For my mere support of Hillary Clinton, I have been called a racist, more times than I can count. One of the refuges I have found in this crazy blogosphere, has been Anglachel’s Journal.

In her post today, she touches on a subject very close to me.  Read more 

I know a lot of Hillary supporters refer to her speech at the UN Women’s conference in Beijing in 1995. So, today, I decided to take a closer look at the whole speech, especially in the context of Senator Obama’s remark on abortion and the need to respect the anti-choice position (just like we should respect and understand anti-LGBT positions). Again, remember, this speech was delivered 13 years ago, on one of these trips that Hillary took where she just shook hands with officials and watched little girls dance (snark). The audio is embedded below, otherwise, I selected a few excerpts (the full text is here, with video as well).

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The topic of WTDAMAF?(What To Do About Michigan And Florida?) has been discussed ad naseum , and I’m not trying to rehash them out here. But one argument that is always brought up, by someone supporting Obama, is that Clinton’s entire stance is politically motivated. But, that is as that may be. The underlying point to me is that Obama is not. Period. End of discussion.

The right to vote is fundamental to democracy. Any candidate who can not stand up for that principle, in a primary, does not deserve my vote in that primary.  Read more 

I guess someone has to say it. Holden, my secret love, has this great series about what Chimpy says and how he talks. Not that actual humans can understand the Decider’s vernacular, but you know, some blogs shame “quality” SCLM analysis of our Chimperor and Holden’s “Your Preznit Speaks” series is one. So I feel compelled to point out something I really hate, something that I’m told slipped into a certain speech today. Here’s the Hard Truth: Black people don’t have and haven’t had real power in this county. It’s pointless and stupid and racist to blame us for being poor, lacking in political authority and agency, or not being rich and connected. I decided this morning my word of the day would be ’canard.’ I didn’t know how approrpriate that would prove to be.

Today, right now, in this political moment, there is plenty of guilt, plenty of blame. Lots of people can have a slice of that cake. But on the grand scale of things, the amount of guilt and blame Black people “own” is pretty minor. Boilerplate: some poor white (and Asian, and Latina, and 1stNat, and…) folks who are straight men and women are also in this sorry club. But specifically, speaking of “what Black people gotta do” to make the world right is…well, Bushian. Bushist? Bushesque? I know it’s racist.

Bush will be gone soon, we need to coin a phrase. Anyway, let’s all stop blaming Black America for problems other people caused. Other rich, not Black, Bush-supporting, actually politically enabled people caused. Yo? People who emulate and mirror Bush-speak and think must be…mocked, at least.

That title is probably too clever by half, and I’m sure LB will yell at me for it, but he’s busy elsewhere today so don’t tell him, k? I submit this in full for those who’ve been too busy bashing Dems to notice the Republican frontrunner exploding in the room. It’s been suggested to me that McCain running out of matching funds money practically guarantees Mittster as Veep, I’m not sure if I’m convinced but we’ll see. Meanwhile, does the above play into the McCain/Iseman fun and games? Gotta love the Brit snark, “another pencil-thin blonde.” Heh. Anyway, pass this one on to your Republican friends bitching about the “lying, librul JooYork Times.” This is what blogs do best, and GOS is still a nice place to go for that. Remember, it’s “what he did for her afterwards, not what he did to/under/with her in their as-yet undefined private time before.”  Read more 

Does this sound reasonable to you?

MJ: Why do you think Mxzlplck and Washington should talk with Hoominnyhoo?

EH: Hoominnyhoo has, unfortunately, demonstrated that they are more credible and effective as a political force inside Grebular society than The Gnutish, the movement founded by [former Gnutishi president] Mootang Wibbleford, which is now more than ever discredited as weak, enormously corrupt and politically inept. […]

It makes sense to approach a possible initial understanding including Hoominnyhoo—but not exclusively Hoominnyhoo—at a time when they are still asking for one. No side will gain from a flare up leading to Mxzlplck re-entering Little Grebula in strength to undo the ill-fated unilateral disengagement of 2005. […]  Read more 

I have to do this quickly, but here are some thoughts that spring from this post Paul was gracious enough to inspire.

