http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26872907/
Whoa.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Shooting the messenger... again
McCain senior campaign advisor Steve Schmidt attacked the New York Times today:
The Times has done a number of investigative pieces on both McCain and Obama, many of them less than positive. Schmidt's outburst was in response to a story on page A18 about ties between McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and lobbyists for Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac.
Of course, this is just a campaign tactic, designed to distract people from the actual content of the Times' reporting. But when politicians feel they can attack the nation's most respected newspaper as "not by any standards a journalistic organization," it goes beyond the typical smear. To me, this seems like part of the Republican attack on the very idea of truth, the idea that there is an objective reality that can be verified. This benefits Republicans, because without objective truth, we are left with gut feelings, which Republicans are expert at manipulating.
It is remarkable that even now, with Americans losing their homes and their jobs due to Republican-led deregulation, they still feed the idea that facts don't matter. But what choice do they have? They can't run on their records.
The New York Times and all other journalists and bloggers must recognize this for the sad tactic it is, and continue their work with new vigor. The truth is out there, and it must be heard!
Whatever The New York Times once was, it is today not by any standard a journalistic organization. It is a pro-Obama advocacy organization that every day impugns the McCain campaign, attacks Sen. McCain, attacks Gov. [Sarah] Palin, excuses Sen. Obama. …
Everything that is read in The New York Times that attacks this campaign should be evaluated by the American people from that perspective — that it is an organization that has made a decision to cast aside its journalistic integrity and tradition, to advocate for the defeat of one candidate — in this case, John McCain — and to advocate for the election of the other candidate, Barack Obama.
The Times has done a number of investigative pieces on both McCain and Obama, many of them less than positive. Schmidt's outburst was in response to a story on page A18 about ties between McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and lobbyists for Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac.
Of course, this is just a campaign tactic, designed to distract people from the actual content of the Times' reporting. But when politicians feel they can attack the nation's most respected newspaper as "not by any standards a journalistic organization," it goes beyond the typical smear. To me, this seems like part of the Republican attack on the very idea of truth, the idea that there is an objective reality that can be verified. This benefits Republicans, because without objective truth, we are left with gut feelings, which Republicans are expert at manipulating.
It is remarkable that even now, with Americans losing their homes and their jobs due to Republican-led deregulation, they still feed the idea that facts don't matter. But what choice do they have? They can't run on their records.
The New York Times and all other journalists and bloggers must recognize this for the sad tactic it is, and continue their work with new vigor. The truth is out there, and it must be heard!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
i think of It too
A fellow UMass Vagina Monologues cast member posted this today:
***************
Eve Ensler, the American playwright, performer, feminist and activist best known for writing "The Vagina Monologues" and founding V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, wrote the following about Sarah Palin.
Drill, Drill, Drill
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears. I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them.
It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminis ts. But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war. I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.
Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said hersel f of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."
Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not. She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.
Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States . She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth. Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.
Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be. I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S. , but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.
If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain. Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?
Eve Ensler
****************
i remember shivering on stage as my voice found depth i didn't know it had
performing Say It: For The Comfort Women.
Is there no compassion whatsoever in Palin? Does she not know what goes on in this world?
***************
Eve Ensler, the American playwright, performer, feminist and activist best known for writing "The Vagina Monologues" and founding V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, wrote the following about Sarah Palin.
Drill, Drill, Drill
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears. I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them.
It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminis ts. But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war. I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.
Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said hersel f of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."
Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not. She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.
Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States . She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth. Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.
Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be. I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S. , but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.
If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain. Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?
Eve Ensler
****************
i remember shivering on stage as my voice found depth i didn't know it had
performing Say It: For The Comfort Women.
Is there no compassion whatsoever in Palin? Does she not know what goes on in this world?
Johnny sure knows his foreign relations!
In an interview on a Spanish-language radio program yesterday, John McCain was unable to recognize the name of Spain's prime minister. He was asked if he would meet with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and McCain clearly assumes the interviewer is talking about some Latin American dictator.
The relevant part starts at 2:58
I mean, I wouldn't have recognized his name either, but I'M NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT!
Perhaps McCain call pull a George Bush and address him by "Amigo! Amigo!" Except in that case, Bush was talking to the prime minister of ITALY!!
Our country has the dumbest representation on earth.
UPDATE: McCain is now defending
his refusal to meet with the Prime Minister of Spain as some kind of principled stand (against one of our closest allies??!) rather than the obvious mistake that it was.
God help us.
The relevant part starts at 2:58
I mean, I wouldn't have recognized his name either, but I'M NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT!
Perhaps McCain call pull a George Bush and address him by "Amigo! Amigo!" Except in that case, Bush was talking to the prime minister of ITALY!!
Our country has the dumbest representation on earth.
UPDATE: McCain is now defending
his refusal to meet with the Prime Minister of Spain as some kind of principled stand (against one of our closest allies??!) rather than the obvious mistake that it was.
God help us.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Meanwhile...
I feel like while the eyes of America have turned to the 2008 candidates, Bush's activities have sort of fallen into comfortable shadows. What has W been up to in his last months of presidency? There were rumours he was actually making positive progress, i.e. in terms of Ike. Fiction?
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Whooa, that's bad
NYT's Bob Herbert discusses the McCain health care plan. Turns out McCain actually wants to tax employer-provided health insurance. The result, according to an independent analysis by scholars at Columbia, Harvard, Michigan, and Perdue:
The net result will be to “almost certainly will be to increase family costs for medical care.”
Damn! I knew his campaign was dishonorable, but apparently that's nothing compared to what he would do if actually elected!
