So the GOP, in its current crusade to avoid its bitter defeat on Social Security, military and political doldrums in Iraq and their president's declining popularity, now want to save Old Glory from the torch. I guess symbolic victories are better than nothing.
It is, of course, a stupid idea, for a number of good reasons.
Flag burning is a matter of free speech. If we allow this, then it will open the door to other restrictions on symbolic speech. The GOP needs to think about this. What happens when those darn liberal Democrats return to power and call for a constitutional amendment for symbols they don't like? Bye bye, Washington "Redskins".
Most flags are private property. It's not our flag if I buy it, it's mine because I own it. If I wish to burn it, it should be within my property rights, as a good American, to do what I will with my property as long as no one else is harmed.
Finally, if the GOP stops to think about it, the amendment will just encourage more flag burning because protestors will get a symbolic arrest on top of the symbolic burning.
Word on the street is that this thing might actually pass the Senate this time. As a good Democrat, I suppose the good in this is that it means the GOP's not winning anything anywhere else if they're desperate enough to bother with this. So maybe there's hope for the Republic yet.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Idiot Dad
So the poor kid who was lost in Utah has his dad to blame him for being lost for so long. Idiot dad.
Dad told son not to talk to strangers, because they'd carry him off. Unfortunately, he didn't train enough common sense or basic knowledge into the kid to let him see that the odds of weirdos hiding behind bushes to carry you off to sin and depravity are pretty slim up there in the Utah outback. (Unless you hit some crazy bad of polygamists.)
So dad would rather his son die of exposure or starvation than talk to some hairy legged hiker on a back trail. I guess this is why families move to Utah. So their kids are safe.
I'll stay here in the blue states, thank you. Where it's safe to let your kid know to go for help when they need it.
Dad told son not to talk to strangers, because they'd carry him off. Unfortunately, he didn't train enough common sense or basic knowledge into the kid to let him see that the odds of weirdos hiding behind bushes to carry you off to sin and depravity are pretty slim up there in the Utah outback. (Unless you hit some crazy bad of polygamists.)
So dad would rather his son die of exposure or starvation than talk to some hairy legged hiker on a back trail. I guess this is why families move to Utah. So their kids are safe.
I'll stay here in the blue states, thank you. Where it's safe to let your kid know to go for help when they need it.
Be-Coz ...
stuart sibley said...
Oh, how embarrassing. Did you think I was referring to Black folk when I said "shiftless, lazy"? No no. There is no white conspiracy. I'm horrified to learn of this black-on-white conspiracy that Coz speeks of. You people should be ashamed.
----------------------------------------------
Of course there's a white conspiracy. It's well documented. The president of the United States is white. The chairman of the Federal Reserve is white. Bill Gates is white.
'Nuff said. Heck, you wouldn't be denying it if it weren't true.
Oh, how embarrassing. Did you think I was referring to Black folk when I said "shiftless, lazy"? No no. There is no white conspiracy. I'm horrified to learn of this black-on-white conspiracy that Coz speeks of. You people should be ashamed.
----------------------------------------------
Of course there's a white conspiracy. It's well documented. The president of the United States is white. The chairman of the Federal Reserve is white. Bill Gates is white.
'Nuff said. Heck, you wouldn't be denying it if it weren't true.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Flag Day
With Flag Day just behind us, it's time to look at patriotism.
Or more specifically, the Patriot Act.
As a long-time library booster I'm pleased to see that House Republicans of all people have agreed that allowing the feds power to root through my library checkout record without cause or oversight is just ... un-American. The national librarians' group and the ACLU had been fighting this for years, and when right wing Neanderthal Bob Barr finds common cause with the ACLU you just know something's gone waaaaay too far.
The U.S. declarations of war against the Axis in December 1941 was followed by various Articles of War, including provision for censorship and restricting civil liberties. Few complained because most understood it was for the duration of the war. The Patriot Act, on the other hand, has no conceivable end because there's no enemy capital to march into and declare victory. It will be waaay too easy for these anti-constitutional provisions to simply because part of our body of national law.
This is why, to protect the freedom our soldiers are not protecting in Iraq because Iraq was never threatening it, we need to move with the extremest of caution in this regard. Laws which allow free-roaming investigation can't be tolerated without a clear given end to them. Otherwise, let's just tear up the Constitution, and don the shield of the cross for a new Crusade. We won't be defending freedom but at least we'll fight our pointless battles against the brown Muslim hordes knowing that if killed we're all going straight to Heaven (hmm, wonder if there's one side of heaven for blue staters and another for red?).
