I Just Don’t Know

Anyone that reads here should be well aware of the recent spate of Hate Crimes and Demostic Terrorist acts that have recently occurred here in the United States (Dr. George Tiller, The shooting of soldiers in Little Rock, and most recently, the shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum). While it should come as no surprise that I am sickened by these acts, it may come as a surprise that I have been quiet about speaking out against these acts.

Here’s the deal: I’m speechless.

I know. It’s hard for anyone that has spent any time around these parts to imagine me, of all people, being speechless; but really, I am. I just don’t know what to say, or how to get a grip on any of this.

I’ve read all of the blog posts pointing out that Janet Napolitano and the FBI pointed all of this out to us a few months ago. And yes, the fringe right had a field day trying to make it seem like some sort of left-wing conspiracy. Still, I’m taken back by it all. This strikes me as something that is happening in the United States that is so beyond politics. I feel like we are going back to a place where politics don’t matter, but the supremacy of power rules all. I fear that we are going back to a place where discourse means nothing, but the ability to prove that you are overwhelmingly stronger than everyone else means everything. Yes, my fellow Liberals and Progressives, I feel that we are walking into a trap, one where we will lose.

I can’t articulate why, right now, but I’m going to keep working on it, because I feel it is necessary.

Quotation of The Day

The Weekly Standard:

…but perhaps what’s most striking is that on the issue of diversity, Obama seems to have the views of a 21-year-old Hispanic girl — that is, only by having a black president, an Hispanic justice, a female secretary of State, and Bozo the Clown as vice president will the United States become a true “vanguard of societal ideas and changes.”

Wow, dude. I didn’t think it was possible to get so much wrong into one sentence. I’d give you an award, but I think you’re an asshole.

Oh, so NOW It’s Torture.

I thought it was fairly well established that waterboarding is torture. Well, now that a couple of conservative blowhards agreed to actually experience it, we can all rest assured that it really is torture and not simply the latest socialist fantasy dreamed up by President Obama and his legions of anti-United States, terrorist minions.

Yeah, I’m a tad cynical about these latest ploys. Seems like a plan to backpedal to me.

“Oh, we didn’t really know that it was torture. How could we until we got some conservative white dudes to go through it?”

Because, of course, nothing is true until a couple of conservative white dudes experience it.

And while I am saddened that anyone has had to experience this type of torture (even if it’s to try and prove a point that can’t be proven, for political gain), I just gotta say, I’m not impressed when you have the get out of jail free card at your disposal. Neither Hitchens or Muller have a clue about what it really means to be waterboarded. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m guessing that most of the interrogated tortured don’t get to call a time out within 6-14 seconds.

I’m not impressed, but if it makes more people realize how fucked up some of the things we, as a nation, do? Well, I can’t be mad at that.

Maine Is 5th State To Acknowledge That People Are Equal

Props to the State of Maine and Gov. John Baldacci for doing the right thing.

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine’s governor signed a freshly passed bill Wednesday approving gay marriage, making it the fifth state to approve the practice and moving New England closer to allowing it throughout the region.

New Hampshire legislators were also poised to send a gay marriage bill to their governor, who hasn’t indicated whether he’ll sign it. If he does, Rhode Island would be the region’s sole holdout.

The Maine Senate voted 21-13, with one absent, for a bill that authorizes marriage between any two people rather than between one man and one woman, as state law currently allows. The House had passed the bill Tuesday.

Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, who hadn’t previously indicated how he would handle the bill, signed it shortly afterward. In the past, he said he opposed gay marriage but supported civil unions, which provide many benefits of marriage.

Global Blogging Day of Action for Troy Davis

SJP, at Sojourner’s Place is taking the lead on this and asking bloggers to write about the Troy Davis case in conjunction with Amnesty International’s Global Day of Action for Troy Davis on May 19. Here’s the case, in a nutshell from Amnesty International:

Troy Davis was convicted of murdering a Georgia police officer in 1991. Nearly two decades later, Davis remains on death row – even though the case against him has fallen apart. Davis’ conviction was not based on any physical evidence, and the murder weapon was never found. Since his trial, seven of the nine eyewitnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony, and one of the remaining witnesses has been implicated by nine others as the actual murderer.

Troy Davis’ stay of execution will expire May 15. I encourage folks, along with SJP, to take part in this event by blogging about Troy Davis and his case on May 19 in solidarity with the Global Day of Action.

Troy Davis’ stay of execution is set to expire on May 15. On May 19, groups and individuals all around the world will be organizing demonstrations, vigils, teach-ins or other public events to show the state of Georgia that the execution of Troy Davis would be an unacceptable travesty of justice. We need you to be as visible and as loud as possible!

For more information (courtesy SJP):

Fact sheet on Davis’ case

Innocence on Georgia’s Death Row

Where is the justice for me?

Listen to Troy tell his story

Join the discussion

Hear from Troy’s sister

Troy Davis’ website

If You Thought People Liked Obama, Don’t Worry; It’s 0nly Black People.

One of my non-blogging buddies (one of the coolest mofos on the planet, actually) tipped me to this nice little article, by Byron York, entitled The black-white divide in Obama’s popularity. Imagine the look on my face when I read this, the very first paragraph (actually, don’t imagine that look; it’s not pretty):

On his 100th day in office, Barack Obama enjoys high job approval ratings, no matter what poll you consult. But if a new survey by the New York Times is accurate, the president and some of his policies are significantly less popular with white Americans than with black Americans, and his sky-high ratings among African-Americans make some of his positions appear a bit more popular overall than they actually are.

Um, yeah…WTF?

This dude actually wrote this. Here, let me translate this for you:

Black people don’t count (or if they do count, they sure as hell don’t count for more than 3/5′s of a white person) so, even if President Obama has a high approval rating, it’s not accurate (or actual) because black folks are all up in the mix. We all know that only white people’s opinions matter, right?

The entire article says nothing other than black people like Obama, and so he’s not really as popular as you think he is. It doesn’t matter that we happen to be members of the population and so our opinions count too. It doesn’t matter that black folks also overwhelmingly liked Bill Clinton. No one challenged Bill Clinton’s popularity because black folks loved him (ok, now that I think on this some more, I bet a good handful of folks did, but still). But when a lot of black folks happen to like another black dude, well then obviously something is amiss.

Post-Racial United States. Gotta love it.

And You’re Just Now Figuring This Out?

Pat Buchanan says the GOP is “heavily white” and that could be a problem.

The GOP, as it stands, won’t listen to him, though. Why do so when it’s so much easier to just blame the Negro.