Sasha Undercover

Hey Soccer Fans

2012-01-30T19:50:00.002-05:00

You never explained it to me like this.

Beckham for H&M.

Bondage? No, no. Linkage

2012-01-13T08:23:00.000-05:00

Just think, one of these incredibly white men will be the presidential candidate presented to you by the party of Lincoln. And before you complain, all that restful sleep you have been getting is overrated.

Because I have been neglecting you, my pretties, here are a few things other things you may have missed while I've been self-absorbed.

Police Seek Culprit Who Seriously Injured Man In Spontaneous “Dwarf Toss” by Jonathan Turley

TeBowie

Ben Stein is still a dick.

Ok, calm down. Here is a bunny.

When I Grow Up, or

2011-12-26T10:35:00.000-05:00

Song For A New Year

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

2011-11-28T19:49:00.000-05:00

I find that I'm still grinning.

Metaphor

2011-11-19T18:31:00.000-05:00

Thank you Mike Mitchell

I Don't Have Words

2011-11-08T20:56:00.001-05:00

for how much I miss this woman.

Because I Am An Unrepentant Lifelong Redskins Fan

2011-10-07T10:14:00.003-04:00

#Occupy

2011-10-06T18:44:00.002-04:00

Everybody has a piece of advice for the protesters at Occupy Wall Street. They should put their clothes on. They should stop raising their fists. They should fact-check their handwritten signs. They should appoint leaders who can give pithy quotes to reporters. They should get with an electoral program...
If you spend an hour or two down at Liberty Plaza, as I did with my 8-year-old daughter this past weekend, it’s clear enough. She got the point, at least: especially from the signs that read, “You should teach your kids to share,” and, “Give my mom her money back!! A single working mom…not fair!

And these aren't just folks on the right. It seems as though the left is incessantly whining about the lack of perfection of the first sign of life from anybody who isn't to the right of Attila the Hun. Do they really want everything lousy so that they can snivel and cry in their beer? Are they really so afraid of the lack of order that anything short of instant perfection must be reigned in? What's up with all of the fear and trepidation? Afraid that if you say what you mean somebody won't like you?

Is this the result of an over-privileged middle class afraid of losing 385 television channels? Or a school system spun from Texas-approved text books? Or a struggle to grab what little you can from an economy that is in the toilet?

Maybe it is you, my fearful leftist friends, who are to blame for Barack Obama, you people who seem just like him, who would rather not make waves than make progress. Look in the mirror. Please.

Tea Party

2011-09-17T09:33:00.003-04:00

Thanks to Godless Liberals

Something

2011-09-04T10:22:00.000-04:00

Anything at all is requested.

Ben Stein is on my teevee. I feel like barfing. The only thing that makes it better is that both he and Lewis Black are from Silver Spring. It helps balance things out.

Sarah Palin by TBogg

2011-08-18T19:06:00.001-04:00

This is so exactly right that I can't help but reproduce it.

Go down to the worst trailer park in whatever town you live in. Look for the 50-year old, leather-skinned, gap-toothed, chain-smoking tweaker in filthy sweatpants and a tank top that says “Kitty needs a lickin’”.

That woman?

Well, Sarah Palin is her evil twin…

Don't ever forget.

Oddly enough, linkage

2011-08-14T23:52:00.000-04:00

Just two.

Charles Blow is none too pleased that all of the GOP candidates are "Genuflecting to the Tea Party."

And Warren Buffet says that we should stop coddling the super-rich.

We're Really Really Teeny and the Sky is Really Really Big

2011-06-21T14:20:00.000-04:00

Watch this using HD and full screen.

Plains Milky Way from Randy Halverson .

The Cute Will Kill You

2011-06-17T14:02:00.003-04:00

Baby cheetahs born at the National Zoo each weighing about two pounds. The Washingtonian has this and more pics in a slide show.

On The Passing Of A Great Man

2011-04-18T19:15:00.000-04:00

William Donald Schaefer, one of the Marylanders least likely to be thought of as belonging in an oil painting, has left us.

Think Of This As A Window Into The Past

2011-03-09T22:04:00.000-05:00

International Women's Day

2011-03-08T18:45:00.000-05:00

the centennial. No, that struggle isn't over. Let's not forget.

Gratuitous Slam

2011-02-07T20:56:00.001-05:00

because I'm in a really bad mood.

How does this man get laid?

Thanks TPM.

Seen on a Brick Wall

2011-01-31T19:19:00.002-05:00

a little over a mile from the Capitol

Learn from Egypt.
Change is in the streets.

.

Pink, Perfect

2011-01-20T21:10:00.000-05:00

May not be easy to watch.

All bullying is the same.

April 16, 1963

2011-01-17T19:39:00.000-05:00

My Dear Fellow Clergymen:
While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.
I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently we share staff, educational and financial resources with our affiliates. Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here.
But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.
Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.
You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.
In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation.
Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham's economic community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants--for example, to remove the stores' humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained. As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of self purification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves: "Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?" "Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?" We decided to schedule our direct action program for the Easter season, realizing that except for Christmas, this is the main shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic-withdrawal program would be the by product of direct action, we felt that this would be the best time to bring pressure to bear on the merchants for the needed change.
Then it occurred to us that Birmingham's mayoral election was coming up in March, and we speedily decided to postpone action until after election day. When we discovered that the Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene "Bull" Connor, had piled up enough votes to be in the run off, we decided again to postpone action until the day after the run off so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues. Like many others, we waited to see Mr. Connor defeated, and to this end we endured postponement after postponement. Having aided in this community need, we felt that our direct action program could be delayed no longer.
You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.
One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken in Birmingham is untimely. Some have asked: "Why didn't you give the new city administration time to act?" The only answer that I can give to this query is that the new Birmingham administration must be prodded about as much as the outgoing one, before it will act. We are sadly mistaken if we feel that the election of Albert Boutwell as mayor will bring the millennium to Birmingham. While Mr. Boutwell is a much more gentle person than Mr. Connor, they are both segregationists, dedicated to maintenance of the status quo. I have hope that Mr. Boutwell will be reasonable enough to see the futility of massive resistance to desegregation. But he will not see this without pressure from devotees of civil rights. My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."
We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness"--then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."
Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I it" relationship for an "I thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.
Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal. Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?
Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.
I hope you are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.
Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.
We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws.
I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn't this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn't this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Isn't this like condemning Jesus because his unique God consciousness and never ceasing devotion to God's will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see that, as the federal courts have consistently affirmed, it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber. I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.
You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best known being Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro's frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible "devil."
I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle. If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies--a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare.
Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march; let him make prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; let him go on freedom rides -and try to understand why he must do so. If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history. So I have not said to my people: "Get rid of your discontent." Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And now this approach is being termed extremist. But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . ." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
I had hoped that the white moderate would see this need. Perhaps I was too optimistic; perhaps I expected too much. I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action. I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still all too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some -such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boyle--have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. Others have marched with us down nameless streets of the South. They have languished in filthy, roach infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as "dirty nigger-lovers." Unlike so many of their moderate brothers and sisters, they have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful "action" antidotes to combat the disease of segregation. Let me take note of my other major disappointment. I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commend you, Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a nonsegregated basis. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College several years ago.
But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church. I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen.
When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church. I felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.
In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. I had hoped that each of you would understand. But again I have been disappointed.
I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers declare: "Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is your brother." In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: "Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern." And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, un-Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.
I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South's beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: "What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?"
Yes, these questions are still in my mind. In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.
There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators."' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent--and often even vocal--sanction of things as they are.
But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.
Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to jail with us. Some have been dismissed from their churches, have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment. I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence across the pages of history, we were here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation -and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands. Before closing I feel impelled to mention one other point in your statement that has troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing violence." I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.
It is true that the police have exercised a degree of discipline in handling the demonstrators. In this sense they have conducted themselves rather "nonviolently" in public. But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation. Over the past few years I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends. Perhaps Mr. Connor and his policemen have been rather nonviolent in public, as was Chief Pritchett in Albany, Georgia, but they have used the moral means of nonviolence to maintain the immoral end of racial injustice. As T. S. Eliot has said: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason."
I wish you had commended the Negro sit inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy two year old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: "My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest." They will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience' sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?
If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.
I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.
Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood, Martin Luther King, Jr.

