Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Who's Really Addicted to Oil?
The GOP is addicted to the oil industry's money. According to the Center for Public Integrity, the GOP has accepted 73% of the whopping $67 million the oil industry made in political contributions between 2000 and 2004. Bush himself is the oil industry's largest recipient, having taking over $1.7 million from the oil industry from 1998-2004. The wheels of the conservative movement, meanwhile, are lubricated by Koch Industries, the largest privately held oil company in the US. The anti-government think tank, the Cato Institute, was created by the Koch brothers, who remain its largest funders. Koch has also been a significant financier of the career of Sen. Sam Brownback, the man Nick Kristof hailed as "the new internationalist." So now that Bush, an addict, has pointed out America's addiction to oil, will his party now hold itself to a different standard than its constituency? Come on.
The GOP is addicted to the oil industry's money. According to the Center for Public Integrity, the GOP has accepted 73% of the whopping $67 million the oil industry made in political contributions between 2000 and 2004. Bush himself is the oil industry's largest recipient, having taking over $1.7 million from the oil industry from 1998-2004. The wheels of the conservative movement, meanwhile, are lubricated by Koch Industries, the largest privately held oil company in the US. The anti-government think tank, the Cato Institute, was created by the Koch brothers, who remain its largest funders. Koch has also been a significant financier of the career of Sen. Sam Brownback, the man Nick Kristof hailed as "the new internationalist." So now that Bush, an addict, has pointed out America's addiction to oil, will his party now hold itself to a different standard than its constituency? Come on.
Bush's Wiretap Distortion
In his State of the Union address, President Bush highlighted the case of 9/11 hijackers Khalid Al-Midhar and Salem Al-Hazmi to make the case for his so-called "terrorist surveillance program," which is actually a domestic wiretapping program which may have been used against ordinary Americans. Bush claimed Al-Midhar and Al-Hazmi made phone calls within the US that could have been intercepted if his wiretapping program were in place. Imagine, the 9/11 plot could have been stopped if only those pointy-headed bureaucrats at FISA and their Democratic shills hadn't been in the way!
In fact, Al-Midhar bought his plane ticket for Flight 77 with his real name. At the time, he was wanted by the FBI and CIA for attending a terrorist meeting in Malaysia. He was also on a State Department watch list called TIPOFF. Al-Hazmi also bought a ticket for Flight 77 using his real name. And he shared an address as 9/11 hijacker Nawaq Alhazmi. Al-Midhar, for his part, was living with Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the plot.
Al Gore brought these facts forward in his 2003 speech, "Freedom and Security," and to date, no one has challenged him.
The point is, if existing programs had been utilized properly, and the FBI had conducted simple searches for common addresses among wanted terrorists living in the US, the 9/11 plot might have been foiled. Besides being illegal, Bush's domestic wiretapping program was -- and is -- unnecessary in protecting America from terrorism. This raises questions about the White House's motives for implementing such a program. When the dust clears and the real targets of this program are revealed, will they turn out to be suspected terrorists, or ordinary Americans? Bush's failure to marshal credible justification suggests it will be the latter.
In his State of the Union address, President Bush highlighted the case of 9/11 hijackers Khalid Al-Midhar and Salem Al-Hazmi to make the case for his so-called "terrorist surveillance program," which is actually a domestic wiretapping program which may have been used against ordinary Americans. Bush claimed Al-Midhar and Al-Hazmi made phone calls within the US that could have been intercepted if his wiretapping program were in place. Imagine, the 9/11 plot could have been stopped if only those pointy-headed bureaucrats at FISA and their Democratic shills hadn't been in the way!
In fact, Al-Midhar bought his plane ticket for Flight 77 with his real name. At the time, he was wanted by the FBI and CIA for attending a terrorist meeting in Malaysia. He was also on a State Department watch list called TIPOFF. Al-Hazmi also bought a ticket for Flight 77 using his real name. And he shared an address as 9/11 hijacker Nawaq Alhazmi. Al-Midhar, for his part, was living with Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the plot.
Al Gore brought these facts forward in his 2003 speech, "Freedom and Security," and to date, no one has challenged him.
The point is, if existing programs had been utilized properly, and the FBI had conducted simple searches for common addresses among wanted terrorists living in the US, the 9/11 plot might have been foiled. Besides being illegal, Bush's domestic wiretapping program was -- and is -- unnecessary in protecting America from terrorism. This raises questions about the White House's motives for implementing such a program. When the dust clears and the real targets of this program are revealed, will they turn out to be suspected terrorists, or ordinary Americans? Bush's failure to marshal credible justification suggests it will be the latter.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Thoughts on the "March for Life"
The "March For Life" was remarkably well-controlled. Though marchers periodically broke into Catholic songs, and the post-Halloween trick or treating Jesus above was milling around in bare feet, displays of religiosity seemed subdued. The Family Research Council distributed signs declaring "Equal Rights For All: Born and Unborn," another attempt by the descendants of the Jim Crow forces to co-opt the mood of the civil rights movement. A more novel co-optation of left-wing symbology is depicted below.
Che and the Cuban revolutionary state he helped construct supported reproductive rights and gender equality. This was a moot point to the young marchers in the March for Life, many of whom were clad in goth or punk rock styles. Crusading on behalf of the Vatican's medieval strictures is subversive now, or at least, it's supposed to look like it. Today's pro-life movement welcomes Johnny Rottens, so long as they think like Johnny Angels.
Above is one of the few eye-catching signs I saw at the March for Life. As a fairly experienced observer of anti-abortion events, I expected more of gory signs I've grown accustomed to seeing in which fetuses look like chewed-up stromboli. But the planners of the march apparently tamped down on the gross-out factor. I must confess I was sorely disappointed.