The administration could have helped itself out here, once again, by declaring war against either Al Qaeda and its allies or Iraq. We're being asked to surrender our freedoms and our young sons and daughters without a consequent call for national sacrifice. So there's no wonder support for the Patriot act is weakening inside the president's own party, that recruiting is down and that the guy who called for "freedom fries" is now insisting on a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq. Without a clarion call for national effort, you don't get one.
Or more specifically, the Patriot Act.
As a long-time library booster I'm pleased to see that House Republicans of all people have agreed that allowing the feds power to root through my library checkout record without cause or oversight is just ... un-American. The national librarians' group and the ACLU had been fighting this for years, and when right wing Neanderthal Bob Barr finds common cause with the ACLU you just know something's gone waaaaay too far.
The U.S. declarations of war against the Axis in December 1941 was followed by various Articles of War, including provision for censorship and restricting civil liberties. Few complained because most understood it was for the duration of the war. The Patriot Act, on the other hand, has no conceivable end because there's no enemy capital to march into and declare victory. It will be waaay too easy for these anti-constitutional provisions to simply because part of our body of national law.
This is why, to protect the freedom our soldiers are not protecting in Iraq because Iraq was never threatening it, we need to move with the extremest of caution in this regard. Laws which allow free-roaming investigation can't be tolerated without a clear given end to them. Otherwise, let's just tear up the Constitution, and don the shield of the cross for a new Crusade. We won't be defending freedom but at least we'll fight our pointless battles against the brown Muslim hordes knowing that if killed we're all going straight to Heaven (hmm, wonder if there's one side of heaven for blue staters and another for red?).
The administration could have helped itself out here, once again, by declaring war against either Al Qaeda and its allies or Iraq. We're being asked to surrender our freedoms and our young sons and daughters without a consequent call for national sacrifice. So there's no wonder support for the Patriot act is weakening inside the president's own party, that recruiting is down and that the guy who called for "freedom fries" is now insisting on a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq. Without a clarion call for national effort, you don't get one.
Articles of Blue/Red Confederation
One of the reasons politics today is so ridiculously intense is that everyone feels like they're fighting for the soul of the country. This is because we've all forgotten the beauty of states' rights.
Strom Thurmond and his racist gang gave states rights a bad name by constantly using it to defend American apartheid. But given all the blue vs. red going on, let's rediscover it.
If right wing Christians want to ignore science and follow Bishop Usher's belief that the world was created a little over 6,000 years ago, let them. They'll end up with ignorant kids in their schools but that's the risk they take. If liberals want universal health insurance, let 'em work it out at the state level. Collaborate with other blue states on a large insurance pool to spread risks and cover costs and leave the red staters dying by the side of the road without coverage if that's what they want.
There are fifty states in this here Union. Surely we can all find a state we want to reshape in our own best image, be it a modern 21st century blue state or a cardboard mockup of 1955 red state.
For us liberals, it means moving away from the nationalizing impulse we've had since the New Deal saved the country. Oh, there are some internal matters which still require a national response, such as environmental regulation because the costs of stupid red state decisions can so easily cross borders. On most other matters, let's just agree to go to our separate corners. No more shaking our heads at blue staters' silliness, just let them be.
Besides, we blue staters have more of the country's money. Why should we be forced to subsidize red state stupidity? Isn't enough, enough?
Strom Thurmond and his racist gang gave states rights a bad name by constantly using it to defend American apartheid. But given all the blue vs. red going on, let's rediscover it.
If right wing Christians want to ignore science and follow Bishop Usher's belief that the world was created a little over 6,000 years ago, let them. They'll end up with ignorant kids in their schools but that's the risk they take. If liberals want universal health insurance, let 'em work it out at the state level. Collaborate with other blue states on a large insurance pool to spread risks and cover costs and leave the red staters dying by the side of the road without coverage if that's what they want.
There are fifty states in this here Union. Surely we can all find a state we want to reshape in our own best image, be it a modern 21st century blue state or a cardboard mockup of 1955 red state.
For us liberals, it means moving away from the nationalizing impulse we've had since the New Deal saved the country. Oh, there are some internal matters which still require a national response, such as environmental regulation because the costs of stupid red state decisions can so easily cross borders. On most other matters, let's just agree to go to our separate corners. No more shaking our heads at blue staters' silliness, just let them be.
Besides, we blue staters have more of the country's money. Why should we be forced to subsidize red state stupidity? Isn't enough, enough?
The Coz - update
Stuart Sibley said...
