroft said that his mission was accomplished--that of reducing the terror threat, which he proved by lowering our color from orange to yellow. Then there was this from Paul Bremer, former procurator of the IPA:

Bremer: "Just Outcome" Possible in IraqLAST UPDATE: 11/10/2004 6:08:31 AMPosted By: Jim Forsyth
(SAN ANTONIO) -- The US diplomat who ran Iraq for 14 months said today that despite the current unrest in that country, he remains convinced that the US effort in Iraq is a 'noble undertaking' and the end result will be 'a just outcome for the Iraqi people.'
Former Civilian Administrator L. Paul Bremer III told a corporate real estate group here today that the US has already rescued Iraq from the 'spectacular economic mismanagement' of thirty years of dictatorship, and begun to turn around a 'chaotic system' in which inflation was running at 115,000 percent a year, and expenditures on everything from health care to public infrastructure was gradually declining.
Bremer, who left Iraq when the Interim Iraqi Government was sworn in in late June, declined to comment on current developments in that country, but he did defend one very controversial decision which many critics of US Iraqi policy blame for many of the current problems, the decision to disband Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army and bar officials of Saddam's Baath Party from holding any role in that country's future military or civilian administration.
"This was very important because it was a signal that not only had we thrown out Saddam, but that the coalition intended to help the Iraqis create a new Iraq," he said. "That was my most important and symbolic decision."
Bremer said he would sum up his 14 months as civilian administrator by saying he served as a 'psychotherapist to a nation suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.'
The career diplomat also criticized US officials back home for attempting to micromanage the rebuilding of Iraq, a process he called the 'eight thousand mile screwdriver.'
He said at one point he had to call National Security Adviser Condolleezza Rice and ask her to stop National Security Agency staffers from giving orders to his employees behind his back.
"I told her that if they had any tasks they felt should be performed, that they should task me and I would give that assignment to the people I felt could best fulfill it," Bremer said, adding that after his conversation with Rice, the 'problem stopped.'
Bremer also criticized US media coverage of the Iraq operation, saying once that during his tenure, 18,000 reconstruction projects were completed, from rebuilding schools to installing generators and repairing water systems.
"These were the good news stories you never read about in US papers," he said.
Security at Bremer's speech before Core Net Global, an organization of commercial real estate professionals, was extraordinarily tight, with four plain clothed security agents and at least two uniformed San Antonio police officers ringing the stage where he spoke. Bremer dodged two attempts by insurgents in Iraq to murder him during his tenure.
While Bremer said he 'has no time for the rear view mirror' when it comes to critics of his administration, one thing that he is afraid will retard efforts to bring true democracy to Iraq is the tendency of Iraqi leaders to see it as a 'zero sum society.'
"Each group sees the other group's advantage as it's disadvantage, and a victory for me is your loss," he said.
After saying he would not comment on the US military effort in Iraq, Bremer said, "I of course am a strong supporter of the liberation of the Iraqi people, I feel strongly that it was the correct decision."


Please, a word of caution. Do not practice psychotherapy w/o a degree and a license to do so. Freud must be spinning around his cigar.

If you didn't think we were in a Crusade

Think again. The second photo in the embedded link in the title of this post is horrifying. Which is not to say that the first photo is any better. A rosary wrapped around the barrel of a tank cannon is beyond abomination.

The Roman Catholic Church should condemn this asap.

Are we masochists?

I've done a fair amount of soul searching in the past 8 days as well as read post mortems on the internet and discussed the results w/ friends and acquaintances. What has become clear to me is that I am not interested in blaming John Kerry or John Edwards for anything. I think that the voting irregularities in FL and OH are sufficient to cause most considerate folks to start to demand recounts and verification of the votes. But that is grist for another mill, another time.

What I am truly struck by is the politics of victimization. I read one commentator, whose name is lost in the fog at present, who thinks that Democrats have and are behaving like victims of domestic violence. And I think he has a point there. Democrats have always been willing to take abuse, both from within and without, and turn the other cheek or seriously discuss the merits. The Republicans don't even let it on their porch. I think these differences in approach are telling about the mindsets of the two parties and it is continuing to permit the demonization of Democrats that is going on in the press today.

And the Democrats don't either realize it or they contribute to it themselves. Case in point. There's a very funny rant out in the blogosphere at htttp://www.fuckthesouth.com. I posted it on a political discussion site and was immediately vehemently denouced by Democrats for conduct unbecoming. Yet not 2 hours previously a rant advocating elimination of the Democrats that the author admitted was modeled on Swift's 'A Modest Proposal,' (which btw advocated eating Irish babies during the height of the famine) with the only distinction, the author said, was that Swift was satirizing and HE was not, garnered not one whit of condemnation.

When I was in college I was on the staff of the school newspaper which at that time was being run by a couple of hard core feminists--very au courant for 1972. We had one male columnist whose weekly column was rejected by the editors when he wrote about how a friend of his had shit in a hat and given it to him as a 21st birthday present, from which he drew parallels about coming of age in the VN era. Too crass was the editors' comment. In that same issue, there was a column by a feminist who led off the article with a definition of 'menses,' and proceeded to talk about that function and its oppression in society. The next week, the male columnist delivered a diatribe, which at least the editors were open minded enough to print, that contrasted the banned column with the published one and asked: why was one bodily function not ok and the other one was?

So why is it ok to trash Democrats in the most unkind and cruel manner, and yet Democrats condemn this same tactic when applied to Republicans? Democrats will remain in the one down position unless they get a lot better at recognizing and attacking Republican bigotry. Democrats can start their rebuilding process by leaving their more aggressive brethren alone to seek out and engage the Republicans nastily and vociferously, and not sanctimoniously condemning them. We need that vanguard.

For additional thoughts, I would recommend: http://mattwelch.com/archives/week_2004_11_07.html#002860

Something to cheer you up

as we grieve our losses.

Some definitions, proving once again that puns are the lowest form of humor.

1. Coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon.

2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much
weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having
a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while
drunk.

5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.

6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which
you absentmindedly answer the door in your
nightgown.

7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle (n.), an olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence (n.) the emergency vehicle that picks
you up after you are run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified demeanor
assumed by a proctologist immediately before he
examines you.

13. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his
conversation with Yiddish expressions.

14. Pokemon (n), A Jamaican proctologist.

15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), The belief that, when you
die your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck
there.

16. Circumvent (n.), the opening in the front of
boxer shorts.



I'm gonna become a frisbeetarian to take on all those right wing assholes.