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This One's For Me

2011-01-10T18:19:00.003-05:00

Debbie Friedman who wrote and sings this prayer for healing died yesterday of pneumonia, a complication of her long term multiple sclerosis. This morning members of Gabbie Giffords congregation in Tuscon sang it praying for the Congresswoman's recovery.

I'm posting it here because it is the only way I know to heal the world today. Maybe I'll think of something better tomorrow.

Civil Rights

2010-12-22T20:28:00.001-05:00

This was such a touching moment, a reminder that we can do important things, become better people, and let people be who they are. I'm taking a day to be joyous before I go back to working for the next baby step.

Poker

2010-12-06T18:46:00.002-05:00

Update below.

Apparently a childhood in Hawaii, Kansas, and Indonesia leaves a young boy devoid of poker-playing experience. I had a glimmer of hope that after the election some of his advisers would explain how LBJ got things done and he would get a clue.

Yes, I'm a cockeyed optimist.

So he met the Republicans who were stomping their little feet and shouting that if they didn't get every single thing they wanted, they'd burn the house down. And he couldn't manage to say "Ok, burn the house down" then go on television and explain how they were out back lighting matches. Instead he said "No, no, I'll give you what you want. Don't burn the house down. And have a cookie."

If you don't understand this concept perhaps you need to read "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."

I think I'll support Bernie Sanders for president in 2012. At least he has a spine.

Update 12/7/10, evening: Bernie Sanders just held a press conference with about 2,000. Here is an early set of notes.

The Horror!!!

2010-11-19T13:34:00.000-05:00

The rumor is that Nike is taking over uniform production for the NFL in 2012. This is rumored to be the Redskins uniform. The rest of the horrorshow (which may be slow to load but worth it) is at JoeBuddenTV.

Yes, it is horrid but you had to know.

My Epiphany

2010-09-17T11:37:00.000-04:00

I had an epiphany the other day. I was not on the road to Damascus. Rather is was driving down New Jersey Avenue looking at the U. S. Capitol building in the morning light. And with that epiphany I changed my mind about Barack Obama.

I have been horribly impatient with him, with the pace of progress, with the oppressive burden of 30 years of idiocy and pseudo-conservatism. Like many liberals, I wanted everything done now. I wanted a dynamic president who demanded change. Now.

But I was wrong.

Bear with me while I digress.

Once upon a time -- just about half a century ago -- we elected another young president, the first Roman Catholic, to the presidency. He wasn't a liberal as he may romantically seem in retrospect, but he was a breath of fresh air. He was visibly strong in the face of miitary threats and talked about wonderful plans. In the beginning he seemed like the answer to the plodding Eisenhower years, yet he accomplished little.

Folks tend to toss that off as the result of his assassination, but I don't think that's true. I think he was destined to be a different kind of agent of change. His main job was to make a Roman Catholic president not so scary to the American people, to reassure us that the Pope wasn't in charge of Washington. (This may seem ridiculous to folks now, but it wasn't then. It was a huge issue.) And he did that. He put to rest the concerns about putting a Roman Catholic into the White House. And he created a space wherein his successor was able to accomplish some of what Mr. Kennedy spoke of.

I think that Mr. Obama is another such president.

It now seems to me that Mr. Obama's job is to show us that we needn't be afraid of an African-American president, to reassure us that there won't be watermelon growing on the White House lawn, to teach us that we don't have to cringe in fear because a black man walks down the street or hails a cab. He can't do that by being angry, by being insistent, by pushing us and rushing us and making demands. He can only do that by being the rock steady person that he appears to be, unflappable and pleasant.

Perhaps if he survives his first term he can be more dynamic in his second. Or perhaps cleaning up the mess of the past 30 years will have to wait for his successor. But I am convinced we, as a nation, need this time. We need the zealots and bigots to rage and scream while the president stays steady. And by doing just that he allows this nation with its horridly racist undertones to move just a little bit closer to a place where race doesn't matter.

Simple Post

2010-08-11T18:47:00.001-04:00

What Digby said ... All of it. With regard to this new meme that we should never allow a Mosque to be built --

Permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the United States of America, let alone the monstrosity planned for Ground Zero. This is for one simple reason: each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government.

Each one is a potential jihadist recruitment and training center, and determined to implement the “Grand Jihad”

(I'm not linking to that crap. You can find it.)

Digby says:

Normally I would think we could ride out this latest wave of nativism and racism, but there are two factors that make it more dangerous than usual. The first, of course, is the economy which looks like it's not going to recover smartly thus giving this impulse more oxygen than it might otherwise have. The second is that the right wing demagogues have an entire industry now devoted to creating and nurturing these wedge issues for political and financial gain. The culture warriors have just shifted their strategy away from "family values" to their other stand-by, "stop the boogeyman." It's all part of the same throwback tapestry, but different times require difference emphasis. We're officially in the "the foreigners and blacks are ruining everything" portion of the show.