After the march, I made my way down to its nerve center at the downtown Hyatt Regency. I toured the March for Life's basement exhibition to get a sense of who its planners were. It was clear from the organizations represented there -- Human Life Alliance, Christendom College, Priest for Life -- how overwhelming Catholic this march was. Catholic anti-abortion groups have been around far longer than those dominated by evangelicals.
In my view, it was not until Francis Schaeffer came around that evangelicals involved themselves in the abortion debate. (The anti-Catholic tone of Schaeffer's writing, especially in his most famous book, "How Should We Then Live?" has been strangely overlooked). Their involvement resulted in ECT, or Evangelicals and Catholics Together, a right-wing alliance the Schaeffer disciple Chuck Colson helped broker, one which is still strong today. While evangelicals often assume the public face of the anti-abortion movement, largely because of the high profile of preacher-performers like James Dobson and Pat Robertson, Catholics still constitute its backbone.
Yet an overwhelming percentage of Catholics in the US now support stem-cell research, birth control and believe priest should be allowed to marry. And according to an August, 2005 Pew poll, white Catholics are "deeply divided" over abortion. The anti-abortion movement's push to overturn Roe and whittle away at reproductive rights at the state level are deeply threatening to individual liberties, but shifting attitudes of Catholics on the movement's core issues presents serious challenges for its leadership.
The "March For Life" was remarkably well-controlled. Though marchers periodically broke into Catholic songs, and the post-Halloween trick or treating Jesus above was milling around in bare feet, displays of religiosity seemed subdued. The Family Research Council distributed signs declaring "Equal Rights For All: Born and Unborn," another attempt by the descendants of the Jim Crow forces to co-opt the mood of the civil rights movement. A more novel co-optation of left-wing symbology is depicted below.
Che and the Cuban revolutionary state he helped construct supported reproductive rights and gender equality. This was a moot point to the young marchers in the March for Life, many of whom were clad in goth or punk rock styles. Crusading on behalf of the Vatican's medieval strictures is subversive now, or at least, it's supposed to look like it. Today's pro-life movement welcomes Johnny Rottens, so long as they think like Johnny Angels. 
Above is one of the few eye-catching signs I saw at the March for Life. As a fairly experienced observer of anti-abortion events, I expected more of gory signs I've grown accustomed to seeing in which fetuses look like chewed-up stromboli. But the planners of the march apparently tamped down on the gross-out factor. I must confess I was sorely disappointed.
After the march, I made my way down to its nerve center at the downtown Hyatt Regency. I toured the March for Life's basement exhibition to get a sense of who its planners were. It was clear from the organizations represented there -- Human Life Alliance, Christendom College, Priest for Life -- how overwhelming Catholic this march was. Catholic anti-abortion groups have been around far longer than those dominated by evangelicals.
In my view, it was not until Francis Schaeffer came around that evangelicals involved themselves in the abortion debate. (The anti-Catholic tone of Schaeffer's writing, especially in his most famous book, "How Should We Then Live?" has been strangely overlooked). Their involvement resulted in ECT, or Evangelicals and Catholics Together, a right-wing alliance the Schaeffer disciple Chuck Colson helped broker, one which is still strong today. While evangelicals often assume the public face of the anti-abortion movement, largely because of the high profile of preacher-performers like James Dobson and Pat Robertson, Catholics still constitute its backbone.
Yet an overwhelming percentage of Catholics in the US now support stem-cell research, birth control and believe priest should be allowed to marry. And according to an August, 2005 Pew poll, white Catholics are "deeply divided" over abortion. The anti-abortion movement's push to overturn Roe and whittle away at reproductive rights at the state level are deeply threatening to individual liberties, but shifting attitudes of Catholics on the movement's core issues presents serious challenges for its leadership.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
The "One Of Us" Strategy Resurfaces
To sell Samuel Alito to the Catholic voters of Rhode Island, the Family Research Council has borrowed the slogan from Jesse Helms' race-baiting 1972 campaign against a Greek-American Democrat: "Elect One of Us." Check out the transcript of the FRC's radio ad, which is entitled, "One of Us:"
The subtext of this ad lies in the line about the Democrats attacking Alito's civil rights record. The FRC offers no response to these attacks. Instead, they consciously let the criticisms stand to point out -- in as subtle a manner as possible -- that Alito doesn't look kindly upon blacks, gays and their ilk. He's not one of them. No, he's "One Of Us."
To sell Samuel Alito to the Catholic voters of Rhode Island, the Family Research Council has borrowed the slogan from Jesse Helms' race-baiting 1972 campaign against a Greek-American Democrat: "Elect One of Us." Check out the transcript of the FRC's radio ad, which is entitled, "One of Us:"
Sam Alito, Jr. has been nominated to the United States Supreme Court. He's an American success story. His late father, Sam, Sr., immigrated to the United States from Italy in 1914 [music under]. His mother, Rose, age 91, lived to see this day.
Imagine their pride. Their son studies at Princeton, goes to Yale, serves President Reagan, then enjoys 15 distinguished years on the federal bench.
Now a handful of special interest groups say that's not enough. They say they'll do "whatever it takes" to stop him. They question his commitment to civil rights. They say there are too many Catholics on the court. Haven't we been down this ugly road before?
Sam Alito is one of us. He's a fair judge who will make a great justice. Call Senator Lincoln Chafee at 401-453-5294 and tell him Sam Alito deserves a fair hearing and a fair vote.
That's 401-453-5294.
A message from the Family Research Council
The subtext of this ad lies in the line about the Democrats attacking Alito's civil rights record. The FRC offers no response to these attacks. Instead, they consciously let the criticisms stand to point out -- in as subtle a manner as possible -- that Alito doesn't look kindly upon blacks, gays and their ilk. He's not one of them. No, he's "One Of Us."