Only now that Obama has a miniscule lead of 128,736 in the number of votes cast (and that includes assigning all the “uncommitted” votes in Michigan to Obama) has the media focused on total votes cast.

This is the sound of CD blowing a gasket. Not with Paul, but with the whole idea that “uncommitted” must mean Obama. Dammit, does anyone care that Edwards, who came in 2nd in Iowa and at that time that ’meant something’ to primary participants, was not on the ballot? Or that votes for him would not be counted, even write-ins? Why is this no longer a valid question under discussion as the “votes” in MI are or are not counted/alloted? No, I will not “just get over” disenfranchisement, and anyway, you should care that people like me voted in the Republican primary as you ’figure out’ what the Dem primary vote count “means.”  Read more 

Obviously, I agree with the idea: you don’t smoke in front of nor around young children. Period. That’s pretty obvious to me, most parents, and smokers of all kinds everywhere. Yet I have some fond memories of sitting with Grandpa after dinner at the ranch, sometimes inside and sometimes out on the porch, watching the sun go down over the lake, the sweet smell of his pipe a perfect compliment to fading odors of the fried fish and greens Grandma used to cook for him. I suppose it’s a small sacrifice to make, to know that my nieces and nephews will be healthy nonsmokers with no romantic or foolish notions about why smoking is “cool.”

Still, I call bullshit. There are a hundred better ways to ’protect the children.’ Starting with universal health care and programs for poor parents to help them quit smoking. You and I both know how this law will be used: when they can’t find another legal reason to pull over some black or brown person, bingo! Time to Protect the Children! We can add “Smoking while Black” to “Driving while Black” and the rest of that long list of Laws for Thee but not for Me. Yes, I’m sure some poor White folks will get tagged by this too, but trust me- you won’t see a lot of rich smokers worring about this.

I’ll point out that cars themselves produce quite a large amount of poisons that one breaths while around them or in them. Are we rushing off to regulate their emissions, punishing automakers for failing to employ the cleanest technology and make the air safer for even those kids who walk and take buses? No, of course not. But we can pass laws that punish the poor regressively, and give even more opportunity to racist cops to crack heads, all to “protect the children.”

The Battle of Pelenor Fields.  Read more 

Praise Be to the FSM, that we still have McClatchy:

WASHINGTON — Ten years ago, a Canadian icebreaker was parked in an ice pack 300 miles north of Pt. Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost point in the United States, and allowed to drift so scientists could study the Arctic environment and global warming’s effect on it. The icebreaker drifted with the ice for a year and more than 1,800 miles as researchers tracked changes in the Arctic ice pack.

Top-secret U.S. spy satellites were among those tracking the icebreaker. With the approval of a little-noticed government body known as the Civil Applications Committee, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency released nearly 60 photos to scientists.

The committee, under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Geological Survey, reviews civilian requests for classified reconnaissance information and makes recommendations to the intelligence community, which has the final say about what gets declassified. Such intelligence data can be helpful to scientists studying everything from volcanoes, forest fires, earthquakes and landslides to climate change, hurricanes, flooding and pollution.

Now, however, the Bush administration plans to abolish the committee and create a office in the Department of Homeland Security to review such requests and others from law enforcement agencies.  Read more 

in a diary at DKos that may reveal what the GOP’s hold on Congressional Democrats really is.  Read more 

This one has flown over more than a few atrocities, too.

Good Boy, Jim. The number that matters? 500% That’s the amount of increase in our prison populations, in just 30 years. I knew it was bad, I didn’t know it was that bad.

I don’t know if anything will come of these hearings, but I’m glad to see Webb at least bringing it to our attention. I think, and have said many times before, that money is the key to ending the drug war. That is, the country is broke, and increasingly the choice will be food and health care for children and the elderly, or millions to prison companies who incarcerate hippies caught with a couple of joints. Via the ever essential DrugWar Rant.  Read more 

These two stories have nothing to do with each other. Leo has fans.