And it gets worse every day.

Hall of Fame

2010-08-07T15:48:00.002-04:00

Smoking

2010-08-07T10:18:00.000-04:00

A note on the nature of addiction.

I quit smoking cigarettes on July 4, 2001. I mean quit. Not a single cigarette; not a single puff.

I was just walking down the hall of my home and had an overwhelming craving for a cigarette. I waited, intrigued and curious, and it passed. But it never goes away. It gets less frequent. But the impulse is as strong as it ever was.

No wonder folks don't stay quit.

Autumn is Sneaking Up On Us

2010-07-30T20:50:00.000-04:00

It is getting dark earlier, dark when I get up. Joined my first fantasy foodball league this week. And then there is this:

With Apologies To My Jesus-Believing Friends

2010-07-27T21:01:00.001-04:00

and I'm Sorry About The Picture But You Need To Understand What I'm Talking About

Today I was driving home from a difficult day at the office, wending my way through an area which is largely devoid of power thanks to an amazing storm on Sunday. I found myself barely into Maryland in bumper-to-bumper barely moving traffic when I was faced with, standing/sitting in the easement between the sidewalk and street, a seemingly endless review of people wearing "pro-life" shirts and propping up pictures of aborted fetuses. They were seated/standing maybe every thirty feet for about a mile. We, those in vehicles, were trapped, waiting for many turnings of a traffic light ahead. You can get the flavor of the posters and their size from the example on the right which is an exact duplicate of the most frequently occurring one.

These people were not subtle. Being the excellent researcher that I am I have found them on the web and even identified this particular gathering. Here is their flyer (PDF) in case you wish to attend a showing. I am told that they have a right to demonstrate in the easement. I am told they do not need a permit to demonstrate in the easement, although I will check that with the County Executive.

They surely did tick me off. But then one got her ass off of the easement and approached my car. Her breath touched my right passenger's window. I slid the windown down -- surely she saw my beet red face and the steam coming out of my ears -- and she began to move a flyer toward me. I'm afraid I hissed that she should get her fucking bullshit Jesus crap away from my car. She didn't have a heart attack but I think she swallowed her tongue as my window closed.

These people claim that showing these images to children isn't their fault. They blackmail us. Their web site (which I won't link further to) tells me "The images themselves don't harm children, particularly when they have parents who take the time to answer their questions. in fact, we have had parents bring their children to participate in showing the images to the public! And the children do so with pride."

This is obscene by any standard I know. So my mission will be to (1) do everything I know how to do to have these materials declared legally obscene and off limits to anybody under 13 and (2) have anybody who uses their children to engage in these protests declared an unfit parent.

Sorry about the rant, but stay out of my face and you won't force me there.

You Call It Class Warfare Because You Don't Want Me To Talk About It

2010-07-25T11:08:00.000-04:00

or The Ongoing Disappearance of the Middle Class

This is the bigger picture that we need to remember every time the Republicans fight any initiative, whine about the deficit, try to eliminate social security, or almost anything else. Their Tea Party supporters don't understand it at all; they're just sheep on board because their anti-gay/women/black/etc. buttons are being pushed. But they'll end up on the bottom too. I think part of the answer is to keep showing them (and everybody else) that the goal is to have nobles and peasants.

The synopsis from (of all things) Yahoo Finance original and graphic source Business Insider

• 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.

•    61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
•    66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.
•    36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything to retirement savings.
•    A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.
•    24 percent of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
•    Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.
•    Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
•    For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.
•    In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.
•    As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
•    The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
•    Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.
•    In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.
•    The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America's corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.
•    In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
•    More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.
•    or the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.
•    This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.
•    Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 - the highest rate in 20 years.
•    Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.
•    The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income.

Washington Earthquake Devastation

2010-07-16T13:29:00.000-04:00

from Famous DC

Tazer Wars

2010-06-25T15:32:00.000-04:00

This one is way more special than usual. Offered without comment.

(CN) - Police Tasered an 86-year-old disabled grandma in her bed and stepped on her oxygen hose until she couldn't breathe, after her grandson called 911 seeking medical assistance, the woman and her grandson claim in Oklahoma City Federal Court. Though the grandson said, "Don't Taze my granny!" an El Reno police officer told another cop to "Taser her!" and wrote in his police report that he did so because the old woman "took a more aggressive posture in her bed," according to the complaint.
Lonnie Tinsley claims that he called 911 after he went to check on his grandmother, whom he found in her bed, "connected to a portable oxygen concentrator with a long hose." She is "in marginal health, [and] takes several prescribed medications daily," and "was unable to tell him exactly when she had taken her meds," so, Tinsley says, he called 911 "to ask for an emergency medical technician to come to her apartment to evaluate her."
In response, "as many as ten El Reno police" officers "pushed their way through the door," according to the complaint.
The grandma, Lona Varner, "told them to get out of her apartment."
The remarkable complaint continues: "Instead, the apparent leader of the police [defendant Thomas Duran] instructed another policeman to 'Taser her!' He stated in his report that the 86 year-old plaintiff 'took a more aggressive posture in her bed,' and that he was fearful for his safety and the safety of others.
"Lonnie Tinsley told them, 'Don't taze my Granny!' to which they responded that they would Taser him; instead, they pulled him out of her apartment, took him down to the floor, handcuffed him and placed him in the back of a police car.
"The police then proceeded to approach Ms. Varner in her bed and stepped on her oxygen hose until she began to suffer oxygen deprivation.
"The police then fired a Taser at her and only one wire struck her, in the left arm; the police then fired a second Taser, striking her to the right and left of the midline of her upper chest and applied high voltage, causing burns to her chest, extreme pain and to pass out.
"The police then grabbed Ms. Varner by her forearms and jerked hands together, causing her soft flesh to tear and bleed on her bed; they then handcuffed her.
"The police freed Lonnie Tinsley from his incarceration in the back of the police car and permitted him to accompany the ambulance with his grandmother."
Tinsley says the cops capped it all off by having his grandmother "placed in the psychiatric ward at the direction of the El Reno police; she was held there for six days and released."
"As a result of the wrongful arrest and detention, the plaintiff Lona M. Varner suffered the unlawful restraint of her freedom, bodily injury, assault, battery, the trashing of her apartment, humiliation, loss of personal dignity, infliction of emotional distress and medical bills."
They seek punitive damages for constitutional violations, from the City of El Reno, Duran, Officers Frank Tinga and Joseph Sandberg, and 10 Officers Does.
They are represented by Brian Dell of Oklahoma City.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/06/24/28330.htm

Don't Want

2010-05-24T21:04:00.003-04:00

From The Guardian

Want

2010-05-22T10:36:00.001-04:00

From The Sartorialist

Term Limits for the Supreme Court

2010-05-11T12:05:00.000-04:00

Mr. Yglesias points out that every time there is a Supreme Court vacancy he argues against lifetime appointments. I usually ignore him but it is time to point out that I profoundly disagree.