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Masters of Plantation References (and Plantations)
"Uncle Sam's Plantation: How Big Government Enslaves America's Poor and What We Can Do About It" is the title of black right-winger Star Parker's most notable book. If you missed the Cato Institute event promoting Parker's book, or you didn't tune in to Focus on the Family this Martin Luther King Jr. Day when James Dobson dedicated his entire show to a speech by Parker attacking "entitlement programs" for the poor, you probably won't understand her plantation reference. Meet me on Trent Lott's porch and I'll tell you all about it. Or just ask John McCain's South Carolina spokesman to fill you in. You know what I'm talking about.
Above is a t-shirt sold by Southern Partisan Magazine. Southern Partisan has interviewed right-wing luminaries such as Jerry Falwell, Don Wildmon, former Sen. Phil Gramm, Sen. Trent Lott and Pat Robertson.
"Uncle Sam's Plantation: How Big Government Enslaves America's Poor and What We Can Do About It" is the title of black right-winger Star Parker's most notable book. If you missed the Cato Institute event promoting Parker's book, or you didn't tune in to Focus on the Family this Martin Luther King Jr. Day when James Dobson dedicated his entire show to a speech by Parker attacking "entitlement programs" for the poor, you probably won't understand her plantation reference. Meet me on Trent Lott's porch and I'll tell you all about it. Or just ask John McCain's South Carolina spokesman to fill you in. You know what I'm talking about. Above is a t-shirt sold by Southern Partisan Magazine. Southern Partisan has interviewed right-wing luminaries such as Jerry Falwell, Don Wildmon, former Sen. Phil Gramm, Sen. Trent Lott and Pat Robertson.
The Republicanization of Martin Luther King Jr.
This Martin Luther King Day was a rough one. Watching Republicans lavish praise on King as if he was William Buckley Jr. with a tan made it hard to hold my lunch. The right has abandoned its traditional rants against King the social justice crusader in favor of a cynical strategy to recast him as a conservative (and solely on the basis of his religiosity). On his daily radio commentary this MLK Day, for instance, former Watergate felon Chuck Colson called King a "great conservative" who would have been a supporter of Samuel Alito and the pro-life movement in general. As I reported for Media Matters, nothing could be further from the truth. Not only did King accept Planned Parenthood's Margaret Sanger Award, he endorsed the Supreme Court's ban on government-sponsored school prayer and supported church-state separation.
In 1983, the right-wing magazine Human Events reprinted then-Sen. Jesse Helms' diatribe, "The Radical Record of Martin Luther King," in which he risibly accused King of having KGB ties. Yet this MLK Day, Human Events wrote, "King was no stalwart conservative, yet his core beliefs, such as the power and necessity of faith-based association and self-government based on absolute truth and moral law, are profoundly conservative." As Kevin Lamb, a former Human Events columnist who was fired after the Southern Poverty Law Center exposed his ties to racist and anti-Semitic groups, correctly states on the website of the white nationalist National Policy Institute, "The outlook that King articulated stood in defiance of the values and principles that defined traditional conservatism."
I am not suggesting, however that if King were alive today, he would be a loyal Democrat. On the contrary, I think certain elements within today's Democratic establishment would consider him a nuisance. Consider what he said in his landmark 1957 address, "Give Us the Ballot":
This Martin Luther King Day was a rough one. Watching Republicans lavish praise on King as if he was William Buckley Jr. with a tan made it hard to hold my lunch. The right has abandoned its traditional rants against King the social justice crusader in favor of a cynical strategy to recast him as a conservative (and solely on the basis of his religiosity). On his daily radio commentary this MLK Day, for instance, former Watergate felon Chuck Colson called King a "great conservative" who would have been a supporter of Samuel Alito and the pro-life movement in general. As I reported for Media Matters, nothing could be further from the truth. Not only did King accept Planned Parenthood's Margaret Sanger Award, he endorsed the Supreme Court's ban on government-sponsored school prayer and supported church-state separation.
In 1983, the right-wing magazine Human Events reprinted then-Sen. Jesse Helms' diatribe, "The Radical Record of Martin Luther King," in which he risibly accused King of having KGB ties. Yet this MLK Day, Human Events wrote, "King was no stalwart conservative, yet his core beliefs, such as the power and necessity of faith-based association and self-government based on absolute truth and moral law, are profoundly conservative." As Kevin Lamb, a former Human Events columnist who was fired after the Southern Poverty Law Center exposed his ties to racist and anti-Semitic groups, correctly states on the website of the white nationalist National Policy Institute, "The outlook that King articulated stood in defiance of the values and principles that defined traditional conservatism."
I am not suggesting, however that if King were alive today, he would be a loyal Democrat. On the contrary, I think certain elements within today's Democratic establishment would consider him a nuisance. Consider what he said in his landmark 1957 address, "Give Us the Ballot":
...This dearth of positive leadership from the federal government is not confined to one particular political party. Both political parties have betrayed the cause of justice. The Democrats have betrayed it by capitulating to the prejudices and undemocratic practices of the southern Dixiecrats. The Republicans have betrayed it by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of right wing, reactionary northerners. These men so often have a high blood pressure of words and an anemia of deeds.
(...)
A second area in which there is need for strong leadership is from the white northern liberals. There is a dire need today for a liberalism which is truly liberal. What we are witnessing today in so many northern communities is a sort of quasi-liberalism which is based on the principle of looking sympathetically at all sides. It is a liberalism so bent on seeing all sides, that it fails to become committed to either side. It is a liberalism that is so objectively analytical that it is not subjectively committed. It is a liberalism which is neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm. We call for a liberalism from the North which will be thoroughly committed to the ideal of racial justice and will not be deterred by the propaganda and subtle words of those who say: "Slow up for a while; you're pushing too fast."