White folks have a lot in common with Negroes. We, too, are frequently engaged in conversations like, "Lazy, shiftless, etc." until LaSheniquakia enters the room.
-------------------------------------------------
Yes, but that's not news. Black folks have long known about the hidden white folks' conspiracy which holds us down while running the world. (Anyone here remember Eddie Murphy's hilarious "White Like Me" spoof on SNL twenty years ago?) We've just managed to keep our own conspiracy hidden from the white folks until Cosby was "outed" by the damned liberal media.
White folks have a lot in common with Negroes. We, too, are frequently engaged in conversations like, "Lazy, shiftless, etc." until LaSheniquakia enters the room.
-------------------------------------------------
Yes, but that's not news. Black folks have long known about the hidden white folks' conspiracy which holds us down while running the world. (Anyone here remember Eddie Murphy's hilarious "White Like Me" spoof on SNL twenty years ago?) We've just managed to keep our own conspiracy hidden from the white folks until Cosby was "outed" by the damned liberal media.
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Minor League Ball
One of the little treasures I found after moving to Sacramento from the Bay Area in 2001 was the Sacramento Rivercats minor league baseball team, the Oakland A's top level farm team. The Wall Street Journal recently wrote a good story on minor league ball's current wave of success and noted the 'Cats, who have been one of the minors' best drawing teams since coming in to the league in 2000.
It's not what the visionaries once predicted.
Back in the late '60s, when I started following the game closely, the future historians predicted that teevee would kill minor league ball. Why go all the way out to see the Toledo Mudhens when you could get the Yankees in the comfort of your very own home? One thought was that college baseball would end up being the "minor leagues", like it is for the NFL and NBA.
Not only has minor league baseball gone completely in the other direction, but often right under MLB noses. Brooklyn has a Mets farm team. There's a successful independent team in St. Paul, right next to the Twins. I read an interesting piece on how suburbs of MLB teams are some of the best places for minors because you've got an already interested fan base and corporate customers. (Heck, I get to a lot of 'Cats games through a local firm's corporate season tickets. If they aren't used for the day, they lay 'em out and let their friends grab 'em for free after noon gameday.)
The other big change, I read elsewhere , is that now most minor league teams are locally owned. The old PCL Phoenix Giants were once owned by the San Francisco Giants to just serve just as a breeding ground to fill the major league roster. The MLB Giants didn't have to care much about the quality of the food or the parking down in Phoenix. Then a local owner bought them, renamed them the Firebirds and primed the market for the MLB Arizona D'Backs.
Like the WSJ story notes, these teams are run like real businesses, in pleasant stadiums with real amenities. They've also been able to tap into some of the same urban planning which built a lot of the latest MLB parks, creating a downtown destination. Memphis, which is discussed in the article, is invoked up here in Sacramento as an example of why a new basketball arena is a marvelous jumpstart for local business.
The amenities are refreshingly simple. Local high school choirs butcher the national anthem while the school's cheerleaders jump and stomp. If the San Francisco Giants' SBC Park did have a hot dog shooter, like Raley, it would be sponsored by 3Com and shoot $6 custom German sausage. That's another thing I like about Raley Field. They stick to good beer, cheesy nachos and foot long dogs. At a (relatively) reasonable price. I admire SBC's top notch marketing. But there's something which connects you to your community about watching the a local hardware store hold a race around the bases for 7 year olds as part of the seventh inning stretch.
My good friends in Oakland are in a quandary about a new ballpark for the Athletics baseball team. I wonder if Oakland (pop. 370,000 compared to Sacramento's 425,000) is simply trying to play in the wrong league.
The Big Picture is that despite all the endless on and on about how we're all getting cocooned in our high tech entertainment dens, were are at heart and soul social creatures. We need companionship, even if we're just one of the crowd. If we build it, it turns out we will come. We have to. It's our nature.
It's not what the visionaries once predicted.
Back in the late '60s, when I started following the game closely, the future historians predicted that teevee would kill minor league ball. Why go all the way out to see the Toledo Mudhens when you could get the Yankees in the comfort of your very own home? One thought was that college baseball would end up being the "minor leagues", like it is for the NFL and NBA.
Not only has minor league baseball gone completely in the other direction, but often right under MLB noses. Brooklyn has a Mets farm team. There's a successful independent team in St. Paul, right next to the Twins. I read an interesting piece on how suburbs of MLB teams are some of the best places for minors because you've got an already interested fan base and corporate customers. (Heck, I get to a lot of 'Cats games through a local firm's corporate season tickets. If they aren't used for the day, they lay 'em out and let their friends grab 'em for free after noon gameday.)