He argues about alternative strategies, term lengths, and the like but outside of pointing to age and other minor flaws, fails to provide a solid, cogent argument favoring the change. He ultimately says "fixed-term system would create a predictable relationship between winning presidential elections and appointing justices, and it could also contain a sensible process for replacing a sick or dead justice." That doesn't seem like much of a reason to create such a profound change.

Let me address what I think are minor points first. He argues that there is "undue weight on throwing up young appointees." I think that there is a lot of value in having appointees of all ages. "Throwing up" young appointees on a court with a system of lifetime appointment helps create a mix of ages on the court. It think it is a positive rather than negative thing.

I don't share his concern about the current system generating a lot of randomness. Life is filled with randomness. Our political system is filled with randomness. Efforts to control that will, of necessity, fail. Meteors fall into buildings. Young people die.

As for the current model, I think that people grow in the job. They learn. Then gradually change their perspectives. They apply law to new people and situations. They learn to work with one another in spite of themselves. Over time they don't always end up like they started. And some of that means that they become more wise. A look at the career of Earl Warren will give you an idea of what I mean. This wouldn't happen with a finite appointment.

The fixed-term model that Mr. Yglesias proposes -- a single non-renewable term -- is already in place for the Comptroller General who has a single 15 year term and retires at full salary. However it doesn't remove the political or financial considerations. In fact it may amplify them. The most recent Comptroller General removed himself after about a decade to take a position as President of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. They were able to trade on his previous job title. And all of the contacts made during his term provided him with a fine rolodex. In other words that fixed-term model just provides a foundation for a more powerful lobbyist.

Think of a lifetime court appointment as tenure. As the formation of a group of knowledgeable people we hope will become wise. Folks who can learn to base their personal self-worth on their ability to be fair, to work for everyone, to maintain integrity. That isn't worth giving up.

Kent State Redux, Guard Ordered to Fire

2010-05-09T22:32:00.000-04:00

A tape of the killings at Kent State has been forensically analyzed using current technology and what most believed along has been confirmed. The guardsmen were ordered to fire.

The Ohio National Guardsmen who fired on students and antiwar protesters at Kent State University on May 4, 1970 were given an order to prepare to shoot, according to a new analysis of a 40-year-old audio tape of the event.
"Guard!" says a male voice on the recording, which two forensic audio experts enhanced and evaluated at the request of The Plain Dealer. Several seconds pass. Then, "All right, prepare to fire!"
"Get down!" someone shouts urgently, presumably in the crowd. Finally, "Guard! . . . " followed two seconds later by a long, booming volley of gunshots. The entire spoken sequence lasts 17 seconds.

Details of the analysis are in this fascinating piece.

Forty Years Ago Today

2010-05-04T19:40:00.003-04:00

The Dead

If you don't know about this, here is a worthwhile commemoration.

Happy Birthday To Me!

2010-04-22T07:36:00.000-04:00

I've Been Neglecting You

2010-03-17T22:07:00.000-04:00

This will be my final word on John Edwards.

Good Morning

2010-03-05T08:10:00.000-05:00

XKCD

A Valentine For You

2010-02-13T18:55:00.000-05:00

Sun Today

2010-02-07T20:34:00.002-05:00

I won't keep this up. I just love the sunny day after a huge snowstorm. That was my view as I drank my lovely mocha this morning and pondered the idiocy of Sarah Palin writing on her hand.

It's A Little Snowy Today

2010-02-06T10:16:00.000-05:00

Another foot left to fall. I'm grateful for electricity and indoor plumbing. (The pic isn't terrific because I wasn't willing to open the glass door and have that 20" of snow piled against it fall into the room.)

Hitler Says It Better Than I can

2010-01-28T18:30:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

2010-01-27T17:51:00.001-05:00

I’d love to talk to you now but I’m tired and have to get ready for the State of the Union thingy tonight. You know, the perfumed bath, lotion, negligee, glass of wine, chocolate covered strawberries, and appropriate mood lighting. I sure hope Mr. Obama is worth it.

CNN Reports Haiti

2010-01-23T08:29:00.000-05:00

Bless their hearts, CNN still retains some reporting capability. Except for a brief, small presence by NBC stars early on, they are the only folks doing actual day-to-day reporting from Haiti. It would be easy to blame racism or a lack of heart but I really think it is that xenophobia so beloved of Pat Buchanan that leaves most news so internal that we rarely recognize Canada. That, in turn, leaves us painfully parochial in most things.

But this is about CNN and their reportage, which is consistently excellent under horrid conditions. Both Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta are everywhere all the time exhibiting compassion while reporting and, in the case of Gupta, performing as an additional physician as needed. They are ably supplemented by Gary Tuchman and what seems to be about half a dozen others whose names I don’t know. Retired General Honore (I know there is an accent over the final ‘e’ but I don’t know how to get it there.) back in a studio in the US explains logistics in a clear, masterful manner.

After a week and a half of this, though, I have reached the point where I just can’t stand the testosterone or the vanity. These pretty boys are doing great work but their still worrying about how their hair looks. It takes a lot away from their credibility exactly like it does when women do the same thing. But worse is that I feel like I am in a locker room much of the time. I have a great deal of trouble believing that there isn’t a single competent woman who could be part of the team. They probably don’t notice but I do. And I just can’t stand it any more.

Dr. Martin Luther King Wasn't A Darling Of The Establishment

2010-01-18T09:28:00.006-05:00

Many of you only have a sense of Dr. Martin Luther King as a sort of martyred elder statesman, someone who expressed what have become platitudes about morning in America that are frequently co-opted by the southern right to show that we should no longer see race, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Dr. King was a rebel, a troublemaker, whose life work was pushing the establishment to do the right thing.