Friday, January 13, 2006
I wonder if Bush's advance man was fired for this.Thursday, January 12, 2006
Tears of Ambition
Some guy who witnessed tears stream down the cheeks of Alito's wife is available for interviews. Please contact the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's PR firm:
Some guy who witnessed tears stream down the cheeks of Alito's wife is available for interviews. Please contact the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's PR firm:
The always-alert Creative Response Concepts, a conservative public relations firm, sent this bulletin: "Former Alito clerk Gary Rubman witnessed Mrs. Alito leaving her husband's confirmation in tears and is available for interviews, along with other former Alito clerks who know her personally and are very upset about this development."
In case that was too much trouble for the journalists, the firm also e-mailed out a statement from the Judicial Confirmation Network calling "for the abuse to stop."
Meet Tom Tancredo's donors:
Barnett has also faced pointed rumors that he routinely beats the crap out of Mexicans he finds along country roads. I interviewed him a few years back for Salon.
"We recognized we're going to get less money from business interests," Tancredo says. The solution, he says, is to "get more from the people who care about this issue, and they are all over the country. So you start prospecting all over the country."
Among these new donors are some prominent and controversial anti-immigration activists such as Roger Barnett, a vigilante who boasts of having rounded up thousands of illegal immigrants on his Arizona ranch, and Barbara Coe, director of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform.
Barnett has been quoted in High Country News as calling Mexicans "animals." Coe frequently refers to them as "savages," according to numerous reports.
Barnett has also faced pointed rumors that he routinely beats the crap out of Mexicans he finds along country roads. I interviewed him a few years back for Salon.
Just watched Arlen Specter ask Kirsanow about "Judge Alito's civil rights record with respect to African-Americans."
"It's exemplary," Kirsanow replied.
"It's exemplary," Kirsanow replied.
Alito's Pro-Internment Witness
If there's another terror attack on American soil, you can forget about civil rights. That's according to Peter Kirsanow, who will testify to Samuel Alito's civil rights credentials before the Senate Judiciary Committee today. Kirsanow is a conservative African-American member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and recent backdoor Bush appointee to the National Labor Relations Board. His mere presence today as a pro-Alito witness raises serious questions about the nominee's willingness to protect established legal precedent on civil rights.
On July 19, 2002, during a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights meeting with Arab-American groups in Detroit, Kirsanow warned that if there's another terrorist attack in America "and they come from the same ethnic group that attacked the World Trade Center, you can forget about civil rights."
Kirsanow continued by urging his audience to drop their opposition to the Patriot Act. After all, he said, if Arabs attack the U.S. again, "not too many people will be crying in their beer if there are more detentions, more stops, more profiling." To Kirsanow, crushing civil rights is just fine as long as "too many people" don't complain.
As a lawyer, Kirsanow established his reputation by successfully defending big business against unionization drives and lawsuits from exploited workers, including one who died from a workplace injury (for more on Kirsanow's legal history, read Bill Berkowitz's excellent profile). He is a former member of the African-American conservative front group, Project 21, which is run out of the offices of the National Center for Public Policy Research. Jack Abramoff, who was a NCPPR board member, funnelled over $1 million in Indian casino money through the organization, some of which paid for international junkets for Tom Delay.
Fancying himself a self-made man, Kirsanow preaches the Randian gospel of personal responsibility. In a speech before the Heritage Foundation in 2002, he declared that that affirmative action had "metastasized into a racial spoils system consisting of preferences, quotas and set-asides."
Compare Kirsanow's language to to that of a 1983 essay, "In Defense of Elitism," published by Prospect, the journal of the Concerned Alumni for Princeton, to which Alito belonged: "People nowadays just don't seem to know their place. Everywhere one turns blacks and hispanics are demanding jobs simply because they're black and hispanic, the physically handicapped are trying to gain equal representation in professional sports, and homosexuals are demanding that government vouchsafe them the right to bear children."
The difference between Kirsanow and the bigots of Princeton's glory days is only skin deep. If he is the best the Republicans can muster to sell Alito's civil rights record, the future of the Supreme Court looks grim at best.
If there's another terror attack on American soil, you can forget about civil rights. That's according to Peter Kirsanow, who will testify to Samuel Alito's civil rights credentials before the Senate Judiciary Committee today. Kirsanow is a conservative African-American member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and recent backdoor Bush appointee to the National Labor Relations Board. His mere presence today as a pro-Alito witness raises serious questions about the nominee's willingness to protect established legal precedent on civil rights.
On July 19, 2002, during a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights meeting with Arab-American groups in Detroit, Kirsanow warned that if there's another terrorist attack in America "and they come from the same ethnic group that attacked the World Trade Center, you can forget about civil rights."
Kirsanow continued by urging his audience to drop their opposition to the Patriot Act. After all, he said, if Arabs attack the U.S. again, "not too many people will be crying in their beer if there are more detentions, more stops, more profiling." To Kirsanow, crushing civil rights is just fine as long as "too many people" don't complain.
As a lawyer, Kirsanow established his reputation by successfully defending big business against unionization drives and lawsuits from exploited workers, including one who died from a workplace injury (for more on Kirsanow's legal history, read Bill Berkowitz's excellent profile). He is a former member of the African-American conservative front group, Project 21, which is run out of the offices of the National Center for Public Policy Research. Jack Abramoff, who was a NCPPR board member, funnelled over $1 million in Indian casino money through the organization, some of which paid for international junkets for Tom Delay.
