Category: Politics

Why We Shouldn’t Torture Lite

Thursday, Mar. 13, 2008 – Quotes of the Day – TIME:

“‘Stop exercising double standards on human rights issues and wrongly meddling in the internal affairs of other countries.’
–QIN GANG
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, accusing the U.S. of double standards over human rights in response to a U.S. report labeling Beijing an authoritarian regime.“

While I’m not given to facile comments about torture, this quote hit me. It reminds me why when we play word games and parse our way to activities like waterboarding, we still lose.

(Via Time.)

YouTube – Countdown 03/12/08 Special Comment – Keith calls out Hillary

YouTube – Countdown 03/12/08 Special Comment – Keith calls out Hillary:

She tried to apologize but way too little too late. For her sake, she should take Oberman’s advice. I’ve already lost all respect for her in this campaign. Her campaign, and by extension her, have played it like Karl Rove. This is what I found so reprehensible about the Bush campaign.

(Via YouTube.)

Dipdive » Blog Archive » Falling for Obama

Dipdive » Blog Archive » Falling for Obama:

“…There seems to be an unusually high number of fainting incidents at Obama rallies, all of which leads to the question of why? Most people will chalk it up to some combination of star power, leadership, and good old-fashioned Obamania. Others (a.k.a. haters) will cite “scientific” and “medical” explanations: it was hot, it was too crowded, she was dehydrated, he was malnourished. Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Wow.

(Via DipDive.)

NPR: Obama Campaign Skewers Clinton E-mail Statement

NPR: Obama Campaign Skewers Clinton E-mail Statement:

“What the Clinton campaign secretly means: PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE FACT THAT WE’VE LOST 14 OF THE LAST 17 CONTESTS AND SAID THAT MICHIGAN AND FLORIDA WOULDN’T COUNT FOR ANYTHING. Also, we’re still trying to wrap our minds around the amazing coincidence that the only ‘important’ states in the nominating process are the ones that Clinton won.”

Why the Clinton campaign should to stay in Hillary’s older folks/experience. Ouch.

(Via NPR News Blog.)

Yes, United We Can Stand

A friend called him America’s Mandela. I agree. Yeah, I said it! will.i.am is a hell of an artist.

Dipdive: A friend called him America’s Mandela. I agree. Yeah, I said it! will.i.am is a hell of an artist.

(Via DipDive.)

Protecting the Guilty

ABC News: DNA Clears 200th Wrongfully Convicted:

“What’s also troubling is how common these exonerations have become since the first reversal in 1989. It took 13 years to reach the first 100 DNA exonerations, but just five to double that number [emphasis mine]. For prosecutors and judges, as well as defense attorneys, the exonerations raise a larger question: How many others, innocent of their crimes, are behind bars?”

(Via ABC News.)

Black people know the answer: a whole lot!

In a world where people still assume your guilt based on your skin color, where class determines punishment or leniency, this number shouldn’t be all that shocking. Black folk have known all too many of their number are in prison wrongfully. Science is forcing white society to confront evidence of its personal and institutional racism, its sometimes overt and sometimes subtle racism among other social pathologies (e.g. lust for vengeance instead of a thirst for justice, etc.). I wonder how much will it take before people start to reconsider their positions? This country is not accustomed to looking in the mirror.

Cheney: House is undermining the troops – Yahoo! News

Cheney: House is undermining the troops – Yahoo! News:

“Cheney called it a myth that ‘one can support the troops without giving them the tools and reinforcements they need to carry out their mission.'”

(Via Yahoo! News.)

I agree. Providing body armor at the outset of the war would have been nice. Funding proper medical facilities for the wounded after they’ve sacrificed limb. They went to war with “the army you have.” And this is when the administration had a blank check. Actually, this administration has done far more to undermine the troops than the hand-wringing, rubber-for-backbone Dems have ever done. But then again, what else should we expect from a Dick whose every prediction turns out to be wrong?

Why I’m not a Conservative

Facts. They are a show stopper! Ignorance mixed with a touch of condescension and a complete lack of self-knowledge make for a very strong common pattern among these so-called conservatives: they come off like sophomoric fools. The recent interview by Jon Stewart of John Bolton on a recent episode of The Daily Show is a grand example of this common pattern. Bolton’s comment, “[Officials in the administration] should be judged on their performance,” is particularly poignant. By that standard alone, Bush’s presidency is a near-complete failure. (To those who think that the lack of a major terrorist attack in the US is proof of competence, I have one word: Katrina.)
Bolton interview (about 9 minutes):

And the recap setting the record straight (about 5 minutes):

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” –Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Black like Me

I recently read an article about Barack Obama that got me incensed. All I could think was “Player Hater!” After calming down and looking over a post + comments on the Barbershop Notebooks, I came across a great comment by “Afrikabelle.”

Comment on “Barack Obama – Professional Bulls***er?” Article:

“Here, Obama stands, with the potential to single-handedly brush the 450-year old chip off the African-American shoulder, destroying whatever venom lives in little Black boy psyches, whispering to them that their kind could never be president. And yet, all the talented tenth men and women want to do is to hop on big media and use Obama as an excuse to hear their own selves sound intelligent.”

(Via The Barbershop Notebooks.)

Politics in a well functioning democracy is about the art of the possible, the art of compromise. Al Sharpton has as much chance of becoming president as Ralph Nader. Yet that’s what all too many black folk expect in the first black president. My father-in-law (a man who had to drive around with a gun in the South) said something to me about Bush I won’t soon forget, “He [Bush II] forgets that he’s president of all the people.” Not everyone in this country is a card carrying pro-Lifer or communist. In fact, no one is “red” or “blue.” I’m pro life, pro gay rights/marriage, pro business/entreprenurship, pro worker rights, pro affirmative action/civil rights, and pro environment. What does that make me? Your typical voter.

Continue reading “Black like Me”

The Few, The Proud, The Organized

Non-profits do have the responsibility of representing the interests of their clients. If that means political action, then so be it. But outrage? I think not. That’s the job of the polity. Non-profits lobby, but don’t vote. You and I do.

One of the truths of politics in a democracy is that a small, motivated, organized minority can (and does) exert its will over a large, less motivated, and far less organized majority. Witness the overwhelming support for sensible, common sense gun control, e.g. the ban on assault weapons, and the power exerted by the NRA.
My good friend, Marc Hill, recently wrote, “Non-profits have the responsibility of outrage when government policy creates and exacerbates misery: Charities need to speak up and demand that Congress get Washington’s foreign policy and its financial priorities in order.” Non-profits do have the responsibility of representing the interests of their clients. If that means political action, then so be it. But outrage? I think not. That’s the job of the polity, political parties, PACs, etc. Non-profits lobby, but don’t vote. You and I do.
Non-profit, charitable organizations could exert more political power, but would they? Like their for profit brethren, non-profit organizations compete for a limited amount of charitable money, low interest loans, and grants. These competing interests limit organizing in a fashion most efficient to exerting power in a democracy: building coalitions based on common interest. Competition in many dimensions drives them apart.