Forty-seven years ago he wrote one of the pieces you don't often hear quoted in dulcet tones. He was a young 34 years old. The established clergy in Alabama had issued a statement called on him to stop stirring the pot, to cease demonstrating for civil rights. It said in part (emphasis added)

We further strongly urge our own Negro community to withdraw support from these demonstrations, and to unite locally in working peacefully for a better Birmingham. When rights are consistently denied, a cause should be pressed in the courts and in negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets. We appeal to both our white and Negro citizenry to observe the principles of law and order and common sense.

In response Dr. King wrote to those clergymen what is now known as his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," a statement with a jail cell, not the Lincoln Memorial, in the background. This is the point of Dr. King's legacy. He says "I am here because injustice is here ..."

I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

Think about the notion that we are all of a piece, that what affects one affects all. A radical notion totally rejected by what used to be the right but what is now considered to be the center. He insists that moderation is the enemy saying

I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

Let me repeat that last part -- "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection." yet that is what we are constantly called on to accept.

Gay people who want to marry are told that they should live with civil unions and be grateful for the crumbs. Formerly middle class people who express dissatisfaction with corporate executive salaries are supposed to be grateful for having jobs.

I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality.

Perhaps most importantly

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself

because ultimately Dr. King's work and life was about upsetting the status quo, about pushing against the established order in an effort to create something better. That is why he was killed instead of ignored.

Read the letter if you haven't or read it again if it has been a while. Spend a few minutes thinking about the purpose of Dr. King's life and death.

Good News on the Taser Wars

2009-12-30T21:45:00.001-05:00

A federal appeals court this week ruled that a California police officer can be held liable for injuries suffered by an unarmed man he Tasered during a traffic stop. The decision, if allowed to stand, would set a rigorous legal precedent for when police are permitted to use the weapons and would force some law enforcement agencies throughout the state -- and presumably the nation -- to tighten their policies governing Taser use, experts said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-taser30-2009dec30,0,3444530.story

The unanimous ruling, issued Monday by a three-judge panel, stemmed from a 2005 encounter in which a former Coronado, Calif., police officer, Brian McPherson, stopped a man for failing to wear a seat belt while driving. The driver, Carl Bryan, who testified that he did not hear McPherson order him to remain in the car, exited the vehicle and stood about 20 feet away from the officer. Bryan grew visibly agitated and angry with himself, but did not make any verbal threats against McPherson, according to court documents. McPherson has said he fired his Taser when Bryan took a step toward him -- a claim Bryan has denied.

Bryan's face slammed against the pavement when he collapsed, causing bruises and smashing four front teeth.

The appellate court did not rule on whether McPherson acted appropriately, but simply cleared the way for Bryan to pursue a civil case against the officer and the city of Coronado in a lower court. Based on Bryan's version of events, though, the judges found that McPherson used excessive force in firing the Taser, since Bryan did not appear to pose any immediate threat.

Old Woman

2009-12-30T14:58:00.009-05:00

Today Patti Smith is 63. This is what an old woman looks like. She'll still rock your ass off of the planet. Here's how she does "Because the Night" now.

Update: Her movie, "Patti Smith: Dream of Life" has it's TV premiere tonight on PBS/P.O.V In my neighborhood it is on MPT at 9:30. YMMV. Apparently that PBS station based in Washington DC doesn't think we need to know about Patti Smith because they aren't carrying it.

h/t The Commie Mutt
Photo Contact Music (obviously)

Apparently I Have Become a Flash Mob Whore - Rome, December 21, 2009

2009-12-24T05:47:00.002-05:00

It's Hanukkah!

2009-12-14T19:05:00.008-05:00

h/t AmericaBlog

Jesus is a raisin

2009-12-07T22:45:00.000-05:00

Another Reason Not One Penny Of Mine Will End Up In A Salvation Army Kettle. Ever,

2009-12-01T19:03:00.005-05:00

Another. Why yes. The first is their homophobia.

This one is special too. In Houston they're asking for parents green cards before their children can have a toy. Does anybody think that if they're doing it in one place that this is just an isolated incident?

Fuckers.

Abe Pollin, 1923-2009

2009-11-24T16:54:00.004-05:00

Abe Pollin was a mensch, a man good to his core. He treated people well, believed in the right stuff, and singlehandedly brought a formerly crappy part of Washington DC back to life. I am often within a few blocks of the Verizon Center that he built with his own money. And some while back used to see those two guys having lunch. Abe was not much more than 5 feet tall, came just past the belt buckle of his basketball players. But he'd get up in the middle of lunch, walk around the luncheonette, and make sure he talked to everybody, smiled, wished them well.

We'll miss him. He did a lot of good for the town and for the sports he was associated with. He'd had a few awful years courtesy of one of those rare diseases we don't pay much attention to, yet he and Irene still got to as many games as he could. I hope she is well. They were together for 65 years.

More about him and the future of the franchise here.

Little Danny Snyder is a Kind and Giving Soul

2009-11-24T13:26:00.005-05:00

He gives out turkeys. Odd that he would just hand out his relatives like that.

From Dan Steinberg, DC Sportsblog

Don't They Have Tests For These Things?

2009-10-26T17:30:00.004-04:00

A Baltimore city police officer was charged with assault after he apparently got scared at a haunted house and pulled a gun on one of the characters.

Baltimore County police said Sgt. Eric Janik pulled his gun on a haunted house employee dressed up as the killer from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" at the Eastpoint Mall.

Police said the employee approached Janik after the haunted house tour was over Sunday night in a bid to get "one last scream."

Instead, Janik pulled his service weapon and pointed it at the man's chest, authorities said. The man dropped the chain saw, which had no chain and was not dangerous.

WBAL

Oh My!

2009-10-15T12:58:00.002-04:00

I've neglected you all. I'm so sorry. Swamped with RL and and and ...

Take heart in Rush's sobbing, the rage over Obama's Nobel, and autumn leaves. Pay no attention to the pseudo-progress of the health care bill. Go work on a Hallowe'en costume. Or go for a walk and kick the leaves like you did when you were little.

Tasers Yet Again

2009-09-25T11:52:00.004-04:00

Pam Spaulding points to Electronic Village's current post detailing each of the 36 taser deaths in the US thus far this year. I won't go into great detail because they have done so, but I must note that 39% of the deaths are black men.

For those of you who think this isn't about you? Digby offers an 81 year old man tased repeatedly.

"Schiaffini walks with a cane, has no use of his left arm after suffering six strokes, and takes several prescription medications daily."

As I often point out, it is way past time to take away this often abused weapon from the abusers.

The Parade Of Losers Continues

2009-09-23T22:57:00.001-04:00

This young lady has discovered just how badly the entire right wing want to look at womens' naughty bits.