Fancying himself a self-made man, Kirsanow preaches the Randian gospel of personal responsibility. In a speech before the Heritage Foundation in 2002, he declared that that affirmative action had "metastasized into a racial spoils system consisting of preferences, quotas and set-asides."
Compare Kirsanow's language to to that of a 1983 essay, "In Defense of Elitism," published by Prospect, the journal of the Concerned Alumni for Princeton, to which Alito belonged: "People nowadays just don't seem to know their place. Everywhere one turns blacks and hispanics are demanding jobs simply because they're black and hispanic, the physically handicapped are trying to gain equal representation in professional sports, and homosexuals are demanding that government vouchsafe them the right to bear children."
The difference between Kirsanow and the bigots of Princeton's glory days is only skin deep. If he is the best the Republicans can muster to sell Alito's civil rights record, the future of the Supreme Court looks grim at best.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Does the Israeli Government Read My Blog?
You've been a bad boy, Pat. No NASCAR Dad theme park on the Gallilee for you:
You've been a bad boy, Pat. No NASCAR Dad theme park on the Gallilee for you:
Tourism Minister Avraham Hirchson has shunned US evangelical leader Pat Robertson shortly before the two were to sign a major funding deal for the Galilee Christian Heritage Center after Robertson suggested that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was a punishment from God for the Gaza Strip withdrawal, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
"The minister has very strong views on this and cannot accept what was said," Tourism Ministry spokesman Ido Hartuv said. "We reconsidered the deal and realized that we cannot sign with Robertson or anyone who supports his views."
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
John Yoo, the Nutcracker
If you find it impossible to believe that John Yoo believes the President has the legal authority to crush the testicles of a child, just listen to him tell human rights legal scholar Doug Cassel that in fact, he does. Yoo is, by the way, one of the principle proponents of "unitary executive" theory, an authoritarian school of though which Samuel Alito also subscribes to.
If you find it impossible to believe that John Yoo believes the President has the legal authority to crush the testicles of a child, just listen to him tell human rights legal scholar Doug Cassel that in fact, he does. Yoo is, by the way, one of the principle proponents of "unitary executive" theory, an authoritarian school of though which Samuel Alito also subscribes to.
Prager Declares Moral Bankrupcy
(Click on image for larger view) Moral-mongering radio jock Dennis Prager announced last week that he and his wife have divorced. In a heart-rending segment on his show, Prager said:
As surprising as Prager's divorce might seem given his past defense of "the institution of marriage" from homosexuals, he gave a few hints that it was coming, in the form of two op-eds last year defending...the institution of divorce from homosexuals (see here and here). Prager's "moral bank account" has always been full of counterfeit currency.
(Click on image for larger view) Moral-mongering radio jock Dennis Prager announced last week that he and his wife have divorced. In a heart-rending segment on his show, Prager said:I have a sad personal announcement to make. After seventeen years of marriage, my wife Fran and I are divorcing. This is sad first and foremost for Fran and for me. We've known each other nineteen years, have raised three children, and assumed we would be together forever. It was not only our hope. This is a value that we shared.
(....)
I am sure, however, that many of you are surprised, if not actually shocked. After all, for many years I would talk about Fran on the show, and knowing how much I make the case for marriage and family, you had every reason to believe my marriage was sound and even wonderful. When you add that to my happy demeanor, and to my dispensing of advice on happiness and male-female relations, you surely had no reason to assume otherwise.
(....)
So you, my dear listener are the third reason for my sadness, right behind us and our children. I know that many of you hold me and the values and the ideas I express in high regard. I pray that my divorce does nothing to diminish that respect. While I have always argued for divorce when truly necessary, some of you I know regard a divorce as a moral failure. For you I hope that what I call my moral bank account is large enough to withstand this withdrawal....
As surprising as Prager's divorce might seem given his past defense of "the institution of marriage" from homosexuals, he gave a few hints that it was coming, in the form of two op-eds last year defending...the institution of divorce from homosexuals (see here and here). Prager's "moral bank account" has always been full of counterfeit currency.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Crude Oil
It's reassuring to know the butts of Samuel Alito and the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will be adequately oiled during Alito's confirmation hearing:
But how much oil is "adequate" for a seat? A few dabs? Half a bottle? And how does adequate oil relate to the phenomenon of peak oil? Schenck knows. And if you want to know more about him, I profiled him for the Washington Monthly. (He did not oil my seat during our interview).
It's reassuring to know the butts of Samuel Alito and the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will be adequately oiled during Alito's confirmation hearing:
WASHINGTON -- Insisting that God "certainly needs to be involved" in the Supreme Court confirmation process, three Christian ministers today blessed the doors of the hearing room where Senate Judiciary Committee members will begin considering the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito on Monday.
Capitol Hill police barred them from entering the room to continue what they called a consecration service. But in a bit of one-upsmanship, the three announced that they had let themselves in a day earlier, touching holy oil to the seats where Judge Alito, the senators, witnesses, Senate staffers and the press will sit, and praying for each of the 13 committee members by name.
"We did adequately apply oil to all the seats," said the Rev. Rob Schenck, who identified himself as an evangelical Christian and as president of the National Clergy Council in Washington.
But how much oil is "adequate" for a seat? A few dabs? Half a bottle? And how does adequate oil relate to the phenomenon of peak oil? Schenck knows. And if you want to know more about him, I profiled him for the Washington Monthly. (He did not oil my seat during our interview).
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Even Walmart's data mining system is discriminatory.
Is Israel Selling Its Soul to Pat Robertson?