The McCain plan will force millions of Americans into the weakest segment of the private insurance system — the nongroup market — where cost-sharing is high, covered services are limited and people will lose access to benefits they have now.
The net result will be to “almost certainly will be to increase family costs for medical care.”
Monday, September 15, 2008
This is more like it!
Yes! This is what I've been wanting Obama to say for quite a while:
Exactly! McCain has based his image around the concept of "honor" (and "maverick"), but has run a campaign of outright lies. So don't give him that honor card for free anymore--he no longer deserves it.
Also, it appears our economy is fucked. What's up with that?
Exactly! McCain has based his image around the concept of "honor" (and "maverick"), but has run a campaign of outright lies. So don't give him that honor card for free anymore--he no longer deserves it.
Also, it appears our economy is fucked. What's up with that?
Friday, September 12, 2008
Well...
Is third post too early to introduce the Sarah Palin - Ann Coulter slash fiction phenomenon?
Palin is the queen of foreign relations
I'd like to say in reference to the last post, excuse me, Mr. Allen, but "lack of foreign policy experience"?? Let me clue you in.
FACT: Palin is the governor of a state that borders the Yukon Territory on one side and the water next to Siberia on the other.
No other governor in the U.S. has that kind of foreign affairs responsibility. And, frankly, I don't think there's another who could handle it, either. An Eskimo would sooner cut your throat, and eat your blubber, and painstakingly carve pictures of elk into your bones, and make an igloo out of your skin than sign a border agreement. Has Sarah Palin let this happen to her in her almost two full years as governor? No. Did it happen to every previous governor of Alaska within days of taking office? Yes.
Do I even have to mention that Palin and her state are in closest proximity to our most important foreign ally, Santa Claus? HEARD OF HIM??
Also, there are military bases in Alaska. MILITARY BASES IN ALASKA!
Cat out of the bag, Mr. Allen?
FACT: Palin is the governor of a state that borders the Yukon Territory on one side and the water next to Siberia on the other.
No other governor in the U.S. has that kind of foreign affairs responsibility. And, frankly, I don't think there's another who could handle it, either. An Eskimo would sooner cut your throat, and eat your blubber, and painstakingly carve pictures of elk into your bones, and make an igloo out of your skin than sign a border agreement. Has Sarah Palin let this happen to her in her almost two full years as governor? No. Did it happen to every previous governor of Alaska within days of taking office? Yes.
Do I even have to mention that Palin and her state are in closest proximity to our most important foreign ally, Santa Claus? HEARD OF HIM??
Also, there are military bases in Alaska. MILITARY BASES IN ALASKA!
Cat out of the bag, Mr. Allen?
Discussthing, Alive?
Hey, so I've been spending increasing amounts of time each day following the minutia of the presidential campaign, and if I don't give myself somewhere to vent the anger that steams inside me, I'll probably be a pile of ashes by mid-October.
So I took the liberty of ressurecting an old friend, discussTHING, this time with the spam-bot-proof security of Google blogger. I'm hoping we can regain a bit of the magic of yore, or at least provide each other some comfort in these times of hope and dread.
Today's topic: What does the Obama campaign need to do to regain its footing?
McCain's campaign for the past week has ressurected the familiar Rovian strategy of repeated constant attacks, each one so outrageous that the media feels compelled to cover it for its sheer shock value. Examples include ads falsely accusing Obama of wanting to teach kindergarteners about sex, and comparing his political team to a pack of wolves (misquoting factcheck.org in the process.)
My intuition is that Obama needs to ratchet up his own attacks, especially on Palin. Palin is the one thing giving the McCain campaign energy at the moment, and he needs to attack this energy at its source. There's no shortage of material: her constant lies about her record, her attempt to ban books at the Wasilla public library, her complete lack of foreign policy experience.
But the one thing they should not do is fear to be seen as over the top. Bush and McCain have demonstrated that you can go WAY over the top in political attacks, as long as you refuse to back down. Obama needs to learn this lesson: never back down and never let them make you afraid. If they hit you, hit them back. It's not pretty, but it's they only way that works.
It appears the Obama campaign may already have this in mind. It will be an ugly, awful couple of months, but with any luck we'll be smiling in November and thinking that maybe this country CAN live up to its promise.
In the meantime, DISCUSS!!!
So I took the liberty of ressurecting an old friend, discussTHING, this time with the spam-bot-proof security of Google blogger. I'm hoping we can regain a bit of the magic of yore, or at least provide each other some comfort in these times of hope and dread.
Today's topic: What does the Obama campaign need to do to regain its footing?
McCain's campaign for the past week has ressurected the familiar Rovian strategy of repeated constant attacks, each one so outrageous that the media feels compelled to cover it for its sheer shock value. Examples include ads falsely accusing Obama of wanting to teach kindergarteners about sex, and comparing his political team to a pack of wolves (misquoting factcheck.org in the process.)
My intuition is that Obama needs to ratchet up his own attacks, especially on Palin. Palin is the one thing giving the McCain campaign energy at the moment, and he needs to attack this energy at its source. There's no shortage of material: her constant lies about her record, her attempt to ban books at the Wasilla public library, her complete lack of foreign policy experience.
But the one thing they should not do is fear to be seen as over the top. Bush and McCain have demonstrated that you can go WAY over the top in political attacks, as long as you refuse to back down. Obama needs to learn this lesson: never back down and never let them make you afraid. If they hit you, hit them back. It's not pretty, but it's they only way that works.
It appears the Obama campaign may already have this in mind. It will be an ugly, awful couple of months, but with any luck we'll be smiling in November and thinking that maybe this country CAN live up to its promise.
In the meantime, DISCUSS!!!
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