You Know You Want It

2009-09-22T21:03:00.003-04:00

Porkulus Southernica

2009-09-09T21:51:00.004-04:00

Rep. Joe Wilson in the act of shouting "You lie!" at the president during the joint session ...

Via CNN

McCarthyism, Barely Disguised

2009-09-07T23:13:00.005-04:00

It's amazing how little the tactics have changed in more than half a century since Joe McCarthy (on the right over there misused his access to the media to accuse people of disloyalty, treason, and undermining the nation without regard to facts or evidence of any kind. Today we see the exact same process taking place, fueled by partisan media outlets who pretend to offer "news" to the American public.

Jon DeVore says it well.

Yeah, this is war. Either the far right puke funnel is brought to heel by utterly destroying its undeserved credibility, something that should have happened long ago, or our democracy plunges into neo-McCarthyite darkness for who-knows-how-long. Which obscure administration or member of Congress will be next? Will it it be a third under-secretary for African affairs, or will it be, um, YOU?...

Yeah, probably me. People like me are often a target when right-wing terrorists are looking around for somebody to aim their peashooters at.

How’s that post-partisanship civility working out? Yeah, I know, regular people get sick and tired of the clown shows, but the clown shows are not a bug, they’re a design feature. They show that many Democrats won’t fight for their principles, or that many Democrats are unprincipled whores, and in either case weakness and whorishness is exposed.

The clowns clown, the pundits pontificate and the “reasonable” Republicans chortle while they watch the polls and congratulate each other on what a great monkey wrench they possess. Next up will be a set of “promises” from the GOP, probably with some grandiose name only a Colbert could appreciate, that will list the requisite demands for lower taxes, bashing of immigrants, fear-mongering against gays and any clever phraseology Frank Luntz crafts to make a shit sandwich look like Pan-bagnat.

Exactly. It's about distraction and fearmongering and tactics, tactics, tactics, all aimed to grab the spotlight, control the message. Meanwhile the moderates who care and the left that is too amazed to lift a finger are falling under the bus.

Remember, they always call the opposition what they are. So whey they claim that Obama is Hitler, there's a good reason to listen to what they are really saying. Doesn't anybody think it's time to stop them?

All Gone Now

2009-08-26T05:55:00.002-04:00

Goodbye.

I hope we will again see politicians who viscerally believe in fairness and justice and are willing to and capable of doing something about it. For all out sakes I hope so.

And don't forget that Teddy put a stake in the heart of Robert Bork, for which we should all be grateful.

End of Summer Food

2009-08-23T20:39:00.003-04:00

Maryland red crab soup. Everything that is abundant -- crabmeat, white corn, tomatoes, etc.,etc. Yum.

(Not my pic, but mine looks the same.)

A Returning To School Gift

2009-08-21T17:46:00.001-04:00

for my friends who teach high school English -- five worst required reading books. So you have advanced warning, two of my least favorite are on the list. The Old Man and the Sea and something -- anything -- by Dickens.

Unexpected Lucidity

2009-08-13T19:36:00.001-04:00

I was brushing my teeth and washing my face at about 5:30 this morning and was suddenly overcome with a wave of gratitude over this hot and cold running water indoors. Most of us are amazingly fortunate.

Political Party Affiliation by State -- WOW

2009-08-04T21:46:00.003-04:00

Gallup (!) finds that so far in 2009 there are 30 red states and 4 (4!) blue states. Check it out.

This is amazing. The only states that are Republican are Utal, Wyoming, Alaska, and Idaho. Alabama leans Republican. They say "That leaves a total of eight states that are competitive in terms of party identification, with none showing a party advantage of greater than two points. These include Mississippi (+1 Republican), North Dakota and Nebraska (even), and Kansas, Arizona, Texas, South Carolina, and Montana (all +2 Democratic)."

The original piece has more details and state-by-state analysis.

via Rachel Maddow

How I Will Spend My Summer Vacation

2009-08-04T19:37:00.003-04:00

In my living room, 90+ degree weather on the way, I'm going to hunker down in the air conditioning.

On Skip Gates and the Police

2009-07-25T20:22:00.001-04:00

What Digby Said. Every single word.

Site to Peruse

2009-07-18T19:10:00.005-04:00

Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians

includes Norm Coleman

Mitch McConnell
and Kevin Bacon

Willie Mays,

2009-07-15T20:34:00.005-04:00

after the all-star game.

Robert Strange McNamara, 1914-2009

2009-07-06T14:14:00.001-04:00

Finally arrives in hell.

OK, I Give Up On Obama

2009-07-01T21:46:00.004-04:00

In fact I loathe him. He thinks the solution to dying of cancer because you can't afford treatment is a hug.

Just like he thinks that the solution to discriminating against gay folks is to invite them in and tell them how he can relate. He's worse that that damn Bill Clinton because he seems sincere.

I Know It Is Fashionable

2009-06-09T05:42:00.002-04:00

to negate everything Mr. Obama does. Yes, I'm disappointed too.

But I remain touched by how well he represented us in Europe. I was shocked to hear from Elie Wiesel that he was the first American president to visit a concentration camp. It was about time, I'd say.

George Tiller Shot To Death at Church

2009-05-31T13:46:00.004-04:00

George Tiller was one of the few people left who provided full health care services for pregnant women.

George Tiller, the Wichita doctor who became a national lightning rod in the debate over abortion, was shot to death this morning as he walked into church services.

Tiller, 67, was shot just after 10 a.m. at Reformation Lutheran Church at 7601 E. 13th, where he was a member of the congregation. Witnesses and a police source confirmed Tiller was the victim.

No information has been released about whether a suspect is in custody. Police said they are looking for white male who was driving a 1990s powder blue Ford Taurus with Kansas license plate 225 BAB.

Photo and news report from the Wichita Eagle.

Terrorism plain and simple. If we are going to disarm, sweep up, and interrogate Muslims for what they might do, why not these people? And when are we going to do something about the gun problem?

I am sickened beyond belief.

It's A Fad!

2009-05-15T11:06:00.005-04:00

Thanks again to BDR and Landru.

With Little Commentary

2009-05-12T06:07:00.002-04:00

For additional commentary see This Guy.

Happy 90th Birthday Mr. Seeger

2009-05-03T22:19:00.003-04:00

At a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Rally, Greenwood, MS. 1963

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I’d seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?

Quote of the Day

2009-05-01T13:18:00.002-04:00

“There are no shortcuts. The fact that a shortcut is important to you, means that you’re a pussy”.