When Pat Robertson called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the government of Venezuela denounced him as a "terrorist" and called for his extradition. Now that he has in effect pissed on the expected grave of Ariel Sharon by suggesting his stroke was divine punishment for "dividing the land," what will Israel do? So far, the White House and a bevy of Jewish-American groups have denounced Robertson. But I have heard nothing but silence from the Israeli government. And it appears they are going ahead with a disgusting land deal with Robertson, in which they sell off land on the Gallilee beside churches that have existed since the days of the Apostles to make room for some obnoxious Jesus theme park for NASCAR dads. From the Guardian:
So what will it be, Israel? 1 million tourists who want Jews to burn upon the Rapture, along with millions of dollars for Pat Robertson? Or your pride?
When Pat Robertson called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the government of Venezuela denounced him as a "terrorist" and called for his extradition. Now that he has in effect pissed on the expected grave of Ariel Sharon by suggesting his stroke was divine punishment for "dividing the land," what will Israel do? So far, the White House and a bevy of Jewish-American groups have denounced Robertson. But I have heard nothing but silence from the Israeli government. And it appears they are going ahead with a disgusting land deal with Robertson, in which they sell off land on the Gallilee beside churches that have existed since the days of the Apostles to make room for some obnoxious Jesus theme park for NASCAR dads. From the Guardian:
The Israeli government is planning to give up a large slice of land to American Christian evangelicals to build a biblical theme park by the Sea of Galilee where Jesus is said to have walked on water and fed 5,000 with five loaves and two fish.
A consortium of Christian groups, led by the television evangelist Pat Robertson, is in negotiation with the Israeli ministry of tourism and a deal is expected in the coming months. The project is expected to bring up to 1 million extra tourists a year but an undeclared benefit will be the cementing of a political alliance between the Israeli rightwing and the American Christian right.
So what will it be, Israel? 1 million tourists who want Jews to burn upon the Rapture, along with millions of dollars for Pat Robertson? Or your pride?
No one has their finger on the pulse of the Neo-Confederate movement like Ed Sebesta does. His blog is an incredible resource. Definitely pay a visit.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Another night in David Brooks' Boboland:
ORLANDO, Fla. Jan 3, 2006 — Some teenage soccer players and their parents saw more sights than they wanted when they stayed at a hotel where about 200 swingers were having a New Year's party.
Paul Camporini brought his wife, seventh-grade daughter and eighth-grade son from Safety Harbor and said he had to "delicately explain to my Catholic school children that swingers change partners during the evening."
(....)
The families said the sexually adventurous partygoers sometimes flashed breasts and bare buttocks in front of the children as they sashayed through the hotel atrium. The parents described the dress at the Crowne Plaza Hotel-Airport in Orlando as "raunchy, despicable and worse than prostitutes.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Who Are Justice Sunday's Ministers of Minstrelsy?
"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. James Farmer, and others... are known to have left-wing associations. It is very obvious that the Communists, as they do in all parts of the world, are taking advantage of a tense situation in our land, and are exploiting every incident to bring about violence and bloodshed."
--Scheduled Justice Sunday III speaker Rev. Jerry Falwell
"I want to boldly affirm Uncle Tom. The black community must stop criticizing Uncle Tom. He is a role model."
--Scheduled Justice Sunday III speaker Rev. Wellington Boone
Christian right leaders love to invoke the legacy of the civil rights movement in their struggle to undo it. During Justice Sunday II, born-again Watergate felon Chuck Colson declared that the Christian right was doing nothing but "giving voice" to Martin Luther King Jr.'s philosophy. Later in the evening, the Catholic League's Bill Donohue told the nearly all-white, Southern Baptist audience, "Now we're in the back of the bus."
For Perkins, who is today perhaps the Christian right's most influential operative, linking his agenda to the civil rights movement serves a purpose almost as important as indulging the persecution fantasies of his followers. The image of Perkins and his allies as the logical heirs to Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy helps obscure his past involvement with racist groups and figures as he advances an anti-civil rights agenda.
In 1996, while working as campaign manager for the failed US Senate candidacy of his mentor, Woody Jenkins, Perkins signed a check for nearly $90,000 to David Duke for the purchase of his phone bank list. Then, even after a steady stream of bad press doomed his own Senate campaign, Perkins spoke at a 2001 fundraiser for the Louisiana chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white nationalist group which has called blacks "a retrograde species of humanity" on its website. And this Sunday, Perkins will be joined by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who incited opposition to the civil rights movement from the pulpit in 1950's and 1960's Virginia.
Seeking to continue his image makeover while advancing the case for the confirmation of Samuel Alito, who would, by all accounts, severely limit civil rights, Tony Perkins has staged Justice Sunday III at a black church in inner-city Philadelphia. And he has assembled three black speakers to sermonize by his side, including Martin Luther King's Jr.'s niece, Alveda King. Judging from their past statements and activities, it looks like these figures been providing cover for racial reactionaries for the entire span of their careers. This Sunday will be no exception.
Here are brief profiles on each of them:
Wellington Boone
Boone makes no secret of his theocratic intentions. He's a member of the Dominionist umbrella group, Coalition on Revival, which advocates the replacement of Constitutional democracy with Biblical law. He's also a former leader of the right-wing Christian men's group, the Promise Keepers, which, with its overt promotion of women's submission (along with a theocratic patriarchy), makes Arnold Schwarzenegger look like Andrea Dworkin.
Boone makes no secret of his bizarre racial views either. Consider this statement he made in his book, "Breaking Through:" "I want to boldly affirm Uncle Tom. The black community must stop criticizing Uncle Tom. He is a role model." Or this, in the same book: "I believe that slavery, and the understanding of it when you see it God's way, was redemptive." Or this, on Pat Robertson's 700 Club, in the immediate wake of Hurricane Katrina: "We need to consider the culture of those people still stranded in New Orleans. The looting of property, the trashing of property, et cetera, speaks to the basic character of the people. These people who have gone through slavery, segregation and the Voting Rights Act are doing this to themselves." Now that's putting the compassion in "compassionate conservatism."