In the last several months, the New York Times has run four pieces defending Leo Strauss from his critics. By comparison, the Times has run no pieces in which Strauss is actually criticized, which suggests an odd editorial posture. Indeed, the Times seems to have mounted a veritable campaign for the defense of the beleaguered Leo Strauss, which seems strange considering that he has been dead for over thirty years.  Read more 

No, I’m not going to do it. But we seem to get not a few of his supporters around here, so I’m curious. Why do you like him so much, and what makes him better/different than your other Republican choices? Ron Paul’s official site. I know a little bit about him and I’ve said in the past that of all the Republican candidates, he seems the least evil. My mind is open, and if you think you can make a good case for him, I want to hear it.

The city of Dallas has gained a truly diabolical distinction in having had to release from prison sentences 13 men convicted of crimes that they did not do. In these cases, DNA evidence was the proof of innocence. If the prisoners were living in a time before this, their convictions would have stood.

The 13 men who have been released have all had portions of their lives wasted by their wrongful conviction. They are a good example of a large hole in our system of justice. They also should cause serious review of the hazards of punishment by execution.  Read more 

And some people thought he’d make a good preznit:

richard gephardt or just plain “dick”  Read more 

I’m not an isolationist, but at this point I think that the combination of looming crises at home and total failure abroad = come home and go back to the drawing board.  Read more 

There is no possible way Nancy Pelosi had any idea who was behind this proposal. However, should someone bring this background to her attention, she might want to find a way to recind this invitation, like, pronto.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has approved a Robert E. Lee birthday celebration on April 7th at Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) Chapter No. 644.

Sounds harmless so far, right? The UDC is a legitimate historical organization, not unlike the Daughters of the American Revolution and similar descendants groups. This particular chapter, however, brings along some unfortunate baggage:

The organization is being joined in the celebration by the Jefferson Davis Camp No. 305 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). Richard Hines, the commander of the Jefferson Davis Camp No. 305 is the major financial sponsor of Kirk Lyons, the white supremacist lawyer for the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations, according to John Edward Hurley, president of the Confederate Memorial Association.  Read more 

One can hope.

What’s fun is that she’s got records from early Clenis to current Bush…did she employ boys as well as women? Someone wanted JimmyJeff in the WH late night, 170+ times. Not everyone could afford his services, so it’ll be interesting to see if this “national security” matter reveals things that are not secure, or national.

Heh.

Some readers have complained Corrente is too cynical, and not trusting enough in the process of democracy as employed by the newly majority party. Well, Lambert- looks like they’re not going to earn back that “-ic” anytime soon:

WASHINGTON - Top House Democrats retreated Monday from an attempt to limitBush’s authority for taking military action against Iran as the leadership concentrated on a looming confrontation with the White House over the Iraq war.

Officials said Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) and other members of the leadership had decided to strip from a major military spending bill a requirement for Bush to gain approval from Congress before moving against Iran.

Conservative Democrats as well as lawmakers concerned about the possible impact on Israel had argued for the change in strategy.  Read more 

Oops. Herr Gropinator has gone off the reservation:

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Let’s review. Bill Clinton liked cigars, although he kept that more or less to himself before the Monica thing made it “fashionable” to joke about it. Betty Ford was a drunk. Pickles was a pot dealer and “go to girl” for her sorority sisters. Al Gore inhaled, a lot, and did so often with his Negro best friend in school. I haven’t looked it up, but I’m sure each and every major candidate running for high (snicker) office in 08 has “something to be ashamed of” when it comes to poisons in the body. Now we learn that in addition to being a white-wimmin lovin, Koran reading, madrassa schoolmate of his namesake Osama and Afropower paganist, Obama also…gasp…smokes. Cigarettes, that is.

It’s a sad statement that we even have to have this discussion, “oh, but what of the children,” blah blah. The man is running for high office, and he’s rather young- it’s unlikely he’ll die of it during his term if elected. I’ve never seen him light up in front of a camera, and I doubt he ever will. As Sean-Paul and others note, “who cares?” We’ve all got a flaw or two, we’re all human (Republican die hards not counting). But…but(t). In this day and age, I think it’s worth a second look, or thought, or something. What kind of man thinks he’s got an honest shot at office and still smokes?

Being cynical, there are actually positives to this, if you’re a candidate.  Read more