Mark Rippetoe via Vic Magary

H1N1

2009-04-30T21:04:00.003-04:00

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Today

2009-04-22T08:54:00.004-04:00

Courtesy of NASA

I Thought I Was Done With Tea Parties

2009-04-18T08:07:00.004-04:00

but I tripped over this picture at TPM's photo gallery and couldn't resist sharing. This was in Philadelphia, City of Brotherly Love.

Texas Might Secede?

2009-04-16T06:25:00.003-04:00

In case you missed it, Texas Governor Goodhair (I so miss Molly Ivins)

An animated Perry told the crowd at Austin City Hall — one of three tea parties he was attending across the state — that officials in Washington have abandoned the country's founding principles of limited government. He said the federal government is strangling Americans with taxation, spending and debt.

Later, answering news reporters' questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union, though he said he sees no reason why Texas should do that.

"There's a lot of different scenarios," Perry said. "We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot."

How do we get them to do it? Think of all of the benefits. They can worry about their own borders. And the textbooks! Basically they decide how to censor the textbooks that the rest of the country uses because they are such a large market. Suppose the major buyer became California or New York?

I'd feel badly about Austin but not badly enough to continue to pretend that the rest of the place is worth keeping. Go Texas, Go!!

The Teabaggers

2009-04-15T19:02:00.003-04:00

I have been cruising the photos today, trying to select my Very Favorite Sign and I just can't do it. It is like being in a candy shop and having to pick the one best treat. This will have to do for now, but there are so many that are better.

The stupid. It burns!

Benjamin Franklin on Hypocritical Pretenders to Religion

2009-04-11T14:55:00.006-04:00

For some while now religious fundamentalists have been trying to tell us that we are a Christian nation, a religious nation. And for some while now we have stopped teaching history and civics. In an effort to bring a little bit of fact to the discussion and to remind folks that this argument has been going on in this country for 300 years, I bring you a young Ben Franklin who speaks on pretenders to religion and their role in the young nation better than I could.
To the author of the New England Courant.

SIR,

It has been for some Time a Question with me, Whether a Common-wealth suffers more by hypocritical Pretenders to Religion, or by the openly Profane? But some late Thoughts of this Nature, have inclined me to think, that the Hypocrite is the most dangerous Person of the Two, especially if he sustains a Post in the Government, and we consider his Conduct as it regards the Publick. The first Artifice of a State Hypocrite is, by a few savoury Expressions which cost him Nothing, to betray the best Men in his Country into an Opinion of his Goodness; and if the Country wherein he lives is noted for the Purity of Religion, he the more easily gains his End, and consequently may more justly be expos'd and detested. A notoriously profane Person in a private Capacity, ruins himself, and perhaps forwards the Destruction of a few of his Equals; but a publick Hypocrite every day deceives his betters, and makes them the Ignorant Trumpeters of his supposed Godliness: They take him for a Saint, and pass him for one, without considering that they are (as it were) the Instruments of publick Mischief out of Conscince, and ruin their Country for God's sake.

This Political Description of a Hypocrite, may (for ought I know) be taken for a new Doctrine by some of your Readers; but let them consider, that a little Religion, and a little Honesty, goes a great way in Courts. 'Tis not inconsistent with Charity to distrust a Religious Man in Power, tho' he may be a good Man; he has many Temptations "to propagate publick Destruction for Personal Advantages and Security:" And if his Natural Temper be covetous, and his Actions often contradict his pious Discourse, we may with great Reason conclude, that he has some other Design in his Religion besides barely getting to Heaven. But the most dangerous Hypocrite in a Common-Wealth, is one who leaves the Gospel for the sake of the Law: A Man compounded of Law and Gospel, is able to cheat a whole Country with his Religion, and then destroy them under Colour of Law: And here the Clergy are in great Danger of being deceiv'd, and the People of being deceiv'd by the Clergy, until the Monster arrives to such Power and Wealth, that he is out of the reach of both, and can oppress the People without their own blind Assistance. And it is a sad Observation, that when the People too late see their Error, yet the Clergy still persist in their Encomiums on the Hypocrite; and when he happens to die for the Good of his Country, without leaving behind him the Memory of one good Action, he shall be sure to have his Funeral Sermon stuff'd with Pious Expressions which he dropt at such a Time, and at such a Place, and on such an Occasion; than which nothing can be more prejudicial to the Interest of Religion, nor indeed to the Memory of the Person deceas'd. The Reason of this Blindness in the Clergy is, because they are honourably supported (as they ought to be) by their People, and see nor feel nothing of the Oppression which is obvious and burdensome to every one else.

But this Subject raises in me an Indignation not to be born; and if we have had, or are like to have any Instances of this Nature in New England, we cannot better manifest our Love to Religion and the Country, than by setting the Deceivers in a true Light, and undeceiving the Deceived, however such Discoveries may be represented by the ignorant or designing Enemies of our Peace and Safety.

I shall conclude with a Paragraph or two from an ingenious Political Writer in the London Journal, the better to convince your Readers, that Publick Destruction may be easily carry'd on by hypocritical Pretenders to Religion.

"A raging Passion for immoderate Gain had made Men universally and intensely hard-hearted: They were every where devouring one another. And yet the Directors and their Accomplices, who were the acting Instruments of all this outrageous Madness and Mischief, set up for wonderful pious Persons, while they were defying Almighty God, and plundering Men; and they set apart a Fund of Subscriptions for charitable Uses; that is, they mercilesly made a whole People Beggars, and charitably supported a few necessitous and worthless FAVOURITES. I doubt not, but if the Villany had gone on with Success, they would have had their Names handed down to Posterity with Encomiums; as the Names of other publick Robbers have been! We have Historians and ODE MAKERS now living, very proper for such a Task. It is certain, that most People did, at one Time, believe the Directors to be great and worthy Persons. And an honest Country Clergyman told me last Summer, upon the Road, that Sir John was an excellent publick-spirited Person, for that he had beautified his Chancel.

" Upon the whole we must not judge of one another by their best Actions; since the worst Men do some Good, and all Men make fine Professions: But we must judge of Men by the whole of their Conduct, and the Effects of it. Thorough Honesty requires great and long Proof, since many a Man, long thought honest, has at length proved a Knave. And it is from judging without Proof, or false Proof, that Mankind continue Unhappy."

I am, SIR,
Your humble Servant,
SILENCE DOGOOD.
(Pseudonym of Ben Franklin) writing in
The New-England Courant, July 23, 1722

Maddow Interviews Cox About Teabagging

2009-04-11T09:38:00.001-04:00

wherein they both get mad props for keeping as much of a straight face as they were able.