Herb Lusk
The host of Justice Sunday III and former NFL benchwarmer known as "the praying tailback" used to be a Democrat. Then, thanks to the aggressive lobbying of Sen. Rick Santorum, George W. Bush's Office of Faith Based Initiatives began bankrolling Lusk's operations, starting with an grant of over $900,000 in 2002. Then, like magic, Lusk became a rock-ribbed Republican.
Lusk's hosting of Justice Sunday III is not the first time he's provided political help to the GOP leadership. In 2000, in possible violation of IRS laws, Lusk delivered the invocation at the Republican National Convention. Four years later, he hosted the President at his church for a speech praising abstinence as the best -- and perhaps, only -- way to prevent AIDS. Lusk also provides much-need cover for Santorum, allowing him to highlight their work together whenever his support for tax cuts for the rich, Walmart, and opposition to the Family Leave Act and affirmative action are criticized. As Santorum's possibly doomed re-election campaign kicks into high gear, he is joining Lusk at Justice Sunday III.
Alveda King
A few years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, his niece, Alveda, had what she now calls "an involuntary abortion." A few years later, after Roe v. Wade was decided, she had another abortion. Her response to what she has characterized as a personal crisis was to join up with the offspring of the anti-integration movement -- the Christian right -- in the struggle to ban abortion. So much for internal reflection.
"My grandfather, Dr. Martin Luther King Sr., once said, 'No one is going to kill a child of mine,'" Alveda King wrote on her website. "Tragically, two of his grandchildren had already been aborted when he saved the life of his next great-grandson with this statement." Move over George Wallace. Planned Parenthood has tossed the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny and said, 'abortion now,' 'abortion tomorrow,' 'abortion forever.'
In the 1990's, Alveda King became an ardent supporter of school vouchers for inner city children. Yet her advocacy was performed through a well-compensated fellowship at the right-wing Alexis De Tocqueville Institution. The ADT Institution (and by extension, King, during her fellowship) is essentially a front for big business interests and conservative foundations like Scaife, Olin and Bradley. During the period the Bradley Foundation subsidized King's fellowship at ADT, it was funding Charles Murray's infamous "Bell Curve" study asserting that blacks and Latinos are genetically inferior to whites and Asians.
Historical Amnesia
On Sunday, King, Lusk and Boone will share the stage with the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Perhaps they're too young to remember the sermon Falwell delivered from his segregated Thomas Road Baptist Church in 1958, "Segregation and Integration: Which?" in which he declared that integration would lead to the destruction of the white race.
Maybe they have forgotten Falwell's 1963 attack from the pulpit on LBJ's civil rights legislation: "It should be considered civil wrongs rather than civil rights." And they might be unable to recall that, according to William Martin's "With God On Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America," Falwell distributed anti-MLK literature provided to him by J. Edgar Hoover. Or that he founded a "Christian academy" in 1966 described by the Lynchburg News as "a private school for white students."
I find it hard to believe, however, that Boone, Lusk and King could be unaware of Falwell's famous 1965 sermon, "Ministers and Marches," in which he assailed MLK and his allies more stridently than ever. In this sermon, Falwell questioned "the sincerity and intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. James Farmer, and others, who are known to have left-wing associations. It is very obvious that the Communists, as they do in all parts of the world, are taking advantage of a tense situation in our land, and are exploiting every incident to bring about violence and bloodshed." Falwell added, "Preachers are not called to be politicians, but to be soul winners." (If only he'd followed his own advice.)
Martin Luther King once said, "Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism, or in the darkness of destructive selfishness." In joining racial reactionaries this Sunday in support of Samuel Alito's appointment to the Supreme Court, Boone, Lusk and Alveda King have chosen the latter.
"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. James Farmer, and others... are known to have left-wing associations. It is very obvious that the Communists, as they do in all parts of the world, are taking advantage of a tense situation in our land, and are exploiting every incident to bring about violence and bloodshed."
--Scheduled Justice Sunday III speaker Rev. Jerry Falwell
"I want to boldly affirm Uncle Tom. The black community must stop criticizing Uncle Tom. He is a role model."
--Scheduled Justice Sunday III speaker Rev. Wellington Boone
Christian right leaders love to invoke the legacy of the civil rights movement in their struggle to undo it. During Justice Sunday II, born-again Watergate felon Chuck Colson declared that the Christian right was doing nothing but "giving voice" to Martin Luther King Jr.'s philosophy. Later in the evening, the Catholic League's Bill Donohue told the nearly all-white, Southern Baptist audience, "Now we're in the back of the bus."
For Perkins, who is today perhaps the Christian right's most influential operative, linking his agenda to the civil rights movement serves a purpose almost as important as indulging the persecution fantasies of his followers. The image of Perkins and his allies as the logical heirs to Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy helps obscure his past involvement with racist groups and figures as he advances an anti-civil rights agenda.
In 1996, while working as campaign manager for the failed US Senate candidacy of his mentor, Woody Jenkins, Perkins signed a check for nearly $90,000 to David Duke for the purchase of his phone bank list. Then, even after a steady stream of bad press doomed his own Senate campaign, Perkins spoke at a 2001 fundraiser for the Louisiana chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white nationalist group which has called blacks "a retrograde species of humanity" on its website. And this Sunday, Perkins will be joined by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who incited opposition to the civil rights movement from the pulpit in 1950's and 1960's Virginia.