The other big change, I read elsewhere , is that now most minor league teams are locally owned. The old PCL Phoenix Giants were once owned by the San Francisco Giants to just serve just as a breeding ground to fill the major league roster. The MLB Giants didn't have to care much about the quality of the food or the parking down in Phoenix. Then a local owner bought them, renamed them the Firebirds and primed the market for the MLB Arizona D'Backs.
Like the WSJ story notes, these teams are run like real businesses, in pleasant stadiums with real amenities. They've also been able to tap into some of the same urban planning which built a lot of the latest MLB parks, creating a downtown destination. Memphis, which is discussed in the article, is invoked up here in Sacramento as an example of why a new basketball arena is a marvelous jumpstart for local business.
The amenities are refreshingly simple. Local high school choirs butcher the national anthem while the school's cheerleaders jump and stomp. If the San Francisco Giants' SBC Park did have a hot dog shooter, like Raley, it would be sponsored by 3Com and shoot $6 custom German sausage. That's another thing I like about Raley Field. They stick to good beer, cheesy nachos and foot long dogs. At a (relatively) reasonable price. I admire SBC's top notch marketing. But there's something which connects you to your community about watching the a local hardware store hold a race around the bases for 7 year olds as part of the seventh inning stretch.
My good friends in Oakland are in a quandary about a new ballpark for the Athletics baseball team. I wonder if Oakland (pop. 370,000 compared to Sacramento's 425,000) is simply trying to play in the wrong league.
The Big Picture is that despite all the endless on and on about how we're all getting cocooned in our high tech entertainment dens, were are at heart and soul social creatures. We need companionship, even if we're just one of the crowd. If we build it, it turns out we will come. We have to. It's our nature.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
The Coz
In response to a question to me regarding Bill Cosby's comments last year about po' black folks needing to get up off the dime and to stop reinforcing bad behavior
Over the years, no one has talked more trash about lazy, shif'less colored folks without jobs than black folks who had jobs. The General Rule was that you just never did it when white folks were around. It was more important to keep up the solid front.
I've been in these conversations. "Lazy, shif'less, etc." 'til Skipper walks into the room, when the comment suddenly turns to, "... and it's all Reagan's fault!"
Cosby probably felt the same way, when he made his comments to a black audience. But it got out into the news and I had a conservative Christian co-worker proudly trump that it showed the triumph of conservative thinking among blacks. Big deal, I told her. I heard the same thing all while I was growing up, right before "be sure to vote Democratic, because the Republicans will send us all back to the plantation if they have their way." Really?, she said. -I- don't hear this, she continued. That's because you're never in the room when it's discussed, I told her. It violates the rules.
This can drive white liberals crazy. "I can never have the same conversation from blacks as you do", one once told me, and I've just got through a big hooraw on another list over a white woman talking about the self-destructive welfare momma mentality among young black women, who was torched as a 'racist.' "How can we talk about race, as good liberals are supposed to do, when we can't talk about race?", he said.
Good question. I personally feel that blacks -should- take the discussion "outside" because it's healthy and politically expedient to do so. Without it, it's easy for whites to assume that How to Be Black 101 starts off with how to find the food stamp line. It also brings in more creative thought than you ever get holding an inside-the-beltway discussion.
Jesse Jackson often says that success is opportunity meeting preparation. It's society's job, pushed by good liberals, of course, to create the opportunity. But it's up to the small actors, the parents, teachers, ministers, business people, and on to insist on the preparation.
Besides, ever since President Clinton's welfare reform, being a welfare 'ho' just ain't worth what it used to be.
Over the years, no one has talked more trash about lazy, shif'less colored folks without jobs than black folks who had jobs. The General Rule was that you just never did it when white folks were around. It was more important to keep up the solid front.
I've been in these conversations. "Lazy, shif'less, etc." 'til Skipper walks into the room, when the comment suddenly turns to, "... and it's all Reagan's fault!"
Cosby probably felt the same way, when he made his comments to a black audience. But it got out into the news and I had a conservative Christian co-worker proudly trump that it showed the triumph of conservative thinking among blacks. Big deal, I told her. I heard the same thing all while I was growing up, right before "be sure to vote Democratic, because the Republicans will send us all back to the plantation if they have their way." Really?, she said. -I- don't hear this, she continued. That's because you're never in the room when it's discussed, I told her. It violates the rules.
This can drive white liberals crazy. "I can never have the same conversation from blacks as you do", one once told me, and I've just got through a big hooraw on another list over a white woman talking about the self-destructive welfare momma mentality among young black women, who was torched as a 'racist.' "How can we talk about race, as good liberals are supposed to do, when we can't talk about race?", he said.
