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Anywhere
the Radical Right is vulnerable, we must strike to kill and destroy
careers
by
IseFire
- Wed 04/28/04; 8:30 pm EST
Once
again, DKos has stumbled onto something important: Tom
DeLay is vulnerable. (Also, there's scandal
brewing.)
Politics has so often been described as a game. A read of Gore
Vidal's historical works is probably the most entertaining
way to be introduced to the fact that Republican and Democratic
politicians--in the classic "old boys club" style--generally
understood throughout the republic’s history that each player
usually is to ignore his opponent’s rhetoric and obvious maneuvers
aimed (ostensibly) at taking the other guy down, that such things
are often about the illusion of conflict--they are pieces
of red meat thrown to the voting base.
BUT
SOMETHING CHANGED, and calling politics a “game” seems
too dismissive now. I think it may have begun with Goldwater's defeat;
but, at some point the conservatives began rewriting the rules,
changing them from those of a game--albeit sometimes a high-stakes
one--to those of a war: total destruction, personal destruction,
ideological and epistemological fundamentalism, winning at all costs,
and subverting the Bill of Rights or the Constitution to do so.
Not
that politics avoided viciously personal attacks before. Burr attacked
Hamilton for fathering children out of wedlock. Hamilton implied
incest in return. Not that the Bill of Rights hasn’t been handily
subverted before, as when Wilson created the Committee for Public
Information or FDR interred Japanese-Americans. But those efforts
were aimed at bolstering presidential or personal power more than
they were the power of a political party; they did not stem from
ideology so much as ill-considered expediency; and they certainly
were not informed by the eschatology of messianic millenarians.
What
the GOP--for too long now an unholy diptych half military-energy
industrialists and half crusading fundamentalist Christians--has
been about the business of doing over the last few years is nothing
less than an attempt to recast the nation’s history, purpose,
and soul. It is revolution. And I now favor the strategy of extreme
response.
Where
did DeLay go to college, church, high school? Who knew him? Did
he take band lessons? If so, was the band instructor “that
way,” as the Republican Ladies Who Lunch might say? If so…did
the maestro ever privately tutor DeLay? What about the wrestling
coach? The Youth Pastor? (I’ve met only one in my life who
was not unhinged.) What about DeLay’s bachelor uncle who liked
antiques? What about staff members who’ve been divorced? Who
are divorced? Any female staffer who is unwed? Has she ever stayed
in the office late…when DeLay stayed late?
Let
the answers take care of themselves. Most, though not all, of the
work is in the asking of the questions, and these days the Democrats
must be as willing as the other side is to ask such questions.
Reuters
bias
by
IseFire
- Wed 04/28/04; 7:38 pm EST
The
headline of Caren
Bohan's piece on Kerry is inappropriate. In no part
of his speech did Senator John Kerry echo President Bill Clinton's
"I feel your pain" line, one still held up as a ridiculous
sentiment. Yet, Bohan's headline: "Kerry Seeks to Show Workers
He Feels Their Pain." What's wrong with "Kerry Addresses
Supportive Rust Belt Audience"?
And
this is reporting...the quoting only of sources that say negative
things about Kerry's speaking style, as if his intelligence is a
liability? Well, this is Amuricaka, so I supposte it is a liability.
E-mail
Reuters' editors and complain. Click on "Contact a Reuters
Editor." Also, let the folks know at CampaignDesk.org.
Misc...
by
IseFire
- Tue 04/27/04; 9:13 pm EST
GOP hypocrite of the week, courtesy of BuzzFlash.
The second American
Truths from Isebrand.com went out on 4/13. (I archived
it today.) No one unsubscribed and one new person
signed up after having had the e-mail forwarded to them. Not dramatic
subscriber growth, but I'll take it! One person at a time is fine
by me...it's certainly better than nothing.
If you want to cut and paste it into your own e-mail to send out
to potentially undecided voters (or Democrats needing motivation,
or Republicans needing to be annoyed), click
here.
Local
sports action...
by
IseFire
- Mon 04/26/04; 11:47 pm EST
I'd like to highlight the efforts of a couple of friends. The humanist,
reformist values of our nation's Founders will triumph over the
tyrannical and theocratic impulses within our republic one battle
at a time. Every letter to the editor, every article, can make a
difference.
Nicholas Kristof of the NYT wrote some
imbecilic treacle that merely proved his cluelessness
about the agenda of the Bush/Cheney Religious Right. Ever been west
of the Hudson, Nicky? My neighbor, Marilyn Briskin wrote to him:
You unfairly compare the disdain of gays and lesbians toward
religious fundamentalists to the evangelicals' contempt for them.
Homosexuals ask nothing but their due equality under the law,
while the religious right wrongly deny them their human rights.
Homosexuals don't harm their country -- do not step on America's
Bill of Rights -- do not proselytize -- do not beat straights for
their private acts -- while so called "religious fanatics"
do.
Hug an evangelist? Not this heterosexual, freedom-respecting, patriotic
American woman. I prefer to hug my gay friends.
Thank
you, Marilyn.
BUT
WAIT, there's more!
New
York State Committeemember, Larry Moss, published a new
article on same-sex marriage rights, attempting to
put the issue in the context of the 1969 Stonewall rebellion and
what progress has, and has not, been made in the ensuing 35 years.