Twitter Jumped The Shark

2009-04-02T18:47:00.001-04:00

when Kos liveblogged his vasectomy earlier today.

My Apologies

2009-04-02T06:11:00.002-04:00

I have been neglecting you. Swamped. And since I haven't done my taxes yet and got a new grill last night, it looks like I'll be neglecting you for a while more. I suppose you could follow me on twitter. Or watch a little teevee from 40 years ago.

Coach K Is Still A Dick

2009-03-19T17:37:00.000-04:00

"Somebody said that we're not in President Obama's Final Four, and as much as I respect what he's doing, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably more than the brackets," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said

Offered Without Comment

2009-03-19T17:21:00.000-04:00

Slow Learners

2009-03-11T06:08:00.001-04:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Basic Cable Personality Clash Skirmish '09

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Economic Crisis

From a "Tea Party"

2009-02-28T09:19:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we discovered that right wingers are the largest consumers of porn and now this. They seem to train them young.

(Photo from David Weigel, Washington Independent)

Hitch

2009-02-23T18:48:00.002-05:00

Has anybody an update on Christopher Hitchens since he was beat up? (I can't make myself go to Slate to check.)

Friday Music Blogging

2009-02-13T18:42:00.001-05:00

because I'm not following the crowd often enough.

Good News!

2009-02-12T16:23:00.003-05:00

David Sirota tells me that Judd Gregg just withdrew his nomination for Commerce Secretary. I don't know more than that but if true, it is good.

(And he tweeted it. Which is why I know so soon. Yay Twitter.)

Do you think he will suddenly discover his ability to vote against the stimulus bill? I do.

This Is Totally Cool!

2009-02-10T18:52:00.004-05:00

At first it looks like a fish-eye shot of the inauguration. But pan in. Anywhere. See if you can find George H.W. Bush and his amazing hat.

Have fun.

This Is Totally Cool!

2009-02-10T18:52:00.001-05:00

It Is Time

2009-02-07T18:16:00.004-05:00

for Obama to go all LBJ on Mitch McConnell's ass.

Telphoning -- Ring, ring ....

BO: Mitch? Barack Obama here. How you doing today?

MM: Um, I'm just fine .. *pause* .. Mr. *pause* Mr. President. How are you?

BO: Well, Mitch, I'm pretty well but I could be better. *silence*

MM: Uh, ... Uh, why ... Uh, what can I do for you?

BO: *laughing* I notice you're having a little trouble with that "Mr. President" part.

MM: *too quickly* Why no Mr. President, I was just a little distracted is all.

BO: That's OK, my boy. You'll get used to it. .....
You see Mitch -- may I call you Mitch?

MM: Of course *cough* Mr. President.

BO: Good, Mitch. Good. You see Mitch, I just wanted to spend a few minutes talking to you about my package.

MM: *coughing fit*

BO: You seem to be having a little trouble there Mitch? I'll wait until you are feeling better. I hope it won't take too long. I have a few more calls to make.

MM: *coughing trails off* I just had a little tickle in my throat Mr. President.

BO: I'm glad you're feeling better Mitch. Now about my package.

MM: *more coughing*

BO: You see, Mitch, my package is real important to me. You may think I'm just another negro that you can ignore, but you'll understand when I say I want it large and I want it fast. And you seem to be getting in my way.

Now I know you want to show your people that you're in charge but Mitch? You aren't. I am.

You see I want this and I want it now.

MM: *haughty, the accent thick as old grits* I don't .. but .. you are ignoring the tax cuts that ..

BO: *cutting him off* There, there, Mitch. You know who won that little election. Your boy gave you all of the tax cuts you're ever going to get. I'm not asking you Mitch.

MM: *sputtering*

BO: I'm just explaining that if you don't help me with my package, and fast, I'll make sure that Kentucky doesn't get one single tax dollar as long as I'm in the White House. I know you aren't up for reelection for a while, but your folks are going to remember. Understand what I'm saying Mitch?

MM: *officious* Yes Mr. President.

BO: I'm sure you'll do the right thing, Mitch. *click*

Sasha Undercover

Hey Soccer Fans

Bondage? No, no. Linkage

Police Seek Culprit Who Seriously Injured Man In Spontaneous “Dwarf Toss” by Jonathan Turley

TeBowie

Ben Stein is still a dick.

Ok, calm down. Here is a bunny.

When I Grow Up, or

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

Metaphor

I Don't Have Words

Because I Am An Unrepentant Lifelong Redskins Fan

#Occupy

Tea Party

Something

Sarah Palin by TBogg

Oddly enough, linkage

We're Really Really Teeny and the Sky is Really Really Big

The Cute Will Kill You

On The Passing Of A Great Man

Think Of This As A Window Into The Past

International Women's Day

Gratuitous Slam

Seen on a Brick Wall

Pink, Perfect

April 16, 1963

This One's For Me

Civil Rights

Poker

The Horror!!!

My Epiphany

Simple Post

Hall of Fame

Smoking

Autumn is Sneaking Up On Us

With Apologies To My Jesus-Believing Friends

You Call It Class Warfare Because You Don't Want Me To Talk About It

Washington Earthquake Devastation

Tazer Wars

Don't Want

Want

Term Limits for the Supreme Court

Kent State Redux, Guard Ordered to Fire

Forty Years Ago Today

Happy Birthday To Me!

I've Been Neglecting You

Good Morning

A Valentine For You

Sun Today

It's A Little Snowy Today

Hitler Says It Better Than I can

Dear Blog,

CNN Reports Haiti

Dr. Martin Luther King Wasn't A Darling Of The Establishment

Good News on the Taser Wars

Old Woman

Apparently I Have Become a Flash Mob Whore - Rome, December 21, 2009

It's Hanukkah!

Jesus is﻿ a raisin

Another Reason Not One Penny Of Mine Will End Up In A Salvation Army Kettle. Ever,

Abe Pollin, 1923-2009

Little Danny Snyder is a Kind and Giving Soul

Don't They Have Tests For These Things?

Oh My!

Tasers Yet Again

The Parade Of Losers Continues

You Know You Want It

Porkulus Southernica

McCarthyism, Barely Disguised

All Gone Now

End of Summer Food

A Returning To School Gift

Unexpected Lucidity

Political Party Affiliation by State -- WOW

How I Will Spend My Summer Vacation

On Skip Gates and the Police

Site to Peruse

Willie Mays,

Robert Strange McNamara, 1914-2009

OK, I Give Up On Obama

Jesus is a raisin