Good question. I personally feel that blacks -should- take the discussion "outside" because it's healthy and politically expedient to do so. Without it, it's easy for whites to assume that How to Be Black 101 starts off with how to find the food stamp line. It also brings in more creative thought than you ever get holding an inside-the-beltway discussion.
Jesse Jackson often says that success is opportunity meeting preparation. It's society's job, pushed by good liberals, of course, to create the opportunity. But it's up to the small actors, the parents, teachers, ministers, business people, and on to insist on the preparation.
Besides, ever since President Clinton's welfare reform, being a welfare 'ho' just ain't worth what it used to be.
The House Rules
Well, let's see how the Political Betting Fool is doing:
From April 30, 2005 - followed by today's betting results
1. DeLay is out by the end of May. / 2-1 and on its way to a sure thing.
Oh, I lost on this one, having underestimated DeLay's ability to hang out and the Reps' inability to dump a liability. But I can't fret too much. Even the GOP sees this as a big problem for the party in '06. So I lose a few bucks, but I consider it a worthy investment.
2. Frist compromises on the "nuclear option." / 4-1 and growing (he "wins" short-term by stretching out the fight).
This was almost a gimme. There was no way enough senators were going to torch the august traditions. Frist wins with the nutcase GOP right by getting enough of his fruitcake nominees voted on while keeping arm's length from the compromise which made it possible. Well played, Dr. Frist. Now if only someone can teach you how AIDS is -really- transmitted.
3. Bolton is confirmed for the U.N. / 3-1 and growing the longer it takes.
The house now holds this as even money. The White House loves piss 'em off diplomats, then whines that not enough countries support us outside of Burkino Faso, but even Boltie's proving hard to swallow. The Senate plays a much stronger role in foreign policy than the House, approving foreign policy officials, ratifying treaties and the like. After the "nuclear option" compromise, it might like to solidly its institutional resurgence by knocking off a thoroughly detestable fellow like Bolton.
4. Bush splits SS benefits/taxes from personal/private accounts in order to get something, anything, through so he can claim victory. / Even money
Since the rest of the players have walked away from the table here, the house will follow and close the bets. SS appears saved for now. Bush appears willing to play with himself on this issue.
5. Michael Jackson is convicted of underage freakiness. / The house won't touch that money (yuck!)
Again, the house folds due to lack of interest. Even the Rodney King riot crowd can't get up for this one.
From April 30, 2005 - followed by today's betting results
1. DeLay is out by the end of May. / 2-1 and on its way to a sure thing.
Oh, I lost on this one, having underestimated DeLay's ability to hang out and the Reps' inability to dump a liability. But I can't fret too much. Even the GOP sees this as a big problem for the party in '06. So I lose a few bucks, but I consider it a worthy investment.
2. Frist compromises on the "nuclear option." / 4-1 and growing (he "wins" short-term by stretching out the fight).
This was almost a gimme. There was no way enough senators were going to torch the august traditions. Frist wins with the nutcase GOP right by getting enough of his fruitcake nominees voted on while keeping arm's length from the compromise which made it possible. Well played, Dr. Frist. Now if only someone can teach you how AIDS is -really- transmitted.
3. Bolton is confirmed for the U.N. / 3-1 and growing the longer it takes.
The house now holds this as even money. The White House loves piss 'em off diplomats, then whines that not enough countries support us outside of Burkino Faso, but even Boltie's proving hard to swallow. The Senate plays a much stronger role in foreign policy than the House, approving foreign policy officials, ratifying treaties and the like. After the "nuclear option" compromise, it might like to solidly its institutional resurgence by knocking off a thoroughly detestable fellow like Bolton.
4. Bush splits SS benefits/taxes from personal/private accounts in order to get something, anything, through so he can claim victory. / Even money
Since the rest of the players have walked away from the table here, the house will follow and close the bets. SS appears saved for now. Bush appears willing to play with himself on this issue.
5. Michael Jackson is convicted of underage freakiness. / The house won't touch that money (yuck!)
Again, the house folds due to lack of interest. Even the Rodney King riot crowd can't get up for this one.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Teevee in the 'Hood - another update
So today I told someone that I didn't watch "Lost", "Survivor", "American Idol" or "Desperate Housewives" or anything like that.
The head shaking response: "Geez, man, you need to get out more!!"
He said it with a very straight face.
The head shaking response: "Geez, man, you need to get out more!!"
He said it with a very straight face.
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