Seeking to continue his image makeover while advancing the case for the confirmation of Samuel Alito, who would, by all accounts, severely limit civil rights, Tony Perkins has staged Justice Sunday III at a black church in inner-city Philadelphia. And he has assembled three black speakers to sermonize by his side, including Martin Luther King's Jr.'s niece, Alveda King. Judging from their past statements and activities, it looks like these figures been providing cover for racial reactionaries for the entire span of their careers. This Sunday will be no exception.
Here are brief profiles on each of them:
Wellington Boone
Boone makes no secret of his theocratic intentions. He's a member of the Dominionist umbrella group, Coalition on Revival, which advocates the replacement of Constitutional democracy with Biblical law. He's also a former leader of the right-wing Christian men's group, the Promise Keepers, which, with its overt promotion of women's submission (along with a theocratic patriarchy), makes Arnold Schwarzenegger look like Andrea Dworkin.
Boone makes no secret of his bizarre racial views either. Consider this statement he made in his book, "Breaking Through:" "I want to boldly affirm Uncle Tom. The black community must stop criticizing Uncle Tom. He is a role model." Or this, in the same book: "I believe that slavery, and the understanding of it when you see it God's way, was redemptive." Or this, on Pat Robertson's 700 Club, in the immediate wake of Hurricane Katrina: "We need to consider the culture of those people still stranded in New Orleans. The looting of property, the trashing of property, et cetera, speaks to the basic character of the people. These people who have gone through slavery, segregation and the Voting Rights Act are doing this to themselves." Now that's putting the compassion in "compassionate conservatism."
Herb Lusk
The host of Justice Sunday III and former NFL benchwarmer known as "the praying tailback" used to be a Democrat. Then, thanks to the aggressive lobbying of Sen. Rick Santorum, George W. Bush's Office of Faith Based Initiatives began bankrolling Lusk's operations, starting with an grant of over $900,000 in 2002. Then, like magic, Lusk became a rock-ribbed Republican.
Lusk's hosting of Justice Sunday III is not the first time he's provided political help to the GOP leadership. In 2000, in possible violation of IRS laws, Lusk delivered the invocation at the Republican National Convention. Four years later, he hosted the President at his church for a speech praising abstinence as the best -- and perhaps, only -- way to prevent AIDS. Lusk also provides much-need cover for Santorum, allowing him to highlight their work together whenever his support for tax cuts for the rich, Walmart, and opposition to the Family Leave Act and affirmative action are criticized. As Santorum's possibly doomed re-election campaign kicks into high gear, he is joining Lusk at Justice Sunday III.
Alveda King
A few years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, his niece, Alveda, had what she now calls "an involuntary abortion." A few years later, after Roe v. Wade was decided, she had another abortion. Her response to what she has characterized as a personal crisis was to join up with the offspring of the anti-integration movement -- the Christian right -- in the struggle to ban abortion. So much for internal reflection.
"My grandfather, Dr. Martin Luther King Sr., once said, 'No one is going to kill a child of mine,'" Alveda King wrote on her website. "Tragically, two of his grandchildren had already been aborted when he saved the life of his next great-grandson with this statement." Move over George Wallace. Planned Parenthood has tossed the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny and said, 'abortion now,' 'abortion tomorrow,' 'abortion forever.'
In the 1990's, Alveda King became an ardent supporter of school vouchers for inner city children. Yet her advocacy was performed through a well-compensated fellowship at the right-wing Alexis De Tocqueville Institution. The ADT Institution (and by extension, King, during her fellowship) is essentially a front for big business interests and conservative foundations like Scaife, Olin and Bradley. During the period the Bradley Foundation subsidized King's fellowship at ADT, it was funding Charles Murray's infamous "Bell Curve" study asserting that blacks and Latinos are genetically inferior to whites and Asians.
Historical Amnesia
On Sunday, King, Lusk and Boone will share the stage with the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Perhaps they're too young to remember the sermon Falwell delivered from his segregated Thomas Road Baptist Church in 1958, "Segregation and Integration: Which?" in which he declared that integration would lead to the destruction of the white race.
Maybe they have forgotten Falwell's 1963 attack from the pulpit on LBJ's civil rights legislation: "It should be considered civil wrongs rather than civil rights." And they might be unable to recall that, according to William Martin's "With God On Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America," Falwell distributed anti-MLK literature provided to him by J. Edgar Hoover. Or that he founded a "Christian academy" in 1966 described by the Lynchburg News as "a private school for white students."
I find it hard to believe, however, that Boone, Lusk and King could be unaware of Falwell's famous 1965 sermon, "Ministers and Marches," in which he assailed MLK and his allies more stridently than ever. In this sermon, Falwell questioned "the sincerity and intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. James Farmer, and others, who are known to have left-wing associations. It is very obvious that the Communists, as they do in all parts of the world, are taking advantage of a tense situation in our land, and are exploiting every incident to bring about violence and bloodshed." Falwell added, "Preachers are not called to be politicians, but to be soul winners." (If only he'd followed his own advice.)
Martin Luther King once said, "Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism, or in the darkness of destructive selfishness." In joining racial reactionaries this Sunday in support of Samuel Alito's appointment to the Supreme Court, Boone, Lusk and Alveda King have chosen the latter.
Looks like only ultra-liberal comsymps want Bush impeached:
JBS POLL
Should George Bush be impeached and removed from office?
Yes, because he lied us into war, has used the NSA to eavesdrop on the conversations of Americans without a court order, and has violated the Constitution in other ways.
[tally] 57%
No, because George W. Bush was justified in going to war and continues to do a good job.
[tally] 18%
No, because even though he has made mistakes those mistakes do not rise to the level of impeachment.
[tally] 21%
I don't know.
[tally] 3%
Copyright 2005 by The John Birch Society
Privacy Statement