The
op-ed pieces Larry published earlier this year are also available:
“It’s
Legal for Gays to Marry in New York,” NY
Daily News editorial page, 2/16/04, and “The
Road to Equal Marriage Rights in NYC,” Gay
City News, 3/11/04. Also still available is “Advancing
Same-Sex Marriage Rights in the Democratic Party."
Michigan
preparing to let doctors refuse to treat gays
by
IseFire
- Sun 04/25/04; 5:48 pm EST
From the article:The
bill allows health care workers to refuse service to anyone on moral,
ethical or religious grounds.
The
Republican dominated House passed the measure as dozens of Catholics
looked on from the gallery. The Michigan Catholic Conference, which
pushed for the bills, hosted a legislative day for Catholics on
Wednesday at the state Capitol.
The bills now go the Senate, which also is controlled by Republicans.
Missing
in action
by
IseFire
- Sun 04/25/04; 1:08 pm EST
President Bush has just had three of the worst weeks of his administration
and
his poll numbers rose. Throughout this time...Democratic
silence. John Kerry is the presidential candidate. He's not the
one who is supposed to take the hits. Others are supposed to do
that for him. Also, he's but one man.
I ask....
Where is Hillary Clinton? (Click
to contact her and ask)
Where is Dick Durbin? (Ask
him)
(An uprising
in Iraq...)
Where is Nancy Pelosi? (Ask
her)
(The missile defense agency is faulted)
Where is Evan Bayh? (Ask
him)
(The Washington
Times defames
Kerry with impunity...)
Where is Tom Harkin? (Ask
him)
(The
possibility of a
military draft emerges...)
Where is Tom Daschle? (Ask
him)
(Dubya Bush is named the most environmentally
destructive President in history...)
Where is Chuck Schumer? (Ask
him)
(Dead Americans and censorship
of coffin photos...)
Where is Diane Feinstein?
(Ask
her)
(More evidence emerges of the corruption
of Justice [sic] Antonin Scalia...)
Where is Joe Lieberman?
(Ask
him)
(The Republicans attack John Kerry with lies
and lies and lies...)
Where is Dick Gephardt?
(Ask
him)
(Damning testimony by Richard Clarke demonstrating Bush's
soft-on-terrorism stance before 9/11...)
Where is John Edwards now?
(Ask
him)
WHERE IS THE DEMOCRATIC
LEADERSHIP?
U.
S. military wounded in Iraq nearing 3,500 mark
by
IseFire
- Sat 04/24/04; 3:08 pm EST
In military parlance a "casualty" is someone who is killed
or wounded. I've heard some commentators on TV say that the
US military has suffered more than 700 casualties. Well, that's
true, but clearly the commentators mean "fatalities,"
which are at 817
at the time of this posting. (I fear that more attacks will unfold
during the night in Iraq, i.e. in the next few hours. It's been
a
bloody day already.) But there
have been 4,283 U.S. Military casualties in Iraq since
the invasion began. Of those, 2,468 are soldiers wounded
badly enough that they are not classified as "Return To Duty."
Some enterprising journalist needs to estimate the cost to the American
taxpayer of the hundreds of soldiers returning to the U.S. deaf,
blind, or with missing limbs, severe burns, or bullets and shrapnel
in their body, etc....The triage, the transportation to hospital,
the prosthetics, the rehabilitation....
It's not just about the
coffins. So, remember to remind your fellow Americans
that we've had more than 4,000 casualties in Iraq since the invasion.
More than 4,000.
Seeing
the Isebrand in the forest
by
IseFire
- Sat 04/24/04; 8:09 am EST
The guys at Seeing
The Forest have added Isebrand.com to their blogroll.
Thanks, STF guys!
Steve
update
by
IseFire
- Fri 04/23/04; 8:20 pm EST
On 4/15,
I did a post about a U.S. Army Captain (and Ranger) I know, Steve,
who's in the infantry of the 1st Amored Division in Iraq, and who
recently had his 1-year stay in Iraq lengthened by 3-4 months.
Well, a Military.com
article on April 21 revealed, The Army has also converted a battalion
from the 1st Armored Division into a rapid response force to deal
with attacks that are expected to coincide with the June 30 handover
of some sovereignty to an Iraqi government, military officials said.
Guess whose battalion that happens to be?
Yippee-skippy!
by
IseFire
- Fri 04/23/04; 8:01 pm EST
One of the Internet's most important anonymous political bloggers,
"Skippy
the Bush Kangaroo," has added me to the Skippy
blogroll! I'm very grateful, Skippy! Thanks! Probably only Atrios
is more widely read among the mini-universe of political bloggers
who happily avoid doing things like screaming their last name across
the top of their website. ;)
I've got a site to add to my own blogroll today: American
Leftist. Check it out. A business associate of mine,
a great guy named Travis Terry, told me about it. (And through American
Leftist I discovered that Noam
Chomsky has his own blog.) One thing I'd like to
point out about American Leftist: it sports an attractive and clean
design! Very few blogs do. What is more, American Leftist appears
to have designed with site using blogger.com, but clearly with some
serious customization along the way. Among all blog applications
out there, Blogger.com has got to be the easiest way to create an
ugly site. Yet, American Leftist somehow redeemed it.
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